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ORIGINES ECCLESIASTICS;
OR THE
ANTIQUITIES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH,
AND
OTHER WORKS,
OF THE
REV. JOSEPH BINGHAM, M.A.
Fomnerly Fellow of University College, Oxford ; and afterwards Rector uf
Headbourn Worthy, and Havant, Hampshire;
SET OF MAPS OF ECCLESIASTICAL GEOGRAPHY,
TO WHICH ARE NOW ADDED,
SBVlJRAZi SHHTdON S,
AND OTHER IVIATTER, NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED,
The whole Revised and Edited, together with ^
^ Btosraphtcal Ercount of tiir Author,
BY HIS GREAT GRANDSON,
THE REV. RICHARD BINGHAM, B.C.L.
Prebendary of Chichester, Vicar of Hale Magna,
Incumbent of Gosport Chapel, and formerly fellow of New College, Oxford.
IN EIGHT VOLUMES.— VOL. I.
LONDON :
PRirsTED FOR WILLIAM STRAKER,
443, WEST STRAND.
MDCCCXXXIV.
^
\
4.\
TO THE
w
MOST REVEREND AND RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY,
(Dr. William Hoivlej/.)
MAY IT PLEASE YOUR GRACE ;
Having completed this new edition of the
Works of my revered Ancestor, I was anxious to send
it forth to the World under the patronage of some emi-
nent character. To whom therefore could I so properly
look, as to the highest Dignitary of our Church ; with
the history, discipline, and doctrines of which the fol-
lowing volumes are so closely connected ? And I
entreat your Grace to allow me to add, that I was
more especially led to desire permission to send out
this edition under you Grace's sanction, by the remem-
brance of our having passed together, as companions
and friends, in the same class, and during the same
years, through Wickham's Colleges both at Winches-
ter and Oxford.
359S55
DEDICATION.
But while I mean only to thank, your Grace for
havins; so kindly complied with my request, and ccom-
panied that consent with the valuable statemei. t, that
" my celebrated Great Grandfather's writing have
long since received the approbation of Divines and
Scholars ;" I Avill not forget the latter part of your
Grace's letter, in which you desire, that I would con-
line myself " to a simple inscription, and without com-
pliments." I hope I shall not be considered guilty of
disobeying that injunction by saying, that your Grace's
amiable virtues are too universally acknowledged to
require any testimony from so humble an individual as
I am 5 instead of Avhich, may it please your Grace, with
your usual condescension and goodness, to accept this
offering from me as a mark of my high esteem and
respect.
That Providence may be pleased to bestow on your
Grace, for many years to come, life and health to pro-
mote the interests of our Church and Nation, shall be
among the prayers of him, Avho has the honour to be
Your Grace's
obliged and most obedient servant,
RICHARD BINGHAM.
JVew-House, Gosport, 26 February^ 1829.
THE LIFE
OF THE
REV. JOSEPH BINGHAai,
BY THE EDITOR.
THE learned Author of the Antiquities of
THE Christian Church, and of the other Theolo-
gical Tracts, which are now offered to the Public
in an uniform and complete edition, was born in
September, 1668, at Wakefield, in Yorkshire, of
which place his father, Mr. Francis Bingham, was
a respectable inhabitant. He was taught the first
rudiments of grammar at a school in that town,
under Mr. Edward Clarke, and on the 26th of
May, 1684, he was admitted a member of Univer-
sity-College, in Oxford. During his academical
residence he applied with persevering industry to
those studies, which are 2:eneral]v considered as
most laborious. Though he by no means ne-
glected the writers of Greece and Rome, yet he
iv THE LIFE OF
employed the greater portion of his time in study-
ing tlie writings of the Fathers, making himself
intimately acquainted with their opinions and
doctrines, and fully able both to explain, and to
defend, their interpretation of the difficult or dis-
puted passages of Scripture. With what earnest-
ness he devoted his mind to these abstruse inqui-
ries, he had an early opportunity of giving an
honourable testimony, which will presently be
mentioned more at large. He took the degree of
Bachelor of Arts in 1688; and on the first of July,
1689, was elected a fellow of the before-mentioned
College, and his election to that fellowship was
attended with some flattering marks of distinction.
On the 23d of June, 1691, he took the degree of
Master of Arts, and was appointed one of the
tutors of the College.* In that situation he paid
particular attention to the instruction of a young
man, whom he had brought from Wakefield and
introduced at the University, and who, soon after
Mr. Bingham's election to a fellowship, was by his
means chosen scholar of the same foundation, to
which he himself belonged. This was Mr. John
Potter, who afterwards became Archbishop of
* For these particulars and many others in this relation I was
some years ago iudobted to the condi;scending" attention of Dr.
Wethcreil, the late Master of University-CoIleg-e, Oxford, wlio
in tlie most obliging- manner took the trouble of examining- the
Records of his CoUeg-e, and other documents in the University,
and from thence gave me much assistance and information.
THE AUTHOR. V
Canterbury. Mr. Potter's first tutor happening to
die, when he was no more than two years stand-
ing in the University, Mr. Bingham took his young
friend and townsman under his own wing ; and to
his having given some general directions to his
studies, which it is probable therefore would have
a similarity to those he pursued himself, it is rea-
sonable to suppose we owe that excellent book,
" Potter on Church Government," and perhaps
also " Potter's Antiquities of Greece." About
four years after Mr. Bingham had taken his
Master's degree a circumstance occurred, which
eventually occasioned him to leave the University.
At that time controversies ran high among learned
men concerning the true explanation of what is term-
ed, the Trinity; the manner in which that doctrine
had been understood or maintained by the primitive
Fathers; and what they meant by 'Ovma and Sub-
stantia. Mr. Bingham being called on in his turn,
as a Master of Arts, to preach before the learned
body, of which he Avas a member; and having
heard, what he conceived to be a very erroneous
statement on that subject, delivered by a leading
man from the pulpit at St. Mary's, thought it
his duty not to let the occasion, which then offered,
escape him of evincing publicly his intimate
acquaintance with the opinions and doctrines of
the Fathers, and of displaying at the same time
the zeal and perseverance, Avith which he was re-
solved to defend their tenets, concerning the
vi THE LIFE OF
Trinity, in opposition to the unjust attacks of men,
who, though inferior to him in learning, were in
much more elevated stations than that which he
filled. In pursuance of this determination he de-
livered a long and learned discourse in the Uni-
versity-Church on the 28th of October, 1695,
taking for his text those famous words of the
Apostle; " There are three that bear record in
" Heaven: the Father, the Son, and the Holy
" Ghost, and these three are one," This sermon,
though containing nothing more than an elaborate
exposition and defence of what the Fathers had
asserted to be the true, ancient, and ecclesiastical
notion of the term Person, in opposition to what
he deemed the no\ el and heterodox explanation
of it, w^hich he had lately heard given, drew on
the learned preacher a very heavy censure fiom
the ruling members of the University, charging
him with having asserted doctrines false, impious,
and heretical, contrary and dissonant to those of
the Catholic Church.* This censure w as followed
by other charges in the public prints; wherein he
w^as accused of Arianism, Tritheism, and the
heresy of Valentinus Gentilis. These matters
* That such a censure was passed, by means of the command-
ing- inHaence in the University of the preceding- preacher, is most
certain, no less from domestic tradition of the circumstance, than
from the mention, which is repeatedly made of it in the manuscript
papers of our Author. But I am assured that no traces thereof
are now to be found in the books of tlte University.
THE AUTHOR. Vll
ran so high, and the party against him was so
powerful, that he found himself under the neces-
sity of resigning his fellowship on the 23d of
INovember, 1695, and of withdrawing from the
University. How wholly unmerited these accusa-
tions were, not only appears from the sermon
itself, now in my possession, and which it is my
intention to publish in the last volume of this
edition, but also from the whole tenor of his life
and writings, in both and all of which he constantly
proved himself to be a zealous and devout de-
fender of what is called the orthodox notion of the
Trinity. Immediately on the resignation of his
fellowship Mr. Bingham was presented, without
any solicitation on his part, by the famous Dr.
Radcliffe, one of the most liberal benefactors to
the University of Oxford, to the Rectory of Head-
bourn- Worthy, a living valued at that time at
about one hundred pounds a yeai-, and situated at a
little more than a mile from Winchester. Within
a few months after his settling in the country,
being called on to preach at a visitation, held on
the 12th of May, 1696, in Winchester Cathedral,
he seized that opportunity of pursuing the subject,
which he had begun at Oxford, and of exculpating
himself from those heavy charges, which had been
so unjustly brought against him; and which, ac-
cording to his own words, " if true, were enough
" to give all w ise and sober men a just abhorrence
" of any one, who had merited them." That my
Viii THE LIFE OF
revered ancestor had in no degree deserved those
inii)utations in the opinion of his brethren, before
whom he preached, may by the strongest deduc-
tions of reason be conchided from his having, at no
greater distance of time than the 16th of Septem-
ber, 1097, been again appointed to preach before
tliem on a similar occasion. He then brought to
a conclusion, what he wished to say further on that
subject, his manner of treating which had exposed
him to the censure of the University; and having
done so he prepared to commit the three sermons
to the press. Why tiiis intention was not fulfilled
I cannot discover from any of his papers; but on
the other hand I find among them a long pre-
face to the sermon preached at Oxford, explaining
and justifying his motives both for having preached
and published it, and a second preface annexed
to the first of those preached at Winchester,
in which he dedicates the two visitation sermons
to the cleigy of the deanery, before whom they
were delivered ; and therein he tells them, that he
has been induced to do so, not only from the sub-
ject contained in them being such as was their
immediate concern, but also that he might have
an opportunity of giving a more full account of
the motive and circumstances, which had occa-
sioned him to write or publisii them. These pre-
faces contain also very long and learned additional
statements corroborative of what Mr. Bingham
had in his sermons asserted concerning the
THE AUTHOR. IX
opinions of the Fathers. But as it is my intention
to pubhsh the whole of these sei'mons, with the
prefaces of the writer, in the conckiding volume
of this edition, it would be useless to enter here
into any further comment or explanation respect-
ing them. Thus much, however, it has appeared
to me proper to say, in the commencement of the
biographical account of this eminent divine, lest a
censure of any sort, though every trace of it is
now expunged from their records, having been
passed by those, who were at that time leading
characters in a great and learned University,
might at first view be considered as a blot in the
character of one, who, not only by the still existing
testimony of all his writings, but also by every
account, which has been handed down from his
parishioners, or his own immediate family, was
both in his private life, and in his literary pursuits,
in his morality, disposition, and religious tenets,
irreproachable and exemplary. About six years
after our Author had taken up his residence at
Worthy, he married Dorothea, one of the daugh-
ters of the Rev. Richard Pococke,* at that time
rector of Colmere, in Hampshire. By this lady, in
the course of a few years, and before he had
any other preferment than the small living above-
mentioned, he became the father of ten children.
* Grandfather of the Rig-ht Rev, Richard Pococke, Bishop of
Ossory, Author of " The Description of the East," &c.
VOL. I, b
3{ THE LIFE OF
two sons and eis^ht daughters. Yet neither did
he suffer the rapid increase of his family, nor the
consequent narrowness of his finances, to depress
his spirits, of impede the progress of his studies.
On the contrary, he appears to have applied to his
literary pursuits with a closer and more perse-
vering industry; and by those means, in the
course of what cannot be considered as a long life,
he was enabled to complete in his country retire-
ment, besides several other single volumes, the
following learned and laborious work, Origines
Ecclesiastic-^;— the lirst volume of which he
published in 1708, and it pleased Providence to
spare his life, till he had brought his useful and
arduous undertaking to a perfect and full conclu-
sion. He committed the tenth and last volume to
the press in 1722, and died in August, 1723. Of
the great difficulties, with wtiich my learned pro-
genitor had to contend in the prosecution of liis
labours, he speaks in several parts of his works in
such pointed terms, as cannot but excite both our
sympathy and regret. He had to struggle, he
tells us, with an infirm and sickly constitution,
and constantly laboured under the greatest disad-
vantages for want of many necessary books, which
he had no opportunity to see, and no ability to
purchase. At the same time, he does not omit to
express his gratitude to Providence, which had so
placed him, that he could have recourse to a very
THE AUTHOR. XI
excellent library,* though even that was deficient
in many works, to which he had occasion to refer.
Yet, when we turn to the Index Auctorum at the
end of his great work, we shall perhaps be asto-
nished at the vast number of writers, which he
appears to have consulted. That he was greatly
distressed for books, we learn from his own
words as above stated. A circumstance, however,
more expressive of this fact than any assertion can
possibly be, deserves to be mentioned in this
place, because it furnishes rather a singular, and
certainly very striking proof of the confined cir-
cumstances, and his consequent inability to pur-
chase books, under which this good and learned
divine continually laboured. I have in my pos-
session a folio edition of Dr. Pearson's Exposition
of the Creed, which belonged, in a torn and im-
perfect state, to the 'Author of Origines Eccle-
siastics, and has had what was deficient in it re-
stored by him with much care and trouble. It
contains eight whole pages most neatly and accu-
rately transcribed with his own hand. Such was
his great want of books, and the extreme narrow-
ness of his circumstances, that he was reduced, we
see, to the necessity of employing several hours of
that time, of which, comparatively speaking, so
* The library of the Cathedral Church at Winchester, being- a
very valuable collection bequeathed lo the Deaii and Chapter of
that Chiu-ch, by the renowned Bishop IMorley, for the use of the
parochial cierj;y, and to piomoti: their advancement in learning-.
Xii THE LIFE OF
small a portion wa.^ allotted him, and which he
could so ill spare from more intense and useful
studies, in the tedious and irksome task of tran-
scribing many whole folio pages to supply 'the de-
ficiencies of a mutilated book, of which a complete
copy might have been purchased for a few shil-
lings. In addition to the inconvenience he experi-
enced for want of books, the progress of his studies
was much impeded, as indeed we have already
mentioned, by the weakness and infirmities of his
constitution. In the concluding page of the last
volume of his Origines, we find him lamenting
the state of his health in the following words:
" Another Book more of miscellaneous rites might
" be added ; but having laboured in this work for
" twenty years with frequent returns of bodily in-
" firmities, which make hard study now less
" agreeable to a weakly constitution, and the
" things themselves being of no great m'oment, I
" rather choose to give the reader a complete and
" finished work with an index to the whole, than
" by grasping at too much to be forced to leave it
" imperfect, neither to my own nor the world's
" satisfaction." Nor were these the" only discou-
raging circumstances, with which this worthy man
had to contend. He was surrounded, as we have
already mentioned, with a family of ten children,
and met with a very late and small patronage to
reward him for his great literary labours, or to
enable him to pursue them with comfort or con-
THE AUTHOR. xiii
venience. He had, it is true, on his leavino-
Oxford been presented by Dr. RadclifFe to the
small living of Headbourn- Worthy. But neither
did his great learning, nor his other excellent qua-
lifications as a divine obtain him any other prefer-
ment for many years. At length, in 1712, Sir
Jonathan Trelawney, at that time Bishop of Win-
chester, collated him to the rectory of Havant, a
few miles from Portsmouth. In justice, however,
to the memory of Dr. Charles Trimnell, the imme-
diate successor of Sir Jonathan Trelawney, I
ought not to omit mentioning, that it was the de-
clared intention of that prelate to have nominated
this learned divine to the first prebend, which
might become vacant in the Cathedral Church of
Winchester. This intention so honourable to his
Lordship's discernment, and so strongly evincing
his love of learning, was, if I may be allowed the
expression, doubly prevented by death, as the
Bishop, having presided over the see of Winches-
ter only two years, died on the same day, on
which it will be hereafter seen Mr. Bingham de-
parted. The possession of the living of Havant,
together with the small sums, which he was conti-
nually receiving from the sale of his works, seemed
to have removed in some degree the narrowness
of his circumstances. But this pleasing prospect,
in the course of a few years, wholly disappeared 5
for just as he had realized, by the sale of his
learned works, a sum sufficient to remove anv un-
xiv THE LIFE OF
easiness from his mind respecting the maintenance
of his widow and numerous family in the event
of his decease, it pleased Providence to put his
Christian resignation to a severe trial, by depriving
him at one blow of all the profits, which he had
reaped from the incessant toil and study, to which
more than half his life had been devoted. Nearly,
if not quite the whole of these hardly earned gains
was suddenly torn from him, in 1720, by what was
then metaphorically termed the bursting of the
South-sea bubble. Yet such was the tranquillity
of his disposition, such his piety and resignation,
that this heavy loss did not appear to make the
smallest impression on him, or for a single day
to interrupt his important studies. I have the evi-
dence of his own manuscripts to prove, that he pur-
sued his valuable literary labours with unchanged
and indefatigable zeal, and almost without inter-
mission to the very close of his existence. Though
only a few months elapsed between the pub-
lication of the last volume of Origines Ecclesi-
astics and his death, yet in the course of that
sliort time he not only proposed to himself, but
had actually prepared materials for the prosecu-
tion of several other useful and laborious works.
We fmd him, in the preface to his tenth volume,
recommending to any young men of learning and
application, v/ho might have opportunity of exa-
mining books the writing of several w^orks, which
he conceived would conduce to the im})rovement
THE AUTHOR. XV
of ecclesiastical knowledge; and the only objec-
tion, which could be offered against such under-
takings, he thought hinnself an example sufficient
to confute. " The great objection against all
" these things is," he observes, " that each of
" them is too great an undertaking for any single
" person. I remember to have heard of the same
" objection made by some against me and my
" Origines, upon publishing the first volume of
" them. I bless God, I have lived to confute the
" objection, and give the world a proof, that great
" and laborious works are not always so frightful
" as sometimes they are imagined. I have given
" a little specimen of what the industry of a single
" person may do, in whom there is neither the
" greatest capacity, nor the strongest constitution.
" And, having made the experiment myself, I can
" with more decency and freedom recommend
" these things to others, who are qualified to un-
" dertake them." In the same preface he pro-
mises, if God should be pleased to give him better
health, to endeavour to effect some of those works
himself. And accordingly, among his manuscript
papers, there are many collections relative to those
important subjects. His chief attention, however,
during the short remainder of his life, appears to
have been directed towards making preparations
for a new edition of his Origines. With this
view he inserted many manuscript observations,
and additional notes, in a set of his Antiqui-
Xvi THE LIFE OF
TIES, which he preserved for his own use, from
which the present edition of his works is in the
course of pubhcation. But from fulfihing this in-
tention and ail other employments he was pre-
vented by death. His constitution, which was
naturally extremely weak and delicate, could not
be otherwise than much impaired by such a per-
severing and unremitted course of laborious
studies, and by a life, in consequence of those
studies, wholly recluse and sedentary. These cir-
cumstances combined brought upon him, at com-
paratively an early period of life, all the symptoms
and infirmities of very advanced age. So much
indeed was his whole system decayed for some
considerable time before he died, that his dissolu-
tion at no very distant period being clearly fore-
seen, both by himself and friends, it was settled
between the then Bishop of Winchester, Dr.
Charles Trimneli, and himself, that he should re-
sign Havant to enable his Lordship to appoint
some friend of the family to hold it till his eldest
son, then about twenty years of age, could be col-
lated to it. As this, however, was not carried into
execution, it is probable, that both the Bishop's
and his own death came on more hastily than had
been expected. After a life thus spent in honour-
able and useful pursuits, this learned and devout
divine died on the 17th of August, 1723, it may be
truly said, of old age, though he was then only in
his 55th year. His body was buried in the Church-
THE AUTHOR. XVU
yard of Headbourn- Worthy ; but, as he frequently
expressed a dislike to monuments, and pompous
inscriptions, nothing was erected to his memory,
except a plain tomb over his grave; and on the
slab, which covers it, his name and age and the
year of his death were mentioned. A devout and
scrupulous adherence to the well-known wishes of
his departed parent prevented his eldest son, who
afterwards became rector of Havant, from putting
up a monument to his father's memory, as he had
at one time intended, with the following inscrip-
tion:
Obstupesce Viator !
Venerandi hie conduntur Ciiieres
Josephi Bingham, A.M.
Nati Wakefeldiee apud Eboracenses,
Colleg"ii Universitatis apud Oxonienses quondam Socii :
Cujus midtiplicem si spectes Doctrinam,
Quam Scriptis prodidit,
Si exactam veteris Disciplinae et
Consuetudinum Ecclesiasticarum notiliam,
Cyprianica JEtSite vel etiam Ig-natiana,
IMoribus quoque primsevis
Vixisse agnoscas,
Nisi quod no a esset Episcopus.
At, vse Seculo Meritorum immemori et ingrato!
Cum, qui Patriarchatum in Ecclesia meruit,
Nonnisi Headbourn-Worthy et Havanti in Ag-ro Hanlon :
Parochus, obiit
Decimo Septimo die Aug-.
C Christi 1723.
^""° \ ^tatis 55.
This was written and sent with a letter of con-
dolence to the family of the deceased by the same
Mr. Edward Clarke, who had been his first in-
VOL. I. c
Xviii THE LIFE OF
striictor at the school in Wakefield, and who,
through his whole life, maintained an intimate
friendship with him, and continued to cultivate
the highest regard for his memory.
At the time of my learned ancestor's decease
only six of his ten children, two sons and four
daughters, were living, who, with their widowed
mother, were left in very contracted circumstances.
Mrs. Bingham was therefore induced to sell the
copy-right of her late husband's writings to the
hooksellers, who immediately published the whole
of his works, which had appeared in print, in two
volumes folio, without making any alterations:
and though the eldest son of the deceased under-
took the office of correcting the press, he did not
insert any of the manuscript additions or notes,
which had been prepared. As he was then not
quite twenty years of age, he probably had not
had an opportunity of examining his father's books
and papers sufficiently to discover, that any such
preparations lor a new edition existed. Mr. Richard
Bingham, the person on whom this task devolved,
had been bred on the foundation at Winchester-
College; and from thence, by the nomination of
the same Dr. Potter, of whom we have already
spoken, and who was at that time Regius Profes-
sor of Divinity and Canon of Christ-Church, he
was appoiated a student of that society. It having
happened, as I have before stated, that the Bishop
of Winchester and Mr. Joseph Bingham died on
THE AUTHOR. XtX
the same day, the right of presentation to the
living of Havant, therefore, lapsed to the Crown ;
and from thence, by the interest of friends, who
properly estimated the merits of the deceased, it
was obtained for a Mr. Baddeley, till the eldest
son of the writer, they so much valued, should be
of sufficient age to take it himself. Accordingly
when Mr. Richard Bingham was in priest's orders
he was collated to it by Bishop Willis, and acquitted
himself in that situation, during an incumbency of
thirty-seven years, as a man endowed with a
strong and excellent understanding, and of the
most exemplary honour, integrity, and virtue.
The widow died, in 1755, at a very advanced
age, in Bishop Warner's College for clergymen's
widows at Bromley, in Kent. Of the four daugh-
ters, one married a gentleman of Hampshire, of
the name of Mant, the grandfather of the present
Bishop of Killaloe, and the other three died single.
The second son of this eminent writer, who,
after his father, bore the name of Joseph, was the
last of the family, and consequently extremely
young at the time of his father's death. Though
he died in very early life, yet during the short
period of his existeii^e, he pursued his studies
with such unremitting perseverance, and gave
such early proofs of genius and sound understand-
ing, and so strongly evinced his determination to
tread in the footsteps of his father, as fully entitle
him to hang, as it were, on the arm of his learned
XX THE LIFE OF
parent, and thus obtain a few lines from the pen
of the biographer. This young man received his
education on the foundation at the Charter-House.
From whence he was, at the usual age, removed
to Corpus Christi College, in Oxford. In the
University he was a most exemplary and perseve-
ring student, and was preparing to give public
proofs of his diligence, having actually printed
every part, except the title page and preface, of
the Theban Story.* Whilst he was thus usefully
employed, and just as he was on the point of being
ordained, with every prospect of promotion from
the patronage of his father's former pupil. Arch-
bishop Potter, he was suddenly brought to his
grave, at the immature age of twenty-two, through
an illness Avholly occasioned by too sedentary a
life, and too close an application to his studies.
His body lies buried in the cloisters of Corpus
Christi College, without either monument, inscrip-
tion, or stone erected to his memory, though it
might be most truly said of him, that he fell a
martyr to application, industry, and learning.
There is one further circumstance, which, as it is
highly honourable to the learned person, the me-
moirs of whose life I have undertaken to write, it
will not be deemed irrelevant to mention.
* This was compl?ted and published after his death by a gen-
tleman, into whose hav;ds his papers had fallen, as a security for a
sum of money, which had been borrowed to facilitate the publi-
cation.
THE AUTHOR. XXI
Of such importance have the works of this emi-
nent writer been esteemed in foreign countries,
that they have all with the utmost correctness been
translated into Latin by a divine of a German
University. Such an undertaking the Author him-
self strongly recommended to any person of indus-
try and ability, as a work, which would, he con-
ceived, be highly useful to the Protestant Churches
on the Continent ; but this flattering mark of ap-
probation he did not live to receive; for he died,
as has been before stated, in 1723, and I find the
first volume of his Origines was published in
Latin by Johannes Henricus Grischonius, at Halle,
in 1724. Here I hope I maybe allowed to observe,
how frequently it occurs, and how encouraging it
is to reflect, that the merits of an eminent ances-
tor are productive of honour or emolument to
their posterity. It cannot be doubted, that the
high literary attainments of my great-grand-
father were the means of procuring the living of
Havant for his eldest son ; and a late learned and
excellent Bishop of London, Dr. Robert Lowth,
expressly assigned that reason for bestowing a
comfortable living on his grandson; " I venerate,"
says he, in a letter, which conveyed the presenta-
tion of a living to my fathei-, the Rev. L M. Bing-
ham, " I venerate the memory of your excellent
" grandfather, my father's particular and most in-
" timate fi-iend. He was not rewarded, as he
" ought to have been ; 1 therefore give you this
Xxli THE LIFE OF
" living, as a small recompense for his great and
" inestimable merits."
I cannot, perhaps, better conclude this account,
than by endeavouring to give in few words the
general character of this worthy divine.
His constitution, as we have before had occasion
to remark, was extremely weak and sickly: yet,
that his industry was unbounded and his applica-
tion most indefatigable, his published works alone
are abundantly sufficient to testify, without any
mention being made of the immensely voluminous
manuscript papers, which he left behind him at
his death. These principally consisted of exhorta-
tions and discourses, which he had preached to his
parishioners. For, eagerly and even zealously as
he pursued his studies, he never suffered his love
for them to interrupt or make him negligent in the
performance of his parochial duties. His disposi-
tion was of the mildest and purest cast; nor was it
ever ruffled by the common accidents or occur-
rences of life. So wholly indeed was he absorbed
in the pursuit of knowledge, that he appears to
bave been above being disturbed by any concerns
of a worldly nature. I have before observed, and
it may here be repeated, as the strongest proof,
that this is not merely the gratis assertion of an
over partial biographer, that, when he lost at one
blow the whole hard-earned profits of a laborious
life, it never even for a moment so deeply affected
him, as to interrupt the progress of his studies.
THE AUTHOR. liXUl
All arrangements, any ways relating to domestic
or pecuniary matters, were left wholly in the hands
of his wife and friends. Scarcely ever indeed did
he for a single hour relax from his literary labours,
except to fulfil those duties, which his situation, as
a parochial pastor, called on him to perform.
As a husband and father he was of a kind and
affectionate deportment. The duties of his profes-
sion he punctually discharged, not only with great
ability, but with devout and fervent zeal, directed
by pious and conscientious rectitude. As a writer
his learning was deep and extensive ; his style zea-
lous, strong, energetic, and convincing; and his
application in no common degree persevering and
unwearied. Yet to a temper mild, humane, chari-
table, and benevolent, on all common and indif-
ferent occasions, he united a zeal and fervour, in
the cause of learning and of truth, which no names
or authorities, however great, could awe him to
relinquish; no infirmity of body or constitution
could deter him from pursuing; and which no
obstacle, disappointment, or opposition could
diminish or impede. Though his passions were
so wholly subject to the guidance of religion, and
of virtue, that no worldly losses were sufficient to
ruffle or disturb him; yet, whenever he believed
the important interests of Christianity, or the true
faith in any of its essential doctrines to be in dan-
ger, he was always ready and even eager to step
forth in their defence. So free, unshackled, and
u
a
li
a
u
Xxiv THE LIFE OF
disinterested was his mind, that, according to his
own words, " Though he loved not to enter into
dispute with any man, yet he did not think
great names so venerable, as to be of sufficient
authority to lead others by their dictates only,
especially in matters of faith and history, unless
they assign just grounds for their assertions."
Richard Bingham.
%* It may perhaps be observed, that much of the larig-iiage,
used in the preceding- account, is the same as is to be found in the
Life of the Author, published some few years since in the Biogra-
phical Dictionary. Thoug-h one of the Editors of tliat work has
only acknowledg-ed, the assistance I g-ave him by furnishing- that
article, in a note, saying-, " From materials communicated by the
Rev. Richard Bing-ham, &c. &c." The fact is, I wrote, at his
request, the whole of the article, tog-ether with much other mat-
ter, which he thoug-ht fit to omit, and I have, at this moment, the
manuscript, which I lent him for the purpose of its being- inserted
in his work. I have, therefore, freely used my own lang-uag-e and
expressions, which I could not very easily avoid.
APPENDIX
TO
THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.
Soon after I had printed the foregoing particulars,
relative to the life of my learned ancestor, some leaves
of a Biographical Dictionary, published in 1825, by
Messrs. Hunt and Clarke, of Tavistock Street, Covent
Garden, fell into my hands ; in which, under the head,
Bingham, (Joseph), professing to give a summary
account of the Life of the Author of the Antiquities
of the Christian Church, I found several statements,
which I am convinced are erroneous.
It is said, that Mr. Bingham " published an obnoxious
sermon, containmg a defence of the tenets he main-
tained."— Now I have every reason for knowing, that
my Ancestor never maintained any tenets, which were
not perfectly in accordance with the most orthodox
opinions of the established Church of this Country ;
and further, that the sermon which I suppose is allud-
ed to, being the one preached by him in the University
Church on the subject of the Trinity, wherein he gave
an Account of the opinions of the Fathers concerning
XIV
* APPENDIX TO
that doctrine, never was committed to tlie press by
him, though it Avas highly estimated by the greatest
theological students of that day, and has frequently
been enquired after by eminent and learned persons.
The knowledge of that fact has induced me to publish
the sermon together with two others, which are on
subjects somewhat similar, and with which, if I may be
allowed the expression, he followed up his former dis-
course before many of the Clergy of the Diocese of
Winchester, assembled at two Episcopal Visitations. A
minor error, into which the Editor, or perhaps only the
printer, has fallen, is that of stating, " that Mr. Joseph
Bingham Avas horn in 1688," instead of, as was the fact,
in 1668. He was admitted a member of the University
in 1684, and took his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1688.
The Editor of Messrs. Hunt and Clarke's Biographical
Dictionary, when applied to by me on the subject of
these erroneous statements, immediately replied, that
I should find the first of these assertions, of which I
complained, much more forcibly expressed under the
article, Bingham, in Dr. Lempriere's Biographical
Dictionary, printed for Cadell and Davis, in 1808, and
from which, it seemed to be acknowledged, he had
partly borrowed his account. On referring to Dr.
Lempriere's book, I found indeed, to my great surprise,
that it contained the error above alluded to, with the
additional misstatement, that my Great Grandfather had
THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. XV*
printed and published the two Sermons also, which he
preached, shortly after leaving the University, before
the Clergy, at Visitations at Winchester, and Bishop's
Waltham 5 and Dr. Lempriere has thought fit, without
it having been possible for him to have heard or read
them, or even to have known any thing of their
contents, to call them " offensive" sermons. Now
I venture positively to assert, from the best sources
of information, that they gave the highest satis-
faction to their learned hearers ; and that the
preacher was earnestly requested to publish them,
which he prepared to do, but did not carry into
effect, being influenced by the best of motives ; not
wishing to add fuel to the ardor of controversy,
which appeared to be rapidly gaining strength.—
Whether Dr. Lempriere's epithet is with any propriety
applied to the Sermons in question, the Christian
reader will be able to judge for himself, since I have
now published them from the original manuscript
copies, as written and preached. I designedly say the
Christian Reader, because to the Photinian, the Arian,
Sabellian and Tritheist, they must necessarily be " of-
fensive," and such they were of course designed to be ;
not in any personal point of view, but inasmuch as they
assail each of those fatal heresies. Dr. Lempriere also
states, that our author published his Antiquities in ten
Vols. Octavo, and in two Vols. Folio : — whereas
XVI
i* APPENDIX TO
the Folio edition was not printed until 1726, being
three years after his death ; and it was then published
by the booksellers without any of the manuscript addi-
tions and notes, whicli he had prepared for a sepoud
edition, and Avhich, as I am in possession of the original
manuscripts, now appear. Dr. Lempriere commits
another error, in saying that the author's so7i was pre-
sented to the living of Havant by Bishop Lowth. This
statement is in many particulars incorrect. The living
of Havant, which is in Hampshire, is in the gift of the
Bishop of Winchester. Dr. Lowth Avas Bishop of
London, but never so of Winchester, and he was many
years younger than the learned author's son, w\\o was
indeed, (and I have in the preceding part of this Bio-
graphical Sketch so stated), as soon as he Avas old
enough to be ordained Priest after his father's death,
presented to Havant by the crown, to whom the pre-
sentation to the living, for that turn, lapsed, in conse-
quence of Dr. Trimnell, the Bishop of Winchester,
and my Great Grandfather, Joseph Bingham, having
died on the same day. Dr. Rol^ert Lowth, at a period
many years subsequent to the death of our author's
son, who succeeded his father as Rector of Havant,
presented a living, which was in his own patronage as
Bishop of London, to my father the Rev. J. INL Bing-
ham, saying, in his letter, which covered the presenta-
tion, as I have before fully s,tated, " that he gave him
THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. xivi*
the livins:, as a small recompense for the poorly reward-
ed, but great and inestimable merits of his excellent
Grandfather, whose memory he venerated."
I am quite conscious, that this is a subject in which
the generality of Readers will not feel any particular,
or lively interest ; but when so pious, so highly gifted
and greatly learned a divine, as, confessedly, was Bishop
Lowth did not think it beneath him to say, that he
" venerated the memory of my excellent Ancestor,"
I trust / shall be forgiven for venerating his memory
also, and for having entered at length on the foregoing
particulars 5 not so much from the mere desire of prov-
ing the correctness of my own former narration, as to
evince the high reverence, in which I hold the erudite
and pious character, the useful life and labours of my
admirable progenitor.
I will only add, that having compared the Life, as
published in " Dr. Lempriere's Universal Biography"
with that written by myself, in 1798, and which was
then inserted in '^ Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary,"
I believe that Dr. Lempriere fell into the errors he has
committed, either by misunderstanding what I had
stated on the subject, or perhaps by intending only a
little to change the phraseology, and thereby uncon-
sciously varying the actual circumstances.
Before, however, I close this biographical account,
I think it may be acceptable to the Reader to have laid
xvni
* APPENDIX TO
before him a few private letters, which were written
by the Author, after he had left the University, to Dr.
Arthur Charlett, who was then Master of University
Colleire, having been elected to that situation in 1692,
at which time my Great-grandfather v/as a Fellow of
the Society.
As, unfortunately, I do not possess any of the origi-
nal letters of my Ancestor, I have extracted these,
which follow, from a publication, in three volumes
octavo, by John Aubrey, Esq., entitled, " Letters
written by Eminent Persons of the 17th and 18th
Centuries ;" of which the originals are in the Bodleian
Library, or Ashmolean Museum of the University of
Oxford. — I have a letter from the eminent Dr. Gilbert
Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, to my Great-grandfather,
which I am also desirous of publishing in further testi-
mony of the high esteem, in which the Author of
Origines Ecclesiastic cb was held by the most distin- '
guished and respected members of the Church, what-
ever their political or religious tenets on particular
points might happen to be.
It has been said, perhaps with truth, that an idea of
the temper, habits, and talents of a man may be as
easily conceived by an attention to the style of his
epistolary correspondence, and a close examination of
his hand-writing, as from a view of his portrait. With
reference to this opinion, and as no painted resemblance
THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. xix*
of my Ancestor exists, I have determined on inserting
the foUoAving letter, though of a private and familiar
nature, written by him to Dr. Charlett ; and I now also
present to the public a Lithographic Facsimile of the
hand-writing of the learned Author, that it may be
placed as a Frontispiece to the first volume of this
Edition.
RICHARD BINGHAM.
New House, Gosport, 1829.
XX
* APPENDIX TO
From the Right Rev. Dr. Gilbert Burnet, Lord Bishop
OF Salisbury, to the l^eu. Joseph Bingham, i^ecfor q/'
Worthy.
Reverend Sir,
I humbly thank you for the kind advertisement, that you
were pleased to send me, of the instrument passed in the
University of Oxford. I met with a box full of such instru-
ments under hand and seal, since I published my work, of
which I gave a general intimation in the History of the Par-
liament 25 Henry 8, but I shall be glad to reserve a further
account of any particulars as my friends can pick them up,
and will readily own the obligation, that you offer to lay on
me in this matter, and shall be very glad to have an oppor-
tunity given me to let you see, how much I am.
Reverend Sir,
Your most humble servant,
Gi. Sarum.
Salisbury, 25th May, 1706.
On the back of this letter there is written, in the
hand-writing of Mr. Joseph Bingham, the following
Memorandum : —
" Search Registr. Actor, in Archiv. Oxon. an.. 1534, p. 127,
for the instrument mentioned."
THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. xxi*
From the Rev. Joseph Bingham, to the Rev. Dr. Char-
LETT, Master of University College^ Oxford.
Honoured Sir,
Having this opportun'ty I could not but lay hold of it to
return you my thanks for your last remembrance of me from
London. Sir P. Sydenham called upon me in his journey,
and bought some books of me at Winton, where I have lately
disposed of Dr. Sayer's study among friends, finding it as
profitable to sell books as to write them, though I have made
a shift to send another volume now to the press. Mr. Sone
desired me to recommend the bearer to your favour to be
Bible Clerk the next vacancy, assuring me that he was both
a sober youth and a tolerably good scholar, and, if you have
not disposed of the place, I should be glad to hear that you
think him worthy of an office, which contributed in part to
my own education. — We expect two new members for the
county, Sir Simeon Stuart and Mr. Pit, who are in the poll
four or 500 voters before their competitors here at Winton,
and it is supposed they will rather gain than lose in the Isle
of Wight. This is all the present news this place affords.
I would have had my bookseller to have printed a little set of
maps of Ecclesiastical Geography, about ten or twelve, to
have gone along with my next book, but he is not willing to
venture upon it, without assurance of subscriptions, or the
like, so I must let it drop, which I am sorry for, because I
take it to be an useful thing for all that read ancient Church
History. I am, with all due respects, your obliged friend and
servant,
J. Bingham.
All Saints Day, 1710.
* APPENDIX TO
XXll
From the Same to the Same.
Honoured Sib,
I sent you the second part of the Scholast. Hist, of Lay
Baptism, which I desire you to accept, as a testimony of my
respect, though the subject should happen to be disagreeable
to your opinion. I still preserve my old friends and their
favour, the Bishop of Rochester, &c. though we differ in our
sentiments upon this point ; and though I meet with some
rebukes, as you find in the Preface, from rude persons ; yet
they are trifles to me, who am conscious of nothing but de-
fending the Church's Practice. My last journey to London
proved very successful. I waited upon my Lord Treasurer,*
without any other introduction, but my book in my hand.
He received me very kindly, and invited me to dine with him
the next day, when he surprized me before dinner with a pre-
sent of a Bank-bill of an £100, as an encouragement to go
on with the Antiquities of the Church, with which he ex-
presses himself very much pleased. I believe, I am obliged
to the kind offices of Dr. Arbuthnot, who has been very
friendly in recommending me to my Lord upon his personal
acquaintance, and I beg of you, when you see him next, to
give him thanks in my name for his kind remembrance of mc.
I desire you also to give my service to the Dean of Christ
Church, and Dr. Potter, when you see them. My respects to
all the Society. I am your affectionate friend and humble
servant,
Jos. Bingham.
Winton, Nov. 9, 1713.
* Lord Treasurer Harley, created in the Reign of Queen Anne, Baron
Wigmore and Earl of Oxford and Mortimer.
THE ilFE OF THE AUTHOR. xxiii*
From the Same to the Same.
Honoured Sik,
I happened the other day to see Dr. RadcUfF's Picture, en-
graved by M. Burgher, where among other things I found
the Rectory of King's Worthy mentioned, as given to Univ.
Coll. I was much surprized at the mistake, because that is
another parish, in which the Doctor had no concern, for the
patronage belongs to my Lady Russel. The Doctor's will
has it right, as I remember, Headborn- Worthy, al. Mortimer
Worthy. And so it is called in the Valor. Mortimer Worthy,
and distinguished from Worthy-Regis and Worthy-Martyris,
which are different parishes. There is also Abbot's Worthy,
but that is only a tithing belonging to King's Worthy. The
common name of our parish is Headborn Worthy, and so I
have always called it in the title-page of my books, whenever
I had occasion to mention it. I cannot but wojider the per-
son, who was employed in giving an account of the Doctor's
benefactions, should make such a mistake against so many
evidences, or at least should not consult you, before it was
printed, who could have better informed him. We have lately
had a very good benefactor die in this place, who was pleased
to make me one of his executors in trust. He gives £15 per
ann. to a Charity School ; £10 per ann. for reading evening
prayer at St. Lawrence Church in this city ; £75 per ann. for
augmentation of poor livings throughout the nation. And
the care of all these is committed in trust to the Dean and
Chapter of Winton, who are to keep the £75 till it amounts,
by four years' income, to the sum of £300, and then join it
to the Queen's Bounty of £200 to make a perpetual settlement
xxiv* APPENDIX TO THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.
upon each church. He has likewise given £200 to Magdalen
Hospital near this place ; £100 to the poor of Aston in Derby-
shire, and the remainder of his estate, after debts and lega-
cies are paid, to the poor of Winton. He gave one of his
servants £200, and to his two executors £50 each. His name
was Mr. Joseph Percival, once a Spanish merchant. He died
worth about £6,000, and I think out of such a sum his bene-
factions are as considerable as most of those which the pre-
sent age affords. I thought this short account might not be
unacceptable to you, and therefore I give you the trouble of
reading it ; who am, your obliged friend and humble servant,
Jos. Bingham.
Winton, Oct. 11, 1715.
The Writer of the foregoing letters resided, during
the period at which they were written, in the Close at
Winchester, that he might the more conveniently have
recourse to the Library of the Cathedral Church.
R. B.— Ed.
It may be well to mention an inaccuracy, Avhich I
have committed in a note at the bottom of page 291 of
the 8th Vol. where I describe the Dean of St. Paul's,
mentioned by my Ancestor, as having been " Dr. Sher-
lock, afterwards Bishop of London." — The fact was
not so. Dr. JVilUam Sherlock was the Dean of St.
Paul's there alluded to, who never became Bishop of
London. It was his son. Dr. Thomas Sherlock, who,
at a subsequent period, was Prelate of that See.
R. B.— Ed.
THE
AUTHOR'S DEDICATION.
TO THE
RIGHT HON. AND RIGHT REV. FATHER IN GOD,
JONATHAN,
LORD BISHOP OP WINCHESTER,
And Prelate of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.
My Lord,
Having once determined with myself to make these
collections public, I needed no long time to consider, to
whom I should first address and present them. They are,
my Lord, the first-fruits of my labour under your Lordship's
government and inspection : and I was willing to think, and
do presume I did not think amiss, that your Lordship had a
sort of title to the first-fruits of any of your clergy's labour ;
especially if the subject, on which they were employed, was
suitable tp their calling, and had any direct tendency to pro-
mote Christian knowledge in the world. The subject of the
present discourse, being an essay upon the ancient usages
VOL. I. d
Xxvi 'THE author's DEDITICAON.
and customs of the piimitive Church, and a particular ac-
count of the state of her clergy, is such, as being' consi-
dered barely in its own nature, I know cannot but be ap-
proved by a person of your Lordship's character ; whose
care is concerned not only in preserving the purity of the
primitive faith, but also in reviving the spirit of the ancient
discipline and primitive practice; and were the manage-
ment any ways answerable to the greatness of the subject,
that would doubly recommend it to your Lordships favour ;
since apples of gold, are something the more beautiful for
being set in pictures of silver. But I am sensible the sub-
ject is too sublime and copious, too nice and diflieult, to
have justice done it from any single hand, much loss from
mine ; all therefore I can pretend to hope for from your Lord-
ship, is, that your candour and goodness will make just
allowances for the failings, which your sagacity and quick-
ness will easily perceive to be in this performance. I am
not, I confess, without hopes, that as well the abstruseness
and difficulty of the subject itself, as my own difficult cir-
cumstances, under which I Avas forced to labour, for want
of proper assistance of abundance of books, may be some
apology for the defects of the work ; and if I can but so far
obtain your Lordship's good opinion, as to be thought to
have designed well ; as I am already conscious of my own
good intentions to consecrate all my labours to the public
service of the Church; that will inspire me with fresh vig'our,
notwithstanding these difficulties, to proceed with cheerful-
ness and alacrity in the remaining- parts of this work, which
THE AUTHORS DEDICATION. XXVli
are yet behind, and which I shall be the more willing- to
set about, if I can perceive that it has your Lordship's ap-
probation. The countenance and encouragement of such a
judge may perhaps have a more universal influence, to ex-
cite the zeal of many others, who have greater abilities to
serve the Church ; and I know not how better to congratu-
late your Lordship upon your happy accession to the epis-
copal throne of this diocese, than by wishing you the bless-
ing and satisfaction of such a clergy, whose learning and
industry, and piety and religion, influenced by the wisdom of
your conduct, and animated by the example of your zeal
and perseverance, even to imprisonment in times of greatest
diflUculty, may so qualify them to discharge every office of
their function, as may make your diocese one of the shining
glories of the present church, and a provoking example to
the future ; which is the hearty prayer and desire of,
My Lord,
Your Lordship's faithful
and obedient servant,
J. BINGHAM.
THE
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
TO THE
FIRST VOLUME,
AS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED.
This volume, which is now published, being only a part
of a larger work, the reader, I presume, will expect I should
g-ive him some little account of the whole design, and the
reasons, which engaged me upon this undertaking. The
design, which I have formed to myself, is to give such a
methodical account of the Antiquities of the Christian
Church, as others have done of the Greek, and Roman, and
Jewish Antiquities ; not by writing an historical, or con-
tinued chronological account of all transactions as they
happened in the Church, of which kind of books there is no
great want, but by reducing the ancient customs, usages,
and practices of the Church under certain proper heads,
whereby the reader may take a view at once of any particu-
lar usage or custom of Christians, for four or five of the first
centuries, to which I have generally confined my inquiries
in this discourse. I cannot but own, I was moved with ei
sort of emulation, not an unholy one, I hope, to see so
many learned men with so much zeal, employed in collect-
ing and publishing the Antiquities of Greece and Rome;
whilst in the meantime we had nothing, so far as I was
able to learn, that could be called a complete collection of
the Antiquities of the Church, in the method that is now
proposed. The compilers of Church-history, indeed, have
THE AUTHORS PREFACE. XXJX
taken notice of many thing-s of this kind, as they pass along-
in the course of their history, as Baronius, and the Centii-
riators, and several others: but then the things He scattered
in so many places, in large volumes, that there are few
readers of those few that enter upon reading those books,
that will be at the pains to collect their accounts of things
into one view, or digest and methodize their scattered ob-
servations. There are a great many other authors, who
have written several excellent discourses upon particular
subjects of Church-antiquity, out of which, perhaps, a Gro-
novius or a Grcevius might make a more noble collection of
antiquities, than any yet extant in the world : but, as no one
has yet attempted such a work, so neither, when it was af-
fected, would it be for the purchase or perusal of every or-
dinary reader, for whose use chiefly my own collections are
intended. There are a third sort of writers, who have also
done very good service in explaining and illustrating several
parts of Church Antiquity, in their occasional notes and ob-
servations upon many of the ancient writers ; of which kind
are the curious observations of Albaspiny, Justellus, Peta-
vius, Valesius, Cotelerius, Baluzius, Sirmondus, Gothofred,
Fabrotus, Bishop Beverege, and many others, who have
published the works of the ancient Fathers, and canons of
the councils, with very excellent and judicious remarks upon
them. But these again lie scattered in so many and so large
volumes, without any other order, than as the authors on
whom they commented would admit of, that they are not to
be reckoned upon, or used, as any methodized or digested
collection of Church Antiquities, even by those, who have
ability to purchase, or opportunity to read them. Besides
these there are another sort of writers, who have purposely
undertaken to give an account of the ancient usages of the
Church, in treatises written particularly upon that subject;
such as Gavantus, Casalius, Durantus, and several others of
the Roman Communion : but these writers do by no means
XXX THE author's PREFACE.
satisfy a judicious aud inquisitive reader, for several reasons.
1 , Because their accounts are very imperfect, being- confined
chiefly to the liturg-ical part of Church Antiquity, beside
which there are a great many other things necessary to be
explained, which they do not so much as touch upon, or once
mention. 2. Because in treating of that part they build
much upon the collections of Gratian, and such modern
writers, and use the authority of the spurious epistles of the
ancient Popes, which have been exploded long- ag"o, as hav-
ing- no pretence to antiquity in the judgment of all candid
and judicious writers. But chiefly their accounts are unsa-
tisfactory, because, 3. Their whole design is to varnish
over the novel practices of the Romish Church, and put a
face of antiquity upon them. To which purpose they many
times represent ancient customs in disguise, to make them
look like the practices of the present age, and offer them to
the reader's view, not in their own native dress, but in the
similitude and resemblance of modern customs. Cardinal
Bona himself could not forbear making this reflection upon
some such writers as these, whom he justly censures, as
deserving very ill of the sacred rites of the Church,* and
their venerable antiquity; who measure all ancient customs
by the practice of the present times, and judge of the pri-
mitive discipline only by the rule and customs of the age
they live in ; being deceived by a false persuasion, that the
practice of the Church never differed in any point from the
customs, which they learned from their forefathers and
teachers, and which they have been inured to from their
tender years; whereas we retain many words in common
with the ancient fathers, but in a sense as different from
theirs, as our times are remote from the first ages after
Christ ; as will appear, says he, when we come to discourse
Bona Rcruin Litursic. lib. i. c. 18. n. 1.
THE author's preface. XXXl
of the oblation, communion, and other parts of divine ser-
vice. This is an ingenuous confession, and withal a just re-
flection upon the partiality of the writers of his own Churchy
and a good reason, in my opinion, why we are not to expect
any exact accounts of antiquity from any writers of that
communion ; though some are less tainted with her errors
than others, and can allow themselves to be a little more
Hberal and free upon some occasions than the rest of their
brethren. Yet even Bona himself, after the reflection he
has made upon others, runs into the very same error, and
falls under his own censure. And Habertus, though other-
wise a very learned and ingenuous person, who has written
about the Greek liturgies, as Bona has of the Latin, is often
through prejudice carried away with the common failing of
the writers of that side, whose talents are chiefly employed
in palliating the faults of the Communion and cause they
are engaged in. So that, if we are to expect any exact ac-
count of Church Antiquities, it must be from some Pro-
testant authors, who can write with greater freedom and less
prejudice concerning the usages and customs of the primi-
tive Church. But among these there are very few that have
travelled far in this way ; the generality of our writers
contenting themselves to collect and explain so much of
Church Antiquity, as was necessary to show the errors and
novelties of popery ; but not descending to any more minute
and particular consideration of things, which did not come
within the compass of the controversy they had with the
Romish Church, Hospinian, indeed, in the beginning- of
the reformation, wrote several large volumes of the origin
of temples, festivals, Monachism, with the history of the
Eucharist: but as these take in but a very few subjects, so
they are too full of modern relations : which make them
something tedious to an ordinary reader, and no complete
account of primitive customs neither. Spalatensis, in his
books de Republicd Ecclesiasticd, has c-one a little further ;
Xxxli THE AUTHOR S PREFACE.
yet he g-etierally confines himself to the popish controversy,
and has much out of Gratian and the Canon Law ; which, in-
deed, served him as good argument ad hominem against
those whom he had to deal with, but it will not pass for au-
thentic history in other eases. Suicerus's Thesaurus Ec-
desiasticus is abundantly mofe particular, and indeed the
best treasure of this sort of learning, that has yet been pub-
lished : but his collections are chiefly out of the Greek
Fathers ; and only in the method of a vocabulary or lexicon,
explaining words and things precisely in the order of the
alphabet. The most methodical account of things of this
kind, that I have yet seen, is that of our learned countryman,
Dr. Cave, in his excellent book of Primitive Christianity ;
wherein he has given a succinct, but clear account of many
ancient customs and practices, not ordinarily to be met with
elsewhere. But his design being chiefly to recommend the
moral part of primitive Christianity to the observation and
practice of men, he was not obliged to be very particular in
explaining many other things, which, though useful in them-
selves, yet might be looked upon as foreign to his design ;
and for that reason, I presume, he industriously omitted
them. There are some other books, which I have not yet
seen, but only guess by the titles that they may be of this
kind; such as Bebelius's Antiquitates Ecclesiasticts, Mar-
tinay de Ritihus Ecclesia, Hendecius de Antiquitatibus Ec-
clesiasticis, Quenstedt Antiquitates Bihlicce et Ecclesiasticee.
But I presume, whatever they are, they will not forestal my
design, which is chiefly to gratify the English reader with
an entire collection of Church Antiquities in our own lan-
guage, of which this volume is published as a specimen :
and, if this proves useful to the public, and finds a favourable
acceptance, it will be followed with the remaining parts of
the work, as my time and ocassions will give me leave, ac-
eovdinor to the scheme here laid down, or with as little va-
riation as may be. I shall next treat of the inferior orders
THE author's preface. x.vxiii
of the clergy, as I have here done of the superior: then of
the elections and ordinations of the clergy, and the several
qualifications of those, that were to be ordained : of the
privileges, immunities, and revenues of the clerg-y, and the
several laws and rules, which particularly respected their
function. To which I shall subjoin an account of the an-
cient ascetics, monks, virg-ins, and widows, who were a sort
of retainers to the Church. After this shall follow an ac-
count of the ancient Churches, and their several parts,
utensils, consecrations, immunities, together with a Notitia
of the ancient division of the Church into provinces, dio-
ceses, parishes, and the orig-inal of these. After which I
shall speak of the service of the Church, beg-inning- with
the institution and instruction of the catechumens, and de-
scribing their several stages before baptism: then speak of
baptism itself, and its ordinary concomitant, confirmation.
Then proceed to the other solemn services of psalmody,
reading of the Scripture, and preaching, which were the
first part of the ancient Church service ; then speak of their
prayers and the several rites and customs observed therein ;
where of the use of liturgies and the Lord's prayer ; and of
the prayers of catechumens, energumens, and penitents; all
which part of the service thus far was commonly called by
the name of the Missa Catechumenorum ,• then of the Missa
Fidelium, or communion-service ; where of the manner of
their oblations, and celebration of the Eucharist, which was
always the close of the ordinary Church service. After this
I shall proceed to give a particular account of their fasts
and festivals, their marriage rites and funeral rites, and the
exercise of ancient Church discipline ; their manner of
holding councils and synods, provincial, patriarchal, oecu-
menical ; the power of Christian princes in councils, and
out of them ; The manner and use of their Literee
Formatce, and the several sorts of them ; their different
ways of computation of time ; to which I shall add au
VOL I. e
XXxiv THE AUTHORS PRKKACTE,
aicount of their schools, libraries, and methods of educa-
ting- and training- up persons for the ministry, and say some-
thino- of the several translations of the Bible in use among-
them, and several other miscellaneous rites and thing-s,
which would properly come under none of the foremen-
tioned heads; such as their manner of taking- oaths, their ab-
stinence from blood, their frequent use of the sign of the cross,
their several sorts of public charities, the honours which they
paid to their martyrs, together with an account of their
sufferings, and the several instruments of cruelty used by
the heathen to harass and torment them. In treating of all
which, or any other such like matters, as shall offer them-
selves,! shall observe the same method, that I have done in
this volume; illustrating the ancient customs from the or i-
j^inal records of antiquity, and joining the opinions of the
•best modern authors, that I can have opportunity to peruse,
•for unfolding points of greatest difficulty. I confess, indeed,
'this work will suffer something in my hands, for want
of several books, which I have no opportunity to see, nor
ability to purchase; but that perhaps may tempt some
others, who are at the fountains of learning, and have all
manner of books at command, to add to my labours, and
improve this essay to a much greater perfection ; since it is
a subject that will never be exhausted, but still be capable
of additions and improvement. The chief assistance I have
hitherto had, is from the noble benefaction of one, who
being dead, yet speaketh. I mean the renowned bishop
Morely, whose memory will for ever remain fresh in the
hearts of the learned and the good ; who, among many
other eminent works of charity and generosity, becoming
his great soul, and high station in the Church, such as the
augmentation of several small benefices, and provision of
a decent habitation and maintenance for the widows of poor
clergymen in his diocese, &c. has also bequeathed a very
valuable collection of books to the Church of Winchester,
THE AUTHORS PREFACE. XXXV
for the advancement of learning among- the parochial clerg-y ;
and I reckon it none of the least part of ray happiness, that
Providence removing" me early from the university, where
the best supplies of learning- are to be had, placed me by
the hands of a g-enerous benefactor,* without any importu-
nity or seeking of my own, in such a station, as gives me
liberty and opportunity to make use of so good a library,
though not so perfect as I could wish. But the very men-
tioning this, as it is but a just debt to the memory of that
•great prelate, so perhaps it may provoke some other gene-
rous spirit, of Hke abilities and fortune with him, to add
new supplies of modern books published since his death,
to augment and complete his benefaction. Which would
be an addition of new succours and auxiliaries to myself,
and others in my circumstances, and better enable us to
serve the public. In the mean time, the reader may with
ease enjoy, what with no small pains and industry I have
collected and put together ; and he may make additions
from his own reading and observation, as I have done upon
several authors, whom I have had occasion to peruse and
mention. From some of which, and those of great fame
and learning*, I have sometimes thought myself obliged to
dissent, upon some nice and peculiar questions ; but I
have never done it without giving my reasons, and treating
them with that decency and respect, which is due to their
great learning and character. If in any thing I have made
mistakes of my own, as I cannot be so vain as to think I
have made none, every intelligent reader may make himself
judge, and correct them with ingenuity and candour. All
I can say is, That I have been as careful to avoid mistakes
as I could in so critical and curious a subject ; and I hope
there will not be found so many, but that this essay n^ay
* Dr. Radcliffe.
XXXVl THE AUTHORS PREFACE.
prove useful both to the learned and unlearned ; to instruct
the one, who cannot read these things in their originals ;
and refresh the memories of the other, who may know many
things, that they cannot ahvays readily have recourse to.
Or, if it be of no use to greater proficients, it may at least
be some help to young students and new beginners, and
both provoke them to the study of ancient learning, and
a little prepare them for their entrance upon it. Besides, I
considered, there were som.e, who might have a good incli'-
nation toward the study of these things, who yet have nei-
ther ability to purchase, nor time and opportunity to read
over many ancient fathers and councils ; and to such, a
work of this nature, composed ready to their hands, might
be of considerable use, to acquaint them with the state and
practice of the primitive Cluirch, when they have no better
opportunities to be informed about it. If, in any of these re-
spects, these collections, which were designed for the honour
of the ancient Church, and the benefit of the present, may
prove serviceable toward those ends, I shall not think my
time and pains ill bestowed.
CONTENTS,
BOOK I.
OF THE SEVERAL NAMES AND ORDERS OF MEN IN THE
CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
CHAP. I.
Of the several Titles and Appellations of Christians, which they
owned, and distinguished themselves by.
Sect. 1. Christians at first called Jesseans, and Therapeutee, IltToi, iK-XcKroi,
&C.—2. Of tlie technical names, IX9Y2 and Pisciculi. — 3. Christians,
why called Gnostici. — 4. Sometimes called Theophori and Christophori.
6. Sometimes, but very rarely, Christi. — 6. Christians great enemies to
all party names and human appellations. — 7. Of the name Catholic, and
its antiquity. — 8. In what sense the name. Ecclesiastics, was given to all
Christians.— 9. The Christian religion called Aoyjua, and Christians, di
ra Aoy/ta'roc. — 10. Christians called Jews by the Heathens. — 11. Christ,
by the Heathens commonly called Chrestus, and Christians, Chrestians.
CHAP. II.
Of the Names of Reproach which the Jews, Infidels, arid Here-
tics cast upon the Christians.
Sect. 1. Christians called Nazarens by the Jews and Heathens.— '3. And
Galilseans. — 3. Also Atheists. — 4-. And Greeks and impostors. — 5. Ma-
gicians.— 6. The hew Superstition.— 7. Christians, why called Sibyllists.
— 8. Biathanati. — 9. Parabolarii, and Desperati.— 10 Sarmentitii, and
Semaxii. — 11. Lucifugax Natio. — 12. PlautinaProsapia, and Pistores. —
13. With what Names the Heretics reproached the Orthodox Christians.
—14. Christians called Psychici, by the Montanists. — 15. Allegorists,
by the Millenaries.— 16. Chronitte, by the Aetians; Simplices, by the
Manichees ; Anthropolatrie, by the Apollinarians. — 17. Philosarcse and
Pelusiotae, &c. by the Origenians. — 18. The Synagogue of Antichrist and
Satan, by the Luciferians.
CHAP. III.
Of the several Orders of Men in, the Christian Church.
Sect. 1. — Three Sorts of Members of the Christian Church, the 'Hynfiti'm,
IIiToi, Karri x»iitvoi. — 2. Believers here strictly taken for the Laity that
were Baptized. — 3. Catechumens owned as imperfect Members of the
Church. — 4. Heretics not reckoned among Christians. — 5. Penitenls and
Energumens ranked in the same Class with Catechumen*.
XXXVm CONTENTS.
CHAP. IV.
A more particular Account of the Ilt^rot, or Believers ; their
Titles of Honour and Privileges above the Catechumens.
Sect. 1. Believers otherwise called $wri2o/t£vo«, the Illuminate. — 2. And oi
fitj^tvri^uvoi, the Initialed. — 3. And TiXtioi, the Perfect. — 4. Chari Dei,
Pilii Dei, 'Aytot, &c.— 5. The Privileges of the Fidcles. 1. To partake
of the Eucharist. — 6. 2. To join in all the Prayers of the Church. — 7.
3. The Use of the Lord's Prayer, another Prerogative of the IIiTot ;
whence it was called "Evxtj ttitwi', The Prayer of Believers. — 8. 4. They
were admitted to hear Discourses upon the most profound Mysteries of
Religion,
CHAP. V.
Of the Distinction betwivt the Laity and Clergy, and of the
Antiquity of that Distinction.
Sect. 1. The Fideles^ otherwise called Laici, to distinguish them from the
Clergy. — 2. The Antiquity of this Di.stinction proved against Rigaltius,
Salmasius, and Sclden. — 3. An Objection from 1 Pet. v. 3. answered.— 4.
A Distinction in the Offices of Laity and Clergy always obserred. — 5.
Laymen also called BiiuTiKot, Seciilare. — 6. And 'iSiiorai, Private Men.
— 7. What Persons properly called Clerici. — 8. The name Cleriei some-
times approjiriato to ^\\■^ Inferior Orders. — 9. The Reason of the Name
Clerici.— \Q. All the Clergy called Ctf/ionici. — 11. And TaligrS B»j;«aroi-,
the Order of the Sanctiniri/.
BOOK II.
OF THE SEVERAL ORDERS OF THE CLERGY IN THE PRIMI-
TIVE CHURCH.
CHAP. I.
Of the Original of Bishops ; and that they were a distinct Order
from Presbyters in the Primitive Church.
Sect. 1. What the Ancients mean by different Orders of Bishops and Pres-
byters.— 2. Tlic Order of Bishops always owned to be superior to that of
Presbyters. — 3. The Order of Bishops, of Apostolical Institution.— 4. A
List or Catalogue of such Bishops as were first ordained by the Apostles.
CHAP. II.
Of ihe several Titles of Honour given to Bishops in the Primi-
tive Church.
Sect. 1. All Bishops at first called Apostles. — 9. After that, Successors of
the Apostles. — 3. Whence every Bishop's See, called Sedes Apostolica.
— 4. Bishops called Princes of the People. — 5. Preepositi, Tlpof^iortg,
TTpofCjjoi, 'K0opo(. — 6. Principes Sacerdotum, Pontifices Maximi. Summi
Sacerdolc.i, cf-r.— 7. Every Bishop anciently called Papa, Father, or
Pope. — 8. Putcr Palriim, and Episcopiis Episcoporum. — 9. Bishops somcr
times called Patriarchs.— 10, And Vicars of Christ. — U. And Angels of
the Churches.
CONTENTS. XXXIX
CHAP. III.
Of the Offices of Bishops as distinct f^om Presbyters.
Stct. 1. A threefold DinVrence between Bishops and Presbyters in the Dis-
charge of their Office and Functions.— 2. 1. In the common OflTices which
might be performed by both; the Bishop acted by an Independent Power;
but Presbyters in Dependence upon, and Subordination to liim. — 3. This
specified m tlie Offices of Baptism, and the Lord's Supper. — *. And in
the Office of Preaching.— 5. 2. The Office and Power of Ordination never
entrusted in the Hands of Presbyters.— 6. Ordinations by Presbyters
disannulled by the Church.— 7. Some Allegations to tlie contrary exa-
mined.—8. 3. A Third Difference betAVeen Bishops and Presbyters; —
Presbyters accountable to their Bishops, not Bishoi)s to their Presbyters.
—9. Yet Bisliops' Powernot arbitrary, but limited by Canon in various
Respects.
CHAP. IV.
Of the Power of Bishops over the Laity, Monks, sub(rr'dinate
iVJaf^isl rates, and all Pirsons within their Diocese; and of
their Office in disposing of the Revenues cfthe Church.
Sect. 1. No Exemptions from the Jurisdiction of the Bishop in the Primi
live Church. — 2. All Monies subject to the Bishop of the Diocese, where
they lived. — 8. As also all subordinate Magistrates in Matters of Spiritual
Jurisdiction. — 4. Of the Distinction between Temporal and Spiritual
Jurisdiction; Bishops' Power wholly confined to the latter. — 5. An Ac-
count of the Literec Formalep, and the Bishop's Prerogative in granting
them to all Persons. — 6, Of the Bishop's Power in disposing of the Reve-
nues of the Church.
CHAP. V.
Of the Office of Bishops, in Relation to the whole Catholic Church.
Sect. 1. In what sense every Bishop supposed to be Bishop of the whole
Catholic Church. — 2. In what Respect the whole World l-.ut one Diocese,
and but one Bishopric in the Church. — 3. Some particular Instances of
Private Bishops acting as Bishops of the whole Universal Church.
CHAP. VI.
Of the Independency of Bishops, especially in the Cyprianic
Age, and in the African Churches.
Sect. 1. What meant by the Independency of Bishops one of another, and
their absolute Power in their own Ciiurch.— 2. All Bishops had Liberty
to form their own Liturgies. — 3. And express the same Creed in diflerent
Forms. — 4. And appoint particular Days of Fasting in their own
Churches. — 5. The Independency of Bishops most conspicuous in the
African Churches.
kX CONTENTS.
CHAP. VII.
Of the Power of Bishops in Hearing ami Determining Secular
Causes.
Sect. 1. Bishops commonly chosen Arbitrators of Men's Differences in the
Primitive Cliurch. — 2. The Original of this Custom. What meant liy
the Word i^sS'iVTJixevoi in St. Paul, 1 Cor. vi. 4. — 3. This Power of
Bishops confirmed by the Imperial Laws. — 4. Yet not allowed in Crimi-
nal Causes ; nor in any Causes, but when the T^itigants both agreed to
take them for Arbitrators. — 5. Bishops sometimes made their Presby-
ters, and sometimes Laymen, their Substitutes in this Affair,
CHAP. VIII.
Of the Privilege of Bishops to intercede for Criminals.
Sect. 1. Of the great Power and Interest of Bishops in Interceding to the
Secular Magistrates. — 2. The Reasons why Bishops interceded for some
Criminals and not olhers. — 3. They never interceded in Civil Matters
and Pecuniary Causes.
CHAP. IX.
Of some particular Honours and Instances of Respect showed to
Bishops by all Persons in general.
Sect. 1. Of the ancient Custom of bowing the Head, to receive the Benedic-
tion of Bishops. — 2. Of kissing their Hand. — 3. The Custom of singing
Hosannas to them sometimes used, but not approved. — 4. What meant
by the Corona Sacerdotaiis, and the Form of saluting Bishops Per Coro-
nam. — 5. Whether Bishops anciently wore a Mitre, or any the like Orna-
ment.— 6. Of the Titles 'Ayiwrarot, Sanctissimi, ^c, — 7. Bishops distin-
guished by their Throne in the Church.
CHAP. X.
Of the Age, and some particular Qualifications required in such
as were to be Ordained Bishops.
Sect. 1. Bishops not to be Ordained under Tliirty Years of Age, except
they were Men of extraordinary Worth. — 2. Bishops to be chosen out of
the Clergy of the Church to which they were Ordained.— 3. Some Ex-
ceptions to this Rule. — 4. Bishops to go through the Inferior Orders of
the Church. — 5. Deacons might be ordained Bishops, though never or-
dained Presbyters. — 6. Bishops in Cases of Necessity chosen out of the
Inferior Orders. — 7. And in some extraordinary Cases ordained imme-
diately from Laymen.
CHAP. XL
Of some particular Laws and Customs observed about the Ordi-
nation of Bishops.
Sect. 1. Bishoprics not to be void above three Months.— ^2. In some Places
a new Bishop was chosen before the old one was buried. — 3. Some In-
stances of longer Vacancies in Times of Difficulty and Persecution.— 4.
CONTENTS. Xll
Three Bishops required to the Ordination of a Bishop. — 5. Yet Ordina-
tions by one Bishop allowed to be valid, though not eanonical. — 6. The
Bishop of Rome not privileged to Ordain alone, any more than any other
single Bishop. — 7. Every Bishop to be ordained in his own Church. — 8.
The ancient Form of Ordination of Bishops. — 9. A Form of Prayer used
at their Consecration. — 10. Of their Enthronement, Homilice Enthronis-
ticcc and Litrce Enihronisticce.
CHAP. XII.
Of the Rule which prohibits Bishops to he ordained in small
Cities.
Sect. 1. The Reason of the Law against placing Bishops in small Cities. —
2. Some Exceptions to this Rule in Egypt, Libya, Cyprus, Arabia, Asia
Minor, &c, — 3, Reasons for erecting Bishoprics in small Cities.
CHAP. XIII.
Of the Rule which forbids Two Bishops to be ordained in one
City.
Sect. 1. The general Rule and Practice of the Church, to have but one
Bishop in a City. — 2. Yet Two Bishops sometimes allowed by Compro-
mise, to end a Dispute, or cure an inveterate Schism. — 3. The Opinions
of Learned Men concerning two Bishops in a City in the Apostolical Age,
one of the Jews, and the other of the Gentiles. — i. The Case of Coad-
jutors,
CHAP. XIV.
Of the Chorepiscopi, IlepioSei^rai, and Suffragan Bishops ; and
how these differed from one another.
Sect. \. Of the Reason of the Name Chorepiscopi, and the Mistake of some
about it. — 2. Three different Opinions about the Nature of this Order :
1st. That they were mere Presbyters. — 3. A second Opinion, that some
of them were Presbyters, and some of them Bishops. — 4. The third
Opinion, that they were all Bishops, the ?uost probable. — 5. Some Objec-
tions against this answered. — 6. The Chorepiscopi allowed to ordain the
inferior Clergy, but not Presbyters or Deacons, without special License
from the City-Bishop. — 7. They had Power to contirra. — 8. And Power to
grant Letters Dimissory to the Clergy. — 9. They had Power to officiate
in the Presence of the City-Bishop. — 10. And to sit and vote in Council. —
11. The Power of the Chorepiscopi not the same in all Times and Places,
— 12. Their Power first struck at by the Council of Laodicea, which set up
YlfpioSevrnt in their Room. — 13. Of the Attempt to restore tlie Chorepis-
copi in England, under tiic Name of Suffragnn Bishops.— 14. Suffragan
Bishops dillerent from the Chorepiscopi in the Primitive Church. — 15.
The Suffragan Bishops of the Roman Provinces called by a technical
Name, Libra.
CHAP. XV.
Of the Intercessores and Intervv.tnrcs in the African Clmrchc^,
Sect, 1, Why some Bishops called Intercessors in the African Churches.
2, The Office of an Intercessor not to last above a Year. — 3. No Inter-
cessor to be made Bishop of the Place where he was constituted Interces-
sbr.
VOL. I. f
xlii CONTENTS.
CHAP. XVI.
Of Primates or Metropolitans.
Sect. 1. Some derive the original of Metropolitans from Apostolical Consti-
tution.— 2. Others from the Age next after the Apostles. — 3. Confessed
by all to have been long before the Council of Nice. — 4. Proofs of Me-
tropolitans in the second Century. — 5. By what Names Metropolitans
were anciently called. — 6. Primates in Afric called Senes. because the
oldest Bishop was always Metropolitan. — 7. How African Bishops
might forfeit their Title to the Primacy. — 8. A Register of Ordinations
to be liept in the Prim.ate's Church. And all Bishops to take place by
Seniority, &c. — 9. Three sorts of Honorary Primates, besides the
Primate in Power. 1. Primates CEio.— 10. 2. Titular Metropolitans.
11. 3. The Bishops of some Mother-Churches, which were honoured by
ancient Custom. — 12. The Offices of Metropolitans. 1. To ordain their
Suffragan Bishops. — 13. This Power continued to them after the setting
up of Patriarchs. — 14. Yet this Power not arbitrary, but determined by
the Major Vote of a Provincial Synod. — 15. Metropolitans to be chosen
and ordained by their own Provincial Synod. — 16. 2. The second OtKce
of Metropolitans, to decide Controversies arising among their Provincial
Bishops, and talie Appeals from them. — 17. 3. Their third Office, to call
Provincial Synods, which all SuflVagans were obliged to attend. — 18.
4. Metropolitans to publish Imperial Laws and Canons, visit Dioceses,
and correct Abuses. — 19. 5. Bishops not to travel without the Letters of
their Metropolitan. — 20. 6. Metropolitans to talce care of vacant Sees
within their Province. — 21. 7. Metropolitans to calculate the Time of
Easter.— 22. How the Power of Metropolitans grew in after Ages. — 23.
The Primate of Alexandria had the greatest Power of any otiier. — 24.
All Metropolitans called Jpostolici, and their Sees, Sedcs Aposlolicce.
CHAP. XVII.
Of Patriarchs.
Sect. 1. Patriarchs, anciently called Arclibishops. — 2. And Exarchs of the
Diocese. — 3. Salmasius's Mistalie about the first Use of the Name Patri-
arch.— 4. Of the Jewish Patriarchs, their first Rise, Duration, and Ex-
tinction.— 5. Of the Patriarchs among tlie Montanists. — R. The Name
Patriarch first used by Socrates, and in the Council of Chalcedon. — 7.
Four different Opinions concerning the first Rise of Patriarclial Power.
— 8. The Opinion of Spalatensis and St. Jerom preferred. — 9. Patriar-
chal Power established in three General-Councils successively : viz. Con-
stantinople, Ephesus, and Ciialcedon. — 10. The Power of Patriarchs not
exactly the same in all t hurches. The Patriarch of Constantinople had
some peculiar Privileges. — 11. The Patriarch of Alexandria had also
Privileges peculiar to himself. — 12. The First Privilege of Patriarchs
was to Ordain all the Metropolitans of the Diocese, and receive his own
Ordination from a Diocesan Synod. — 13. A Second Privilege, to call
Diocesan Synods and preside in them. — 11. A Third Privilege, to receive
Appeals from Metropolitans and Provincial Synods. — 15. A Fourth Pri-
vilege, to censure Metro, olitans, and also their Suffragans, when Metro-
politans were remiss in censuring them. — 16. A Fifth Privilege. Patri-
archs might make Metropolitans their Commissioners, &c. — 17. A Sixth
Privilege. The Patriarch to be consulted by his Metropolitans in Mat-
ters of any great Moment.— 18. A Seventh Privilege. Patriarchs to
communicate to the Metropolitans such Imperial Laws as concerned the
^hurch, &c.— 19. The Eighth Privilege. Great Criminals reserved to.
CONTENTS. xliii
the Patriarch's Absolution. — 30. The Ninth Privilege. The greater
Patriarchs Absolute, antl Independent of one another. — 21. The Patri-
arch of Constantinople dignified with the Title of QDcunienical, and his
Church Head of all Cliurchcs. — 2'2. Of subordinate Patriarchs. What
Figure they made in the Church, and that they were not mere titular
Patriarchs.
CHAP. XVIIt.
Of the ^ AvTOKi(j>a\oi.
Sect. 1, All Metropolitans anciently styled 'Auro/cs^aXoi. — 2. Some Metro-
politans independent after the setting up of Patriarchal Power, as those
of Cyprus, Iberia, Armenia, and the Church of Britain. — 3. A Third sort
of ' AvroKiipaXot. such Bishops as were subject to no Metropolitan, but
only to the Patriarch of the Diocese. — i. A Fourth sort of ' AvroKifaXoi.
CHAP. XIX.
Of Presbyters.
Sect. J. The meaning of the Name Presbyter. — 9. Apostles and Bishops
sometimes called Presbj-ters. — 3. The Original of Presbyters properly
so called.— 4. The Powers and Privileges of Presbyters.— -5. Presbyters
allowed to sit with the Bishop on Thrones in the Church. — 6. The Form
of their sitting in a Semicircle ; whence they were called Corona Pres-
bj/terii. — 7. Presbyters the Ecclesiastical Senate, or Council of the
Church, whom the Bishop consulted and advised with upon all Occasions.
— 8. Some Evidences out of Ignatius and Cyprian, of the Power and Prt-
rogatives of Presbyters in conjunction with the Bishop. — 9. The Power
of Presbyters thought by some to be a little diminished in the Fourth
Century. — 10. Yet still they Mere admitted to join with the Bishop in the
Imposition of Hands in the Ordination of Presbyters. — 11. And allowed
to sit in Consistory with their Bishops. — 12. As also in Provincial Coun-
cils.— 13. And in General-Councils likewise. — H. Of the Titles of
Honour given to Presbyters, as well as Bishops, and what Difference
there was between them, as applied to both. — 15. In what sense Bishops,
t'resbyters, and Deacons, called Priests, by Optatus. — 16. Why Priests
called Mediators between God and Men. — 17. The ancient Form and
Manner of ordaining Presbyters. — 18. Of the Archipresbyteri. — 19. Of
the Seniorcs Ecclesiastici. That these were not Lay-Elders in the
Modern Acceptation.
CHAP. XX.
Of Deacons.
Sect. 1. Deacons always reckoned One of the Three Sacred Orders of the
Church. — 2. Yet not generally called Priests, but Ministers and Levites.
— 3. For this Reason the Bishop was not tied to have the Assistance of
any Presbyters to ordain them.— 4. The Deacon's Office to take Care of
the Utensils of the Altar. — 5. 2. To receive the Oblations of the People,
and present them to the Priest, and recite the Names of those that offered.
— 6. 3. To read the Gospel in some Churches. — 7. 4; To minister the con-
secrated Elements of Bread and Wine to the People in the Eucharist. —
8. But not allowed to consecrate them at the Altar. — 9. 5. Deacons
allowed to Baptize, in some Places. — 10. 6. Deacons to bid Prayer in
the Congregation. — II. 7. Deacons allowed to preach by the Bishop's
xliv CONTKNTS.
Authority. — 12. 8. Also to reconcile Penitents in Cases of extreme
Necessity. And to suspend the Inferior Clergy in some extraordinary
Cases. — 13. 9. Deacons to attend upon their Bishops, and sometimes
represent them in General-Councils. — 14. 10. Deacons empowered to
rebuke and correct Men that beliaved themselves irregularly in the
Church. — 15. 11. Deacons anciently performed the Offices of all the
Inferior Orders of the Church. — 16. 12. Deacons the Bishop's Sub-
Almoners. — 17. IS. Deacons to inform the Bishop of the Misdemeanours
of the People. — 18. Hence Deacons commonly called the Bishop's Eyes,
his Mouth, Angels, Prophets, &c. — 19. Deacons to be multiplied accord-
ing to the Necessities of the Church. — 20. Of the Age at which Deacons
might be ordained. — 21. Of the Respect which Deacons paid to Presby-
ters, and received from the Inferior Orders.
CHAP. XXL
Of Archdeacons.
Sect. 1. Archdeacons anciently of the same Order with Deacons. — 2. Elected
by the Bishop, and not made by Seniority. — 3. Commonly Persons of
such Interest in the Church, that they were chosen the Eiihop's Succes-
sors.— 4. The Offices of the Archdeacon. 1. To attend the Bishop at the
Altar, &c. — 5. 2. To assist him in managing the Church's Revenues. —
6. 3. In Preaching. — 7. 4. In Ordaining the Inferior Clergy. — 8. 5. The
Archdeacon had Power to censure Deacons and the Inferior Clergy, but
not Presbyters. — 9. Of the Name 'ATraiTir/jf, Circumlustrator, and
whether Archdeacons had any Power over the whole Diocese. — 10. Of
the 'Same Cor-Episcopi, why given to Archdeacons. — 11. The Opinions
of Learned Mon concerning the first Original of the Name and Office of
Archdeacon.
CHAP. XXII.
Of Deaconesses.
Sect. 1. The ancient Name of Deaconesses, AiaKovot, IlpeafHriSsg. Vidute,
Ministree. — 2. Deaconesses to be Widows by some Laws. — 3. And such
Widows as had Children. — 4. Not to be ordained under Sixty Years of
Age, by the most ancient Canons. — 5. To be such as had been only the
Wives of one Man. — 6. Whether Deaconesses were anciently ordained
by Imposition of Hands. — 7. Not consecrated to any Office of the Priest-
hood.— 8. Their Offices. 1. To assist at the Baptism of Women. — 9.
2. To be a Sort of Private Catechists to the Women-Catechumens. — 10.
3. To visit and attend Women that were Sick and in Distress. — 11. 4.
To Minister to the Martyrs and Confessors in Prison. — 12. 5. To attend
the Women's Gate in the Church. — 13. 6. To preside over the Widows,
&c. — 14. How long this Order continued in the Church. — 15. Another
Notion of the Name Diaconissa, as it signifies a Deacon's Wife.
CONTENTS. klif
BOOK III.
OF THE INFERIOR ORDERS OF THE CLERGY IN THE PRIMI-
TIVE CHURCH.
CHAP. I.
Of the first Original of the Inferior Orders, and the Number
and Use of them : and how they differed from the Superior
Orders of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons.
Sect. 1. The Inferior Orders not of Apostolical, but only Ecclesiastical In-
stitution, proved against Baroniusand the Council of Trent. — 2. No cer-
tain Number of tlicm in the Primitiye Church. — 3. Not instituted in all
Churches at the same Time. — 4. The principal Use of them in the Primi-
tive Church, to be a sort of Nursery for the Hierarchy. — 5. Not allowed
to forsake their Service, and return to a mere Secular Life again. — 6.
How they differed from the Superior Orders, in Name, in Office, and in
Manner of Ordination.
CHAP. II.
Of Subdeaco7is.
Sect. 1. — No mention of Subdeacons, till the Third Century.— 2. Their Ordi-
nation performed without Imposition of Hands in the Latin Church. —
3. A brief Acconnt of their Office. — 4. What Offices they might not per-
form.—5. The Singularity of the Church of Rome, in keeping to the
precise Number of Seven Subdeacons.
CHAP. III.
Of Acolythists.
Sect. I. Acolythists an Order peculiar to the Latin Church, and never men-
tioned by" any Greek Writers for Four Centuries. — 2. Their Ordination
and Office.— 3. The Origination of the Name. — 4. Whether Acolythists
be the same with the Deputati and Cemferarii of later Ages.
CHAP. IV.
Of Exorcists.
Sect. 1. Exorcists at first no peculiar Order of the Clergy.— 2. Bishops and
Presbyters, for the Three First Centuries, the usual Exorcists of the
Church. — 3. In what Sense every Man his own Exorcist. — 4. Exorcists
constituted into an Order in the latter End of the Third Century. — 5.
Their Ordination and Office.— 6. A short Account of the Energumens,
their Names and Station in the Church. — 7. The Exorcist chieliy con-
cerned in the Care of them. — S. The Duty of Exorcists in reference to
the Catechumens.
xWi CONTENTS.
CHAP. V.
Of Lectors or Readers.
Sect. 1. The Order of Readers not instituted till the Third Century. — 2. tjy
whom the Scriptures were read in the Ciiurch before the Institution of
fliat Order. — 3. The Manner of Ordaining Readers. — 4. Tlieir Station
and OtTice in the Church. — 5, The Age at which they might be Ordained*
CHAP. VI.
Of the Ostiarii or Doorkeepers.
Sect. 1. No mention of tliis Order till the Third or Fourth Century. — 2. Thai
Manner of their Ordination in the Latin Church, — 3, Their Office and
Function.
CHAP. VII.
Of the Psalmistce or Singers.
Sect. 1. The Singers a Distinct Order from Readers in the ancient Church.
—2. Their Institution and Office.— 3. Why called 'YTrojSoXtif .— 4. Wliat
sort of Ordination they had.
CHAP. VIII.
Of the CopiatCB or Fossarii.
Sect. 1. The Copiatte or Fossarii reckoned among the Clerici of the Primi-
tive Church. — 2. First instituted in the Time of Constantine. — 3. Why
called Decani and Colleyialii — i. Their Office and Privileges.
CHAP. IX.
Of the Paraholani.
Sect. 1. The Parabolani ranked by some ainonsf the Clerici. — 2. Their In-J
stitution and Office. — 3. The Reason of the Name Parabolani. — 4i. Some
Laws and Rules concerning their Behaviour.
CHAP. X.
Of the Catechists.
Sect. 1. Catechists no distinct Order of the Clergy, but chosen out of any
other Order. — 2. Readers sometimes made Catechists. — 3. Why called
NnwroXoyoi by some Greek Writers. — 4. Whether all Catechists taught
publicly in the Church. — 6. Of the Succession in the Catechetic School
at Alexandria.
CHAP. XI.
Of the Ecclesiccdici and Defensores, or Syndics of the Church.
Sect. 1. Five Sorts of Deffiisores noted. Two whereof only belonged to the
Church, — 2. Of the DeJ'cmores Pauperum. — 3. Oiihe Defemores Eccle-
CONTENTS. xlvii
stV, their Office and Function. — i. Of their Quality: — whether they were
Clergymen or Laymen. — 5. The "EkSikoi and 'EKKXjjffif/c^iKot among the
Greeks the same with the Defensors of the Latin Church.— 6. Chancel-
lors and Defensors not the same in the Primitive Church. — 7. Whether
the Defensor's Office was the same with that of our modern Chancellors.
CHAP. XII.
Of the CEconomi.
Sect. 1. The CEconomi instituted in the Fourth Century. The Reasons of
their Institution. — 2. Always to be chosen out of the Clergy. — 3. Their
Office to take care of the Revenues of the Church, especially in the
Vacancy of the Bishopric. — 4. The Consent of the Clergy required in the
Choice of tbem.
CHAP. XIII.
A brief Account of some other Inferior Officers in the Church.
3ect. 1. Of the Tlapafiovapioi, or Mamionarii. — 2. Of the Cuslodes Ecele-
siarwn, and Cuslodes Locortim Sanctorum; and how those differed from
each other. — 3. Oi i\\e Sceuophi/luces, or Cehneliarchfe. — 4. Of the Her-
vtencutee, or Interpreters. — 5. Of the Notarii. — 6. Of the Apocrisarii, or
Responsales,
BOOK IV.
OF THE ELECTIONS AND ORDINATIONS OF THE CLERGY, AND
THE PARTICULAR QUALIFICATIONS OF SUCH AS WERE
TO BE ORDAINED.
CHAP. I.
Of the seiieral Ways of Designing Persons to the Ministry, in
the Apostolical and Primitive Ages of the Church.
Sect. I. Four several Ways of Designing Persons for the Ministry. Of the
First Way, by casting Lots. — 2. The Second Way by making Choice of
the First-fruits of the Gentile Converts. — 3. The Third Way by parti-
cular Direction of the Holy Ghost. — 4. The Fourth Way by Common
Suffrage and Election.
CHAP. II.
A more particular Account of the ancient Method and Manner of
Elections of the Clergy.
Sect. 1. The different Opinions of Learned Men concerning the People's
Power anciently in Elections. — 2. The Power of the People equal to that
of the Inferior Clergy in the Election of a Bishop. — 3. This Power not
b^irely Testimonial, but Judicial and Elective. — 4. Evidences of this
Xlviii CONTENTS. -
Power from some ancient Rules and Customs of the Church. As first,
that no Bishop was to be nbtruderi on an Orthodox People without their
Consent.— 6. Secondly. This further contirmed from Examples of the
Bishops' complying with the Voice of the People against their own In^
c.lination.— 6. Thirdly. From the Manner of the People's Voting at
Elections, — 7. Fourthly. From the Use and Office of Intervenlors.— 8.
Fifthly. From the Custom of the People's taking Persons, and having
them Ordained by Force. — 9. Sixthly. Prom the Title of Fathers, which
some Bishops upon this Account by Way of Compliment gave to their
People.— 10. What Power the People had in the Designation of Presby-
ters.— 11. Whether the Council of Nice made any Alteration in these
Matters. — 12. Some Exceptions to the General Rule. First, In Case
the greatest Part of the Church were Heretics or Schismatics. — 13.
2dly. In Case of Ordaining Bishops to far distant Places, or Barbarous
Nations. — 14. 3dly. In Case an Interventor or any other Bishop intruded
himself into any See without the Consent of a Provincial SjTiod. — 15.
4thly. In Case of Factions and Divisions among the People. — 16. 5thly.
The Emperors sometimes interposed their Authority to prevent Tumults
in the like Cases. — 17. 6thly. The People sometimes restrained to the
Choice of One out of Three, which were nominated by the Bishops. —
18. Lastly, By Justinian's Laws the Elections were confined to the
Oplimales, and the Inferior People wholly excluded.— 19. IIow and
when Princes and Patrons came to have the chief Power of Elections.
CHAP. III.
Of the Examination and Qualijications of Persons to he Or^
dained to any Ojjice of the Clergy in the Primitive Church,
And first, of their Faith and Morals.
Sect. 1. Three Inquiries made about Persons to be Ordained, respecting,
1st, Their Faith ; "idly, Their Morals ; 3dly, Their outward Quality and
Condition.— 2. Tlie Rule and Method of Examining their Faith and
Learning. — 3. The irregular Ordination of Synesius considered. — 4.
A strict Inquiry made into the Morals of such as were to be Ordained.
6. For which Reason no Stranger to be Ordained in a Foreign Church.
6. Nor any One who had done public Penance in the Church. — 7. No
Murderer to be Ordained, nor Adulterer, nor One that had lapsed in
Time of Persecution. — 8. No Usurer, or seditious Person. — 9. Nor One
who Iiad voluntarily dismembered his own Body. — 10. Men only accoun-
table for Crimes committed after Ba))tisin, as to what concerned Ordina-
tions.— 11. Except any great Irregularity happened in their Baptism
itself. As in tlie Case of Clinic Baptism. — 12. And Heretical Baptism.
13. No Man to be Ordained, who had not made all his Family Catholic
Cliristians.- 14'. What Methods were anciently taken to prevent Simo-
niacal Promotions.
CHAP. IV.
Of the Qualifications of Persons to he Ordained, respecting their
outward State and Condition in the World.
Sect. 1. No Soldier to be Ordained. — 2. Nor any Slave or Freedman with-
out the consent of the Patron. — 3. Nor any Member of a Civil Company
or Society of Tradesmen, who were tied to the Service of the Common-
wealth.—4. Nor any of the Curiales, or Decurioties of the Roman
Government. — 5. Nor any Proctor or Guardian, till his Office expired,
•«-6. Pleaders at Law denied Ordination in the Roman Church. — 7. Also
Energumens, Actors, Stage-players, &c. in all Churches,
CONTENTS. xlix
CHAP. V.
Of the State of Digamy and Celibacy in particular ; and of the
Laws of the Church about these, in reference to the Ancient
Clergy.
Sect. 1. No Digamist to be Ordaiuccl, by the Rule of the Apostle. — 2. Three
different Opinions among the Ancients about Digamy. 1. That all Per-
sons were to be refused Orders, as Digamists, who were twice Married
after Baptism. — 3. 2. Others extended the Rule to all Persons twice
Married, whether before or after Baptism. — 4. 3. The most probable
Opinion of those, who thought the Apostle by Digamists meant Polyga-
mists, and such as married after Divorce. — 5. No Vow of Celibacy re-
quired of the Clergy, as a Condition of their Ordination, for the Three
first Ages. — 6. The Vanity of the contrary Pretences. — 7. The Clergy
left to their Liberty by the Nicene Council. — 8. And other Councils of
that Age.
CHAP. VI.
Of the Ordinations of the Primitive Clergy, and the Laws ar.d
Customs generally observed therein.
Sect. 1. The Canons of the Church to be read to the Clerk, before the
Bishops ordained him.— 2. No Clerk to be Ordained aTro\t\vn'iv<»Q. —
3. Exceptions to this Rule very rare. — 4. No Bishop to Ordain another
Man's Clerk without his Consent. — 5. No Bishop to Ordain in another
Man's Diocese. — 6. The Original of the Four Solemn Times of Ordina-
tion.— 7. Ordinations indiflerently given on any Day of the Week for
Three Centuries. — 8. The Ceremony usually performed in the Time of
the Oblation at Morning-Service. — 9. The Church the only regular Place
of Ordination. — 10. Ordination received kneeling at the Altar. — 11.
Given by Imposition of Hands and Prayer. — 12. The Sign of the Cross
used in Ordination. — 13. But no Unction, nor the Ceremony of delivering
Vessels into the Hands of Presbyters and Deacons. — 1-t. Ordinations
concluded with the Kiss of Peace. — 15. The Anniversary Day of a
Bishop's Ordination kept a Festival.
CHAP. VII.
The Case of Forced Ordinations and Re-ordinations considered.
Sect. 1. Forced Ordinations very frequent in the Primitive Church. — 2. No
Excuse admitted in that Case, except a Man protested upon Oath that
he would not be ordained.— 3. This Practice afterward prohibited by
the Imperial Laws,, and Canons of the Church. — 4. Yet a Bishop Or-
dained against his Will, had not the Privilege to relinquish. — 5. Re-or-
dinations generally condemned. — 6. The Proposal made by Csecilian to
the Donatists, examined. — 7. Schismatics sometimes re-ordained. — 8.
And Heretics also upon their Return to the Church, in some Places.
VOL. I. g
CONTENTS.
BOOK V.
OF THE PRIVILEGES, IMMUNITIES, AND REVENUES OF THE
CLERGY IN THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH.
Some Instances of Respect, which the Clergy paid mutually to
one another.
Sect. I. The Clergy obliged to give Entertainment to their Brethren, tra-
velling upon necessary Occasions. — 2. And to give them the Honorary
Privilege of Consecrating the Eucharist in the Church. — 3. The Use of
the Literee Fonnatce, or Commendatory Letters in this Respect. — 4. The
Clergy obliged to end all their own Controversies among themselves. —
5. VV^hat Care was taken in receiving Accusations against the Bishops
and Clergy of the Church.
CHAP. I.
Instances of Respect shoiced to the Clergy by the Civil Govern-
ment. Particularly of their Exemption from the Cogni-
xance of the Secular Courts in Ecclesiastical Causes.
Sect. 1. Bishops not to be called into any Secular Court to give their Testi-
mony.— 2. Nor obiised to give their Testimony upon Oath, by the Laws
of Justinian. — 3. Whether the single Evidence of one Bishop was good
in Law against the Testimony of many others. — 4. Presbyters privileged
against being questioned by Torlure, as other Witnesses were. — 5. The
Clergy exempt from the ordinary ('ognizance of llic Secular Courts in all
Ecclesiastical Causes. — 6. This evidenced from the Laws of Constantius.
— 7. And those of Valentinian and Gratian.— 8. And Theodosius the Great.
— 9. And Arcadius and I£onorius.-^10. And Valentinian the Third, and
Justinian. — 11. Tlie Clergj- also exempt in lesser Criminal Causes. — 12.
But not in greater Criminal Causes.— 13. Nor in Pecuniary Causes with
Laymen. — 14. Of the necessary Distinction between the Supreme and
Subordinate Magistrates in this Business of Exemptions.
CHAP. II.
Of the Immunities of the Clergy in reference to Taxes and Civil
Offices and other burdensome Employments in the Roman
Empire.
Sect. 1. No divine Right pleaded by the ancient Clergy to exempt them-
solves from Taxes. — 2. Yet generally excused from Per.onal Taxes, or
Hpad-inoncy. — 3. But not excused for their Lands and Possessions. — k
Of the Tribute called, Aurum Tironinim, Equi Canonki, <^'C. — 5. The
Church obliged to such Burthens as Lands were tied to before their
Donation. — 6. Of the Chrj/isarsj/nim. or Lustral Tax, and the Exemption
of the Clergy from it. — 7. Of the Metatum. What meant thereby, and
the Exemption of the Clergy from it. — 8. Of the Supcrinilicta and Extra-
ordinaria. The Clergy exempt from them. — 9. Tiie Clergy sometimes
exempt from Contributing to the Reparation of Highways and Bridges.
— 10. As also from the Duty called An^arice, and Parangar'ue. &c. — 11.
Of the Tribute called, Denarismiis, Uncice, and Descriptio Lvcraticorum;
CONTENTS. 11
and the Church's Exemption from it.— 12. The Clergy exempt from all
Civil Personal OflRces. — 13. And from Sordid Offices both Predial and
Personal. — 14. Also from Curial or Municipal Offices. — 15. But this last
Privilege confined to such of the Clergy, as had no Estates but what
belonged to the Church, by the Laws of Constantine. — 16. Constantine's
Laws a little altered by the succeeding Emperors in Favour of the
Church.
CHAP. III.
Of the Revenues of the Ancient Cler<ry.
SECT. 1. Several Ways of providing a Fund for the Maintenance of the
Clergy. 1st, by Oblations. Some of which were Weekly. — '2. And
others Monthly. — 3. Whence came the Custom of a Monthly Division
among the Clergy. — 4. Secondly, other Revenues arising from the Lan ts
and Possessions of the C'hurch. — 5. These very nmch augmented by the
Laws of Constantine. — 6. Whose Laws were confirmed, and not revoked
by the succeeding Emperors, as some mistake. — 7. Thirdly, another
Part of Church-Revenues raised by Allowances out of the Emperor's
Exchequer. — 8. Fourthly, the Estates of Martyrs and Confessors dying
without Heirs settled upon the Church by Constantine. — 9. Fifthly, the
Estates of Clergymen, dying without Heirs and Will, settled in like man-
ner.— 10. Sixthly, Heathen Temples and their Revenues sometimes given
to the Church. — 11. Seveiithly, as also Heretical Conventicles and their
Revenues. — 12. Eighthly, the Estates of Clerks, deserting the Church,
to be forfeited to the Church. — 13. No disreputable Ways of augmenting
Church-Revenues encouraged. Fathers not to disinherit their Children
to make the Church their Heirs. — 14. Nothing to be demanded for Admi-
nistt»ring the Sacraments of the CJhurch, nor for Consecrating Churches,
nor Interment of the Dead. — 15. The Oblations of the People anciently
one of the most valuable Parts of Church-Revenue.
CHAP. IV.
Of Tithes and First-Fruits in particular.
Sect. 1. Tithes anciently reckoned to be due by Divine Right. — 2. Why not
exacted in the Ajjostolical Age and those that immediately followed. —
3. In vvliut Age they were first generally settled upon the Church. — 4,
The Original of First-fruits, and the Manner of Offering thein.
CHAP. V
Of the Management and Distribution of the Revenues of the
Ancient Clergy.
Sect. 1. The Revenues of the whole Diocese anciently in the Hands of the
Bishop. — 2. And by his Care distributed among llie Clergy. — 3. Rules
about the Division of Church-Revenues. — 4. In some Churches the Clergy
lived all in Common, — 5. Alterations made in these Matters by the
Endowment of Parochial Churches. — 6. No Alienations to be made of
Church-Revenues or Goods, but upon Extraordinary Occasions. — 7. And
that with the joint Consent of the Bishop and his Clergy, with the Appro-
bation of the Metropolitan or some Provincial Bishops.
lii CONTENTS.
BOOK VI.
AN ACCOUNT OF SEVERAL LAWS AND RULES, RELATING TO
THE EMPLOYMENT, LIFE, AND CONVERSATION OF THE
PRIMITIVE CLERGY.
Of the Excellency of these Rules in general, and the Exemplari-
ness of the Clergy in Conftrming to them.
Sect. 1. The Excellency of the Chrislian lluks attested and envied by the
Ileatliens. — 2. The Character of tlie Clergy from Chrislian Writers. ^3.
Particular Exceptions no Derogation to their general jijood Cliaracter. —
4. An Account of some ancient Writers whicii treat of the Duties of the
Clergy.
CHAP. I.
Of Laws relating to the Life and Conversation of the Primitive
Clergy.
Sect. 1. Exemplary Purity required in the Clergy above other Men. Reasons
for it.— 2. Church-Censures more severe against them than any others. — ■
3. What Crimes punished with Degradation : viz. Theft, Murder, Per-
jury, &c. — 4. Also Lapsing in Time of Persecution. — 5. And Drinking
and Gaming.^ — 6. And nes^otiating upon Usury. The Nature of this
Crime inquired into. — 7. Of the Hospitality of "the Clergy. — S. Of their
Frugality and Contempt of the World. — 9 Whether the Clergy were
anciently obliged by any Law to part with their Temporal Possessions.
— 10. Of their great Care to be inoifensive with their Tongues. — 1 1. Of
their Care to guard against Susjiicion of Evil. — Laws relating to this
Matter. — 13. An Account of the Agapeim, and ^vviiaaKrot, and the Laws
of the ('hurch made against them. — 14. Malevolent and unavoidable Sus-
picions to be contemned.
CHAP. II.
Of Laws more particidaidy 7-elating to the Ejcercise of the Duties
and Offices of their Function.
Sect. 1. The Clergy obliged to lead a studious Life.— 2. No Pleas allowed
as just Apologies for the contrary.— 3. Their chief Studies to be the
Holy Scriptures, and the approved Writers and Canons of the Church.—
4. How far the Study of Heathen or Heretical Books was allowed.— 5.
Of their Piety and Devotion in their Public Addresses to God. — 6. The
Censure of such as neglected the Daily Service of the Church.— 7. Rules
about Preaching to Edification.— 8. Of Fidelity, Diligence, and Pru-
dence, in Private Addresses and Applications.-- 9. Of Prudence and
Candour in composing unnecessary Controversies in the Church.- 10. Of
their Zeal and Courage in Defending the Truth.— U. Of their Obliga-
tions to maintain the Unity of the Church ; and of the Censure of such
as fell into Heresy or Schism.
CONTENTS. liii
CHAP. III.
An Account of some other Laws and Rules, which were a sort of
Out-Guards and Fences to the former.
Sect. 1. No Clergyman allowed to desert or relinquish his Station without
just Grounds and Leave. — 2. Yet in some Cases a Resignation was
allowed of. — 3. And Canonical Pensions sometimes granted in such Cases.
• — 4. No Clergyman to remove from one Diocese to another without the
Consent and Letters Dimissory of his own Bishop. — 5. Laws against the
BaKavTijSot, or Wandering Clergy. — 6. Laws against the Translations of
Bishops from one See to another, how to be limited and understood. —
7. Laws concerning the Residence of the Clergy. — 8. Of Pluralities, and
the Laws made about them. —9. Laws prohibiting the Clergy to take
upon them Secular Business and Offices. — 10. Laws prohibiting the
Clergy to be Tutors and Guardians, how far extended. — 11. Laws
against their being Sureties, and pleading Causes at the Bar, in behalf
of themselves, or their Churches. — 12. Laws against their following
Secular Trades and Merchandize, — 13. What Limitations and Exceptions
these Laws admitted of. — 14. Laws respecting their outward Conversa-
tion.— 15. Laws relating to their Habit. — 16. The Tonsure of the An-
cients very different from that of the Romish Church. — 17. Of the Corona
Clericalis, and why the Clergy called Coronati. — 18. Whether the Clergy
were distinguished in their Apparel from Laymen. — 19. A particular
Account of the Birrus and Pallium. — 20. Of the Collobium, Daltnatica,
Caracalla, Hemiphorium, and Linea.
CHAP. IV.
Some Reflections upon the foregoing Discourse, concluding with
an Address to the Clergy of the present Church.
Sect. 1. Reflection 1. All Laws and Rules of the Ancient Church not neces-
sary to be observed by the Present Church and Clergy. — 2. Reflection 2.
Some ancient Rules would be of excellent use, if revived by just Autho-
rity.— 3. Reflection 3. Some ancient Laws may be complied with, though
not Laws of the present Church. — 4. Reflection 4. Of the Influence of
great Examples, and Laws of perpetual Obligation. — 5. Some particular
Rules recommended to Observation. 1st, Relating to the ancient Method
of training up Persons for the Ministry. — 6. 2dly. Their Rules for exa-
mining the Qualifications of Candidates for the Ministry. — 7. 3dly. Their
Rules about private Address, and the Exercise of private Discipline. —
8. 4thly. Their Rules for exercising Public Discipline upon Delinquent
Clergymen, who were convicted of scandalous Offences. — 9. Julian's
Design to reform the Heathen Priests by the Rules of the Primitive
Clergy, an Argument to provoke our Zeal in the present Age. — 10. The
Conclusion, by way of Address to the Clergy of the present Church.
ORIGINES ECCLESlASTICiE;
OR, THE
ANTIQUITIES
OF
THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
THE
ANTIQUITIES
OF THE
CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
BOOK I.
OF THE SEVERAL NAMES AND ORDERS OF MEN IN
THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
CHAP. I.
Of the several Titles and Appellations of Christians, which
tney owned, and distinguished themselves by.
Sect, I, — Christians at first called Jesseans, and Therapeutee, II»Tot,
iKXtKrbi, &c.
WHEN Christianity was first planted in the world, they,
who embraced it, were commonly known among themselves
by the names of disciples, believers, elect, saints, and
brethren, before they assumed the title and appellation of
Christians. Epiphanius^ says they were also called ^haamoi,
Jesseans ; either from Jesse, the father of David, or, which is
more probable, from the name of the Lord Jesus. He adds,
that Philo speaks of them under this appellation in his book
irepi'Uacraiwv, which he affirms to be no other but Christians,
who went by that name in Egypt, whilst St. Mark preached
the Gospel at Alexandria. This book of Philo's is now extant
under another title ; Trepl /3t8 ^aop^riKs, Of the Contemplative
Life ; and so it is cited by Eusebius,^ who is also of opinion,
that it is nothing but a description of the Christians in Egypt,
whom he calls Therapeutts, which signifies either worship-
pers of the true God, or spiritual physicians, who undertook
» Epiphan. Ilaer. 29. n. 1. ^ Euseb. Hist, lib. ii. c. 17.
VOL. I. B
2 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK I.
to cure men's minds of all vicious and corrupt aifections.
But whether this name w us invented by Philo, as most proper
to express their way of living, or was then the common
name of believers in Egypt, before the name Christian was
spread over all the world, Eusebius does not undertake to
determine. How ever, he concludes it was a name given to
the Christians; and St. Jerom' is so positive in it, that for this
reason he gives Philo a place in his catalogue of ecclesias-
tical w riters, telling us, that he wrote a book concerning the
first church of St. Mark at Alexandria.
Some learned critics of the last nge, call this whole matter'
into question, but their arguments are answered by others^
as learned; and therefore I shall enter no further into this
dispute, but refer the reader, that is curious, thither for satis-
faction. That, which I here take notice of further, is only
this ; that these names, Therapeidce and Jesscei, were scarce
ever used in after-ages; but the other names, "Aytoi, rit-roj,
EkXektoj, saints, believers, elect, &c., occur frequently in ec-
clesiastical writers, and signify, not any select number of
Christians, (as now the words saints and elect are often used
to signify only the predestinate,) but all Christians in ge-
neral, who were entered into the communion of the Church
by the waters of baptism. For so Theodoret* ^ind others ex-
plain the word "Ayiot, saints, to be such as were vouchsafed
the honour and privilege of baptism.
Sect. 2. — Of the technical names, IX9Y2 and Pisciculi.
And upon this account, because the Christian life took its
original from the waters of baptism, and depended upon the
observance of the covenant made therein, the Christians were
wont to please themselves with the artificial name pisciculi)
Jishes, to denote, as Tertullian^ words it, that they were re-
generate, or born again into Christ's religion by water, and
could not be saved but by continuing therein ; and this name
was the rather chosen by them, because the initial letters of
' Hieron. de Scriptor. c. 21. ^ Scalijer et Valesius in Euseb. lib. ii.
c. 17. Dallaeus de_ Jejun. et Quadragc^, lib. ii. c. 4. ^ Bevereg. Cod.
Can.Vind.lib.iii. c.S.n. 4. «Theodor. Com. in Philip, i. 1. *Ter-
tul. de Bapt. c. 1. Nos Pisciculi secundum ix^vv nostrum Jesum Christum in
aqu& nascimur ; nee aliter quam in aqul perme^uendo salvi sunius.
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 3
our Saviour's names and titles in Greek, Ir/o-Sc, Xpiro^, 9t5
'Yiog, Swrrjp, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Saviour, tech-
nically put together, make up the name IX9YS, which
signifies a fish, and is alluded to both by TertuUian, and
Optatus.*
Sect. 3. — Christians, why called Gnostici.
Sometimes Christians also style themselves by the name
of Gnostics, Vvm^ikoi, men of understanding and knowledge ;
because the Christian religion was the truest wisdom, and
the knowledg-e of the most divine and heavenly things. This
name was aped and abused by a perverse sort of heretics,
who are commonly known and distinguished by the name of
Gnostics, because of their g-reat pretences to knowledge and
science, falsely so called. Yet this did not hinder but that
the Christians sometimes laid claim to it, as having indeed
the only just and proper right to make use of it. For which
reason Clemens Alexandrinus,^ in all his writings, gives the
Christian philosopher the appellation of FvioriKog. Atha-
nasiiis^ calls the Ascetics of Egypt, who were of the con-
templative life, by the same name, FvwTtKof ; and Socrates
tells us, Evagrius Ponticus wrote a book for the use of these
Ascetics, which he entitled. The Gnostic, t. e. rules for
the contemplative life ; some fragments of which are yet ex-
tant in Socrates,* and some others published by Cotelerius,
in his Monuments of the Greek Church. In one of these
fragments there is mention made of a monk, who is styled
Mova-)(og Trig IlapfjUjSoXiifc, riov FrwriKtov o SoKt/xwraroc ; which
the first translators of Socrates, not understanding, render,
A monk, of great renown, of the sect of the Gnostics, as if he
had been one of the Gnostic heretics; whereas it means no
more, than a monk of the contemplative life, who inhabited
in a village called the Parembole, not far from Alexandria ;
' Optat. cont. Parmen. lib. iii. p. 62. Hie est piscis qui in baptismate per
invocationem fontalibus undis inseritur, ut quae aqua fuerat, a pisce etiain
piscina vocitetur. Cujus Piscis nomen, secundum appellationem GrBecam in
uno nomine per singulas literas turbam sanctorum nominura continet, ix£vg,
quod est latine, Jesus Christus, Dei Filius, Salvator. * Clem. Alex. Strom.
i. p. 294. Strom, ii. p. 383. Strom, vi. p. 665. Strom, vii. p. 748. » Athan.
ap. Socrat. Hist. Eccl. lib. iv, c. 23. * Socrat. ibid.
b2
4 THE ANTIQtJITIES OF THE [BOOK I.
being- one of those Ascetics, whom Evagiius and all the rest
call by the then known name of Christian Gnostics. See
Valesius's note upon Socrates.
Sect. 4, — Sometimes called Theophori and Christophori.
Another name, which frequently occurs in the writings of
the ancients, is that of Q£o<{>6poi, which signifies temples of
God, and is as old as Ignatius, who usually gave himself
this title ; as appears, both from the inscriptions of his Epis-
tles, each of which begins 'lyvar/oc o i^ Gfo^opoc; as also
from the ancient acts of his martyrdom, where* the reason
of the name is explained in his Dialogue with Trajan ; who
hearing him style himself Theophorus, asked what that name
meant ? To which Ignatius replied, that it meant one that
carried Christ in his heart. " Dost thou then," said Trajan,
" carry him that was crucified in thy heart V Ignatius an-
swered, "Yes ; for it is written, I will dwell in them, and walk
in them." Anastasius Bibliothecarius, indeed, gives another
reason, why Ignatius was called Theophorus ; because he
was the child, whom our Saviour took, and set in the midst
of his Disciples, laying his hands upon him ; and therefore
the Apostles would never presume to ordain him again by
imposition of hands after Christ. But as Bishop Pearson^
and others have observed, this was a mere invention of the
modern Greeks, from whom Anastasius took it without fur-
ther enquiry. Much more ridiculous and absurd is the rea-
son, which is assigned byVincentius^ Bellovacensis and some
others ; that Ignatius was so called, because the name of
Jesus Christ was found written in golden letters in his heart.
Both these fancies are sufficiently refelled by the genuine
acts of his martyrdom ; which give a more rational account
of the name, and such, as plainly intimates, that it was no
peculiar title of Ignatius, but common to him with all other
Christians ; as, indeed. Bishop Pearson does abundantly
prove from several passages of Clemens Alexandrinus, Gre-
gory Nazianzen, Palladius, Eulogius, Theodoret, Cyril of
' Acta Ignat. ap. Grabe Spicil. T. ii. p. 10. ' Pearson Vind. Ignaf. Par.
ii. c. 12. p. 397. Cave's Life of Ignatius, Grabe Spicil. T. ii. p. 2. ^ Vin-
cent. Specul. lib. X. c. 7.
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 5
Alexandria, Photiiis, Maximus, and others. Particularly
Clemens' assigns the same reason of the name as Ig-natius
does; that the Christian is therefore called'^£0^0|r)wi; and
©£o^op«juivoc, because, as the Apostle says, he is the temple
of God. We sometimes also meet with the name Christo-
yhori in the same sense ; as in the epistle of Phileas, Bishop
of Thumis, recorded by Eusebius, where, speaking- of the
martyrs of his own time, he gires them the title of ;^^ptTod>o-
Qoi fiapTvpeg,^ because they were temples of Christ, and acted
by his Holy Spirit.
Sect. 5. — Sometimes, but very rarely, ChrlstU
St. Ambrose, in one place, gives them the name of Christie
in a qualified sense; alluding to the signification of the word
Christus in Scripture, where it sometimes signifies any one
that is anointed with oil, or receives any commission from
God by a spiritual unction ; in which sense every Christian
is the Lord's anointed: and tlicrefore, he says, it is no injury*
for the servant to bear the character of the lord, nor for the
soldier to be called by the name of his general ; forasmuch
as God himself hath said, " Touch not mine anointed, or my
Christs, Christos meos^'' as now the vulgar translation reads
it, (Psal. cv. 15) ; and St. Jerom, also, who, in his notes
upon the place,* observes, that all men are called Christs,who
are anointed with the Holy Ghost, as the ancient patriarchs
before the law, who had no other unction. Yet we do not
find, that the Christians generally took this name upon them,
but rather reserved it to their Lord, as his peculiar name
and title.
Sect. 0, — Christians great enemies to all party names and human appellations.
Yet it is very observable that in all the names they chose,
there was still some peculiar relation to Christ and God,
' Clem. Strom, lib. vii. p. 748. ' Euseb. lib. viii. c. 10. * Ambros.
de Obit. Valentin. T. iii. p. 12. Nee injuriam putes, Characteri Domini in-
scribunlur et Servuli, et nomine Imperatoris signantur Milites. Denique el ipse
Dominus dixit, Nolite tangerc Christos meos. *Ilieron. Com. in Psal.
104. Ecce ante Legem Patriarchse non uiicti Regali unguento, Christi dicuu-
fur. Chriijti autem sunt, qui Spiritu Sanclo unguntur.
(; THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK I.
from whom they would be named, and not from any mortal
man, how great or eminent soever. Party names and human
appellations they ever professed to abhor. " We take not our
denomination from men," says Chrysostom ;* " we have no
leaders, as the followers of Marcion, or Manich9eus,or Arius."
" No," says Epiphanius,^ " the Church w as never called so
much as by the name of any apostle : we never heard of Pe-
trians, or Paulians, or Bartholomseans, or Thaddaians; but
only of Christians, from Christ." " I honour Peter," says ano-
ther father,^ "but I am not called a Petrian ; I honour Paul, but
I am not called a Paulian : I cannot bear to be named from any
man, w ho am the creature of God." They observe that this was
only the property of sects and heresies, to take party names,
and denominate themseves from their leaders. The great
and venerable name of Christians was neglected by them,
whilst they profanely divided themselves into human appel-
lations, as Gregory Nyssen* and Nazianzen complain. Thus
Basil observes,* how the Marcionites and Valentinians re-
jected the name of Christians to be called after the names of
Marcion and Valentinus, their leaders, Optatus" and St.
Austin' bring the same charge against the Donatists. Op-
tatus says, it was the usual question of Donatus to all fo-
reigners ; Quid apud vos aijitur de parte med ? How go the
affairs of my party among yon, 1 And the bishops who were
his followers, were used to subscribe themselves. Ex parte
Donati. Epiphanius observes the same of the Audians,^ Col-
luthians, and Arians ; and he tells us more particularly of
Meletius and his followers,^ that, having formed a schism,
they left the old name of the Catholic Church, and styled
themselves by a distinguishing character, " the Church of the
Martyrs," with an invidious design to cast a reproach upon all
others that were not of their party. In like manner, as the
' Chrysost. Horn. 33. in Act. ' Epiphan. Hier. 42. Marcionit. Item.
H»r. 10. » Grey. Naz. Orat. 31. p. 506. See also Athan. Orat. 2.
contra Aiian. Greg. Nyss. de Perfect. Christ. 1. iii. p. 276. *Nyss.
contra ApoUin. t. iii. p. 261. Naz. Orat. ad Episcop. ^ Basil. Com-,
in Psal. 48. p. 245. ^Qpf^t. lib. iii. p. 66. ' Aug. Ep. 68. ad
Januar. » Epiph. Hier. 70. Audianor. Id. Hicr. 69. Arian. " Epiph.
Hffir. 68. Mclclian.
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 7
Arians styled themselves Lucianists* and Conlucianists, pre-
tending' to follow the doctrine of Lucian the martyr.
But the Church of Christ still kept to the name of Christian.
This was the name they gloried in as most expressive of their
unity and relation to Christ. Eusebius^ records a memorable
story, out of the epistle of the churches of Lyons and Vienna,
in France, concerning one Sanctus, a deacon of the church
of Vienna, who suffered in the persecution under Antonine ;
That, being put to the rack, and examined by the magistrates
concerning his name, his country, his city, his quality, whe-
ther he were bond or free, his answer to all their questions
was, " I am a Christian." This, he said, was to him both
name, and city, and kindred, and every thing; nor could the
heathen, with all their skill, extort any other answer from
him. St. Chrysostom^ gives the like account of the be-
haviour of Lucian the martyr before his persecutors; and
there are some other instances of the same nature, by which
we may judge, how great a veneration they had for the name
Christian.
»
Sect. 7. — Of tlie name Catholic, and its antiquity.
The importunity of heretics made them add another name
to this ; viz., that of Catholic, which was, as it were, their
sirname or characteristic, to distinguish them from all sects,
who, though they had party names, yet sometimes sheltered
themselves under the common name of Christians. This
we learn from Pacian's epistle* to Sempronian, the Novatian
heretic, whom, demanding of him the reason why Christians
called themselves Catholics, he answers, that it was to dis-
cern them from heretics, who went by the name of Christians.
" Christian is my name," says he, " and Catholic my sirname;
the one is my title, the other my character or mark of dis-
tinction." Heretics commonly confined religion, either to a
particular region, or some select party of men, and there-
fore had no pretence to style themselves Catholics: but the
' Theodor. Hist. Eccl. lib. i. c. 5. Epiphan, Heer. 69. Arian. ' EuBeb.
lib. V. c. 1. 'Chrysost. Homil.46. in Lucian. t. i. p. 602, *Pacian.
Kp. i. ad Sempronian. Chrisfianus mihi nomcn est, t'atholicus Cognomen,
lllud me nuncupat. Istudostendit.
8 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK I.
Cljurch of Christ had a just title to this name, being called
Catholic (as Optatus* observes) because it was universally
diffused over all the world ; and in this sense the name is
as ancient almost as the Church itself. For we meet with it
in the passion of Polycarp^ in Eusebius, in Clemens^ Alex-
andrinus, and Ignatius ;* and so great a regard had they for
this name, that they would own none to be Christians, who
did not profess themselves to be of the Catholic Church ; as
we may see in the ^Acts of Pionius the martyr, who being
asked by Polemo, the judge, " of what Church he was,"
answered, " I am of the Catholic Church 5 for Christ has
no other,"
Sect. 8. -In what sense the name. Ecclesiastics, was given to all Christians.
I must here observe further, that the name of Ecclesiastics
was sometimes attributed to all Christians in general. For
though this was a peculiar name of the clergy, as contradis-
tinct from the laity, in the Christian Churclvyct, when Chris-
tians in general arc spoken of in opposition to Jews, infidels,
and heretics, then they have all the name of Ecclesiastics, or
men of the Church, as being neither of the Jewish syna-
gogues, nor of the heathen temples,nor heretical conventicles,
but members of the Church of Christ. In this sense clvd^ltj
tKicXnma'^iKoi is often used by Eusebius^ and CyriF of Jerusa-
lem ; and Valesius® observes the same in Origen, Epiphanius,
St. Jerom, and others.
Sect. 9.— The Christian religion called Aoy/ia, and Christians, ot rS Aoy/tfirof.
Sometimes also we find the word Aoy/xa put absolutely to
signify the Christian religion, as Chrysostom^ and Theodoret'**
say, St. Paul himself uses the word in his Epistle to the
' Optat. lib. ii. p. 40. Cum inde dicta sit Catholica, quod sit rationalis et
ubique diffusa. * Euseb. lib. iv. c. 15. * Clem, Alex. Strom,
lib. vii. * Ignat. Ep. ad Smyrn. n. 8. *Act. Pionii ap. Baron, an.
254. n.9. Cujus, inquit Polemo, es EcclesiiE? Respondit Pionius, Chatolicse :
Nulla enim est alia apud Christum. ® Euseb. lib. iv. c. 7. lib. v.
cap. 27. ' Cyril. Catech. 15. n. 4. ^ Vales. Not. in Euseb.
lib, ii. cap. 25. " Chrys. Horn, v, in Ephes>. '" Theod. Com. in^
Kphes. ii. IS.
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 9
Ephesians, ii. 15. Estius' assures us, it was the common in-
terpretation of all ancient expositors, both Greek and Latin,
upon that place. Hence it was that Christians were called
sometimes, ot'rs Aoyfiarog, men of the faith, meaning the
faith of Christ. As in the rescript of Aurelian, the Emperor,
ag-ainst Paulus Samosatensls, recorded by^ Eusebius, the
bishops of Italy and Rome are styled, 'ETriaKOTroi t5 Boyixaro^j
bishops of the faith, that is, the Christian faith.
Sect. 10. — Christians called Jews by the Heathens.
The heathens also were used to confound the names of
Jews and Christians together ; whence, in heathen authors,
the name of Jews by mistake is often given to the Christians.
ThusDio, in the life of Domitian,^ speaking of Acilius Gla-
brio, a man of consular dignity, says, he was accused of
atheism, and put to death for turning to the Jew s religion ;
which, as Baronius* and others observe, must mean the
Christian religion, for which he was a martyr. So, when
Suetonius* says, that Claudius expelled the Jews from
Rome, because they grew tumultuous by the instigations
of Chrestus, it is generally concluded by learned^ men,
that under the name of Jews he also comprehends the
Christians. In like manner when Spartian' says of Cara-
calla's play-fellow, that he was of the Jewish religion, he
doubtless means the Christian ; for as much as Tertullian*
tells us, that Caracalla himself was nursed by a Christian.
Sect. 11. — Christ by the heathens commonly called Chrestus, and Christians,
Chrestians.
The heathens committed another mistake in the pro-
nunciation of our Saviour's name, wl om they generally
called Chrestus, instead of Christus; and his followers Chres-
tians for Christians; which is taken notice of by Justin
« Est. Com. in Eph. ii. 14. ' Euscb. Lib. vii. c. 30. » Die in
Domit. * Baron, an. Icxiv. n. 1. * Siieton. Claud, c. 26. Judseos
Impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuanfcs Roma expulit. ^ Hotting.
Hist. Eccl. T. i. p. 37. Basnag. Exerc. in Baron, p. 139. Selden, de Synedr.
Lib. i. c. 8. who cites Lipsius, Pctuvius, and many othtrs. ' Spartian.
in Caracal, c. 1. " Tertul .ad Scapul. c. I. Lacte Christiano educatus.
10 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK I.
Martyr,* TertuUian,' Lactantlus,* and some others, who
correct their mistake ; though they have no great quarrel
w ith them upon this account, for both names are of good
sio-nification. Christus is the same with the Hebrew Mes-
sias, and signifies, a person anointed to be a Priest or King ;
and Chrestus, being the same with the Greek XpjjToc, im-
pUes sweetness and goodness. Whence TertuHian* tells
them, that they were unpardonable for prosecuting Chris-
tians merely for their name, because both names were inno-
cent, and of excellent signification.
The Christians, therefore, did not wholly reject this name,
though it was none of their own imposing ; as neither did
they refuse to be called Jews, in that sense as the Scripture
uses the word, to distinguish the people of God from the
synagogue of satan, Rev. ii. 9. Though to avoid the sub-
tilties of the Ebionites and Nazarens, who were for blend-
ing the ceremonies of the law with the faith of the gospel,
they rather chose to avoid that name, and stuck to the
name of Christians.
CHAP. H.
Of the names of reproach which the Jews, Injidels, and He-
retics cast upon the Christians.
Sect. 1. — Christians called Nazarens by the Jews and Heathens.
Besides the names already spoken of, there were some
other reproachful names cast upon them by their adversaries,
which it will not be improper here to mention. The first of
these was Nazarens, a name of reproach given them first by
the Jews, by whom they are styled, " the sect of the Naza-
rens," Acts, xxiv. 5. There was, indeed, a particular heresy.
' Just. M. Apol. '2. 9 Tertul. Apol. c. 3. =* Lact. Lib. iv. c. 7.
* Tertul. ibid. Christianus qiianluni interpretatio est, de Unctiono deducilur.
Sed ct cum perperam Chrestianus pronunciatur a vobis (nam nee Nominis
certa est notitia penes \os) de suavitate vel beniajnitate compositum est.
Oditur ergo in hominibus innocuis etiam nomen innocuum.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 11
who called themselves Na^wpmot : and Epiphanius* thinks the
Jews had a more especial spite at them, because they were
a sort of Jewish apostates, who kept circumcision and the
Mosaical rites tog-ether with the Christian religion; and
therefore, he says, they were used to curse and anathematize
them three times a day, morning-, noon, and evening-, when
they met in their synag-ogues to pray, in this direful form
of execration, liriKaTa^daai 6 Qtog rsg Na^a>^ai8c> send thy
curse, O God, upon the Nazarens. But St. Jerom^ says,
this was levelled at Christians in g-eneral, whom they thus
anathematized under the name of Nazarens. This seems most
probable, because as both St. Jerom^ and Epiphanius, himself,*
observe, the Jews termed all Christians, by way of reproach,
Nazarens ; and the Gentiles took it from the Jews, as appears
from that of Datianus, the Praetor, in Prudentius,* where,
speaking- to the Christians, he gives them the name of
Nazarens. Some® think the Christians at first were very
free to own this name, and esteemed it no reproach, till
such time as the heresy of the Nazarens broke out, and
then in detestation of that heresy they forsook that name,
and called themselves Christians, Acts, xi. 26. But whe-
ther this be said according to the exact rules of chronology,
I leave those who are better skilled to determine.
Sect. 2. — And Galileeans.
Another name of reproach was that of Galilaeana, which
was Julian's ordinary style, whenever he spake of Christ or
Christians. Thus in his dialogue with old Maris, a blind
Christian bishop, mentioned by Sozomen,' he told him by
way of scoff, " Thy Galilsean God will not cure thee." And,
again, in his epistle^ to Arsacius, high priest of Galatia,
' Epiplian. Haer. xxii. n. 9. ^ Hieron. Com. in. Esa. 49. T. 5. p. 178.
Tcr per singulos dies sub nomine Nazarenorum maledicunt in Synajrogis suis.
* Id. de Loc. Hebr. T. 3. p. 289. Nos apud vcteres, quasi opprobrio Nazirai
decebamur, quos nunc Christianos vocant. * Epiphan. ibid. * Prudent.
iriQi ^ifai'iov. Carm. 5. de S. Vincent.
Vo8 Nazareni assistite,
Rudemque ritum spernite. — Id. Hymno 9. de Rom. Mart.
^ Junius Parallel, lib. i. c. 8. Godwyn Jew. Rites, lib. i. c. 8. ' Sozom.
lib. T. c. i. * Ap. Sozom. lib. v. e. 16.
12 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK 1.
" the Galilneans maintain their own poor and ours also."
The like may be observed in Socrates,' Theodoret,^ Chrysos-
torn,* and Oreg-ory Nazianzcn,* who adds, that he not only
called them Galihieans himself, but made a law that no one
should call them b} any other name ; thinking thereby to
abolish the name of Christians.
Sect. 3. — Also Atheists.
They also called them atheists, and their religion, the
atheism or impiety, because they derided the worship of
the heathen gods. Dio* says, Acilius Glabrio was put to
death for atheism, meaning the Christian religion ; and the
Christian apologists, Athenagoras,^ Justin Martyr,' Ar-
nobius,^ and others, reckon this among the crimes which
the heathens usually lay to their charge. Eusebius says,^
the name was become so common, that when the persecu-
ting magistrates would oblige a Christian to renounce his
religion, they bad him abjure it in this form, by saying
among other things, aloe rsg ^A^kg, confusion to the athe-
ists, aioay with the impious, — meaning the Christians,
Sect. 4, — And Greeks and impostors.
To this they added the name of Greeks and impostors ;
which is noted by St. Jerom,'" who says, wheresoever they
saw a Christian, they would presently cry out o ygaiKog
iTn^iTr^g, behold a Grecian impostor ! This was the cha-
racter which the Jews gave our Saviour, o irkavog, that
deceiver. Mat. xxvii. 63. And Justin" Martyr says, they en-
deavoured to propagate it to posterity, sending their apostles
or emissaries from Jerusalem to all the synagogues in the
world, to bid them beware of a certain impious, lawless,
sect, lately risen up under one Jesus, a Galilean impostor.
Hence Lucian'^ took occasion in his blasphemous raillery
' Sorrat. lib. iii, c. 12. "^ Theodor. lib. iii. c. 7. and 21. ^ Chrys,
Horn. Ixiii. Tom. 5. * Naz. i. Invectiv. * Dio in Domitiaii.
^ Athcn. Legal, pro Christ. ' Just. Apol. i. p. 47. * Arnob. lib. i.
" Euscb. lib. iv. c. 15. '" Hieron. Ep. x. ad Furiam. Ubicunque viderint
Chriiilianinii, statiin illud de Trivio, 6 ypaiKog iiri^jW t]c, rocant Impostorcui.
" Justin. Dial. Tryph. p. iib. '" Lucian. Peregrin.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 13
to Ktyle liinijthe crucified so|)hister. AndCelsus* commonly
g-ives him and his followers the name of yoi]Tm, deceivers.
So Asclepiados, the judoe in Prudentias,^ compliments
them with the appellation of sophisters ; and Ulpian^ pro-
scribes them in a law by the name of impostors.
The reason why they added the name of Greeks to that
of impostors, was (as learned men* conjecture) because
many of the Christian philosophers took upon them the
Grecian or philosophic habit, which was the Tre^ilioXatov,
or pallium. Whence the Greeks w ere called Palliati, as
the Romans were called Togati, or Gens Togata, from their
proper habit, which was the toga. Now it being- some of-
fence to the Romans to see the Christians quit the Roman
gown, to wear the Grecian cloak; they thence took occa-
sion to mock and deride them with the scurrilous names
of Greeks, and Grecian impostors. TertuUian's book, de
Pallio, was written to show the spiteful malice of this foolish
objection.
Sect. 5. — Magicians.
But the heathens went one step farther in their malice ;
and because our Saviour and his followers did many mira-
cles, which they imputed to evil arts and the power of
magic, they therefore generally declaimed against them as
magicians, and under that character exposed them to the
fury of the vulgar. Celsus* and others pretended that our
Saviour studied magic in Egypt ; and St. Austin" says, it
was g'enerally believed among- the heathen, that he wrote
some books about magic too, w hich he delivered to Peter
and Paul for the use of his disciples. Hence it was that
Suetonius,'' speaking" in the language of his party, calls the
Christians, Genus honmium superstitionis malcjicce, the
men of the magical superstition. As Asclepiades, the judg-e
' Ccls. ap. Oriff. lib. i. p. 6. ' Prudent. ttsqI <re<p. Carin 9. de Honiano
Mart. Quis hos Sophistas error invexit novus ? ic. •'' Dit;est.
lib. 1. Tit. xiii. c. 1. Si incantavit, si inprec.itus est, si (ut vulgnri verbo Iin-
postoruni utar) exorcisavit. * Kortholt dc Morib. Cbristian. c. iii.
p. 2.3. Baron, nn. Ivi. n. 11. * Orijfen. eont. Ccls. lib. ii. Arnobiiis, lib. i.
p. 36. ' Aug. de Consensu Evang. lib. i. c, 9. ' SuetoH, Nerou.c. IG.
14 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK I.
in Prudentius,^ styles St. Romanus, the martyr, arch-mag-i-
cian. And St. Ambrose observes in the Passion of St.
Ag-nes,^ how the people eryed out against her, " Away with
the sorceress! away with the enchanter!'' Nothing being-
more common, than to term all Christians, especially such
as wrought miracles,^ by the odious name of sorcerers and
magicians.
Sect. 0. — The New Superstition;
The New Superstition was another name of reproach for
the Christian religion. Suetonius gives it that title,* and
Pliny and Tacitus add to it* the opprobrious terms, of
wicked and unreasonable superstition. By which name also
Nero triumphed over it, in his trophies, which he set up at
Rome, when he had harrassed the Christians with a most
severe persecution. He gloried that he had purged the
country of robbers, and those that obtruded and inculcated
the new superstition'' upon mankind. By this there can be
no doubt he meant the Christians, whose religion is called
the superstition in other inscriptions of the like nature.
See that of Diocletian, cited in Baronius, an. 304, from
Occo. Superstitione Christianorum ubique deleta, S)C.
Not much unlike this was that other name which Por-
phiry' and some others give it, when they call it, the
barbarous, new, and strange religion. In the acts of the
famous martyrs of Lyons, who suffered under Antoninus
Pius, the heathens scornfully insult it with this character.
For having burnt the martyrs to ashes, and scattered their
remains into the river Rhone, they said, they did it to cut
off their hopes of a resurrection, upon the strength of which
they sought to obtrude^ the new and strange religion upon
• Prudent. Trtpi Te<p. Hymn. 9. de. S. Romano. Quousque tandem summus hie
nobis Magus illudit ? * Ambr. Serm. 90. in S. Agnen. Tolle Magam !
Telle Malelicam ! ^ See Kortholt de Morib. Christ, c. 4. * Sueton.
Nero. c. 16. * Plin. lib. 10. Ep. 97. Nihil aliud inveni, quam supcr-
stitionein pravam et immodicam. Tacit. Anna!, xv. c. 44. Exitiabilis super-
slitlo. ^ Inscrip. Antiq. ad Calcem Sueton. Oxon. NERONI. CLAUD.
CAIS. AUG. PONT. MAX. OB. PROVINC. LATRONIB. ET. HIS. QUI.
NOV AM. GENERI. HUM. SUPERSTITION. INCULCAB. PURGAT.
Ap. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. lib. vi. c. 19. Bap/3apov roXfiijfia. • Act. Mart.
Lugd. ap. Euseb. lib. v. c. 1. Opi}ffKtiav %tvriv if Kaiviiv.
7
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 15
mankind; but now let us gee whether they will rise again,
and whether their God can help and deHver theui out of
our hands.
Sect. 7. — Christians, why called Slbyllists.
Celsus gives them the name of Sibylhsts,* because the
Christians, in their disputes with the heathens, sometimes
made use of the authority of Sibylla, their own prophetess,
against them ; whose writings they urged with so much
advantage to the Christian cause, and prejudice to the
heathen, that Justin Martyr^ says, the Roman governors
made it death for any one to read them, or Hystaspes, or -
the writings of the prophets.
Sect. 8.— Biathanatl.
They also reproached them with the appellation of
Bia^dvaroi, self-murderer s, because they readily offered
themselves up to martyrdom, and cheerfully underwent any
violent death, which the heathens could inflict upon them.
With what eagerness they courted death, we learn not only
from the Christian^ writers themselves, but from the testi-
monies of the heathens* concerning them. Lucian' says,
they not only despised death, but many of them voluntarily
off"ered themselves to it, out of a persuasion that they should
be made immortal, and live for ever. This he reckons folly,
and therefore gives them the name of KaKo^cufxoveg ; the
miserable wretches that threw away their lives. In which
sense Porphiry^ also stiles the Christian religion, Bdpfta^ov
ToXfxnixa, the barbarous boldness. As Arrius Antoninus''
terms the professors of it, <J 8hXoi, the stupid wretches, that
had such a mind to die; and the heathen, in Minucius,*
homines deploratee ac desperatce factionis, the men of the
forlorn and desperate faction ; all of which agrees with the
name Biathanati, or Biceothanati, as Baronius^ understands
' Oriijen. c. Cels. lib. v. p. 272. '' Just. Apol. ii. p. 82. « Spc th««se
collccJed in Pearson Vind. lijnat. par. ii. c. ix. p. 384. * Arrius Antonin.
ap. Tcrtul. ad Scap. c. 4. Tiberian. in Joh. Malria Chronic. * Lucian.
de Mort. Pert-grin. * Porphir. ap. Euseb. Hist. F.cci. 1. ri. c. 19.
' Tertul. ibid. * Minuc. Octav. p. 23. * Baron, an. 138. n. 5.
16 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK I.
it. Tlioug-li It may signify not only self-murderers, but (as a
learned critic' notes) men that expect to live after death.
In which sense the heathens probably might use it likewise,
to ridicule the Christian doctrine of the resurrection ; on
which, they knew, all their fearless and undaunted courage
was founded. B'or so the same heathen, in Minucius, en-
deavours to expose at once both their resolution and their
belief. " O strange folly and incredible madness!" says
he, " they despise all present torments, and yet fear those
that are future and uncertain ; they are afraid of dying after
death, but in the mean time do not fear to die. So vainly
do they flatter themselves, and allay their fears, with the
hopes of some reviving comforts after death." For one of
these reasons then they gave them the name of Biothanatiy
which word expressly occurs in some of the Acts of the
ancient martyrs. Baronius observes,^ out of Bede's Marty-
rology, that when the seven sons of Symphorosa were mar-
tyred under Hadrian, their bodies were all east into one pit
together, which the temple priests named from them, Ad
septem Biothanatos, the grave of the seven BiothanatL
Sect. 9. — Parabolarii, and Desperali.
For the same reasons they gave them the names of Para-
bolarii and Desperati, the hold and desperate men. The
Parabolarii or Paraholani among the Romans, were those
bold adventurous men, who hired out themselves to fight
with wild beasts upon the stage or amphitheatre, whence
they had also the name of Bestiarii and Confectores. Now,
because the Christians were put to fight for their lives in the
same manner, and they rather chose to do it than deny their
religion, they therefore got the name of ParaboU and Para-
holani ; which, though it was intended as a name of reproach
and mockery, yet the Christians were not unwilling to take
it to themselves, being one of the truest characters that the
heathens ever gave them. And, therefore, they sometimes
gave themselves this name by vvay of allusion to the Roman
Paraboli, as in the passion^ of Abdo and Senne in the time
' Sulcer. TUesaur. Ecclesiast. T. i. p. 690. ^ Baron, an. 138. n. G.
^ Acta Abdon. et Senncs ap, Suicer.
CHAP. 11.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 17
of Valerian, the martyrs, who were exposed to be devoured
by wild beasts in the amphitheatre, are said to enter, Ut
audacissimi Parabolajii, as most resolute champions, that
despised their own lives for their relig-ion's sake. But, the
other name of _Des/?era/i, they rejected as a calumny, retorting-
it back upon their adversaries, who more justly deserved it.
"Those," says Lactantius,* " who seta value upon their faith,
and will not deny their God, they first torment and butcher
them with all their might, and then call them Desperadoes'
because they will not spare their own bodies ; as if any thing-
could be more desperate, than to torture and tear in pieces
those whom you cannot but know to be innocent."
Sect. 10.— Sarincntitii, and Scmaxii.
Tertullian mentions another name, which was likewise
occasioned by their sufferings. The martyrs, which were
burnt alive, were usually tied to a board or stake of about
six feet long, which the Romans called Semaxis ; and then
they were surrounded or covered with faggots of small wood,
which they called Sarmenta. From this, their punishment,
the heathens, who turned every thing into mockery, gave all
Christians the despiteful name of Sarmentitii and Semaxii.^
Sect. II.— Lucifugax Nati
10.
The heathen, in Minucius,^ takes occasion also to reproach
them under the name of the sculking generation, or the men
that loved to prate in corners and the dark. The ground of
which scurrilous reflection was only this, that they were
forced to hold their religious assemblies in the night, to
avoid the fury of the persecutions ; which Celsus* himself
owns, though otherwise prone enough to load them with
hard names and odious reflections.
Sect. 12. — Plautina Prosapia, and Pistorcs.
The same heathen, inMinucius, gives them one'scurrilous
' Lact. Instit. lib. v. c. 9. Desperatos vocant, quia corpori suo minitne
parcunt, &c. ^ Tcitul. Apol. c. 50. Licet nunc Sarmentitios tH Seinaxios
appelletii, quia ad Stipitein diniidii Axis reviiicli, SHnuentoruni anibitu oxuri-
mur. ^ Minuc. Octav. p. 25. Latebrosa et Lucifugax Nalio, in i>ubU->
cum Inula, in angulis garrula. * Origen. c. Cols. lib. i. p. 5.
VOL, I. C
]8 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK 1.
name more, which it is not very easy to guess the meaning-
of. He calls them PlaiUinians,^ Homines PlautiiuB Pro-
sa/picB. Rigaltius^ takes it for a ridicule upon the poverty
and simplicity of the Christians, whom the heathens com-
monly represented as a company of poor ignorant mecha-
nics, bakers, tailors, and the like ; men of the same quality
with Plautus, who as St. Jerom^ observes was so poor, that
in a time of famine he was forced to hire out himself to a
baker to grind at his mill, during which time he wrote three
of his plays in the intervals of his labour. Such sort of
men Caicilius says the Christians were ; and therefore he
styles Octavius in the dialogue, Homo Plautince Prosapice,
et Pistoriim prcecipuus, a Plautinian, a chief man among
the illiterate bakers, hut no philosopher. The same reflec-
tion is often made by Celsus. " You shall see," says he,*
" weavers, tailors, fullers, and the most illiterate and rustic
fellows, who dare not speak a word before wise men, when
they can get a company of children and silly women toge-
ther, set up to teach strange paradoxes amongst them."
"This is one of their rules," says he, again,'* " let no man that
is learned, wise, or prudent come among us ; but if any be
unlearned, or a child, or an idiot, let him freely come ; so
they openly declare, that none but fools and sots, and such
as want sense, slaves, women, and children are fit disciples
for the God they worship."
Sect. 13. — With what Names the Heretics reproached the Orthodox Christians.
Nor was it only the heathens, who thus reviled them,
but commonly every perverse sect among the Christians
had some reproachful name to cast upon them. The No-
vatian party called them Cornelians,*' because they commu-
nicated with Cornelius, bishop of Rome, rather than with
Novatianus, his antagonist. They also termed them Apos-
tatics, Capitolins, Synedrians, because^ they charitably de-
creed in their synods to receive apostates, and such as
• Minuc. p. 37. Quid ad haec audet Octavius, homo PlautinsB Prosapise, ut
Pisloruin piiEcipuus, ita postrcmus Philosophorum ? ^ Rigalt. in Loc.
3 Ilieron. Chronic, an. i. Olynip. 14.5. * Origen. c. Cels. lib. iii. p. 144.
* Ibid. p. 137. « Eulog. ap. Phot. Cod. 280. ' Pacian. Ep. 2. ad Sempronian.
CHAP, II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 19
went to the capitol to sacrifice, into their communion ag-ain,
upon their sincere repentance. The Nestorians' termed the
orthodox, Cyrillians ; and the Arlans^ called them Eusta-
thians and Paulinians, from Eustathius and Paulinus, bishops
of Antioch ; as also Homoousians, because they kept to
the doctrine of the o/uLosmov, which declared the Son of
God to be of the same substance with the Father. The
author of the Opus Imperfectuyn on St. Matthew, under
the name of Chrysostom,^ styles them expressly, Htsresis
Homoousianorum, the heresy of the Homoousians. And so
Serapion,in his conflict with Arnobius,* calls them Homoou-
sianates, which the printed copy reads corruptly Homunci-
onates, which was a name for the Nestorians.
Sect. 14.— Christians called Psychici, by the Montanists.
The Cataphrygians or Montanists commonly called the
orthodox, ^vxiksq, carnal; because they rejected the pro-
phecies and pretended inspirations of Montanus, and would
not receive his rigid laws about fasting-, nor abstain from
second marriag-es, nor observe four lents in a year, &c.
This was TertuUian's ordinary compliment to the Christians
in all his books^ written after he was fallen into the errors
of Montanus. He calls his own party the spiritual, and
the orthodox the carnal ; and some of his books^ are ex-
pressly entitled, Adversus Psychicos. Clemens Alexandri-
nus' observes, the same reproach was also used by other
heretics beside the Montanists. And it appears from
Irenaeus, that this was an ancient calumny of the Valenti-
nians, who styled themselves the spiritual and the perfect,
and the orthodox the secular and carnal,^ who had need of
abstinence and good works, which were not necessary for
{hem that were perfect.
• Ep. Lcgat. Schismat. ad suos in Epheso in Act. Con. Ephes. Con. T. iii. p.
746. ^Sozom. lib. vi. c. 21. ^ Opus Imperf. Horn. 48. ♦Con-
flict. Arnob. et Scrap, ad calcem Irenaei. p. 519. * Tertul. adv. Prax. c. 1.
Nos quidem agnitio Paracleli disjunxit a Psychicis. Id. de Monogam. c. I.
Haeretici nuptias auferunt, Psychici ingerunt. See also c. II. and 16. * De
Jcjuniis adv. Psychicos. De Pudicitia, &c. ' Clem. Alex. Strom, lib. iv.
p. 511. ^ Iren. lib. i. c. 1. p. 29. Nobis quidem, quos Psychicos vocant,
et de saeculo esse diciint, necessariam contincntiam, &c.
c2
20 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK I.
Sect. 15. — AUegorists, by the Millenaries.
The Millenaries styled them AUegorists, because they ex-
poutided the prophecy of the Saints reigning- a thousand
years with Christ, Rev. xx. 4. to a mystical and allegorical
.*;ense. Whence Eusebius' observes of Nepos, the Egyp-
tian bishop, who wrote for the Millennium, that he en-
titled his book, "EXijxog ''AWriyopi'v^wv, a Confutation of
the AUegorists.
Sect. 16. — Chronita?, by the Aetians ; Siinplices, by the Manichees ; Antliropo-
latrjE, by the Apollinarians.
Aetius, the Arian, gives them the abusive name of Xpovt-
Tui ; by which he seems to intimate, that their religion was
but temporary, and would shortly have an end; whereas
the character was much more applicable to the Arians them-
selves, whose faith was so lately sprung up in the world ;
as the author of the Dialogues de Trinitate, under the name
bf Athanasius, who confutes Aetius,^ justly retorts upon him.
The Manichees, as they gave themselves the most glori-
ous names of Electi, Macarii, Catharistce, mentioned by^ St.
Austin, so they reproached the Catholics with the most
contemptible name of Simplices, idiots ; which is the term
that Manichaeus himself used in his dispute'^ w ith Archelaus,
the Mesopotamian bishop, styling the Christian teachers,
Simpliciorum Magistros, guides of the simple ; because
they could not relish his execrable doctrine concerning two
principles of good and evil.
The Apollinarians were no less injurious to the Catholics,
in fixing on them the odious name of Anthropolatrce, man-
worshipers ; because they maintained that Christ was a per-
fect man, and had a reasonable soul and body, of the same
nature with ours, which Apollinarius denied. Gregory
Nazianzen* takes notice of this abuse, and sharply replies
to it ; telling the Apollinarians, " that they themselves much
better deserved the name of Sarcolatrce^ flesh-worshipers ;
for if Christ had no human soul, they must be concluded
to worship his flesh only."
' Euscb. lib. vii. c. 24. - Athan. Dial. 2. dc Trinit. T. ii. p. 193.
' Aujif. do Hasr. c. 46. * Archel. Disp. adv. Manichaeiuu ad calcem Sozo-
uien. Ed. Vales, p. 197. * Naz. Ep. i. ad Cledon.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 21
Sect. 17. — Philosarcae and Pelusiotee, &c. by tl»e OrJgenians.
The Origenians, who denied the truth of the resurrection,
and asserted that men should have only aerial and spiritual
bodies in the next world, made jests upon the Catholics,
because they maintained the contrary ; that our bodies
should be the same individual bodies, and of the same na-
ture that they are now, with flesh and bones, and all the
members in the same form and structure, only altered in
quality, not in substance. For this they g-ave them the op-
probrious names of Simplices and Philosarcce,^ idiots and
lovers of the Jlesh ; Carnei, Animales, Jumenta, carnal, sen-
sual animals ; Lutei, earthy ; Pelusiotes^ which is a term of
the same importance, from the Greek word, fl^Aoc, Lutum,
as St. Jerom himself^ explains it. So that though Baro-
nius from some copies reads this name, Pilosiota, yet the
true reading- is Pelusiofcs, as the passag'e cited in the mar-
g-in plainly evinces.
Sect. 18. — The Synagogue of Antichrist and Satan, by the Luciferians.
But of all others the Luciferians g-ave the Church the rudest
lang-uage; styling- her the brothel-house, and synag-ogue of
Anti-christ and Satan ; because she allowed those bishops to
retain their honour and places, who were cajoled by the
Arians to subscribe the fraudulent confession of the council
of Ariminum. TheLuciferian, in St. Jerom, runs out in this
manner ag-ainst the Church ; and St. Jerom says, "he spake
but the sense of the whole party, for this was the ordinary
style* and language of all the rest."
These arc some of those reproachful names, which heretics,
' Hieron. Ep. 61. ad Pammach. T. ii. p. 171. Nos Simplices et Philosarcas
dicere, quod eadem Ossa, et Sanquis, ct Caro, id est, vultus et membra, totiiisque
compago corporis rcsurgat in novissima die. * Id. Ep. 65. ad Pammach
ct Ocean, de Error. Orig. p. 192. Pelusiolas nos appellant, et luteos, animales-
que et cameos, quod non recipiamus ea quas spiritus sunt. ^ Id. Com. in
Jerem. xxix. p. 407. Qute cum audiuiit Discipuli ejus (Origenis) et Grunni-
aniE Familiae Stercora, putant se Divina audire Mysteria ; nosque quod ista con-
temnimus, quasi pro brutis Iiabent animantibus, et vocaiit iriiXaaiojTctc, eo quod in
Luto istius corporis constituti, non possimus sentirc coelcstia. ■* Hieron.
Dial. ailv. Lucifer. T. ii. p. 135. Asserebat univcrsum mundum esse Diaboli ;
rl, ut jam faniiliare est sis dicere, factum de EcclesiU Lupanar. Quod An^
tichristimagis Synagoga, quiim Ecclesia Ciiristi debeat jiuncupari.
22 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK I.
concurring with Jews and infidels, endeavoured to fasten
upon the Christian Church ; which I should not so much as
have mentioned, but that they serve to give some light to
antiquity, and therefore were not wholly to be passed over
in a treatise of this nature.
CHAP. III.
Of the several Orders of Men in the Christian Church.
Sect. 1. — Tlirec Sorts of Members of the Christian Church, the 'HyH/ttevoi,
IXtTot, and Kar»Jx«/"»'0''
Having given an account of the several names of Chris-
tians, I proceed now to speak of the persons, and several
orders of men in the Christian Church. Some divide
them into three ranks, others into four, others into five ;
which yet come much to tlie same account, when they are
compared together. Eusebius reckons but three orders,
viz. the 'Wysfiivoi, Flts-oi, and Kar>j;^8jU£vot, riders, believers,
and catechumens. " There are in every Church," says he,
" three orders of men,* one of the rulers or guides, and two
of those that arc su])ject to them ; for the people are di-
vided into two classes ; the FIitoi, believers, and the unbap-
tised," by whom he means the catechumens. St. Jerom^
makes five orders; but then he divides the clergy into three
orders to make up the number, reckoning them thus;
bishops, presliyters, deacons, believers, and catechumens.
In which account he follows Origen,^ who makes five de-
grees subordinate to one another in the Church ; saying,
" Every one shall bo punished according to the difference of
his degree. If a bishop or president of the Church sins, he
shall have the greater punishment. A catechumen will de-
' Euseb. Demonst. Evang. lib. vii. c. 2. p. 323. Tpi'a kuO' f/c«V/;j/ tKKXiirrlav
rdyftara, 'iv fitv to rtSv j'/yH/tsi'WJ', ^vo Si rn twv vTrofifftiiKorow. '^ ITieron.
Com. in Esai. xix. p. 64. Quinqiie Eccclesifc Ordincs, Episcopos, Prcsbytcros,
Diaconos, Fidclcs, Catcchumcnos. '' Orii;en. IIoiu. 5. in Ezek. Pro modo
graduum iimisqiiisqiic torqucbitur. Majorom pa;nain habct, qui Ecclcsia^ pripsidet
••t delinquit. Annon magis misericordiairi promcretur ad conqiarationcm Fidclis,
ratocluiinciuis 2 Non magis vonia dignus est Laiciis, t>i ad Diaconum confcra-
tur .' Et rursus comparationc Prcsbjteri Diaconus vcniaui plus juerctur.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 23
serve mercy, in comparison of a believer : tand a layman in
comparison of a deacon ; and a deacon in comparison of a
presbyter." Here are plainly St. Jerom's five orders ; first
bishops, under the name of presidents of the Church ; then
presbyters ; after them deacons ; then believers, or laymen ;
and last of all, the catechumens.
Sect. 2. — Believers here strictly taken for the Laity that were baptized.
In all which accounts, these four things are proper to be
remarked. 1 . That the name believers, Ilt^ot, and Fideles,
is here taken, in a more strict sense, only for one order
of Christians, — the believing or baptized laity, in contradis-
tinction to the clerg-y and the catechumens, the two other
orders of men in the Church. And in this sense, the words
Yli^di and Fideles are commonly used in the ancient liturgies,*
and canons, to distinguish those that were baptized, and
allowed to partake of the holy mysteries, from the catechu-
mens ; whence came that ancient distinction of the service
of the Church into the Missa CatechumenoriLin and Missa
Fidelium ;- of which more in its proper place.
Sect. 3. — Catechumens owned as imperfect Members of the Church,
2dly. We may hence observe, that the catechumens,
though but imperfect Christians, were in some measure
owned to be within the pale of the Church. Forasmuch, as
Eusebius, Origen, and St. Jerom reckon them one of the
three orders of the Church; and the councils of Eliberis^ and
Constantinople* give them expressly the name of Christians ;
though, as St. Austin* says, they were not yet sons, but ser-
vants : they belonged to the house of God, but were not yet
admitted to all the privileges of it, being only Christians at
large, and not in the most strict and proper acceptation.
Sect. 4. — Heretics not reckoned among Christians.
And yet this is more than can be said of heretics, properly
' See Con. Nic. Can. xi. Con. Eliber. c. 12, 46, 51. Constit. Apost. lib. viii.
0. 34. Cyril. Hierosol. Prjef. Catecli. n. 2. « Con. Carth. iv. c. 84.
Con. Valcnt. Hispan. c. 1. * Con. Elib. Can. 39. * Con. Const, i.
Can. 7. * Auj. Tract. 11. in Joh. T. 9. p. 41. Quod signum Crucis in
fronte liabcnt Catechumen!, jam de Doino iiia;;;iifi sunt, sed tiaut ex servis filii,
Nou cuim nihil sunt, quia admagnam Donuiiu perliucut.
24 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK I.
SO called; for w6 may observe, 3dly, That in the fore-men-
tioned division, heretics come into no account among Chris-
tians. They were not esteemed of, either as catechumens or
believers, but as mere Jews or pagans ; neither having- the
true faith, nor being willing to learn it. TertuUian* says, in
general, " if they be heretics, they cannot be Christians ;"
and St. Jerom,^ disputing with a Luciferian, says the same in
express terms : " That heretics are no Christians ; nor to be
spoken of but as we would do of heathens." Lactantius^
specifies in the Montanists, Novatians, Valentinians, Mar-
cionites, Anthropians, Arians, saying, " that they are no
Christians who, forsaking the name of Christ, call them-
selves by other denominations." Athanasius* and Hilary*
say the same of the Arians; that " they are not Christians."
Constantine,*^ therefore, enacted it into a law, that they
should not be called Christians, but Porphirians, from
Porphiry, that infamous heathen, whose practice they so
much resembled in their impious blasphemies and re-
proaches of Christ and the Christian religion. And in imi-
tation of this, Theodosius' Junior made another law to the
same effect, against Nestorius and his followers, that they
should not abuse the name of Christians, but be called
Simonians, from Simon Magus, the arch-heretic ; to which
we may add that decree of the general council of Sardica,
in their synodical epistle^ against the Arians, where they
require all Catholics not only to deny the Arian bishops the
title of bishops, but even that of Christians ; all which evi-
dently proves, that the ancients put a manifest difference
betwixt those who were apostates from the faith, and those
' Tertul. de Prtescript. c. 37. Si Hseretici sunt, Christian! esse non possunt.
2 Hieron. Dial. c.Lucif. T. 2. p. 135. Hseretici Christiani non sunt Igitur
praefixum inter nos habemus, de HsBretico sic loquenduin sicut de Gentili.
8 Lact. Instit. lib. 4. c. 30. * Athan. Oral. 2. adv. Arian. T. 1. p. 316.
'Apnavbi ovreq, hk liai XpiTtrtvoi. * Hilar, ad Const, lib. i. p. 98. Chris-
tianas sum, non Arianus. *> Const. Imp. Ep. ad Episc. ap. Socrat. lib. i.
c. 9. ' Cod. Theod. lib. xvi. tit. v. de Hseret. c. 66. Damnato porten-
tosae superstitionis auctore Nestorio, nota conorrui nominis ejus jnuratur Gregali-
bus, ne (^Iiristianorum appellatione abutantur; sed quemadmoduni Ariani lege
divae memoriae Constantini ob similitudinein impietatis Porfyriani a Porfyrio
Huncupantur; sic ubicpie participcs nofaiiai scctae Nostorii Simoniani vocciitur.
— See tjiu same in tlie Acts of the Clenerai Council of Eplicsus, part iii. c, 45.
Con. torn. iii. p. 1209, ^ Con. Sardic. Ep. Synod, ap. Tlieod. lib. ii. c. 8.
CHAP, IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 25
who as yet had never made any solemn profession of their
faith in baptism. They allowed the catechumens the name
of Christians, because they were candidates of Heaven ; but
they judg-ed heretics unworthy of that name, because they
corrupted the common faith of Christians, and denied the
Lord, by whose name they w ere called.
Sect. 5. — Penitents and Energiimens ranked in the same Class with Catechumens:
4thly. We may observe, in the last place, that there were
no Christians but what might be reduced to some one or
other of the three fore-mentioned orders ; for the penitents
and energ-umens, as they called those that were possessed
with evil spirits, may be ranked among- the catechumens,
being- commonly treated and disciplined by the Church in the
same manner as they were, and placed in the same class
with them ; and the monks and other ascetics may be rank-
ed under the common head of believers, though they had
some peculiar marks of distinction in the Church. Yet I
shall not confine myself to speak of all those precisely
in this order, and under these heads, but give each a
distinct and proper place in this discourse ; speaking here
only of believers in g-eneral, as they stood distinguished
from the catechumens and the clergy of the Church, and
treating- of the rest as occasion shall require in the following-
parts of this discourse.
CHAP. IV.
A more particular Account of the Tli^oi, or Believers ; their
Titles of Honour and Privileges above the Catechumens.
Sect. I. — Believers otherwise called ^wrt^o^f j/oi, The Illwtninate.
The lli^oi, or Fideles, being- such as were baptized, and
thereby made complete and perfect Christians, were, upon
that account, dignified with several titles of honour and
marks of distinction above the catechumens : they were
hence called (jnoTit^ofxevoi, the illmnitmte ; so the council of
Laodicea* terms those that were newly baptized, Trjjoaf/xirwe
' Con. Luodic. Can. iii.
26 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK I.
^wrtCTSrti'Toc; •'ind Jobius,* in Photius, ot ^wrt^ojuevot ; as St.
Paul, himself, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, twice uses the
word illuminate for baptized, in the opinion of most^ inter-
preters. The reason of the name is given by Justin Martyr,
who says,' they were so called because their understand-
ing's w ere enlightened by the knowledge that Avas conse-
quent to baptism ; for all the mysteries of religion were un-
veiled to the baptized, which were kept secret from the
catechumens ; and sometimes, also, baptism was attended
with extraordinary illuminations of the Holy Ghost, as in
those whom St. Paul caused to be baptized at Ephesus,
Act. xix. 6. " They spake with tongues and prophesied."
Sect. 2. — And "Ot Mefivtjiitvoi, The Initiated.
2. They were hence also styled, 6t jusjuvt^julvot, which the
Latins call Initiati, the Initiated, that is, admitted to tlie
use of the sacred offices, and knowledge of the sacred
mysteries of the Christian religion. Hence came that form
of speaking, so frequently used by St. Chrysostom and
other ancient writers,* when they touched upon any doc-
trines or mysteries which the catechumens understood not,
iaaaiv 6i fiefivrtfxivoi, the initiated know what is spoken. St.
Ambrose writes a book to these initiati.^ Isidore,* of
Pelusium, and Hesychius,''^ call them fiv^di, and others,
fxv^ayioyrjToi ; whence the catechumens have the contrary
names, '^Ajliv^oi, 'Ajuurjrot, and ' Afivi^aycoynToi, the uninitiated
or unhaptised.
Sect. 3. — And TeXttoi, The Perfcet.
3. Believers were otherwise called riXuoi, and T£\HHf.i£voi,
the perfect, because they were consummate Christians,
who had a right to participate of the holy eucharist, the
TO TiXtiov, as it is frequently called in the canons^ of the
ancient councils, w^here liri to rfXtiov iX^dv, and rs rtXfts
' Pilot. Cod. ccxxii. p. 595 et 598. ^ See Grot. Hamond. Estiiis in Ileb.
G. 4. and 10. 32. ^ Justin. Apol. ii. p. 94. * C'asanbon Exeic. xvi. in
Caion. p. 399. observes this phrase to occur no less than fifty times in St. Chry-
sosioni and St. Anstin. * Ambros. De his qui initiantur Mystcriis. " Isi-
dor. lib. iv. Ep. IG-^. 'irrarTtv ot ^iv^ih ro \tyof.(iuov. ' Hcsych. Voce
fiv^ai. 8 QQ^^^ Ancyrau. Can. 4, 5, 6, &c.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 27
fitrix^iv, always sig-nify participation of the holy eucharist,
that sacred mystery that unites us to Christ, and gives us
the most consummate perfection that Ave are capable of in
this world.
Sect. 4. — Chari Dei, Filii Dei, 'Aytoi, &c.
4. Tertullian adds to these the name of Chari Dei, — the
Favourites of Heaven, because their prayers and interces-
sions were po^^ erful with God to obtain pardon for others,
that should address heaven by them. Therefore, in his in-
structions to the penitents, he bids them, " Charis Dei ad-
geniculari, — -fall down at the feet of those favourites, and
commend their suit to all the brethren, dcsirinir them to
intercede with God for them." Tertiil. de Pcenit. c. 9.
All these names (and many others that might be added,
which are obvious to every reader, such as Saints, and Sons
of God, &c.) were peculiar titles of honour and respect,
g-iven only to those who were YIl^ol, or Believers.
Sect. 5. — The Privileges of the Fidelcs. I. To partake of the Eucharist.
And hence it was, that, correspondent to these names, the
Fideles had their peculiar privileges in the Church, above
the catechumens. For, first, it was their sole prerog-ative
to partake of the Lord's table, and communicate with one
another in the symbols of Christ's body and blood at the
altar. Hither none came but such as were first initiated by
baptism ; whence the custom was, before they went to
celebrate the eucharist, for a deacon to proclaim, "Ayia
'Ayioig, Holy things for holy men. " Ye catechumens g-o
forth,'" as the author of the constitutions, and St. Chrysos-
tom, and some others word it.
Sect. 6. — 2. To join in all the Prayers of the Church.
2. Another of their prerogatives above catechumens,
was, to stay and join with the minister in all the prayers of
the Church, which the catechumens were not allowed to
do ; for in the ancient service of the Church, there were no
' ' .— . — .. ^ I- I ■ ■ ■ . , ,. I ■ . . . — . ..I — ■ ^ .^
' Constit. Apost. lib. viii. c. 8 and 12. Chrysost. Hoin. in Parab. de Filio
Pjodiij. torn. 6. ixi) rit; twv Kor»;x«^5j'wj/, &c.
28 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK I.
prayers preceding- the communion-office ; but only such as
particularly related either to the several classes of peni-
tents or the energumeni, that is, persons possessed with evil
spirits, or the catechumens themselves. When these
prayers were ended, the catechumens, and all others, were
commanded to withdraw, and then began the communion-
service at the altar, where none were admitted so much as
to be spectators, save those who were to communicate in
the eucharist ; for to join in prayers and participation of
the eucharist, were then privileges of the same persons ;
and no one was qualified for the prayers of the Church, who
was not qualified for the communion.
Sect. 7.-3. The Use of the Lord's Prayer, another Prerogative of the XIiTot;
whence it was called 'Euxv ni-rwv, Tiie Praj/er of Believers.
3. More particularly the use of the Lord's prayer was
the sole prerogative of the rit-oi, or believers ; for then it
was no crime, or argument of weakness, or want of the
spirit, to use it ; but an honour and privilege of the most
consummate and perfect Christians. The catechumens
were not allowed to say, " Our Father,"" till they had first
made themselves sons by regeneration in the waters of
of baptism. This is expressly said by St. Chrysostom,*
St. Austin,^ Theodoret,^ and several others ; and for this
reason, Chrysostom* calls it Eu^^r) Ilt-wv ; and St, Austin,^
Oratio Fidelium, — the ■prayer of the regenerate, or be-
lievers; because it was their privilege and birth-right. "It
was given to them as their property," he^ says, " and there-
fore they made use of it, having a right to say, ' Our Father,
which art in heaven,' who were born again to such a Fa-
ther, by water and the Holy Ghost."
* Chrysost. Horn. ii. in 2 Cor. p. 740. * Aug. Horn. 29. de Verb. Apost.
^ Tlieodor. Epit. Dlv. Dogm. c. xxiv. ■• Chrysost. Horn. x. in Colos.
p. 1385. ^ Aug. Enchirid. c. 71. "^Aug. Com. in Psal, 142. Ora-
bant utique jam Fideles, jam Apostoli. Nam ista Oratio Dominica magis Fi-
dolibns datnr.
Id. Enchirid. ad Laurent, c. 71. De Quotidianis, brevibus, levibusqne pec-
catis quotidiana Oratio Kidcliitin salisfarit. Eoruni est onimdicere, "Pater
nostcr qui cs in Ccelis;" qui jam Patri tali regcnerati sunt, ex aqua ct Spiritu
Sancto.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. g9
Sect. 8. — 4. Thoy were admitted to hear Discourses upon the most profound
Mysteries of Religion.
4. Lastly, They were admitted to be auditors of all dis-
courses made in the church, even those that treated of the
most abstruse points and profound mysteries of the Chris-
tian relig"ion ; which the catechumens were strictly pro-
hibited from hearing". The catechumens were allowed to
hear the Scriptures, and the ordinary popular discourses
that were made upon them ; which was no more than what
some councils* allow even to Jews and Gentiles : for in
those discourses they never treated plainly of their mys-
teries, but in such a covert way as the catechumens could
not understand them. But when the catechumens were
dismissed, then they discoursed more openly of their mys-
teries before the Ftdeles, whose privileg-e it was to be the
sole auditors of such discourses. This we learn from St.
Ambrose,^ who says, his common discourses to the unbap-
tized were only upon points of morality ; but when they
were baptized, then was the time to open to them the
mysteries and sacraments of rehg-ion : to have discoursed
to them of those things before, had been more like expos-
ing mysteries than explaining them. St. Austin speaks to
the same purpose in one of his sermons^ to the newly-bap-
tized : " Having now dismissed the catechumens," says he,
" we have retained you only to be our hearers ; because, be-
side those things which belong to all Christians in common,
we are now to discourse more particularly of the heavenly
mysteries, or sacraments ; which none are qualified to hoar
' Con. Carthag. iv. can. 14. Ut Episcopus nullum prohibeat ingredi Eccle-
siam et audire Verbum Dei, sive Gentilem, sive HiEreticum, sive Judseuni, usque
ad Missam Catechuinenorum. * Ambros. de his qui Mysterlis initiantur, c. 1,
De Moralibus quotidianum Sermonem habuimus. - - - - Nunc de Mysteriis dicerc
teinpus adinonet, atque ipsam Sacramentorum rationem edere, quam ante baptis-
muin si putassenius insinuandani nondum initiatis, prodidisse potiusquum edidisse
spstimaremur. * Aug. Serm. 1. ad Neophytes in Append. T. x. p. 845.
Dimissis jam Catechunienis, vcs tanttim ad audiendum retinuimus: Quia pra:ter
ilia, quic onines Christ ianos convenit in commune servare, specialiter de Cffilesti-
bus Mysteriis locuturi sumus, quae audire non possunt, nisi qui ea, donante jam
Domino, percepcrunt. Tanto ergo niajore reverentia debetis audire qure dicimus,
quanto majora ista sunt, qua; solis baptizatis et fidelibus aiiditoribus com-
mittuntur ; quam ilia quse ctiam Catcclmmeni audire consuevcrunt.
30 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK I.
but such as, by God's g-ift, are made partakers of them.
And, therefore, ye ought to hear thorn with the greater reve-
rence, by how much more subhme those doctrines are
which are committed only to the baptized and beheving-
auditors, than those which the catechumens also are wont
to hear." Theodoret* takes notice of the same distinction
made in their discourses, according' to the difference of their
auditors ; saying", " We discourse obscurely of divine mys-
teries before the unbaptized ; but when they are departed,
we speak plainly to the baptized ;" from all which it is evi-
dent, that the Fideles w ere sing-led out as the only proper
auditors fit to hear discourses upon the sublime doctrines
and mysteries of religion ; and in these, and the like privi-
leg-es, consisted their prerog-ative above the catechumens.
CHAP. V.
Of the Distinction betwixt the Laity and Clergy, and of the
Antiquity of that Distinction.
Sect.1.— The Fideles, otherwise called Laid, to distinguish them from the
Clergy.
We have hitherto considered the great body of the Chris-
tian Church, the Fideles, as opposed to the catechumens.
We are now to view them in another relation, as contradis-
tinct to the clergy ; in which relation they went by other
names, such as those of Laid, laymen ; BtwrtKot, seculars ;
''idiujTai, private men. The most common and ancient
name was that of Laid, which every where occurs in the
writings of Origen, Cyprian, and Tertullian, and others of
the third century ; which is a thing so evident, that the
greatest enemies of this distinction, Rigaltius,^ Salmasius,
and Selden, do not pretend to dispute it ; but only say,
there was originally no such distinction in the Church ; but
that it is a novelty, and owing to the ambition of the clergy
of the third century, in which Cyprian and Tertullian lived.
• Theod. Quiest. 15. in Num. * Rigalt. Not. in Cypr. Ep. 3.
CHAP, v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. S\
Sbct. 2.— The Antiquity of this Distinction proved against Rigaltius, Salmasius,
and Selden.
This accusation reflects hig"hly upon St. Cyprian, and
other holy martyrs, his cotemporaries, who were as far from
the ambition that is charg-ed upon them, as the authors are
from truth, who bring- the charg-e. For, indeed, the distinc-
tion was none of their inventing" ; but derived from the Jew-
ish Church, and adopted into the Christian by the Apostles
themselves. Clemens Alexandrinus' speaking- of St. John,
says, " that after his return from banishment in the isle of
Patmos, he settled at Ephesus ; whence being- often invited
to visit the neighbouring- regions, he ordained them bishops
and set apart such men for the clergy, as were signified to
him by the Holy Ghost." Whence it appears, that the name
KXiipog, Clergy , WHS always a peculiar title of those that were
set apart for the ministry and service of God. And that
this distinction came from the Jewish Church, is evident from
what Clemens Romanus^ says of the Jewish oeconomy;
that as the high priest had his office assigned him, and the
priests also their proper station, and the Levites their pecu
liar service ; so laymen, in like manner, were under the
obligation of precepts proper for laymen. These instances
evidently prove, that a distinction was always observed in
these names, Laity and Clergy, from the first foundation of
the Christian Church.
Sect. 3. — An Objection from 1 Pet. v. iii. answered.
There is but one objection of any moment against this,
which is taken from the words of St. Peter ; where he bids
the elders of the Church not lord it over God's heritage.
The original is, ^tjS' wg KaruKvpuvovTEg rwv kXi/jowi' ; which (as
some learned^ critics observe) may as well signify the pos-
sessions of the Church, as the people. But admit, that it
means the people ; this is no more than is said of the peo-
ple of Israel, who are called God's kXijjjoc, and Aaoc tjKXrjpog,
' Clem. Alexand. Quis Dives salvetur. ap. Combefis. Auctar. Noviss. p. 185.
,ct ap. Euseb. lib. iii. c. 23. RX/ypr^j tva ye riva KXiipujaiov nou viro
■KvivfiarpQ (r>;/t«t j'o/jfi'wj/. '^ Clem. Rom. Ep. 1. ad Corinth, n. 40.
o Xrtiicoe aj>0pw7ro<,' roTy XutKolQ TrpoTayftao'ii' dkSiTai.. '*Dod\vel. Dissert. 1
in Cyprian.
32 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK I.
his inheritance, or his clergy ; Doiit. iv. 20, ix. 29. As both
the Jews and Christians were, in opposition to the heathen;
notwithstanding which, God had his peeuhar KXrjpoc among
his own people, who wore his lot or inheritance, and dis-
tino-uished by that name from the Laid, or remaining- body
of the people. As we have observed before, in the name
Ilts-dt, jideles, or believers ; all persons within the pale of
the Church were called believers, in opposition to infidels
and pagans ; but when they would distinguish one order of
men in the church from another, then the name, believers,
was given peculiarly to such as were baptized, and the rest
were called catechumens ; so here, all Christian people are
God's KXnpoc, his lot, his inheritance, or his clergy ; but
when his ministers are to be distinguished from the rest of
the people in the Church, then the name Clerici, or Clergy,
was their appropriate title, and the name of the other
laymen .
Sect. 4,— A Distinction in tlie Offices of Laity and Clergy always observed.
And this observation will help to set another sort of pei*-
sons right, who confound not only the names, but the offices
of laity and clergy together; and plead that originally
there was no distinction between them. The name of
priesthood, indeed, is sometimes given in common to the
whole body of Christian people, 1 Pet. ii. 9. Rev. i. 6., but
so it was to the Jewish people, Exod. xix. 6. " Ye shall be
unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." Yet
every one knows, that the offices of the priests and Levites,
among the Jews, were very distinct from those of the com-
mon people, not by usurpation, but by God's appointment;
and so it was among Christians, from the first foundation of
the Church. Wherever any number of converts were made,
as soon as they were capable of being formed into an or-
ganical Church, a bishop, or a presbyter, with a deacon,
was ordained to minister to them, as Epiphanius^ delivers
from the ancient histories of the Church. The same may
be observed in the fore-mentioned passage of Clemens
Alexandrinus, where he says, St. John ordained bishops
' Epiphan. Hser. 75. Aerian. n. 5.
CHAP, v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 33
and other elerg-y, in the churches which he regidated, ])y
the direction ol the Holy Ghost. Hence it is, that Ignatius
so frequently in all his epistles charges the people to do
nothing' without the bishops,^ presbyters, and deacons.
Tertullian^ says, it was customary among heretics to con-
found the offices of clergy and laity together. They
made one a bishop to-day, and another to-morrow ; to-day a
deacon, and to-morrow a reader ; to-day a presbyter, and
to-morrow a layman. For laymen among them performed
the offices of the priest-hood ; but this was not the custom
of the Catholic Church. For, as St. Jerom^ observes, they
reckoned that to be no church, which had no priests. They
were of no esteem with them, who were both laymen and
bishops together. And by this we may judge how ingenu-
ously they deal with St. Jerom and Tertullian, who allege
their authorities to prove, that every Christian is as much a
priest as another. St. Jerom, indeed, says,* there is a laical
priest-hood ; but then he explains himself to mean no more
by that, than Christian baptism, thereby we are made
kings and priests to God. And Tei ullian^ grants no other
priesthood to laymen, save that they may baptize in case
of absolute necessity, when none of the ecclesiastical order
can be had ; which was according to the principles and
practice of the primitive Church ; but does by no means con-
found the offices of laity and clergy together, unless any
one can think cases ordinary and extraordinary all one. The
ancient historians," Socrates and Ruffin, tell us, that Frumen-
tius and iEdesius, two young men, who had no external call
or commission to preach the Gospel, being carried captive
• Ignat. Ep. ad Magnes. n. 6. ct 7. Ep. ad. Trail, n. 2. Ep. ad Philad. n. 7.
2 Tertul. de Pra^script. c. 41. Alius hodie Episcopus, eras alius: Ilodie Dia-
conus, qui eras Lector: Hodie Presbyter, qui eras Laieus. Nam et Laicis sa-
cerdotalia munera injungunt. ^ Hicron. Dial. c. Lucifer, t. ii. p. 145,
Ecclesia non est, qute non habet Sacerdotes. Ibid." Omissis paucis hoinuneulis,
qui ipsi sibi et Laici sunt et Episcopi. * Hieron. ibid. p. 136. Sacer-
dotiuin Laici, id est, Baptisma. Scriptum est enim, Kegnuin et Sacerdotes nos
fecit, &c. * Tertul. Exhort, ad Cast. c. 7. Nonne ct Laici Sacerdotes
sumus? Scriptum est, Regnum quoque nos et Sacerdotes Deo et Patri suo
fecit. Ubi Ecclesiastici Ordinis est Consessus, et offert et tiiiguit Sa-
cerdos, qui est ibi, solus. Sed ubi tres, Ecclesia est; licet Laici. ® Rufful-
lib. i. c. 9. Socrat. lib. i. c. 19.
VOL. I. D
34 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK I.
into India, converted the nation, and settled several churches
among- them. And the same Socrates^ and Theodoret say,
that the Iberians were first converted by a captive woman,
who made the king and queen of the nation preachers of
the Gospel to their people. Yet a man would argue very
weakly, that should hence conclude, that therefore there
was no distinction betwixt clergy and laity in the primitive
Church ; or that laymen might preach without a call, and
women ordain ministers of the Gospel. The author of the
comments upon St. Paul's epistles, under the name^ of St.
Ambrose, seems to say indeed, that at first all Christ's dis-
ciples were clergy, and had all a general commission to
preach the Gospel and baptize ; but that was in order to
convert the world, and before any multitude of people were
gathered, or churches founded, wherein to make a distinc-
tion. But as soon as the Church began to spread itself over
the world, and sufficient numbers were converted to form
themselves into a regular society, then rulers and other
ecclesiastical officers were appointed among' them, and a
distinction made, that no one, — no, not of the clergy them-
selves,— might presume to meddle with any office not com-
mitted to him, and to which he knew himself not ordained.
So that, for ought that appears to the contrary, we may con-
clude, that the names and offices of laymen and clergy were
always distinct from one another, from the first foundation
of Christian Churches.
Sect, 5. — Laymen also called BiwriKot, Sectilam.
The laymen were distinguished also by the name of
BtwrtKot, seculars, from Btoc> which signifies a secular life ;
and by this title they are discerned, not only from the
clergy, but also from the ascetics, and those of a more re-
tired life, who bid adieu to the world, and disburdened
' Socrat. lib. i. c. 20. 'Afiforepoi KtjpvKeg tS XpiTH, &c. Theodor. lib. i.
c. 23. ^ Ambros. sive Hilar. Diacon. Com. in Eph. iv. p. 248. Ut cres-
ceret Plebs et multiplicaretur, omnibus inter initia concessum est et evangeli-
zare, el baptizare, et Scripturas in Ecclesia explanare. At ubi autem omnia
Joca circumplcxa est Ecclesia, Conventicula constituta sunt, et Rectores, et
caetera Oilieia in Ecclesiis sunt ordinata, ut nullus dc Clero auderet, qui ordina-
tusnon esset, prresumerc Officium, quod scivet non sibi creditum.
CHAP, v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 35
themselves of all secular cares and business. Thus, St.
Chrysostom,^ exhorting all men to read the Scriptures, says,
" Let no man think to excuse himself by saying, I am a secu-
lar, dvnp (^MTiKog, it belongs not to me to read the Scriptures,
but to those that have retired from the world, and have taken
up their abode in the tops of the mountains.'' And, m
another place, commenting on those words of St. Paul,
" Let every soul be subject to the higher powers ;" he says,
" this command is given to the clergy, and to the nionks,
and not to the seculars^ only;" and so they are styled in the
authoi-^ who goes under the name of Justin Martyr and others.
Sect. 6. — And 'I^iwrat, Private Men.
In some writers they are termed iStwrat, private men, as
being only in a private capacity, and not acting as public
ministers. So it was another name to distinguish them
from the clergy who were in the public office and employ-
ment of the Church. St. Chrysostom* and Theodoret* say,
the word iSaJrrjc is soused by St. Paul himself, 1 Cor. xiv. 16,
which we translate, unlearned ; but they say it signifies no
more than a layman, or one in a private capacity, whether
learned or unlearned, who is not a public minister of the
Church \ and so Origen also uses the name iStwrat, not for
persons unlearned, but for laymen, who had power as well
as other Christians to cast out devils in the name of Christ f
and Synesius opposes the names 'i^ibiTai, and Upug, to one
another .''^ makins: the one to denote those who ministered in
the sacred service of the Church ; and the other, those who
had no such office, but served God only in a private capacity,
as laymen. Whence also, speaking of some clergymen who
deserved to be degraded, he says,* they were to be treated
publicly by all, mq avTiKpvg Idnorai, as mere private meny
that is, no longer as clergymen, but laymen. Whence we
may collect, that this was a common name for all such as
had no public office or ministry in the Church.
' Chrys. Horn. 3. in Laz. t. v. ^ chrys. Hom. 23. in Rom. ravra
Siardrrtrai isptvai, icj /toi'wxoie, s'^t "toIq (iiwTiKolc unvov. ^ Jnst. M. Resp;
ad Quest. 19. n.j (iiMTiic(^ ui'9poi7r!;>, &c. * Chrys. Hom. 35. in 1 Cor. xiv.
lcioiTi)v ok XdiKuf Xiyti. * Theod. Com. in 1 Cor. xiv. 16. iSiwrtiv
•caXtl TOP if Til) XcuKifi rdy^iari TtTctyfi'ivov. ^ Orig. c. Cels. lib. vii. p.
334. ' yyncs. Ep.- iiv. acl Tlicoph, p. Ul. " Hyaca. Ep. Ixvii. p. -^51).
36 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK I.
Sect, 7.— What Persons properly called Clerhi.
On the other hand, all persons who had any public em-
ployment in the Church, were called by the common name
of Clerici ; which name at first was given only to the three
superior orders of bishops, priests, and deacons, because
there were then no other orders in the Church. But in the
third century many inferior orders were appointed, as sub-
servient to the deacon's office, such as sub-deacons, acoly-
thists, readers, &c. ; and then those also had the common
name of Clerici too, having- no further concern with secular
affairs, but wholly attending the service of the Church. St.
Cyprian always gives these the name of Clerici ;* as where
he speaks of Optatus, a sub-deacon, and Saturus, a reader;
he styles them both Clerici. The ordinations of such he^
calls Ordinationes Clerica ; and hence the letters which he
had occasion to send to foreign parts by their hands, had
the name of Literal Clericce. Lucian, the martyr, and
Cyprian's cotcmporary, speaks in the same style concerning
exorcists* and readers.
The council of Nice itself^ gives the appellation of kX^poc
to others besides bishops, presbyters, and deacons ; and
the third council of Carthage made a eanon!^ oii purpose to
confirm the title to them.
Sect. 6. — The naipe Clerici sometimes appropriate to the Inferior Orders,
Yea, the same counciF seems rather to appropriate the
name Clerici to the inferior orders, by way of distinction
from the superior, first naming- bishops, presbyters, and
deacons, and then the Clerici, or clej-ks ; that is, the inferior
orders. And the same is done by St, Ambrose,^ and Hilary?
' Cypr. Ep. 24. al. 29. ed. Ox, Quoniam oportuit me per Clericos scribere,
&c. fecisse me sciatls Lectorem Saturura, et Ilypodiaconum Optatiim. ^ Id.
Ep. xxxiii. al. 38. '^ See Fell. Not. in Cypr. Ep. xxiii. * Lucian. Ep. xvii.
al. 23. ap. Cypr. Pra?scnte de Clero, et Exorcista, et Lectore, Lucianus scripsit,
* Con. Nic. Can. 3. ^ Con. Carth. iii. can. 21. Clericorum nomen etiam
Lectorcs etPsalmistai et Ostiarii retineant. ' Con. Carth. iii. c. 15.
Placuit ut Episcopi, et Presbyteri, et Diaconi, vcl Clerici non sint Conductores.
^ Ambr. de Dignit. Sacerd. c. iii. Aliud est quod ab Episcopo requirit Dcus,
aliudquod ii Presbytero, et aliud quod a Diacono, et aliud quod a Clerico. et
aliud quod a Laico. ' Pseud — Ambr. in Epli. iv. Nunc neque Diacyni in
Populo priEdicant, neque Clerici, vcl Laici baptizunt.
CHAP, v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 37
under his name, more expressly, Avho speak of the Clerici
as distinct from the deacons. As also Epiphanius,* who,
speaking" of those that lapsed in Eg"ypt in the Diocletian
persecution, says, " some of them were soldiers, some
clerks of divers orders, some presbyters, and some deacons.'
Where the Clerici are spoken of as distinct from presbyters
and deacons ; and so, in the council of Laodicea,^ and many
other places.
Sect. 9,— The Reasonof tlie Name Clerici.
As to the reason of the name Clerici and Clerus, St,
Jerom^ rig-htly observes, that it comes from the Greek
KXrJpoc, which signifies a lot ; and thence he says, " God's
Ministers Avere called Clerici, either because they are the lot
and portion of the Lord, or because the Lord is their lot,
that is, their inheritance." Others* think some regard was
had to the ancient custom of choosing" persons into sacred
offices by lot, both among Jews and Gentiles; which is not
improbable, though that custom never generally prevailed
among- Christians, as shall be shewed hereafter.
Sect. 10.— All the Clergy called Canonici.
There is another name for the clergy, very commonly to be
met with in the ancient councils, which is that of Canonici, a
name derived from the Greek word Kavwv, which sionifies
among- other things, the roll or catalogue of every Church,
wherein the names of all the ecclesiastics were written, and
which was, as it were, the rule of knowing to what Church
they belonged. In this sense the word Kovwy is often used by
the council^ of Nice. The council of i\ntioch''' calls it tiyioQ
Kavtov, the sacred roll; the apostolical canons, Karakoyoq
It^aTiKoq,"' the catalogue of the clergy ; which is the same tliat
Sidonius xA.pollinaris^ calls Alb us ; and the council of Agde,*
by the name oiMatricula; and St. Austin,^*^ TabulaClericorum,
' Epiphan. liter. 68. Melet. '^ Con. Laodic. can. xx. ^ llieron.
Ep. ii. ad, Nepot. Cleros graece, Sors latiue appellatur : propterea vocantur
Clerici, vel quia do Sorte sunt Domini, vel quia ipse Doniinus Soi-s, id est, Pars
Clericoruin est. ' Dodwel. Dissert, i. in Cypr. s. 15. * Con. Nic-
Can. 16. 17. 19. « q^^ Antioch. c. 1. '' Can. Apostol. c. 13. 14.
15. 50. &c. ^ Sidon. lib. vi. Ep. 8. Nomcn Lectonnn Albus ntiper excepit.
^Con. Agalhens. can. 2. Rescripti in IVIatricula graduni sinnn dig-nitattusqiie
subcipiant. '" Aug. IIoiu. 50.de Uiveisis. (. x. p. 5;i3. Delebo eum
dc Tabula Clericoruin.
38 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK I.
Now because the names of all the clergy were enrolled in
this catalogue or canon, they were hence called Canonici.
As in St. Cyril' KavoviKwv irapsaia signifies the presence of
the clergy ; and icavowKot ^aXrai in the council of Laodicea,^
signifies such of the clergy as were ordered to sing in the
Church. And so generally in the councils of Nice^ and
Antioch, 6i Iv rw kuvovi, is put to denote the clergy of the
Church. And upon the same account all others, whose
names were set down in the Church's books, to entitle them
to receive maintenance from the Church, were called by the
same name, Canonici, such as the monks, virgins, widows,
&c. whom St. Basil* speaks of under this name, as Balsa-
mon and Zonaras understand him.
Sect. 11. — And Td^tg tS Bjjjuaroc, the Order of the Sanelttarif.
I pass over many other names of the clergy, which are
obvious to every reader: such as that of Ecclesiastics, and
iepuTiKoi, or, rd^ig upaTiKr], the holy order, Sec. and shall but
take notice of one more, which rarely occurs any where
but in Gregory Nazianzen, who gives the clergy, especially
the superior clergy, the name of Td^ig ts Brj/^aroe, the order
of the sanctuary.^ Which name was given them from their
privilege of entering into that part of the Church, where the
altar stood, which (as we shall see when we come to speak
of Churches) was called BrJ/^u or 'lEpareTov, the sanctuary.
Hither none might come but the clergy, who were therefore
called the order of the sanctuary. Whence in the same
author*^ tm jSrj/iart TTQocrdyuv, signifies to give a man ordina-
tion, or make him a clergyman ; and o aTro jSrJjuaroCj is one of
the sacred order, ^ or one of the clergy.
• Cyril. Prajf. Catcch. n. 3. ^ Cob. Laodic. can. 15. ^ Coit.
Atttioclu can. 2 et G. Con. Nic. can. IG ct 17. * Basil. Ep. Canonic, c. 6.
* Naz. Oiat. 20. in Laud. Basil, p. 336. « Id. Orat. 19. de Fun. Patr.
'Naz. Orat. xix. p. 310 et 311. Orat. xx. p. 351.
CHAP. 1 ] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 39
BOOK II.
OF THE SEVERAL ORDERS OF THE CLERGY IN THE
PRIMITIVE CHURCH.
CHAP. I.
Of the Original of Bishops ; ami that they loere a distinct
Order from Presbyters in the Primitive Church.
Sect. 1. — What the Ancients mean by different Orders of Bishops and
Presbyters.
We have hitherto considered the clergy in g-eneral, as
distinct from the laity, and come now to examine by what
names or offices they were distinguished from one another.
And here the most ancient distinction that occurs, is that
of the superior clergy into the three distinct orders of
bishops, presbyters, and deacons. That there were no other
orders in the Church but these three at first, will be evi-
denced in its proper place, when I come to give an account
of the first rise and original of the inferior orders ; and, that
deacons were always a sacred and standing- order, will be
proved likewise when I speak particularly of them. Here
then it remains, that our inquiry be made only into the dis-
tinction betwixt the orders of bishops and presbyters ; and
this, so far as concerns matter of fact, and the practice of
the Church, (which is the thing I have undertaken to give
an account of,) will be most fairly and fully resolved, by
considering only these three things. 1. That the ancient
writers of the Church always speak of these as distinct
orders. 2. That they derive the original of bishops from
divine authority and apostolical constitution. 3. That they
g-ive us particular accounts and catalog-ues of such bishops
as were first settled and consecrated, in the new-founded
Churches, by the hands of the Apostles.
40 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
But before I proceed to the proof of these thuig-s, I must
premise one particular, to avoid all ambiguity; that I take
the word order in that sense as the ancients use it, and not
as many of the schoobmen do; who, for reasons of their
own, distinguish between order and jurisdiction, and make
bishops and presbyters to be one and the same order, only
differing- in power and jurisdiction. This distinction was
unknown to the ancients ; among- whom, the words order,
deg-ree, office, power, and jurisdiction, when they speak of
the superiority of bishops above presbyters, mean but one
and the same thing-, viz. the power of the supreme gover-
nors of the Church, conferred upon them in their ordination,
over presbyters, who are to do nothing- but in subordination
to them. St. Jerom, who will be allowed to speak the sense
of the ancients, makes no difference in these words, ordoy
gradus, officiuni; but uses them promiscuously, to sig-nify
the power and jurisdiction of bishops above presbyters and
the whole Church; which is, properly speaking-, the very
essence of their order. Therefore, sometimes he calls them
different orders, as in his book ag-ainst Jovinian,^ where he
says, " that both in the Old and New Testament, the high-
priests are one order, the priests another, and the Levites
another." So, in his epistles^ to' Rusticus, and Fabiola,^
where he joins ordo and gradus together. In other places
he uses the word gradus only ; as, in his epistle to Eusto-
chium,* he calls presbyters, priests of the inferior degree ;
and, in his epistle to Heliodore,^ deacons the third degree ;
and, in his comment upon Micah,*' bishops, priests, and
deacons, the degrees in the Church. At other times he ex-
' Hieron. cont. Jovin. lib. il. p. 89. In veteri Testamento, et in Novo, alium
Ordinem Pontifex tenet, alium Saccrdotes, alium Le-yita;. ^ Id. Ep ad
Rustic, t. j. p. 46. Singuli Ecclesiarum Episcopi, sinsfuli Archipresbyteri,
singuli Archidiaconi, et omnis Ordo Ecclcsiasticus suis Rectoribus nititur.
* Id. ad Fabiol. de 42. ]\Iansion. Israel, t. iii. p. 44. Ipsos secundi Ordinis
intelligimus Praeceptores, liuca Evangelista testante, duodecini fuisse Aposto-
los, et septuaginta Discipulos minoris gradus. * Ep. 27. ad Eustocli.
Aderant Hierosolymaruiii et aliarum urbium Episcopi, et Sacerdotum infe-
rioris gradus, et Lcvitarum innuinerabilis multitudo. * Ep. 1. ad He-
liodor. Non miiioreni in tcrtio gradu adhibuit diligentiam, &c. * Coin,
in Mic. vii. p. 102. Non hoc dico, quod istius modi gradibus in Ecclesi^ non
debeatis esse subject!.
CHAP. I.] . CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 41
presses his meaning by the word offices; as, where' he says,
that bishop, presbyter, and deacon, are not names of men's
merits, but of their offices. So that it is all one, accord-
ing- to St. Jerom, whether we say, the order, or the degree,
or the office, or the power and jurisdiction of a bishop ; for
all these are intended to express the same thing, vis. the
authority of bishops over their presbyters and the whole
Church. And in this sense I use the word order in this dis-
course, to express the opinion of the ancients concerning
the different powers of bishops and presbyters in the
Church.
Sect. 2. — The Order of Bishops always owned to be superior to that of
Presbyters.
Now, that there was such a distinction always observed
in the Church, is evident; 1st, From the testimony of the
most ancient writers, who speak of bishops, presbyters, and
deacons, as distinct degrees in the Church, and the two lat-
ter as subordinate to the first. The testimonies of Ignatius,
to this purpose,^ are so full and evident, that nothing was
ever pretended to be said against them, save only, that they
are not the genuine remains of that ancient author; which
has been so often considered and replied to, by learned
men,^ that there is no pretence left to favour such an ima-
gination. The citations are too numerous to be here in-
serted at large, and therefore I shall only give the reader
a specimen in one single testimony, by which he may judge
of all the rest. In his epistle to the Magnesians, he ex-
horts them* to do all things in unity, under the bishop pre-
siding in the place of God ; and the presbyters in the place
of the apostolical senate ; and the deacons, to whom is com-
mitted the ministry and service of Jesus Christ.
• Cont. Jovin. lib. i. p. 41. Episcopus, Presbyter, et Diaconus non sunt
Meritorum nomlna, scd Officiorum Si Diaconus sanctior Episcopo
suo fuerit, non ex eo quod inferior gradu est, apud Christum deterior est.
2 Ignat. Ep. ad Ephes. n. 2, 3, i. Ep. ad Philad. n. 4, 7, 10. Ep. ad Smjm.
n.S, et 12. Ep. ad Trail, n. 2, 7, 12, 13. Ep. ad Polycarp. n. 6. =* Pear-
son Vind. Ignat. Usser. de Epist. Ignat. Voss.Epist. ad Rivet. Coteler. Pra;f.
et Not. in Ignat. Bull Defes. Fid. Nic sect. 3. n. 6. p. 290, &c. * Ignat.
Ep. ad Magnes. n. 6.
VOL. I. E
42 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
The author of the acts of tlie martyrdom of Ignatius,'
lately published from an ancient Greek copy, speaks exactly
in the same manner of these three orders, when he says,
" That, as Ig-natius was on his journey to Rome, all the
cities and churches of Asia sent to salute him by their
bishops, presbyters, and deacons," Not long- after these
authors, lived Pius, bishop of Rome, whose authority I cite,
because BlondeP allows it to be genuine. This author, in
his epistle to Justus of Vienna, gives him the title of
bishop,^ and speaks of presbyters and deacons under him.
In the beginning of the next age we have the testi-
monies of Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, and Tertiillian,
all agreeing in the same thing, that there were then, in their
own times, the different orders of bishops and presbyters in
the Church. "There are here in the Church," says Cle-
mens,* "the different degrees or progressions of bishops,
presbyters, and deacons, in imitation of the angelical glory."
Origen takes notice of this distinction above ten times ^ in
his works, which those that please may read at large in
Bishop Pearson. I shall only recite two passages, one out
of his homilies upon St. Luke, written whilst he was a lay-
man, where he says, " That^ digamy excludes men from all
ecclesiastical dignities ; for one that is twice married, can
neither be made bishop, presbyter, nor deacon." Here he
calls them different dignities; in the other '^ place he calls
them different degrees, saying, " Every one shall be pu-
nished according to his degree. If the supreme governor
of the Church offends, he shall have the greater punish-
ment. A layman will deserve mercy in comparison of a
■ Martyr. Ignat. ap. Grabe Spicil. SjbcuI. 2. t. i. p. 12. ® Blondel.
Apol. p. 18. ^ Pius. Ep. 2. ad Just. Vien. Tu vero apud Senatoriam
Viennam Colobio Episcoporum vestitus, &c. Presbyteri et Diaconi te
observent. * Clem. Alex. Strom, lib. vi. p. 667. 'EvravSra Kara rt)v Ik-
KKijcriav vpoKOtral ImffKOTrtov, rrpeff^vrtputv, Siukovwv, &c. Id.PiBdag, lib. iii.
c. 12. p. 264. * Origen. Horn. 2. in Num. Horn. 2. in Cantic. Hom. 6. in
Esai. Hom.5, et 16. in Ezek. Con, in Mat. 19, et 21. De Orat. ap. Pear-
son Vindic, Ignat. part, i, c. 11, p. 320. ^ Orig. Hom. 17. in Luc.
Ab Ecclesiasticis Dignitatibus non solum Fornicatio sed et Nuptiae repellunt,
Neque enim Episcopus, nee Presbyter, nee Diaconus, nee Vidua possunt esse
Digami. * Orig. Hom. 5. in Ezek. Pro modo graduuni unusquisque tor-
quebitur, &c.
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 43
deacon, and a deacon in comparison of a presbyter." So
that bishops, in his opinion, were then a degree above pres-
byters and deacons. TertulHan frequently* mentions the
same distinction ; but more especially in his book, de Bap-
tismo, where he says,^ " The rig-ht of baptizing belongs to
the chief-priest, who is the bishop ; and after him, to pres-
byters and deacons ; yet not without the authority of the
bishop, for the honour of the Church, in the preservation
of which consists the Church's peace."
These allegations are sufficient evidences, as to matter
of fact, and the practice of the Church in the three first
ages, that there was then an order of chief-priests, or
bishops, superior to presbyters, settled and allowed in the
Christian Church.
Sect. 3.— The Order of Bishops, of Apostolical Institution.
If we proceed a little further into this inquiry, and exa-
mine from what original this appointment came, whether
from ecclesiastical or apostolical institution, which is an-
other question, concerning matter of fact, that will in some
measure determine the right also. The same authors, with
the unanimous consent of all others, declare, that it was
no human invention, but an original settlement of the
Apostles themselves, which they made by divine appoint-
ment. " The order of bishops," says Tertullian,^ " when
it is traced up to its original, will be found to have St. John
for one of its authors." This agrees exactly with what
Clemens Alexandrinus* has recorded of him, " That when
he was settled at Ephesus, he went about the neighbour-
ing regions, ordaining bishops, and setting apart such men
for the clergy, as were signified to him by the Holy Ghost."
These were those Asiatic bishops that St. Jerom^ speaks of,
» Tertul. de Monogam, c. 11. De Fuga. c. 11. De Prsescript. c. 41.
'Terlul. deBapt. c. 17. Dandi quidem jus habet summus Sacerdos, qui est
Episcopus : Dehinc Presbyteri, et Diaconi, non tamen sine Episcopi auctori-
tate, propter Ecclesiae honorem, quo salvo, salva Pax est. ^ Tertul. adv.
Marcion. lib.iv. c. 5. Ordo Episcoporuin ad origincm recensus, in Joannem
stablt auctorem. * Clem. Aiex. Quis dives salvetur. ap. Combefis.
Auct. Novibsini. p. 185. et ap. Euseb. lib. iii. c. 23. * Hicron. Catal.
Scriptor. Ecdes. in Joanne. Novissimus omnium scripbil Evangelimujrogalus
ab Abix Episeopib.
44 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
who says, "that, at their request, St. John wrote his gospel
ag-ainst the heresies of Ebion and Cerinthus." Whence it
follows, that, according" to this account, the order of
bishops was settled before the canon of scripture was con-
cluded. Whence Clemens of Alexandria' further observes,
" That there are many precepts in Scripture appertaining to
_ particular sorts of persons, some to presbyters, some to
deacons, and some to bishops also." Irenajus declares him-
/* self of the same opinion, that there were bishops as w ell
as presbyters in the Apostles' days ; "for the assembly of
Miletus," he says,^ "was composed of bishops and presby-
ters, that were of Ephesus and the neighbouring cities of
Asia." And therefore, agreeably to that hypothesis, he
always derives the succession of bishops, and their original,
from the apostles ; as where he says,^ " that Hyginus, bishop
of Rome, was the ninth in order of episcopal succession
from the Apostles.*" And, in another place,^ giving an ex-
act catalogue of the twelve bishops of Rome, that governed
successively in that see to his own time, he says, of Linus,
the first of them, that he was ordained bishop immedi-
ately, by the Apostles, upon the first foundation of the
Church ; and of Eleutherius, the last of them, that he was
the twelfth bishop from the Apostles. Tertullian'^ insists
much upon the same argument, and makes a challenge to
all sorts of heretics upon it : " Let them shew us the ori-
' Clem. Alex. Prndag. lib. iii. c. 12. p. 264. ^ Iren. lib. iii. c. 14. In
Milcto convocatis Episcopis et Presbyteris, qui erant ab Epheso et a reliquis
proximis Civitatibus. ^ Id. lib. i. c. 28. Hyginus nonum locum
Episcopatus per successionera ab Apostolis habuit. * Euseb. lib. iv.
c. 11, cites the same out of Irenseus. * Iren. lib. iii. c. 3. Fundantes
et instruentes beati Apostoli Ecclesiam, Lino Episcopatum administranda;
EcclesiiE tradiderunt. Cited also by Euseb. lib. v. c. C. ^ Tertul de
Praescript. c. 32. Edant Origines Ecclcsiarum suarum : cvolvant ordinem
Episcoporum suorum, ita per succcssiones ab initio decurrentem, ut primus ille
Episcopus aliquem ex Apostolis, vel Apostolicis viris, qui tamen cum Apostolis
perseveraverint, habuerit Auctorera et Antecessorem. Hoc enira modo Eccle-
sise Apostolicse census sues deferunt: Sicut Smyrnaeorum Ecclesia Poly-
carpum ab Joanne conlocatum refert : Sicut Romanorum Clementem a Petro
ordinatum edit: Proinde utique et cieterre exhiljent, quos ab Apostolis in Epis-
copatum constitutos, Apostolici seniinis traduces habent. See also, c. 36.
ibid. Polycrat. Epist. ap. Euseb. lib. v. c. 24. Cyprian. Ep. .52. al. 55. ad
Anlonian, p. lOL Cum Fabiani Locus, id est, Locus Petri, et gradus Cathe-
dra: sacerdotalis vacarct. Id. Ep. 27. al. 33. ed. Oxon.
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 45
g-inal of their Churches, and give us a catalogue of their
bishops, in an exact succession, from first to last, whereby
it may appear, that their first bishop had either some Apos-
tle, or some apostolical man, living in the time of the Apos-
tles, for his author or immediate predecessor. For thus it is,
that apostolical Churches make their reckoning: — the
Church of Smyrna counts up to Polycarp, ordained by St.
John ; the Church of Rome to Clemens, ordained by St.
Peter ; and so all other Churches, in like manner, exhibit
their first bishops ordained by the Apostles, by whom the
apostolical seed was propagated and conveyed to others."
This implies, that the Apostles, as they founded Churches,
settled bishops in them ; and that this might be proved
from the records and archives of every Church (the most of
which were probably then remaining) when TertuUian
made this challenge to all heretics, and appealed to these
orio inal records in behalf of the Catholic Church.
Sect. 4.— A List or Catalogue of such Bishops as were first ordained by
the Apostles.
An exact and authentic catalogue of these first founda-
tions, would be a very useful and entertaining thing ; but,
at this distance of time, it is impossible to gratify the world
with any such curiosity, whatever pains should be taken
about it. Yet there are some scattered remains and frag-
ments to be collected out of the ancient writers, which
will sufficiently answer our present design ; which is to
evidence, that the Apostles settled bishops in all Churches,
upon their first plantation.
To begin with the Church of Rome ;— we have already
heard Irenacus and TertuUian declaring, that the Apostles
ordained a bishop there. And the same is asserted by St.
Chrysostom,^ and Eusebius,^ and Ruffin,^ and St. Jerom,*
and Optatus,* and Epiphanius,^ and St. Austin, who says,'
I Chrys. Horn. 10. in 2. Tim. ^ Euseb. lib. iii. c. 4. » Ruffin
ap. Hieron. Apol. ii. p. 219. * Hieron. Catal. Script, in Clemen.
^Optat. lib. ii. p. 48. « Epiph. Hsr. 27. ' Aug. Ep. 165.
Si Ordo Episcoporum sibi succedentiuin considerandus est ; quanto certius et
vere. salubriter ab ipso Petro nunierauius ? Pctro enim successit Linus,
Lino Clemens, Clemenli Anaclclus, 6cc.
46 THE ANTIQUITIES OP THE [BOOK II.
" If the order of bishops succeeding" one another be of any
consideration, wo take the surest and soundest way, who
beg-in to number from St. Peter ; for Linus succeeded
Peter ; and Clemens, Linus ; and Anacletus, Clemens," &c.
It is true there is a little difference in the account which
these authors give of the succession; for some reckon
Linus first, then Anacletus, then Clemens. Others begin
with Clemens, and reckon him the first in order from St.
Peter. But this is easily reconciled by learned men,' who
make it appear, that Linus and Anacletus died whilst St.
Peter lived ; and that Clemens was ordained their succes-
sor by St. Peter also. So that we have two or three per-
sons, by this account, ordained successively bishops of
Rome, by the hands of the Apostles.
Next, for the Church of Jerusalem ; — it is unanimously
delivered by all ancient writers, that James, the Lord's
brother, was the first bishop thereof. St. Jerom^ says,
" He was ordained by the Apostles, immediately after our
Lord's crucifixion." Epiphanius^ calls him, therefore, the
first bishop ; the first who had an episcopal chair ; the first
to whom Christ committed his own throne upon earth.
Chrysostom* says, " He was made bishop by Christ him-
self." The author* of the Apostolical Constitutions, "Both
by Christ and the Apostles." In like manner, Eusebius*^
always speaks of him under that character, as first bishop
of Jerusalem, ordained by the Apostles. So Hegesippus,'
Clemens Alexandrinus,^ and Dionysius,^ bishop of Corinth,
all cited by Eusebius ; to whom we may add St Austin,*"
' Cotel. Not. in Const. Apost. lib. vii. c. 40. Pearson de Success. Rom.
Pontif. Dissirt. ii. c. 2. Cave Hist. Lit. vol. i. in Clem. ^Ilicron.
Catal. Script, c. 3. Post Passionem Domini, slatim ab Apostolis Hiero-
solymorum Episcopus ordinatus. Id. Com. in Gal. i. p. 1G5. Hie Jacobus
primus Hierosolymorum Episcopus fuit. ^ Epiphan. Ha;r. 78. Anti-
dicomar. n. 7. Id. Ha;r. 29. Nazor. n. 3. IIa>r. 66. Manich. n. 19.
♦ Chrys. Ilom. 38. in 1 Cor. 15. * Const. Apost. lib. viii. c. 35.
« Euseb. lib. ii. c. 23. lib. iii. c. 5, et 7. lib. vii. c. 19. '' Hcgesip.ap.
Euseb. lib. 2. c. 23. ^ Clem. Ilypotypos. lib. vi. ap. Euscb. lib. ii.c. 1.
9 Dionys. Ep. ad Atheniens. ap. Euseb. lib. iv. c. 23. '" Aug-, contra
Crescon. lib. ii. c. 37. Hierosolymitanam Ecclesiam primus Apostolus Jacobus
Episcopatusuorcxit. Id. cont. Liter. Petil. lib. ii. c. 51. Cathedra Ecclesiic
Hierosolymilana!, in qua Jacobus scdit, ct in qufi hodic Joauucb aedct. See
also Cyril. Catechism, iv. n. 17. Calcch. xiv. u. 1^.
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 47
who styles John, bbhop of Jerusalem, St. James's succes-
sor, and possessor of the chair, wherein he sat as first
bishop of the place. And it is remarkable what Clemens,
one of the most ancient of these writers, says, " That this
was designed as a peculiar honour to St. James, in regard
that he was the brother of Christ ; for though our Saviour
usually gave the preference to Peter, and John, and James,
his brother, yet none of those contended about this honour,
but chose this James, sirnamed Justus, to be. bishop of the
place ; where he lived a saint, and died a martyr."
Some time after his death, as Eusebius' relates from
ancient tradition, the apostles and disciples of our Lord, as
many as were yet in being, met together with our Saviour's
kinsmen, several of which w ere then alive, to consult about
choosing a successor in St. James's room ; and they unani-
mously agreed upon Simeon, son of Cleopas, our Saviour's
cousin according to the flesh, thinking him the most fit
and worthy person to sit upon the episcopal throne. The
same is asserted by Eusebius in other^ places, and the
author^ of the Constitutions, under the name of Clemens
Romanus.
From Jerusalem, if we pass to Antioch, there again we
find Euodius first, and after him Ignatius, ordained bishops
by the hands of the Apostles. Baronius* and some others
fancy, that they sat both at the same time ; the one, as
bishop of the Jews, and the other, of the Gentiles. But
Eusebius^ says expressly, that Euodius was the first, and
Ignatius the second, after Euodius was dead. And it is
agreed by all ancient writers, that they were both conse-
crated before St. Peter's death. Of Euodius there can be
no question made, if it appears that Ignatius was ordained
by the Apostles in his room. Now this is most expressly
said by Thodoret," "That he received the gift of the high-
priesthood, dpxiep<i)(Tvvr]g X"P'^' from the hand of the great
Peter." In like manner, Chrysostom, in his encomium
upon him, says, " He does not only admire him because
■ Euseb. lib. iil. c. II. ^ Idem Chronic. ^ Constit. Apost. lib.
vii. c. 46. 'Baron, an. 4-5. n. 14. an. 71. n. II. Halloix Vi(. Ignat.
c. 2. p. 394. * Euseb. lib. iii. c. 22. « Tj,eo^ pjal i. t. v.
p. 33. ' Chrysost. Horn. 42, in Ignat. torn, i. p. 5G3. Ed. Front. Due.
7
48 THE ANTIQUITTES OF THE [bOOK II.
he was thoug-ht worthy of so high a degree, but that he
was ordained to it by those holy men, and had the hands of
the blessed Apostles laid upon his sacred head." The same
is said in effect by Athanasius,* when he calls him the
first bishop of Antioch after the Apostles ; and Origen,^
who calls him the second after St. Peter ; and Jerom,^ the
third ; for though they count differently, yet they mean the
same thing; that Ignatius was ordained successor to Euo-
dius while the Apostles lived, and so might be called either
second or third after the Apostles, according as St. Peter
and Euodius were included, or excluded out of the number.
From Antioch let us go to Smyrna, where we shall find
Polycarp, another apostolical bishop, ordained by the
Apostles. St. Jerom ascribes his ordination* to St. John,
whose disciple he was. Irenaius says, he himself knew
him, and therefore could not mistake in what he relates of
him ; which is, that he was ordained bishop by the Apos-
tles.^ TertuUian*' and Eusebius'' witness the same; the
one saying that he was ordained by St. John, and the
other, by those that had seen the Lord.
Papias was another disciple of St. John,^ as both Irenseus
and St. Jerom witness ; and he was cotemporary with Ig-
natius and Polycarp, and bishop of Hicrapolis about the
same time ; that is, in the beginning of the second century.
So that it is probable he was another of those bishops,
whom St. John ordained in Asia, though we have no ex-
press testimony to prove it.
But it is asserted by all ancient writers, that Timothy was
ordained bishop of Ephesus by St. Pcxul. Eusebius,^ Chry-
sostom,^" Epiphanius," Jerom,^^ Hilary the deacon,^^ and the
' Athan. de Synod. Ariiii. t. i. p. 922. ^ Orig. Honi. C. in Luc. Ignati-
um dico Episcopum Antiochite post Petrum secundum. ^ Hieron. Catal.
Scriptor. in Ignat. Tcrtius post Petruai Apostoluin Episcopus. * Hieron.
Catal. Script, c. 17. Polycarpus JoannisApostoli Discipulus, ab eo Smyrnse Epis-
copus ordinahis. ■* Iron. lib. 3. c. 3. Ab Apostolis in Asia, in eS. quae
est Smyrnis Ecclesia, constitutus Episcopus, quern et nos vidimus in primS,
nostra aitate. *" Tertul. de Praescrip. c. 32. ^ Euseb. lib. iii.
c. 36. et lib. iv. c. 14. ^ Iren. lib. v. c. 33. Papias Joannis Auditor,
Polycarpi Contubcrnalis. Hieron. Ep. 29. ad Theodor. It. de Scriptor.
" Euseb. lib. iii. c.4. '° Chrys. Horn. i. in Philip. " Epiph.
Ha;r. 75, Acrian. '" Hieron. Catal. Scriptor. in Timotheo. '^ Pseudo-
Ainbros. Prief. in Tim. It. Com.. in i. Tim. 3.
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 49
author of the passion of Timothy, in Photius,' unanimously
attest it; and Theodoret^ affirms moreover, " That he was
bishop, under the title of an Apostle."
Most of the same authors agree in the same evidence for
Titus,^ that he was made bishop of Crete by St. Paul
also : and Chrysostom,* with Eusebius, seems to give both
him and Timothy the power of metropolitans ; of which
more hereafter.
Others say, that Dionysius, the Areopagite, was made
first bishop of Athens. Eusebius* more than once men-
tions an epistle of Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, a very an-
cient writer of the second century, wherein this is expressly
asserted. So that he must be ordained, either by St. Paul
himself, as Suidas and others'^ think, or by some other
Apostle. It is generally agreed, that this Dionysius died
some time before St. John, and was succeeded in his
bishopric by Publius, and he by Quadratus, whom St.
Jerom' calls a disciple of the Apostles; which, in all proba-
bility, refers to his being tutored by St. John. Now, if
Quadratus himself was St. John's disciple, (as he might
be, who was bishop in the time of the Emperor Hadrian, to
whom he presented his apology,) then there might be three
bishops successively at Athens, all trained up by the
Apostles, and two of them consecrated by their hands, or
at least with their consent and approbation.
I shall end this catalogue of primitive bishops with what
Theodoret^ says of Epaphroditus : "That, as Timothy and
Titus were bishops of Ephesus and Crete under the name
of x\postles, so Epaphroditus was bishop of Philippi under
the same title," which was then the common name of All
that were properly bishops ; of which I say no more in
this place, because I give a more particular account of it
in the following chapter.
• Phot. Cod. 254. * Theodor. Com. in 1 Tim. iii. I. » Euseb. et
Chrysost. loc. cit. Hieron. de Scriptor. in Tito. Pseudo-Ambros. Prajf. in Tit.
Theodor. loc. cit. * Chrys. Horn. 1. in Tit. It. Horn. 15 in I Tim. * Eu-
seb. lib. iii. C.4. It. lib. iv. c. 23. ® Suidas in Voce Dionys. Maxim. Prolog,
ad Oper. Dionysii. ' Hieron.de Scriptor. c. 19. Quadratus Apostoloruni
Discipulus, Publio Athcnarum Episcopo ob Christi fidom raavtyrio coronato, in
locum ejus subslituilur. *■ Theod. Com. in 1 Tim. iii. 1.
VOL. I. F
50 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
CHAP. II.
Of the several Titles of Honour given to Bishops in the
Primitive Church.
Sect. 1.— All Bishops at first called Apostles.
For further confirmation of what has been asserted in the
foregoing- chapter, it will not bo amiss here to subjoin next
a short account of the several titles of honour, which were
given to bishops in the primitive Church. The most ancient
of these, is the title of Apostles ; which, in a large and
secondary sense, is thought by many to have been the ori-
ginal name for bishops, before the name, bishop, was appro-
priated to their order. For at first they suppose the names,
bishop and presbyter, to have been common names for all
of the first and second order ; during which time, the appro-
priate name for bishops, to distinguish them from mere
presbyters, was that of Apostles. Thus Theodoret^ says
expressly, "The same persons were anciently called pro-
miscuously, both bishops and presbyters, whilst those, who
are now called bishops, were called Apostles. But shortly
after, the name of Apostles was appropriated to such only as
were Apostles indeed ; and then the name, bishop, was
given to those, who before were called Apostles." Thus,
he says, " Epaphroditus was the Apostle of the Philippians,
and Titus the Apostle of the Cretians, and Timothy the
Apostle of the Asiatics." And this he repeats^ in several
other places of his writings.
The author, under the name of St. Ambrose,^ asserts the
same thing ; that all bishops were called Apostles at first.
And therefore he says,* that St, Paul, to distinguish him-
self from such Apostles, calls himself an Apostle not of man,
nor sent by man to preach, as those others were, who were
chosen and sent by the Apostles to confirm the Churches.
Amalarius-^ cites another passage out of the same author.
> Theodor. Com. in 1 Tim. 3. 1. ^ Thcodor. Com. in Phil. i. 1. It.
in Phil. ii. 25. ^Ambros. Com. in Eph. iv. Apostoli Episcopisunt. * Id.
Com. ni Gal. i. 1. ^ A malar, de OlKr. Ecclcs. lib. ii. c. 13. Qui nunc
Episcopi nominantur, illi tunc Apostoli dicebantur, &c.
CHAP. II,] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 51
which speaks more fully to the purpose ; " they," says he,
" who are now called bishops, were originally called Apostles;
but the holy Apostles being dead, they, who were ordained
after them to govern the Churches, could not arrive to the
excellency of those first ; nor had they the testimony of mi-
racles, but were in many other respects inferior to them.
Therefore they thought it not decent to assume to themselves
the name of Apostles ; but dividing' the names, they left to
presbyters the name of the presbytery, and they themselves,
were called bishops."
This is what those authors infer from the identity of the
names, bishop and presbyter, in the first age. They do not
thence argue (as some who abuse their authority have done
since) that therefore bishops and presbyters were all one ;
but they think that bishops were then distinguished by
a more appropriate name, and more expressive of their supe-
riority, which was that of secondary Apostles.
Sect. 2. — After that. Successors of the Apostles.
Afterwards bishops thought it honour enough to be styled
the Apostles' successors. As Cyprian,^ and Firmilian,^ and
the bishops in the council^ of Carthage call themselves and
others. And St. Jerom* speaks of them in the same style,
saying, " Wheresoever a bishop is, whether at Rome, or
Eugubium ; at Constantinople, or at Rhegium ; at Alexan-
dria, or at Tanis ; they are all of equal merit, their priest-
hood is the same; they are all successors to the Apostles.''
And both he and St. Austin,* draw that of thePsalmist to this
sense ; " Instead of thy fathers, thou shalt have children,
whom thou mayest make princes in all lands." They say,
bishops are the sons of the Apostles, and princes and fathers
in the Church.
' Cypr. Ep. G9. al. 66. ad Florent. Qui Apostolis vicaiia ordinatione suc-
codunt. Id. Ep. 42. al. 45. ad Cornel. Laborare debemus, ut unitatein a
Domino, et per Apostolos nobis Successoribus traditam, obtinere curemus.
^ Firmil. Ep. 75. ap. Cypr. p. 225. ^ Con. Carthag. ap. Cypr.
in Suffragio Clari a Mascula. * Hieroii. Epist. 85. ad Evagr. It.
in Psal. xliv. 16. * Aug. com. inPsal.xliv. 16. p. 169. Pro
Apostolis nati sunt Filii tibi, constituti sunt Episcopi, Ipsa Ecclesia Patres
illos appellat.
52 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
Sect. 3. — Whence every Bishop's See, called Sedes Apostolica.
And hence it was anciently every bishop's see was digni-
fied with the title of Sedes Apostolica, an apostolical see ;
which in those days was no peculiar title of the bishop of
Rome, but given to all bishops in general, as deriving their
original, and counting their succession from the Apostles.
"The Catholic Church," says St. Austin,^ " is propagated and
diffused over all the world by the apostolical sees, and the
succession of bishops in them." It is plain, this is not
spoken only of the bishops of Rome, but all other bishops
whatsoever. Sidonius Apollinaris^uses the same expression,
in speaking of a private French bishop, who sat five and
forty years, he says, in his apostolical see. And Paulinus-^ makes
no more but the usual compliment to Alipius, when he tells
him, "That God had deservedly placed him in an apostolical
see with the princes of his people."
Sect. 4. — Bishops called Princes of the People.
Where we must also note, that Paulinus speaks in the
usual phrase and style of those ancient times, when he calls
bishops princes of the people. For that was another usual
title that was given them ; as appears from Optatus,* and
several passages in St. Jerom,* who, to distinguish them
from secular princes, usually styles them Principes
Ecclesice,^ Princes of the Church ; applying to them that
prophecy of Isaiah, Ix. 17. which according to his transla-
tion is, " I will make thy princes peace, and thy bishops
righteousness ;" upon which he'' has this note ; " that the
majesty of the Holy Scripture is to be admired, in that it
' Aug. Ep. 42. ad Fratres Madaurens. Christiana Societas per sedes Apos-
tolorum at successiones Episcoporum ccrtR per orbem propagatione diffunditur.
^ Sidon. lib. vi. ep. 1. ad Liip. Tricassin. In apostolicfi sede novem jam
decursa Quinquennia. " Paulin. Ep. 45. ad Alypium. Cum
Principibns populi sui sede ApostoUcri merito collocavit Domiiius. See also
Tertul. de Praiscript. c. 36. Ipsai adhuc Cathedrai Apostolorum suis locis
priEsidentur. Habes Corinthum. Habes Phillippos, &c. * Optat.
lib. i. p. 39. Ipsi Apices, et Principes omniinu Episcopi. * Hieron.
Cora. inEsai. iii. "Hieron. Com. in Psal. xliv. Principes Ecclesise,
id est, Episcopi. Id. Com. in Esai. v. et Tit. i. '' Hieron. Com.
in Esai. Ix. Scripture S. admiranda Majestas, quod Principes futures Ecclesice
Episcopos nominavit.
CHAP. TT.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 83
calls those, who were to be bishops in future ages, by the
name of princes." In the Greek writers they are styled
afi^ovreg eKicXrfmwv, governors and princes likewise ; as
frequently in' Eusebius, Origen,^ Chrysostom/ and many
others.
Sect 5. — Praposlli, npoe^wTtc, ITpot^pot, 'Ecpopoi.
In the same sense, Cyprian* and Tertullian,^ commonly
call them presidents, or provosts of the Church ; which
Eusebius^ and Justin' Martyr call irpof^Mreg, and sometimes
TTpot^poi,^ and others i(j^opoi,^ inspectors; all which are
proper characters of bishops ; who have the care, presidency,
and inspection of the Church.
Sect. 6. — Principes Sacerdotum, Pontijices Maximi, Summi Saeerdates, cf-r.
And because this presidency was not only over the people,
but also over the clergy, they were dignified upon that
account with the distinguishing characters of, Summi Saeer-
dates, Pontifices Maximi, and Principes Sacerdotiwi, chief
priests and princes of the clergy. The author, under the
name of St. Ambrose,'" gives the bishop expressly the title of
chief priest, and prince of the priests. And so frequently
the name, Sumni us Sacerdos^ is used by St. Jerom; as, where
speaking of himself, he says, "in the opinion of all men,
he v\ as thought worthy of the high priesthood," he explains"
himself to mean a bishopric. And in another place,'® " the
prosperity of the Church depends upon the honour of the
chief priest." The same title is given to all bishops by the
' Euseb. Hist. lib. vi. c. 28. lib. vii'. c 1. et 3. It. de Martyr. Palaest. c. 1.
2 Origcn Iloin. 11. in Jerem. Cont. Cels. lib.iii. p. 129. ^ Chrys.
de saccidot. lib. iii. c. 1.5. Id. Horn. 3. ad Pop. Antioch. t. i. p. 48. * Cypr.
Ep. 3, 9, 13, 27, 81. Ed. Oxon. Pra;spositi. ^ Tertul. Apof.
c. 39. Ad. Uxor. lib. i. c. 7. Do Cor. Mil. c. 3. « Euseb. lib. v).
c. 3, 8, 10. lib. -vii. c. 13. lib. viii. c. 6. ' Just. Apol. 2. Clirysost.
Horn. 3. in Colos. * Euseb. lib. viii. e. 2. It de Martyr. Palaest.
C. 2. ^ Philostorg. Hist. lib. iii. c. 6. '" Ainbros.
Com. in Eph. 4. In Episcopo onines Ordines sunt, quia Primus Sacerdos est,
hoc est, Princeps Sacerdotum. " llieron. Ep. 99. ad Asellam.
Umniinn pent- judicio dignus summo Saccrdotio doccrnchar. ''-^ Id. Dial,
c. Lucifer, p. 139. Ecclesiie salus in suuinii yaccrdotis dignitatc pendet.
54 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
author' of the Questions upon the Old and Now Testament
under the name of St. Austin ; Sidonius^ calls them Summi
pontifices, where he speaks only of the bishops of France.
And therefore when Tertullian^ g-ives the title of Poiitifex
Maximus to the bishop of Rome, he does him no greater
honour, than in those days was done to every bishop in the
world ; and some think he meant not the bishop of Rome
in particular, but comprehended all others under that title.
As it is certain the council of Ag-de does, when it orders*
every Metropolitan to call his suffragans, ad ordinationem
summi pontijicis ; which means not, to the ordination of the
Pope of Rome, but to the ordination of any French bishop
within the Metropolitan's province or jurisdiction. For then,
as we have seen, Summus Poiitifex was the ordinary title of
every bishop whatsoever.
Sect. 7. — Every Bishop anciently called Papa, Father, or Pope.
And so was the name Papa, though now it is become the
pretended prerogative and sole privileg-e of the bishop of
Rome. Some historians* indeed are so vain as to assert
confidently, that Cyril of Alexandria was the first bishop in
those parts who had the honour of being- called Papa, and
that because he was Pope Celestine's legate in the council
of Ephesus. The Arabic writers, Homaidius and Abuba-
erus Habasides, cited by Echellensis and bishop Pearson,*'
deliver a quite contrary story 5 that the name was first g-iven
to the patriarch of Alexandria, and thence carried to Rome ;
which seems to be said, in answer to the Romish pretences.
But the truth of the matter is, that it was no peculiar privi-
lege of one patriarch or other, but the common title of all
bishops who were called fathers''^ of the Church, and fathers^
of the Clerg-y ; and Papa means no more. Therefore Ter-
tullian, in his book ^/e Pudicitia, c. 13. speaking indefinitely
' Aug. Quaest.Vet. et N. Test. c. 101. Quid est Episcopus nisi primus Pres-
byter, id est, summus Sacordos? ^ Sidon. lib. iv. ep. 11. lib. \ii.
ep. 5. 8 Tertul.de Pudieit. c. 1. * Con. Agathens. c. 35.
* Nicephorus is cited and chastised by Savaro for this. Vid. Savaro Not. in
Sidon. lib. vi. ep. 1. •■ Pearson Vind. Ignat. part i. c. 11. p. 330.
^ Aug. Com. in Psal. xliv. p. 169. Ipsa Ecclesia Patres illos appellat. Chry-
sost. Horn. 3. ad Popul. Antioch. t. i. p. 43. » Hieron. Ep. 62. adThe-
oph. Episcopi conteiiti sint honore suo : Patres se sciant esse, non Doniinos.
Id. Ep. 2 et 3. ad Nepotian. Com. in Psal. xliv. &c.
CHAP, II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 55
of any Christian bishop, who absolves penitents, g-ives him
the name of Benedictus Papa. Or, if we suppose, as some
do, that he speaks particularly of the bishop of Rome, yet
there is nothing sing-ular in it ; for at the same time, Diony-
sius, presbyter of Alexandria, speaking- of Heraclas, his
bishop, g-ives him the very same title,^ the blessed pope
Heraclas. And Arius himself,- in one of his epistles, speaks
of his bishop Alexander in the same style. St. Jerom gives
the title^ to Athanasius, Epiphanius, and Paulinus; and
writing often to St. Austin, he always inscribes* his epistles,
Beatissimo Papce August ino. So among Cyprian s epistles,
those that are written to him are usually inscribed* in the
same manner, Cypriano Pap^e. And the clergy of Rome
themselves^ give him the title of Benedictus Papa, and
Beatissimus and Gloriosissimus Papa Cyprianus. It were
easy to add many other testimonies out of Epiphanius, and
Constantine's epistles, and the Theodosian code, and espe-
cially Sidonius Apollinaris,''^ who always gives the French
bishops the style of Dominus Papa. But in so plain a case
I need not insist any longer, especially since a learned
Romanist^ has undertaken to prove, out of authors as late
as Photius and Gregory of Tours, that Papa was the com-
mon name of all bishops for several ages ; who ^Iso notes
out of Balsamon, that this name was sometimes given to the
inferior Clergy, who were called Papce Pisinni, little fathers;
and their tonsure or crown thence called TraTraArjrpa, the
tonsure of the fathers. In comparison of whom, Balsamon'-'
calls presbyters and the Chorepiscopi, Protopapce, and Pro-
topapades, chief fathers ; speaking in the language of his
own times, when the Chorepiscopi and presbyters were be-
come all one.
' Dionys. Ep. ad Philemon, ap. Euseb. lib. vii. c. 7. IJapa ts fiaKaptn
Hcnra fifidSv 'HpaicXd. ^ Arius Ep. ad Eiiseb. Nicom. ap. Thcod. lib. i.
c. 5. ap. Epiphan. Haer. 69. Arian. ^ Hieron. Ep. 61. ad Pammach.
p. 163. * Id. Ep. 17, 18, 25, 30. inter Epist. Augustini. * Cypr.
Ep. 23, 31, 36. Edit. Oxon. « Ep. 8. Cleri Rom. ad Cler. Carthag. ibid.
Didicimus sccessisse Benedictum Papain Cyprianuin. Ep. 30. Cler. Rom. ad
Cypr. Beatissime ac Gloriosissimc Papa. '' Sidon. lib. vi. cpist. 1.
Domino Papa; Liipo. lib. vi. ep. 2. Papa; Pragmatic, lib. vi. cp. 3. Domino
Papsc l<contio. And so for twelve ejtistlcs together. ® Savaro Comment, in
Sidon. lib. vi. ep. 1. p. 370. ^ liulsam. Com. in Can. Apost. c. 59. It. in
Con. Antioch. can. 10.
56 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
Sect, 8. — PaterPatrum, and Episcopus Episcoporum.
But bishops had still a more honourable title than that of
Papa ; for they were commonly called Paires Patrum, and
Episcopi Episcoporum, fathers of fathers, and bishops of
bishops. The first that had this title was James, bishop of
Jerusalem; which made the counterfeit author under the
name of Clemens Romanus* inscribe an epistle (as directed
to him) with this title ; Clemens Jacobo Domino, Episcopo
Episcoporum, &c. To which Sidonius Apollinaris^ alludes
plainly, when writing- to Lupus, an eminent French bishop,
he tells him, " he was father of fathers, and bishops of
bishops, and another James of his ag-e." By this we under-
stand what Tertullian^ means, when speaking ironically of
the Catholic bishops, who admitted adulterers into commu-
nion again upon their repentance, ho says, " I hear there is
a decree published, and that a peremptory one ; the chief
pontiff, the bishop of bishops saith, I forgive the sins of
adultery and fornication, to all those that repent of them."
Some* take this for a peculiar character of the bishop of
Rome ; and I will not deny, but that Tertullian might intend
more especially to reflect upon him. But yet there is nothing-
singular in the title, which did not belong- to other bishops
as well as him ; as appears from what has been already cited
out of Sidonius. To which we may add the testimony of
Athanasius,* who styles Hosius the father of bishops; and
Gregory Nazianzen" gives the same title to his own father,
as St. Jerom' does to Epiphanius, styling him the father of
all bishops. Cotelerius*^ observes, that Gregory Nyssen is
called 7rarj)|0 Trarcpwv, father of fathers, by the second coun-
cil of Nice ; and others^ say, Theodosius, the emperor, gave
Chrysostom the same honourable title after death. As to
' Pseudo^Clem, Ep. 1. adJacob. ^ Sidon. lib. vi. ep. 1. Tu Pater
Patrum, et Episcopus Episcoporum, et alter Sfficull tui Jacobus. » j'^^.
lul. de Pudicit. c. 1. Audio etiam edictum esse propositum, et quidem pereuip-
torium, Poutifex scilicet Maximus, Episcopus Episcoporum dicit, Ego et
moDcliife et fornicationis delicta pcenitentia defunclis dimitlo. ■♦ Baron,
an. 142. n. 4. an. 216. n. 4. Geor^. Ambianas Observ. in Tertul. t. iii. p. 633.
* Athan. Epist. ad solit. vit. agentes. t. i. p. 837. 6 ^.^j^. Orat. H). de
Fun. Pair. p. 314. ' Ilier : Ep. Ixi. p. 107. « Colelcr. Not. in
Ep.Clum. p. 605 » Niccphor. lib. xiv. c. 43.
CHAP. 11.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 5T
the reason of these names, it is probable some bishops
mig-ht have them upon the account of personal merit, and
others from the eminency of their sees ; as the bishop of
Alexandria, to whom Balsamon' gives the title of Pater
Pair urn, many ages after. But there was a more g-enoral
reason why all bishops should be called so, as may bo col-
lected from^ Epiphanius; who says, "that the order of
bishops, was an order that begat fathers to the Church;" that
is, bishops made bishops by ordination ; whereas presbyters
could only beget sons, by the power which they had of
baptizing. And therefore, though we sometimes find pres-
byters called fathers, yet we no where find the title of Pater
Patrum given to any of their order. Yet I must here also
observe, that several of these titles were never kindly re-
ceived among the African fathers ; because the bishops of
Rome began to abuse them, to establish an usurped autho-
rity over their neighbours. Therefore, in two African coun-
cils held at Carthage, the one under ^ Cyprian, the other*
in St. Austin's time, these titles, Episcopus Episcoporum,
Princeps Sacerdolum, and Summus Sacerdos, were dis-
countenanced and forbidden, insomuch that the primates
themselves were not allowed to use them ; but of this more
hereafter, when we come to speak of metropolitans.
Sect. 9. — Bishops sometimes called Patriarchs.
Gregory Nazianzen, in his rhetorical way, usually gives
bishops the title of patriarchs ; by which, he means not pa-
triarchs in the proper sense, as the word came afterward to
be used in the Church, to signify bishops of the larger sees,
who had primates and metropolitans under them, but any
bishops whatsoever, that were heads of their own family ;
that is, the Church subject to them. Thus he styles his
• Balsam. Resp. ad Tnterrogat-. Marci ap. Leunclav. Jus Gr. Rom. t. i. lib. v.
p. 362. KvQiog MapKog TraTenojv 7rar»)p vTrapx'^v, &c. * Epiphan. Haer.
75. Aerian. Uaripwv ytvvTjTiKi) rd^ig. YlaTiciaQ yap yevv^ rplfccXjyffi^.
^ Con. Carthag. ap. Cypr. p. 229. Neque enira quisquain nostrum Episoopum
se Episcoporum constituit, aut tyrannico terrore ad obsequendi necessitatem
collegas suos adigit. * Con. Carth. iii. c. 26. Ut primse sedis Episco-
pus non appelletur Princeps Sacerdotum, aut Summus Sacerdos, aut aliquid
hujusmodi, sed tantura priiuiE sedis Episcopus.
VOL. I. G
58 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [iBOOK II.
own father, Patriarch,* thoiig-h he was but bishop of Nazi-
anzum, n very small city in Cappadocia, under Caisarea,
the metropolis. And in his oration^ before the council of
Constantinople, he gives the same title to all other bishopfi,
complaining- of the Arian cruelties against them : " Have
we not had," says he, " our ancient bishops, or to speak
more properly, our patriarchs, publicly murdered by themr'
In another place, complaining of the corrupt promotions
and practices of some bishops of his age, he thus takes his
leave of them:^ " Valet e ; insolentes esto ; pairiarchatus
per sortes inter vos distribuite.'''' — Farewell ,- go on in your
insolence ; divide the patriarchal dignities among you ;
translate yourselves from see to see ; set up some, pull down
others. Where it is evident he speaks not of patriarchs,
properly so called, but only of some ambitious spirits
among the bishops, who turned all things into confusion,
and did what they pleased with the preferments of the
Church. Gregory Nyssen uses the same term for bishops,
in his funeral oration upon Meletius, which he made in the
council of Constantinople, where he gives all the bishops
then in council, the title of patriarchs: " Behold* these pa-
triarchs; all these are the sons of our Jacob;"" meaning Me-
letius, whom he calls Jacob, for his age, and the rest pa-
triarchs, in allusion to the twelve patriarchs, who were
Jacob's children. Thus bishops were commonly styled,
till such times as the name patriarch became the appropriate
title of the most eminent bishops, such as Rome, Constan-
tinople, &c. And even some ages after that, de Marca^
observes, that Athalaricus and the rest of the Gothish
kings in Italy gave the name of patriarchs to all bishops
within their dominions.
Sect. 10. — And Vicars of Christ.
It must not here be forgotten, that all bishops anciently
were styled also, vicars of Christ, and had as much inte-
rest in that name as he that has since laid so much claim to
• Naz. Orat. xix. p. 312. Orat. xx. de Laud. Basil, p. 342. Oiat.xli. p. 675,
* Orat. xxxii. p. 525. ^Naz.Cygn. Carm. de Episcopis, t. ii. p. 308.
* Greg. Nyss. Orat, de Fun. Mclet. t. iii. p. 589. ^ Marca Dissert, de
Primatib. n, xx. p. 112.
CHAP, n.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 59
the title. The author of the Questions,' under the name of
St. Austin, says expressly, " That every bishop is the vicar
of God.'' Cyprian says the same in several of his epistles,^
*' That every bishop is Vice Christi, Chrisfs vicar or
vicegerent^ And this is his meaning- in that noted pas-
sag-e to Cornelius, where ^ he says, "All heresies and
schisms take their orig-inal from hence; that men do not
submit to God's priest, and consider that there ought to be
but one bishop in a Church at a time, and one judge as the
vicar of Christ." This is spoken of every individual bishop
thoughout the world, as Rigaltius* freely owns ; and they
grossly mistake Cyprian's meaning, and abuse his authority,
who apply it only to the bishop of Rome. St. Basil* ex-
tends the title to all bishops ; and so does the author un-
der the name of St. Ambrose,® who is supposed to be
Hilary, a deacon of the Church of Rome ; which would
have been an unpardonable oversight in him, had it not
been then the custom of the world to give all others this
title, as well as the bishop of Rome.
Sect. 11. — And Angels of the Churches.
I shall but take notice of one title more given to bishops,
which is that of angels of the Churches ; a name, which
some authors' suppose to be used by St. Paul, 1 Cor. xi. 10.
where he says, *' Women ought to be covered in the Church,
because of the angels," that is, bishops, says Hilary, the
deacon, in the place last mentioned. And so the same au-
thor understands that of St. John, Rev. i. 20. " The seven
stars are the angels^ of the seven Churches ;" which is also
• Aug. Quaest. Vet. et Nov. Test. c. 127. Antistitem Dei puriorem coeteris
esse oportet. Est enim Vicarius ejus. ^ Cypr. Ep. 63. ad Coecil.
lUe Sacerdos vice Christi vere fungitur, qui idj quod Christus fecit, imitatur.
^ Ep. 55. al. 59. ad Cornel, p. 129. Neque enim aliunde Ilsereses obortse sunt,
aut nata sunt schismata, quiim inde quod Sacerdoti Dei non obtemperatur,
ncc unus in Ecclesia ad tempus Sacerdos, et ad terapua Judex vice Christi
cogitatur. * Rigalt. in Loc. Ecce autein Episcopos aevo jam Cypf iani
vicarios Christi. * Basil. Constit. Monach, c. 22. t, ii. p. 792.
* Ambr. Com. in 1 Cor. xi. 10. Episcopus Personam habet Christi. Vi-
carius Domini est, &c. The Author of the Constitutions, lib. ii. c. 26. styles
the bishop Qtov iir'iyuov. ' Ambrosiaster, ibid. Angeles Episcopos
dicit, bicut docelur in Apocalypsi Joamiis, '' Psuudo-Ambjos. in 1 Cof. ii. 10.
60 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
the interpretation of St. Austin' and Epiphanius,^ who say,
that by angels we are not there to understand the celestial
ang-els, as Origen thought, who assigns a guardian angel=*
to every church, but the bishops or governors of those
seven churches. Hence, in after-ages, bishops were called
angels of the churches; as Socrates* terms Serapion, who
was bishop of Thmuis, " The angel of the Church of
Thmuis." And the author of the short notes* upon Timo-
thy, under the name of St. Jerom, says of every bishop,
" That he is the angel of God Almighty." In this sense.
Dr. Hammond*' observes out of a Saxon MS., that in our
own language, anciently, bishops were called God's hydels,
that is, messengers, or officers, as he explains it from Sir
Henry Spelman's Glossary, in the word Bedellus. And thus
much of those ancient titles of honour which were given tq
all bishops indifferently in the primitive Church.
CHAP. HI.
Of the Offices of Bishops as distinct from Presbyters.
Sect. 1.— A threefold Difference between Bishops and Presbyters In the Dis-
charge of their Office and Functions.
I come now to consider the episcopal office and function
itself; where, to do justice to antiquity, it is necessary for
me to observe a threefold distinction, between bishops and
presbyters, in the discharge of ecclesiastical offices, For
1 St, in the common offices, which w ere ordinarily entrusted
in the hands of presbyters, such as preaching, baptizing,
administering the eucharist, &c. there was this obvious dif-
ference betwixt a bishop and a presbyter ; that the one acted
by an absolute and independent power, — the other, in de-
pendence upon, and subordination to, his bishop ; by whose
authority and directions, under God, he was to be governed.
' Aug. Ep. 1G2. Divina voce laudatur sub Angeli nomine Propositus Ee-.
clesiaj." ^ Epiph. IIa;r. 25. Nicolalt. ^ Orig. Horn. 20, in Nuni.
t. i. p. 251. So also Andreas Cffisariens, "AyytXot (pvXaKtg. Coui. in Apoc. i,
20. * Socrat. lib. iv. c. 23. ^ Ilicron. Com. 1 Tim. iii.
® Ham. Annot. ou Rev. i. 20.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 61
and do nothing- without his consent, or against it : so that,
though there was no difference in the things that were done,
yet there was an essential difference in the power of doing
them. This is an observation not commonly made ; but it
is of very g-reat use, both for establishing the just bounds of
episcopal and presbyterial power, and clearing the practice
of the primitive Church. 2dly. Some offices were never
entrusted in the hands of presbyters ; nor allowed, if per-
formed by them ; such as the ordination of bishops, pres-
byters, &c. 3dly. Bishops always retained the power of
calling their presbyters to an account, and censuring them
for their misdemeanours in the discharge of their oflSce ;
which presbyters could not do by their bishop, being always
subject and subordinate to him as their superior. These
things cleared, and set in a fair light, will give us a just
account of the offices of a bishop, as distinct from that of a
presbyter, in the primitive Church.
Sect. 2. — I. In the common Offices which might be performed by both; the
Bishop acted by an Independent Power; but Presbyters in Dependence
upon, and Subordination to him.
First then, we are to observe, that in such ordinary and
common offices as might be performed by both, bishops and
presbyters acted by a different power ; the bishop was the
absolute, independent minister of the Church, and did what-
ever he did by his own authority, solely inherent in himself;
but the presbyters were only his assistants, authorised to
perform such offices as he entrusted them with, or gave
thern commission and directions to perform, which they still
did by his authority, and in dependence upon, and subordi-
nation to him as their superior ; and might do nothing
against his will, or independent of him. This is clear from
many passages in Ignatius, Cyprian, and the canons of the
ancient counci!s, which all agree in this, — That nothing is
to be done without the bishop ; that is, without his know-
ledge, without his consent, directions, or approbation. Thus
Ignatius,* in his epistle to the Church of Smyrna ; " Let no
' Ignat. Ep. ad Smyrn. n. 8. Mijttig' x^pie ra tTriaicoTre n Trpaffatrw rwi*
('ivt]Ki}VTWV ti'c T))v iKK^'ioiav.
62 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
one perform any ecclesiastical office without the bishop ;"
which he explains, both there and elsewhere,^ to mean,
without his authority and permission. So, in the council^ of
Laodicea, it is expressed the same way ; " The presbyters
shall do nothing Avithout the consent of the bishop."" The
councils of Aries ^ and Toledo* say, " without his privity
or knowledge." And the Apostohcal Canons * give a reason
for all this: " Because the bishop is the man to whom the
Lord's people are committed ; and he must give an account
of their souls,"
Sect. 3.— This specified in the Offices of Baptism, and the Lord's Supper.
This rule they particularly apply to the offices of bap-
tism, and the Lord's supper. A presbyter might ordinarily
administer both these sacraments ; but not against the will
of his bishop, or in opposition or contradiction to him, but
by his consent and authority, in a due subordination to him
as his superior. " It is not lawful," says Ignatius,*^ " either
to baptize, or celebrate the eucharist, without the bishop ;
buf that which he allows is well-pleasing to God." He
does not say that none but a bishop might administer these
sacraments, but that none was to do it without his allowance
and approbation. And that is plainly the meaning of Ter-
tuUian^ and St. Jerom,^ when they say that presbyters and
deacons have no power to baptize without the command
and authority of the bishop or chief-priest ; and that this is
for the honour of the Church, and the preservation of peace
and unity. St. Ambrose^ asserts the same, " That though
presbyters do baptize, yet they derive their authority from
their superior."
' Id. Ep. ad Polycarp. n. 4. MrjSiv dvev yvw/xi/e ffn yiviff^w. * Con.
Laodic. can. 56. 'Avev yi/w/t>/c tS iiriffKovs. ^ Con. Arelat. 1 can. 19,
Ut Presbyteri sine conscicntia Episcoporum nihil faciant. ''Con.
Tolet. 1. can. 20. Sine conscientia Episcopi nihil pcnitus Presbyteri agere
prffisumant. * Can. Apost. c. 39. " Ignat. Ep. ad Smyrn. n. 8.
' Tertul. de Bapt, c. 17. Dandi jus quidem habet suminus Sacerdos, qui est
Episcopus ; dehinc Presbyteri, et Diaconi ; non tanicn sine Episcopi Auctoritate,
propter Ecclesia; honorein, quo salvo, salva Pax est. •* Ilieron. Dial.
cont. Lucifer, p. 131). Indc venit, ut sine jussione Episcopi, neque Presbyter,
nc(pie Diacouus, jus habcaut baptisandi. " Anibros. de sacram. lib. iii. c. 1.
Licet Presbyteri feccrint, tainen exordium luinisterii a suuuno est Sacerdote.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. G3
Sect. 4.— And in the Office of Preaching.
The like observation may be made upon the office of
preaching-. This» was, in the first place, the bishops' office,
which they commonly discharged themselves, especially in
the African Churches ; which is the reason we so often
meet with the phrase, Tractante Episcopo, the bishop
preaching, in the writing-s^ of St. Cyprian. For then it was
so much the office and custom of bishops to preach, that no
presbyter was permitted to preach in their presence, till the
time of St. Austin, who, whilst he was a presbyter, was au-
thorised by Valerius, his bishop, to preach before him. But
that, as Possidius,^ the writer of his life, observes, was so
contrary to the use and custom of the African Churches,
that many bishops were hig-hly offended at it, and spake
ao'ainst it ; till the consequence proved, that such a permis-
sion was of g-ood use and service to the Church ; and then
several other bishops granted their presbyters power and
privilege to preach before them. So that it was then a fa-
vour for presbyters to preach in the presence of their
bishops, and wholly at the bishops' discretion whether they
would permit them or not ; and when they did preach, it
was Potestate acceptd, by the power and authority of the
bishops that appointed them. In the Eastern Churches
presbyters were more commonly employed to preach, as
Possidius* observes, when he says, Valerius brought the
custom into Afric, from their example. And St. Jerom inti-
mates as much, when he complains^ of it as an ill custom
only in some Churches, to forbid presbyters to preach.
Chrysostom preached several of his elaborate discourses at
Antioch, whilst he was but a presbyter ; and so did At-
ticus,^ at Constantinople. And the same is observed to
' Vid. Can. Apost. c. 58. * Cypr. Ep. 52, 56, 8.3. Ed. Oxon. It. Pontius
Vit. Cypr. ibid. * Possid. Vit. Aug. c. 5. Eidem Presbytero potcstatem
dedit coram sc in Ecclesia Evangclium praedicandi, ac frequentissime tractandi,
contra usum quidem ac consuetudinein Afriranaruni Ecclesiarum. Undo ctiam
ei nonnulli Episcopi detrahcbant. Postea, bono pra?cedente exemjdo, ac-
ceptfi ab Episcopis potestate, Presbyteri nonnulli coram Episcopis populo trac-
tare coeperunt vorbum Dei. * Tile in Oricntalibus Ecclesiis id ex more
fieri sciens, obtrcctantium non curabat linguas, &c. Possid. Ibid. ^Pessima;
consuctudinis est in quibusdani Ecclesiis tacere Presbyteros, et pra3seutibus
Episcopis non hxpii, &c. '' Socrat. lib. vii. c. '2.
64 THE ANTIQUITIES OV THE [boOK IT^
have been granted to the presbyters' of Alexandria, and
Cajsarea in Cappadocia,^ and Cyprus, and other places. But
Still it was but a grant of the bishops, and presbyters did it
by their authority and commission ; and whenever bishops
saw just reason to forbid them, they had power to limit or
withdraw their commission again ; as both Socrates ^ and
Sozomen* testify, who say, that at Alexandria presbyters
were forbidden to preach, from the time that Arius raised a
disturbance in the Church. Thus we see what power
bishops anciently challenged and exercised over presbyters
in the common and ordinary offices of the Church; parti-
cularly for preaching, bishops always esteemed it their
office, as much as any other. Such a vast difference was
there between the practice of the primitive Church and the
bishops of Rome in after-ages! "When," as Blondel ob-
serves out of Surius, " there was a time when the bishops
of Rome were not known to preach for five hundred years
together; insomuch, that when Pius Quintus made a ser-
mon, it was looked upon as a prodigy, and was, indeed, a
greater rarity than the Sceculares Ludi were in old Rome."
See Blondel Apolog. p. 58, and Surius Comment. Rer. in,
Orbe gestar.
Sect. 5. — 2. The Office and Power of Ordination never entrusted in the Hands
of Presbyters.
But to return to the bishops of the primitive Church,
There were other offices, which they very rarely entrusted
in the hands of presbyters ; and if ever they granted them
commission to perform them, it was only in cases of great
necessity. Such were the offices of, reconciling penitents,
confirmation of Neophytes, consecration of Churches, vir-
gins and widows, with some others of the like nature ; of
which I shall speak nothing more particularly here now,
because they will come more properly under consideration
in other places. But there was one office which they never
entrusted in the hands of presbyters, nor ever gave them
any commission to perform ; which was, the office of or-
• Theodor. lib. i. c. 2. * Socrat. lib. v. C.2 . » Socrat. ibid.
* Sozom. lib, vii. c. 17.
CHAP. Ill,] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 65
daining- the superior clergy, bishops, presbyters, and dea-
cons. The utmost that presbyters could pretend to in this
matter, was to lay on their hands, together with the bishop,
in the ordination of a presbyter, whilst the bishop, by his
prayer, performed the office of consecration. Thus much
is allowed them by one of the councils^ of Carthage, which
yet expressly reserves the benediction or ordination prayer
to the bishop only. In the ordination of bishops they had
no concern at all; which was always performed by a synod
of bishops, as shall be showed more particularly when we
come to speak of the rites and customs observed in their
ordinations. Here, in this place, it will be sufficient to
prove, in general, that the power of ordinations was the
prerogative of bishops, and that tfcey never communicated
this privilege to any presbyters. St. Jerom's ^ testimony is
irrefragable evidence in this case ; for in the same place,
where he sets off the office of presbyters to the best advan-
tage, he still excepts the power of ordination. " What is
it," says he, " that a bishop does more than a presbyter,
setting aside the business of ordination 1" St. Chrysostom*
speaks much after the same manner, where he advances the
power of presbyters to the highest. " Bishops and presby-
ters," says he, '* differ not much from one another ; for pres-
byters are admitted to preach, and govern the Church ; and
the same qualifications that the Apostle requires in bishops,
are required in presbyters also: for bishops are superior to
them only in the power of ordination, and have that one
thing more than they." In another place* he proves that
Timothy was a bishop, because the Apostle speaks of his
power to ordain, bidding him " lay hands suddenly on no
man ;" and he adds, both there and elsewhere,^ that the
presbytery which ordained Timothy was a synod of bishops,
because mere presbyters had no power to ordain a bishop.
* Con. Carth. 4. can. 3. Presbyter cum ordinatur, Episcopo eiun benedicente,
et manum super caput ejus tenente, etiam oinnes Presbyteri, qui praesentes sunt,
manus suas juxta manum Episcopi super caput illius teneant. * Hieron
Ep. 85. ad Evagr. Quid enim facit, except^ Ordinatione, Episcopus, quod
Presbyter non facit ? ^ Chrys. Horn. 1 1. in 1 Tim. iii. 8. * Id.
Hom. i. in Philip 1. * Horn. 13. in 1 Tira. iv, 14. a yap Si) irptajivTZ'
pot kiridKoirov ixn-porovuv.
VOL. I. H
66 THE ANTIQUITIES OP THE [fiOOK If.
I might here produce all those canons of the ancient coun-
cils which speak of bishops ordaining,^ but never of pres-
byters; which rule was so precisely observed in the primi-
tive Church, that Novatian himself would not presume to
break it, but sent for three bishops'^ from the furthest cor-
ners of Italy, rather than want a canonical number of
bishops to ordain him. I only add that observation of
Epiphanius/ grounded upon the general practice of the
Church, " That the order of bishops begets fathers to the
Church, which the order of presbyters cannot do ; but only
begets sons by the regeneration of baptism."
I know, some urge the authority of St. Jerom,* to prove
that the presbyters of Alexandria ordained their ow n bishop,
from the days of St. ^ark to the time of Heraclas and
Dionysius; and others think the same words prove, that he
had no new ordination at all. But they both mistake St.
Jerom's meaning, who speaks not of the ordination of the
bishop, but of his election ; w ho was chosen by the presby-
ters, out of their own body, and by them placed upon the
bishop's throne ; which, in those days, w as no more than a
token of his election, and was sometimes done by the peo-
ple ; but the ordination came after that, and was always re-
served for the provincial bishops to perform, as shall be
showed hereafter.
Sect. 6. — Ordinations by Presbyters disannulled by the Church.
But it may be inquired, — what was the practice of the
Church in case any presbyters took upon them to ordain?
were their ordinations allowed to stand good or not 1 I an-
swer,— they were commonly reversed and disannulled. As
in the known case of Ischyras,* who was deposed by the
synod of Alexandria, because Colluthus, who ordained him,
was no more than a presbyter, though pretending to be
' See Con. Nie. c. 19. Con. Antioch. c. 9. Con. Chalced. c. 2 et 6. Con.
Carth. ill. c. 45. Can. Apost. c. 1. -^ Cornel. Ep. ad Fabium ap. Euseb.
lib. vi. c. 23. s Epiph. Hser. 75. Aerian. * Hieron. Ep. 85.
ad Evagr. Alexandria; a Marco EvangclistPi usque ad Ileraclam et Diouysiun*
Episcopos, Presbyteri semper unuin ex se electum, in oxcclsiori gradu coUocutuni
E|)iscopuin nominabant; quoinodo si Exercitus Inipcratorein faciat.
^ Alhan. Apol. ii. p. 732. Epist. Cler. Mareot. ibid. p. 784.
CHAP. IIL] christian CHURCH. 67
a bishop ; and in the case of those presbyters who were re-
duced to the quality of laymen by the council ' of Sardica,
because Eutychianus and Musajus, who ordained them,
were only pretended bishops. The council of Seville, in
Spain,- went a little further: they deposed a presbyter and
two deacons, because the bishop only laid his hands upon
them, whilst a presbyter pronounced the blessing or con-
secration prayer over them. And some instances might be
added of the like nature, w hich show that then tJhey did not
allow bishops so much as to delegate or commission pres-
byters to ordain in their name, but reserved this entirely to
the episcopal function.
Sect. 7. — Some Allegations to the contrary examined.
The common pleas, which some urg-e to the contrary, de-
roD-ate nothing- from the truth of this observation. For
whereas it is said, 1 st. That the Chorepiscopt w ere only
presbyters, and yet had power to ordain ; that seems to be
a plain mistak^i; for all the Chorepiscopi of the ancient
Chuvch were real V>ishops, though subordinate to other
bishops, as I shall show more particularly hereafter, when I
come to speak of their order. 2dly. It is said, that the city-
presbyters had power to ordain by the bishop's license ; and
that this w as established by canon in the council of Ancyra.*
But this is g-rounded only upon a very ambiguous sense, if
not a corrupt reading-, of that canon. For all the old trans-
lators render it much otherwise ; that the city-presbyters
shall do nothing-* without the license and authority of the
bishop, in any part of the paroche or diocese belonging- to
his jurisdiction ; which agrees w ith what I have cited be-
fore out of the council of Laodicea, and several other
canons, which make presbyters dependent upon their
• Con. Sard. can. 20. * Con. Hispal. ii. can. 5. Relatiim est nobis
dc quibusdam Clericis, quorum duin unus ad Presbyterum, duo ad Lcvitarum
minlsterium sacrarcntur, Episcopus oculoruiu doloic dctentus fertur manum
suam super eos tantiiin imposulsse, et Presbyter quldani lllis contra Ecclesiasti-
cum ordinem benedictionem dedisse, &c. Hi graduni iSacerdotii Ael Levitici
ordinis, quern perverse adepti sunt, ainittunt. ^ Con. Ancyr. can. 13.
♦ Id. ex Vcrsione Dionysii Exigui : Sod ner Prcsbytcris Civitatis, sine Prajcepto
Episcopi, aniplius aliquid iuiperare, nee sine authoiitatc Litcraruniejus iauna-
qua(jue Pmochia aliquid agere.
68 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
bishops in the ordinary exercise of their function. (See be-
fore, sect. 2 of this chapter.) And some Greek copies^
read it, iv eripq. irapoiKiq, which seems to signify that pres-
byters shall not officiate in another diocese without letters
dimissory from their own bishop.
3dly. It is urged further, that Novatus, a presbyter of
Carthage, ordained Felicissimus, a deacon ; but this seems
to be no more than procuring him to be ordained by some
bishop. For Cyprian says, he made Novatian ^ bishop of
Rome after the same manner as he had done Felicissimus
deacon at Carthage. But now it is certain he did not or-
dain Novatian, but only was instrumental in procuring three
obscure Italian bishops to come and ordain him ; and in
that sense he mig-ht ordain Felicissimus too. But admit it
were otherwise, it was only a schismatical act, condemned
by Cyprian and the whole Church.
4thly. It is pleaded out of Cassian, " That Paphnutius,
an Egyptian abbot, ordained one Daniel, a presbyter." But,
if Cassian's words be rightly considered, he says no such
thing, but only ^ that Paphnutius first promoted him to be
made a deacon before several of his seniors ; and then, in-
tending to make him his successor, he also preferred him
to the dignity of a presbyter, which preference or promo-
tion does not at all exclude the bishop's ordination. It
may reasonably signify, the abbot's choice, which he had
power to make ; but it cannot so reasonably be interpreted
that he ordained him, since this was contrary to the rules
and practice of the Church: and considering where and
when Paphnutius lived, in the midst of Egypt, among a
hundred bishops, in the fifth century, it is not likely he
would transgress the canons in so plain a case. Therefore I
cannot subscribe to a learned man,* who says, " Nothing is
" Cod. Can. edit. Ehinger. = Cypr. Ep. 49. al. 52. ad Cornel, p. 97.
ed. Oxon, Quoniam pro magnitudine sua debeat Carthaginem Roma prsece-
dere, illic majora et graviora commisit. Qui istic adversus Ecclesiam Diaco-
num fecerat, illic Episcopum fecit. ^Cassian. Collat.i v. c. 1. A beato
Paphnutio solitudinis ejusdein Presbytero, et quidem cum multis junior esset
setate, ad Dlacoiiii est praelatus Officium. Optansque sibimet successorein
dignissimuin providere, su[>erstes cum Presbytciii honore provexit.
* Stilling. Irenic. par. ii. c. 7. n. 8. p. 380.
CHAP. 111.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 69
more plain and evident, than that here a presbyter ordained
a presbyter, which we no where read was pronounced null
by Theophilus, then bishop of Alexandria, nor any others at
that time." I conceive the contrary was rather evident to
them, and therefore they had no reason to pronounce it
null, knowing it to be a just and regular ordination.
5thly. I remember but one instance more in ancient
Church-history (for modern instances I wholly pass by)
that seems to make any thing- for the ordination of
presbyters ; and that is, in the answer given by Pope
Leo to a question put to him by Rusticus Narbonensis,
" Whether the ordination of certain persons might stand
good, who were only ordained by some Pseudo-Episcopi,
false bishops, who had no legal and canonical right to their
places T To this he answers,* " That if the lawful bishops
of those Churches gave their consent to their ordination, it
might be esteemed valid, and allowed ; otherwise to be dis-
annulled." But here it is to be considered, that these
Pseudo-Episcopi were in some sense bishops, as being or-
dained, though illegally, to their places ; for they seem to
be such as had schismatically intruded themselves into other
men's sees, or at least obtained them by some corrupt and
irregular practices. Now the Church did not always re-
scind and cancel the acts of such bishops, but used a liberty
either to reverse and disannul the ordinations made by
them, or otherwise to confirm and ratify them, as she saw
occasion. Therefore, though the general-council^ of Con-
stantinople deposed all such as were ordained by Maximus,
who had simoniacally intruded himself into Gregory Nazi-
anzen's see, at Constantinople, yet the Novatian clergy
were admitted by the council of Nice ^ though ordained by
schismatical bishops ; and the African councils * allowed the
ordinations of the Donatist bishops, though they had not
long continued in schism, and given schismatical orders to
others also; which shows, that the primitive Church made
• Leo Ep. xcii. ad Rustic, c. 1. Si qui autemClerici ab istis Pseudo-Epis-
copis in CIS Ecclesiis ordinati sunt, quae ad ])roprios Episcopos pertinebant, et
Ordinatio eorum cum consensu et judicio Praisidcntium facti est, potest rata
haberi, &c. « Con. Constant, can. 1. ^ Con. Nic. c. 8.
* Collat. Carthag. 1. Die. c. 16.
70 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IT.
some difference between orders conferred by schismatical
bishops, and those conferred by mere presbyters. I inquire
not now into the grounds and reasons of this, but only relate
the Church's practice ; from which, upon the whole matter,
it appears, that this was another difference betwixt bishops
and presbyters, that the one had power to ordain, but the
other were never authorised or commissioned to do it.
Sect. 8. — 3. A Third Difference between Bishops ajid Presbyters ; — Presbyters
accountable to their Bishops, not Bisliops to their Presbyters.
Besides this, there was a third difference between
bishops and presbyters in point of jurisdiction. Bishops
always retained to themselves the power of calling presby-
ters to an account, and censuring- them for their miscar-
riag-es in the discharge of their office ; but presbyters had
no power to censure their bishops, or set up an independent
power in opposition to their authority and jurisdiction.
When F'elicissimus and Augendus set up a separate com-
munion at Carthage against Cyprian, threatening to excom-
municate all that communicated with him, Cyprian gave or-
ders to his deputies, being himself then in banishment, to
execute, first, their own sentence upon them, and let them,
for their contempt of him and the Church,^ feel the power
of excoiumunication; which was accordingly done by his
delegates, as appears from their answer^ to him. In
another place, writing to Rogatian, a bishop, who made
complaint to Cyprian and the synod of an unruly deacon,
he tells him, '-'It was his singular modesty to refer the case
to them, when he might, by virtue of his own episcopal
authority, himself have punished the delinquent;^ against
whom, if he persisted in his contempt, he should use the
• Cypr. Ep- xxxviii. al. xli. p. 80. Cum Fclicissimus comminatus sit, non
communicaturos in monte (al. iiicrte) sccuni, qui nobis comniunicarent.
Accipiat sententiam quam prior dixit, ut abstentum a se nobis sciat.
* Ep. xxxix al. xlii. ad Cypr. Abstinuimus communicatione Felicissimum
et Augendum, &c. " Cypr. Ep- Ixv. al. iii. ad Rosfatian. Tu quidem
pro solitfi tuS, humilltate fecisti, ut malles de co nobis conqueri, cum pro
Episcopatus vis^ore et Cathedrae auctoritato haberes potestatem, quft posses
dc illo statim vindicari. Quod si ultra te contumeiiis suis jirovocaverit,
fungeris circa cum jiotcstate honoris tui, ut euni vcl deponas vel, abstiueus.—
Sue also Cypr. Ep. x. al. xvi. ed. Oxon.
CHAP. Iir.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 71
power which belonged to his order, and either depose or
suspend him." Nothing- can be more phiin and evident,
than that, in Cyprian's time, all bishops were invested with
this power of censuring- delinquents among" the elerg-y.
And any one that looks into the councils of the following-
age, will find nothing more common, than canons which
both suppose and confirm this power. As when the Aposto-
lical Canons say,* " that no presbyter, or deacon, excom-
municated by his own bishop, should be received by any
other," that supposes all bishops to have power to inflict
ecclesiastical censures upon their clergy. The like may be
seen in the canons of the council of Nice,^ which allows an
appeal, in such a case, to a provincial synod ; and the coun-
cil of Sardica,^ which orders the metropolitan to hear and
redress the grievance ; so also in the councils of Antioch,*
Chalcedon,^ and many others.
Sect. 9.— Yet Bishops' Power not arbitrary, but limited by Canon in
various Respects.
Yet it must be owned, that according to the discipline
and custom of those times, bishops seldom did any thing of
this nature, without the advice and consent of their presby-
ters, who were their assessors, and, as it were, the ecclesi-
astical senate and council of the Church ; of which I shall
give a more particular account when I come to speak of the
honour and privileges of the order of presbyters. And
here it is to be further noted, out of the preceding canons,
that if any clergyman thought himself injured by his
bishop, he had liberty to appeal ^ either to the metropoli-
tan or a provincial synod. And in some places, the better
to avoid arbitrary power, the canons provided, that no
bishop should proceed to censure a presbyter or deacon,
without the concurrence of some neighbouring bishops to
join with him in the sentence. The first council of Car-
thage' requires three to censure a deacon, and six to
' Canon. Apost. c. 33. '^ Con. Nic. can. 5. ^ Con. Sard,
13, 14. * Con. Antioch. can. 3 et 4 * Chnlced. can. 9.
^ See for the Liberty of Appeals, Con. Carthacr- ii- c- 8. Cartliai^. iv. c. 29,
et 66. Antioch. c. 12. Vasion. c. 5. Venctic. can. 9. ' Con. Carthag-.
1. can. 11. Si quis nliquani causam habuerit, k tribus vicinis Episcopis, si
Diaconusest, arguatur: Presbyter u sex.
72 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
censure a presbyter. The second council of Carthag'e*
requires the same number, according to all correct
editions of it; for Crab's edition is palpably false ; and yet
BlondeP lays hold of that corruption, to prove that pres-
byters and deacons were to be judges of their own bishop ;
which makes the canon speak mere nonsense, and appoints
the bishop to judge himself also. The true reading of the
canon is this ; the criminal cause of a bishop shall be heard
by twelve bishops ; the cause of a presbyter, by six ; the
cause of a deacon, by three, joined with his own bishop.
This obliges every bishop to take other bishops into com-
mission with him in criminal causes, but does not authorize
presbyters and deacons to sit as judges upon their own
bishop ; which may be further evidenced from another
canon ^ of the next council of Carthage, which speaks of a
legal number of bishops to judge a presbyter, or deacon ;
and assigns six for a presbyter, and three for a deacon, as
the former canons appointed. But for the inferior clergy,
there was no such restraint laid upon the bishop, that I can
find ; but he alone, by the same canon,* is allowed to hear
their causes, and end them. Only they had liberty to ap-
peal, as all others, in case of injury done them, to the me-
tropolitan, or a provincial synod ; which the Nicene coun-
cil,^ and many others, appoint to be held once or twice a
year for that very purpose ; that if any clergyman chanced
to be unjustly censured by the passion of his bishop, he
might have recourse to a superior court, and there have jus-
tice done him. This is the true state and account of the
power of bishops over their clergy, as near as I can collect
it out of the genuine records of the ancient Church.
• Con. Carth. 2. can. 10. Placet ut causa criminalis Episcopi a duodecim
Episcopis audiatur ; causa Presbyteri a sex ; causa vero Diaconi a tribus
cum proprio Episcopo. * Blondel. Apol. p. 137. And Crab thus
reads it corruptly: Episcopus a duodecim Episcopis audiatur, et a sex Pres-
byteris, et a tribus Diaconibus cum proprio suo Episcopo. ' Con.
Carth. 3. c. 8. Si Presbyteri vel Diaconi fuerint accusati, adjuncto sibi ex
vicinis locis legitime numero coUegarum - - - -in Presbyteri nomine sex, in
Diaconi tribns, ipsorum causas discutiant. * Ibid. c. 8. Reliquorum
Clericorum causas solus Episcopus loci agnoscat et finiat. * Con.
Nic. can. 6.
CHAP. IV ] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 73
CHAP. IV.
Of the Power of Bishops over the Laity, Monks, subordinate
Magistrates, and all Persons within their Diocese ; and of
their Office in disposing of the Revenues of the Church.
Sect. 1. — No Exemptions from the Jurisdiction of the Bishop in the Primitive
Church.
The next thing to be considered is, the power of bishops
over the people ; which, upon inquiry, will be found to ex-
tend itself over all persons, of what rank or quality soever,
within their diocese, or the bounds and limits of their juris-
diction. The extent of dioceses themselves, and the rea-
sons why some were much greater than others, I do not
here consider ; but reserve that for a more proper place, to
be treated of when we come to speak of Churches. What
I observe in this place is, that all orders of men within the
diocese, were subject to the bishop; for, privileges to ex-
empt men from the jurisdiction of their diocesan, were
things unknown to former ages. Ignatius makes bold to
say,' that, as he that honours his bishop, is honoured of
God ; so he, that does any thing covertly in opposition to
him, is the servant of satan; and Cyprian defines the Church^
to be a people united to its bishop, a flock adhering to its
pastor. Whence the Church may be said to be in the
bishop, and the bishop in the Church 5 and if any are not
with their bishop, they are not in the Church.
Sect. 2. — All Monks subject to the Bishop of the Diocese, where they lived.
Particularly, we may observe of all ascetics, and monks,
and hermits ; that the laws, both ecclesiastical and civil,
subjected them to the bishop of the place, where they lived.
For ecclesiastical laws, we have two canons in the council
of Chalcedon^ to this purpose; the first of which prescribes,
' Ignat. Ep, ad Smyrn. n. 9. 6 Xa^pa iiridKoirH rl wpa<rawr, rtfi tia^oXift
Xarptvii '^ <^"ypr. Epist. Ixix. al. Ixvi, ad Pupian. p. IG8. Ecclesia
Plebs Sacerdoti unita, et Pastori sue Grex adluerens. Unde scire debes
Episcopum in Ecclesia esse, et Ecclcsiam in Episcopo ; Et si qui cum Epis-
copo non bint, iu Ecclcaiu nou esbe, &c. ^ Con. Chaked. can. iv. et 8.
VOL. 1, 1
74 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
that all monks, whether in city or country, shall be subject
to the bishop, and concern themselves in no business (sa-
cred or civil) out of their own monastery ; except they have
his license and permission, upon urg-ent occasion so to do ;
and if any withdraw themselves from his obedience, the
other canon pronounces excommunication against them.
The same injunctions may be read in the Councils of Or-
leans,* Agde,^ Lerida,^ and others; which subject the
abbots as well as monks, to the bishop's care and correction.
Justinian confirms all this by a law in the code; which
says,* " all monasteries are to be reckoned under the juris-
diction of the bishop of the territories, where they are; and
that the abbots themselves are part of their care." In one
of his novels,^ the election of abbots is put into the bishop's
hands. And, by other laws," no new cells or monasteries
were to be erected, but by the consent and license of the
bishop, to whose jurisdiction they belong-ed. It is there-
fore a very just reflection, which Bede, and some others ''^
from him, make upon the state of the Scottish Church ; " that
thing's were in a very unusual and preposterous order,
when, instead of abbots being- subject to the bishops, the
bishops were sul)ject to a sing-le abbot." This was Online
inusitato, as Bede^ rig-htly observes ; for there was no such
practice allowed in the primitive Church.
Sect. 3. — As also all subordinate Magistrates in Matters of Spiritual
Jurisdiction.
In those days, the authority of bishops was so hig-hly
esteemed, and venerable in the eyes of all men, that even
the subordinate magistrates themselves were subject to
their spiritual discipline and correction. The prefects and
governors of cities and provinces were obliged to take their
communicatory letters along- with them to the bishop of
the place, whither the government sent them ; and whilst
' Con. Aurel. i. c. 21. ~ Agathcns. can. 3S. ^ Herdens. c, 3.
* Cod. Just. lib. i. tit. 3, de Episcop. leg. 40. « Justin. Novel, v. c. 9.
^Con. Chalced. can. iv. Con. Agath. c. 58. ' Pearson Vind. Ignat,
part i. c. 1 1. p. 333. ^ g^d jUst. Gent. Anglor. lib. iii. c. 4. Cujus
juri et omnis Provincia, et ipsi etiam Episcopi ordinc inusitato debcant esse
-subject!.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 75
they continued in their office there, they were to be under
the bishop's care; who, if they transgressed against the
pubHc discipUne of the Church, was authorised by the im-
perial laws to punish them with excommunication. This
we learn from a canon of the first council of Aries,* which
was called by Constantine himself, who ratified its canons,
and gave them, as it were, the force of imperial sanctions.
And, by virtue of this power, they sometimes unsheathed
the spiritual sword against impious and profane magis-
trates, and cut them off from all communion with the
Church ; of which we have an instance in Synesius, bishop
of Ptolemais,^ excommunicating Andronicus, the governor,
for his cruelties and blasphemies ; and many other such
examples, which will be mentioned, when we come to treat
particularly of the discipline of the Church. As to what
concerns the bishop's power to inspect and examine the
acts and decrees of subordinate magistrates, Socrates^
assures us, it was practised by Cyril of Alexandria, in re-
ference to Orestes the Praefectus Augustalis of Egypt ;
though, as he intimates, it was some grievance to him to
be under his inspection.
Sect. 4. — Of the Distinction between Temporal and Spiritual Jurisdiction;
Bishops' Power wholly confined to the latter.
But it must be owned and spoken to the glory of those
primitive bishops, that they challenged no power, as of
right belonging to them, but only that which was spiritual.
They did not as yet lay claim to both swords, much less
endeavoured to wrest the temporal sword out of the magis-
trate's hand, and dethrone princes under pretence of ex-
communication. The ancient bishops of Rome themselves
always professed obedience and subjection to the emperor's
laws ; which I shall not stand here to prove, since it has so
frequently and so substantially been done by several of our
' Con. Arelat. ii. c. 7. De Prassidibus - - - ita placuit, ut cum promoti fue-
rint, literas accipiant ecclesiasticas communicatorias : Ita tamen ut in qui-
buscunque locis gesserint, ab Episcopo ejusdem loci cura de illis agatur ; at
cum coeperint contra disciplinani publicam agere, tunc demum a Communione
excludantur. Similiter et de his fiat, qui rempublicam agere volunt.
' Synes. Ep. 58. ad Episcopos, p. 198. '^ Socrat. lib. vii. c. 13.
76 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK 11,
lejirned * writers ; and it is confessed by the more Ingenuous
of the Romish writers^ themselves, that Gregory the Vllth
was the first Pope that pretended to depose Christian princes.
The ancient bishops of the Church laid no claim to a co-
ercive power over the bodies or estates of men ; but if ever
they had occasion to make use of it, they applied themselves
to the secular mag-istrate for his assistance. As in the
case of Paulus Samosatensis, who kept possession of the
bishop's house, after he was deposed from his bishopric by
the council of Antioch. The fathers in that council, having-
no power to remove him, petitioned the emperor Aurelian^
against him; who, though an heathen, gave judgment on
their side, and ordered his officers to see his sentence put
in execution. And thus the case stood, as to the power of
bishops, for some ages after under Christian emperors ; in-
somuch that Socrates* notes it as a very singular thing in
Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, that he undertook by his own
power, to shut up the Novatian Churchos, seizing upon
their plate and sacred utensils, and depriving their bishop
Theopemptus of his substance. This was done Trapd riig
hpuTiKrig Ta^fwC) beyond any ordinary power, that bishops
were then invested with ; and though in after ages they
attained to this power, yet it was not by any Inherent right
of their order, but by the favour and indulgence of secular
princes. It must here also be further noted, that it was ever
esteemed dishonouraVtle for bishops, so much as to petition
the secular power against the life of any man, whom they had
condemned by spiritual censures; and therefore, when Itha-
cius and some other Spanish bishops prevailed with Maximus
to slay the heretic PrlscUlian, St. Martin and many other
pious bishops petitioned against it, saying', it was enough
to expel heretics* from the Churches; and when they could
not prevail, they showed their resentments of the fact against
' See bishop Morton's Grand Impost, of the Church of Rome, c. 1 1. Joh.
Roffens. tie Potest. Papae in Temporal, lib. ii. c. 2. ^ Otlio Frisin-
gens. Chron, lib. vi. c. 35, Greg. Tholosan. de Repub. lib. 26. c. 5.
' Euseb. lib. vii. c. 30. * Socrat. lib. vii. c. 7. * Sulph. Sever,
lib. ii. p. 119. Maximum orare, ut sanguine infelicium abstineret : Satis
superque sufficerc, ut episcopali sentcntia ha;retici judicati Ecclesiis pel-
lerentur.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 77
the author of it, refusing to admit Ithacius, the sang-uinaty
bishop, to their communion. So oreat a concern had those
holy men to keep within the bounds of their spiritual
jurisdiction !
Sect. S.— An Accouht of the Literae Formatap, and the Bishops Prerogative
in granting them to all Persons.
And it may be observed, that the authority of bishops
was never greater in the world, than when they concerned
themselves only in the exercise of their own proper spiritual
power. For then they had an universal respect paid them
by all sorts of men ; insomuch that no Christian would pre-
tend to travel, without taking letters of credence with him
from his own bishop, if he meant to communicate with the
Christian Church in a foreign country. Such was the ad-
mirable unity of the Church Catholic in those days, and
the blessed harmony and consent of her bishops among one
another ! These letters were of divers sorts, according to
the different occasions or quality of the persons, that carried
them. They are generally reduced to three kinds — the
EpistolcB Commendatorice, Communicator id', and Dimisso-
rice. The first were such as were granted only to persons
of quality, or else persons, whose reputation had been called
in question, or to the clergy, who had occasion to travel
into foreign countries. The second sort were granted to
all, who were in the peace and communion of the Church ;
whence they were also called Pacijicce, and Ecclesiasticce^
and sometimes Canonicce. The third sort were such as
w^re only given to the clergy, when they were to remove
from their own diocese, and settle in another; and they
were to testify, that they had their bishop's leave to depart;
whence they were eaWed Dimissorits, and sometimcsPac/^c<«
likewise. All these went under the general name of Formatce,
because they were written in a peculiar form, with some
particular marks and characters, which served as special
sio-natures to distinguish them from counterfeits. I shall
not stand now to give any further account of them here,
but only observe, that it was the bishop's sole prerogative
to grant them; and none might presume to do it, at least
without his authority and commission. The council of
7d THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK 11.
Antioeh* allows country bishops to write them, but ex-
pressly forbids presbyters the privilege. And whereas in
times of persecution, some confessors, who were of great
esteem in the Church, would take upon them to grant such
letters by their own authority, and in their own names ; the
councils of Arles^ and Eliberis,^ forbade them to do it ;
and ordered all persons, who had such letters, to take new
communicatory letters from the bishop. Baronlus* and the
common editors of the Councils, who follow him, mistake
these letters for the libels, which the confessors were used
to grant to the Lapsi, to have them admitted into the com-
munion of the Church again. But Albasplny* corrects this
mistake ; and rightly observes, that those councils speak
not of such libels as were given to the Lapsi, but of such
as were given to all Christians, who had occasion to travel
into foreign countries ; which it belonged to the bishops
to grant, and not to the confessors, whatever authority they
might otherwise have obtained by their honourable con-
fession of Christ in time of persecution. The council of
Ellberis*' takes notice of another abuse of this nature, and
corrects it ; which was, that some women of famous re-
nown in the Church, clergymen's wives, as Albasplny
thinks, or rather the wives of bishops, would presume both
to grant and receive such letters by their own authority;
all which the Council orders to be sunk, as being dangerous
to the discipline and communion of the Church, and an
encroachment upon the bishop's power, to whom alone it
belonged to grant them. For, by all ancient canons, this
privilege is reserved entirely to bishops, and this set their
authority very high in the Church ; for no one, either clergy
or laity, could communicate in any church beside his ow n,
without these testimonials from his bishop, as may be seen
in the councils of Carthage,' and Agde,^ and many others.
• Con. Antioch. can. 8. ' Con. Arelat. i. c. 9. De his, qui confesso-
rum literas offerunt, placuit, ut sublatis eis Uteris, alias accipiant commu-
nicatoiias. * Con. Elib: c. 25. * Baron, an. 142. Loaysa Not.
in Con. Elib. c. 25. ^ Albasp. Not. in Con. Elib. c. 25. ^ Con.
Elib. c. 81 . ^ Con. Carth. i, can. 7. Clericus vel Laicus non commu-
nicet in aliena plebe sine Uteris episcopi sui. ^ Agath. can. 52.
Epaun. c. 6. Laodic. c 41. Milevit. c. 20. Con. Antioch. c. 7.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 79
Sect. 6. — Of the Bishop's Power In disposing of the Revenues of the Church.
I have but one thing" more to observe concerning the
power of bishops over the Church ; and that is, their autho-
rity and concern in disposing of the revenues of the Church.
I intend not here to enter upon the discourse of ecclesias-
tical revenues, (which has its proper place in this work
hereafter) but only to suggest now, that it was part of the
bishop's office and care, to see them managed and disposed
of to the best advantage. The councils of Antioch,^ and
Gangra,^ have several canons to this purpose ; that all the
incomes and oblations of tha Church shall be dispensed at
the will and discretion of the bishop, to whom the people,
and the souls of men, are committed. Those called the
Apostolical ^ Canons and Constitutions,* speak of the same
power. And Cyprian^ notes, that all, who received main- )
tenance from the Church, had it, Episcopo dispensante, by I
the order and appointment of the bishop. He did not in-
deed always dispense with his own hands, but by proper
assistants, such as his archdeacon, and the Q^conomus,
which some canons" order to be one of the clergy of every
church ; but these officers were only stewards under him,
both of his appointing, as St. Jerom'' observes, and also
accountable to him, as the supreme governor of the Church.
Whence Poasidius takes notice of the practice of St. Austin ;
that though neither seal nor key was ever seen in his hand,
but some of his clergy were always his administrators, yet
he had his certain times to audit their accounts ; so that all
was still his act, though administered and dispensed by the
hands of others. And this was agreeable to the primitive
rule and practice of the Apostles, to whose care and cus-
tody the people's oblations, and things consecrated to God,
were committed; they chose deacons to be their assistants,
as bishops did afterwards, still retaining power in their own
hands to direct and regulate them in the disposal of the
public charity, as prime stewards of God's revenue, and
chief masters of His household.
* Con. Antioch, c. S^ et 2.5. ^ (-qj,, Gangr. c. 7 et 8. ^ Canon.
Apost. c. 31 et 38. * Constit. Apostol. lib. ii. c. 25. * Cypr.
Ep. xxxviiL al. 11. Just. Mart. Apol. 2. ^ q^,, chalced. c. 26.
' Iliuron. Ep. 2. ad Nepotian. Sciat episcopus, cui commissa ost Ecclcsia,
quem dispensationi panpcrum, curjcquo pr;rfii'ia(.
80 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
CHAP. V.
Of the Office of Bishops, in Relation to the whole Catholic
Church.
Sect. 1. — In what sense every Bishop supposed to be Bishop of the whole
Catholic Church.
We have hitherto considered the office and power of
bishops over the clerg-y and people of their own particular
Churches. But there is yet a more eminent branch of tlieir
pastoral office and care behind, which is, their superinten-
dency over the whole Catholic Church, in which every
bishop was supposed to have an equal share; not as to
what concerned external polity and government, but the
prime essential part of religion, the preservation of the
Christian faith. Whenever the faith was in danger of being-
subverted by heresy^ or destroyed by persecution, then
every bishop thought it part of his duty and office to put
to his helping hand, and labour as much for any other
diocese as his own. Dioceses were but limits of conveni-
ence, for the preservation of order in times of peace. But
the faith was a more universal thing, and when war was
made upon that, then the whole world was but one diocese,
and the whole Church but one flock; and every pastor
thougJit himself obliged to feed his great Master's sheep,
according to his power, whatever part of the world they
were scattered in. In this sense, every bishop was an uni-
versal pastor, and l>ishop of the whole world ; as having a
common care and concern for the whole Church of Christ.
This is what St. Austin* told Boniface, bishop of Rome,
" that the pastoral care was common to all those, who had
the office of bishop, and though lie was a little higher ad-
vanced toward the top of Christ's watch-tower, yet all others
' Aug. cent. Epist. Pelag. in praefat. ad Bonifac. Comniuiiis est nobis
omnibus, qui fungiinur Episcopatus ofTicio (quamvis ipse in co celsiorc
fastigio pra:niineas) Specula Pastoralis.
CHAP, v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 81
had an equal concern in it." St. Cyprian testifies* for the
practice of his own time, " that all bishops were so united
in one body, that if any of the body broached any heresy,
or began to lay waste and tear the flock of Christ, all the
rest immediately came in to its rescue; for though they
were many pastors, yet they had but one flock to feed ;
and every one was obliged to take care of all the sheep of
Christ, which he had purchased with his blood." In this
sense, Gregory Nazianzen^ says of Cyprian, " that he was
an universal bishop, that he presided not only over the
Church of Carthage and Afric, but over all the regions of
the west, and over the east, and south, and northern
parts of the world also." He says the same of Athanasius,^
" that, in being made bishop of Alexandria, he was made
bishop of the whole world," which agrees with St. Basil's
observation* concerning him, " That he had the care of all
Churches, as much as that, which was peculiarly committed
to him." Chrysostom^ in like manner styles Timothy,
" bishop of the universe," and in compliance with this
customary character, the author under the name of Clemens
Romanus,^ gives St. James bishop of Jerusalem, the title of,
*' Governor of all Churches," as w ell as that of Jerusalem.
Chrysostom' says, " St. Paul had the whole world com-
mitted to his care, and every city under the sun ; that he
was the teacher^ of the universe, and presided^ over all
Churches ;" w hich he repeats in many places of his writings.
• Cypr. Ep. 68. al. 67. ad Steph. p. 178. Idcirco copiosutn corpus est
Sacerdotum, concordise mutuje glutino atque unitatis vinculo copulatum, ut si
quis ex Collegionostro Hseresin facere, et gregem Christilacerareet vastare
tentaverit, subveniant cceteri. - - -Nam etsi pastores raulti sumus, unum tamen
gregem pascimus, et oves universas, quas Christus sanguine sue et passione
quBesi\it, colligere et fovere debemus. 2 (jj-eg. Naz. Orat. 18.
in Laud. Cjpr. * Naz. in Laud. Athan. Or. xxi. p. 377. rTig
6iK(ifisvT}g TTuarfs iTriraffiav mrsverai. * Basil, ep. 52. ad Athanas.
Chrys. Horn. 6. adv. Jud. t. i. p. 542. ri)v rye 6iKsixkvr)Q irporamav iyKe-
Xfipiff^fvof. ^ Pseudo-Clem. Ep. ad Jacob, ap. Coteler. Patr. Apost. t.
i. p. 611. Clemens Jacobo -regenti Hebrseorum sanctam Ecclesiam in
Hierosolymis ; sed et omnes Ecclesias, quae ubique Dei Providentia fimdatse
sunt. ' Chrys. Horn. 17. in illud, Salutate Priscillam. t. v.
p. 241. r>)v oiKHu'Evttv uTvaaav iyKExf^pK^fiivog, &c. ^ Id Horn, 6.
in Terraeraotum et Lazar. t. v. p. 107. r/^- viKufifv^g ciSmkuXoc.
* Id. Horn. 17. in PricUlara. p. 248.
VOL. I. K
fi
82 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK. II.
Nor was this prerog-ative so peculiar to the Apostles, but
that every bishop (in some measure) had a right and title to
the same character.
Sect, 2.— In what Respect the whole World but one Diocese, and but one
Blxhoprlc in the Church.
Hence c-ame that current notion, so frequently to be met
with in Cyprian, of but one bishopric in the Church ;
wherein every single bishop had his share in such a manner,
as to have an equal concern in the whole ; " Episcopatus
unus est, cujus a singulis in solidum pars tenetur,''^ * there
is but one bishopric in the Church, and every bishop has
an undivided portion in it. He does not say, it was a monar-
chy, in the hands of any single bishop, but a diffusive power,
that lay in the whole college of bishops,^ every one of which
had a title to feed the whole Church of God, and drive
away heresy out of any part of it. In this sense, the bishop
of Eugubium's power extended as far as the bishop of
Rome's ; the bishop of Rhegium was as much bishop of
the whole Church, as Constantinople, and Tanis equal to
Alexandria ; for in St. Jerome's^ language, they were all
Ejusdem Meriti, and ejusdem Sacerdotii, of the same merit,
and equal in their priesthood, which was but one. In
things, that did not appertain to the faith, they were not to
meddle with other men's dioceses, but only to mind the busi-
ness of their own ; but when the faith or welfare of the
Church lay at stake, and religion was manifestly invaded,
then, by this rule of there being but one episcopacy, every
other bishopric was as much their diocese as their own ; and
no human laws or canons, could tie up their hands from
performing such acts of their episcopal office in any part of
the world, as they thought necessary for the preservation of
religion.
' Cypr, de Unit. Eccl. p. 108. « Id. Ep. Hi. al. Iv. ad Anto-
nian. p. 112. Episcopatus unus Episcoporuin multorum concordi numerosi-
tate diffusus, &c. In the same epistle, he often mentions tiie Collegium
Sacerdotale. It. Epist. 59. et 68. ' Hieron. ep. 85. ad. Evagr.
CHAP, v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 83
Sect. 3. — Some particular Instances of Priyate Dichops acting as Bithopi of
the whole Universal Church.
For the better understanding the Church's practice in this
point, I shall illustrate it in two or three particular instances.
It was a rule in the primitive Church, that no bishop should
ordain in another's diocese, without his leave ; and thoug-h
this was a sort of confinement of the episcopal power to a
single diocese, yet for order's sake it was generally observed.
But then it might happen, that in some cases there might be
a necessity to do otherwise ; as in case the bishop of any
diocese was turned heretic, and would ordain none but
heretical clergy, and persecute and drive away the orthodox.
In that case, any catholic bishop, as being a bishop of the
universal Church, was authorized to ordain orthodox men in
such a diocese, though contrary to the common rule; be-
cause this was evidently for the preservation of the faith,
which is the supreme rule of all, and therefore that other
rule must give way to this superior obligation. Upon this
account, when the Church was in danger of being overrun
with Arianism, the great Athanasius, as he returned from
his exile, made no scruple to ordain in several cities* as he
w ent along, though they were not in his own diocese. And
the famous Eusebius, of Samosata, did the like in the times
of the Arian persecution under Valens. Theodoret' says,
*' He went about all Syria, Phanicia, and Palestine, in a
soldier's habit, ordaining presbyters and deacons, and set-
ting in order whatever he found wanting in the Churches." He
ordained bishops also in Syria and Cilicia, and other places,
whose names Theodoret^ has recorded. Now all this was
contrary to the common rules, but the necessity of the
Church required it ; and that gave them authority in such a
case to exert their power, and act as bishops of the whole
Catholic Church. Epiphanius made use of the same power
and privilege in a like case, ordaining Paulinianus, St. Jerom's
brother, first deacon, and then presbyter, in a monastery out
of his own diocese in Palestine ; against which, when some
• Socrat. lib. ii. c. 21. - Theod. lib. iv. c. 13. ^Th«od.
lib. V. c. i.
84 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK. II.
of his adversaries objected, that it was done contrary to
canon, he vindicated^ his practice upon the streng-th of this
principle ; that in cases of pressing necessity, such as this
was, where the interest of God was to be served, every
bishop had power to act in any part of the Church. For
though all bishops had their particular Churches to officiate
in, and were not ordinarily to exceed their own bounds,
yet the love of Christ was a rule above all ; and therefore
men were not barely to consider the thing", that was done,
but the circumstances of the action, the time, the manner,
the persons for whose sake, and the end for which it was done.
Thus Epiphanius apoligizes for the exercise of his episcopal
power, in the diocese of another man. Noav from all this
it appears, that every bishop was as much an universal
bishop, and had as much the care of the whole Church, as
the bishop of Rome himself ; there being no acts of the
episcopal office, which they could not perform in any part of
the world, when need required, without a dispensation, as
Avell as he. All that he enjoyed above others, was only the
rights of a metropolitan, or a patriarch, and those confined
by the canons to a certain district ; — of which more hereafter
in their proper place.
CHAP. VI.
Of the Independency of Bishops, especially in the Cypria-
nic Age,, and in the African Churches.
Sect. 1. — What meant by the Independency of Bishops one of another, and
their absolute Power in their own Church.
There is one thing more must be taken notice of, whilst
we are considering the proper office of bishops, which is
• Epiphan. Ep. ad Joan. Hierosol. Ob Dei timorem hoc sumus facere
compulsi : Maxime cum nulla sit diversitas in sacerdotio Dei, et ubi utilitati
Dei providetur. Nam etsi singuli Ecclesiarum Episcopi habent sub se Ec-
clesias, quibus curam videntur impendere, et nemo super alienam mensuram
extenditur ; tamen praeponitur omnibus charitas Christi, in qufi nulla simu-
latio est : nee considerandum quid factum sit, sed quo tempore, et quo modo,
etin quibus, et quare factum sit.
CHAP. VI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 85
the absolute power of every bishop in his own Church,
independent of all others. For the right understanding- the
just limits of this power, we are to distinguish between the
substantial and the ritual part of religion. For it was in
the latter chiefly that bishops had an absolute power in their
own Church, being at liberty to use what indifferent rites
they thought lit in their own Church, without being ac-
countable for their practice to any other. In matters of
faith indeed, when they corrupted the truth by heretical
doctrines, or introduced any rituals, that were destructive
of it, they were obnoxious to the censure of all other bishops;
and every individual of the w hole catholic college of bishops
(as has been noted in the last chapter) was authorized to
oppose them. But in such indifferent rites, as w ere lawful to
be used in the Church, every bishop was allowed to choose
for himself, and his own Church, such as he thought fit and
expedient in his own wisdom and discretion.
Sect. 2. — All Bishops had Liberty to form their own Liturgies.
Thus, for instance, though there was but one form of
worship throughout the whole Church, as to what concerned
the substance of Christian worship, yet every bishop was
at liberty to form his own liturgy, in what method and words
he thought proper, only keeping to the analogy of faith
and sound doctrine. Thus Gregory Nazianzen observes of
St. Basil, " That, among other good services which he did
for the Church of Caesarea, whilst he was but a presbyter
in it, one was^ the composing of forms of prayer, which, by
the consent and authority of his bishop, Eusebius, were used
by the Church." And this is thought, not improbably by
some,2 to be the first draught of that liturgy, which bears his
name to this day. The Church of Neo-Caesarea in Pontus,
where St. Basil was born, had a liturgy peculiar to tliem-
selves, which St. BasiF speaks of in one of his epistles.
Chrysostom's liturgy, which he composed for the Church of
Constanstinople, differed from these. The Ambrosian form
' Naz. Oral. xx. in Laud. Basil, p. 340. ivx^v ^lara^eig, k, tvKocTftia^ th
fit'iiiaToc. '^Billiu? Not. in Loc. Cavo Hist. Liter, vol. i. p. lOl.
3 Basil. Ep. 63. ad NcocEesar.
86 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK. II.
differed from the Roman, and the Roman from others. The
Africans liad pecuhar forms of their own, differing- from the
Roman, as appears from some passages cited by Victorinus
Afer and Fulgentius, out of the African liturg-ies, which Car-
dinal Bona* owns are not to be found in the Roman.
Sect. 3.— And express the same Creed in different Forms.
The like observation may be made upon the creeds used
in divers Churches. There was but one rule of faith, as
Tertullian^ calls it, and that fixed and unalterable, as to the
substance, throughout the whole Church, Yet there were
different ways of expressing it, as appears from the several
forms still extant, which differ something from one another.
Those in^ Irenaeus, in* Cyprian, and Tertullian,* are not
exactly in the same method nor form of words. The creed
of Eusebius" and his Church of Csesarea differed from that
of Jerusalem, upon which CyriP comments ; and that of
Cyril's from that in St. James's^ liturgy. And to omit abun-
dance more, that might be here mentioned, the creed of
Aquileia, recited by Ruffin,^ differs from the Roman creed,
which is that we commonly call the Apostle's creed. Now
the reason of all this difference could be no other but this,
that all bishops had power to frame the creeds of their own
Churches, and express them in such terms as suited best
their own convenience, and to meet with the heresies they
were most in danger from. As Ruffin, observes that the words,
invisible and impassible, were added to the first article in the
creed of Aquileia, in opposition to the Patripassian or Sabel-
lian heretics, who asserted " that the Father was visible and
passible in human flesh, as well as the Son." And it is
evident the bishops of other Churches used the same liberty,
as they saw occasion.
• Bona Rer. Liturgic. lib. i, c. 7. n. 3. * Tertul. de Veland. Virg.
c, 1, Ragula Fidei una omnino est, sola iinmobilis et irreformabilis, &c.
* Iren. lib. i. c. 2. * Cypr. Ep. Ixx. ad Episc. Nuniid. p. 190.
It. Ep. Ixxvi. al. Ixix. ad Magnum, p. 183, ed. Oxon, ^ Tertul. Ibid.
" Euseb. Ep, ad Caesariens. ap. Socrat. lib. i. e. 8. ' Cyril. Hierosol.
Catech. 4. ^ Liturg. Jacobi. Bibl. Patr. Gr. Lat. torn. ii. p. 7.
' Ruffin. in Symbol, Credo in Deura Patrem Omnipolcntcm, Invisibilfm et
Impassibilem.
CHAP. VI,] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 87
Sect. 4.— And appoint particular Days of Fasting in their own Churches.
It >vere easy to confirm this observation, by many other
instances of the hke nature ; but I shall only name one
more, which is, the power every bishop had to appoint par-
ticular days of fasting- in his own Church. This we learn
from St. Austin's answer to Casulanus about the Saturday-
fast. Casulanus was very much troubled and perplexed
about it, because he observed in Afric some Churches keep
it a fast, and others a festival ; nay, sometimes in the same
Church, men were divided in their practice, and one part
dined on that day, whilst another fasted. Now, to remove
Casulanus's scruple, St. Austin g-ives him' this answer:
" That the best way in this case, was to follow those who
were the rulers of every Church ; therefore, if he would
take his advice, he should never resist his bishop in this
matter, but do as he did, without doubt or scruple ;" which
plainly implies, that it was then in every bishop's power to
order, or not order, this fast in his own Church, as he saw
most convenient.
Sect. 5. —The Independency of Bishops most conspicuous in the African
Churches.
And indeed these privileges of bishops, and their abso-
lute and independent power in all such matters, were no
where more fully reserved to them, than in the African
Churches, from the time of Cyprian, who frequently makes
mention of this independent power, which extended not
only to mere rituals, but to several momentous points of
discipline ; — such as the case of re-baptizing" heretics, ad-
mitting adulterers to the communion of the Church again,
and the question about the validity of clinic baptism. In
these points, Cyprian's opinion and practice differed from
others of his fellow-bishops: but yet he assumed no power
of censuring those, that acted differently from what he did,
nor separated from their communion upon it ; but left every
one to give an account of his own practice to God, the
' Aug. Ep. Ixxxvi. ad Casulan. Mos eoruminihi scqucndus videtur, quibus
eorum populorum congrogatio rcgenda commissa est. Quapropter si con-
silio inco acquieseis: Episcopo tuo in hac re noli resistere, ct quod facit ipse,
sine uUo scrupulo vel disceptationc scctare.
88 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
Judge of all. For the case of re-baptizing- such as were
baptized by heretics, he was entirely for it, as is sufficiently
known to all : but he was not so zealous for it, as to exer-
cise any judicial power of deposing or excommunicating
those who practised otherwise, but declares, he left every
bishop to his liberty to act according to his judgment, and
answer for what he did to God alone. To this purpose he
expresses himself in his letter to Pope Stephen,' and that
to Jubaianus,^ but most fully in his speech delivered at the
opening of the great council of Carthage, which met to con-
sider this very question. " Let us every one now," says
he, " give our opinion of this matter,^ judging no man, nor
repelling any from our communion, that shall think other--
wise; for no one of us makes himself bishop of bishops, or
compels his colleagues, by tyrannical terror, to a necessity
of complying ; forasmuch as every bishop, according to the
liberty and power that is granted him, is free to act as he
sees fit, and can no more be judged by others, than he can
judg-e them. But let us all expect the judgment of our
Lord, Jesus Christ, who only hath power both to invest us
with the government of his Church, and to pass sentence
upon our actions." Thus far Cyprian, in full and open coun-
cil, declares for the independent power of every bishop,
tacitly reflecting upon the bishop of Rome, who pretended
to excommunicate those, who differed in opinion and practice
from him, which Cyprian condemns, as a tyrannical way of
proceeding.
For the next point, that is, the case of admitting adulterers
' Cypr. Ep. Ixxii. ad Steph. p. 197. Qua in re nee nos vim cuiquam faci-
mus, aut legem damus, cum hebeat in Ecclesise administratione voluntatis
suae arbitrium liberum unusquisque Praepositus, rationem actus sui Domino
redditurus. ^ j^p ixxiii. ad Jubaian. p. 210. ^ Cq^ Carth.
ap. Cypr. p. 229. Superest ut de hCic ipsS, re singuli quid sentiamus, profera-
mus; neminem judicantes, aut a jure comraunionis aliquem, si diversura sen-
serit, amoventes. Neque enim quisquam nostrum Episcopum se Episcopo-
rum constituit, aut tyrannico terrore ad obsequendi necessitateni collegas suos
adigit; quando habeat oninis Episcopus pro licentio libertatis et potestatis
suae, arbitrium proprium ; tamque judicari ab alio non possit, quam nee ipse
potest judicare. Sed expectemus universi judicium Domini nostri Jesu
Christi, qui unus et solus habet potestatem et praepoiiendi nos in Ecclesiae
SU5E gubernatione, et de actu nostro judicandi.
CHAP. VI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 89
to communion again, Cyprian says bis predecessors in
Afric were divided upon the question ; but they did not di-
vide communion upon it : for though some bishops admitted
adulterers to penance, and others refused to do it, yet they
did not censure each other's practice, but preserved peace
and concord among- themselves,* leaving" every one to an-
swer to God for his actions. I know, indeed, some learned
persons- interpret this liberty of the African bishops so as
to make it mean no more than a liberty to follow their own
judgment, till such times as the Church should determine
the matter in dispute, by making some public decree about
it. But I must own, I cannot but think Cyprian meant
something more, because he pleads for the same liberty,
even after the decrees of a plenary council, as we have
seen in his preface to the Council of Carthage.
As to the third question, about the validity of clinic bap-
tism, that is, whether persons who were only sprinkled with
water in their beds, in time of sickness, and not immersed
or washed all over the body in baptism, were to be looked
upon as complete Christians — Cyprian, for his own part, re-
solves it in the affirmative ; but yet, if any bishops were
otherwise persuaded, that it was not lawful baptism, and
upon that ground gave such persons a new immersion, he
professes ^ that he prescribes to none, but leaves every one
to act according to his own judgment and discretion. This
was that ancient liberty of the Cyprianic age, of which I have
discoursed a little more particularly in this place, because it
shows us what was then the uncontested power and privi-
vilege of every bishop in the African Church, which is not
so commonly understood in these latter ages.
' Cypr. Ep. lii. al. Iv. ad Antonian. p. 110. 2 Bishop Fell, Not. ia
Loc. citat. 3 Cypr. Ep. Ixxvi. al. Ixix. ad Magnnnti. p. 186. Qu& in
parte nemini verecundia et modestia nostra praejudicat, quo minus unusquisque,
quod putat, sentiat, et quod senserit, faciat. It. p. 188. Nemini prsescri-
bentes, quo minus statuat quod putat unusquisque Prippositus ; actus sui rntioo
nem Doinino redditurus.
VOL. I.
90 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
CHAP. VII.
Of the Power of Bishops in Hearing and Determining
Secular Causes.
Sect. 1.— Bishops commonly chosen Arbitrators of Men's Differences in the
Primitive Cliurch.
We have hitherto considered such offices of the episco-
pal function, as belonged to all bishops by the laws of
God, and the canons of the Church. Besides these there
was one office more, imposed upon them by custom and
the laws of the state ; which was the hearing- and deter-
mining secular causes, upon the continual applications
and addresses that people made to them. For such was
the singular character and repute of bishops, and such the
entire confidence men generally reposed in them for their
integrity and justice, that they were commonly appealed
to, as the best arbitrators of men s differences, and the most
impartial judg-es of the common disputes that happened
among- them. Sidonius Apollinaris* often refers to this
custom ; and Synesias calls it^ part of his own episcopal
office and function. St. Ambrose testifies for himself^ that
he was used to be appealed to upon such occasions ; and
St. Austin * says of him, " that he w as often so much em-
ployed in hearing- causes, that he had scarce time for other
business." And this was St. Austin's case also, who fre-
quently complains of the burthen^ that lay upon him in this
respect : for not only Christians, but men of all sects ap-
plied to him; insomuch that as Possidius" notes in his life,
he often spent all the morning-, and sometimes the whole
day, fasting- and hearing their causes; which though it was a
great fatigue to him, yet he was willing to bear it, because
it gave him frequent opportunities of instilling the princi-
ples of truth and virtue into the minds of the parties that ap-
plied themselves to him.
> Sidon. lib. iii. ep. 12. lib. vi. ep. 2 et 4. ^ Synes. ep. cv. p. 399^
3 Ambros. ep. 2t. ad Marccllum. * Aug. Confess, lib. vi. c. 3. ^ Aug.
ep. 1 10 ct 117. It. de Operc Mouach. c. 2d. ^ Possid. Vit. Aug. c. 19.
CHAP. VTI.] CIlUlSTiAN CHURCH. 91
•Sect. 2.— The Original of tliis Custom. Wliat meant by the Word I'^sSrani-
/.iti'oi in St. Paul, 1 Cor. vi. 4.
And it is to be obsonctl, tliat'though there be no expre.ss
text in the New Testament, that commands bishops to be
judges in secular causes; yet St. Austin was of opinion,
that St. Paul, in prohibiting men to go to law before, the
unbelievers, did virtually lay this obligation upon them :
for he says, once and again,' that it was the Apostle that
instituted ecclesiastical judges, and laid the burthen of
secular causes upon them. By which he means, that the.
Apostle gave a general direction to Christians to choose
arbitrators among themselves. And that custom determined
this office particularly to the bishops, as the best qualified
by their wisdom and probity to discharge it. And this is
very agreeable to St. Paul's meaning, 1 Cor. vi. 4. as some
very learned and judicious critic's^ understand him ; for
thouo-h all the common translations render the words,
e^sOeviifiivs^ Iv ry eKKXrjmq, persons that are least esteemed
in the Church ; yet Dr. Lightfoot observes, " that they may
as well signify persons of the greatest esteem," for the
original word, E^sOevrj/iEvot, signifies only private judges, or
arbitrators of men's own choosing ; such as were in use
among the Jews, who called them 'i^ioiTai, and non-authentici,
not because they were of the meanest and most contempti-
ble of the people, but because they were the lowest rank of
judges, and not settled as a standing court by the Sanhe-
drim, but chosen by the litigants themselves to arbitrate
their causes. Such private judges the Apostle directs the
Christians to choose in the Church, and refer their contro-
versies to them ; which is not any injunction to choose
jiidges out of the poorest and meanest and most ignorant
of the people, but rather the contrary, persons that were
Well qualified by their wisdom and authority to take upon
them to be judges, and end controversies among their
' Aug. .Ser. xxiv. in Psal. 118. Constituit talibus causis ecclesiasticos
Apostolus cognitores, in foro prohibens jurgare Christianos. Id. de Oper.
Monach. c. 29. Quibus nos molcstiis affixit Apostolus, &c. ^ Light-
foot, and Lud. de Dieu in 1 Cor. vi. 4-.
92 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [boOK II.
brethren. Now because none were thought better quaUfied
in these respects than bishops, the office of judging upon
that account was commonly imposed upon them, and they
in decency and charity could not well refuse it. This seems
to be the true orig-inal of this part of the episcopal office
and function.
Sect. 3. — This Power of Bishops confirmed by the Imperial Laws.
But what was thus beg"un by custom, while the civil g-o-
vernors were heathens, was afterwards confirmed and es-
tablished by law, when the emperors became Christians.
Eusebius* says, " Constantine made a law to confirm all such
decisions of bishops in their consistories, and that no secular
judges should have any power to reverse or disannul them;
forasmuch as the priests of God were to be preferred before
any other judge." And Sozomen^ adds, " that he gave leave
to all litigants to refer their causes to the determination of
bishops, whose sentence should stand good, and be as au-
thentic as if it had been the decision of the emperor him-
self; and that the governors of every province and their
officers should be obliged to. put their decrees in execution,"
There is a law now added at the end of the Theodosian
Code, which some take for this very law of Constantine,
mentioned by these authors. Selden himself reckons^ it a
genuine piece ; but I think Gothofred's arguments are
stronger to prove it spurious. For it grants bishops such
a power, as neither Eusebius nor Sozomen mention, and all
other laws contradict : — viz. that if either of the contendino-
parties, the possessor* or the plaintiff", was minded to bring-
the cause before a bishop, either when it was before a secular
court, or when it was determined, he might do it, though
the other party was against it. Whereas all laws and
' Euseb. de Vit. Constant, lib. iv. c. 27. « Sozom. lib, i. c, 9,
* Selden Uxor, Hebr. lib, iii. c. 28. p. 664. * Extravag. de Elect.
Judicii Episcop. ad Calcem Cod. Theod. torn. iv. p. 303. Quicunque litem
habens, sive possessor, sive petitor erit, inter initia litis, vel decnrsis tem-
porum curriculis, sive cum negotium peroratur, sive cum jam coeperit prom!
sententia, judicium eligit sacrosanctae legis Antistitis, illico sine aliqui du-
bitatione, etiamsi alia pars rcfragatur, ad Episcopum cum seimone litigan-
tium dirigatur. Vid. Gothofied, Comment, in Loc.
CHAP. VII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 93
history arc against this practice; for no cause was to he
broug-ht before a bishop, except both parties agreed by way
of compromise to take him for their arbitrator. In thi.s
case the bishop's sentence was vahd, and to be executed by
the secular power, but not otherwise. So that either this
was not the g-enuine law of Constantine, to which Eusebius
and Sozomen refer, or else it was revoked and contradicted
by all others. Gothofred produces a great many contrary
laws ; I shall content myself with a single instance.
Sect. 4. — Yet not allowed in Criminal Causes ; nor in any Causes, but when
the Litigants both agreed to take them for Arbitrators.
In the Justinian Code' we have two laws of the emperors
Arcadius and Honorius, about the same matter, which may
serve to explain the law of Constantine ; for there any
bishops are allowed to judge, and their judgment is or-
dered to be final, so as no appeal should be made from it;
and the officers of the secular judges are appointed to exe-
cute the bishop's sentence. But then there are these two
limitations expressly put ; 1st, that they shall only have
power to judge, when both parties agTee by consent to refer
their causes to their arbitration. And, 2dly, where the
causes are purely civil, and not criminal causes, where
perhaps life and death might be concerned ; for in such
causes the clergy were prohibited by the Canons^ of the
Church, as well as the laws of the state, from being con-
cerned as judg*es : therefore bishops never suffered any cri-
minal causes to come before them, except such as were to
be punished with ecclesiastical censures.
Sect. 5. — Bishops sometimes made their Presbyters, and sometimes Laymen,
their Substitutes in this Affair,
But they had commonly civil causes more than enough
' Cod. Justin, lib. i. Tit. 4. Log. 7. Si qui ex consensu apud sacrae legis
Antistitem litigare voluerint, non vetabuntur. Sed experientur illius in civili
duntaxat negotio, more arbitri sponte residentis judicium. Ibid. Leg. 8.
Episcopale judicium ratum sit omnibus, qui se audiri a saccrdotibus elege-
rint ; eamque eorum judical ioni adhibendam esse reverentiam jubemus,
quam vestris deferri necesse est potestatibus, a quibus non licet provocare,
*c. *^ Concil. Tarracon. can. 1. llabeant licentiam judicandi, es-
ceptis criminalibus negotiis.
94 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
flowing" in upon them; so thnt they were forced sometimes'
to let part of this care devolve upon some other person,
whose integrity and prudence they could confide in. This
was commonly one of their clergy, a presbyter or a princi-
pal deacon. St. Austin, when he found the burthen of this
affair begin to press too hard upon him, substituted Eradius,
his presbyter,* in his room. And the council of Taragone
speaks not only of presbyters but^ deacons also, who were
deputed to hear secular causes. And Socrates says, ^ " Syl-
vanus, bishop of Troas, took the power wholly out of the
hands of his clergy, because he had found some of them
faulty in making- an unlawful g-ain of the causes that were
brought before them; for which reason he never deputed
any one of them to be judg-e, but made some laymen his
delegate, whom he knew to be a man of integrity, and strict
lover of justice." I leave the learned to inquire, whether
lay chancellors in the Church had nOt their first rise and
original from some such occasion as this, whilst bishops
deputed laymen to hear secular causes in their name, still
reserving the proper spiritual and ecclesiastical power en-
tirely to themselves. :.
ci^AP. yiii.
■ Of the Privilege of Bishops to intercede for Criminals.
Sect. 1.— Of the great Power and Interest of Bishops in Interceding to the
Secular Magistrates. ') <"! -'^ i;J!l>.inU(i -ks
I have observed in the foregoing chapter, that bishops
were never allowed to be judges in capital or criminal
causes, because they w ere not to be concerned in blood.
They were to be so far from having any thing to do in the
death of any man, that custom made it almost a piece of their
office and duty to save men from death, by interceding to
the secular mag-istrates for criminals that were condemned
' Aug. Ep. 110. ^ Con. Tarracon. c. 4. Nullus episcoporum,
presbyteiorum, vel clericorum, Die Dominico propositus cujuscunque cau-
sae negotium audcat judicare. ^ Socrat. lib. vii, c. 37.
3
CHAP. Vlll.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 05
to die. St. Ambrose often made use of this privilege, as
the author of his hfe, observes frequently addressing- him-
self to Macedonius* and Stilico,^ and other great ministers
of the age, in behalf of poor delinquents, to obtain pardon
for them. St. Austin did the same for the Circumcellions,
when they were convicted and condemned for murdering
some of the catholic clergy; he wrote two pathetic letters"
to the African magistrates, Marcellinus Comes and Aprin-
gius, desiring that their lives might be spared, and that they
might only be punished with close custody and confinement,
where they might be set to work, and have time allowed them
for repentance. The council* of Sardica seems to speak of
it as the duty of all bishops to intercede for such as im-
plored the mercy of the Church when they were condemned
to be transported or banished, or any the like punishment.
And the custom was become so general, that it began to
be considered as a condition in the election of a bishop,
whether he were qualified to discharge this part of his
office as well as others. Sidonius Apollinaris* instances in
such a case, where it was made an objection by the peo-
ple against the election of a ceytain bishop, that being a
man of a monkish and retired life, he was fitter to be an
abbot than a bishop : " he might intercede," they said, " indeed
with the Heavenly Judge for their souls, but he was not
qualified to intercede with the earthly judges for their
bodies." He was not a man of address, which they then
thought necessary to discharge this part of the office of a
bishop. They mig'ht perhaps judge wrong, as those in St.
Jeroni*' did, who pretended that clerg-yraen ought to give
splendid entertainments to the secular judges, that they
might gain an interest in them; whom St. Jerom justly re-
proves, telling- them, that any judge would pay a greater
reverence to a pious and sober clergyman, than to a wealthy
' Paulin. vit. Ambros. p. 8. ^n^jd p jg s Aug. Ep. 159 et
100. * Con. Sardic can. 7. * Sidon. lib. vii. ep. 9. p. 443. Hie
qui nominatur, inquiunt, non Episcopl, sed potius Abbatis coiuplet oRicium :
et intercedere nia^is pro animabus apud Ccnlestem, quam j)ro corporibus
apud trrrcnum Judiceni potest. « Ilieron. Ep. 2. ad Nopotian. p. l.i.
Quod si obtenderis te I'acore hac, ut lo^'es pro miseris atquc subjeclis ; judt-v
saeculi plus deferet clerico conlincnli, quiim diviti, et magis sanctiiatciii
Uiam venerabitur, quuni opes.
96 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
one, and would respect him more for his holiness than his
riches. However this shews what was then the commom
custom, and how great an interest bishops generally had
in the secular magistrate, who seldom rejected any peti-
tions of this nature. Socrates notes, that even some of the
Novatian bishops enjoyed this privilege, as Paulus^ of Con-
stantinople, and Leontius* of Rome, at whose intercession
Theodosius the Emperor pardoned Symmachus, who had
been guilty of treason, in making a panegyric upon
Maximus the tyrant, but was, after his death, fled for sanc-
tuary to a Christian Church.
Sect. 2. — The Reasons why Bishops interceded for some Criminals and not
others.
We may here observe that crimes in themselves of a
very heinous nature, such as treason and murder, were
sometimes pardoned at their request ; but we are not to
imagine that bishops at any time turned patrons for crimi-
nals, to the obstruction of public justice, (which would
have been to have cut the sinews of government) but only
in such cases, where pardon would manifestly be for the
benefit and honour both of the Church and Commonwealth ;
or else where the crimes themselves had some such alleviat-
ing circumstances, as might incline a compassionate judge to
gTant a pardon. As when St. Ambrose interceded with
Stilico for the pardon of some poor deluded wretches,
whom Stilico's own servant, by forgery, had drawn into an
error ; their ignorance might reasonably be pleaded in their
behalf. And when St. Austin petitioned for favour to be
showed to the Circumcellions, it was, he thought, for the
honour of the Church, to free her from the suspicion and
charg-e of revenge and cruelty, which the Donatists were so
ready to cast upon her; and therefore he desired Apringius,^
the proconsul, to spare them for the sake of Christ and his
Church, as well as to give them time to see their error and
repent of it.
' Socrat. lib. vii. c. 17. '^ Id. lib. v. cap. 14. * Aug. Ep. 160.
Illi impio ferro fnderuiit sanguinem C'hrisliannni : Tu ab conini sanguine
etiam juridicuni gladium cohibe pioplor L'hiihtuni. - ■ Tu ininiicis Eccle-
siifi viveiUibiis relaxa spatium poeuittndi.
CHAP. IX. J CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 97
Sect. S.— Thoy never interceded in Civil Matters and Pecuniary Causes.
It must further be noted from St. Ambrose, that bishops,
thoug-h they themselves were sometimes chosen judges in
civil causes, yet never interceded for any man in such causes
to tlic secular judges. And he gives a very good reason'
for it ; because, in pecuniary causes, where two parties are
concerned, a bishop could not intercede for one party, but
the other would be injured, and have reason to think he
lost liis cause by the interest and favour of the intercessor
inclining to the adverse party ; for which reason, there are
no examples of their interceding in such cases.
CHAP. IX.
Of some particular Honours and Instances of Respect
showed to Bishops by all Persons in 'general.
Sect. 1. — Of the ancient Custom of bowing the Head, to receive the Benedic-
tion of Bishops.
There are several other privileges ])elonging to bishops,
in common with the rest of the ch^rgy ; such as their ex-
emption from burdensome offices, and some sort of taxes, and
the cognizance of the secular courts in some cases; of which
I shall say nothing particularly here, because they will bo
considered when we treat of the privileges of the clergy in
o-eneral. But there are two or three customs, which arij-ued
a particular respect paid to bishops, and therefore I must
not here wholly pass them over. One of these was the an-
cient ctistom of bowing the head before them, to receive
their blessing, — a custom so universally prevailing, that the
emperors tliemselves did not refuse to comply with it ; as
may appear from that discourse of Hilary^ to Constantius,
where he tells him, "he entertained the bishops with a kiss,
with which Christ was betrayed ; and bowed his head to
' Anibros. de OfTic. lib. iii. c. 9. In causis pecuniariis intorvenire non est
Sacerdo.tis, &c. -Hilar, adv. Constant, p. f)5. Osculo Sactrdotes
excipis, (pio ct Christus ubt pioditus : caput benedictioni bianmittis, iit fidem
calces.
VOL. I. M
98 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
receive their benediction, whilst he trampled on their faith."
This plainly refers to the custom we are speaking- of. And
by it we may understand the meaning- of Theodoret, when
he says/ " The emperor Valentinian g-ave orders to the
bishops, who were met, to make choice of a bishop of Milan,
' That they should place such an one on the bishop's throne,
of that emincncy for life and doctrine, that the emperors
themselves mioht not be ashamed to bow their heads to
him.' " The same custom is more plainly hinted at by St.
Chrysostom, in one of his homilies ^ to the people of An-
tioch ; where, speaking- -of Flavian, their bishop, who was
gone to the emperor to procure a pardon for them, he says,
" Flavian was a prince, and a more honourable prince than
the other; forasmuch as the sacred laws made the emperor
submit his head to the hands of the bishop." Ho speaks of
no other submission, but only this, in receiving- the bishop's
benediction ; for, in other respects, the priests in those days
were always subject to the emperors. He that would see
more proofs of this custom, may consult Valesius,^ who has
collected a great many passages out of other authors re-
lating to it. I shall only add here that rescript of Honorius
and Valentinian, which says, " Bishops were the persons to
whom all the world bowed the head ; — Quibus omnis terra
caput inclinaty
Sect. 2. — Of kissing their Hand.
Such another customary respect was paid to them, by
kissing their hand, which seems to have accompanied the
former ceremony; for St. Ambrose * joins them both to-
gether, saying, " That kings and princes did not disdain
to bend and bow their necks to the knees of the priests,
and kiss their hands, thinking themselves protected by
their prayers." Paulinus says,* " The people paid this re-
spect commonly to St. Ambrose." And Chrysostom,
' Theod. lib. iv. C. 6. "Ottw^ avri^ rag rifitrtpag {nroKXivtofiev Kt^aXdf.
2 Chrys. Horn. 3. ad Pop. Antioch. torn. i. p. 48. * Vales. Not. in
Theod. lib. iv. c. 6. ♦ Ambros. de Dignit. Sacerd. c. 2. Quippe cum videa,3
Regimi colla et Principuin subinitti gentibus Sacerdotura, et exosculatis eorum
dexteris, orationibus eorum credant sc communiri. * Paulin. Vit.
Ambros. p. 2 et 3.
CHAP. IX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 99
speaking- of Meletuis, hishop of Antioch, says,^ " At his
first coming" to the city, the whole muhitude went out to
meet him, and as many as could come near him, laid hold
of his feet, and kissed his hands." They that please to see
more of this custom, may consult Sidonius^ ApoUinaris,
and Savaro's learned notes^ upon him, who cites Ennodius,
and several other authors to the same purpose.
Sect. 3. — The Custom of singing Hosannas to them sometimes used, but
not approved.
St. Jerom mentions another custom, which he condemns
as* doinfftoo areat an honour to mere mortal men, which
was the people's sing-ing* hosannas to their bishops, as the
multitude did to our Saviour at his entrance into Jerusalem.
Valesius* cites a passage out of Antoninus's Itinerary to the
same purpose ; where the form of words is, " Blessed be
ye of the Lord, and blessed be your coming ! — Hosanna in
the highest !" Some also understand Hegesippus ^ in the
same sense, where, speaking of the preaching of James,
bishop of Jerusalem, he says, " The people that were con-
verted by his discourse, cried out, ' Hosanna to the son of
David.' " Scaliger understands that as spoken to James
himself; but others' take it for a doxology, or acclamation
to Christ, whom they glorified upon the testimony that
James had given him : and this seems to be the truer
sense of that place. However, in the the other acceptation,
there is nothing contrary to custom in it, as appears from
what has been said. I do not insist upon what St. Jerom,
in another place, says® further of this bishop of Jerusalem;
*' That he was a man of such celebrated fame among the
' Chrys. Horn. 45. in Melet. torn. i. p. 593. * Sidon. lib. viii. ep. 11.
Sancti Gallicini manu oscxilata. Id. lib. vii. ep. 11. * Savaro Not.
in Sidon. lib. viii. ep. 11. p. 53-2. * Hieron, in Mat. xxi. torn. 9. p. 62.
Videant ergo Episcopi, et quantumlibet sancti homines, cum quanto periculo
dici ista sibi patiantur, &c. * Vales. Not. in Euseb. lib. ii. c. 23.
* Hegesip. ap. Euseb. lib. ii. c. 23. noWoTv ^o^a^oiTwv tTrt n) naprvpKf rS
laKw'jSa, 1^ \iy6vru)v^ tiiaavva t(i> vt(p AojGi^. ' Grabe Spicileg. Stec. ii.
p. 207, translates it tlius : Multi hoc Jacobi testinionio confirmati glorifica-
bant (Jesum) dicentes, Hosanna Filio David. * Hieron. Com. in Gal. 1.
Jacobus Episcopus Hierosolymorum primus fuit, cognomento Justus; vir
tantfc sanctitatis et rumoris in populo, ut fnnbriam vestimenti ejus certatim
cuperent attingere.
J 00 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
people for his great, sanctity, that they amlntiously strove
to touch the hem of his tj-arment." For this lionour was not
paid him as a bishop, but as a most holy man, who was,
indeed, according to the character given him by Hegesippus
andEpiphanius, a man of singular aVjstinence and piety, and
one of the miracles of the age he lived in. So that this was
a singular honour done to him, for his singular holiness
and virtue.
Sect. 4. — What meant by the Corona Sacerdotalis, and the Form of
saluting Bishops Per Coronam.
But to proceed with the common honours paid to
bishops. Another instance of respect may be observed in
the usual forms of addressing them ; for when men spake
to them, they commonly prefaced their discourse with some
title of honour, such as that of Precor Coronam, and Per
Coronam vestram, which we may English, your honour
and diynity ; literally, your crown. Tiiis form often occurs
in Sidonius ApoUinaris, Ennodius, St. Jerom,^ and others,
St. Austin says, " Both the Catholics^ and Donatists used
it, when they spake to the bishops of either purty ; giving-
them very respectful titles, and intreating-, or rather adjur-
ing- them, Per Coronam, that they would hear and deter-
mine their secular causes."
Sect. 5. — Whether Bishops anciently wore a Mitre, or any the like Or-
nai^icnt.
The use of this form of speech then is plain ; but the
reason of it is not so evident. Savaro,^ and some others,
fancy it respected the ancient figure of the clerical tonsure ;
by which the hair was cut into a round, from the crown of
the head downwards. Others think it came from the orna-
ment which bishops wore upon their heads, and that they
will needs have to be a crown or mitre ; whereas, it does
' Sidon. lib. vi. cp. 3. Auctoritas corona; tua% &c. Id. lib. vii. cp. 8. ad
l^uphron. De minimis rebus roronam tuam maximisqnc consulorem. Ennod.
Lib. iv. ep. 29. ad Symmac. Lib. v. ep. 17. adMarccUiniim. Lib.ix. ep. 27. ad
Aurelian. Hieron. Ep. 2G. ad August, inter Ep. Aug. Precor coronam tuam.
2 Aug. Ep. 14.7. ad Proculcian. Episc.parlisDonati. Ilonorant nos vcstri,
honorant vos nostri. Per coronam nost ram nos adjurant vestri; per coronam
vestram vos adjurant nostri. ^ Savaro Not. in bidon, lib. vi. ep. 3.
Enron, an. Iviii. n. 134.
CHAP. IX'.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 101
not appear that bishops had any such ornainont in thoscJ
days. I know, indeed, both Valesius* and Petavius^ are
very confident, that all bishops, from the very first, had an
appendant badge of honour in their foreheads, which they
say Avas the same with the petalmn, or (jolden plate, which
the Jewish high-priests wore. And it cannot be denied, but
that as ancient an author as Polycrates,^ mentioned both by
Eusebius and St. Jerom, says, " That St. John was a priesf ,
wearing- a pet alum.'''' And Epiphanius* says the same of
James, bishop of Junisalcm. But this was not spoken of
them as Christian bishops, ])ut on presumption of their hav-
ing- been Jewish priests, and of the family of Aaron. Vale--
sius himself cites a MS. passion of St. Mark, which sets
the same ornament on his head, and gives this very reason
for it, " It is reported,"' says he, " that St. Mark, according-
to the rites of the carnal sacrifice, ^Vore the chief-priest's
pe/a/ttm among the Jews; which gives us plainly to under-
stand,"* says that author, " that he was one of the tribe of
Levi, and of the family of Aaron." So he did not take this
for the ornament of a Christian bishop, but a Jewish priest ;
and that opens the way for us to understand what the other
authors meant by it ; however Valesius chanced nat to ob-
serve it. Now if it cannot be proved that bishops anciently
wore any such ornament as this, it will much less follow
that they wore a royal crown, or mitre, as Spondanu.s'''
as.serts they did, and thence dcnluces the custom of address-
ing them Per Coronam ; therein deserting- his g-reat master,
Baronius, who assig-ns another reason for it. x\ft.er all, it
seems most probable, that it was no more than a metaphori-
cal expression, used to denote the honour and dignity of
the episcopal order ; though I do not deny that tlie clerical
tonsure wa.s sometimes called cormia ; but tiiat was not pe-
culiar to bishops, but common to all the clergy.
' Vales. Not. in Euseb. lib. v. c. 24.. * Petav. Not. in Enijih. Hipr.
Ixxviii. n. \i. * Polycrat. ap. Euseb. lib. v. c. 24. * Epijihan.
liter. x\ix. n. 2. It. Ixxviii. n. It. * Aiiclor MS. Passion.
S. IV'Iai-c. ap. Vales, ibid. B. Marcnm, juxta ritum carnalis sacrilicii, jjoiitifi-
calis apicis Petalmn in populo gestfisso JuJiuoriim, iUiislriuni vironnn syn-
irraphia declarant: ex quo manifesto datur intelli.ni, de stirpe cum Tieviticfi,
imnio Pontificis Aaron sacrje successiouis orjifinem habuissc. ** Spoiidan,
Epitoin. Baron, an.lviii. n. Ot.
102 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
Sect. 6. — Of the Titles 'Ayitirarot, Sanctis.fimi, ^c.
It will not be improper to add, while we are upon this
point, that it was usual in men's addresses to bishops, or in
speaking- of them, to mention their names with some addi-
tional titles of respect, such as, Q^o(j>i\iTaToi and 'A7<wraTot,
most dear to God, and most holy fathers ,• which titles occur
frequently in^the emperor's rescripts in the civil ^ law, and
were of such common use in those times, that Socrates
(when he comes to the sixth book of his history, which
treats of his own times) thinks himself obliged to make some
apolog-y^ for not giving the bishops that were then living-
these titles ; which I the rather note, because of the vanity
of some, who reckon the title, most holy father, the pope's
sole prerogative; and to correct the malice of others, who
will not allow a Protestant bishop to receive that title, with-
out the suspicion and imputation of popery. As if St. Austin
and St. Jerom had been to blame, because the one wrote,
and the other received epistles always thus inscribed ; Domi-
no vere Sancto, et Beatissimo Papoe Augustino. See St.
Austins Epist. 11, 13, 14, 17, 18, 21. were St. Jerom and
others give him those honourable titles.
Sect. 7. — Bishops distinguished by their Throne in the Church.
There is one thing more that must not be omitted,
because it was the common honour and privilege of all
bishops, to be distinguished in the Church, by a chair or
seat, which was commonly called their throne. Thus^
Eusebius calls the bishop of Jerusalem's seat, " ^povov
k-jTo^oXiKov, the apostolical throne^'' because St. James,
bishop of Jerusalem, ftrst sat in it. And for the same
reason, Gregory Nazianzen * calls the bishop of Alexandria's
seat, " the throne of St. Mark." It was otherwise called /3»/jua,
and ^povoq v\pi]X6g, the high throne ; because it was exalted
something higher tlian the seats of the presbyters, which
were on each side of it, and were called the second thrones,
as we shall see hereafter, when we come to speak of pres-
' Justin. Novel. 6, 40, 42, 67, 86, &c. Concil. Chalccd. Act. 10.
2 Socrat. Prooem. ad lib. vi. ^ Euseb. lib, \ii. c. 19, et 32.
♦ Naz. Orat, 81. in Laud. Athanas. torn. i. p. 377
CHAP. X.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 103
byters. All that I shall observe further here, concerning
this throne of the bishops, is, thoug-h it be some times called
the hig-h and lofty throne, especially by those writers^ who
speak in a rhetorical strain. Yet that is only meant compa-
ratively, in respect of the lower seats of presbyters ; for
otherwise, it was a fault in any bishop, to build himself
a pompous and splendid throne, in imitation of the state
and grandeur of the secular magistrates. This was one of
the crimes which the council of Antioch,^ in their synodical
epistle against Paulus Samosatensis, laid to his charge,
that he built himself an high and stately tribunal, not as a
disciple of Christ, but as one of the rulers of the w orld ;
making a secrMiim to it, in imitation of the secular magis-
trates, whose tribunals had a place railed out from the rest,
and separated by a veil, which they called, the secretuniy
and the ambitious bishop gave his the same name; by
which, and some other such like practices, he raised the
envy and hatred of the heathens against the Christians, as
they there complain of him. It was then the great care of
the Christian Church, to observe a decorum in the honours
which she bestowed upon her bishops, that they might be
such as might set them above contempt, but to keep them
below envy ; make them venerable, but not minister to vanity
or the outward pomp and ostentation of secular greatness.
CHAP. X.
Of the Age, and some particular Qualifications required in
such as were to he Ordained Bishops.
Sect. I.— Bishops not to be ordained under Thirty Years of Age, except
they were Men of extraordinary Worth.
Those qualfiications of bishops, which were common to
them with the rest of the clergy, shall be spoken of hereafter ;
here I shall only take notice of a few that were more pecu-
« Naz. Somnium de Eccl. Anastas sublimi throno insidere mihi videbar-
Id. Orat. 2«. in laud. Basil, p. 342. inl tov vt]^\bv rije imcKoir^^ S'povov. &c;
^Ap.Euseb. lib. vii. C.30.
104 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK 11.
liar to them. Such as, first, tlioir ago ; which by tho canons
was required to bo at least thirty years. Tho council of
Neocaesarea > requires thirty in presbyters ; which is a cer-
tain arg-ument that the same ag-e was requisite in a bishop.
The council of Agde^ more expressly limits their age to
that time ; requiring all metropolitans to insist upon it in
their ordination. Tho reasons given by these councils are;
because our Saviour himself did not begin to teach before
he was thirty years old, and because that is the perfect age
of man; therefore though a man was otherwise never so
well qualified the council of Neocaesarea says, " he shall
wait, and not be ordain'ed so much as presbyter before that
time." But wliofher this rule was always observed from
the days of tho Apostles, may be questioned ; for there is
no such rule given by tho Apostles in Scripture. That which
g-oes under their name in the Constitutions^ requires a bishop
to be fifty years old before he is ordained ; except he be
a man of singular merit and worth, which may compensate
for tho want of y<-^''^is. This shews that the custom of the
Chinch varied in this matter, and that persons of extraordi-
nary qualification wore not always tied to be of such an ago.
Timothy was ordained yoimg", as may be collected from what
the Apostle says to him, 1 Tim. iv. 12. " Lot no man despiso
thy youth." The history of the Church affords many other
such instances. Eusebius* says, " (jregory Thaumaturg-us
and his brother Athenodorus wore both ordained bishops very
young- ; in vistj dficfx^o. St. x\mbroso'^ says the same of x\cho-
lius, bishop of Thessalonica; "That ho was young in years,
but of mature age in respect of liis virtues." And Socra-
tes'' gives the like account of Paulas, bishop of Constansti-
nople. Theodorot''^ observes also of Athanasius, " that he
was but young when he attended his bishop Alexander at
' Con. Ncocycs. Can. 11. '^ Concil. Agatlicn. c, 17. Presbjteriiiii
vol K|)iscoiniin ante tiiginta annos, id est, antequaiu ud \iri perfect! jptateni
poiveniat, nnllus Metropolitanorum ordinaro prffisumat. See also Con. Tolet.
iv. c. 18. et 15). " Coiistit. Apost. lib. ii. c. 1. ■» Euseb.
lib. vi. c. 30. * Ainbr. Ep. GO. ad Anysiuni. Bencdictus processus
.iuventutis ipsiiis, in qiiii ad suiniuuni electus est Saceidoliuiii, niaturo j;ini pro-
batus virtuluni stijiendio. * Social, lib. ii. c. C. "Ai'Cjja tnoi.'
ytiti' Ti)i' iiXiKiav, 7rpoj3£j8»jKora Ct tuIq tltptcii' ' Tiieod. lib. i. c. 20.
Vfor ^tv oh' Tijv I'lXiKiai'
CHAP. X.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 105
the council of Nice ;" and yet within five months after, he
was chosen his successor at Alexandria ; which probably
was before he was thirty years old : for the council of Nice
was not above twenty years after the persecution under
Maximian ; and yet Athanasius was so young-, as not to
remember the beginning- of that persecution, Anno, 303, but
only as he heard it from his fathers. For when he speaks
of it, he says,^ " He learned of his parents, that the persecu-
tion was raised by Maximian, g-rand-father to Constantius."
So that if we compute from that time, we can hardly sup-
pose him to be thirty years old, w hen he w as ordained bishop.
Anno, 326. It is agreed by alUauthors^ that Remigius,
bishop of Rhemes, was but twenty-tw o years old when he
was ordained, Anno, 471. And Cotelerius^ after Nicepho-
rus, says, " St. Eleutherius, an Illyrican bishop, was conse-
crated at twenty." Ignatius gives a plain intimation, (hat
Damas, bishop of the Magnesians, was but a very young
bishop, though he does not expressly mention his age.
He calls his* ordination, vtivrepiicrivTa^iv, a youlhfid ordina-
tion ; and therefore cautions the people not to despise him
for his age, but to reverence and give place to him in the
Lord. Salmasius* and Ludovicus Capellus miserably pervert
this passage, and force a sense upon it, which the author
never so much as dreamt of. They will needs have it, that by
the words vfwrtptKrjv ra^iv, Ignatius means the novelty of
episcopacy in general, that it was but a new and late
institution ; which is not only contrary to the whole tenour
and design of all Ignatius's epistles, but to the plain sense
of this passage in particular ^ which speaks nothing of the
institution of episcopacy, but of the age of this bishop,
who was but young when he was ordained.
Now, from all this it appears, that though there was a
rule in the Church, requiring bishops to be thirty years
old when they were ordained; yet it was frequently dis-
pensed with, either in cases of necessity, or in order to
promote persons of more extraordinary worth and singular
' Athan. Ep. ad Solitar. toni. i. p. 853. ' Ilincmar. Vi(. Ileniig.
Baron, an. 471. p. 298. ^ Coteler. Not. in Const. Apjat. lib. ii. c. 1.
Nicepl). lib. iii. c. 29. * Ignat. Ep. ad Magues. n. 3. '•' Vid.
Pearson. Vindic. Ignat, pricf. ad Lector.
VOL. 1. N
106 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK H.
qualifications. Yet such dispensations, as quality boys of
eleven or twelve years old to be made bishops are no where
to be met with in the primitive Church ; though the history
of the Papacy affords frequent instances of such promo-
tions, as those that please may see in a catalogue of them,
collected by Dr. Reynolds and Mr. Mason, two* learned
writers of our Church.
Sect. 2.— Bishops to be chosen out of the Clergy of the Church to which
they were ordained.
But to return to the bishops of the primitive Church.
Another qualification in a bishop, anciently very much in-
sisted on, A\as, that he should be one of the clerg-y of the
same Church, over which he was to be made bishop. For
strangers, who \\ere unknown to the people, were not
reckoned qualified by the canons. This is plainly implied
by Cyprian,^ when he says, " The bishop was to he chosen
in the presence of the people, who had perfect knowledg-e
of every man's life and actions, by their conversation among-
them." St. Jerom observes, " That this was the constant cus-
tom of Alexandria,^ from St. Mark, toDionysiusand Heraclas,
for the presbyters of the Church to choose a bishop out of
their own body." And therefore Julius* makes it a strong-
objection against Greg"ory, whom the Arians obtruded on
the Church of x\lexandria in the room of Athanasius, that
he was a perfect stranger to the place ; neither baptized
there, nor known to any; whereas, the ordination of a bishop
ought not to be so uncanonical ; but he should be ordained
by the bishops of the province in his own Church, and be
a7r' dvTs ts hpciTtis, dir civts ts icXr^ps, one of the clergy of the
Church to which he was ordained. The ancient bishops of
Rome were all of the same mind, so long* as they thought
themselves oblig-ed to walk by the laws of the Church ; for
• Vid. Rainoldi Apolog. Thes. n. 26. Mason of the Consecrat. of Bishops,
lib. i. c. 5. 2 (;yp,.. Ep. 68. al. 61. ad Fratr. Hispan. p. 172. Epis-
copus delifjatur plebe prsesente, quae singulorum vitani plenissime novit, et
uniuRcujusque actum de ejus conversatione perspexit. ^ Hieron.
Epist. 85. ad Evagr. Alexandria; a Marco Evangelist^ usque ad Heraclain et
Dionysium Episcopos, Presbyteri semper unum ex sc eleclum, in excclsiori
giadu coUocatuin Episcopum noininabant. ' Jul. Ep, ad Oriental,
ap. Athan. Apol. ii torn. i. p. 719.
CHAP. X.] ' CHRISTIAN CHURCH. ICfT
Celestiji,' and Hilary^ and Loo^ insist upon the same thing-
as the common rule and canon of the Church. And we
find a law as late as Charles the Great, and Ludovicus Pius,
to the same purpose. For in one of their Capitulars * it is
ordered, 'Mhat bishops shall be chosen out of their own
diocese, by the election of the clerg-y and the people."
Though, as Baluzius ^ notes, this law did not extend to very
many dioceses, for by this time, the French kings had the
disposal of all bishoprics in their dominions, except some
few Churches, which by special privilege retained the old
way of electing ; and they did not bind themselves to nomi-
nate bishops always out of the clergy of that Church which
was vacant, but used their liberty to choose them out of any
other. As now it is become the privilege and custom of
king-s and princes almost in all nations ; which is the occas-
sion of the difference betwixt the ancient and modern practice
in this particular. For while the ancient way of elections
continued, the general rule was for every Church to make
choice of one of her own clergy to be her bishop, and not a
stranger.
Sect. 3. — Some Exceptions to this Rule.
Yet in some extraordinary cases this rule admitted of
legal exceptions ; particularly in these three cases. 1 . When
it was found for the benefit of the Church to translate
bishops from one see to another. In this case though the
bishop was a stranger, yet his translation being canonical,
was reckoned no violation of this law. 2. When the Church
could not unanimously agree upon one in their own body,
then to pacify their heats and end their controversies, the
emperor or a council proposed one of another Church to
their choice, or promoted him by their own authority.
Upon this ground Nectarius, Chrysostom, and Nestorius,
all strano-ers, were made bishops of Constantinople. It
» CsElestin. Ep. ii. ad Episc. Narbon. c. 4, et 5. ^ Hilar. Pap.
Epist. I. ad Ascan. Tarracon. c. 3. ^ I-co Ep. S4. ad Anastas. c. 6.
* Capitular. Caroli et Ludov. lib. i. c. 84. Episcopi per electionem Cleri et
Populi, secundum statuta canonuin, de propria dioecesieligantur. * Baluz.
Not. ad Concilia Gall. Narbon. p. 34. It. Not. ad Gratian. Dist. Ixiii. c. xxxiv.
p. 467.
108 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK H.
was to end the disputes that arose in the Church, which
was divided in their elections, as Socrates^ and Sozomen
o-ive an account of them. 3. Sometimes men's extraordi-
nary merit g-ave them preference, though strangers, before
all the members of the Church to which they were chosen.
As St. Ambrose^ observes of Eusebius Vercellensis, that he
was chosen, posthabitis civibus, before all that were citi-
zens, or bred in the place, though none of the electors had
ever seen him before, but only heard of his fame and cha-
racter: and there are many other instances of the like na-
ture. But excepting some such cases as these, the rule
was generally observed, to choose no one bishop of any
place, who was not known to the people, and a member of
the same Church before.
Sect, 4. — Bishops to go through the Inferior Orders of the Church.
Another qualification required in a bishop was, that he
should arise gradually to his honour, and not come to the
throne per salt um ; but first pass through some, if not all
the inferior orders of the Church. The council of Sardica
has a canon ^ very full to this purpose : " If any rich man or
pleader at the law, desire to be made a bishop, he shall not
be ordained, till he has first gone through the offices of
reader, deacon, and presbyter; that behaving himself wor-
thily in each of these ofliices, he may ascend gradually to
the height of the episcopal function ; and in every one of these
degrees he shall continue some considerable time, that his
faith, and good conversation, and constancy, and moderation
may be known." The same rule is prescribed by the coun-
cil of Bracara* and some others. And that it was the anci-
ent practice of the Church, appears from what Cyprian says*
of Cornelius, "that he was not made bishop of Rome all of
a sudden, but went gradually through all the offices of the
' Socrat. lib. vi. c. 2. lib. vii. c. 99. Sozom. lib. viii. c. 2. ^ Ambros. Ep.
82. ad Eccl. Vercel. ^ Concil Sardic. can. 10. * Concil. Bracar. i.
c. 39. Per singulos gradus eruditus ad Sacerdotium veniat. * Cypr. Ep. 62.
al. 65. ad Antonian. p. 103. Non iste ad Episcopatum subito pervenit, sed
per omnia Ecclesiastica oflficia promotus, et in divinis administrationibus
Dominum ssepe promeritus, ad Sacerdotii sublime fasligium cunctis religionis
gradibus ascendit.
CHAP. X.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 109
Church, till his merits advanced him to the episcopal throne/'
Theodoret^ commends Athanasius upon the same account ;
and Gregory Nazianzen^ speaks to the honour of St. Basil,
with some reflection on several bishops of his age, " that he
did not as soon as he was baptized leap into a bishopric, as
some other ambitious persons did, but rise to his honour by
degrees." He adds, " that in military affairs, this rule was
generally observed; every great general is first a common
soldier, then a captain, then a commander ; and it would be
happy for the Church," says he, " if matters were always so
ordered in it." By this time it seems this rule was fre-
quently transgressed, without any reason or necessity; but
only by the ambition of some who affected the office of
bishop, yet were not willing to undergo the inferior offices
that were preparative to it.
Sect. 5. — Deacons might be ordained Bishops, though never ordained
Presbyters.
But I must observe, that it was not always necessarily
required, that a man should be ordained presbyter first in
order to be made a bishop ; for deacons were as commonly
made bishops as any other. Coscilian was no more than
archdeacon^ of Carthage, when he was ordained bishop, as
we learn from Optatus. And both Theodoret* and Epi-
phanius* say, "that Athanasius was but a deacon, when he
Avas made bishop of Alexandria." Liberatus observes the
same^ of Peter Moggus and Esaias, two other bishops of
Alexandria; as also of Agapetus''^ and Vigilius, bishops of
Rome. Socrates^ and Theodoret^ relate the same of
Felix, bishop of Rome, who was ordained in the place
of Liberius. Eusebius^" takes notice of one of his own
name, a deacon of Alexandria, who was made bishop
of Laodicea. And Socrates" says Chrysostom made
Heraclides, one of his own deacons, bishop of Ephe-
sus, and Serapion, bishop of Heraclea. And that this was
• Theod. lib. i. c. 25. ^ Naz. Orat. 20. in Laud. Basil, p. 335.
s Optat. lib. i. p. il. * Theodor. lib. i. c. 25. * Epiphan. Haer.
69. Arian. ^ Liberal. Breviar. c. 16 et 18. ' Liberat. ibid. c.
21 et 22. « Socrat. lib. ii. c. 37. ^ Theod. lib. ii. c. 17. '» En
3eb. lib. vii. c. 1 1. " Socrat. lib. \'u c. 11. Lib. vi. c 4 et 17.
no THE ANTIQIIITIKS OF THE [bOOK II.
a g-eneral pfactice, and agreeable to canon, appears also
from a letter of pope Leo, where speaking of the election
of a metropolitan, he says,* " he ought to be chosen either
out of the presbyters, or out of the deacons of the Church."
Sect. 6. — Bishops in Cases of Necessity chosen out of the Inferior Orders.
Sometimes in cases of necessity bishops were chosen out
of the inferior orders, subdeacons, readers, &c. Liberatus
says, Silverins, who was competitor with Vigilius for the
bishopric of Rome, was but a subdeacon.^ And St. Austin
himself, when he erected his new bishopric at Fussala, be-
ing- disappointed of the person whom he intended to have
had consecrated bishop, offered one Antonius, a reader, to
the primate, to be ordained bishop in his room ; and the
primate, without any scruple immediately ordained him ;
though, as St^ Austin^ testifies, he was but a young man,
who had never showed himself in any other office of the
Church beside that of reader.
Sect. 7. — And in some extraordinary Cases ordained immediately from
Laymen.
There want not also several instances of persons, who
were ordained bishops immediately of laymen, when God,
by his particular providence, seemed to point them out as
the fittest men, in some certain junctures, to be employed
in his service. Thus it was in the known case of St. Ambrose,
who was but newly baptized, when he was ordained bishop,
as both Paulinus,* and all the historians testify. When the
people of Milan were so divided in the election of a bishop,
that the whole city was in an uproar, he being prastor of
the place, came in upon them, to appease the tumult, as by
virtue of his office he thought himself obliged to do ; and
making an eloquent speech to them, it had a sort of mira-
culous effect upon them ; for they all immediately left off
their dispute, and unanimously cried out, " They would
have Ambrose to be their bishop ;" which the emperor un-
' Leo Ep. Ixxxiv. c. 6. Ex Presbyteris ejusdem EcclesiEe, vel ex Diacon-
ibus eligatur. "^ Liberal. Brev. c. 22. * Aug. Ep. cclxi. ad
Cselestin. * Paulin. Vit. Ambros. p. 3. Ruffin. lib ii. c. 11. Theod.
lib. iv. c. 6 et 7, Socral. lib. iv. c. 30. Sozom. lib. vi. c. 21.
CHAP. X.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH 1 1 1
clerstanding-, and looking upon it as a providential call, he
ordered him to be baptized, (for he was but yet a catechu-
men,) and in a few days after to be ordained their bishop.
St. Cyprian was another instance of the like providential
dispensation ; for Pontius ' says, in his life, " That he was
chosen bishop by the judgment of God and the favour of
the people, though he was but a neophyte, or newly bap-
tized." Socrates ^ and Sozomen ^ say the same of Necta-
rius, Gregory Nazienzen's successor at Constantinople,
" That he was chosen bishop by the second general-coun-
cil, whilst he had his mystical garments on him," meaning
those white garments, which the newly-baptized were used
to wear. Eusebius, bishop of Csesarea, in Pontus, St.
Basil's predecessor, was not baptized, but only a catechu-
men, when he was chosen bishop, as Nazianzen himself*
informs us. And Eucherius was but a monk, that is, a lay-
man, when he was chosen and ordained bishop of Lyons,
as Baronius * says, from Hilarius Arelatensis, in the life of
Honoratus. Chrysostom*' seems to say the same of Philo-
gonius, bishop of Antioch, when he reports of him, " That
he was taken from the court of judicature, and carried from
the judge's bench to the bishop's throne, diro /3ji/iaroc
St(ca=r{Ks £7rt /Srj'jua apov. In all these instances there seems
to have been the hand of God, and the direction of provi-
dence, which supersedes all ordinary rules and canons ;
and therefore these ordinations were never censured as un-
canonical or irregular, though contrary to the letter of a
common rule. Because the rule itself was to be understood
with this limitation and exception, as one of the ancient
canons'' explains itself, and all others that relate to this
matter ; saying, " One that is newly converted from Gen-
tilism, or a vicious life, ought not presently to be advanced
to a bishopric ; for it is not fit that he who has yet given no
• Fonts Vit. Cypr. p. 2. Judicio Dei et plebis favorc ad officium Sacerdotii
ct Episcopatus gradumadhuc Neophytns,et, ut piitabatur, Novellus, clectus est-
2 Socrat. lib. v. c. 8. ^ Sozom. lib. vii. c. 8. r>)j'/ii»?i(fj)v iff^iira in
Viiipiiffiifvoc, &c. ♦ Naz. Orat. vix. de Laud. Patr. t. i. p. 308.
* Baron, an. 441 p. "J. * Chrys. Horn. 31 de S. Philogon. torn. i. p.397.
' Canon. Apost. c. 80.
112 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
proof of himself, should be made a teacher of others; un-
less it be so ordained by the grace and appointment of God
himself, il fims kuto. ^dav xa^iv tsto yEyoiro " For in this
case there could be no dispute, the will of God being su-
perior to all human canons whatsoever. And therefore,
though the same limitation be not expressed in other ca-
nons, yet it is evident that they are always to be understood
with this exception : upon which account, it was not reck-
oned any breach of canon to make a layman bishop, when
providence seemed first to grant a dispensation, by direct-
ing the Church to be unanimous in the choice of such a
person. They did not, in such cases, make a layman re-
ceive one order one day, and another the next, and so go
through the several orders in the compass of a week, but
made him bishop at once, when need required, without any
other ordination. The contrary custom is a modern prac-
tice, scarce ever heard of till the time of Photius, Anno, 858,
who, to avoid the imputation of not coming gradually to his
bishopric, was, on the first day, made a monk, on the se-
cond, a reader, on the third, a sub-deacon, on the fourth, a
deacon, on the fifth, a presbyter, and on the sixth, a patri-
arch, as Nicetas David,' a waiter of that age, informs us in
the Life of Ignatius. Spalatensis^ observes the same prac-
tice to be continued in the Romish Church, under pretence
of complying with the ancient canons ; though nothing can
be more contrary to the true intent and meaning of them,
which was, that men should continue some years in every
order, to give some proof of their behaviour to the Church,
and not pass cursorily through all orders, in five or six days
time ; which practice, as it does not answer the end of the
canons, so it is altogether without precedent in the primi-
tive Church.
' Nicet. Vit. Ignat. Concil. torn. viii. p. 1 199. '^ Spalat. de Repub.
lib. Hi. c. 4. n. 19. p. 430.
CHAP. XI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. U3
CHAP. XI.
Of some particular Laws and Customs observed about the
Ordination of Bishops.
SecI". 1. — Bishoprics not to be void above three Months.
When any bishopric became void by the death or cession
of its bishop, then, forasmuch as bishops were looked upon
as a necessary constituent part of the Church, all imagin-
able care was taken to till up the vacancy with all conveni-
ent speed. In the African Churches a year was the utmost
limit that was allowed for a vacancy ; for if within that
time a new election was not made, he that was appointed
administrator of the Church during' the vacancy, whose bu-
siness it was to procure and hasten the election, was to be
turned out of his office, and a new one put in his room, by
a canon of the fifth council of Carthage,* which is also con-
firmed in the African code.^ But in other places this was
limited to a much shorter time : for by a canon ^ of the ge-
neral council of Chalcedon, every metropolitan is obliged
to ordain a new bishop in the vacant see, within the space
of three months, under pain of ecclesiastical censure, un-
less some unavoidable necessity forced him to defer it
longer.
Sect. 2. — In some Places a new Bishop was chosen before the old one
was buried.
At Alexandria the custom was to proceed immediately to
election as soon as the bishop was dead, and before he was
interred. Epiphanius * hints at this custom, when he says,
" They were used to make no delay after the decease of a
bishop, but chose one presently, to preserve peace among
the people, that they might not run into factions about the
choice of a successor.'" But Libcratus* is a little more par-
' Con. Carth. 5. can. 8. * Cod. Can. Eccl. Afric. can. 75. » Con.
Chalced. can. 25. ♦ Epiphan. User. 69. Arian. n. 11. ^^ ^^ponZti*'
nerd Tt\tvTr]v ra iiriaKOTrH, &c. * Liberal. Breviar. c. 20. Consuctudo
quidein est Alexandria;, iihini, qui dcfuncto succedit, excubias super defuncti
corpus a jere, inanumque dexterani ejus capiti suo imponere ; et scpulto inanibus
8uis, accipere coUo suo Beati Marcj palliuiu, et tunc legitime sedere.
VOL. I. O
114 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK It.
ticular in clesciil)ing- the ciieii instances of it. He says, '< it
was customary for the .siiceessor to watch over the body of
the deceased bishop, and to lay his rig-ht hand upon his
head, and to bury him with his own hands, and then take
the pall of St. Mark, and put it upon himself, and so sit in
liis throne." To these authorities we may add that of
Socrates,* who says, " that Cyril, of Alexandria, was en-
throned the third day after the death of Theophilus." And
he intimates, that the same thing was practised in other
places ; for Proclus, bishop of Constantinople,^ was en-
throned before Maximian, his predecessor, was interred ;
and, after his enthronement, he performed the funeral office
for him. And this was done at the instance and command
of the emperor Theodosius, that there might be no dispute
or tumult raised in the Church about the election of a
bishop.
Sect. 3. — Some Instances of longer Vacancies in Times of Difficulty and
Persecution.
Yet, notwithstanding- this care and diligence of the
Church in filling- up vacant sees, it sometimes happened,
that the election of bishops was deferred to a much longer
season. For in Afric, at the time of the collation of Car-
thage, there w ere no less than three-score bishoprics void at
once, which was above an eighth part of the whole ; for
the whole number of bishops was but four hundred and
sixty-six, whereof two hundred and eighty-six were then
present at the conference, and one hundred and twenty were
absent by reason of sickness or old age ; besides which,
there were sixty vacant sees, which were unprovided of
bishops at that time, as the Catholics * told the Donatists,
who pretended to vie numbers with them, though they
were but two hundred and seventy-nine. What was the
particular reason of so many vacancies at that juncture, is
not said ; but probably it might be the difficulty of the times,
that Catholic bishops could not there be placed where the
' Socrat. lib.vii. c. 7. ^ Id. lib. vii. c. 40. ^Aug. Brevic.
CoUat. prima; Diei. c. 14. Sane propter Cathedras, quas Episcopis vacuas
apud se esse dixerunt, responsum est a Catholicis, sexaginta esse, quibus suc-
cessorcs Episcopi nonduin fuerant ordinati.
CHAP. XI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 115
Donatists had gotten full possession. Or, perhaps, it might
be the neg-Iiaonce of the people, who contented themselves
with administrators durmg the vacancy, and would not ad-
mit of a new bishop. The council of Macriani, mentioned
by Fulgentius Ferrandus,* takes notice of this dilatory prac-
tice in some Churches, and censures it by a canon, which
orders the administrators, who were always some neigh-
bouring- bishops, to be removed; and condemns such
Churches to continue without administrators, till they
sought for a bishop of their own. Another reason of long-
vacancies in some times and places, was the difficult cir-
cumstances the Churches lay under in time of persecution.
For the bishops were the men chiefly aimed at by the perse-
cutors ; and therefore, when one bishop was martyred, the
Church sometimes was forced to defer the ordination of
another, either because it was scarce possible to go about it
in such times of exigency, or because she was unwilling to
expose another bishop immediately to the implacable fury
of a raging adversary, and bring upon herself a more vio-
lent storm of persecution. The Roman ^ clergy give this
for their reason to Cyprian, why, after the martyrdom of
Fabian, they did not immediately proceed to a new election:
the state of affairs, and the difficulty af the times, was such
as would not permit it. Baronius^ reckons the time of this
vacancy a year and three months ; but others,* who are more
exact in the calculation, make it a year andtive months ; by
either of which accounts, it was above a year beyond the
time limited by the canons. But this was nothing in com-
parison of that long vacancy of the bishopric of Carthage,
in the time of the Arian persecution, under Gensericus and
Hunericus, two heretical kings of the Vandals, which Vic-
tor Uticensis* says was no less than twenty-four years.
' Ferrand. Brev, Canon, c, 23, ap, Justcl, torn, i, p. U9, Ut Interventores
Episcopi convoniaiit plebis qute Episcopum non habcnt, ut Episcopum accipi-
ant; quod si accipere ncglexerint, reinoto Intervcntore sic remaneant, quain
diti sibi Episcopum quserant. '^ Ep. xxxi, al. xxx. ap. Cyprian, p. 58.
Post exccssum nobilissimiB mcmoriie viri Fabiani, nondiiiii pst Episcopus
propter reruin ct teniporum difficultales constitutus. ^ Baron, an. 253.
n. 6. an. 25t. n. 16. ^ Pearson. Annal. Cypr. an. 550. u. 3, et an. 251.
II. 0. " Victor, de Pcrsecul. Vandal, lib. ii.
116 THE ANTIQUITIES OFTHE [bOOK U.
during- all which time the Church of Cj^rthage had no
bishop. But these were difficulties upon the Church, and
matters of force, not her choice ; for in times of peace she
always acted otherwise, and did not think such extraordi-
nary instances fit precedents to be drawn into example,
much less to be drawn into consequence and argued upon,
as some' have done, that, therefore, the Church may be
without bishops, because she subsisted, in some extraordi-
nary vacancies, without them, when she could not have
them ; which argument would hold as well against any
other order as that of bishops, did but they who urge this
argument rightly consider it.
Sect. 4. — Three Bishops required to the Ordination of a Bishop.
But to return to the ordination of bishops. At the time
appointed for ordination, the metropolitan was used to send
forth his circular letters, and summon all the bishops of the
province to meet at the place where the new bishop was to
be ordained, and assist at his consecration. The presence
of them all was required, iftUey could conveniently attend;
if not, they w'cre to send their consent in >vriting ; in which
case, three bishops, with the assistance or consent qf the
metropolitan, were reckoned a sufficient canonical number
to perform the ceremony of consecration. St. Cyprian^
speaks of it as the general practice of the Church in his
time, to have ail the bishops of the province present at any
such ordination. And Eusebius^ particularly takes notice
of the ondination of Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem, who
succeeded Narcissus, that he was ordained fitrq. \coiviig rtoy
£7rt(TKQ7rwv yviojunQ, with the common consent of the bishops of
his province. The council of Chalcedon* calls this a cano-
nical ordination, when the metropolitan, with all or most of
his provincial bishops, ordain the bishops of their own pro-
vince, as the canons have appointed. And the general
1 Blopdel. Apol. 2 cypr. Ep, Ixviii. n\. Ixvii. ad Fratr. Hispan. p. 17^.
Quod s\put^ iios quoque et fere per provincias universas tenetur, ut ad ordina-
tioncs rite celebrandas, ad earn plebe|Ti, cui Pricpositus ordinatur, Episcopi
ejusdeui provincitE proximi quique conveniant, ct Episcopus deliaratur plebe
prsesentc, &c. =* Eusob. lib. vi. c. H. * Con, Chalced, Act. xvi,
c. torn. i. p. 817.
CHAP. XI ] CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 117
council of Constantinople ' justified the ordinations of Flu'
vian, bishop of Antioch, and Cyril, of Jerusalem, as cano^
nical in this respect, because they were ordained by the
bishops of their provinces, synodically met together. This
was th^ ancient rule of the council of Nice, which requires
the assistance of all the bishops of the province, if they
could conveniently^ attend the ordination. But, forasmuch
as that either, through urgent necessity, or by reason of
their great distance, it might happen that all of them could
not be present, it is added, " That in that case, three bishops
should be sufficient to ordain, provided the metropolitan
and the rest sent their consent in writing- ; but, under three,
the canons did not generally allow of." The first council
of Arles,^ and the third of Carthage,* require three besides
the metropolitan. And the second council of Aries ^ does
not allow the metropolitan to be one of the three ; but saith
expressly, " That he shall take the assistance of three pro-
vincial bishops beside himself, and not presume to ordain a
bishop without them." It is true those called the Aposto-
lical Canons*^ and Constitutions'' allow the ordination that is
performed by two bishops only. But this is contrary to all
Other canons ; which are so far from allowing two bishops
to ordain by themselves, that the council of Orange^ orr
ders both the ordaining bishops, and the ordained, to be
deposed: and the council of Riez^ actually deposed Armenr
tarius for this very thing ; because he had not three bishops
to ordain him. All Churches, indeed, did not punish such
ordinations with the same severity ; but in all places they
» Ep. Synod, ap. Theodor. lib. v. c. 9. '^ Con. Nic. con. 4.
'RirtaKoirov ttootiikh /(ciXcra ^ti y vtto ■kuvtojv rUt' ti' rij tTrapx'Kf Ka'^infuS^ai.
* Coll. Arelat, i. c. 21. Si non potuerint septem, sine tiibns fratribus non
pva>suniant ordinare. ♦Con. Carth. 3. can. 39. Forma antiqua scr-
vabitnr, ut non minus quani tres sufficiaiit, qui fuerint a JNU-tropolitano din-cti
ad ordinandum Episcopum. Seo also Con. Cartb. vi. c. 4. ^ Con.
Arelat. ii. c. 5. Ncc Episcopus Metropolilanus sine tribus Episcopis coni-
provincialibusprfESumat Episcopum ordinare. « Can. Apost. c. 1.
'EniffKOTToq x^'9°''''^^^'^^^ ^""^ tTricricoTrwi' ciw // tqiwv. ' Constit. Apost. j^
lib. viii. c. 27.' ** Con. Arausic. 1. can. 21. ' Con. Reiens.
can. 1. Ordinationom, quam Canones irritam dcfinlunt, nos quoque vacuan-
flain esse consuimus; in qua, praitcrmissfi trium prscsciitia, iiec expetitiscom-
provincialium Uteris, Mctropolitani quoque voluntutc ueslecta, prorsus nihil
quod Episcopum faccrct ostcnsum est.
IIQ THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
were reckoned uncanonieal. When Paulinus ordained
Eva^rius, bishop of Antioch, Theodoret' takes notice " that
this'nas done against the laws of the Church," because he
was ordained by a single person, and without the consent
of the provincial bishops. And Synesius^ says the same of
the ordination of Siderius, bishop of Palajbisca, " that it was
irreo-ular," because he neither had the consent of the bishop
of Alexandria, his metropoUtan, nor three bishops to ordain
him. It was to avoid this censure of irregularity, that
Novatian, when he set himself up to be bishop of Rome,
aff-ainst Cornelius, sent for three bishops out of the furthest
corner of Italy, to come and ordain^ him, lest it should be
objected against him, that he had not a canonical ordina-
tion. And upon this account, when Pelagius the First was
to be ordained bishop of Rome, because three bishops
could not be procured, a presbyter* was taken in to make
up the number ; in all which, the general practice of the
Church is very clearly seen and described.
Sect. 5. Yet Ordinations by one Bishop allowed to be valid, though not
canonical,
Yet it must be observed, though this was the common
rule and practice of the Church, yet it was not simply and
absolutely of the essence of ordination ; for the Church
many times admitted of the ordinations of bishops that were
consecrated only by one or two bishops. The council of
Orange,* which orders both the ordaining bishops and the
ordained to be deposed, in case two bishops only ordained
a bishop with his consent, decrees notwithstanding, " that if
a bishop was ordained, by any sort of violence, against his
will, though only by two bishops, in that case, his ordina-
tion should stand good, because he was passive in the
thin<r,and not consenting- to the breach of the canons. And
without this passivity there are several instances of or-
dinations V>y two bishops only, the validity of which we do
' Theod. lib. v. c. 23, ^ gyngs, Ep. 67. « Euseb. lib. vi,
c. 43. ex Epist. Cornel. * Lib, Poiitilifal. Vit. Pelasf. Duin noit
essent Episcopi, qui euin ordinarent, inventi sunt duo Episcopi, Joannes de
Perusio, et B^^nus de Ferenlino, et Andreas Presbyter dc Obtia, et ordiuave-
runt euai. * Con. Aiausic. 1. c. "^1.
CHAP. XI.] CHRISTIAN CMl'RCtt. 119
not find disputed. Pelagius, bishop of Rome, was reckoned
a true bishop, thoug-h, as we have just now heard, he had
but two bishops and a presbyter to ordain him. Dioscorus,
of Alexandria, was consecrated likewise by two bishops
only, and those under ecclesiastical censure ; as we learn
from an epistle of the bishops of Pontus,^ at the end of the
council of Chalcedon. Yet neither that council, nor any
others, ever questioned the validity of his ordination, un-
less, perhaps, tho.se Pontic bishops did,who call it tiefamlam
atque imayinariam orduiationem, Siderius, bishop of
Paloebisca, was ordained by one bishop ; yet Athanasius not
only allowed his ordination and confirmed it, but finding
him to be a useful man, he afterwards advanced him, as
Synesius^ says, to the metropolitical see of Ptolemais.
Paulinus, bishop of Antioch, ordained Evagrius, his succes-
sor, without any other bishop to assist him ; which, though
it was done against canon, yet Theodoret assures us,^ that
both the bishops of Rome and Alexandria owned Evagrius
for a true bishop, and never in the least questioned the va-
lidity of his ordination. And though they afterwards con-
sented to acknowledge Flavian, (at the instance of Theo-
dosius,) to put an end to the schism, yet they did it upon
this condition, that the ordinations of such as had been or-
dained by Evagrius, should be reputed valid also ; as we
learn from the letters of pope Innocent,* who lived not
long: after this matter was transacted.
Sect. 6. — The bishop of Rome not privileged to ordain alone, any more than
any other single Bishop.
Hence it appears, that the ordination of a bishop made by
any single bishop was valid, if the Church thought fit to
allow it; nor had the bishop of Rome any peculiar privilege
in this matter above other men, though some pretend to
' ConcJl. torn. iv. p. 960. Ordinationem suam a damnatis Episcopis, ct hoc
duobus, accepit, cum Regulse Patruin vel tres Episcopos corporaliter
adesse in hujusinodi dispensationibus omnino prospiciant. '^ Synes.
Ep. 67. » Theod. lib. t. c. 23. ♦ Innoc. Ep. It ad Boni-
fac. Ecclcsia Antiochcna ita pacem postulavit et meruit, ut et Evagrianos suis
ordinibus ac locis, intemerata orUinatione, quam acceperant a memorato,
suscipcret.
120 THE ANTldUITlES 6P THE [flOOtC II.
make a distinction. There is indeed an ancient canon
alleged in the collection of Fulg-entius Ferrandus, out of
the council of Zella and the letters of Siricius, which seems
to make a reserve in behalf of the bi.*>hop of Rome ; for it
Says, '"one bishop shall not ordain a bishop, th^ Roman
Church excepted." But Cotelerius^ ingenuously owns this
to be a corruption ih the thd text of Ferrandus, foisted by
the ignorance or fraud of some modern transcriber, who
confounded two decrees of Slricius into one, and changed
the words, Secies ApostoUca Primatis, into Secies Apostolica
Romana; for in the words of Siricius^ there is no mention
made at all of the Roman Church, but it is said, " that no
one shall ordain without the consent of the Apostolical See,
that is, the primate or metropolitan of the province ; and
that one bishop alone shall not ordain a bishop, because
that is arrogant and assuming, and looks like giving an or-
dination by stealth, and is expressly forbidden by the Nicene
council." So that in these times the bishops of Rome were
under the direction of the canons, and did not presume to
think they had any privilege of oirdaining singly, above what
was common to the rest of their order;
Sect. 7. — Every Bishop to be ordained in his own Church.
The next thing to be taken notice of in this affair, is that
every bishop by the laws and custom of the Church, was to
be ordained in his own Church, in the presence of his own
people. Which is plainly intimated by Cyprian* when he
says, " that to celebrate ordinations aright, the neighbour-
ing* bishops of the province were used to meet at the Church
where the new bishop was to be ordained, and there proceed
to his election and ordination." And this was so generally
' Ferrand. Biev. Canon, c. 6. Ut unus Episcopus Episcopuni non ordinet,
exceptfi Ecclesia Romana. Concilo Zellensi. Ex Epistoia Papse Siricii.
* Coteler. Not. in Constit. Apost. lib. iii. c. 20. * Siric. Ep. iv. c. 1.
Ut extra conscientiam Sedis ApostolicjB, hoc est, Primatis, nemo audeat ordi-
nare. It. c. 2. Ne unus Episcopus Episcopum ordlnare prsesumat propter
arroganliam, ne furtivum priestitum beneficium videatur. Hoc enim et a Sy-
nod© Nicfend constitutum est atquc definitum. *Cypr. Ep. Ixviii. al.
Ixvii. ad Fratr. Hispan. p. 172. Ad Ordinationes rite celebrandas, ad earn
Plebem, cvii Praepositus ordinatiir, Episcopi ejusdein provincise proximi
quiquc convaniant, &c.
CHAP. XI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 1-21
the practice of the whole Church, that Pope Julius^ made it
an objection against Gregory of Alexandria, who was ob-
truded on the Church by the feuscbian party, in the room of
Athanasius, that he was ordained at Antioch, and not in his
own Church, but sent thither with a band of soldiers;
whereas by the ecclesiastical canon, he ought to have been
ordained. In dvTrjgriiglKKXncTiag, in the Church of Alexandria
itself, and that by the bishops of his own province. This
rule was very nicely observed in the African Churches,
where it was the constant custom for the primate (whose
office it was to ordain bishops) to go to the Church where
the new bishop was to be settled, and ordain him there. Of
this we have several instances in St. Austin, who himself
was ordained in his own Church at Hippo ^ by the primate of
Numidia ; and having divided his diocese, and erected a
new bishopric at Fussala, and elected a bishop, he sent for
the primate, though living^ at a great distance, to come to
the place, and ordain him there.
Sect. 8. — The ancient Form of Ordination of Bishops.
As to the manner and form of ordaining a bishop, it is thus
briefly described by one of the councils* of Carthage; "when
a bishop is ordained, two bishops shall hold the book of the
Gospels over his head; and, whilst one pronounces the bless-
ing or consecration-prayer, all the rest of the bishops that
are present, shall lay their hands upon his head." The cere-
mony of laying the Gospels upon his head seems to have
been in use in all Churches. For the author^ of the Aposto-
lical Constitutions (a Greek writer who is supposed to relate
the customs of -the third century) makes mention of it, only
with this difference, that instead of two bishops, there two
deacons are appointed to hold the Gospels open over his
head, whilst the senior bishop or primate, with two other
> Jul. Ep. ad. Oriental, ap. Athanas. Apol. 2. torn. i. p. 749. * Pos-
sld. Vit.Aug. c. 8. 8Aug. Ep. 261, Propter quern ordlnandum,
sanctum senem, qui tunc Primatum Numida; gerebat, de longinquo ut veniret
rogans, Uteris irapetravi. * Con. Carth. iv. c. 2. Episcopus cum ordi-
natur, duo Episcopi ponant et teneant Evangeliorum codicem super caput et
verticem ejus, et uno super eum fundente benedictionem, reliqui omnes Epis-
copi, qui adsuut, manibus suis caput ejus tangant. * Constit. Apost.
lib. viii. c. 4.
VOL. I. P
122 THE ANTlQriTIRS OF THE [bOOK. U.
bishops assisting- him, pronounesthe prayer of consecration.
This ceremony of holding- the Gospels over his head, is
also mentioned by St. Chrysostom* and the author of the
Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, under the name of Dionysius, who
says it was a peculiar ceremony used only in the ordination
of a bishop.
Sect. 9. — A Form of Prayer used at their Consecration.
The author of the Constitutions recites one of the ancient
forms of prayer, the close of which is^ in these words : " Grant
to him, O Lord Almighty, by thy Christ, the communication
of the Holy Spirit, that he may have power to remit sins
according to thy commandment, and to confer orders accord-
ing to thy appointment, and to loose every bond according
to the power whichThou gavest to the Apostles ; that he may
pleaseThee in meekness and a pure heart, constantly, blame-
less, and without rebuke ; and may offer unto Thee that pure
unbloody sacrifice, which Thou by Christ hast appointed to
be the mystery or sacrament of the new covenant, for a
sweet-smelling savour, through Jesus Christ thy Holy Son,
our God and Saviour, by whom be glory, honour and wor-
ship to Thee, in the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen."
It is not to be imagined that one and the same form was
used in all Churches ; for every bishop having liberty to
frame his own liturgy, as there were different liturgies in
different Churches, so it is most reasonable to suppose the
primates or metropolitans had different forms of consecration
though there are now no remains of them in being, to give
us any further information.
Sect. 10. — Of their Enthronement, Homilice Ejithronistica and Lttenc
Enthronisticeu.
The consecration being ended the bishops that v^^ere pre-
sent conducted the new-ordained bishop to his chair or
throne, and there placing- him, they all saluted him with an
holy kiss in the Lord. Then the Scriptures being read
(according to custom, as part of the daily service) the new
• Chrys. de Laudib. Evang. cited by Habcrtus, p. 79, Dionys. Eccles.
Hierarch, c. v. par. 3. sect. i. p. 361. • Constit. lib, viii. c. 5.
CHAP. XI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 123
bishop made a discourse or exposition upon them, which
was usually called , Sermo Enthronisticus, from the time and
circumstances in which it was spoken. Such was that
famous homily of Meletius, bishop of Antioch, mentioned
by Epiphanius* and Sozomen, for which he was immediately
sent into banishment by Constantius. Socrates frequently
takes notice of such homilies made by bishops^ at their in-
stalment; and Liberatus^ speaking" of Severus of Antioch,
mentions his exposition made upon that occassion, calling-
it, Expositio in Inthronismo. It was usual also for bishops
immediately after their instalment, to send letters to foreig-n
bishops to give them an account of their faith and ortho-
doxy, that they might receive letters of peace and com-
munion again from them. Which letters were therefore called
Literce Enthronisticce, or SwAXajSai 'Ev^fiovt^tKai , as Evogrius*
terms them, speaking of the circular letters, which Severus,
bishop of Antioch, wrote to the rest of the patriarchs upon
that occasion. These were otherwise called communicatory •
letters, Kotvwvtica Swyy^ajUjuara, as the council of Antioch,
that deposed Paulus Samosatensis, terms them. For the
fathers in that council having- ordained Domnus in the
room of Paul, gave notice thereof to all Churches, telling'
them, " that they signified it to them for this reason, that they
might write to Domnus, and receive, Kotvwvtica avyy^aixixara^
communicatory letters from him :" which, as Valesius" rightly
notes, do not mean there those letters of communion which
bishops were used to grant to persons travelling into foreign
countries; but such letters as they wrote to each other,
upon their own ordination, to testify their communion mutu-
ally with one another. These letters are also called Syno-
dicce by Liberatus,'' who says, " this custom of every new
bishop's giving intimation of his own promotion to those of
iUS own order, was so necessary, that the omission of it was
interpreted a sort of refusal to hold communion with the rest
of the world, and a virtual charge of heresy upon them."
' Epiphan. User. 73. Sozom. lib. iv. c. 28. " Socrat. lib. ii. r. 43. Lib.
vii. c. 29. ^ Liijerat. Breviar. c. 19. * Evasi*. lib.iv. c. 4.
* Euscb. lib. vii. c. 30. ^ Vales. Not. in Loc. ' Liberal. Bre-
viar. e. 17. Quia Litcras SynocUcas non tlircxibsct, &c
124 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [boOK II.
CHAP. XII.
Of the Rule which prohibits Bishops to be ordained in
small Cities.
Sect. 1.— The Reason of the Law against placing Bishops in small Cities.
Before I end this discourse about bishops, I must give
an account of two rules more respecting- their ordination.
The first of which was, that bishops should not be placed in
small cities or villages. Which law was first made by the
council of Sardica, with a design to keep up the honour
and dignity of the episcopal order ; as the reason is given
in the canon made about it ; which says, " It shall not be
lawful to place a bishop in a village, or small ^ city, w here a
single presbyter will be suflftcient ; for in such places, there
is no need to set a bishop, lest the name and authority of
bishops be brought into contempt." Some add to this the
fifty-seventh canon of the council of Laodicea, which forbids
the placing of bishops in villages, and in the country,*
appointing' visitors to be constituted in their room ; but this
canon speaks not of absolute bishops, but oi iheChorepiscopi,
who were subject to other bishops, of which I shall treat
particularly hereafter. However there is no dispute about
the Sardica n canon, for the reason annexed explains its
meaning, that it prohibits universally the ordination of
bishops in small cities and country places.
Sect. 2.— Some Exceptions to this Rule in Egypt, Libya, Cyprus, Arabia,
Asia Minor, &c.
But it may be observed that this rule did never generally
obtain; for both before and after the council of Sardica,
there were bishops both in small cities and villages. Na-
zianzum was but a very small city; Socrates^ calls it
woXig tuT-fArje, a little one; and upon the same account
' Con. Sardic. Can. 6. M/} tSsTi/ai ci cmrXwc; Ka5(-oiv fnlaKonov K'w/iy rivK >;
/5nax£'V ""oXti. " Concil. Laodic. g. 57. ^ Socrat. lib. iv. c. U et 26.
CHAP. Xll.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 125
Gregory Nazianzen,* styles his own father, who was bishop
of it, fxiKpoiroXiTi^g, a little bishop, and one of the second
order. Yet he was no Chorepiscopus, but as absolute a
bishop in his own diocese, as the bishop of Rome or Alex-
andria. Gerse, near Pelusium, was but a small city, as
Sozomen ^ notes, yet it was a bishop's see. Theodoret ob-
serves the same of Dolicha, where Maris was bishop,^ that
it was but a very little city ; ttoXikvj) (XfiiKpd, he calls it. And
he says the like of Cucusus,* in Armenia, the place whither
Chrysostom was banished: yet as small a city as it was,
Chrysostom^ found a bishop there, who treated him very
civilly and respectfully in his exile. Synesius makes men-
tion of the bishop of Olbiee, in one^ of his epistles, and at
the same time tells us the place was but a village ; for he
calls the people, ^i)fxog k-Wjurjrrjc, a country people. So he
says in another'^ epistle, that Hydrax and Palaebisca had for
some time each of them their own bishop ; though they
were but villages of Pentapolis, formerly belonging to the
diocese of Erythra, to which they were some time after an-
nexed again. In Sozomen's time, among the Arabians and
Cyprians, it was an usual thing to ordain bishops, not only
in cities, but villages ; as also among the Novatians and
Montanists in Phrygia : all which he affirms « upon his own
knowledge. Some think Dracontius was such a bishop,
because Athanaslus" styles his bishopric, x^P^^ iTrto-KOTrijv.
But whether this means that he was an absolute bishop, or
only a Chorepiscopus, as others think, is not very easy to
determine. As neither what kind of bishops those were,
which the council of Antioch,'" in their synodical epistle
against Paulus Samosatensis, calls country bishops ; for per-
haps they might be only Chorepiscopi, or dependant
bishops, as Valesius conjectures. But this cannot be said of
those mentioned by Sozomen, nor of the other instances 1
» Naz. Orat. 19. de Laud. Patr. toin.i. p. 310. = Sozoni. lib. viii. c. 19.
■roKigiiiKpd. 3 xheod. lib. V. c. 4. •> Tlicod. lib. ii. c.5. et Lib.
V. c. 34.. ^ Chrys. Ep. 125. ad Cyriacum. " Synes. Ep. 76.
7 Id. Ep. 67. K(J/taicV avral UivTaitokuoc. ^ Sozom. lib. vii. c. 19.
'EffrivoTTj; K,h'K^iiair iiri<rKO'iroii(piii'Tai,(o<:Trnpa 'Apa/3(0(c KtKvirpioiQ tyvwv,
&c. ' Athanas. Epist. ;ul Dracont. tern. i. p. 951. '" Ap.
Pluseb. lib. vii. C 30. 'EKt<7K6nr<r rwi' o/cincn' a'\<iiuli' -£ "^j TroXfo^r.
126 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK 1I<
have given out of Synesius, and the rest of the fore-cited
authors ; from whose testimonies it plainly appears, that
there were bishops in very small cities, and sometimes in
villag-es, notwithstanding- the contrary decree of the Sardi-
can council. It is also very observable, that in Asia Minor,
a tract of land not much larger than the isle of Great Britain,
(including but two dioceses of the Roman empire) there
w^ere almost four hundred bishops ; as appears from the an-
cient Notitia of the Church. Whence it may be collected,
that Cucusus and Nazianzum were not the only small cities
in those parts ; but that there were many other cities and
dioceses, of no very great extent, in such a number.
Sect. 3. — Reasons for erecting Bishoprics in small Cities.
One thing that contributed much to the multiplication of
bishoprics, and that caused them to be erected sometimes
in small places, was, that in the primitive Church every
bishop, with the consent of his metropolitan, or the appro-
bation of a provincial council, had power to divide his own
diocese, and ordain a new bishop in some convenient part of
it, for the good of the Church ; whenever he found his dio-
cese too large, or the places to lie at too great a distance,
or the multitude of converts to increase, and make the care
and incumbrance of his diocese become too great a burden
for him. This was the reason why St. Austin^ erected a
new bishopric at Fussala, a town in his own diocese, about
forty miles from Hippo. It was a place where great num-
bers had been converted from the schism of the Donatists,
and some remained to be converted still: but the place lying*
at so great a distance, he could not bestow that care and
diligence, either in ruling the one, or regaining* the other,
which he thought necessary ; and therefore he prevailed
with the primate of Numidia, to come and ordain one Anto-
nius, to be bishop there. And this was consonant to the
rules of the African Church, which allowed new bishoprics
' Axigustin. Epist. 261. ad Caelestin. Quod ab Hippone memoratum Cas-
tellum millihus quadraginta sejungitur, crira in eis regendis, et eorum reli-
quiis, licet exiguis, coUigendis — me viderem latins quiim oportebat extendi,
nee adhibendaj safficerem diligentise. quam ccrtissima ratione adhiberidebere
ceniebara, Episcopum ibi ordinandum conslitucudumque curavi.
CHAP. XII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 127
to be erected ' in any diocese where there was need, if the
bishop of the diocese and the primate gave their consent to
it; or, as Ferrandus^ has it in his collection, if the bishop,
the primate, and a provincial council, by their joint consent
and authority, gave way to it. By virtue of these canons,
during- the time of the schism of the Donatists, many new
bishoprics were erected in very small towns in Afric, as
appears from the acts of the collation of Carthage, where
the Catholics and Donatists mutually charge each other with
this practice : — " that they divided single bishoprics some-
times into three or four, and made bishops in country towns
and villages to augment the numbers of their parties.'" Thus
in one place, we find PetiHan, the Donatist,^ complaining,
" that the Catholics had made four bishops in the diocese of
Januarius, a Donatist bishop, to outdo them with numbers ;"
and, in another place, Alypius, the Catholic, orders it to be
entered* upon record, " that a great many Donatist bishops,
there mentioned, were not ordained in cities, but only in
country towns or villages." To which, Petilian ^ replies, " that
the Catholics did the same ; ordaining bishops in country
towns, and sometimes in such places where they had no
people." His meaning is, that in those places all the people
were turned Donatists, and for that very reason, the Catholic
bishops thought themselves obliged to divide their dioceses,
and ordain new bishops in small towns, that they might outdo
the Donatists, both in number and zeal, and more effectually
labour in reducing the straying- people back again to their
ancient communion with the Catholic Church. This was
the practice of Afric, and this their reason for erecting so
' Concil. Carth. ii. c. 5. Si accedente tempore, crescente Fide, Dei popu-
lus multiplicatus desideravit proprium habere Rectorem, ejus videlicet volun-
tate, incujus potestate est Dioecesis constituta, habeat Episcopuin. It. Con
Carth. iii. c. 42. * Ferrand. Breviar. Canon, c. 13. Ut Episcopus
non ordinetur in Dicecesi, quae Episcopum nunquam habuit, nisi cum voluntate
Episcopi, ad quem ipsa Dioecesis pertinet, ex Concilio tamen plenario et Pri-
matis Authoritate. * Collat. Carth. i. c. 117. Petilianus Episcopus
dixit, in una Plebe Januarii CoUegae nostriprsesentis, in und Diojcesi, quatuor
sunt constituti contra ipsum ; ut numerus scilicet augeretur. * Ibid. c.
181. Alypius dixit, Scriptum sit istos omnes in villis vel in fundis esse
Episcopos ordinatos, non in aliquibus civitatibus. * Ibid. c. 182. Pe- .
tilianus Episcopus dixit : Sic etiam tu multos habes per omnes agros disperses.
Immo crebros ubi habes, sane et sine popuUs habes.
128 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
many small bishoprics in those times of exigency ; they had
always an eye to the benefit and edification of the Church.
Greg-ory Nazianzen, highly commends St. Basil's piety
and prudence for the like practice. It happened in his
time, that Cappadocia was divided into two provinces, and
Tyana made the metropolis of the second province, in the
civil account : this gave occasion to Anthimus, bishop of
Tyana, to lay claim to the rights of a metropolitan in the
Church, which St. Basil opposed, as injurious to his own
Church of Caisarea ; which, by ancient custom and prescrip-
tion, had been the metropolis of the whole province. But
Anthimus proving a very contentious adversary, and raising-
great disturbance and commotions about it, St, Basil was
willing to buy the peace of the Church with the loss of his
Own rights : so he voluntarily relinquished his jurisdiction
over that part of Cappadocia, which Anthimus laid claim to,
and, to compensate his own loss in some measure, he erec-
ted several new bishoprics in his own province ; as, at
Sasima, and some other such obscure places of that region.
Now, though this was done contrary to the letter of a canon,
yet Nazianzen extols the fact upon three accounts. Firlifc'^^
because hereby a greater care was taken ^ of men's souls. -
Secondly, by this means every city had its own revenues.
And lastly , the war between the two metropolitans was ended.
" This," he says, " was an admirable policy, worthy the great
and noble soul of St. Basil, who could turn a dispute so to
the benefit of the Church, and draw a considerable advantage
out of a calamity, by making it an occasion to guard and
defend his country with more bishops.!' Whence we may
collect, that in Nazianzen's opinion, it is an advantage to the
Church to be well stocked with bishops, and that it is no dis-
honour to her to have bishops in small towns, when neces-
sity and reason require it.
' Naz. Orat. 20. de Laud. Basil, torn. i. p. 356.
CHAP. XIII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. V^^
CHAP. XIII.
Of the Rule which forbids Two Bishops to be ordained in
one City.
Sect. 1.— Tlic general Rule and Practice of tlie Cliurcli, to have but one
• Bishop in a City. •
Another rule g-enerally observed in the Cliurcli, was,
that in one city there should be but one bishop, though it
was large enough to admit of many presbyters. In the time
of Cornelius, there were forty-six presbyters* in the Church
of Rome, seven deacons, as many sub-deacons, and ninety-
four of the inferior orders of the clergy ; and the body of
the people, at a moderate computation, are reckoned by
some 2 to be about fifty thousand ; by others,^ to be a far
greater number ; yet there was but one bishop over all
these. So that when Novatian got himself ordained bishop
of Rome, in opposition to Cornehus, he was generally
condemned over all the world, as transgressing the rule of
the Catholic Church. Cyprian* delivers it as a maxim upon
this occasion, "' That there ought to be but one bishop in
a Church at a time, and one judge as the vicegerent of
Christ." " Therefore," he says,^ " Novatian was no bishop,
since there could not be a second after the first; but he was
an adulterer,^ and a foreigner, and an ambitious usurper of
another man's church, who had been regularly ordained
before him." And so he was told not only by Cyprian,' but
a whole Africftn council at once ; who, in return to Nova-
» Cornel. Ep. ad Fabium,ap. Euseb. lib. vi. c. 43. ^ Bishop Burnet,
Letter iv. p. 207, ^ Basnag. Exerc, ad Annal, Baron, an. 44. p. 532,
* Cypr. Epist. 55. al. 59, ad Cornel, p. 129. Unus in EcclesiPi ad tempus
Sacerdos, et ad tempus Judex Tice Christi. * Id. Epist. 52. al. 55. ad
Antonian. p. 104. Cum post primum secundus esse non possit, quisquis post
unum, qui solus esse debeat, factus est, non jam secundus ille, sed nuUus est.
"Ibid. p. 112. Nisi si Episcopus tibi vidctur, qui, Episcopo in Ecclesia &
sedecim Coepiscopis facto, adulter aique extraneus, Episcopus fieri a de-
sertoribus per ambitum nititur. ' Cypr. Ep. 67. al. 68. ad Steph.
p. 177. Se foris esse ccepisso, nee posse a quoquam nostrum sibi communi-
cari; qui, Episcopo Cornelio in Catholica Ecclesia de Dei judicio, et cleri ac
plebis suffragio ordinato, profanum altare erigere, adulterain cathedram
coUocare, et sacrilega contra verum Sacerdotem sacrificia offerre tentaverit.
VOL. I. Q
130 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
tlan's communicatory letter, which (according- to custom)
he wrote to them upon his ordination, sent him this plain
and positive answer : " That he was an ahen, and that none
of them could communicate with him, who had attempted
to erect a profane altar, and set up an adulterous chair,
and offer sacrilegious sacrifice against Cornelius, the true
bishop ; who had been ordained by the approbation of God,
and the suffrage of the clergy and people. There were,
indeed, some confessors at Rome, who at first sided with
Novatian ; but Cyprian ^ wrote a remonstrating letter to
them, wherein he soberly laid before them the sinfulness of
their practice ; and his admonition wrought so effectually on
some of the chief of them, that not long after they returned
to Cornelius, and publicly confessed their fault in these
words : " We acknowledge our error ; we have been imposed
upon and deluded by treacherous and deceitful words ; for
though we seemed to communicate with a schismatieal and
heretical man, yet our mind was always sincerely in the
Church ; for we are not ignorant,^ that as there is but one
God, one Christ the Lord, and one Holy Spirit, so there
ought to be but one bishop in a catholic Church." Pamelius^
and others who take this for a confession of the bishop of
Rome's supremacy, betray either gross ignorance, or great
partiality for a cause; for though this was spoken of a
bishop of Rome, yet it was not peculiar to him, but the
common case of bishops in all Churches. Ignatius, and all
the writers after him, who have said any thing of bishops,
always speak of a single bishop in every Church. And
though* Origen seems to say otherwise, that there were
two bishops in every Church ; yet as he explains his own
notion, his meaning is the same with all the rest ; for he
says, " the one was visible, the other invisible ; the one an
angel, the other a man," So that his testimony (though
' Cypr. Ep. 44. al. 46. ad Nicostrat. et Maxim. * Cornel. Ep. 46.
ad Cyprian. Nee eniin ignoramus unum Deum esse, unura Christum Domi-
num, quem confessi sumus, unum Spiritum Sanctum, unum Episcopum in Ca-
tholicft Ecclesia esse debere. ^ Pamel. Not. in Loc. * Orig.
Hom. 13. in Luc. Per singulas Ecclesias bini sunt Episcopi, alius visibilis,
alius invisibilis. Ego puto inveniri simul posse et Angelum et Ho-
minem bonos (leg. binos) Ecclesiee Episcopos.
CHAP. XIII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 131
there be something- peculiar in his notion) is a further con-
firmation of the Church's practice.
The writers of the following ages do so frequently men-
tion the same thing, that it would be as tedious, as it is
needless, to recite their* testimonies. Therefore I shall only
add these two things. First, that the council of Nice repeats
and confirms this ancient rule : for in the eighth canon,
which speaks of the Novatian bishops that return to the
Catholic Church, it is said, that any bishop may admit them
to officiate as presbyters in the city, or as Chorepiscopi in
the country, but not as city bishops, for this reason, 'iva /uij
Iv Tri woXei Suo tTTiaKoirot waiv, that there may not be two
bishops in one city. Secondly, that in fact the people were
generally possessed with the opinion of the absolute unlaw-
fulness of having two bishops sit together: insomuch that
Theodoret tells ^ us, when Constantius proposed to the
Roman people to have Liberius and Felix sit as co-partners,
and govern the Church in common, they unanimously agreed
to reject the motion, crying out, " One God, one Christ,
one Bishop !"
Sect. 2.— Yet Two Bishops sometimes alloAvedby Compromise, to end a Dis-
pute, or cure an inveterate Schism.
Yet it must be observ ed, that as the great end and design
of this rule was to prevent schism, and preserve the peace
and unity of the Church ; so, on the other hand, when it
manifestly appeared, that the allowing of two bishops in one
city, in some certain circumstances and critical junctures,
was the only way to put an end to some long and inveterate
schism ; in that case there were some catholic bishops, who
were willing to take a partner into their throne, and share the
episcopal power and dignity between them. Thus Meletius,
bishop of Antioch, made the proposal to Paulinus his anta-
gonist, who though he was of the same faith, yet kept up a
Church divided in communion from him. I shall relate the
' See Chrysost. Epist. 125. adCyriac. et Horn. 1, in Philip. Jerom Epist. 4.
ad Rustic. Ep. 85. ad Evagr. Com. in Tit. 2, Pseudo-I Heron. Com. in 1 Tim.
C.3. 12. Hilar. Diac. Com. in Phil. i. 1. It. in 1 Cor. xii. 28. ct in ITim. iii.
12. Pacian. Ep. 3 ad Scnipronian. Socrat. lib. vi. c. 22. Sozom. lib. iv-
c. 11 et Id. Tiicud. lib. iii. c. 1. *Thi-ud. lib. ii.c. 17.
132 THE 'antiquities OF l^HK [boOK II.
proposal in the words^ of Theodoret. " Meletius", says he,
" the meekest of men^thus friendly and mildly addressed him-
self to Paulinus ;"— ' Forasmuch as the Lord hath com-
mitted to me the care of these sheep, and thou hast received
the care of others, and all the sheep agree in one common
faith, let us join our flocks,my friend, and dispute no longer
about pi-imacy and government ; but let us feed the sheep in
common, and bestow a common care upon them. ^And if
it be the throne that creates the dispute, I will try to take
away that cause also. We Mill lay the Holy Gospel upon
the seat, and then each of us take his place on either side of
it. And if I die first, you shall take the government of the
flock alone, but if it be your fate to die before me, then I
will feed them according to my power.' " Thus spake the
divine Meletius," says our author, " lovingly and meekly ;
but Paulinus would not acquiesce, nor hearken to him."
We meet with another such proposal made to the Dona-
tist bishops, by all the catholic bishops of Afric assembled
together, at the opening of the famous conference of Car-
thage. There they offered them freely before the confer-
ence began, " that if they would return to the unity and com-
munion of the Church, upon due conviction, they should
retain theii-^ episcopal honour and dignity still;" and because
this could not be done, as the circumstances and case of
the Church then were, without allowing- two bishops for
' Theod. lib. v. c. 3. ^ 'Ei dt 6 fikcroQ !^wkoc t>)v 'ipiv ytvvq., eyw Kf
ravrrjv i^tXaaai TTsiortcro/tat. iv yap thtoj to Sitloi' TrporiSniKitig ivayyfXior,
ticarspm^iv »/jU«e Ka3-?)o-3^at Trapfyyuw. ^ Collat. Carth. 1. die. c, 16.
Sic nobiscuni teneant Unitatem, ut non solum viam salutis inveniant, sed nee
honorem EpiscopatQs amittant. — ~ Poterit quippe unusquisqne nos-
trum. Honoris sibi socio copulato, vicissim sedere eminentius, sicul peregrino
Episcopo juxta considente CollegS. Hoc cum alternis basilicis utrisque con-
ceditur, uterque ab alterutro lionorc mutuo prtevenitur : Quia ubi prseceptio
charitatis dilataverit corda, possessio pacis non fit angusta, ut uno eoruiu
jlefuncto, deinceps jam singulis singuli, pristine more, succedant. Nee novum
aliquid fiet : Nam hoc ab ipsius separationis exordio, in eis qui damnato ne-
farife discessionis errors, unitatis dulcedinem vel sero sapuerunt, Catholica
dilectio custodivit. Aut si forte Christiani Populi singulis delectantur Epis-
copls, et duorum consortium, inusitati rerum facie, tolcrare non possunt :
Utrique de medio secedamus ; et Ecclesiis in singulis, damnatS, schismatis
causa, in unitat.e pacifica, constitutis, ab his qui singuli in Ecclesiis singulis
invenientur, iinitati factie perlonga nccessiiria singuli constituanturEpi^copi.
CHAP. Xlll.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 133
some time to be in the same city, it was further proposed;
" that everj^ cathoUc bishop should take the other to be his
copartner and share the honour with him; allowing- him to
sit with him in his own chair, as was usual for bishops to
treat their fellow bishops that were strang-ers ; and also
granting him a Church of his own, where he might be capa-
ble of returning him the like civility ; that so they might
pay mutual respect and honour to each other, and take
their turns to sit highest in the Church, till such time as
one of them should die ; and then the right of succession
should be always in a single bishop, as it was before." " And
this," they say, " was no new thing in Afric ; for from the
beginning of the schism, they that would recant their error
and condemn their separation, and return to the unity of
the Church, were by the charity of Catholics always treated
in the same courteous manner." From hence it is plain, that
this had been the practice of Afric for above one whole cen-
tury ; and the present bishops proposed to follow the ex-
ample of their predecessors, in making this concession to
the Donatists, in order to close up and heal the divisons of
the Church. But they add, " that forasmuch as this method
might not be acceptable to all Christian people, who would
be much better pleased to see only a single bishop in every
Church, and perhaps would not endure the partnership of
two, which was an unusal thing; they therefore proposed
in this case, that both the bishops should freely resign, and
suiFer a single bishop to be chosen by such bishops as were
singly possessed of other Churches." So that at once they
testify both what was the usual and ordinary rule of the
Church, to have but one bishop in a city, and also how far
they were willing to have receded, in order to establish the
peace and unity of the Church in that extraordinary juncture.
I have been the more easily tempted to recite this passage
at large, not only because it is a full proof of all that has
been asserted in this chapter, but because it gives us such
an instance of a noble, self-denying zeal and charity as is
scarce to be paralleled in any history ; and shows us the
admirable spirit of those holy bishops, among whom St.
Austin was a leader.
134 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
Sect. 3. — ^The Opinions of Learned Men concerning two Bishops in a City
in the Apostolical Age, one of the Jews, and the other of the Gentiles.
Some very learned' persons are further of opinion, that
this rule about one bishop in a city, did not take place in the
apostolical age ; for they think that before the perfect
incorporation and coalition of Jews and Gentiles into one
body, there were two bishops in many cities, one of the
Jews, and another of the Gentiles. Thus they think it was at
Antioch, where Euodius and Ignatius are said to be bishops,
ordained by the Apostles ; as also Linus and Clemens, at
Rome, the one ordained by St. Peter, bishop of the Jews,
and the other by St. Paul, bishop of the Gentiles. Epipha-
nius seems to have been of this opinion ; for he says,^ Peter
and Paul were the first bishops of Rome ; and he makes
it a question, whether they did not ordain two other bishops
to supply their places in their absence. In another place *
he takes occasion to say, " that Alexandria never had two
bishops, as other Churches had ;" which observation,
bishop Pearson thinks, ought to be extended to the aposto-
lical ages, as implying that St. Mark, being the only
preacher of the Gospel at Alexandria, left but one bishop
his successor ; but in other Churches, sometimes two Apos-
tles gathered Churches, and each of them left a bishop in
his place. Yet this does not satisfy other learned persons,*
who are of a different judgment, and think, that though the
Apostles had occasion to ordain two bishops in some cities,
yet it was not upon the account of different Churches of
Jews and Gentiles, but in the ordinary way of succession, as
Ignatius was ordained at Antioch after the death of Euodius,
and Clemens, at Rome, after the death of Linus. I shall
not pretend to determine on which side the right lies in so
nice a dispute,* but leave it to the judicious reader, and only
say, that if the former opmion prevails, it proves another
exception to the common rule of having but one bishop in
a city ; or rather shows what was the practice of the Church
before the rule was made.
' Pearson. Vind. Isjnat. par. ii. c. 13. p. 414'. Hammond Dissert. 5. adv.
Blondel. c. 1. ^ Epjpj,an. Hapr. 27, Carpocrat. n. 6. ^ Idem
Ilier. 68. Meletian, n. 6. * Coteler. Not. in Coiistitut. Aposl. lib. vii.
c. 4(i. ^ Bishop Pearson himself alUicd his opinion. (Sec his Dis-
sf:rt. •*. de Hucccssionc Rom. Ponlif, c. -i.
CHAP. XIII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 135
Sect. 4. — Tlu- Case of Coadjutors.
To these we may add a third exception, In a case that is
more plain ; wliich was that of the coadjutors. These were
such bishops as were ordained to assist some other bishops
in case of infirmity or old age, and were to be subordinate
to them as long as they lived, and succeed them when they
died. Thus, when Narcissus, bishop of Jerusalem, was dis-
abled, by reason of his great ag-e, (being a hundred and
twenty years old,) Alexander was made his coadjutor. Eu-
sebius^ and St. Jerom both say it was done by revelation;
but they do not mean that Narcissus needed a revelation to
authorize him to take a coadjutor, but only to point out to
him that particular man. For Alexander was a stranger, and
a bishop already in another country, so that without a reve-
lation he could not have been judged qualified for this
office ; but being once declared to be so, there was no
scruple upon any other account •, but by the unanimous con-
sent^ of all the bishops in Palestine, he was chosen to take
part with Narcissus in the care and government of the
Church. Valesius^ reckons this the first instance of any
coadjutor to be met with in ancient history ; but there are
several examples in the following ages. Theotecnus,
bishop of Caesarea, made Anatolius his coadjutor, designing
him to be his successor, so that for some time they* both
governed the same Church together. Maximus* is said by
Sozomen to be bishop of Jerusalem together with Macarius.
Orion, bishop of Palsebisca, being* grown old, ordained
Siderius his coadjutor and successor, as Synesius^ informs
us. So Theodoref^ takes notice that John, bishop of
Apamea, had one Stephen for his colleague. And St.
Ambrose^ mentions one Senecio, who was coadjutor to
Bassus. In the same manner, Gregory Nazianzen was
• Euseb. lib. vi. c. 11. ^ Hieron. de Script. Eccl. in Alexandre.
Cunctis in Palaestinfi Episcopis in unum congregatls, adnitente quoque ipso
vel inaxime Narcisso, HierosoljmitansB Ecclesiae cum eo gubernaculum sus-
cepit. ^ Vales. Not. in Euseb. lib. vi. c. 1 1. * Euseb. lib. vii. c. 32.
' XfX(pij} tT]q avTT]QirpH^ri<jav UKXtjcriac. * Sozora. lib. ii. c. 20.
« Synes. Ep. 67. ^ Theod. lib. v. c. 4. ^ Ambr. 79. ad.
Theophil. Fratri nostro et Coepiscopo Basso in Consortium rcgenda Ecclesiae
datus est Senecio.
130 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK H.
bishop of Nazianzum, together with his ag^d father. Baro-
nius,^ indeed, denies that ever he was bishop of Nazianzum;
but St. Jerom,^ and all the ancient historians, Socrates,^
Sozomen,* RufFin,* and Theodoret,^ expressly assert it ;
thoup'h some of them mistake in calling him his father's
successor ; for he was no otherwise bishop of Nazianzum,
but only as his father's coadjutor. He entered upon
the office with this protestation, " That he w ould not
be oblig'ed to continue bishop there any longer than
his father lived," as he himself acquaints '^ us in his own
life, and other places. So that, after his father's death,
he actually resigned ; and getting- Eulalius to be ordained
in his room, he betook himself^ to a private life; all
which evidently proves that he was not his father's suc-
cessor, but only his coadjutor. I will but add one instance
more of this nature, Mdiich is the known case of St. Austin,
who was ordained bishop of Hippo whilst Valerius was liv-
ing", and sat with him^ for some time, as his coadjutor ;
which he did by the consent of the primate; of Carthag-e,
and the primate of Numidia, who ordained him. Possidius
says " he had some scruple upon him at first, because he
looked upon it as contrary to the custom of the Church;
but being- told, that it was a thing commonly practised both
in the African and Transmarine Churches, he yielded, with
some reluetancy, to be ordained." These instances are evi-
dent proof that it was not thought contrary to the true
sense of the canon, in case of infirmity or old age, to have
coadjutors in the Church. Though, it is true, St. Austin was
of opinion that his own ordination was not regular, when
afterward he came to know the Nicene canon, which he did
not know before ; and, for this reason, he would not ordain
Eradius ^^ bishop whilst he himself lived, though he had no-
minated him, with the consent of the Church, to be his
' Baron, an. 371. n. 106. ^ Hieron. de Script. Eccl.Gregoriuspri-
mum Sasimorum, deinde Nazianzenus Episcopus, «&c. * Socrat.
lib. iv. c. 26, * Sozom. lib. vi. c. 17. ^ Ruffln. lib. ii. c. 9.
6 Theod. lib. v. c. 8. ' Naz. Carm. de Vita sua. It. Orat. 8. ad Patr.
« Naz. Ep. 42. ad Greg.Nyss. ® Possid. Vit, Aug. c. 8. Paulin. Ep.
46. ad Roman. Aug. Ep. 34 et 110. »» Aug. Ep. 110. Quod repre-
hensum est in me, nolo reprehendi in filio meo. Exit Presbyter ut est,
4viando Deus voluerit futiu-us Episcopus.
CHAP. XIV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. IS7
successor. But all men did not understand the canon in this
strict and rigorous sense that St. Austin did, as absolutely
forbidding two bishops to be in a Church at the same time,
in all cases whatsoever, but only when there was no just
reason, and the necessities of the Church did not require it.
But if there was a reasonable cause to have more bishops
than one, as when a bishop was unable to execute his office,
or in any the hke case, the canon did not oblige, as appears
from the instances that have been mentioned, and several
others that might be added to them.
CHAP. XIV.
Of the Chorepiscopi, nepiodtvToi, and Suffragan Bishops;
and how these differed from one another.
Sect. 1.— Of the Reason of the Name Chorepiscopi, and the Mistake of
some about it.
As the bishops, when they were disabled by old age or
infirmity, ordained themselves coadjutors in the city; so
when their dioceses were enlarged, by the conversion of
pagans, in the country and villages at a great distance from
the city-church, they created themselves another sort of
assistants in the country, whom they called Chorepiscopi;
who were so named, not because they were ex choro sacer-
dofum, as a Latin writer,^ by mistake, derives the word, but
because they were riig x<^'p"^ imaKoiroi, country-bishops, as
the word properly signifies, and not presbyters of the city
regions, as Salmasius understands it.
Sect. 2. — Three different Opinions about the Nature of this Order : 1st.
That they were mere Presbyters.
Now, though the name does in some measure determine
their quality, yet great dispute has been among learned
men, concerning the nature of this order. Among the
school-men and canonists it is a received opinion, that they
' Raban. Maur. de Instit. Sacerd. lib. i. c. 5. Salmas. de Primat. c. 1.
VOL. I. ^
133 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
were only presbyters; as maybe seen in Turrian,* Estius,'
Antonius Auj^ustinus,^ and Gratian,* who are followed not
only by Salmasius/ but by Spalatensls,'' Dr. Field,' and
Dr. Forbes,^ the last of wliich bring-s several arguments to
prove that they were mere presbyters, and never had any
episcopal ordination.
Sect. 3. — A second Opinion, that some of them were Presbyters, and some
of them Bishops.
Others think there were two sorts of Chorepiscopi, some
that had episcopal ordination, and others that were simple
presbyters ; which is the opinion of Cabassutius,* Peter de
Marca,^" and Bellarmin." They all allow, that in some cases,
it happened that the Chorepiscopi were bishops, because they
were ordained bishops before they were made Chorepiscopi.
And thus much is certainly true ; for in the primitive
Church sometime?, bishops were ordained to a place, but
not received, either through the perversenes of the people,
or by reason of persecution, or the like cause ; and such
bishops (whom the ancient writers*^ and canons terra
(T\o\aXoi and (T)(o\aZovTeg liriaKOTroi, vacant bishops,) not
being permitted to officiate in their own Church, were ad-
mitted to act as Chorepiscopi under any other bishop that
would entertain them. The council of Nice'^ made the like
provision for such of the Novatian bishops as would return
to the Catholic Church ; " that the bishop of the place should
admit them either to the office of a city-presbyter, or a
Chorepiscopus ; that there might not be two bishops in one
city." And so it was determined likewise, by the same coun-
cil,** in the case of the Meletian bishops, " that upon their re-
turn to the unity of the Church, they should be allowed to
officiate in subordination to the bishops of the Catholic
» Turrian. Not. in Can. 54. Con. Nic. Arabic. * Est. in 4. Sent.
Dist. xxxiv. sect. 30. ^ Ant. August, Epit. Jur. Can. lib. vi. Tit. i.
c. 8. 11. 13. ♦ Grat. Dist. vi. c. 4, 5. * Wallo Messalin.
c. 5. p. 315. 6 Spalat. de Repub. par. 1. lib. ii. c. 9. n. 17, 18, 19.
» Field of the Church, lib. v. c. 29. ^ Forb. Iren. lib. ii. c. 11. Prop. 14.
p. 249. » Cabassut. Notit. Concil. c. 8. p. 45. '"Pet. de
Marca de Concord, lib. ii. c. 13. " Bellarm. de Cleric, lib. i. c. 17.
*' Socrat. H. E. lib. iv. c. 7. Cone. Antioch. can. 16. '^ Cone. Nic.
ean. 8. '* Cone. Nic. Ep. Synod, ap, Socrat. H. E. lib. i. c. 9.
CHAP. XIV.], CHRISTIAN CHURCH. J 39
Church." Now it is plain, tliatall such Chorepiscopi as these
were properly bishops, because they Mere orig-lnally or-
dained bishops before they came to act in the quality of
country-bishops under others. But for all the rest, de
Marca thinks they were only presbyters.
Sect. 4. — The third Opinion, that they were all Bishops, the most probable.
Both these opinions (which differ little from one another)
are rejected by Bp. Barlow,* Dr. Hammond,^ Dr. Beve-
rege,^ Dr. Cave,* and even by Mr. Blondel* himself, who,
though by some reckoned among those of the contrary
opinion, has a long dissertation against de Marca, to prove
that all the Chorepiscopi, mentioned in the ancient councils,
were properly bishops. And there needs no fuller proof of
this, than what Athanasius says in his second Apolo^-y •
where he puts a manifest distinction betwixt presbyters and
the Chorepiscopi. For, speaking of the irregular promo-
tion of Ischyras, who was made bishop of the reo-ion of
Mareotis by the Eusebian faction, he says, " Mareotis was
only a region of Alexandria, and that all the Churches of
that precinct were immediately subject to the bishop of
Alexandria, and never had either bishop or Chorepiscopus ^
among them, but only presbyters, fixed each in their re-
spective villages or Churches." This, as Blondel ' well ob-
serves, shows evidently, that the Chorepiscopi were not the
same with presbyters ; however the forger of the Decretal
Epistles, under the name of Pope Leo and Damasus^ woul^
have persuaded the world to believe so.
Sect. 5. — Some Objections against this answered.
But why then does the council of Neocsesarea^ say, that
the Chorepiscopi were only in imitation of the seventv ? I
answer, because they were subject to the city-bishops, as
• Barlow's Letter to Bishop Usher in Ush. Let. ccxxii. p. 620. ® Iltitn.
Dissert. 3. cont. Blondel. c. 8. ^ Beverog. Pandect. 2. Not. la
Cone. Ancyr. can. 13, * Cave Prim. Christ, par. i. c.8. p. 224.
* Blondel. Apol. p. 95, &c. « Athan. Apol. ii. torn. 1. p. 802. ' Blon-
del. Apol. p. 127. Non uniim cum Presbytcrls Chorepiscopos fnisse, aut
eandem forniani gestasse, pront Decretaliuni suppositori somniare visum est.
* Cone. Neocffisar. can. 14. XwptiriffKoiroi hcri n'lv iig tvttov tUv i^iofuiKovra.
140 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK H.
the seventy elders were subject to Moses, or the seventy
disciples to the Apostles. For whatever the council means
by the seventy, it cannot be proved thence that the Chore-
piscopi were mere presbyters.
But it is said, that they could not be bishops, because the
ordination of bishops was to be performed by three bishops,
with the consent of the metropolitan and the provincial
bishops; whereas the council of Antioch^ says, " That a
Chorepiscopiis was ordained by one bishop only, the bishop
of the city, to whose jurisdiction he belong-ed." To
this the reply is easy,— that this was one principal diffe-
rence between the city-bishops and country-bishops, w^ho
differed both in the manner of their ordination, and in their
power ; for the one was subordinate to the other. Therefore
those canons which require three bishops to impose hands
in the ordination of a bishop, speak only of such bishops as
were to be absolute and supreme governors of their own
diocese, and not of such who were subordinate to them,
whom the city-bishops might ordain at their own discretion,
yet so as to stand accountable to a provincial sj nod.
Sect. 6. — The Chorepiscopi allowed to ordain the inferior Clergy, but not
Presbyters or Deacons, without special License from the City-Bisliop.
The office of these Chorepjiscopi was to preside over the
country clergy, and inijuire into their behaviour, and make
report thereof to the city-bishop; as also to provide fit
persons for the inferior service and ministry of the Church.
And, to give them some authority, they had certain privi-
leg"es conferred on them ; as, 1st, They might ordain
readers, sub-deacons, and exorcists, for the use of the
country-churches. St. Basil ^ requires of his Chorepiscopi,
that they should first acquaint him with the qualification of
such persons, and take his license to ordain them. But the
council of Antioch ^ gives them a general commission to
ordain all under presbyters and deacons, without consulting
the city-bishop upon every such promotion : and for pres-
byters and deacons, they might ordain them too, but not
. ' Concil. Antioch. can. 10; ^ gasil. Epist. 181. ^ Cone.
Antioch. can. 10.
CHAP. XIV.J CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 141
St'X" Ts Iv ryj ttoXh tTTioKoirs, without the special leave of the
city-bishop, under whose jurisdiction both they and the
country were. And this is the meaning- of the council of
Ancyra,^ which says, "The Chorepiscopi shall not have
power to ordain presbyters or deacons;" which we must
interpret by the exphcation given in the council of Antioch,
that they should not be authorized to do it, without the par-
ticular direction of the city-bishop 5 but by his leave they
might.
Sect. 7. — They had Power to confirm.
2dly. They had power to minister confirmation to such as
Avere newly laaptized in country-churches. This is expressly
provided by the council of Riez,^ in the case of Armenta-
rius, whom they reduced to the quality of a Chorepiscopus^
but still allowed him the privilege of confirming neophytes;
which argues, that confirmation might then be administered
by the hands of the Chorepiscopi in country-churches.
Sect. 8. — And Power to grant Letters Diraissory to the Clergy.
3dly. They had power to grant letters dimissory, or, as
they were otherwise called, canonical and irenical letters,
to the country-clergy, who desired to remove from one dio-
cese to another. Thus I understand that canon of the coun-
cil of Antioch,^ which says, " Country-presbyters shall not
grant canonical letters, KavoviKclg tTri^roXacj or send letters to
any neighbour-bishop ; but the Chorepiscopi may grant
ilpi]viKdg, letters dimissory, or letters of peace.
Sect. 9. — They had Power to officiate in the Presence of the City-Bishop.
4thly. They had liberty to officiate in the city-church, in
the presence of the bishop and presbyters of the city, which
country-presbyters had not ; for so the council of Neocie-
sarea determined in two canons to this purpose :* " The
country presbyters shall not offer the oblation, nor distri-
bute the bread and wine, in time of prayer, in the city-
church, when the bishop and presbyters are present ; but
' Con. Ancyr. can. 14. - Cone. Rciens. c. 3. ^ Con. An-
tioeh. can. 6. * Con. Nepcacs. can. 13 cl 14.
142 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
the country-bishops being in imitation of the seventy, as
fellow-hibourers, for their care of the poor, are admitted
to ofl'er."
Sect. 10. — And to sit and vote in Council,
5thly. They had the privilege of sitting and voting in sy-
nods and councils ; of which there are several instances still
remaining in the acts of the ancient councils. In the first
Nicene council,' Palladius and Seleucius subscribe them-
selves Chorepiscopi of the province of Coelosyria ; Eudse-
mon, Chorepiscopus of the province of Cilicia ; Gorgonius,
Stephanas, Euphronius, Rhodon, Theophanes, Chorepis-
copi of the province of Cappadocia; Hesychius, Theodore,
Anatolius, Quintus, Aquila, hCorepiscopi of the province of
Isauria; Theustinus and Eulalius, of the province of Bithy-
nia. So again, in the council of Neocaisarea,^ Stophanus
and Rudus, or Rhodon, two of the same that were in the
council of Nice, subscribed themselves Chorepiscopi of the
province of Cappadocia. And in the council of Ephesus, *
Cscsarius, Chorepiscopus of Alee,
Sect. 1 l.—T'ne Power of the Chorepiscopi not the same in all Times and Places.
But here I must observe, that the povver and privileges
of the Chorepiscopi varied much, according to the difference
of times and places ; for when the synod of Riez in France,
Anno, 439, had deposed Armentarius from his bishopric, be-
cause he was uncanonically ordained, they allowed him the
pvivileg-e of being a Chorepiscopus, after the example of the
Nicene fathers, but limited him as to the exercise of his
power. For though they gave him authority to confirm
neophytes, and consecrate virgins, and celebrate the eucha-
rist in any country-church, with preference to any presbyter
of the region, yet, 1st. they denied him* the privilege of con-
secrating the eucharist in the city-church, which, by the
thirteenth canon of the council of Neocaesarea, was allowed
to other Chorepiscopi: 2d{y, they confined him to a
single Church in the exercise of his Chorepiscopal power,
' Con. Nic. I. in Subscription. * Con. Neocics. in Subscription,
' Con. Ephcs. Act. I. * Cone. Reiens. can. S.
CHAP. XIV.] CHRISTAIN CHURCH. 143
Avlieieas, others had power over a whole reg'ion : 3clly,
they forbad him to ordain any of the inferior clergy, even in
hisown Church, which other Chorepiscopi were allowed to
do by the thirteenth canon of the council of Aneyra ; and
hence it appears, that as their power was precarious, and
depending- upon the will of councils and city-bishops, from
whom they received it, so by this time their authority beg-ati
to sink apace in the Church.
Sect. 12.— Their Power first struck at by the Council of Laodlcea, which set
up ntpiocevTai in tlieir Room.
The council of Laodicea gave them the first blow, Anno,
360; for there it was decreed,^ "that for the future no bishops
should be placed in country villages, but only Uepiodevrm,
itinerant or visiting presbi/ters; and for such bishops as were
already constituted, they should do nothing without the con-
sent and direction of the city-bishop." In the council of
Chalcedon we meet with some such presbyters expressly
styled UspiodivToi, as Alexander^ and Valentinus,^ each of
w hich has the title of presbyter and EEptoStwrTjc ; and so in
the fifth general-council at Constantinople,* one Sergius, a
presbyter, has the same title of U^piodivrriQ, curator or visitor
of the Syrian churches ; yet still the order of the Chorepis-
copi was preserved in many places, for not only mention is
made of them by Gregory Nazianzen,^ and St. Basil, in the
fourth century, but also by Theodoret,^ who speaks of Hy-
patius and Abramius; his own Chorepiscopi. And in the
council of Chalcedon, in the fifth century, we find the Cho-
repiscopi sitting and subscribing in the name of the bishops
that sent them ; but this was some diminution of their power,
for in former councils they subscribed in their own names,
as learned men^ agree : but now their power was sinking,
and it went on to decay and dwindle by degrees, till at last,
in the ninth century, when the forged Decretals were set on
foot, it was pretended that they were not true bishops, and
' Con. Laod. can. 57. ^ Con, Chalced. Act. 4. * Ibid.
Act. 10. ♦ Con. C. P. sub Menna. Act. i. p. 563. * Nazian.
Ep. 88. Theodoro. Basil. Ep. 181. * Theod. Ep. 1 13. ad Leon.
' Blondel. Apol. p. 131. Berereg. Not. in Con, Ancyr. c, 13.
144 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK 11.
SO the order, by the Pope's tyranny came to be laid aside in
the western Church.
Sect. 13. — Of the Attempt to restore the Ckorepiscopi in England, under the
Name of Suffragan Bishops.
Some attempt was made in England at the beginning- of
the Reformation, to restore these under the name of suffragan
Mshops ; for, as our histories informus,* by an act of the 26th
of Henry the Vlllth, Anno, 1534, several towns were ap-
pointed for suffragan sees, viz. Thetford, Ipswich, Colchester,
Dover, Guildford, Southampton, Taunton, Shaftsbury, Mol-
ton, Marlborough, Bedford, Leicester, Gloucester, Shrews-
bury, Bristol, Penreth, Bridgewater, Nottingham, Grantham,
Hull, Huntingdon, Cambridge, Pereth, Berwick, St, G erraains
in Cornwall, and the Isle of Wight. These suffragans were
to be consecrated by the archbishop, and two other bishops,
and by the act to have the same episcopal power as suffra-
gans formerly had within this realm; but none of them either
to have or act any thing properly episcopal, without the con-
sent and permission of the bishop of the city, in whose dio-
cese he was placed and constituted. Now any one that com-
pares this with the account that I have given of the ancient
Ckorepiscopi, w ill easily perceive that these suffragans were
much of the same nature with them ; but then I must observe
that this was a new name for them.
Sect. 14. — Suffragan Bishops different from the Ckorepiscopi in the Primitive
Church.
For anciently suffragan bishops were all the city-bishops
of any province under a metropolitan ; who were called his
suffragans, because they met at his conimand to give their
suffrage, counsel, or advice in a provincial synod, and in this
sense, the word was used in England at the time when Lin-
wood wrote his Provinciate, which was not above an hundred
years before the Reformation, Anno, 1430. In his comment
upon one of the constitutions of John Peckham, archbishop
of Canterbury, which begins with these words, " Omnibus,
et singulis Coepiscopis suffraganeis nostris ;" to all and
' Burnet Hist, of Refer, vol. ii. p. 157.
CHAP. XIV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 145
singular our fcUow-hishn'ps and suffragans /" upon this word
suliVaorans he has this note :^ " They were called suffragans,
hecause they were bound to g-ive their suiFrage and assist-
ance to the archbishop, being- summoned to take part in his
care, though not in the plenitude of his power."" Whence
it is plain, that in his time suffragan bishops did not signify
Chorepiscopi, or rural bishops, but all the bishops of England
under their archbishops or metropolitans. Thus it was also
in other Churches : the seventy bishops who were imme-
diately subject to the bishop of Rome, as their primate or
metropolitan, were called his suffragans, because they were
frequently called to his synods ; as the reason of the name
is given in an ancient Vatican MS. cited by Baronius.^
Sect, lo,— The Suffragan Bisliops of the Roman Provuiccs called by a tech-
nical Name, Libra.
And here it will not be amiss to observe, whilst we are
speaking of suffragan bishops, that these seventy bishops,
who were suffragans to the bishop of Rome, were by a pe-
culiar technical name called Libra ; which name was given />>u/*kA/ .
them for no other reason, but because of their number ^'^^^^g'^^
seventy. For the Roman libra, as antiquaries^ note, con-
sisted of seventy solidi, or so many parts ; and therefore the
number seventy, in any other things, or persons, thence took
the name oi libra ; as the seventy witnesses, which are in-
troduced deposing against Marcellinus, in the council of
Sinuessa, that they saw him sacrifice, are by the author of
those acts,* termed libra occidua, for no other reason, as
Baronius^ conceives, but because they were seventy in num-
ber. And Grotius" gives the same reason for affixing this
> Linwood Provlnc. lib. 1. tit. ii. c. 1. Suffiaganeis. Sic dictis, quia Archi-
episcopo suffragari et assistere tenentur, &c. ^ Baron, an. 1057. n.
23. Prseter septem coUaterales Episcopos erant alii Episcopi, qui dicuntur
Suffraganei Romani Pontificis, nulli alii Primati vel Archiepiscopo subjecti,
qui frequenter ad Synodos vocarentur. ^ Brerewood de Ponder, et
Pret. c. 15. *Concil. Sinuess. ap. Crab. t. i. p. 190. Hi omnes
electi sunt viri, Libra Occidua, qui testimonium perhibent, videntes Mareelli-
num thurificSsse. * Baron, an. 302. n. 92. ^ Grot, in
Luc. 10. 1. RomanisEpiscopis jam olim septuaginta Episcopi adsessores Libra
dicti, quod libra Romana tot solidos contineret.
VOL. I. S
14G THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
title on the seventy bishops, who were assessors or suffrag^ans
to the bisliop of Rome ; they were, as one might say, his
Libia, or ordinary provincial council.
CHAP. XV.
Of the Intercessores and Jnierventores in the African Churches.
Sect. 1. — Why Some Bishops called Intercessors in the African Churches.
There is one appellation more g-iven to some bishops in
the African councils, which must here be taken notice of,
whilst we are speaking- of bishops, which is the name inter-
cessor and interventor; a title given to some bishops upon the
account of a pro-tempore office, which was sometimes com-
mitted to them. In the African Churches, and perhaps in
others also, upon the vacancy of a bishopric, it was usual
for the primate to appoint one of the provincial bishops to
be a sort of procurator of the diocese ; partly, to take care of
the vacant see ; and partly, to promote and procure the
speedy election of a new bishop: and from this he had the
name of intercessor anr* interventor.
Sect. 2. — The Office of an Intercessor not to last above a Year.
The design of this office was manifestly to promote the
good of the Church, but it was liable to be abused two ways ;
for the intercessor, by this means, had a fair opportunity
given to ingratiate himself with the people, and promote
his own interest among'^them, instead of that of the Church;
either by keeping the see void longer than was necessary ;
or if it w as a wealthier, or more honourable place than his
own, by getting himself chosen into it. To obviate any
such designs, the African fathers, in the fifth council of
Carthage, made a decree, that no intercessor should con-
tinue in his office for above a year ; but if he did not pro-
cure a new bishop to be chosen within that time, another in-
tercessor should be sent in his room.
Sect. 3. — No Intercessor to be made Bishop of the Place where he was con-
stituted Intercessor.
And the more effectually to cut off all abuses, and pre-
CHAP. XVI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 117
vent corruption, they enacted it also into a law,' that no in-
tercessor should be capable of succeeding himself in the
vacant see, whatever motions or solicitations were made by
the people in his behalf. So extremely cautious were these
holy African fathers to prevent abuses in matters of this
nature.
CHAP. XVI.
Of Priynatcs or Metropolitans.
Sect. 1. — Some derive the original of Metropolitans from Apostolical Consli?
tution.
The same reasons which first brought in CJiorepiscopi,
and coadjutors, as subordinate to bishops in every city-
church, made the bishops of every province think it neees^
sary to make one of themselves superior to all the rest, and
invest him with certain powers and privileges for the g'ood
of the whole ; whom they therefore named their primate or
metropolitan, that is, the principal bishop of the province.
Bishop Usher^ derives the orig-in of this settlement from
apostolical constitution ; so also bishop Beverege,^ Dr. Ham-
mond,* Peter de Marca, and some others ; and there are
several passages in Eusebius and Chrysostom which seem
to favour this : for Eusebius'' says, " Titus had the superin-
tendency of all the Churches in Crete ;" and Chrysostom in
like manner,^ "that the Apostle committed to him the whole
island, and gave him power to censure all the bishops therein."
He says the same of Timothy ,''^ " that he was entrusted with
the government of the Church in the whole region or pro-
vince of Asia." And it is certain, the Cyprian bishops in the
' Con. Carth. v. can. 8. Placuit, \\i nuUi Intercessor! licitum sit, Cathedram,
cui Intercessor datus est, quibuslibet populonun studiis, vel seditionibus re-
tincre : sed dare operain, ut intra annum eisdeni Episcopum provideat. Quod
si neglexerit, anno expletp, Interveutor alius tribuatur. ' Usser. de
Prig. Episc. et Metrop. ^ Bevercg. Cod. Can. Vind. lib, ii. c. 5.
p. 12. * Ham. Pref. to Titus. It. Dissert. 4. conf. Blondel. c. 5.
* Euseb. H. E. lib. iii. c. 4. Twi' i-jvl Kpt'iTtjg tKKXijaiioi/ iiriffKO-Tn)}' UXiix'tvat.
* Chrys. Horn. 1. in Tit. 'Siiiroi' 6\o;c\>joor — K) rootirwv iniaKOKior Kpiffu/
iTrtrpt^^er. ' Id. Horn. 1-3. in 1 Tiiu.
148 THK ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
council of Ephesus,' pleaded the privileges of their metro-
politan to be as ancient as the Apostles.
Sect. 2, — Others from the Age next after the Apostles.
But it may be doubted, whether the Apostles made any
such general settlement of metropolitans in every province,
and the records of the original of most Churches being" lost,
it cannot be certainly proved they did. De Marca^ thinks,
that though the Apostles gave a model or specimen in
Timothy and Titus, yet they left it to following ag-es to finish
and complete it. Dr. Cave says,^ "it commenced not long-
after the apostolic age, when sects and schisms began to
break in apace; and controversies multiplying between par-
ticular bishops, it was found necessary to pitch upon one in
every province, to v\hom the umpirage of cases might be
referred, and by whom all common and public affairs might
be directed." Perhaps it took its rise from that common re-
spect and deference, which was usually paid, by the rest of
the bishops, to the bishop of the civil metropolis in every
province ; which, advancing into a custom, was afterwards
made into a canon by the council of Nice.
Sec t, 3. — Confessed by all to have heen long before the Council of Nice.
This is certain, that the Nicene council speaks of metropo-
litans as settled by ancient custom long before, when it
ushers in the canon about them with, doxatf*^ t'^*) KparuTto,
let ancient customs^ be continued, and then goes on to
speak of the custom in Egypt, which was for the bishop of
Alexandria to have power over all the Churches of Egypt,
Libya, and Pentapolis ; which was metropolitical, if not
patriarchal, power. Epiphanius^ mentions the same, speak-
ing-of Alexander and Peter, bishops of Alexandria, before
the council of Nice, he says, " they had £KicArjo-ta<rticr) v
SiotKrjatv, the admiiiistrationof ecclesiastical a^ai/'* through-
out all Egypt, Thebais, Mareotes, Libya, Ammoniaca, Ma-
reotis, and Pentapolis." And Athanasius,'' speaking of Dio-
' Con. Ephes. Act. 7. * Marca de Concord, lib. vi. c. 1. n. 9.
^ Cave Anc. Ch. Gov. p. 92. ^ Con. Nicen. can. 6. "' Epi-
phan. User. 68. n. 1. et Hacr. 69. n. 3. . ^ Athan. de Scntcnl. Dionys.
. p. J5:i.
CHAP. XVI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 149
nysius, Avho was bishop of Alexandria above sixty years
before this council, says, " he also enjoyed this power,
having- the care of the Churches of Pentapolis, and Libya,
when Sabellius broached his heresy ; and that he wrote let-
ters of admonition to several bishops of those parts, who
began to be infected with his heresy." These are unde-
niable evidences that the bishops of Alexandria were not
first invested with metropolitical power, by the council of
Nice, but only confirmed in those rig-hts, which, by ancient
custom and prescription, they had long- enjoyed. And this
was also the case of other churches.
The council of Eliberis, in Spain,' speaks of a Primce
cathedi'ce episcopus, a 'primate or bishop of the first see;
and those called the Apostles' Canons, (which were the ca-
nons of the Greek Church in the third century,) mentiori a
UpioTog, or chief bishop, m every province, whom the rest
were to look upon as their head,^ and do nothing without
him. And it appears from several of Cyprian's epistles,^ that
the bishop of Carthage had a presidency over all the other
African bishops, and power to send his mandates among-
them. And St. Austin speaks of the primate of Numidia,
as well as the primate of Carthage, before the schism of the
Donatists ; and says, " they gave that for one reason of their
schism,* that the primate of Numidia was not called to
elect and consecrate the primate of Carthage." And there-
fore, as both the same St. Austin* and Optatus,*^ take notice,
the Donatists pretending- that the ordination of Caecilian,
bishop of Carthage, was not valid, because not performed by
a primate, sent for Seeundus Tig-isitanus, who was then
primate of Numidia, to ordain Majorinus in his room. Now
as all this was transacted several years before the council of
Nice, so it proves that primates were in Afric, antecedent to
the establishment of that council.
' Con. Eliber. an. 305. can. 58. ^ Can. Apost. c. 35. » Cypr.
Ep. 42. ad Cornel. Per provinciam nostram hsec eadem Collegis singulis in no-
titiani perferentes, ab his quoque Fratres nostros cum Uteris dirigendos esse
mandavimus. See also Ep. 40. ad Pleb. Cartlmg. Ep. 45. ad Cornel.
■* Aug. Brevic. CoUat. Tert. die, c. 10. ^ Aug. coiit. Parracn. lib.
i. c. 3. Venicntcs cum Piiinale siio tunc iSccundo Tigisitanto, &c. * Op
tat, lib. i. i>.41.
150 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK U.
Sect. 4. — Proofs of Metropolitans in the second Century.
If we ascend higher yet, and look into the second cen-
tury, there are some foot-steps of the same power, though
not so evident as the former. Lyons, in France, was a me-
tropoUs in the civil account, and Ireneeus, who was bishop
of it, is said to have the superintendency of the Gallican
faroecice, or c^toeeses, as Eusebius' words it. Philip, bishop
of Gortyna, in Crete, is styled by Dionysius,^ of Corinth,
bishop of all the Cretian Churches. Polycrates, bishop of
Ephesus, presided^ in council over all the bishops of Asia ;
Palraas, bishop of Amastris, over the bishops of Pontus; and
Theophilus* of Csesarea, with Narcissus of Jerusalem, over
the rest of the bishops of Pala^stine.
These are the common proofs, which are ordinarily al-
leged in this case ; yet, I shall freely own, that the three
last of them do not cogently prove the thing in dispute. For
presiding- in council does not necessarily infer metropolitical
pow er ; because, they might preside as senior bishops ; as,
Euscbius says expressly one of them did, viz. Palmas,
bishop of Amastris," MQaQ^moTaToq irpsTiraKTo, he presided as
the most ancient bishop among themT Which seems to be
noted by Eusebius, not without g'ood reason : for Heraclea,
and not Amastris, was the civil metropolis of Pontus. Blon-
del, from this passage, concludes, that at this time the senior
bishops in all places were the metropolitans. But this does
not sufficiently appear to have been the custom any where
else, but in the African Churches, of which I shall presently
give an account ; for the other instances that have been
given, seem rather to make it evident, that the bishops of
the civil metropoles were generally the primates or metro-
politans in the Church also.
Sect. 5. — By what Names Metropolitans were anciently called.
It is true indeed, none of these are expressly called
metropolitans : for that name scarcely occurs in any ancient
record before the council of Nice; but they were at first
' Euseb. H. E. lib. V. c. 23. Twr KaTaTnW'uiv irapotKiwi>,MQ EiQtivaiog
iTTioKO'/rti. • Dionys. Ep. ap. Euseb. lib. iv. c. 3, ^ Euseb.
lib. V. c. "21, * Eiibcb. lib. v. c. 'id.
CHAP. XVI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCll. 151
termed npwrot and KetpuXat, chief bishops, nnd heads of the
province, as the Apostolical Canon^ styles them. After-ages
g-ave them other names, as that of archbishops, at Alexan-
dria* and other places, till that name became appropriate
to the patriarchs. The council of Sardica^ styles them
"E^apYot Ti\Q eirap^iac;, exarchs of the province. St. Austin
sometimes calls them principes,^ princes; and Pope Hilary/
monarchs. But these being titles of g-randeur, and savour-
ing too much of absolute sovereignty and dominion, were
expressly prohibited by the third council of Carthage, which
ordered that no superior bishop should be called^ high-priest
or prince of the priests, but only Primes sedis episcopus,
primate, or senior bishop. Hence it was, that those bishops,
who, in other parts of the world, were called metropolitans,
in Afric had commonly the name of primates; though we
sometimes meet with the name, metropolitan,'^ in the
African councils also.
Sect. 6 -Primates in Afiic called Senes, because the oldest Bishop was
always Metropolitan.
But these primates in Afric are frequently called Patres
Series. As in the African code, Xantippus primate of
Numidia, is once and again^ styled, Senex Xantippus ;
and St. Austin writing to him, inscribes his epistle,^ Patri
et consacerdoti seni Xantippo:, and thus, in many other
epistles,'" writing to the primates, or speaking' of them, he
g'ives them the names of Senes. And there was a peculiar
reason for o-ivino- them this name in Afric ; for here the
primacy was not fixed, as in other places, to the civil metro-
polis, but always went along with the oldest bishop of the
province, who succeeded to this dignity by virtue of his
' Canon. Apost. c. 35. - Epiphan Ha;r. GSet 69. ^ Con.
Sard, can. 6. * Aupf. Brevic. Collat. tert. die. c. 16. Nonexpectavit
Caecilianus, ut Princeps aPrincii)e ordinavetur. * Hilar. Ep. ad Leont.
Arelatens. ap. Baron, an. 462. In Provincia qua; ad IMonarchiam tuain spectat,
&c. ^Con. Carth. 3. can. xxvi. Ut Primse sedis Episcopus non appellotur
Princeps Sacerdotum, aut SummusSacerdos, aut aliquid hujusniodi, sed tantum
Primse sedis Episcopus. 'Con. Car. 3. can. 39. Carth. i. can. 1. ^Cod.
Can. Eccl. Afr. c. 91 et 101. » Auj.Ep. 236. '<> Aug. Ep. U9,
152,235,261, &c.
152 THE ANTIQUTTIKS OF THK [bOOK II.
seniority, whatever place he Hvecl in. In oth.er parts of
the world the bishop of the civil metropolis was commonly
metropolitan in the Church also ; and so it was ordered to
be by several canons, both of the eastern and western
Churches. The council of Antioch * bids all bishops observe
that the bishop of the metropolis has the care of the whole
province, because all men that have business or contro-
versies to be decided, resort from all parts to the metropolis.
And the council of Turin^ upon this foot determined a
dispute about primacy betwixt the two bishops of Aries and
Vienna; decreeing-," that he, that could prove his city to be
the metropolis, should be the primate of the whole province."
The council of Chalcedon has two canons,-^ appointing-
those cities to be metropoles in the Church, which were so
in the civil division of the empire: and the council of Tiullo*
has one to the same purpose.
But in the African Churches it was otherwise, for they
were governed by rules and canons of their own; and their
rule was, to let the primacy remove from city to city, and
still go along- with the senior bishop, without any regard
to the civil metropolis ; except only at Carthage, where the
bishop was a fixed and standing metropolitan for the pro-
vince of Africa, properly so called. But in Numidia and
Mauritania this honour was moveable ; as may appear from
this one instance. Constantina was the ci\il metropolis of
Numidia, as we learn both from the ancient Notitia of the
empire, and one of the canons* of the African code, which
expressly styles it so ; yet the primacy was so far from
bein<r settled here, that we never so much as find that the
bishop of Constantina was at any time the primate : but m
Constantine's time Seeundus Tigisitanus*' was primate of
Numidia; in St. Austin's time Megalius, bishop of Calama,
was primate, who by virtue of his office'^ ordained St. Austin
' Con. Antioch. can. 0. ® Con.Taurin. can. 2. Qui ex iis com-
probaverlt suam civitatem esse Metropolim, is totius Provinciae honorem
Primatus obtineat. ^ Con. Chalced. can. 12 ct 16. * Con.
Trull can. 38. ^ fjod. Can. Eccl. Afr. c. 8G. ^ ^ug cont.
Parmen. lib. 1. c. iii. Ep. 68. ad Januar. '' Possid. Vit. Aug-, c. S.
Adveniente ad Ecclesiain Ilipponenscm tunc Primate Numidiaj Megalio Cala-
mcnsi Episcopo.
CHAP. XVI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 153
bishop; afterwards Xantippus, ofTag-asta,^ succeeded by
virtue of his seniority, whence he is always styled in St.
Austin^ and the African councils/ Senex Xantippus.
This is sufficient to show that the primacy in Afric was not
confined to the civil metropolis, but was always conferred
upon the senior bishop, whose seniority was reckoned from
the time of his consecration. Some there are who pretend
to say, that these African primates notwithstanding this
were subject to the bishops of the civil metropoles, who
Avere properly the metropolitans. But there is no ground
for this opinion, and it is justly exploded by de Marca * and
others, who have occasionally touched upon this subject.
Sect. 7. — How African Bishops might forfeit their Title to the Primacy,
It is true, indeed, by theAfrican discipline, a bishop might
lose his primogeniture, and so forfeit his title to the primacy;
as is evident from a passage in St. Austin,^ which speaks of
such a punishment inflicted upon one Priscus, a Mauritanian
bishop, who for some misdemeanour was denied this privi-
lege, though he still kept his bishopric. But in such cases
the primacy did not devolve to the bishop of the civil
metropolis, but to the next in order, who could prove him-
self senior by consecration.
Sect. 8. — A Register of Ordinations to be kept in the Primate's Church.
And all Bishops to talie place by Seniority, &c.
And because disputes sometimes arose about seniority;
to prevent these, several good orders were made by the
African fathers, relating to this matter. As first, that a
Matricula, or Archivus, as they called it, should be kept
both in the primate's Church,'' and in the metropolis of the
province, for bishops to prove the time of their ordination by.
Then, secondly, every bishop was to have his letters of
'Con. Milev. 1. in Cod. Afr. can. 84. Xantippus Primse Sedis Nuraidiae
Episcopus. Aug. Ep. 217. Collega noster Xantippus Tagastensis dicit, quod
eum Primatus ipse contingat, &c. ^ Aug. Ep. 236. ^ Cod.
Can. Afr. c. 91, 101. * Marca Dissert, de Primat. n. 3. Albaspin.
Not. in Optat. lib. 1. p. 121. Stillingfleet Hist, of Separ. Par.3. §. 9. p. 253.
Fell Not. in Con. Carth. ap. Cypr. p. 230. * Aug. Ep. 261.
Con. Milev. in Cod. Can. Afr. c. 86.
VOL. I. T
154 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
ordination subscribed bv bis ordainers, and dated witb the
year and day of his consecration.^ Thirdly, all bishops
were to take place according- to seniority, and so sit and
vote, and have their names subscribed in council ; which
was a rule not only in Afrie,^ but in all other Churches,
being" enacted by several^ councils and inserted into the
civil law* by Justinian the emperor. But they were the
more nice in observing- this in Afric, where the primacy went
by seniority, lest the neglect of it should have bred confusion
among" them. Insomuch that St. Austin^ blames Victorlnus
(who pretended to be primate of Numidia) only because
in his Tractoria, or letter of summons to a provincial council,
he wrote the names of the Numidian bishops in a confused
order, and put Austin's name before many of his seniors;
*' which w^as a thing"," he says, " equally injurious to them, and
invidious to himself;" so cautious was he of doing- any thing-
that mlg"ht seem to entrench upon this rule, for fear of
breeding- confusion in the g"overnment of their Churches.
Sect. 9. —Three sorts of Honorary Primates, besides the Primate in Power.
1. Primates (Eto.
I must here take notice further, that besides the primacy of
power, there was in most provinces also a primacy of
honour ; whence some bishops had the name and title of
primates, who had not the jurisdiction. And these were of
three sorts ; first the Primates OEvo, the oldest bishop in
each province next to the metropolitan. These had no power
above others, except when the metropolitan was some way
disabled, or unqualified for discharg-ing" his office by irregu-
larity or suspension : then his power of course devolved to
the senior bishop of the province. And this, I conceive,
was the reason why the bishop of Amastris*' presided in
' Con. Milev. can. 14. Placuit ut quicunque ab Episcopis ordinantur, Lite-
ras accipiant ab Ordinatoribus suis, manu eorum subscriptas, continentes Con-
sulem et Diein, ut nulla altercatio de posterioribus vel anterioribus oriatur.
* Con. Milev. c. 13. Posteiiores anterioribus deferant, &c. Vit. Fulgentii
cap. 20. Inter Episcopos, tempore Ordinationis inferior, ultimus sedebat.
8 Con. Bracar. 1. can. 24. Con. Tolet. 4. can. 3. Secundum Ordinationis suae
tempora resideant. * Cod. Justin, lib. 1. tit. Iv. c. 49. Episcopi
tempore Ordinationis prselati, &c. * Aug. Ep. 217, ad Victorin.
* Euseb. lib. v. C. 23. Says he presided as the senior bishop, wq apxawraroQ
nfiiiTtraKTO.
CHAP. XVI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 155
council over the bishops of Pontas, when yet Heraclea,
and not Amastris, was the metropoUs of the province.
Sect. 10.— 2. Titular Metropolitans.
The second sort of honorary primates were the titular
metropohtans, which were the bishops of such cities as had
the name and title of civil metropoles bestowed on them by
some emperor, without the power and privileges, which
were still retained to the ancient metropolis of the province.
Thus Marcian, the emperor, dignified the city Chalcedon
with the title of a metropolis, and the honour was confirmed
to the bishop, by the council of Chalcedon* itself, only
with a salvo jure to the rights of Nicomedia, the old
metropolis: from that time therefore the bishop of Chalcedon
styled himself metropolitan of Bythynia, as may be seen in
the Acts^ of the sixth general-council. The same honour
was done to the city and bishop of Nice, in the council of
Chalcedon^ likewise. So that here were three metropo-
litans in one province, but one only had the power ; the privi-
leges of the other two were only honorary, to sit and vote
in council next to their metropolitan. Yet this gave such
bishops an opportunity to exalt themselves, and sometimes,
thev so far encroached upon the rights of the first metropo-
litan, as to draw off his suffragans, and divide the province
with him. Thus it was the bishop of Nice, who before the
time of the sixth general-council, had got a synod of
suffragans under him; for so Photius subscribed himself
in that council,* bishop of Nice, and metropolitan of
Bvthvnia, for himself and the svnod that was under him.
Sect. 11.-3. The Bishops of some Mother-Churches, which were honoured
by ancient Custoni.
Besides these there were a third sort of primates, who,
though they were neither bishops of titular metropoles,
nor the oldest bishops of the province, yet took place of all
the rest, by a general deference that was paid to them, out of
regard to the eminency of their see, being some Mother-
> Con. Chalced. Act. 6. t. iv. p. 613. ^ Con. 6. Geo. Act. 18.
3 Con. Clialced. Act. xiii. p. 716. ♦ Con. 6. Gen. Act. xviii. p. lOSQ.
156 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE {bOOK U.
Church, or particularly honoured by ancient prescription.
This was the case of the bishop of Jerusalem. That city
was no metropolis of the empire, but subject to Caesarea,
the metropolis of Palsestine ; yet in regard that it was the
Mother-Church of the world, this peculiar honour was paid
to it, — that the bishop thereof was always next in dig-nity
to the metropolitan of Caesarea, and took place of all the
other bishops of the province. And this privilege was con-
firmed to him by the Nicene council,* which made a canon
to this purpose: " That, whereas by ancient custom and
tradition, the bishop of MVia had a particular honour paid
liim, the same should be continued to him, still reserving-
to the metropolis the dignity and privilege which belonged to
it." Some fondly imagine ^ that this canon gave the bishop
of Jerusalem patriarchal power, whereas it does not so
much as make him a metropolitan, but leaves him subject
to the metropolis of Palajstine, which was Csesarca, as
St. Jerom^ informs us ; whose words clear the sense of this
canon, and prove that the bishop of Jerusalem was no
metropolitan, as Valesius* imagines, but had only the
second place of honour assigned him next to his metropo-
litan, which was that honorary primacy which the bishops
of Jerusalem had always enjoyed; because, as tlie council
of Constantinople words it,* " Jerusalem was the mother of
all other Churches."
Sect. 12. — The Offices of Metropolitans. 1. To ordain their Suffragan
Bisiiops.
But leaving" these honorary primates, who had little more
than a name, I am here to show what were the offices and
privileges of those who were properly metropolitans ; and
they were these that follow. First, they were to regulate
the elections of all their provincial bishops, and either
ordain, or authorize the ordination of them. No bishop was
to be elected or ordained without their consent and appro-
' Con. Nic. can. 7. 'E^trw rrjv aKoXaS/iav rrjg riixrJQ, ry M?jrpo7roX£i
aoj'CoiiivH tS ot/cfia d^uofiaTog. '^ Sylvius Addit, ad Caranz. Suinin.
Concil. ^ Jeroni. Ep. 61, ad Pammach. Hoc ibi decernitur ut Pa-
iKstinae Metropolis Caisarea sit. * Valcb. Not. inEuseb. v. 23.
* Con. Constant. Ep. Synod, ad Damas.
CHAP. XVI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 157
bation : otherwise the canons pronounce both the election
and the ordination null. " The Kvpog, or ratification of all
that is done," says the council of Nice/ " belong-s to the metro-
politan in every province." And again, if any bishop is made
without the consent of the metropolitan, this great synod^ pro-
nounces such a one to be no bishop. The same rule is repeated
in the councils of Antioch,^ Laodicea,* Aries, ^Turin,^ Sardica,'
Ephesus,^and Chalcedon.^ And whereas some pretend that
the African primates had not this power, the contrary appears
evidentlyfrom several canons of their councils. The second
council of Carthage ^" says, " No one shall presume to ordain
a bishop without consulting the primate of the province, and
taking his precept, though many other bishops should join with
him." The third council of Carthage requires but three
bishops to the ordination of a bishop, but then,^* "they must
be such as are expressly authorized by the metropolitan."
And the fourth council *^ requires either his presence, or
at least his authority and commission. Here a primate and
a metropolitan are the same thing, vi:s. the senior bishop
of the province, who usually went to the Church, where
the new bishop was to be placed, and consecrated him with
his own hands, as St. Austin and Possidius'^ testify, who
are good witnesses of their practice.
Sect. 13.— This Power continued to them after the setting up of Patriarchs.
Nor was this power at all infringed by setting up of
patriarchs above them. For though the metropolitans
were then to be ordained by the patriarchs, and obliged to
attend on them for it, who before were ordained by their
own provincial synod ; yet still the right of ordaining their
■ Con. Nic. can. 4. ^ Ibid. can. 6. ^ Con. Antioch. can. 19.
* Con, Laodic. can. 12. * Con. Arelat. ii. can. 5 et 6. « Con.
Taurin. can. 1. '' Con. Sardic. can. 6. ^ Con. Ephes. De-
cret. de Episc. Cjpr. ^ Con. Chalced. Act. 13. It. can. 25.
'<* Con. Carth. ii. c. 12. Iiiconsulto Primate cujuslibet Provincitc nemo prse-
sumat, licet cum multis Episcopis, sine ejus prajcepto Episcopum ordinare.
" Con. Carth. iii. c. 39. Non minus quam tres sufl&ciant, qui fuerint a Metro-
politano directi ad ordinandum Episcopum. '-^ Con. Carth. iv. c. 1.
Conventu totius Provinciae Episcoporum, maximeque Metropolitaui vel pras-
sentia, vel auctoritate ordinetur Episcopus. '^ Aug. Ep. 861. Possid.
Vit. Aug. c.8.
158 THE ANTIQUITIES OP THE [bOOK II.
own suffrag-ans, was all along preserved to them, and ex-
pressly confirmed by the comicil of Chalcedon ;^ nor do we
ever find any patriarch assuming this power, except the
bishop of Alexandria, for a particular reason ; of which I
shall give an account in the following chapter, sect. 1 1.
Sect. 14.— Yet this Power not arbitrary, but determined by tlic Major Vote
of a Provincial Synod.
But here I must observe, that this power of metropoli-
tans was not arbitrary. For though no bishop was to be
elected or ordained without their consent, yet they had no
neo-ative voice in the matter, but were to be determined and
concluded by the major part of a provincial synod. For so
the council of Arles^ decreed, " That if there arose any
doubt or hesitation betwixt the parties, the metropolitan
should side w ith the greater number." And the council of
Nice^ to the same purpose: " If two or three, out of a
contentious humour, shall oppose the common election,
duly and regularly made, according to the canons of the
Church, in this case let the majority of voices prevail."
Sect. 15.— Metropolitans tp be chosen and ordi^jned by their own Pro^
vincial Synod.
And the same rule was to be observed in the ordination of
metropolitans themselves, who were to be chosen and conse-
crated by their own provincial bishops ; who were not
obliged to send for a njetropplitan out of another province
to do it, but they had power to do it in their own
provincial synod among themselves. This, St. Austin
says, was the custom of the Catholic Church, both
in Afric .and Rome. And, therefore, when the Donatists
objected against Cajcilian, primate of Carthage, " That his
ordination was -uncanonical, because he had not sent
for the neighbouring primate of Numidia to come and
ordain him," his answer was,* " That Csiecilian had no
' Con. Chalced. Act. 16. in fin. = Con. Arelat. 2. can. 5. Si inte?-
partes aliqiia nala fuerit dubitatio, majori nuraero Metropolitanus in clectione
cwnsentiat. ^ Con. Nic. can. 6. * Aug. Brevic. Collat. tert,
die. c. 16. Non oxspectavit Cajcilianus ut Princeps a Principe ordinaretur;
ctuii aliiid hubeat Ji2cclt'siiK Ciilholicic Coasuctudo, ut iioii Nuiuidia;, avd pro-
CHAP. XVI. ] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 109
need of this, since the custom of the CatlioUc Church
was otliervvise ; which was, not to ha\e the Numidian
bishops to ordain the bishop of Carthage, but the neigh-
bouring" bishops of the province of Carthag-e: as it was not
the custom at RomCj to send for a metropolitan out of
another province, to ordain the bishop of Rome, but he was
always ordained by the bishop of Ostia, a neighbouring"
bishop of the same province."
It is true there is a canon in the council of Sardica,^
which orders the bishfips of ihe next province, as some in^
terpret it, to be called in to the ordination of a metropolitan^
Tsg CLTTO Trig Tr\i]aio\^M^8 lTrao\iag lirtaKOTrsg. But this, per-
haps, may as well be rendered, the neighbouring bishops^
of the same provirice f and since custom, and the practice
of the Church, which is the best interpreter of doubtful
canons, does manifestly favour this sense, there is some
reason so to understand it. But, however it be, here is no
mention of one metropolitan having- a right to ordain
another. From which it appears, that in these times no
metropolitan was oblig'ed to go or send out of his own pro-
vince, much less to Rome, for his ordination ; but all was
to be done by his suffVagans in his own Church. Nor was
any bishop obliged to go for ordination to his metropoli-
tan's Church,; but ordinarily the metropolitan, and the rest
of the bishops, met synodically in the vacant Church, and
there elected and consecrated a new bishop, in the presence
of the people, for whom they ordained him. This was the
first part of the metropolitan's office.
Sect. 1G. — 2. The second Office of Metropolitans, to decide Controversies
arising" among their Provincial Bishops, and take Appeals from them.
Their next office was to preside over their provincial
])ishops, and if any controversies arose among them, to in-
terpose their authority to end and decide them ; as also to
pinqniores Episcopi Episcopnm Eccleslffi Carthaginis ordinent : sicut nee
RomantB Ecclesire ordinal aliquis Episcopus Metropolitanus, sed de proximo
Ostiensis Episcopus.
' Con. Sard. can. 6. ® Harmenopulus so understood it; for in his
Epitome he thus words it : 'Ot irXjjffioxwpoi Trjg lirapx'^ag TrapsTwffar. Vid.
Harmen. Epit. Canon, ap. Lcunclav. Jur. Gr, Rom. t. i. p. 2.
l60 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
hear the accusations of others, who complained of injury
done them by their own bishops, from whom there was
liberty always to appeal to their metropolitan. Thus in
Afric it was ordained, by the council of Milevis,^ " That if
two bishops disputed about the bounds of their dioceses,
the metropolitan should appoint a committee of bishops to
hear and determine their controversy."" If a presbyter or
deacon was excommunicated by his own bishop, the coun-
cil of Sardica^ allows him liberty to appeal to the metropo-
litan of his province ; or, if he were absent, to the metropo-
litan of the next province, to desire a new hearing- of his
cause. In such cases as these, the metropolitan had three
ways of proceeding : either, first, he was to appoint a se-
lect number of bishops to be judges, which was the prac-
tice of Afric, where such judges were, therefore, called
Judices Electi,^ and their number assigned to be twelve,* if
a bishop's cause was to be tried before them. Or, secondly,
he was to refer the matter to a provincial synod, which
seems to have been the general practice, when those called
the Apostolical Canons were made ; one of which orders,-^
" That when a bishop is accused, he shall be convened be-
fore a synod of bishops." Another says, ® " The primate
shall do nothing without the consent of all the other
bishops ; so concord will be preserved, and God will be
glorified." And another, "Twice a year let there be a
synod of bishops,''^ to examine doctrines of religion, and
terminate all ecclesiastical controversies that may happen."
But, thirdly, by Justinian's law,* the metropolitan has
power to hear causes upon appeal himself, without a synod.
Yet, whether he could proceed so far as to depose a bishop
by his sole authority, is questioned. Spalatensis^ gives
some instances of bishops that were deposed by their me-
tropolitans ; but, for aiight that appears, it was done in*
' Con. Milev. can. 21. Per Episcopos judices causa finiatur, sive quos
eis Primates dederint, sive quos ipsi vicinos ex consultu Primatis delegerint.
2 Con. Sard. can. 14. » Con. Carth. 3. can. 7. * Con. Carth.
Lean. 11. Episcopus a duodecim Consacerdotibus audiatur. * Can.
Apost. c. 74. Con. Constant. 2 Gen. can. 6. ^ Ibid. c. 35. Con.
Antioch. can. 9. ' Ibid. c. 38. * Cod. Just. lib. i. tit. v. c. 29.
3 Spalat. de Repub. Keel. par. 1. lib. 3. c. 7. n. 19.
CHAP. XVI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH IGl
synod. But whether it was, or was not, matters not much ;
for still, in all cases, by the same law of Justinian,^ and the
canons, there lay an appeal from the metropolitan to a pro-
vincial synod, of which he was only the president, or mode-
rator and director of business in it.
Sbct. 17. — 3. Their third Office, to call Provincial Synods, which all Suffra-
gans were obliged to attend.
And this leads us to a third office of the metropolitans,
w^hich was to call provincial synods, and preside in them.
For since the canons^ appointed two synods to be held or-
dinarily every year, in each province, besides such as might
be called upon extraordinary occasions, it was necessary
some one should be appointed to give notice of the time
and place, and have authority both to convocate and pre-
side in them. All things therefore relating to this matter
were, by common consent, put into the primate's power,
whose circular letters (which sometimes are called synodiccs
and tractorice,^ as the emperor's were called sacrce) were a
legal summons, which no bishop of the province might dis-
obey, under pain of suspension, or some such canonical
censure, which is left to the discretion * of the metropolitan
and the council.
Sect. IS. — 1. Metropolitans to publish Imperial Laws and Canons, visit
Dioceses, and correct Abuses.
It belonged to metropolitans to publish and disperse
such imperial laws and canons as were, either by councils
or emperors, made for the common good of the Church,
This they are required to do by several laws ^ both of the
Church and State, the better to diffuse the knowledge, and
enforce the practice of them. Nor were they only to dis-
perse the canons that were made, but to see that they were
observed; which gave them right to visit and inquire into
neglects, abuses,' and disorders, committed by any bishop
• Cod. Just. ibid. ' Con. Nic. can. 5. Antioch. c. 20. Agathen.
c. 35. Arelat. 2. c. 18. Can. Apost. c. 38. * Aug. Ep. 317. ad Victorin.
Tractoria ad me quinto Idus Novembris venit, &c. * Con. Chalced,
can. 19. Con. Carth. 4. can. 21. Theodoret. Ep. 8). * Justin.
Novel. 6. et 42.
VOL. I. ^
162 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK. II.
throughout the whole province. The metropolitan, in this
respect, is said to have the care of the whole province, by
the council of Antioch.^ Not that this gave him power to
officiate in any other bishop s Church, or perform such acts
as the bishop himself might perform alone ; — such as the or-
daining of presbyters and deacons, and the like; which are
speciatties of every bishop, reserved to them by the same
council ; — but, in case of omission, or scandalous neglect,
the bishop of the metropolis was to manifest his care, with
the advice of the rest of his brethren.
Sect. 19. — 5. Bishops not to travel without the Letters of their Metro-
politan.
In Afric all bishops paid a peculiar deference to the
primate, in taking his license to travel, whenever they were
called into a foreign country upon extraordinary occasions.
This was expressly provided by a canon of the third coun-
cil of Carthage : ^ " That no bishop should go beyond sea
without consulting his primate, and taking his Formates, or
Letters of commendation.'''' Nor was this so peculiar to
Afric, but that we may meet with the same rule and prac-
tice in other places, even as low as the time of Gregory the
Great ; who, in one of his Epistles,^ gives the same direc-
tion to some bishops, in reference to their metropoHtan,
" That they should not travel upon urgent occasion, with-
out his letters of concession."
Sect. 20. — 6. Metropolitans to take care of vacant Sees within their
Province,
It belonged to metropolitans to take care of all vacant
sees within their province ; to administer the affairs of the
Church, during the vacancy; to secure the revenues of the
bishopric; and procure a speedy election of a new bishop.
In Afric the primate commonly appointed one of the neigh-
bouring bishops to be his vicegerent in such a case, whom,
therefore, the Canons (as has been observed before) call
• Con. Antioch, can. 9. Tfiv (ppovriSa avaSkx^'^^cii' iraariQ rrjg tTrapxuic.
' Gon. Carth. 3. can. 28. Ut Episcopi trans mare non proficiscantur, nisi coa-
»nlto Primse Sedts Episcopo, &c. » Greg. M. Ep. S.lib, vii.
CHAP. XVI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 16S
an interventor.* The council of Riez,^ in France, in like
manner, puts the administration of a vacant see into the
hands of a neighbouring bishop, under the inspection of
the metropohtan. And the council of Valencia,^ in Spain,
authorises the metropolitan to punish purloiners of the re-
venues in the vacancy, and to send an administrator, till a
new bishop is chosen. By a canon of the council of Chal-
cedon,* the care of the revenues of the Church is committed
to the steward of the Church, the CEconomus ; but the care
of supplying- the vacant see with a new bishop, within three
months, is the business of the metropolitan.
Sect. 21. —7. Metropolitans to calculate the Time of Easter.
It belonged to the metropolitan yearly to review the
calculation of the time of Easter, and give notice to his suf-
fragans of it. The care of composing' the cycle indeed was
by the Nicene fathers particularly committed * to the bishop
of Alexandria, as Pope Leo and others inform us ; and he
was to give notice to other Churches. But due care was not
always taken in this matter, and therefore the metropolitan
in every province was concerned to settle the time, and ac-
quaint the whole province with it. As we find St. Ambrose*
did for the province of Milan ; and the bishop of Carthage'
for the province of Afric : and the Spanish councils ^ order
their metropolitans first to concert the matter among* them-
selves, and then communicate it to their comprovincials.
Sect. 22.— How the Power of Metropolitans grew in after Ages.
Some later Canons^ make it the privilege of metropolitans
to consecrate all churches throughout the province. But I
have showed before that this was originally the privilege of
every bishop in his own diocese 5 and being a private act,
which onlv concerned his own Church, and not the whole
province, the metropolitan was to have no hand in it, no
' Con. Carth, 5. can. 8. ^ Con. Reicns. can. 5 et 6. ^Con.
Valent. can. 2. * Con, Chalced. c. 25. * LeoEp. 62. al. 70.
ad Marciaii. Iinper. « Arabros. Ep. 83. ad Episc. per jEinyliam.
' Con. Carth. 3. can. 1. et 11. * Con. Bracar. 2. can. 9. Con. Tolet. 4.
can. 4. ^ Gelas. Ep. i. c. 4. Montan. Tolet. Ep. ad Palentinos ap.
Blondd. Apol, p. 150.
164 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
more than in the consecration of presbyters and deacons, by
the ninth canon of the council of Antioch. Other Canons'
bind the whole province to follow the forms and rites of
divine service used in the metropolitan Church : but I have
observed before, that anciently, every bishop had liberty to
prescribe for his own diocese, and was under no limitation
as to this matter, unless it were the order of a provincial
council.
Sect. 23. — The Primate of Alexandria had the greatest Power of any other.
By this we see that the power of metropolitans in some
places exceeded others. And I must here oliserve that the
primate of Alexandria was the greatest metropolitan in the
world, both for the absoluteness of his power, and the ex-
tent of his jurisdiction. For he was not metropolitan of a
sing-le province, but of all the provinces of Eg-ypt, Libya,
and Pentapolis, in which there were at least six large pro-
vinces, out of which sometimes above an hundred bishops
were called to a provincial council. Alexander summoned
near that number to the condemnation of Arius,^ before the
council of Nice. And Athanasius^ speaks of the same
number meeting* at other times; particularly the council of
Alexandria, Anno 339, which heard and justified the cause of
Athanasius, after his return from his banishment, had almost
an hundred bishops in it ; which was above thirty more than
the bishop of Rome's Libra, which was but sixty-nine. Nor
was the primate of Alexandria's power less than the extent
of his jurisdiction ; for he not only ordained all his suffragan
bishops, but had liberty to ordain presbyters and deacons in
all Churclies throughout the whole district. Mr. Basnage*
and Launoy, will have it, that he had the sole power of or-
daining, and that not so much as a presbyter or deacon could
be ordained without him. Valesius* thinks his privilege
was rather that he might ordain if he pleased, but not that
' Concil. Gerundens. can. 1. Con. Epaun. can. 27. Con. Tolet. 11. can. 3.
2 Alexand. Ep. Encycl. ap. Socrat. lib. i. c. 6. ^ Athan. Apol. 2.
p. 720. Con. Alcxandr. Ep. Encycl. Con. torn. ii. p. 533. ♦ Basnag.
Exerc. in Baron, p. 307. -et Launoy, Ibid. * Vales, observ. in
Socral. lib. iii.
CHAP. XVII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 165
he had the sole power of ordaining presbyters and deacons.
But either way it was a g-reat privilege, and peculiar to the
bisliop of Alexandria ; for no other metropolitan pretended
to the like power besides himself.
Sect. 24.— All Metropolitans called Aposlolici, and their Sees, Sedes
Apostolicte.
I have but one thing more to observe concerning' metro-
politans; which is, that they were anciently all dignified with
the name Apostolici ; which was then no peculiar title of the
bishop of Rome. For pope Siricius himself gives all pri-
mates * this appellation ; and it continued to be their title
to the days of Alcuin, who, speaking of the election of
bishops, says^ " when the clergy and people have chosen
one, they draw up an instrument, and g*o with their elect to
the Apostolicus ;^^ by whom he means not the pope, but the
primate or metropolitan of every province, who had the
right and power of consecration.
CHAP. XVII.
Of Patriarchs.
Sect. 1. — Patriarchs, anciently called Archbishops.
Next in order to the metropolitans or primates, were the
patriarchs ; or, as they were at first called, archbishops and
exarchs of the diocese. For, though now an archbishop and
a metropolitan be generally taken for the same, to wit, the
primate of a single province ; yet anciently the name, arch-
bishop, was a more extensive title, and scarce given to any
but those whose jurisdiction extended over a whole imperial
diocese ; as the bishops of Rome, Alexandria, Anticch, &c.
That this was so, appears evidently from one of Justinian's
Novels, where erecting the bishopric of Justiniana Prima
' Siric. Ep. 4. c. 1. Ut extra conscientiani Sedis Apostolicse, id est, Priniatis,
nemo audeat ordinare. * Alcuin. de Div. Offic. c. 36. Ciim Epis-
copiis Civitatis fuerit defunctiis, eligitur alius a Ckro sen Populo, fitqiie De-
cretum ab illis, et veniunt ad Apostolicum tuiu suo Klctto.
166 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK H.
into a patriarchal see, he says, " Our pleasure is, that the
bishop of Justiniana shall not only be a metropolitan,' but
an archbishop." Here the names are clearly distinguished,
and an archbishop reckoned superior to a metropolitan.
And hence it was, that after the setting- up of patriarchal
power, the name archbishop was appropriated to the patri-
archs. Liberatus^ gives all the patriarchs this title of arch-
bishops. So does the council of Chalcedon frequently,
speaking of the patriarchs of Rome and Constantinople,*
under the name of archbishops also.
Sect. 2. — And Exarchs of the Diocese.
These were otherwise called "E^ap-)(oi rrjg dioiK-qnewg, ex-
archs of the diocese, to distinguish them from the "E^ap^oi-
rr^g lirupx'^'^^-' ^^''^ exarchs of a single province, which were
only metropolitans. Thus Domnus, bishop of Antioch, is
styled, Exarch of the eastern* diocese, by the councils of An-
tioch and Chalcedon. And in the subscriptions of the sixth
g'eneral-council at Constantinople, Theodore, bishop of
Ephesus, subscribes himself both metropolitan ofEphesus,^
and exarch of the Asiatic diocese ; as also, Philalethes,
bishop of Caesarea, in Cappadocia, styles himself exarch of
the Pontic diocese. Which shows, that as the exarch of a
province is a metropolitan, so the exarch of a diocese, is a
patriarch in the ancient language of the Church. And by
this we understand the meaning of the ninth and seventeenth
canons of the council of Chalcedon, which allow of appeals
from the metropolitan, to the exarch of the diocese.
Sect. 3.— Salinasius's Mistake about the first Use of the Name Patriarch.
As to the name patriarch, there is some dispute among
learned men, when first it began to be used as an appropriate
title of any Christian bishops. Salmasius,'' and some others
are of opinion, that the bishop of Alexandria had this title
' .Justin. Novel. 11. Volumus, ut non soIAm Mctropolltanus, sed etiara Ar-
cWiepiscopus fiat. '-^ Liberat. Breviar. c. 17. * Con.
Chalcod. Act. 16. It. Act. i. ct Can. 30. ♦ Con. Antioch. in Act. 14.
Con, Clialced. 'Con. (i. Gen. Act. IS. Con. torn, vi, p. 1077. et
1080. 8 Salinas, dc Priuiut. c. iv. {>. tl. It. not. in Voplscum.
CHAP. XVII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 167
from the time of the emperor Hadrian, which was in the be-
ginning of the second century. Their reason is, because
that emperor, in an epistle mentioned by Vopiscus, speaks of
a patriarch at Alexandria. But the patriarcli there spoken
of, was not any Christian, but a Jewish patriarch ; as may
appear from Hadrian's words, and the character which he
gives* of him. For he says, " He was one who was com-
pelled to worship both Christ and Serapis ;" which agrees
very well to the character of a Jewish patriarch, who neither
acknowledged the heathen, nor the Christian religion, and
therefore needed as much compulsion to bring him to wor-
ship Christ, as Serapis : but it does not at all agree to the
character of a Christian bishop, who, however he might need
force to compel him to worship Serapis, yet must be sup-
posed willing of his own accord to^worship Christ. Besides,
the patriarch, which the emperor speaks of, was one who
came only occasionally into Egypt out of another country ;
which cannot be said of the bishop of Alexandria, who had
his fixed and continual residence there : but it suits exactly
the state and condition of the Jewish patriarch, who resided
at Tiberias, in Palaestine, and came but accidentally, or at
some certain times, into Egypt. These, and the like reasons
make others conclude against Salmasius, that whoever is
meant, it is not any Christian patriarch that is here spoken
of Baronius^ fancies it was the heathen Pontifex, or high-
priest of Egypt. But the same reasons will hold against
his opinion, as against the other; for the high priest of
Egypt lived in Egypt, and needed no compulsion to worship
Serapis, as this patriarch did : so that it must be the Jewish
patriarch, and no other, which Hadrian speaks of, as Mr.
Basnage^ and bishop Pearson, with some others have ob-
served.
' Hadrian. Epist. ap. Vopiscum Vit. Saturnin. lUi, qui Serapin cohint,
Christiani sunt ; et devoti sunt Serapi, qui se Christi Episcopos dicunt.
Nemo illic Archisynagogus Judseorum, nemo Samaiitos, nemo Christianorum
Presbyter, non Mathematicus, non Aruspex, non Aliptes. lUe ipse Patriarchy,
quum ^gy])tum venerit, ab aliis Serapidem adorare, ab aliis cogitur Chris-
tum. ^ Baron. Anna!, torn. ii. an. 112. " Basnas?. Exercit,
Histor. p. 281. Pearson. Vindic. Ignat. Par. 2. c. 11. p. 328. Suicer, Thesaur.
Eccles. Verbo Trarcnapxiig. Cave Anc. Chur. Got. p. 153.
168 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK. II.
Sect. 4. — Of tlie Jewish Patriarchs, their first Rise, Duration, and Extinction.
These Jewish patriarchs, from whom, as it is g-enerally
agreed, the Christian patriarchs borrowed their names, were
a sort of g-overnors among' the Jews, set up upon the de-
struction of Jerusalem; one of whicli had his residence at
Tiberias, and another at Babylon, who were the heads of the
Jews, dispersed throughout the Roman and the Persian em-
pire. Of these there is frequent mention made in the an-
cient writers of the Church, Origen,' Epiphanius,^ Cyril of
Jerusalem,^ Theodoret,* and many others. They continued
in great power and dignity till the latter end of the fourth
century, about which time their order ceased. For Theo-
doret says expressly, that long" before this time their govern-
ment was wholly abolished; and one of the laws of the
younger Theodosius, Aif>.o 429, speaks^ of them as then
extinct.
Sect. 5. — Of the Patriarchs among the Montanists.
Much about the same time, the Montanists, or Cataphrygian
heretics, had an order of men among them, which they
called patriarchs, and and another which they called ce-
nones, both which were superior to their bishops, and, as it
should seem, distinct orders from them. For St. Jerom®
charg-es it on them as a crime, that they thrust down the
order of bishops, who were the Apostles' successors, and
set up an order of patriarchs, and an order of cenones among*
them; which makes some learned men^ think, that when
St. Jerom wrote that against the Monanists, the name pa-
triarch was not as yet adopted into the Church, though
the power was under another name.
' Orig. n«pi apx^i'. lib. iv. c. 1. ^ Epiphan. Haer. 30.' ^ Cyr.
Catech. 12. n. 7. * Theodor. Dial. 1. • * Cod. Theod. lib. xvi.
Tit. 8. de Jud. lib. xxix. ^ Jerora. Ep. 54. ad Marcel, adv. Montan. torn. ii.
p. 128. Apud nos Apostolorura locum Episcopi tenent: apud eos Episcopus
tertius est. Habent enim Primes de Pepuzfi Phrygise Patriarchas : Secundos
quos appellant Cenones : atque ita in tertium, id est, pane ultimum locum,
Episcopi devolvuntur. ^ Basnag. Exercit. Histor. p. 285. Hinc.
coUigi possit, priscis temporibus nondum Episcopis insignioribus affixum
fuisse nomen Patriarchse.
CHAP. XVII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 169
Sect. 6.— The Name Patriarch first used by Socrates, and in the Council of
Chalcedon.
Indeed the first time we meet with the name patriarch
given to any bishop, by any public authorit}^ of the Church,
is in the council of Chalcedon ; which mentions* the most
holy patriarchs of every diocese, and particularly Leo, pa-
triarch 2 of great Rome. Richerius, who has written accu-
rately about the councils, can trace the name no higher.'
Among private authors, the first that mentions patriarchs by
name, is Socrates,* who wrote his history about the year
440, eleven years before the council of Chalcedon. By
what he says, it appears, that during the interval between
the general-council of Constantinople, Anno 381, and that
of Chalcedon, the name patriarch began to be an appro-
priate title of some eminent bishops in the Church : for,
speaking of the fathers at Constantinople, he says, " They
constituted patriarchs, dividing the provinces among them."
Valesius * and Dr. Cave ° think Socrates speaks not of true
and proper patriarchs, but only of extraordinary legates, or
fro tempore commissioners, appointed by the council to
judge who were fit to be received to catholic communion in
the several dioceses that were allotted them. But all others
understand him in the proper sense, because, by this time,
patriarchal power was settled in all the dioceses of the
Roman empire.
Sect. 7.— Four different Opinions concerning the first Rise of Patriarchal
Power.
But though the name of patriarchs came not into the
Church till about the time of Socrates, yet the power itself,
as is agreed on all hands, was much earlier ; though, where
precisely to fix the epocha, and date its rise, is not so easy
to determine. Some carry it as high as the Apostles, and
derive it, as they do the pope's supremacy, from St. Peter.
' Con. Chalced. Act. ii. p. 338. 'Omioraroi Trarptapxat SioiKjjffewQ tKaTtjc.
* Act. iii. p. 395. ^ Rich. Hist, Concil. torn. i. c. 2. n. 11. Nomen
Patriarcharum primum, quod sciam, usurpatum in Synodo Chalcedonensi.
♦ Socrat. II. E. lib. v. c. 8. * Vales. Annot. in Socrat. « Anc.
Ch- Gov. p. 117,
VOL. I. X
170 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
So Baronius,' who is followed by the most emhient writers
of his own communion, de Marca, Valesius, Rieherius,
Pagius, and Schelstrate. Others justly reject this, as
founded upon no good authority, nor evidenced by any ge-
nuine records of the ancient Church, but only the spurious
epistles of the first popes ; and reckon the first rise of pa-
triarchs to have been after the apostolical age, and some
time before the council of Nice. This is the opinion of
Spalatensis,^ and Mr. Brerewood. The third opinion is that
of Balzamon,^ and other modern Greeks, that patriarchs
were first instituted by the council of Nice. And this seems
to be favoured by St. Jerom ; for in his epistle to Pamma-
chius, writing against the errors of John of Jerusalem, he
says, " It was decreed in the council of Nice,* that Caesarea
should be the metropolis of Palaestine, and Antioch the me-
tropolis of the whole east; therefore, the bishop of Jerusa-
lem must either appeal to the bishop of Caesarea, as his im-
mediate metropolitan, or to the bishop of Antioch, as me-
tropolitan of the east." But if I rightly understand St. Jerom,
he does not mean (as some mistake him) that patriarchs
were first set up by the council of Nice; for then metropo-
litans must be so too, since he says the same of them,
which yet every one knows were in the Church long before
the council of Nice. His meaning", then, must be, that both
metropolitans of provinces, and metropolitans of dioceses,
were in being before the council of Nice, and only received
confirmation, or a canonical establishment from it. And,
indeed, it is evident, that, that the Nicene fathers made no
alteration in these matters, but only confirmed the ancient
rights of the bishops of principal cities, as they found them
authorized by custom before. For the words^ they use are,
** Ta apx"'" ^^'^ KpaTtiTb), let ancient custom still take place ;
' Baron. Annal. torn. i. an. 39. n. 16. Pet. de Marca de Concord, toni. i.
lib. i. c. 3. n. 5. Vales. Observ. Eccles. lib. iii. Richer. Hist. Concil.
torn. i. c. l.n. 14. Ant. Pag. Critic, an. 37. n. 9. * Spalat. de Repub.
Par. i. lib. iii. c. 12. n. 21. Brerewood of Patriar. Gov. Q. 1. ^Bal-
zara. in can. 6. Con. Nic. * Hieron. Ep. 61. torn. ii. p. 178. Ad Alex-
andrinum Episcopum Palaestina quid pertinel? TVi fallor, hoc ibi decernitur,
ut Palsestinte Metropolis Cffisarea sit, et totius Orientis Antiochia. Aut igi-
tur adCeesariensem Episcopum referre debueras ; Aut si procul expeten-
dum judicium erat, Antiochiam potius Utersc dirigendae. * Con. Nic. can. 6.
CHAP. XVII.] CHRISTIAJS CHURCH. 171
SO as in Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis, the bishop of Alex-
andria shall have power over all ; because such also is the
custom of the bishop of Rome. And, accordingly, in An-
tioch, and in other provinces, let the privileges be preserved
to the Churches."
Here it is plain, that no new power is given to any
bishops, but only what ancient custom and practice had
assigned them. So that either patriarchs were set up by
custom, before the council of Nice,* and confirmed by the
council, as St. Jerom thinks, or else not introduced till af-
terwards. This last opinion (notwithstanding- what St.
Jerom says) is embraced by the famous Mr. Launoy,^ Mr.
Basnage,^ Dr. Beverege,* and Dr. Cave,^ who think that pa-
triarchal power was not confirmed by the Nicene canon,
nor known in the Church till about the time of the second
general-council of Constantinople, Anno 381.
Sect. 8.— The Opinion of Spalatensis and St. Jerom preferred.
In a matter so obscure, and so variously controverted
among learned men, it is not easy to determine where the
right lies. Patriarchal power was not set up at one and the
same time in all places. Alexandria and Antioch were as
early as any, and the bishop of Alexandria, before the coun-
cil of Nice had all Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis under his
jurisdiction, as appears from the Nicene canons. This was
the Dioccesis /Egyptiaca, which consisted of six large pro-
vinces, four in Egypt, vis. Thebais, Arcadia, Augustanica,
and yEgyptus properly so called, Libya Inferior, and Libya
Superior, which is Pentapolis. As all these were subject to
the Praefectm Augustalis of Egypt, so they were likewise
under the jurisdiction of the bishop of Alexandria. So
that he was not only a metropolitan of a single province,
but of six provinces joined in one diocese. But, now, the
question is, whether, at this time, he had any metropoli-
tans under himl For, if he had, then he was properly a pa-
triarch at the time of the Nicene council. As to this, I can
' So Du Pin Bibliolhec. vol. ii. p. 252. It. de Antiq. Ercl. Disciplin. Dis-
sert. 1. sect. 11. p. 35. sy^amjoy, de Rect. Interpr. can. 6. Con.Nic.
» Basnag. Exercit. Histor. p. 307. * Bevereg. Not. in can. 2. Coju
Constant, * Cave Anc. Cii. Gov. c. 3 et 4.
]t2 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
only say, that Epiphanius and Synesius do expressly men-
tion archbishops and metropolitans under the archbishop of
Alexandria, in the time of Athanasius, and Alexander, his
predecessor, who were both present in the council of Nice.
But whether they mean metropolitans in the proper sense,
or only coadjutors to the archbishop of Alexandria, I
cannot yet determine. I will recite the passages, and leave
the curious and the learned to make further inquiry. Syne-
sius says, "The great Athanasius seeing- the Church of
Ptolemais had need of a bishop that was able to cherish
and augment the small sparks of true religion, which was
then in a dwindling condition there, and finding Siderius,
bishop of Palaebisca, a man fit for great business, he com-
manded him to remove^ thence to Ptolemais, to govern
the metropolitical Church there." And Epiphanius,^ speak-
ing of Meletius, the author of the Meletian schism, before
the council of Nice, says, expressly, " He was an arch-
bishop in Egypt, under Alexander, archbishop of Alexan-
dria, to whom he gave the first information against Arius."
This agrees with what he says of him in another place,^
" That he was chief of the Egyptian bishops, and next in
order to Peter in the archbishopric, being his assistant, and
administerino- ecclesiastical affairs under him. For there
the custom is, for the archbishop of Alexandria to have the
ordering of ecclesiastical matters throughout all Egypt,
Thebais, Mareotes, Libya, Ammoniaca, Mareotis, and Pen-
tapolis." So that as the bishop of Alexandria had six pro-
vinces under him, he seems also to have had subordinate
metropolitans, or archbishops, under him likewise, as the
archbishop of Lycopolis, in Thebais, the metropolitan
of Ptolemais, in Pentapolis. And if these were properly
metropolitans, he must be a patriarch, under the name
of metropolitan of the whole Egytian diocese, as they
• Synes. Ep. 67. ad Theoph. p. 231. Ild[ifi(yav 'A^avaaiov, — tvv
(ivdpa tStov, wp ntH^scn Trpajfiaffiv iTTirij^tioi', iKtl ^lapiivai KfKtvcrai, r>)v
MijTpoTroXlTiv iKKXtjcTiav sTTiTpowtvaovTa. ^ Epiphan. User. 69. n. 3.
'O ApxitTriGKOTTog MeKi'iTiog 6 Kara TT/r'Aiyvirrov, iiTTo^s^fTpa 'AXtKav^pB.
* Ilaer. 68. Meletian. n. 1. 'OMeXtitioq twv KaTo.rfjv'' Aiyvirrov Trpojy/cwi', koX
Sfvnpivujvrip nerpy/cara r?)i' 'Ap;(ie7r(Jh;o7r*7i', wg Si dvTiXt'ixptioc^ dvra X'^C'^^'t
&C. &c.
CHAP. XVII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 173
were metropolitans of their respective provinces ; which is
the thing that St. Jerom asserts in reference to Caesarea
and Antioch, " That tlie one was the metropolis of Palsestine,
and the other the metropoUs of the oriental diocese ; and
this, from ancient custom, ratified and confirmed by the
council of Nice."
gfiCT. 9.— Patriarclial Power established in three General Councils succes-
sively : viz. Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon.
But however this be, (for I determine nothing- positively
in this matter), the next age affords us very pregnant proofs
of the establishment and growth of patriarchal power. The
general-council of Constantinople,^ Anno 381, has a canon
to fix the limits of the several dioceses ; so that the bishop
of Alexandria should only administer the affairs of the
Egyptian diocese; the bishops of the east, the eastern
diocese, reserving the privileges granted by the council of
Nice to the Church of Antioch ; the bishops of the
Asiatic diocese, the Asiatic Churches only ; those of the
Pontic diocese, the Pontic Churches; and those of the
Thracian diocese, the Thracian Churches only.
Theodoret,^ speaking of this council, says, " They di-
vided the dioceses, and assigned every diocese its proper
hmits and jurisdiction." And Socrates,^ more expressly,
" That they constituted patriarchs, and distributed the pro-
vinces, so that no bishops should meddle with the affairs of
another diocese, as was used to be done in times of perse-
cution. Nectarius was allotted Constantinople and Thrace;
Helladius, St. Basil's successor, the Pontic diocese, &c."
About fifty years after this, Anno 431, the third general-
council was held at Ephesns, where we find the bishop of
Antioch laying claim to the power of ordinations in the
province of Cyprus : but this proving to be an unjust claim,
the council made a decree in favour of the Cyprian bishops,
exempting them from the jurisdiction of Antioch; because
by ancient custom they always were exempt: and it is
added,* " That the same rule should be observed in all dio-
• Con. C. Pol. Can. 2. ^ Theod. Ep. 86. ad Flav, torn. iii. p. 963.
' Socrat. H. E. lib. v. c. 8. ncfrpiapx«e KaTirtjvav, &c. * Con,
Ephcs. I. Act. 7. Decret. de Episc. Cypr.
174 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK. II.
ceses and provinces, that no bishop should seize upon any
province which did not anciently belong to his jurisdiction."
This plainly implies, that the bishop of Antioch had then
several provinces, or a whole diocese, under his power ;
which was confirmed to him by the council, and he was
only denied jurisdiction over the province of Cyprus, be-
cause of ancient rig-ht it did not belong to him.
About eighteen years after this, Theodosius junior, and
Valentinian, called the second council of Ephesus, Anno
449 : and in the letter of summons to Dioscorus, bishop of
Alexandria, they give him orders to bring ten metropolitans'
of his diocese with him. This is noted by Liberatus, in his
Breviary, and the letter is still extant^ in the council of
Chalcedon ; by which it appears, that at this time the arch-
bishop of Alexandria had a great number of metropolitans,
within the Egyptian diocese, under his jurisdiction. So
that though there be some dispute concerning the first rise
and original of patriarchal power, yet there remains no
manner of doubt but that it was come to its full height and
establishment in the time of the general councils of Ephe-
sus and Chalcedon,
Sect. 10. — The Power of Patiiarchs not exactly the same in all Churches,
The Patriarch of Constantinople had some peculiar Privileges.
Therefore the next inquiry is into the rights aud privi-
leges of these patriarchs. And here it is to be nicely ob-
served that the power of patriarchs was not one and the
same precisely in all Churches, but differed according to
the different customs of places and countries ; or according
as it was the pleasure of kings or councils to bestow
greater privileges on them. The patriarch of Constanti-
nople, when he was first advanced by the second general-
council, had only the single diocese of Thrace assigned
hira^ for the exercise of his jurisdiction: but in the next
age he was grown to be a sort of patriarch over the pa-
triarchs of Ephesus and Casarea in the Asiatic and Pontic
' Liberat. Breviar. c. 12. Tmperator dirigens Sacram Dioscoro in Alexan-
drian!, praecepit, ut cum decern Metropolitanis Episcopis, quos voluisset, ipse
cligeret, et veniret Ephesum. * Con. Chalced. Act, 1. C. torn. iv. p. 100,
' Con. Const. 1. Can. 2.
CHAP. XVII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 175
dioceses, by the voluntary consent of those two exarchs, (no
doubt) at first, paying a deference to the exarch of the
royal city; which, advancing- into a custom, was afterwards
confirmed by canon in the council of Chalcedon. In the
sixteenth session of that council there is a lonff debate
about this matter, the Pope's legates warmly stickling
against it. But all the metropolitfins of the two dioceses of
Asia and Pontus then in council, together with Thalassius,
bishop of Cscsarea, and exarch of the Pontic diocese, with
one voice declaring, " that the bishop of Constantinople had,
by long custom and prescription, enjoyed the privilege of
ordaining metropolitans in those two dioceses, as well as
that of Thrace," it was decreed that this privilege should be
continued to him, notwithstanding the bishop of Rome's
intercession against it. ' Also by two canons of that coun-
cil he is allowed to receive appeals^ from the exarchs of
those dioceses, because his throne was in the royal city:
and in such parts of those dioceses as were chiefly in the
hands of barbarians, he is authorized by another canon^ to
ordain all the bishops, which in other parts was the sole
privilege of the metropolitans. Theodoret* observes even
of Chrysostom himself, before the council of Chalcedon,
that he exercised this power over all the three dioceses ;
for he says, " His care extended not only over Constanti-
nople and Thrace, which consisted of six provinces, but
over Asia and Pontus, each of which had eleven civil prae-
tors in them." We are not therefore to take an estimate of
patriarchal power from the growing- greatness of Constanti-
nople, but to distinguish the peculiar privileges of some
patriarchs above others, which is the only way to under-
stand the power of each.
Sect. 11. — The Patriarch ofAlexancIriahad also Privileges peculiar to himself.
For the patriarch of Alexandria had also some preroga-
tives, which no other patriarch besides himself enjoyed.
Such was the right of consecrating- and approving every
single bishop throughout all the provinces of his diocese.
» Con. Chalced. can. 28 ct Act. 16. per Tot. * Ibid. can. 9 et 17.
» Con. Chal. can. 28. * Theod. Ili.st. Ercl. lib. v. c. 28.
170 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IT.
This privilege was not allowed even to the patriarch of Con-
stantinople ; for the council of Chalceden, in the very same
place where they give him power to consecrate the metro-
poUtans of three whole dioceses, deny him the privilege of
consecrating the suffragan bishops of those metropolitans;
and reserve it as an ancient right of each metropohtan, with
a synod of his provincial bishops, to consecrate all the
bishops within his province, the archbishops of Constanti-
nople neither being consulted, nor having* any hand in
those ordinations. But it was otherwise at Alexandria.
For the bishop of Alexandria, whilst he was only a metropo-
litan, had the ordination of all the bishops of the six pro-
vinces of the Egyptian diocese, being the sole and only
metropolitan in all those provinces ; and having but the
same diocese when he came to be a patriarch, he continued
his ancient custom of ordaining all the bishops throughout
the six provinces, notwithstanding that new metropolitans
were set up in them. And in this the patriarch of Alexan-
dria differed from all others ; for in all other dioceses the
metropolitans had the right of ordaining their suffragan
bishops, which here the patriarch retained to himself, as an
ancient branch of his metropolitan power. I know, indeed,
a very learned^ person is of a different opinion : he says,
" The bishop of Alexandria was rather a loser by being-
made a patriarch ; for now according to the constitution of
Church-policy, the ordination of suffragan bishops, which
before belonged entirely to him, was devolved upon the
several metropolitans under him." But this assertion pro-
ceeds upon a supposition, that patriarchal rights were ex-
actly the same in all places ; which, from the instance I have
given of Constantinople, appears to be otherwise ; for the
patriarchs of Ephesus and Ca3sarea had not the ordination
of their own metropolitans, but they were all subject to the
bishop of Constantinople. And as to the case of Alexan-
dria, it appears from Synesius, who was himself metropo-
litan of Ptolemais, that the ordination not only of the
' Con. Chalced. Act. 16. in fin. Etiam nihil communicante in illorum Ordina-
tionibus Arcliiepiscopo Regise Constantinopolis. '■^ Dr. Cave Anc,
Ch. Gov. c. iv. p. 15».
CHAP. XVII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 177
metropolitans, but of all the suffiag-an bishops throughout
the whole district of Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis, belonged
still to the patriarch of Alexandria. For, in a letter to
Theophilus, acquainting him how he and two other bishops
had met at Olbise to make choice of a bishop, and that one
Antonius Avas unanimously chosen by the people ; lie adds,*
" that yet there was one thing- wanting, which was more
necessary than all, viz. his sacred hand to consecrate him."
Which shows, that the bishop of Alexandria still ret<iined
his ancient right of consecrating all the bishops of the
Egyptian diocese.
Sect. 12. — The First Privilege of Patriarchs was to Ordain all the Metro-
politans of the Diocese, and receive his own Ordination from a Diocesan
Synod.
In other dioceses the patriarch's power was chiefly seen
in the ordination or confirmation of all the metropolitans
that were under him. This appears from the forecited
canons^ of the council of Chalcedon, and several of Justi-
nian's Novels; one of which ^ takes notice of the bishop of
Constantinople's ordaining all the metropohtans under him ;
and another gives the same power to the patriarch of Justi-r
niaiia Prima,* then newly advanced to patriarchal dignity by
Justinian, because it was the place of his nativity. And
that this was a peculiar privilege of patriarchs, appears fur*
ther from one of the Arabic canons pubUshed by Turrian,
under the name of the Nicene canons, which were invented
after the name of patriarchs was well known in the Church.
The 36th of these canons, speaking of the Catholic of Ethi-
opia,^ who was no patriarch, but subject to the patriarch of
Alexandria, says, " He shall not have power to ordain arch-
bishops, as patriarchs have ; because he hath not the power
or honour of a patriarch."
' Synes. Ep.76. adTheoph. 'Eroem hi, rh Ki^piorc'iTH n'lrTdi, rFic'itpac <jh
Xiipbt:. ^ Con Chalc. can. 28 et Act. 16. =* Justin. Novel. 7.
* Jnstin. Nov. 131. c. 3. Per tenipus Bcatissimimi JHstiniana; Prima? Patriie
nostrre Archiepiscopum habere semper sub sufi jurisdictione Episcopos Provih-
ciaruni DacliE MediterraneiE, et Daciaj Ripensis, et Privalis (al. TribaUia») et
Dardania;, et MysicE superioris, et Pannonis; et ab eo hos ordinari^" ipsum
yero a proprio ordiuari Concilio, * Con. Nicen. Arab. c.SCi. Non tamen
jus habciU coustituendi Aichiepiscopos, ut habel Patriarclia ; sicpiidem nun
habrt Palriaichas honorem el potestatein.
VOL. 1. V
178 THl ANTIQUITIES OF THK [bOOK H.
It was, therefore the prerogative of patriarchs (those of
Ephesus and Caesarea only excepted) to ordain the metro-
poUtans under them ; but they themselves were to be or-
dained by a diocesan synod, as Justinian's forecited Novel*
informs us. And this was called the canonical ordination
of 9} patriarch. For so the council of Constantinople, in
their synodical epistle to the western bishops, prove the
ordination of Flavian, bishop of Antioch, (who presided over
all the eastern diocese,^ as Theodoret says) to be canonical ;
because he was ordained not only by the bishops of the pro-
vince, but " Trig 'AvaToXdcrjc SioiKntrewg, the bishops of the
whole eastern diocese^ synodically met together ^
Sect. 13. — A Second Privilege, to call Diocesan Synods and preside
in them.
2ndly. The next privileg-e of patriarchs was the power
of convening" their metropolitans and all the provincial
bishops to a diocesan synod ; which privilege was founded
upon the same canons that granted metropolitans authority
to summon provincial synods, and preside in them ; for by
just analogy the patriarch was to have the same power over
the metropolitans, that they had over their provincial
bishops. And, therefore, Theodoret,* speaking of his own
attendance at the synods of his patriarch at Antioch, says,
" He did it in obedience to the ecclesiastical canons, which
make him a criminal that is summoned to a synod, and re-
fuses to pay his attendance at it."
Sect. H. — A Third Privilege, to receive Appeals from Metropolitan^ and
Provincial Synods.
3dly. Another privilege of patriarchs was the power of
receiving appeals from metropolitans and provincial synods,
and reversing their decrees, if they were found faulty. " If
any bishop or clergyman have a controversy with the metro-
politan of his province, let him have recourse to the exarch
of the diocese," says the council of Chalcedon* in one canon;
' Novel. J31. Ipsum vero (Patriarcham) a proprio ordinari Concilio.
'^Theod. H. E. lib. v. c. 23. ^ Con. Constant. Ep. ad Occident, ap.
Theod. H. E. lib. v. c 9. * Theod. Ep. 81. * Con.
Chalced. can. 9.
CHAP. XVII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 179
and in another,"* If any man is injured by his own bishop,
or metropolitan, let him bring his cause before the exarch
of the diocese, or the throne of Constantinople." These
canons are adopted into the civil law, and confirmed by
imperial edicts. For, by one of Justinian's Constitutions,*
the patriarch is to receive appeals from a provincial synod,
and give a final determination to all causes that are regu-
larly brought before him : and the regular way of proceed-
ing is there specified ; which is, " That no man shall bring
his cause first before the patriarch, but first before his own
bishop, then before the metropolitan, after that before a
provincial synod, and last of all before the patriarch, from
whose judgment there lay no appeal." The same is re-
peated and confirmed by other laws^ 6f that emperor,
which need not here be recited.
Sect. 16. — A Fourth Privilege, to censure Metropolitans, and also their Suffra-
gans, when Metropolitans were remiss in censuring them.
4thly. As patriarchs might receive appeals from metro-
politans, so they had power to inquire into their administra-
tion, and correct and censure them, in case of heresy, or
misdemeanour, or any mal-administration, which made
them liable by the canons to ecclesiastical censure. Justi-
nian made an express law to this purpose,* "That if any
clergyman was accused in point of faith, or morals, or
transgression of the sacred canons ; if he was a bishop, he
should be examined before his metropolitan ; but if he was
a metropolitan, then, before the archbishop, that is, the
patriarch to whom he was subject." By virtue of this
power Chrysostom deposed Gerontius,* metropolitan of
Nicomedia ; and Atticus decided a controversy between
Theodosius and Agapetus,^ who contended about the throne
of Synada, the metropolis of Phrygia Pacatiana : and it
' Ibid. can. 17. * Cod. Just. lib. i. tit. 4. c. 2 *Just.
Novel. 123. c. 22. Phot. Nomocan. tit. xix. c. I, * Novel. 137. c. v.
Quoties quidam Sacerdotum accusabunlur vel de Fide, aut turpi Vitii, aut ob
aliquid aliud contra sacros Canones admissum ; si quidem Episcopus est is qui
accusatus est, ejus Metropolitanus examinet ea quae dicta sunt : Si vero Me-
tropolitanus sit, ejus Beatissimus Archiepiscopus sub quo degit.
Sozoin. H. E. lib. i. e. vi. * Socrat. II. E. lib. vii. c. iii.
ISO THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK tl.
were easy to add many other instances of the like nature out
of the ancient councils, which concuiTed with the patriarchs
in the exercise of tliis power. Nor did this power extend
only over metropolitans, but over their suffragan bishops
also. For though every provincial bishop was to be
tried by his own metropolitan and a provincial synod;
yet, in case they were negligent and remiss in execu-
ting- the canons ag-ainst delinquents, the patriarch had
power to take the matter into his own cognizance, and
ensure any bishop within the limits of his jurisdiction.
Thus Sozomen* observes of Chrysostom, " that in one
visitation at Ephesus he deposed thirteen bishops of Asia,
Lycia, and Phrygia, for simony, and such other corrupt
practices." This was done in a synod of seventy bishops,
held at Ephesus, Anno 401, as Valesius- and Du Pin observe
out of Palladius, who mentions the same thing-, though he
speaks but of six bishops then deposed.
Sect. 16.— A Fifth Privilege. Patriarchs might make ]Melropolitans their
Commissioners, &c.
5th y The patriarch had power to delegate, or send a
metropolitan into any part of his diocese, as his commis-
sioner, to hear and determine, ecclesiastical causes in his
name ; at least it was so in the diocese of Egypt, where
Synesius was bishop. For, in one of his epistles,^ writing-
to Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, he tells him what a
difficult task he had put him upon, when he sent him
through an enemy's country, to Hydrax and Palaebisca,
two villages in the confines of Lybia, to determine a dispute
that was risen there, about erecting those places into
bishop s sees ; " but," sayshe," there hesanecessity upon me,
vofiov riytiffS-ai, io take every thing for a law that is injoined
me by the throne of Alexandria."
Sect. 17.— A Sixth Privilege. The Patriarch to be consulted by his Metro-
politans in Matters of any great Moment.
6thly. And as the metropolitans did every thing that was
cononically injoined them by the patriarch, so they did
'Sozom.H. E. lib. viii. c.vi. = Vales. Not. in Loc. Du Pin Biblioth.
vol. iii. Vit.Chrysosf. ^ Synes. Ep. Ixvii. p. 221.
OHAP. XVII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. ISl
nothing- of any great moment without him ; paying- (he
same deference to him, that the canon;^ obhg-ed their suiTia-
g-ans to pay to them. This, at least; was the custom of
Egypt, as appears from a noted passag-e rehited in the acts
of the council of Chalcedon,' where we find, that when
Pope Leo's epistle against Eutyches was subscribed by ail
the bishops in council, the Eg-yptian bishops tlien present re-
fused to do it, because they had then no patriarch, and it was
not lawful for them to do it without the consent of a patriarch
by the rule of the council of Nice; which orders all the
bishops of the Egyptian diocese, to follow the archbishop
of Alexandria, and do nothing- without him. This they
pleaded in council, and their plea was accepted, and a
decree passed in their favour upon it; " That since this was
the custom of the Egyptian diocese, to do nothing- of this
nature without the consent and authority of their arclibishop,
they should not be compelled to subscribe, till a new arch-
bishop was chosen.''
Sect. 18. — A Seventh Privilege. Patriarchs to communicate to the Metro-
politans such Imperial Laws as concerned the Church, &c.
Tthly. It was the patriarch's office, to publish both eccle-
siastical and civil laws, which concerned the Church, and
to take care for the dispersion and publication of them, in
all Churches of their diocese. The method is prescribed
by Justinian in the epilogue to the sixth Novel; "The
patriarchs of every diocese shall publish these our laws in
their respective Churches, and notify them to the metropo-
litans under them. The metropolitans likewise shall publish
them in their metropolitlcal Churches, and make them
known to the bishops under them; that so they may publish
them in their respective Churches, and no one be left
ionorant in our whole empire of what we have enacted for
the o-lory of the g-reat God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ."
See also Novel, 42, directed toMenas, patriarch of Constan-
tinople, concluding in the same tenour.
' Con. Chalced. Act. iv. p. 512 et 513. ^ (jon. Clialc. can. Sa.
ex Act. t.
182 THE ANTIQUITIES OP THE [bOOK II.
SBCTi 19.— The Eighth Privilege, Great Criminals reserved to the
Patriarch's Absolution.
8thly. Synesius observes another privileg-e in the diocese
of Alexandria ; which was, that in the exercise of discipUne
upon great criminals, and scandalous offenders, a peculiar
deference was paid to the patriarch by reserving- their abso-
lution to his wisdom and discretion. As he gives an in-
stance in one Lamponianus,a presbyter, whom he had excom-
municatedforabusing Jason, hisfellowpresbyter: "Though,"
says he,^ " he expressed his repentance with tears, and the
people interceded for him ; yet I refused to absolve him, but
remitted him over for that, to the sacred see; only assuming
this to myself, that if the man should happen to be in mani-
fest danger of death, any presbyter that was present should
receive him into communion by my order. For no man
shall go excommunicate out of the worldby me. But in case
he recovered he should still be liable to the former penalty,
and expect the ratification of his pardon from your divine
and courteous soul." But whether this respect was paid
by all metropolitans to their patriarch in every diocese, I
have not yet observed.
Sect. 20. — The Ninth Privilege. The geater Patriarchs Absolute, and
Independent of one another.
9thly. The last privilege of patriarchs was, that they were
originally all co-ordinate and independent of one another.
T speak now of them as they were at their first institution ;
for after ages, and councils, and emperors, made great
alteration in this matter. At first learned men* reckon
there were about thirteen or fouteen patriarchs in the Church,
that is, one in every capital city of each diocese of the
Roman empire: the patriarch of Alexandria, over the Egyptian
diocese ; the patriarch of Antioch, over the eastern diocese;
the patriarch of Ephesus, over the Asiatic diocese ; the patri-
arch of Caesarea, in Cappadocia, over the Pontic diocese ;
Thessalonica, in Macedon, or Illyricum Orientale; Sirmium,
in Illrycum Occidentale ; Rome, in the Roman prefecture ;
Milan, in the Italic diocese ; Carthage, in Afric ; Lyons, in
' Synes. Ep. Ixvii. p. 251. ' Brerewood Patriarch. Gov. Q. 1.
CHAP. XVII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 183
France ; Toledo, in Spain ; and York, in the diocese of Britain.
The greatest part of these, if not all, were real patriarchs,
and independent of one another, till Rome, by encroach-
ment, and Constantinople by law, g-ot themselves made
superior to some of their neighbours, who became subordi-
nate and subject unto them. The ancient liberties of the
Britanic Churches, as also the African, and ItaUc diocese,
and their long* contests with Rome, before they could be
brought to yield obedience to her, are largely set forth by
several of our learned writers * in particular discourses on
this subject. I only here note that the eastern patriarchs,
Alexandria, Antioch, Ephesus, Csesarea, and Constanti-
nople, were never subject to Rome, but maintained the
ancient liberty which the canons g-ave them. For though
Caesarea and Ephesus, were made subordinate to the patri-
arch of Constanstinople, and any one might appeal from
them to him ; yet the appeal was to be carried no further,
unless it were to a general-council.^ Which shows the
independency of the greater patriarchs one of another.
Sect. 21, — The Patriapch of Constantinople dignified witlv the Title of
CEcumenical, and his Church Head of all Churches.
The patriarch of Constantinople had also the honourable
title of oecumenical or universal patriarch given him ; pro-
bably in regard of the great extent of his jurisdiction.
Thus Justinian styles Menas, Epiphanius, and Anthemius,
archbishops and oecumenical patriarchs, in several of his
Rescripts;^ and Leo gives the same title to Stephen,- — arch-
bishop and universal patriarch, — -in ten laws,* one after
another. So that it was no such new thing, as pope Gre-
gory made it, for the patriarch of Constantinople to be
styled oecumenical bishop ; for that title was given him by
law many years before, even from the time of Justinian :
and it is a vulgar error in history to date the original of
that title frorri the time of Gregory I. which was in use at
least a whole century before. But Justinian, in another Re-
' Brerewood Patr. Gov. Q. 2 et 3. Cave Anc. Ch. Gov. c. v. ^ See
the Authorities cited before, § 14. ^ See Justin. Novel. 7. 16. 42.
* Leo. Imp. Constit. Novel. 2. 3, ikc.
]81 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
script, g-oes a little further, and says* expressly, " that
Constantinople was the head of all Churches ;" which is as
inuch as ever any council allowed to Rome, that is, a supre-
macy in its own diocese, and a precedency of honour in re-
gard that it was the capital city of the empire. Equal pri-
vileges are g'ranted to Constantinople, upon the same
ground, because it was new Rome, and the royal seat, as
the councils of Constantinople^ and Chalcedon, with some
others, word it. So that they had privileges of honour,
and privileges of power ; the first of which were peculiar
to those sees ; the other, in a g reat measure, common to
them and all other patriarchal Churches, except those of
Ephesus and Ca^sarea, which, as I have often observed,
were legally made subordinate to that of Constantinople.
Sect. 22. — Of subordinate Patriarchs. What Figure they made in the
Church, and that they were not mere titular Patriarchs.
Some here may be desirous to know what authority those
patriarchs had in the Church after their subordination to
the other. There are who tell us that they were sunk
down to the condition of metropolitans again, by the coun-
cil of Chalcedon ; but that is a mistake. For, 1st, they re-
tained the name of exarchs of the diocese still, and so sub-
scribed themselves in all councils. As in the sixth general-
council, Theodore subscribes himself metropolitan of Ephe-
sus, and exarch of the Asiatic diocese ; ^ and Philalethes,
metropolitan of Caisarea, and exarch of the Pontic diocese.
2dly. They always sat and voted, in general-councils,
next immediately after the five great patriarchs, Rome,
Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, who,
by the canons,* had precedence of all the rest. Next to
these, before all the metropolitans, the bishops of Ephesus
and CfBsarea took place, as may be seen in the subscrip-
tions of the fourth and sixth general-councils.^
Sdly. They had power to receive appeals from metropo-
' Just. Cod. lib. i. tit. 3. c. 21. Constantinopolitaiia Ecclesia omniinn
aliarum est Caput. ~ Con. Const, can. 3. Con. Clialccd. can. 28,
Con. Trull, can. 3G. Justin. Novel. 131. c. 2. " Con. 6. Gen!
Act. xviii. ♦ Set- Con. Trull, can. 3f>. ctJuslin. Novel. 131. c, 2,
' Con. Chaked. Aqi. i. ct iii. Con. 6. Geii, Act. IS.
CHAP. XVIII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 185
litans, which is evident from the same canons of Clialce-
don,* which give the patriarch of Constantinople power to
take appeals from them. So that they were not mere titu-
lar patriarchs, as some in after-ag-es, but had the power as
well as the name; the right of ordaining- metropolitans,
and receiving ultimate appeals, only excepted. But how
long' they or any others retained their power, is not my bu-
siness here any further to inquire.
CHAP, xviir.
Of the ^ AvTOKi(l>a\oL.
Sect. 1. — All Metropolitans anciently styled ' A.vTOK'i(^a\oi.
Among other titles which were anciently given to some
certain bishops, we frequently meet with the name 'Auro-
Ki(^a\oi, absolute and independent bishops ; which was not
the name of any one sort of bishops, but given to several,
upon different reasons. For, first, before the setting up of
patriarchs, all metropolitans were ^AvTOKe<{>a\oi, ordering the
affairs of their own province with their provincial bishops,
and being accountable to no superior but a synod ; and that
in case of heresy, or some great crime committed against
religion and the rules of the Church.
Sect. 2, — Some Metropolitans independent after the setting up of Patriarchal
Power, as those of Cyprus, Iberia, Armenia, and the Church of Britain.
And even after the advancement of patriarchs, several
metropolitans continued thus independent, receiving their
ordination from their own provincial synod, and not from
any patriarch ; terminating all controversies in their own
synods, from which there was no appeal to any superior,
except a general-council. Balsamon reckons among this
sort of 'A»roKt</)aXo£, the metropolitans of Bulgaria,^ Cyprus,
and Iberia. And his observation is certainly true of the
two last, who were only metropolitans, yet independent of
' Con. Chalc. can. 9, et 17. ^Balsam, in Con. Constant. 1. can. 2.
VOL.1. Z
IgfJ THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK If^
any patriarchal or superior power. For, though die bishop
of Antioch laid clahn to the ordination of the Cyprian
bishops, in the council of Ephesus, yet the council, upon
hearhig the case, determined ag-ainst him, making- a de-
cree,* " That, whereas, it never had been the custom for the
bishop of Antioch to ordain bishops in Cyprus, the Cyprian
bishops should retain their rights inviolable, and, according-
to canon and ancient custom, ordain bishops among them-
selves." And this was ag'ain repeated and confirmed by
the council of Triillo,^ even after the Cypriots were driven
into another country l)y the incursions of the barbarians.
Others^ observe tlie same privilege in the Iberian
Churches, now commonly called Georgians ; that they
never were subject either to the patriarch of Constantinople,
or any other; but all their bi!>hops, being- eig-hteen in num-
ber, profess absolute obedience to their own metropolitan,
without any otlier higlier depondance or relation.
And this was the case of the Armenian Churoh.es in the
time of Photius, as appears from an ancient Greek Notitia
Episcopatuum, cited by Peter de Marca,* which says it was
an 'Ai»roKt^aXoc, and not subject to the thr(jne of Constanti-
nople, but honoured with Independeucy in respect to St.
Gregory of Armenia, their first Aposlle.
And this was also the ancient liberty of the Britannic
Church, before the coming of Austin, the monk, when the
seven British bishops, which were all that were then re-
maining, paid obedience to the archbishop of Caer-Leon,
and acknowledged no superior in spirituals above him. As
Dinothus, the learned aV)bot of Bangor, told Austin,^ in the
name of all the Britannic Churches, " That they owed no
other obedience to the pope of Rome, than they did to
every godly Christian, to love every one in his deg-ree in
perfect charity : other obedience than this they knew none
due to him whom he named pope, &c. But they were
under the government of the bishop of Caer-Leon, upon
Uske, who was their overseer under God."
— - * , ■ -
' Con. Ephes. Act. vii. Dtcret. de Cypr. Epis. ^Qq^^ Trull, can. 39.
^Brerewood Inquir. c. 17. Chytrseus de Statu. Eccles. &c. * Marca
de Primat. n. 27. p. 122. ° Spelinan. (.'on. Brit. an. G(»l. torn. i. p. Ul8.
CHAP. XVIII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 187
Sect. 3. — A Third sort of 'Acrovt^aXot, such Bishops as were subject to no
Metropolitan, but only to the Patriarch of the Diocese.
Besides all these there was yet a third sort of 'AvroKtcpaXoi,
which were such bishops as were subject to no metropolitan,
but immediately under the patriarcli of the diocese, who
was to them instead of a metropolitan. Thus for instance
in the patriarchate or large diocese of Constantinople, i\\0'
ancient Notitia, published by Leunclavius,' reckons thirty-
nine such bishops throughout the several provinces ; that
published by Dr. Beverege^ counts them forty-one ; and the
Notitia, in Carolus a Sancto Paulo^ augments tlie number
to forty-six. The bishop of Jerusalem is said* to have had
twenty-five such bishoprics in his patriarchate, and the
bishop of Antioch sixteen ; as Nilus Doxopatrius, a writer
of the eleventh century, in his book of the patriarchal sees,
informs us. But what time this sort of independent bishop-
rics w ere first set up in the Church, is not certain ; for the
earliest account we have of them is in tlie Notitia of the
emperor Leo Sapiens, written in the ninth century, where
they are called archbishoprics, as in stune other Notitioe
they are called mctropolitieal sees ; though both these
names w ere but titular, foj they had no suffragan bishops
under them.
Sect. -1. — A Fourth Sort of ' AvTOK'i<l>a\oi,
Valesius mentions another sort of 'Auro/cti^aXot, which
were such bishops as were wholly independent of all others ;
as they had no suffrag-ans under them, so neither did they
acknowledg"e any superior above them, whetlier metropoli-
tan, or patriarch, or any other whatsoever. Of this sort he
reckons the bishops* of Jerusalem, before they were ad-
vanced to patriarchal dig-nity ; but in this instance he plainly
mistakes, and contradicts St, Jerom, who says expressly,
" that the bishop of Jerusalem, was subject to the bishop of
Caesarea, as the metropolitan of all Paioestine, and to the
' Leunclav. Jus. Gr. Rom. toin. i. lib, ii. p. 89. '^ Bcvereg-. Pan-
dect, toni. ii. Not. in Can. 26. Concil. Trull. * Car. a S. Paulo Ap-
pend, ad Geogr. Sacr. p. 10. * Nilus Doxopatr. ap. le Mojne
. Varia Sacra, torn. i. '' Vales. No(. in Euseb. lib, v. c, 23. See
chap. 17. sect, 7,
188 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
bishop of Antioeh as metropolitan of the whole east," as
has been noted in the last chapter. If there were any such
bishops as he speaks of, they must be such as the bishop
of Tomis in Scythia, who, as Sozomen^ notes, was the only
bishop of all the cities of that province ; so that he could
neither have any suffragans under him, nor metropohtan
above him. But such instances are very rare, and we scarce
meet with such another example in all the history of the
Church. I have now completed the account of primitive
bishops, and showed the distinctions which were among-
them in the external polity of the Church : I proceed in the
next place therefore to consider the second order of the
clergy, which is that of presbyters.
CHAP. XIX.
Of Presbyters.
Sect. 1. — The meaning of the Name Presbyter.
The name Upia^vTipoi, presbyters or elders, is a word
borrowed from the Greek translation of the Old Testament,
where it commonly signifies rulers and governors, being
(as St. Jerom^ notes) a name of office and dignity, and not
a mere indication of men's age; for elders were chosen,
not by their age, but by their merits and wisdom. So that
as a senator among the Romans, and an alderman in our
own language, signifies a person of such an order and sta-
tion, without any regard to his age ; in like manner a pres-
byter or elder in the Christian Church is one who is ordained
to a certain office, and authorized by his quality, not by his
age, to discharge the several duties of that office and station,
wherein he is placed.
Sect. 2. — Apostles and Bishops sometimes called Presbyters.
And in this large extensive sense, it is readily granted by
all, that bishops are sometimes called presbyters in the
'Sozom. lib.vi. c. 21. Lib. vii.c. 19. ^Hicron.inEsai. S.tom.v.p. 16.
In Scripturis Sanctis Presbyteros raerito etsapicntia eligi, nonaetate.
CHAP. XIX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 189
New Testament ; for the Apostles themselves do not refuse
the title. On the other hand, it is the opinion of many
learned men, both ancient^ and modern,^ that presbyters
were sometimes called bishops, whilst the bishops that were
properly such were distinguished by other titles, as that of
chief priests and Apostles, &c. of which I have given a
particular account in one of the preceding chapters, and
there evinced that they, who maintained this identity of
names, did not thence infer an identity of offices, but always
esteemed bishops and presbyters to be distinct orders.
Sect. S.— The Original of Presbyters properly so called.
Here then taking presbyters in the strictest sense, for
those only of the second order, we must first inquire into
their original. The learned Dr. Hammond^ advanced an
opinion about this matter, which is something singular: he
asserts, that in scripture times, the name of presbyters
belonged principally, if not alone, to bishops ; and that
there is no evidence, that any of this second order were then
instituted, though soon after, he thinks, before the writing
of Ignatius's Epistles, there were such instituted in all
Churches, The authorities he builds upon are Clemens
Romanus and Epiphanius, who say, that in some Churches
at first there were bishops and deacons, without any pres-
byters. But I conceive it will not hence follow, that it was
so in all Churches ; nor does Epiphanius maintain that, but
the contrary, that as in some Churches* there were only
bishops and deacons, so in others there were only presby-
ters and deacons: and that in large and populous Churches
the Apostles settled both bishops, presbyters, and deacons ;
as at Ephesus, where Timothy was bishop, and had pres-
byters subject to him; which Epiphanius proves from Scrip-
ture. " That a bishop and presbyter," says he, " are not the
' Chrysost. Horn. 1. in Phil. I. It. Horn. 11. in ITim. iii. Theodoret. Com,
in Phil. 1. 1. It. in Phil. 2. 25. et in 1 Tim. 3. 1. Ainbrosiaster in Eph. 4. 11.
Hieron. Com. in Tit. 2. Ep. 83. ad Ocean, ct 85. ad Evagr. '^ Usser.
Dissert, in Ignat. c. xviii. p. 232. It. Orig. ofBish. and Metro, p. 53. Cote-
ler. Not. in Ignat. Ep. ad Magnes. n. 1. ^Ham. Annot. on Act. II.
30. * Epiph. Hicr,75. Aerian, n. 5,
190 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
same, llie Apostle informs us, when writing to Timothy,
who was a bishop, he bids him not rebuke an elder, but
intreat him as a father. How comes the bishop to be con-
cerned not to rebuke an elder, if he had no power over an
elder 1 In like manner the Apostle says, ' against an elder
receive not an accusation, but before two or three wit-
nesses ;' but he never said to any presbyter, receive not an
accusation against a bishop; nor did he ever write to any
presbyter, not to rebuke a bishop." This plainly implies,
that in all such large and populous Churches as that of
Ephesus, according to Epiphanius, all the three orders of
bishops, presbyters, and deacons were settled by the
Apostles; though the smaller Churches were differently
supplied at first ; some only with presbyters and deacons,
before bishops were constituted in them, and others only
with bishops and deacons without any presbyters. For all
Churches had not immediately all the same church-officers
upon their first foundation, but time was required to com-
plete their constitution, as bishop Pearson^ has observed on
this very passage of Epiphanius.
Sect. 4.— The Powers and Privileges of Presbyters.
Admitting, then, that presbyters, as well as bishops,
were original ly settled in the Church by the Apostles, we
are next to inquire into the power and privileges that were
proper to their order. And here I shall have occasion to
say the less, having already showed'^ what offices they
might perform V)y virtue of their ordinary power, only
acting in dependance on, and subordination to their bishop,
as the supreme minister of the Church. They might bap-
tize, preach, consecrate, and administer the eucharist, &c.,
in the bishop's absence, or in his presence, if he authorized
and deputed them, as has been noted before. They might
also reconcile penitents, and grant them absolution in the
bishop's absence : and some think they had power likewise
to confirm in cases of necessity, by special license and de-
' Pearson. Vinci. Ij^ival Par. ii. c. 13. p. 4.12. In arKHiibiis EccU-siis ab
origine fuisse Presbytt-ros, noiidiiin coiistiUitis Episcopis ; iu aliquibuti Epi.s-
popos, houdum constitutis Presbyteris. '^ See befote chap. 3.
CHAP. XIX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 191
leoation. But these two thinofs will be considered and
discussed more particularly hereafter, Avhen we come to
treat of discipline and confirmation. What is further to be
noted in this place, is the honour and respect that was paid
to them, acting- in conjunction with their bishop, who
scarce did any thing- in the administration and government
of the Church, without the advice, consent, and amicable
concurrence of his presbyters.
Sect. 5. — Presbyters allowed to sit with the Bishop on Thrones in the Church.
Hence it was that presbyters were allowed to sit tog-e-
ther with the bishop in the Church (which privilege was
never allowed to deacons :) and their seats were dig-nified
with the name of thrones, as the bishop's was ; only with
this difference, that his was the high throne, and theirs the
second thrones. In allusion to this, Gregory Nazianzen,*
speaking of his own ordination to the degree of presbyter,
says, " his father who ordained him, brought him by violence
to the second thrones." And in his -vision concerning the
Church of Anastasia,^he thus represents the several orders
of the Church: " Methought I saw myself (the bishop)
sitting on the high throne, and the presbyters, that is, the
guides of the Christian flock, sitting on both sides by me
on lower thrones, and the deacons standing by them." By
this we may understand what Constantine meant in his
letter^ to Chrestus, bishop of Syracuse, when, giving him a
summons to the council of Aries, he bids him also bring-
with him " two of tlie second throne," that is, two presbyters:
and what Eusebius means by those words in his panegyric*
upon the temple of Paulinus, where he says " he beautified
and adorned the structure with thrones set up on high for
the honour of the presidents or rulers ;" by which it is
plain he means the thrones of the presbyters, as well as the
bishop; for they were both exalted aliove the seats of the
common people. Nay, both the name and thing was then
' Naz. C'arm. de Vita, K«/xirr£i jSiaioJC itc ctvTf^ync Qqovhq. ^Id. Sonin.
de Ecclesia Anastasiffi. Orat. '20. de Laud. Basil, p. 340. Aivtiqu tTiq naOi-
Spac. ^Ap. Euseb. lib. x. c. 5. Avo ye nvag tCju ik rQ SiVTipn &p6i>t?.
* Euseb. lib. x. c. 4.
192 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [boOK II.
SO usual, that Aeiius drew it into an arg-ument, ' to prove
the identity and parity of bishops and presbyters. "A bishop
sits upon a throne,and so does a presbyter likewise;" which
though it be but a very lame and foolish arg-ument to prove
what he intended, yet it is a plain intimation of what has
here been noted, to have been the then known custom and
practice of the Church. And little regard is to be had to
those modern authors, who pretend to say that presbyters
had not power to sit in the presence of their bishops;
which is confuted by the acts and canons'^ almost of every
council, and the writings of every ancient author, in which
nothing more commonly occurs than the phrases, Coiisessus
Presbyterorum, and Sedere in Presbyterio, importing the
custom and privilege whereof we are now speaking-.
Sect/6.— The Form of their silting- in a Semicircle ; whence they were called
Corona Presbyterii.
There is one thing further to be noted concerning the
manner of their sitting, which was on each hand of the
bishop, in the form or figure of a semicircle ; which is
described by the author ^ of the Constitutions, under the
name of Clemens Romanus, and Gregory Nazianzen, and
others. Whence, as the bishop's throne is called the middle
throne, or the middle seat by Theodoret* and the Constitu-
tions: so for the same reason Ignatius^ and the Constitu-
tions ^ term the presbyters the spiritual crown or circle of
the presbytery, and the crown of the Church ; unless we
will take this for a metaphorical expression, to denote only
that presbyters united with then- bishop, were the glory of
the Church.
Sect. 7. — Presbyters the Ecclesiastical Senate, or Council of the Church,
whom the Bishop consulted and advised with upon all Occasions.
This honour was done them in regard to their authority
in the Church, wherein they were considered as a sort of
' Epiphan. Hser. 75. Aerian. ® Con. Cartha^. 4. c. 35, 36. Euseb. lib. 6.
C.20. Origen. Horn. 2. in Cantic. Con. Laodic. c. 55. Constit. Apost.lib,
ii. c. 57. Con. Ancyr. c. 18. ^ Constit. Apost. lib. ii. c. 57. KacSw Si
fi'e&OQ 6 Toii tTTtCKOTTg OpovoQ, &c. * Thcod. Hist. lib. v. c. 3. 'O fitaoQ
OSJKog. ^ Ignat. Ep. ad Magnes. n. 13. IlvtvfiaTiKbv '7e<pavov tov
ir^Kj^vTipiH ^ Constitut. lib. ii. c. 28. '^i^avov iKKXtjaiag.
CHAP XIX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 193
ecclesiastical senate, or council to the bishop, who scarce
did any thing- of great weight and moment, without asking-
their advice, and taking- their consent, to give the greater
force and authority to all public acts done in the name of the
Church. Upon which account, St. Chrysostom^ and Syne-
sius^ style them, "the court, or Sanhedrim of the presby-
ters;" and Cyprian,^ " the sacred and venerable bench of
the clergy ;" St. Jerom* and others,^ " the Church's senate,
and the senate of Christ ;" Origen " and the author of the "^
Constitutions, "the bishop's counsellors, and the council of
the Church ;' because, though the bishop Avas prince and
head of this ecclesiastical senate, and nothino- could reo-u-
larly be done without him ; yet neither did he ordinarily do
any public act, relating* to the government or discipline of
the Church without their advice and assistance.
Sect. 8. — Some Evidences out of Ignatius and Cyprian, of the power and
Prerogatives of Presbyters in conjunction with the Bishop.
The first ages afford the most pregnant proofs of this
divine harmony between the bishop and his presbyters ; for
any one that ever looked into the writings of Cyprian, must
acknowledge, that at Rome and Carthage, the two g-reat
Churches of the west, all things were thus transacted by
joint consent: the bishop with his clergy did communi
coiisilid^ ponderare, weigh things by common advice and
deliberation. Whether it was in the ordinations of the
clergy, (for Cyprian would not so much as ordain a sub-
deacon or a reader without their consent,) or whether it
was in the exercise of discipline and reconciliation of peni-
• Chrys. de Sacerdot. lib. iii. c. 15. To riov Trptcrfivripiov avvkcnioi'.
2 Synes. Ep. 67, ad Theoph. * Cypr. Ep. 55 al. 59. ad Cornel.
Cleri sacrum venerandumque Consessum. Con. Carth. iv. c. 35. Episcopus in
Consessu Presbyterorum sublimior sedeat, &c. *Hieron.in Esai.
iii. torn. V. p. 17. Etnos habemus in Ecclesia senatum nostrum, Coetum
Presbyterorum. * Pius Ep. 2. ad. Just. Vien. Salutat te senatus
pauper Christi, apud Romam constitutus. ^Orig. Com. in Mat.
BaXij iKK\7)aiaQ. Pearson.Vind. Ignat. Par. l.c.xi. p. 321. Hi autera j^nXtvral
Christiani sane fuerunt Presbyteri. '' Const. Apost. lib. ii. c. 28.
2i'ju/38Xoi 78 tTriffKOTTs, ffvvEopLov K) jSsX*) rjjc {KKXi/ffiaf. * Cypr. Ep.
33. al. 38. ad Cler. In Ordinationibus clericis solemus vos ante consujere,
et mores ac merita singuiorum communi consilio ponderare.
VOL. I. 2 A
194 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
tents, Cyprian declares^ his resolution to do all by common
consent. And so Corneliusat the same time acted at Rome;
for when Maximus and the rest of the Confessors, who had
sided with Novatian, came afterward and made confession
of their error, and desired to be admitted again into the
communion of the Church, Cornelius would do nothing- in
it, till he had first called a presbytery, and taken both their
advice and consent^ in the affair, that he might proceed
according to their unanimous resolution. Cyprian in seve-
ral other of his Epistles,^ speaks of the same deference paid
to his presbytery, and in one place he more particularly
tells them, " that it was a law and a rule * that he had laid down
to himself, from the first entrance on his bishopric, that he
would do nothing without their advice, and the consent of
the people." Epiphanius observes the same practice at
Ephesus, in the condemnation of Noetus ; for first, he says,
" He was convened before the presbytery,^ and then again,
upon a relapse, by them expelled the Church;" which at
least must mean, that the bishop and his presbyters joined
together in this ecclesiastical censure. In like manner,
speaking of the first condemnation of Arius, he says,
" Alexander, bishop of Alexandria,*^ called a presbytery
against him, before whom, and some bishops then present,
he examined him, and expelled him." Cotelerius, in his
Notes upon the Constitutions, has published from an ancient
Manuscript, one of the forms of Arius's deposition,' which
' Id. Ep. 6. al. 14. adCler. Ut ea, quas circa Ecclesise gubernaculum utilitas
communis exposcit, tractare simul, et plurimorum consilio examinata limare
possemus. ^ Cornel. Ep. 46. al. 49 ad Cypr. p. 92. Omni actu
ad me perlato, placuit contrahi Presbyterium — ut firmato consilio, quid circa
personam eorura observari deberet, consensu omnium statueretur.
8 Cypr. Ep. 24. al. 29. ad Cler. Ep. 32. ad Cler. * Cypr. Ep G.
al. 14. Quando h primordio Episcopatus mei statuerim, nihil sine consilio
vestro, et sine consensu Plebis, meft pivata sententiS, gerere; Sed cum ad
vosper Dei gratiamvenero~in commune tractabimus. * Epiph. Hjer. 67.
n. i. 'Etti TTptajivTeQis dyofievog. Ibid. 'Ot avrol ■TrpecrfivTipot i'^eotaav avrhv
Trig UicXricrLaQ. ^ Epiph. Hser. 69. Arian. n. iii. Si/y(c«\£irnt ro
vpsajivTspiov, Kui aXKsg nvciQ fTrtc/coTrsc vapovTag, &c. '' Depositio
Ari. ap. Cotcler. Not. in Constit, Apost. lib. viii. c. 28. "Iva i^) to. vvv
y(>a<l>6ntva yvwre, rfiv Ti iv THTOig (7V[i<p'j)viav kavriav iirioei'iijd^e, 19 ry
Ka^aipiati rwv mpi 'Aqiiov (Tvii\jyTi<poi yevijffOe.
CHAP. XIX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 195
may g"ive some lig-ht to this matter ; for thereby it appears
that when Alexander sent forth his circular letters to all
other bishops against Arius, he first summoned all the
presbyters and deacons of Alexandria, and region of Mareo-
tes, not only to hear what he had written, but also to testify
their consent to it, and declare that they agreed with him
in the condemnation of Arius. From whence we learn,
that though the deposition was properly the bishop's act,
yet to have it done with the greater solemnity, the consent
both of the presbyters and deacons was required to it.
And thus it was also in the condemnation of Origen: the
council of Alexandria, which expelled him the city, was
composedboth of bishops and presbyters, who decreed, " that
he should remove from Alexandria, and neither teach nor
inhabit there;" as PamphilusM-elates in the second book of
his Apology for Orig-en, some fragments of which are pre-
served in Photius. The council of Rome, that was gathered
against Novatian, consisted of sixty bishops, and many
more ^presbyters and deacons. The first council of Antioch
that was held against Paulus Samosatensis, had also^
presbyters and deacons in it : the name of one of them,
Malctjion, a presbyter of Antioch, is still remaining in the
Synodical Epistle, among the bishops in the inscription.
From all which it appears, that this was an ancient privi-
Ieg*e of presbyters to sit and deliberate with bishops, both
in their consistorial and provincial councils. And if we
ascend yet higher, we shall find matters alwa.ys thus tran-
sacted in the Church ab origine ; as appears from Ignatius,
whose writings (as a learned man observes*) speak as much
for the honour of the presbytery, as they do for the supe-
riority of episcopacy ; no ancient author having given so
' Painphil. Apol. ap. Phot. Cod. 118. p. 29S. ^vvo^oq aQ^io'i^crai iiriTKiWiov
K) rii'tSv TToerfivTtnwv kut' QoiytunQ. - Eusoh. Hb. vi. c. 43.
^ Euseb. lib. vii. c. 26. * Pearson. Viud. Iguat. Par. 2. c. xvi.
.p. 428. Si quid ego in liac re intelligo, quicunque prt'sbj tcrali dioiiitati
auctoritalique luaxiine student, uoii hubciit siitc ixistiiiir.tlonis liniiiiis aiit
solidius fundamentura, quam Epistolas Sancli Ignatii nostri : Nrque onim in
ullo vore antii[uo Sciiplore extra lius Epistolas tot ac tanta T'resbyleratus
pra-coiiia iiiveiiient, neque illius Ordiiiis liouorem sine Episcypalus Prieroga-
tiva ullibi constilutiuii reperient.
196 THE ANTIQUITIES OJF THE BOOK II.
many great and noble cbaracters of the presbytery, as he
does. For which reason it concerns those, who are most
zealous for the honour and authority of presbyters, to look
upon Ignatius as one of the best asserters and defenders of
their power and reputation. For he always joins the bishops
and presbyters together, as presiding- over the Church, the
one in the place of God and Jesus Christ, and the other as
the great council of God in the room of the Apostles. Thus
in his Epistle^ to the Ephesians, he bids them "be subject to
the bishop and the presbytery;" and in his Epistle to theMag--
nesians,^ he commends Sotion, the deacon, because " he was
subject to the bishop, as the gift of God, and to the presby-
tery, as the law of Christ ;" and a little after, in the same
Epistle, he speaks of the bishop as presiding-^ in the place
of God, and the presbyters in the place of the council of
Apostles. So, in his Epistle to the Trallians,* he bids them
" be subject to the presbytery, as to the Apostles of Jesus
Christ;" and again, "reverence the^ presbyters, as the
council of God, and the united company of Apostles; with-
out v.hich no Church is called a Church." Several other
passages of the same importance may be seen in his Epistles
to Polycarp and the Church of Smyrna.^
Sect. 9. — The Power of Presbyters thought by some to be a little diminished
in the Fourth Century.
And indeed all his Epistles are so full of g-reat eulog-iums
of the presbytery, as acting' in the nature of an ecclesiastical
senate together with the bishop, that our late learned de-
fender of those Epistles thence concludes, — that the power
and privileges of presbyteries was g-reater in the second
century, when Ig-natius lived, than in the fourth age of the
Church, when he thinks the powers and authority of pres-
' Ignat. Ep. ad Ephes. n. 2. 'YTrorrtffffo/tsa'ot t(^ kvirrKo-rrci) K) 7rpt<T(ivTe(iiri>.
'^ Ep. ad. Mai,nies. n. 2. ■' Ep. ad Magncs. n. 6, l\poKaQ!i)uvs
fTTKTKOTrS tlVj TOTTOvQtS^Kj TCOV TTptfffSvTfpMV {('c TOTTOV ffWidpiH TWV 'ATTOToXwf.
*Ep. ad Trail, n.2. 'Y7roT«(T(T£(73'£ n^ iTpirrjSuTipui) log rolg ' Atto^oXoic.
* Ibid. n. 3. 'Qc rrvviSpiov Ot^. i^, lor rrvvCfniwu 'Atto^uXwv. Xiopii; TiiTO)v
kK:X.';(T(a a KiiktiTai. ^ Ep. ad Polycarp. n. 7. Ep. ad Siujrn. n. 8,
CHAP. XIX. j CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 197
byteries waf5 a little sunk and diminished over all the world,
and even at Alexandria itself, where it had most of all
flourished. And this he makes an argument of the anti-
quity of those Epistles, that they were the g-enuine product
of Ig-natius, because no one of the fourth ag-e would have
given such encomiums of the presbytery, or armed ^ them
with so great authority and power. I shall not dispute this
matter, nor enter upon any nice comparison of the different
powers of presbyters in these two ages, but only represent
to the reader what privileges still remained to them in the
fourth century.
Sect. 10.— Yet still they were admitted to join with the Bishop in the Impo-
sition of Hands in the Ordination of Presbyters.
And here it cannot be denied, but that in this age, in the
ordination of a presbyter, all the presbyters that were pre-
sent were allowed, nay even required, to join with the bishop
in imposition of hands upon the party to be ordained.
That it was so in the African Churches, is beyond all dispute ;
for in the fourth council of Carthage,^ there is a canon ex-
pressly enjoining it; " When a presbyter is ordained, while
the bishop pronounces the benediction, and lays his hand
upon his head, all the presbyters that are present shall lay
their hands by the bishop's hand upon his head also." And
this in all hkelihood was the universal practice of the Church;
for in the Constitutions of the Church of Alexandria,^ there
is a rule to the same purpose. In the Latin Church, the
decree of the council of Carthage seems also to have pre-
vailed ; because it is inserted into their canon-law by Gratian*
and other collectors, from whence it became the common
• Pearson. Vindic. Ignat. Par. 2. c. 16. p. 428. Nemo tam soris Ecclesiae
temporibus — Presbyterium tot laudibus cumulassct,tantri auctoritate arniasset,
cujus Potestas ea tempestate, etiam A.lexandrije, ubi maxime floruerat,
tantopere imminuta est, '•^ Con. Carth. -k c. 3. Presbyter cum
ordinatur, Episcopo eum benedicente, ef manmn super caput ejus tenente,
etiam omnes Presbyteri, qui praesentes sunt, manus snas juxta manum Epis-
copi super caput illius tencant. ^ Eccl. Alex. Constif. c. 6. ap.
Bevcrcg. Not. in Canon. Apost. c. 2. Cum vult Episcopus ordinare Presby-
terum, manum suam capiti ejus imponat, simulrjuc oinncs Presbyteri istud
taugaut. * Grat. Dist. 23. c. 8. Ivo. Part. C. c. 12.
198 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
practice of our own Church, which is continued to this day.
Some ancient canons* indeed say, that one bishop alone
shall ordain a presbyter ; but that is not said to exclude
presbyters from assisting, but only to put a difference be-
tween the ordination of a bishop and a presbyter ; for the
ordination of a bishop could not regularly be performed
without the concurrence of three bishops with the metro-
politan; but a presbyter might be ordained by a single
bishop, without any other assistance, save that of his pres-
byters joining with him. And this plainly appears to have
been the practice of the fourth century.
Sect. II. — And allowed to sit in Consistory with their Bishops.
It is further evident from the records of the same age, that
presbyters had still the privilege of sitting in consistory with
their bishops. For Pope Siricius, in the latter end of this
century, acted as Cornelius had done before him. When
he went about to condemn the errors of Jovinian, he first
called^ a presbytery, and with their advice, censured his
doctrines ; and then, with the consent of the deacons also
and the rest of the clergy, expelled him the Church. And
so likewise Synesius, bishop of Ptolemais, proceeded against
Andronieus, the impious and blaspheming prefect of Pen-
tapolis ; he first laid open his horrible crimes before the
consistory of his Church, and then with their consent pro-
nounced the sentence of excommunication against him;
which he therefore calls the Act of the Consistory^ or
Sanhedrim of Ptolemais, in the circular letters which he wrote
to give notice of his excommunication to other Churches.
Baronius, indeed, and the common editors of the councils
reckon this by mistake among the provincial synods. But
it appears evidently from Synesius, that it was only the
private consistory of the Church of Ptolemais ; for he says
• Can. Apost. c. 2. Con. Carthag. 3. c. 45. '^ Siric. Ep. 2. ad
Eccles. INIediolan. Facto Presbyterio, ccnstitit DoctriniB noslrae, id est,
Christiana! Lesfi, esse contraria —Undo omnium nostrorum tarn Presby-
tcroium el Diacononim, quani totius Cleri unam scitote fuis.se scntcntiam, ut
Jovinianus, Auxentius, «S:c. in iici'lJctiunu danmatl, extra Ecclesiam rcniaiie-
ront. ^ Synes. Ep. 37. p. 190. Nuvi Si uTi; to auvi^piov fitruX^t
TijV ' Avc^yoviKu ixaviav, aK^aart.
CHAP. XIX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 199
expressly,' " The Church of Ptolemais gave notice of this
excommunication to all her sister Churches throughout the
world, requiring them to hold Andronicus excommunicated,
and not to despise her act, as being" only a poor Church in
a small city ;" which agrees very well with the state of a
private consistory, but is not spoken in the style of a pro-
vincial council.
Sect. 12. — As also in Provincial Councils.
Yet this is not said with any design to deny that presby-
ters were allowed to sit in provincial synods; for there are
undeniable evidences of their enjoying this privilege within
the compass of the fourth century, and after ages also. In
the council of Eliberis, which was held in the beginning of
the fourth age, there were no less than thirty-six presby-
ters^ sitting together with the bishops, as is expressly said
in the Acts of the council. The first council of Aries, called
by Constantine, had also several presbyters in it, the names
of many of which are lost, as are also the names of most of
the bishops, who were two hundred ; yet the names of fifteen
presbyters^ are still remaining. And it is observable, that
in Constantine's Tractorice, or letters of summons, the pres-
byters as well as bishops were called by imperial edict to
attend at that council; if we may judge of all the rest by
that one example, v^ hich remains upon record in Eusebius :
for there, in the letter sent to summon Chrestus, bishop of
Syracuse, orders are given him* to bring along with him
two of the second throne; which phrase, as has been ob-
served before, denotes two presbyters. So that from hence
it is clear, that presbyters were then privileged to sit in
council with their bishops, and that by imperial edict. In
Justcllus's Bihliotheca Juris Canonici, there are three or
four Roman councils, where the presbyters are particularly
mentioned as sitting, and sometimes voting with the bishops.
In the council under Hilarius, x\nno 491, the presbyters of
' Id. Ep. 58. p. 199. - Con. Eliber. Proccm. Residentibus etiam triginta
(al. viginti.) '- ^Presbyteris, astantibus Diaconibus et onuii Plebe. ^ Con.
Arelat. 1. in Catalog© eorutn qui Concilio interfu(Munt. In Edit. Crab, male
vocat secundum. * Euseb. lib. x. c. 5, ^v^tvKctQ aavTi^ k, ^uo yt rivas
200 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK 11.
Rome all sat' tog-other with the bishops, and the deacons
stood by them. So again in the council under Felix, Anno
487,^ the names of seventy-six presbyters are mentioned
that sat tog-ether with the bishops in council, the deacons
as before standing- by them. And in the council under
Symmachus, Anno 499, sixty-seven presbyters and six dea-
cons subscribed in the very same form^ of words as the
bishops did. In another council, under the same Symma-
chus, Anno 502, thirty-six presbyters* are named, who sat
therein. And in the council under Greg-ory the Second,
Anno 715, the bishops, presbyters, and deacons, all sub-
scribe in the same* form to the decrees then published by
them all too-ether.
The like instances may be seen in the first councils of
Toledo'' and Bracara,' where we may also observe the dif-
ference made between presbyters and deacons ; that the
presbyters are always represented as sitting- together with
their bishops, but the deacons only standing- by to attend
them. All which notwithstanding', Cellotius, the Jesuit,
and some others of that strain have the confidence to assert,
that presbyters were never allowed to sit with bishops in
their councils. Bellarmin does** not g-o so far, but only
denies them a decisive voice there : in which assertion he is
opposed, not only by the g-enerality of protestant writers,''
but also by Habertus,'" and other learned defenders'' of the
Gallican liberties in his own communion. So that it is
ag-reed on all hands by unprejudiced writers, and curious
' Con. Roin. ap. Justel. torn. i. p. 250. Residcntibiis etiam univcrsis
Presbytciis, atlstantibus quoque Diaconis, etc. ^ Ibid. p. 255. ^ Ibid,
p. 239. Sultscripseruiit Presbyteri numero sexa^inta-septem. Cselius Laii-
rentius Arcbipresbyter tituli Praxedis hie subscripsi et consensi Synodalibus
Constitutis, atqne in liS.c lue profiteor manere sententia, etc. * Ibid. p. 261.
Residcntibus etiam Presbyteris, Projectitio, Martino, etc. Adstantibus quoque
Diaconis. * Ibid. p. 274. Sisinnius Presbyter huic Constituto, a nobis
promulgato, subscripsi. Petrus Arcbidiaconus huic Constituto, a nobis pro-
mulgato, subscripsi. ^ Con. Tolet. 1. Convenientibus Episcopis in
Ecclesifi — Considentibus Presbyteris, astantibus Diaconis, etc. ' Con.
Bracar. 1. Considentibus simul Episcopis, praisentibus quoque Presbyteris,
astantibusqne Ministris, vel universo Clero. ^ Bellarm. de Conctl.
lib. i. c. 15. 9 Morton. Apol. Cathol. part 2, lib.iv. c. 8. Whitaker
de Concil. Quast. 3. '" Habertus Not. in lib. Pontif. Grsecor. p. 175.
*' Ranchin's Review of the Council of Trent, lib. i.e. 8.
CHAP. XIX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 201
searchers of antiquity, that presbyters had liberty to sit and
deUberate with bishops in provincial councils.
Sect. 13. — And in General Councils likewise.
But as to general or universal councils, there are some
protestant writers who seem to make it a dispute, whether
presbyters anciently were allowed to sit in them. A learned
person' of our own Church says, " It was never before
heard of that priests did sit in ecumenical councils'', mean-
ing-, before the council of Lateran, under Callistus the
Second, Anno 1123, where six hundred abbots were pre-
sent. But I see no reason why we may not reckon the first
council of x\rles a general-council, if a multitude of bishops
from all quarters can make it so : for there were two hun-
dred bishops present ; and as I noted before, several pres-
byters were ordered to come along' with them. However,
the council of Constantinople, Anno 381, is reckoned by
all a g-eneral-council (though there were but one hundred
and fifty bishops in it;) and there we find three presbyters
tog-ether- subscribing- among- the bishops also. The learn-
ed Habertus^ gives several other instances out of the coun-
cil of Chalcedon, the second council of Nice, the eighth
council called against Photius, and others. From all
which, and what has here been alleged, it must be con-
cluded, that presbyters had anciently the privilege of sitting
and voting also in generaL^councils.
Sect. U.— Of the Titles of Honour given to Presbyters, as well as Bishops,
and what Difference there was between them, as applied to both.
These prerogatives of presbyters, being thus allowed in
so many cases to act in conjunction with their bishops, ad-
vanced their character and reputation very high, and made
them of great esteem in the Church: insomuch that many of
the same titles of honour which were given to bishops,
where with a little variation given to presbyters also.
Hence they are called UpoeSooi, by Synesius* and Eusebius;
• Bishop Burnet's Vindication of the Ordination, «S:c. Pref. p. 32.
«^ Con. Constantin. torn. ii. p. 957. Tyrannus, presbyter Aniorii : Auxauon,
presbyter Apameae : Helladius, presbj-ter Commanensis. * Haberl. Not.
iu Pontif. p. 175. * Synes. Ep. 1^. Euseb. lib. x. c. 4-.
VOL. I. "^ B
202 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE ' [bOOK II.
ripoirwrfCj by Nazianzen* and Basil ; UpoTdrm, by Chryso-
stom^ and Nazianzen likewise ; which names answer to the
titles of Prcepositi and Antistites in Latin, and signify pre-
sidents, or rulers and governors of the people. I know,
indeed, some learned persons^ are of opinion, that the name
Antistes is never given to any presbyter by any ancient
writer. But this assertion must be understood with a little
qualification, otherwise it will not be exactly true; for
Hilarius Sardus,* speaking of presbyters, against whom a
bishop is not to receive an accusation, but before two or
three witnesses, give§ them expressly the title of Antistites
Dei. So does also the author^ of the Questions upon the
Old and New Testament, under the name of St. Austin.
And though Prcepositi, in Cyprian s Epistles, commonly
signifies bishops, yet it does not always so ; for the pres-
byters of Rome, writing^ to the clergy of Carthage, style
themselves Prcsfositi ; and Celerinus,' in his Epistle to
Lucian, gives them the same title. But Sidonius Apollinaris^
sets this matter right, when he teacheth us to distinguish
between an Antistes of the first order, and an Antistes of
the second; which distinction, whenever presbyters are
called Antistites, if it be not expressed, is always to be un-
derstood. Therefore Blondel argues very loosely, when he
would infer from this community of names and titles, that
bishops and presbyters were but one and the same order ;
which might as well be inferred from the name, SacerdoteSy
priests, which so frequently occurs in the ancient writers,
and, as Cyprian observes,^ denotes an honour common both
' Naz. Orat. i. Basil. Reg. Moral. 71. * Chrys. Horn. 11. in 1 Tim,
4. 1. Naz. Orat. i. p. 37. ^ Bevereg. Not. in Concil. Ancyr. c. 13. Neque
eiiim Presbyter unquam Antistes dicitur. * Ambros. al. Hilar. Com.
in 1 Tim. V. Hujus Ordinis sublimis honor est; hujusmodi enim Vicarii sunt
Christi: Idcirconon facile de hfic Personi Accusatio debet admitti. Incredi-
bile enim debet videri, istum qui Dei Antistes est, criminose versatum.
* Aug. Qusest. Vet. et Nov. Test, c. 101. Propter quod Antistites Dei sunt,
in Domo Dei et in honore Christi cum dignltate consistunt. ^ Ep. 3.
al. 8. ap. Cyprian. Cum incumbat nobis, qui videraur Prsepositi esse, et vice
Pastoris custodire Gregem. '' Celerin. Ep. 21. ap. Cypr. Praeceperunt
eos Prsepositi tantisper sic esse, donee Episcopus conslituatur. ^ Sidon.
lib. iv. Ep. 11. Antistes fuit Ordine in secundo, fratrem fasce levans Epis-
copali. 9 Cypr. Ep. .58. al. 61. ad Luciuin, p. 145. Presbyteri cum
Episcopo sacerdotal! honore conjuncti.
CHAP. XIX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 203
to bishops and presbyters: though when there was occasion
to speak more accurately and distinctly of bishops, their
appropriate title was that oiSummi Sacerdotes, chief priests ^
to distinguish them from those of the inferior order, as I
have showed before in speaking of the titles of bishops; to
which I shall only add here the testimony of Optatus,* who
gives both bishops, priests, and deacons, the name of priests,
and their office the name of priesthood ; but with this dif-
ference, that the deacons were only in the third degree of
priesthood, and the presbyters in the second, but the bishops
were the heads and chief of all. From whence it is plain,
that if a bare community of names argued an identity of
offices, one might as well infer, that bishops and deacons,
or presbyters and deacons, were but one and the same order,
because they share in the same common titles of priest and
priesthood.
Sect. 15. — In what sense Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons, called Priests,
by Optatus.
If here it be inquired, as it is very natural to ask the
question, why Optatus gives all the three orders of bishops,
presbyters, and deacons, the title of priesthood 1 — the
answer is plain and obvious. Because, according to him
every order had its share, though in different degrees, in
the Christian priesthood ^ which is not, as some imagine, a
power to offer Christ's body and blood really upon the altar,
as a propitiatory sacrifice for the quick and dead: (which is
such a notion of the Christian priesthood, as no ancient
author or ritual ever mentions:) but it consists in a power
and authority to minister publicly, according to God's ap-
pointment, in holy things, or things pertaining to God.
And there are several parts of this power, according to the
different participation of which, in the opinion of Optatus,
bishops, presbyters, and deacons, had each their respective
share in the priesthood. Thus it was one act of the priest's
• Optat. lib. i. p. 39. Quid commemorem Diaconos in tertio ? Quid Pres-
byteros in secundo Sacerdotio constitutes 1 Ipsi Apices et Principes omnium,
aliqui Episcopi illis temporibus — Instrumenta Divinae Legis impie tradiderunt.
Confer. Hieron. Epist.27. Where he calls Presbyters, Secundi Ordinis Sacer-
dotes.
2a4
THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK H-
office to offer up the sacrifice of the people s prayers,
praises, and thanksgivings to God, as their mouth and
orator, and to make intercession to God for them. Another
part of the office was in God's name to bless the people,
particuhirly by admitting them to the benefit and privilege
of remission of sins by spiritual regeneration or baptism.
And thus far deacons were anciently allow ed to minister in
holy things, as mediators between God and the people ;
upon which account a late learned writer » joins entirely
with Optatus, in declaring deacons to be sharers in this
lowest degree of the Christian priesthood. Above this was
the power of offering up to God the people's sacrifices at
the altar; that is, as Mr. Mede^ and others explain them,
first the eucharistical oblations of bread and wine, to agnize
or acknowledge God to be the Lord of the creatures ; then
the sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving in commemoration
of Christ's bloody sacrifice upon the cross, mystically repre-
sented in the creatures of bread and wine ; w hich whole
sacred action was commonly called the Christian's reason-
able aud unbloody sacrifice, or the sacrifice of the altar. Now
the deacons (as we shall see in the next chapter) were
never allowed to offer these oblations at the altar, but it
was always a peculiar act of the presbyter's office, which
was therefore reckoned a superior degree of the priesthood.
Another act of the priestly office w as to interpret the mind
and will of God to the people ; as also to bless them so-
lemnly in his name, and upon confession and repentance
grant them ministerial absolution: and these being also the
ordinary offices of presbyters, they gave them a further title
to the priesthood. All these offices, and some more, the
bishops^ could perform, such as the solemn consecration or
benediction of persons set apart for the ministry, &c. which,
together with their spiritual jurisdiction, or power of ruling-
and governing the Church, as vicars of Christ, gave them a
title to a yet higher degree of the Christian priesthood;
whence, as I noted before, they were called chief priests,
' Dr. Hick's Discourse of the Christian Priesthood, c. ii. sect. 5. p. 33.
*Mede Christ. Sacrif. c. ii. p. 356. Iliclv's ibid. p. 49, with many others
cited by him. ^'lepupydv to ivayykXiov Epiphanius calls it. H8er»
79. n. 3. See before chap. ii. sect. 6.
CHAP. XIX.] CHRISTAIN CHURCH. 20.5
Primi Sacerdotes, Siimmi Saccrdotes, Principes Sacerdotunif
and Pontijices Maxinii. I know, indeed, Albaspiny and
several others of the Roman* Communion make a dis-
tinction between the prelatical and sacerdotal office in a
bishop, which is invented to serve some peculiar hypotheses
of their own: as first, that a bishop differs nothing* from a
presbyter as he is a priest; secondly, that bishop and pres-
byter are but one sacerdotal order; and thirdly, that the
proper notion and specific character of the sacerdotal order
is a power to offer Christ's body and blood, as a propitiatory
sacrifice for the quick and dead. All which are contrary to
the plain sense of antiquity, which knew no such specific
character of the sacerdotal order, nor ever dreamt of bishops
and presbyters being* but one order in reference to the
priesthood; but always spake of them as distinct orders,
and placed their distinction in their enjoying- different
powers of the priesthood, making" presbyters only the se-
cond order, and second priesthood, Secundus Ordo et Se-
cundum Sac erdotium, and bishops the first; and asserting-
that the juridical acts of a bishop were also sacerdotal, or
acts of a superior deg-ree of the Christian priesthood pecu-
liar to his order. St. Cyprian^ scruples not to call such acts
Sacerdotii Vigor, the vigour and power of the episcopal
priesthood, speaking of the power and jurisdiction which he
had, as the priest of God, to punish presbyters and deacons
that were under him; which he had improperly called the
power of his priesthood, had his jurisdiction and priesthood
been two different powers in him. This may serve at once
to caution the reader against that subtle distinction of the
Romanists, and give him a short account both of the nature
and different degrees of the Christian priesthood.
Sect. 16. — Why Priests called Mediators between God and Men.
There is another name frequently occurring in the Greek
writers, when they speak of Christian priests, which will
deserve to be explained: that is the name, Mfo-m«, media-
tors between God and men, a title given them by the author
• Bellarm. dc Cleric, lib. i. c. 11. (^anisius Catcch. de Sacram, Ord, sect. 4.
' Cypr. Ep. XV. al. 20. p. 42. ed. Ox.
20G THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
of the Constitutions,' as also by Orig-en, Chrysostom, Basil,
Isidore of Pelusium, and many others, whose authorities are
collected by Cotelerius, ^ The Latin writers are more
sparing- in the use of this term ; for except St. Jerom, Co-
telerius could find none that used it. St. Austin is so far
from using" it, that he condemns it^ as intolerable in Parme-
nian the Donatist, who had said, " that the bishop was me-
diator between God and the people." And indeed there is a
sense in which it is intolerable to say, there is any other
mediator besides one, the man Christ Jesus. But the Greek
fathers used the word in a qualified sense, not for an au-
thentic mediator, or mediator of redemption, who pleads his
own merits before God in the behalf of others ; but only for
a mediator of ministerial intercession, in which sense some
of the ancients* think Moses is called a mediator by St.
Paul, Gal. iii. 19. because he was the internuncius to relate
the mind of God to the people, and the people's requests
and resolutions to God again. And in this qualified sense
it is g-enerally^ owned that Christian priests may be called
mediators also, as those that are appointed to convey the
people's devotions to God, and the will and blessing of
God to the people.
Sect. 17. — The ancient Form and Manner of ordaining Presbyters.
Having thus far spoken of the several oflSces and titles of
presbyters, it remains that I give a short account of the form
and manner of their ordination, by which they were invested
with their power, and authorized to perform the several
duties of their function. Now, as to this it is plain, the an-
cient form was only imposition of hands and a consecration-,
prayer. Thus it is described in the canon'' of the council of
Carthage, which has been cited before, and in the author
' Constit. Apost. lib. ii. c. 25. a Coteler. Not. ibid. s ^^^^
cent. Parmen. lib.ii. c. 9. Si Johannes diceret— Mediatorem me habetis apud
Patrem, et ego exoro pro peccatis vestris (sicut Parmenianus quodam loco
posuit Episcopum, Mediatorem inter Populura et Deum) quis eum ferret bo-
norum atque fidelium Christianorum? *Basil. de Spir. Sto. c. 14.
Theodor. Com. in Gal. iii. 19. *See Dr. Potter, Ch. Gov. c. v.
p. 251. Coteler. Not. in Constit. lib. ii. c. 25. e Con. Carth. iv.
c. 3. cited before, sect. 10.
CHAP. XIX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 207
under the name of Dionysius,* who represents it in this
manner : he says, " The person to be ordained kneeled be-
fore the bishop at the altar, and he, laying- his hand upon
his head, did consecrate him with an holy prayer, and then
sig-ned him with the sign of the cross; after which the
bishop and the rest of the clerg-y that were present gave
him the kiss of peace." The author of the Constitutions ^
speaks also of imposition of hands and prayer, but no more.
From which we may reasonably conclude, that the words
which the Roman Church makes to be the most necessary
and essential part of a priest's ordination, viz. " Receive
thou power to offer sacrifice to God, and to celebrate mass
both for the living and the dead," were not in any of the
ancient forms of consecration. One of their own writers,^
Morinus, after the most diligent search he could make into
these matters, could find no form for 900 years together,
that made any mention of them. And for their other cere-
monies superadded to the old ones, other learned writers of
that Church do as ingenuously confess the novelty of them.
Habertus* proves against Catumsiritus, that material unction
is a new thing, and not to be met with in any ancient or-
dination ; as neither is it in use in the Greek Church at this
day. So that when Gregory Nazianzen^ and others speak
of an unction, they are to be understood as speaking- mysti-
cally of the'spiritual unction of the Holy Ghost. Cabassutius^
observes the same of the custom of delivering the sacred
vessels into the hands of the person that was ordained, that
however some plead very stifly for its antiquity, yet it is
really but a modern custom ; and he cites Morinus for the
same opinion. So that I need not stand to show the novelty
of these things, which is so evidently proved, as well by
the confession of these learned men, as by the silence of all
ancient rituals. But there is one thing the reader may be
desirous to know further, viz. what form of words the con-
secration-prayer was conceived in? — To which I must
' Dionys. de Eccles. Hierarch. c. v. part 2. p. 364. ^ Constit. Apost,
lib. viii. c. 16. ^See Bishop Burnet of Ordination, p. 21, wiio cites
Morinus. *Habert. Observ. in Pontif. Graec. p. 386. *Naz.
Orat. V. p. 136. ^Cabassut.Notit. Condi, c. 43.
20^
THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOCK II.
answer, as I have done before about bishops, that there was
no such g-cneral form then extant; but every bishop having-
liberty to frame his own liturgy, he used such a form as he
thought convenient, in his own Church; it being a thing
indifferent, as a learned person * observes, so the substance
of the blessing w ere preserved. The only form now re-
maining is that which is extant in the Constitutions, which
because it will show the reader what was then the sub-
stance of the benediction, I will here insert the words of it,
which are these: "Look, O Lord, upon this thy servant,
who is chosen into the presbytery by the suffrage and
judgment of all the clergy, and fill him with the Spirit of
grace and counsel, that he may help and govern thy people
with a pure heart; in like manner as Thou hadst respect to
thy chosen people, commanding Moses to make choice of
elders, whom Thou didst replenish with thy Spirit. And
now. Lord, do the same thing, preserving in us the never-
failing Spirit of thy grace; that he being full of healing
powers and instructive discourse, may with meekness teach
thy people, and serve Thee sincerely with a pure mind, and
willing soul, and unblameably perform the sacred services^
for thy people, through Christ, &c." Where we may ob-
serve, that it was not then thought necessary to express all
or any of the offices of a presbyter in particular, but only
in general to pray for grace to be given to the priest then
ordained, whereby he might be enabled to perform them.
And this, with a solemn imposition of hands,was reckoned a
sufficient form of consecration; which I note for the in-
struction of thoso who may be apt to think that modern
forms of ordination are in every circumstance like the pri-
mitive ones; whereas, if Morinus says true, the words which
are now most in use, viz. "Receive the Holy Ghost," were not
in the Roman pontifical above 400 years ago .■ which
makes good the observation of a learned person,^ " That
the Church Catholic did never agree on one uniform ritual,
or book of ordination, but that was still left to the freedom
'Bishop Burnet's Vindication of the Ordination, &c. p. 25. Constit,
Apost. lib. viii. c. 16. T«t" inip tS \aS iipspyiaQ aiiiousc; (KTiXi},
^Bishop Burnet's Vind. of tlic Ordination, p. 35.
CHAP. XIX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 209
of particular Churches ; and so the Church of Eng-land liad
as much power to make or alter rituals, as any other had.
Sect. 18, — Of the Archipresbt/teri.
I should here have ended this chapter about presbyters,
but that it is necessary to give some account of the Archi-
presbyteri, and Seniores Ecclesice, which are sometimes
mentioned in ancient writers. The archpresbyters are
spoken of by St. Jerom, * who seems to say there was one,
and but one in every Church ; and perhaps he is the first
author that mentions them. After him Socrates^ speaks of
one Peter, protopresbyter of Alexandria, whom Sozomen*
calls archpresbyter. And Liberatus* mentions one Prote-
rius, archpresbyter, in the same Church ; from whom we
also learn, in some measure, w hat was the office and quality
of the archpresbyter. He was not always the senior pres-
byter of the Church, as some are apt to imag-ine, but one
chosen out of the colleg-e of presbyters, at the pleasure of
the bishop ; for Liberatus says expressly, that Dioscorus,
the bishop, made Proterius archpresbyter of the Church j
which implies that he did not come to the office by virtue of
his seniority, but by the bishop's appointment. As to his
office, it is plain from Liberatus, that it was to preside over
the Church next under the bishop, as chief of the college
of presbyters, and to take care of all things relating to the
Church in the bishop's absence ; as Proterius is said to
have done, while Dioscorus went to the council of Chalce-
don. And therefore some, ^ not without reason, think these
Archipreshyteri were much of the same nature with our
deans in Cathedral-Churches, as the college of presbyters
were the chapter. But they wholly mistake the matter,
who*' confound these Archipreshyteri with the Cardinnles
Preshytert ; for that is a name of much later date^ not to
•Hieron. Ep. 4. ad Rustic. Singuli Ecclesiarum Episcopi, singuli Archi-
presbyteri, singuli Archidiaconi. - Social, lib. vi. c. 9. Vurpoq tIq
•7rp<i)roirp€(T/3i-rfpoc. * Sozoin.lib. Tiii. c 12. * Liberat. Bre-
viar. c. U. Proterio Dioscorus commendavit Ecclesiam, qui et eum Archi-
presbvteruni fecerat. In Edit. Crab, male legitur Archicpiscopum.
^ Stillingflcct Irciiic. part ii. c. 7. p. 358. ^ Onuuphr, Irtterprct. VocuiD
Ecclcbiast. Salinas, dc Primat. c. i. p. 10.
VOL. I. 2 c
210 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
be found in any genuine writer till the time of Gregory the
Great : for the council of Rome, which is the only authority
that Bellarmin* alleges to prove it more ancient, is a mere
fiction. Besides tjiat the cardinal presbyters were many in
the same Church or city, but the archprcsbyter was but one.
So that whatever was the first original of cardinal pres-
byters (whether they were so called from their being fixed
in some principal Churches, where baptism might be ad-
ministered, which were therefore called Ecclesice vel Tituli
Cardinales, as Bellarmin thinks ; or whether, as others^
imagine, when the number of presbyters was grown so
great in large and populous cities, that they could not con-
veniently meet, and join with the bishop, for ordering the
government of the Church, there were some as the chief of
them chosen out from the rest, to be as the bishop's coun-
cil, who were therefore called Cardinales Presbyteri ; — a
dispute that does not concern me any further to inquire
into or determine;) I say, whatever was their rise, or the
reason of their name, it is certain they were not the same
with the Archipresbyteri of the primitive Church.
Sect. 19. — Of the Seniores Ecclesiastlci. That these were not Lay-Elders ia
the Modern Acceptation.
As to the Seniores Ecclesice, they were a sort of elders,
who were not of the clergy, yet had some concern in the
care of the Church. The name often occurs in Optatus and
St. Austin, from whom we may easily learn the nature of
their office. Optatus says,^ when Mensurius, bishop of
Carthage, was forced to leave his Church in the time of
the Diocletian persecution, he committed the ornaments
and utensils of the Church to such of the elders as he could
trust, " Fidelibus Senior ibus commendavit.'''' Upon which
Albaspiny* notes, " that besides the clergy there were then
some lay-elders, who were entrusted to take care of the
goods of the Church." At the end of Optatus there is
' Bellar. de Cleric, lib, i. c. 16. ^ stillingfl. ibid. ^ Optat.
lib. i. p. 41. * Albaspin. Not. in Optat. p. 123. Prseter EccleyaH-
ticos ct Clericos, quidara "^x Plebe Seniores et probatae vitte res Ecclesiee
ourabant.
CHAP. XIX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 211
a tract called, The Purgation of Felix and Caecllian, where-
in there are several Epistles that make mention of the same
name, as that of Fortis* and Purpurius, and another name-
less author. St. Austin inscribes one of his Epistles^ to
his own Church of Hippo in this manner, Clero, Senioribus,
et universcB Plehi, To the clergy, the elders, and all the
people ; and in several other places^ has occasion to men-
tion these Seniores in other Churches.
From whence some* have concluded, that these were
ruling' lay-elders, according- to the new model and modern
acceptation. Whereas, as the ingenious author^ of the
Humble Remonstrance rightly observes in his reply, those
ifeniores of the primitive Church w ere quite another thing".
Some of them were the Optimates, the chief men or magis-
trates of the place, such as we still call aldermen, from the
ancient appellation of Sejiiores. These are those which the
Cabarsiessitan council of Donatists, in St. Austin, calls ^
Se7iiores Nobilissimi : and one of the councils'' of Carthao-e
more expressly, Magistratus vel Seniores locorum, the ma-
gistrates or elders of every city; whom the bishops were
to take w ith them to give the Donatists a meeting. In this
sense Dr. Hammond^ observes from Sir Henry Spelman,
and some of our Saxon w ritings, that anciently our Saxon
kings had the same title of elders, Aldermanni, Presbyteri,
and Seniores; as in the Saxon translation of the Bible, the
word, princes, is commonly rendered, aldermen. And of
this sort were some of those Seniores Ecclesia, that have
• Gest. Puvgat. Csecil. et Fel. p. 268. ex Epist. Fortis : Omnes vos Epis-
copi, Presbyteri, Diacones, Seniores, scitis, &c. Ibid, ex Epist. Purpurii :
Adhibete Conclericos, et Seniores Plebis, Ecclesiasticos Viros, et inqui-
rant diligenter, quse sunt istse dissensiones. Ibid. Clericis et Senioribus
Cirthensium in Domino aeternam salutem. * Aug. Ep. 137.
* Id. cont. Crescon. lib, iii. c. 29 et 36. Concio. 2 in Psal. xxxvi. p. 120.
* Smectymn. Answer to the Remonstrance, p. 74. * Hamon I'Estrange
Defence of the Remonstrance. ^ Aug. Cone. ii. in Psal. xxxvi. p.
120. ^ Con. Carthag. Anno 403. in Con. Aphrican. c.58. et in
Cod. Can. Eccl. Afr. c. 91. Debere unumquemque nostrQm in Civitate sua
perse convenire Donatistarum Praepositos, aut adjungere sibi vicinum Colle-
gam, ut pariter eos in singulis quibusque, Civitatibus vel Locis, per Magis-
tratus vel Seniores Locorura conveniant. " Ham. Dissert. 4.
cont. Blondel. c 19, n. 1.
212 tHE ANTIQUITIES OF THE ^^^^^^ '*'
been mentioned, whose advice and assistance also, no
doubt, the bishops took in many weig-hty affairs of the
Church. The other sort, which were more properly called
Seniores Ecclesiastici, were such as were sometimes trusted
with the utensils, treasure, and outward affiiirs of the Church;
and giay be compared to our church-wardens, vestry-men,
stewards, who have some care of the affairs of the Church,
but are not concerned as ruling elders in the government
or discipline thereof. Now, lay-elders are a degree above
the deacons ; but the Seniores Ecclesia were below thern ;
which is a further evidence, that they were not lay-elders in
the modern acceptation. But of this enough. I now pro-
ceed to consider the third order of the clergy in the primi-
tive Church, which is that of deacons.
CHAP. XX
Of Deacons.
Sect. 1.— Deacons always reckoned One of the Three Sacred Orders of the
Church.
The name Am'icovot, which is the original word for dea-
cons, is sometimes used in the New Testament, for any
one that ministers in the service of God; in which large
sense we sometimes find bishops and presbyters styled
deacons, not only in the New Testament,' but in ecclesias-
tical writers^ also. But here we take it in a more strict
sense for the name on the third order of the clergy of the
primitive Church. In treating of which it will be necessary
in the first place to show the sense of antiquity concerning
their original. The council of Trullo advances a very sin-
gular notion about this matter, asserting, " that the seven
deacons spoken of in the Acts, are not to be understood of
such as ministered^ in divine service or the sacred mysteries.
'Acl.i. 25. 2Cor. vi.4. 2Tim. iv.5. 1 Cor. iii. 5. Eph. iii. 7.
» Athan. cont. Gent. Chrysost. Horn. 1. in Phil. i. I. ^ Con.
Trull, c. 16. 'Eirrd Ata/coj/ag /i?) hni tmv rdlg j«v'7»;j)iote duiKOVSiikviov
XafifiavKT^ui.
CHAP. XX.j CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 213
but only of such as served fables and attended the poor."
But the whole current of antiquity runs ag-ainst this, [^na-
tius* styles them expressly " ministers of the mysteries of
Christ," adding-, " that they are not ministers of meats and
drinks, but of the Church of God." In another- place he
speaks of them as ministers of Jesus Christ, and g-ives them
a sort of presidency over the people, together with the
bishop and presbyters. " Study todoallthing-s," says he, " in
divine concord, under your bishop presiding- in the place of
God, and the presbyters in the place of the apostolical
senate, and the deacons, most dear to me, as those to whom
is committed the ministry of Jesus Christ." And in many
other^ places he requires the people to be " subject to theni,
and reverence them as Jesus Christ," that is, as his ministers
attending- on his service. Cyprian speaks of them in the
same style, calling- them* " ministers of episcopacy and the
Church;" withal referring- their original to the place in the
Acts of the Apostles, which the council of Trullo disputes
about, at the same time that he asserts^ they were called.
Ad Altaris Ministerium, to the ministry and service of the
altar.'''' TertuUian^ was so far from thinking them only
ministers of meats and drinks, that he joins them with
bishops and priests in the honourable titles of guides and
leaders of the laity, and makes them in their degree pastors
and overseers of the flock of Christ. And so St. Jerom,
though he sometimes in an angry humour speaks a little
contemptuously of them, styling them''^ " ministers of widows
and tables;" yet in other places* he treats them with greater
respect, giving- them the same honourable title as Tertuliian
does, and ranking- them among the guides of the people.
I showed before in the last chapter, that Optatus^ had so
' Ignat. Ep. ad Trail, n. 2. 2 Epist. ad Magnes. 11. 6.
5 Epist. ad Polycarp. n. 6. Ep, ad Trail, n. 3. ♦ Cypr. Ep. 65.
al. 3. ad Rogatian. Diaconos post Asccnsiim Dftmini in coelos Apostoli sibi
constituerunt, Episcopatus sui et Ecclesise Ministros. * Id. Ep. 68.
al. 07. ad Pleb. Legion, et Astur. p. 172. ^ Tert. de Fugfi. c. 11.
Quum ipsi Autores, id est, ipsi Diaconi, Presbyteri et Episcopi fugiunt,
quomodo Laicus intelligere potcrit, &c. Cum Duces fugiunt, quis dc
gregario numero sustinebit ? '' Hieron. Ep. 85. ad Evagr,
et Cora, in Ezek. c. 48. Mensarum et Viduarum Ministri. * Id.
Com. in Mich. 7. Nolite credere in Ducibus, non in Episcopo, non in Prcs-
bytero, non in Diacono. ^ Optat, lib. i.
214 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK It.
great an opinion of them, as to reckon their office a lower
deg-ree of the priesthood. And St. Austin seems to have
had the same sentiments; for in one of his Epistles* he
gives Proesidius the title of Consacerdos, his fellow priest,
whom yet St. Jerom, in the next Epistle,- calls a deacon.
Sect. 2. — Yet not generally called Priests, but Ministers anil Levitcs.
Yet here, that I may not seem to impose upon my rea-
ders, I must observe that the name of priests was not
g-enerally g-iven to the deacons, by those that esteemed
them a sacred order ; but they are commonly distinguished
from priests by the names of ministers and Levites. Thus
/St. Jerom ^ disting-uishes them from the priests of the se-
cond order, that is, from the presbyters, by the title of
Levites. The author of the Questions* upon the Old and
New Testament under the name of St. Austin, and Hilarius
Sardus^ under the name of St. Ambrose, are more positive
and express in denying- them the name of priests. And
Salvian,*"' though he acknowledges their ministration and
function to be about holy things, yet he gives them but the
same title of Levites, and that in contradiction to the priests.
And so frequently in the councils'' the names, Sacerdos and
Levita, are used as the peculiar distinguishing titles of
presbyters and deacons. The fourth council of Carthage*
speaks more expressly, " that deacons are not ordained to
the priesthood, but only to the ministering office, or inferior
service." And hence the Canons sometimes give them the
name of 'YTTjjplrat and Minisfri, the ministers and servants,
not only of the Church, but of the bishops and presbyters,
' Aug. Ep. 16. 2 iiieron. Ep. 17. inter Epist. Aug. ^ Hieron.
Ep. 27. Episcopi, et Sacerdotum inferioris gradus, ac Levitarum innuine-
rabilis multitudo. * Aug. Qusest. Vet. et N. Test. torn. iv. Q. 46.
Nunquid Diaconus potest vicem gerere Sacerdotis. ■ Sacerdotis vicem
agere non potest, qui non est Sacerdos. * Hilar. Com. in Ephes. 4.
Evangelistffi Diaconi sunt, sicut fait Philippus, quamvis non sint Sacerdotes.
* Salvian. ad Eccles. Catliol. lib. ii. p. 394. Levitis ac Sacerdotibus tanta
divinaruin rerum administratione fungentibus. ' Con. Turon.
1. can. 2. 8 Con. Carth. 4. c. 4. Diaconus non adSacerdotium,
sed ad Ministerium consecratur.
CHAP. XX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 215
as may be seen in the counciP of Nice, and Carthag-e,^ and
many others. Whence some learned men' conclude against
Optatus and St. Austin, that deacons were in no sense
allowed to be priests : whilst others* with Optatus distin-
guish the several degrees of the priesthood, and reckon,
that though deacons were not absolutely called priests, be-
cause that was the appropriate title of bishops and presby-
ters, whose ministers and attendants they w ere ; yet dea-
cons sometimes performed such offices, as did entitle them
to a lower degree of priesthood. Having thus fairly stated
and represented the matter on both sides, I must leave the
judicious reader to determine for himself which opinion has
the strongest reasons, whilst I proceed to give an account
of the ordination of deacons, and their several offices, and
such laws and rules as concerned their order.
Sect. 3. — For this Reason the Bishop was not tied to have the Assistance of
any Presbyters to ordain them.
The ordination of a deacon differed from that of a pres-
byter, both in the form and manner of it, and also in the
gifts and powers that were conferred thereby. For in the
ordination of a presbyter, as has been noted before, the
presbyters who were present, were required to join in the
imposition of hands w ith the bishop : but the ordination of
a deacon might be performed by the bishop alone, because,
as the council of Carthage* words it, " he was ordained not
to the priesthood, but to the inferior services of the Church."
These services are not particularly mentioned in the form
of ordination now remaining in the Constitutions; but there
the bishop only prays in general, " That God would ^ make
his face to shine upon that his servant, who was then chosen
to the office of a deacon, and fill him with his Holy Spirit
' Con. Nic. c. 18. Th fiev iTricrKoTTH vrrr/psrai ti'criV. ^Con. Carth.
iv. c. 37. Diaconus ita se Presbyter!, ut Episcopi, Ministrumcsse cognoscat.
Vid. Con. Elibcr. in Titulis Can. 18 et 33. Con. Tnron.i. c. I. ^ Bp.
Fell. "Not. in Cypr. Ep. 18. Habert.Not. in Pontifie. p. 125. *Rigalt.
Not. in Cypr. Ep. 33. Dr. Hicks Disc, on Priesthood, p. 33. * Con.
Carth. 4. c. 4. Diaconus quum ordinatur, sohis Episcopus, qui eurn benc-
dicit, manum super caput illius pouat: quia non ad Saccrdoliuiii, sed ad
Ministerium consecratur. * Constit. Apost. lib. viii. c. 18.
2\Q THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II,
and power, as be did Stephen the martyr; that he behaving-
liimself acceptably and uniformly and unblamably in his
office, mig-ht be thought worthy of a higher degree, &c;'
What, therefore, were the particular offices of the deacons,
we are to learn not from the forms of the Church, but from
other writers.
Sect. 4.— The Deacon's Office to take Care of the Utensils of the Altar.
Where we find first, that the most ordinary and common
office of the deacons was to be subservient and assistant to
the bishop and presbyters in the service of the altar. It
belonged to them to take care of the holy table, and all the
ornaments and utensils appertaining thereto. The author,
under the name of St. Austin,* takes notice of this as the
common office of deacons in all Churches, except in such
great Churches as the Church of Rome, where there being"
a multitude of inferior clergy, this office was devolved on
some of them : but in other Churches it was the deacon's
office, where the inferior clergy, sub-deacons, &c. were
prohibited by Canon to come into the sanctuary, or touch
any of the sacred vessels in the time of divine service, as
may be seen in several canons^ of the ancient councils.
Sect. 5.-2. To receive the Oblations of the People, and present them to.
the Priest, and recite the Names of those that offered.
Another part of the deacon's office was to receive the
people's offerings, and present them to the priest, who
presented them to God at the altar ; after which the deacon
repeated the names of those that offered, publicly. And this
rehearsal was commonly called " ojferre nomina,''' as may
be seen in Cyprian,^ who speaks of it as part of the com-
munion service of those times ; which is also noted by
' Aug. Qufest. Vet, et Nov. Test. torn. iv. c. 101. Ut autem non omnia
niinistcria obsequiorum per ordinem agant, multitudo facit Clericorum. Nam
utique et Altare portarent, etvasa ejus, ct aquam inraanus funderentSacerdoti,
siciu videmus per omnes Ecclcsias. ® Con. Agathen. c. 60. Non oportet
in sacratos Ministros licenliam habere, in Secretarium (quod Gra;ci Diaco-
nicon appellanl) iiigrcdi et conlingcre Vasa Dominica. Con. Laodic c. 21.
cum Notis Balsamon. et Zonar. in loc. ^ t,'ypr. Ep. 10. al. 16. p. 3'?.
Ad conunimicatiout-m aduiiltuntur, ct offertur nomen eorum, etc.
CHAP. XX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 217
Rig-altius* and others ; of which custom I shall rsay more
hereafter, when we come to treat of the ancient service of
the Church. At present I only observe, that this recital of
the names of such as made their oblations w as part of the
deacon's office, as is evident from St. Jerom, who tells us,^
" that extortioners and oppressors made their oblations out of
their ill-gotten g-oods, that they mig-ht glory in their wick-
edness, while the deacon in the Church publicly recites the
names of those that offered ; such an one offers so much,
such an one hath promised so much : and so they please
themselves with the applause of the people, while their
conscience secretly lashes and torments them." Some, in-
deed, deny that there was any such custom as this public
and particular rehearsal of men's names that offered in the
Church, and by consequence that this was any part of the
deacon's office": but I think St. Jerom's testimony is unde-
niable proof, and cannot otherwise be expounded, to make
any tolerable sense of his words ; for which reason I have
made this one part of the deacon's office, though contrary
to the judgment of some learned men.
Sect. 6.-3. To read the Gospel in some Churches.
In some Churches, but not in all, the deacons read the
Gospel both in the Communion-service, and before it also.
The author of the Constitutions assigns all other parts of
Scripture to the readers, but the Gospel is to be read^ only
by a presbyter or a deacon. St. Jerom intimates* that it
was part of the deacon's function ; and so it is said by the
council of Vaison, which authorises deacons to read the
Homilies of the ancient Fathers in the absence of a pres-
byter, assigning this reason for it: " If the deacons be worthy
to read^ the discourses of Christ in the Gospel, why should
1 Rigalt. Not. in Cypr. Ep. 60. Bona, Rer. Liturg. lib. ii. c. 8. n. 7.
3 Hieron.Cora. in Ezek. 18. p. 537. Multos conspicimus, qui oppnraunt per
potentiam, vel furta committunt, lit de multis parva pauperibus tribuant et in
suis sceleribus glorientur, publiceque Diaconus in Ecclesia recitct Ofleren-
tiura Nomina: tantum offert iUe, tantum iUe polUcitus est, placentque sibi ad
plausum populi, torquente conscientia. « Constit. Apost. lib. u. c.67.
* Hieron. Ep. 57. ad Sabin. Evangclium Christ! quasi Diaconus lectitabas.
s Con. Valens. ii. c. 2. Si digui sunt Diaconi, qus Christus in Evangelio
VOL. 1. 2d
218 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
they not be thoujrht worthy to read the expositions of the
holy Fathers ?" This imphes, that in the western Churches it
was the ordinary office of the deacons to read the Gospels,
but in other Churches the custom varied: for as Sozomen
observes, it was customary at Alexandria for the archdea-
con only to read the Gospels ; in other Churches the dea-
cons ; in others the priests only ; and in some Churches on
hio-h festivals the bishop himself read, as at Constantinople
on^ Easter-day. In the African Churches, in the time of
Cyprian, the readers were allowed to read the Gospels as
well as other parts of Scripture, as appears from one of Cy-
prian's Epistles, where speaking of Celerinus, the confessor,
whom he had ordained a reader, he says, " It was fitting- he
should be advanced to the pulpit* or tribunal of the Church
(as they then called the reading desk) that he might
thence read the precepts and Gospels of his Lord, which he
himself like a courageous confessor, had followed and obser-
ved." So that we are not to look upon this to have been the
deacon's peculiar office, but only in some Churches and
some ages.
Sect. 7. — 4. To minister the consecrated Elements of Bread and Wine
to the People in the Eucharist.
But it was something more appropriate to them to assist
the bishop or presbyters in the administration of the eucha-
rist; where their business was to distribute the elements to
the people that were present, and carry them to those that
were absent also, as Justin Martyr^ acquaints us in his
second Apology. The author of the Constitutions^ likewise,
describing the manner of the ancient service, divides the
whole action between the bishop and the deacon ; appoint-
ing the bishop to deliver the bread to every communicant
singly, saying, " the body of Christ :" and the deacon in like
manner to deliver the cup, saying, " the blood of Christ, the
locutus est legere, quare indigni judicentur Sanctorum Patrum Expositiones
publice recitare ? ' Cypr. Ep. 34. al. 39. Quid aliud quum super
Pulpitum, id est, super Tribunal Ecclesife oportebat imponi, ut loci altioris
celsitate subnixus — legat Priecepta et Evangelia Domini, quse fortiter ac
fideliter sequitur. * Just. M. Apol. ii. p. 97. ^ Constit. Apost.
lib. viii. c. 13.
CHAP. XX] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 219
cup of life." This the author, under the name of St. Austin,*
calls the proper otiice of the deacons' order. Yet it was
not so proper to their order, but that they were to depend
upon the w ill and licence of the bishop and the presbyters,
if they were present; as is expresly provided in some of the
ancient^ councils, which forbid the deacon to give the eu-
charist in the presence of a presbyter, except necessity re-
quire, and he have his leave to do it. And therefore it was
looked upon as a great absurdity for a presbyter to sitbyand
receive the sacrament from the hands of a deacon, as was
sometimes practised, but the council of Nice* made a severe
canon against it. So that, what was allowed to deacons,
was not to consecrate the eucharist, but only to distribute
it, and that not to the bishop and presbyters, but only to the
people. Yet this action of theirs is sometimes called abla-
tion or offering, as in Cyprian* and the council of A'i«vra,*
which forbids some deacons that were under censure,
" ufjTov rj TTOT^piov ava^ipuv, to offer either the bread or wine,'"' r'-'^^ "'"
as deacons otherwise were allowed to do.
Sect. 6. — But not allowed to consecrate them at the Altar.
Some learned" persons, I know, put a different sense
upon the words of this council ; they understand, by offerino-,
consecration, and thence conclude, that deacons anciently
were invested with the ordinary power of consecratino- the
eucharist in the absence of the presbyters. But this is more
than can fairly be deduced from the words, which are
capable of two more reasonable constructions 5 either they
may signify the deacon's offering the people's oblations to
the priest, which was a part of their office, (as I showed
before,) and so Petavius' and Herbertus understand them;
or else they may be interpreted by Cyprian's words, who ex-
' Aug. Qiisest. Vet. et Nov. Test. c. 101. Diacoqi Ordo est accipere k Sa-
cerdote, et sic dare Plebi. ^ (;(,„ Carth. iv. 38. Diaconus, prresente
Presbytero, Eucharistiam Corporis Christi populo, si neeessitas cog-at, jussus
eroget. Vid. Con, Arelat. ii. c. 15. » Vow. Nio. nn, 18. ♦ Cypr.
df Lapsis, p. 132. Soleiijiiibus adimplotis, Caliceiii Diaconus olVorre prjesenti-
hus cocpit. s (jon_ Ancjr. c.'2. « Ilospin. Hist. Sacram. lib. ii.
c. 1. p. 23. ' Potav. Diatrib. de Potcsl. Consecr. c. 3. toui. i\ . p. 211.
Habert. in Pontifical, par. 9. ob.MMv. 2, p. 19i).
220 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
presses himself more fully, calling- it, " offering- the conse-
crated bread and wine to the people;" which seems to be the
most natural sense, and is preferred to all others by some
late learned* writers. Whatever it be, there is no reason
to believe it means, that deacons were allowed the ordinary
power of consecration; for the council of Nice, which
was not long after the council of Ancyra, says expressly,'
that deacons had not power to offer, that is, in the sense in
which offering signifies consecration ; for in that sense it
was the proper office of presbyters. Some deacons indeed
did about this time take upon them thus to offer, but the
council of Aries, which was held in the same year with that
of Ancyra, reckons it a presumption and transgression of
their rule, and therefore made a new^ canon to restrain
them. St. Hilary is a good witness of the practice of the
Church in his own time, and he assures us, there could be
no sacrifice or consecration of the Eucharist without a
presbyter.* And St. Jerom says the same,^ " that presbyters
were the only persons, whose prayers consecrated bread
and wine into the body and blood of Christ." For which
reason, speaking- of one Hilary, a deacon, he says, " he could
not consecrate the eucharist,*^ because he was only a
deacon." The reason of this was, because the holy eucharist
w^as looked upon as the prime Christian sacrifice, and one
of the highest offices of the Christian priesthood; and
deacons being generally reckoned no priests, or but in the
lowest degree, they were therefore forbidden to offer or
consecrate this sacrifice at the altar. This reason is
assigned by the author^ of the Constitutions, and the author
under the name of St. Austin, and several others.
' Suicer. Thesaur. torn. i. p. 871. 2 c^n. Nic. c. 18. Tsg i^nmav
fti) 'ix^vTciQ >!rpoa^epstv, etc. « Con. Arelat. I. c. 16. De Diaconibus,
quos cognovimus multis locis offerre, placuit minime fieri debere. * Hilar.
Fragm. p. 129. Sacrificii opus sine Presbytero esse non potuit. ^ Hieroii.
Ep. 85. ad Evagr. Quid patitur Mensarum et Viduaruia Minister, ut supra eos
tumidus se efterat, ad quorum preces Christi corpus et sanguis conficitur?
* Id. Dial. cont. Lucif. p. 14.5. Hilarius cum Diaconus dcEcclesiCi recesserit,
solusque ut putat turba sit mundi : Neque Eucharistiam conficere potest,
Episcopos et Presbyteros non habens, etc. ' Constit. Apost. lib. viii.
c. 28 Aug. QujESt. Vet. et Nov. Test. Q. 46.
CHAP. XX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 221
But there is a passage in St. Ambrose, which seems to
intimate, that, in the third century, the deacons at Rome had
power to consecrate the eucharist; for speaking of Laurcn-
tius, the deacon, he brings him in thus addressing himself
to Sixtus his bishop, as he was going to his martyrdom ;
" Whither go yon, holy priest, without your deacon ? you
did not use to offer sacrifice without your minister ; why
are you then now displeased with mel why may I not be
partner with you in shedding my blood, who was used to con-
secrate* the blood of Christ by your commission, and be your
partner in consummating- the holy mysteries V Baronius
was so perplexed with this difficulty, that he resolves it to be
a corruption of the text, and that instead of " consecrationem^''
it should be.read^ " dispensationem ;" and some shameless
editors have without any grounds, made bold to foist this
correction into the text ; which Bona ^ and Habertus inge-
nuously condemn, as done against the authority of all the
MSS. as well as former editions, and that without any
reason for it from the difficulty of the expression. For the
word, consecration, in this place does not signify the sacra-
mental consecration of the element, by prayer at the altar,
which was performed by the bishop himself, as appears
evidently from the context, where it is said, the bishop was
never used to offer sacrifice without his minister or deacon ;
therefore the consecration,which was committed to thedeacon,
must be of another sort; for he could not offer or consecrate
the elements on the altar in the bishop's presence, and at the
same time that the bishop himself consecrated ; but he might
assist him, or bear a part with him, as it is there worded,
in consummating the holy mysteries, that is in giving the
cup with the usual form of words to the people ; which in
the language of those times, was called a ministerial conse-
cration, or consummation, of the sacrament, forasmuch as
the receivers were hereby consecrated with the blood of
• Ambros. de Offic. lib.i. c. 41. Quo, Sacerdos saiict, sine Diacono pro-
peras ? Nunquam sacrificium sine Ministro olTerre consuevcras. Quid in me
ergo displicuit, Pater? — Cui commisisti DominicI sanguinis consecrationem?
Cui consummandoruui Consortium Sacramentoruni? lluic consortium tu san-
guinisnegas .' '^ Baron, an. -iO I. n. T. ^ Boiui Rer. Lituiy.
lib. i. c. 25. n. 1. Habert. Not. in Poniilical. Grace, p. 191.
222 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK. II.
Christ, and also consummated or made perfect partakers of
the sacrament in both kinds, having received the bread
from the hands of the bishop, and the cup from the hands
of the deacon. This is plainly the consecration here spoken
of, which refers only to the deacon's ministering- of the cup
to the people, which was their usual oflice, and so cannot
be made an argument, as Hospinian, and Grotius^ would
have it, that deacons were allowed to conse<2rate the eucha^
rist at the altar.
Sect. 9.-5. Deacons allowed to Baptize, in some Places.
But for the other sacrament of baptism, it is more evident
that they were permitted in some cases to administer it
solely. For though the author^ of the Constitutions says,
" that the deacons did neither baptize, nor offer;" and Epi-
phanius^ affirms universally, " that the deacons were not
entrusted with the sole administration of any sacrament;"
yet it appears from other writers, that they had this power, at
least in some places, ordinarily conferred upon them. Ter-
tullian* invests them with the same right as presbyters, that
is, to baptize by the bishop's leave, and St. Jerom * entitles
them to the very same privilege. The council of Eliberis^ as
plainly asserts this right, when it says, " If a deacon, that
takes care of a people, without either bishop, or presbyter,
baptizes any, the bishop shall consummate them by his bene-
diction." This plainly supposes, that deacons had the ordi-
nary right of baptizing in such Churches over which they
presided. So when CyriP directs his catechumens, how
they should behave themselves at the time of baptism, when
they came either before a bishop, or presbyter, or deacon.
' Vid. Grot. De Ccenae Adnnnistralione ubi Pastores non sunt. — Cited and
confuted by Petavius. '^ Constit. Apost. lib. viii. c. 28. » Epiphan,
Ilrer. 79. CoUyrid. n, 4.. « Tcrtul. do Bapt. c. 17. Dandi quidcm
tabet jus Sunnnus Sacerdos, qui est Episcopus ; dehincPresbyteri etDiaconi,
noil tamen sine Episcopi auctoritate, etc, * Ilieroii. Dial. cent. Lucil".
cl. p. 139. Inde venit, ut sine jussioiie Episcopi, nequc Presbytfi- necjue
Diaconus jus habeant Baptizandi. « Concil. Eliber. c. 77. Si quis
Diacoiius, reg-ens Plcbein sine Episcopo vfl Presbytfro, -aiiquos baptizavt»rit,
Ej)isfopus eos per Benodlclloneni peilicere debcbit. ' Cyril. Cy,lecli.
CHAP. XX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 223
in city or in village, — this may be presumed a foir inti-
mation, that then deacons were ordinarily allowed to min-
ister baptism in country places. I speak only now of
their ordinary power; for as to extraordinary cases, not
only deacons, but the inferior clergy, and laymen also, were
admitted to baptize in the primitive Church, as will be
showed in its proper place.
Sect. 10. — 6. Deacons to bid Prayer in the Congregation.
Another office of the deacons was to be a sort of monitors
and directors to the people in the exercise of their public
devotions in the Church, to which purpose they w ere wont
to use certain known forms of words, to give notice when
each part of the service beg-an, and to excite the people to
join attentively therein ; also to g-ive notice to the catechu-
mens, penitents, energ-umens, when to come up and make
their prayers, and when to depart; and in several prayers
they repeated the words before them, to teach them whatthev
were to pray for. All this was called by the general name of
Ki}pvTTtiv, among- the Greeks, and Proedicare, among- the
Latins ; which does not ordinarily sig-nifv preaching-, as
some mistake it, but performing- the office of a Kjj/ji;^, or
Proeco, in the assembly: whence Synesius * and some
others call the deacons 'ItpoKr^pvKeg, the hohj cryers of the
Church, as those that gave notice to the congregation how
all things were regularly to be performed. Thus the word
KTi}pv^aL frequently occurs in the ancient rituals and canons:
as in the Apostolical Constitutions, as soon as the bishop
has ended his sermon, the deacon is to cry, " Let the
hearers* and unbelievers depart." Then he is to bid the
catechumens pray, and to call upon the faithful also to pray
for them, repeating- a form of bidding prayer, to instruct the
people after what manner they were to pray for them ;
which form may be seen both in the Constitutions,^ and in
St. Chrysostom. * After this the deacon was to call in like
manner upon the energumens, the competentes, and the
' Synes. Ep. 67. p. 22-1. Chrysost. Horn. 17. in Heb. 9. Kijpi'4 orav
liiry, Tu ayia role ayioif. ^ Const. Apost. lib. viii. c. 5. K>;pyrrtrw,
fii) TiQ Tujv tiKpotofi'fi'wi'. M/; ric ruiv aiTiVw*'. ■'* Ibiil. c. 6. ■• Chrys.
Horn. 2. in 2 Cor.
224 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
penitents, in their several orders, using- the solemn words
of exhortation, both to them and the people, to pray for
them, " 'Ekthvwc den^ojfxev, lei us ardently pray for themr
Then' aoain, when the deacon had dismissed all these by a
solemn'cry, " 'ATroXutd^f, irpoLX^iTi," or, ''Ite, Missa est;' he
called upon the faithful to pray again for themselves, and
the whole state of Christ's Church, repeating' another form
of bidding prayer before them. And this is there called the
deacon sn^oo(T(^a)V»)(7tc, or exhortaiion to pray, io distinguish
it from the bishop's 'ETTMcXijcTic, which was a direct form of
address to God, whereas the deacon's address was to the
people ; for which reason it was called UpoacpMvnaiq, and
KnpvUi, bidding the people to pray, or, a call and exhorta-
tion to pray, with directions what they should pray for in
particular. This the Latins call both Oratio and Pradi-
catio, as may be seen in one of the councils of Toledo,^
which explains tlie word orare by prcedicare, making them
both to signify this office of the deacon. And hence one of
the deacon's ornaments (that I may note this by the way) is
called by the same council, his Orarium, because he used
it sometimes as a private signal, to give notice of the prayers
to his brethren of the clergy. By all this we may under-
stand what Socrates means, when he says Athanasius^
commanded his deacon " kij^ju^oi lvxy\v, to bid prayer ,-" and
how we are to interpret that controverted canon of the
council of Ancyra, which, speaking of some deacons that
had lapsed into idolatry, and degrading them, says, they
should* no longer " KTjpu'o-o-ttv," which some interpret,
preaching; but others^ more truly understand it of this
part of the deacon's office, which was to be the Kt^^v^ or
Prceco, the sacred cryer of the congregation.
Sect. 11. — 7. Deacons allowed to preach by the Bishop's Authority.
If it be inquired whether deacons had any power to
preach publicly in the congregation ? — the answer must be
' Coast. Apost. lib. \iii. c. 10. ^ Con. Tolet. 4. c. 39. Unum
Orarium oportet Levitam gestare in sinistro humero, propter quod orat, id
est, praedicat. * Socrat. lib. ii. c. 11. *Con. Ancyr. c. 2.
* Habert. Pontifical, p. 203. Bevereg. Not. in Con. Aiicyr. c. 2. Suicer. The-
saur. Eccles. torn. ii. p. 99.
CHAP. XX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 225
the same as in the case of baptism : tliey liad power to
preach by license and authority from the bishop, but not
without it. The author under the name of St, Ambrose *
says positively, that deacons did not preach in his time ;
though he tliinks originally all deacons were evang'eiists,
as Philip and Stephen were. I have showed before, that
presbyters themselves, in many places, were not allowed to
preach in the bishop's presence, but by his special leave ;
and therefore it is much more reasonable to conclude the
same of deacons. Blondel- and Baronius think that St.
Chrysostom preached those eleg-ant discourses, De iiicom-
prehsnsibili Dei Natura, De Anathemale, §c. while he was
but a deacon ; but others think,^ more probably, that those
were not sermons which he preached in the Church, but
only discourses that he composed upon other occasions ;
and that his first sermon was that which he preached when
he was ordained presbyter, now extant in his 4th vol.
p. 953. But if he ever preached while he was deacon,
there is no question to be made but that he had the autho-
rity of his bishop, Meletius, for doing it ; as Philostorgius *
says Leontius, the Arian bishop of Antioch, permitted
Aetius, his deacon, to preach publicly in the Church.
Ephrem Syrus perhaps was another such instance ; for he
was never more than a deacon of the Church of Edessa :
yet Photius ^ says he composed several homilies, or ser-
mons, which were so excellent in their kind, that after his
death they were translated into other languages, and al-
lowed to be read in many Churches, immediately after the
reading* of the Scriptures, as St. Jerom ^ acquaints us. In
some places, as in the French Churches, the deacons were
authorized by canon to read some such homilies in the
Church instead of a sermon, when the presbyter happened
to be sick, and could not preach, as appears from the order
' Ambros. Com. <n Eph. 4. Nunc neque Diaconi in populo prsedicant,
Deque Clerici vel Laici baptizant. ^Blondel. Apol. p. 57. Baron,
an. 386. p. 532. ^ Cave Hist. Liter, vol. i. p. 253. * Philo-
storg. lib. iii. c. 17. ^iSdaKtiu kv £KK\»jffia iTrirgkntt. * Phot. Cod. 196.
Aoyoi evvka Kal Ttaffa^ciKovTa. ''Hieron. de Scriptor. c. 115.
VOL. I. 2 E
22fi THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK If.
mndo in the council of Vaison » upon this occasion. But
here was necessity and permission too ; so that the case of
deacons pieachino- in those Ui^'-es of the Church, seems to
have been (accordin<r to the resohition, which Vigilius^ af-
terward gave of it) allowable, if authorized by the bishop ;
but a presumption both against custom and canon, if done
without his permission.
Sect. 12.— 8. Also to reconcile Penitents in Cases of extreme Necessity.
And so the case stood likewise with deacons, in reference
to the power of reconciling- penitents, and granting them
absolution. This was ordinarily the bishop s sole preroga-
tive, as the supreme minister of the Church, and therefore
rarely committed to presbyters, but never to deacons, ex-
cept in cases of extreme necessity, when neither bishop, nor
presbyter, were ready at hand to do it. In this case, dea-
cons were sometimes authorized, as the bishop's special de-
legates, to give men the solemn imposition of hands, which
was the sign of reconciliation. Thus we find it in Cyprian,
in the case of those penitents, whom the martyrs, by their
letters, recommended to the favour of the Church : " If,"
says he, "they^ are seized by any dangerous distemper,
they need not expect my return, but may have recourse to
any presbyter that is present ; or, if a presbyter cannot be
found, they may make their confession before a deacon ; that
so they may receive imposition of hands, and go to the
Lord in peace." Here it is observable, that none below a
deacon are commissioned to perform this oflice ; nor were
the deacons authorized to do it but as the bishop's dele-
gates, and that in cases of extreme necessity, when no
presbyter could be found to reconcile the penitent, at the
point of death.
' Con. Valens. 1. c. 2. Si Presbyter, aliqiia infirmitate prohibente, per
seipsum non potuerit preedicare. Sanctorum Patrum Homiliaj a Diaconibus
recitentur. * Vigil. Ep. ad Rustic, et Sebastian. Concil. toin. v.
p. 554. Adjecistis etiam cxecranda superbici, quse necleguntur, nee sine sui
Poutificis jussione aliquando Ordinis vestri homines prffisumpserunt, auctori-
tateravobis Prsedicatiouis contra oninem Consuetudinem vel Canonesvindicare.
* Cypr. Ep. 13. al. IS. ad Cler. Si inconimodo aliquo et intirmitatis periculo
occupati luerint, non expectata praesentia nostra, apud Presbytcrum queia-
jCHAT. XX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 227
And to suspend the Inferior Clergy in some extraordinary Cases,
In the like case, that is, in the case of absohite necessity,
it seems very probable, that in some of the Greek Churches
they had power to suspend the inferior clerg-y, whe« need
so required, and neither bishop, nor presbyter was present
to do it; which may be collected from those words of the
author of the Constitutions, ' where he says, " A deacon
excommunicates a subdeacon, a reader, a singer, a deacon-
ness, if there be occasion, and the presbyter be not at hand
to do it. But a subdeacon shall have no power tojexeom-
municate any, either clergy or laity ; for subdeacons are
only ministers of the deacons." This was a power then
committed to deacons in extraordinary cases, and a pe-
culiar privilege which none of the inferior clergy might
enjoy.
,Sect. 13. — 9. Deacons to attend upon their Bishops, and sometimes represeitt
tht-m in General Councils.
It may be reckoned also among their extraordinary of-
fices, that they were sometimes deputed by their bishops to
be their representatives and proxies in general-councils.
Their ordinary office there was only to attend upon their
bishops, and perform the duties of scribes and disputants,
&c. according as they were directed by them ; in which
station we commonly find them employed in the ancient
councils. But then there were two things in which they
were treated as inferior to presbyters: 1st, in that pres- f
byters are usually represented as sitting together with their .'
bishops, while the deacons stood with all the people. '
2dly, presbyters were sometimes allowed to vote, as has
been showed before; but there are no instances, that I
know of, to evidence the same privilege to belong to
deacons. Only when bishops could not attend in person,
they many times sent their deacons to represent them : and
then they sat and voted, not as deacons, but as proxies, in
the room and place of those that sent them; of which there
cunque praesentera, vel, si Presbyter repertus non fuerit, et urgere exitns
coepcrit, apud Diaconura quoque Exomologesin faeere delicti sui possint ; ut
jiianu eis in poenitenlia inipositii veiiiant ad Doniinuiu cum pace.
'JUoustit. Apost. lib. yiii. c. 28. Au'tKoj/ot; a^opi^jt roi' virohuKoyof, &.C.
228 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK 11.
are so many instances in the Acts of the councils, that it is
needless to refer the reader to any of them. Yet they that
desire to see examples, may consult Christianas Lupus, in
his notes upon the seventh canon of the council of Trullo,
where he observes some difference in the sitting and voting-
of deacons in the eastern and western councils. In the
eastern councils, if a deacon represented a metropolitan or
a patriarch, he sat and subscribed in the place that the
metropolitan or patriarch himself would have done, had he
been present; but in the western councils it was otherwise ;
there the deacons voted after all the bishops, and not in the
place of those whose proxies they were.
Thus it was in g-eneral-councils. But in provincial and
consistorial synods, the deacons were sometimes allowed to
give their voice, as well as the presbyters in their own name.
Of which the reader may see several instances in the Roman
councils, under Symmachus and Greg-ory II. published by
Justellus, * in his Bibliotheca Juris Canonici, and in the
fourth tome of the councils, where first the bishops, then
the presbyters, and then the deacons, subscribe every one
in their own name in particular. And those that are curious
about this matter may furnish themselves with many other
such examples.
Sect. 14.— 10. Deacons empowered to rebuke and correct Men that behaved
themselves irregularly in the Church.
There are two things more to be observed concerning
the office of deacons in Church-assemblies : first, that as
they were the regulators and directors of men's behaviour
in divine service; so they had power to rebuke the irre-
gular, and chastise them for any indecent and unseemly
, deportment. The Constitutions often mention such acts as
these belonging to the deacon's office. " If any one be
found sitting out of his place, let the deacon rel)uke him,^
and transfer him to his proper station, as the pilot or steers-
man of the Church." And again, a little after, "Let the
deacon^ overlook and superintend the people, that no one
'See before rhap. xix. sect. 12. '^ Const. Apost. lib. ii. c. 57.
'E7ri7rX»j(r<T4(T3'(o I'lTTO rs oiaKovs, wc TrpwpewCj &c. ^ Ibid. p. 201. 'O ^la-
KovoQ sni(TK0V(iT<» Tfjv Xabv, &c. Confer, lib. viii. c. II.
CHAP. XX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 229
talk, or sleep, or laugh, but g-ive ear to the word of God."
This is evident also from St. Chrysostom, who, speaking- of
the irreverent behaviour of some in the Church, bids their
neighbours first rebuke them, and if they would not bear it,
to call the deacon* to do his office towards them. Agree-
able to this, Optatus tells us a very remarkable story of
Caecilian, archdeacon of Carthage; " That, observing one Lu-
cilla, a rich woman, commit an indecent act in the time of
receiving- the holy communion, (for before she received the
bread and wine, she was used to kiss the relics of some
pretended martyr;) he rebuked her^ for it by virtue of his
office; which she so highly resented, that afterward, when
he was chosen bishop, she factiously withdrew herself with
some others from his communion, and pretending his ordi-
nation to be illegal, she, by her power, got Majorinus or-
dained against him." And this was one of the principal
causes of the schism of the Donatists, as Optatus there
observes. It had its rise from the implacable malice of a
proud and angry woman, who could never forgive the
deacon that rebuked her in the Church. Some may per-
haps imagine, that what Caecilian did was by virtue of a
superior office, and that, as archdeacon, he was of an higher
order, as now commonly archdeacons are. But I shall
show in the next chapter, that anciently archdeacons were
always of the order of deacons, and of no other degree :
and it appears from what has here been already discoursed,
that this act of Caecilian was not from any peculiar power,
that he enjoyed as archdeacon, but from that ordinary
power to rebuke offenders, which he had in common with
all the other deacons of the Church,
Sect. 15,-11. Deacons anciently performed the Offices of all the Inferior
Orders of the Church.
The other thing I would further remark concerning the
office of deacons, is this, that before the institution of the
inferior orders of the Church (which were not set up in all
' Chrys. Horn. 21. in Act. ^ Optat. lib. i. p. 40. Ciiin corrcp^
tionem Archidiaconi Cicciliani ferre non posset, qiitc ante spiritalem cibuin et
potum, OS nescio cujus Martyris, si tamen JMartjrir, libare dicebatur, &c.
230
THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK H.
Churches at once, nor perhaps in any Church for the two
first ao-es, as shall be showed hereafter) the deacons were
employed to perform all such offices, as were, in after ages,
committed to those orders ; such as the offices of readers,
snbdeacons, exorcists, or catechists, door-keepers, and the
like. Thus Epiphanius' observes, that originally all offices
of the Church were performed by bishops, presbyters and
deacons, and therefore no Church was without a deacon.
This was certainly the practice in the time of Ignatius, who
never speaks of any order below that of deacons ; but with-
out them, he says, no Church was^ called a Church. So
that all the inferior offices must then be performed by dea-
cons. And even in after ages we find that several of the
inferior offices were many times put upon- the same man ;
perhaps to avoid the charge of maintaining an overnumer-
ous clergy in lesser Churches. Thus Eusebius tells us,
that Romanus, the martyr,^ was both deacon and exorcist
in the Church of Ca:5sarea. And Procopius, the martyr, had
three offices in the Church of Scythopolis ; he was at once
reader, interpreter, and exorcist ; as we learn from the Acts
of his martyrdom,* published byValesius. Now both these
were martyred in the beginning- of the fourth century, in
the time of the Diocletion persecution. And we find a
whole a<ie after this, if the author under the name of St.
Austin * may be credited, that except in such great and
rich churches as the Church of Rome, where there was a
numerous clergy, all the inferior services w^ere still per-
formed by the deacons. In the Greek Church they were
aiways the nuXwjOot, or door keepers, in the time of the ob-
lation and celebration of the eucharist, as may be seen in
the Apostolical^ Constitutions, where the deacons are com-
manded to stand at the men's gate, and the sub-deacons at
the women's, to see that no one should go out or come in,
' Epiphan. HfEr. 75. Aeiian. ^Ignat. Ep. adTral. n. 3.
^ Euseb. de Martyr. Palajstin. c. 2. * Acta Piocop. ap. Vales.
Not. in Euseb. de Martyr. Palsest. c.l. Ibi Ecclesiae tria Ministeria praibebal:
Uiiuin in Legendi OITicio, alterum in Syi'i Interpretatioue Sermonis, et tertium
adversus Dajmones numus inipositione consiunuuins, ^ Aug-. Quaest.
Vet. et Nov. Test. c. 101. cited before, bcft. 1. « Coudt. Apost.
iib. yiil. c. II.
CHAP. XX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 231
(lurino- the time of the oblation. These were ancientlv the
deacons'' principal employments in the assemblies of the
Church.
Sect . 16. — 12. Deacons the Bisliop's Sub- Almoners.
But besides these we are to take notice of two or three
other offices, in which they were commonly employed by
the bishop out of the Church. One of these was to be his
sub-almoners, to take care of the necessitous, such as or-
phans, widows, virgins, martyrs in prison, and all the poor
and sick who had any title to be maintained out of the pub-
lic revenues of the Church. The deacons were particu-
larly to inquire into the necessities and wants of all these,
and make relation thereof to the bishop, and then distribute
to them such charities as they received from him towards
their relief and assistance. The archdeacon indeed was, as
it were, the bishop's treasurer, but all the deacons were his
dispensers, or ministers of the Church's charity to the in-
digent. Which appears, from several passages in Cyprian,*
Dionysius^ of Alexandria, and the author^ of the Constitu-
tions, who speak indifferently of this office as common to
all the deacons. Particularly in the Constitutions the duty
of the deacon is thus described, " That he should inform his
bishop, when he knows any one to be in distress, and then
distribute to their necessities by the directions of the
bishop ; but to do nothing- clancularly without his consent,
lest that might seem to accuse him of neglecting the dis-
tressed, and so turn to his reproach, and raise a murmuring-
against him."
Sect. 17. — 13. Deacons to inform the Bishop of the Misdemeanours of tlie
People.
Another office of the deacons in this respect was, to make
inquiry into the morals and conversation of the people; and
such evils as he could not redress himself, by the ordinary
power which was intrusted in his hands, of those he was to
give information to the bishop, that he, by his supreme
' Cypr. Ep. 49. al. 52. ad Cornel. ^ Dionys. ap. Euseb, lib. vii.
c. 1 1. * Constit. Apost. lib. ii. c. 31 et 32. lib. iii. c. 19.
232 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IL
authority, might redress them. "Let the deacon,"" says the
book of Constitutions,' " refer all things to the bishop, as
Christ did to the Father ; such thing-s as he is able, let him
rectify, by the power which he has from the bishop ; but
the weightier causes let the bishop judge."
Sect. 18. — Ilence Deacons commonly called the Bishop's Eyes, his Mouth,
Angels, Prophets, &c.
Upon this account, the deacons w ere usuall^^ styled the
bishop's eyes, and his ears, his mouth, his right-hand, andhis
heart ; because by their ministry he overlooked his charge,
and by them took cognizance of men's actions, as much as
if he himself had seen them with his own eyes, or heard
them with his own ears : by them he sent directions and
orders to his flock, in which respect they were his mouth
and his heart : by them he distributed to the necessities of
the indigent, and so they were his right hand. These titles
are frequently to be met with in the Constitutions^ and the
author of the Epistle^ to St. James. And Isidore, of Pelu-
sium, in allusion to them, writing to Lucius,* an archdeacon,
he tells him in the phrase of the Church, " that he ought to
be all eye, forasmuch as deacons were the eyes of the
bishop." The author of the Constitutions^ terms them like-
wise the bishop's angels and prophets, because they w-ere
the persons whom he chiefly employed in messages, either
to his own people, or foreign Churches. For then bishops
did nothing but by the mouth or hands of one of their
clergy.
Sect. 19. — Deacons to be multiplied according to the Necessities of the *
Church.
For this reason, there being such a multitude and variety
of business commonly attending the deacon's oflSce, it was
usual to have several deacons in the same Church. In
some Churches they were very precise to the number seven,
in imitation of the first Church of Jerusalem. The council
' Const. Apost. lib, ii. c. 44. = Constit. Apost. lib. ii. c 41.
lib. iii. c. 19. 3 (31^.^ Ep, .^(j Jacob, c. 12. * Isidor.
lib. i. ep. 29. a Const. Apost. lib. ii. c. 30,
CHAP. XX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 233
of Neocsesarea^ enacted it into a canon, " that there ought
to be but seven deacons in any city, though it was never so
great, because this was according to the rule, su'ggested in
the Acts of the Apostles." And the Church of Rome, both
before and after this council, seems to >have looked upon
that as a binding rule also. For it is evident, from the Epis-
tle of Cornelius,^ written in the middle of the third century,
that there were then but seven deacons in the Church of
Rome, though there were forty-six presbyters at the same
time. And Prudentius intimates that it was so in the time of
Sixtus also. Anno 261 ; for speaking of Laurentius, the
deacon, he terms him^ " the chief of those seven men, who
had their station near the altar," meaning the seven deacons
of the Church. Nay, in the fourth and fifth centuries the
custom there continued the same, as we learn both from
Sozomen,* and Hilarius Sardus,* the Roman deacon, who
wrote under the name of St. Ambrose. But Sozomen says,
this rule was not observed in other Churches, but the
number of deacons was indifferent, as the business of every
Church required. And it is certain it was so at Alexandria,
and Constantinople : for though one of the writers of the
Life of St. Mark,« cited by bishop Pearson, says, St. Mark
ordained but seven deacons at Alexandria, yet in after ages
there were more ; for Alexander, in one of his circular let-
ters,'^ names nine deacons, whom he deposed with Arius for
their heretical opinions ; and it is probable there were several
others, who continued orthodox ; for in the form of Arius's
condemnation, published by Cotelerius,^ the Catholic
deacons of Alexandria and Mareotes are mentioned, as
joining with their bishop in condemning him. And for the
> Con. Neocfflsar. c. 15. ^ Cornel. Ep. ad Fab. ap. Euseb.
lib. vi. c. 43. ^ Prudent. Hymn, de S. Laurent. Hie primus e sep-
tem viris qui stant ad aram proximi. * Sozom. lib. vii. c. 19.
Ataicoj/ot Trapd 'Pwfiaiois uaiTi vvv 8 TrXtise doW iirrd. * Ambros.
Com. in. 1 Tim. iii. p. 995. Nunc autem septem Diaconos esse oportet, ali-
quantosPresbyteros, utbini sint per Ecclesias, et unus in Civitate Episcopus.
« Vit. S. Marci, ap. Pearson. Vind. Ignat. par. 2. c. 11. p. 329. B. Marcus
Anizanum Alexandriae ordinavit Episcopum, et tres Presbyteros, et septem
Diaconos. ' Alex. Ep. Encycl. ap. Theodor. lib. i. c. i.
8 Coteler, Not. in Const. Apost. lib, viii. c. 28.
VOL. I. 2 F
234 XHE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK Hi
Church of Constantinople, the number of deacons was there
so great, that in one of Justinian's Novels* we find them
limtted to. an hundred for the service of tlie great Church
and three others only. So that it is evident the number of
deacons usually .increased with the necessities of the
Church, and the Church of Rome was singular in the con-
trary practice.
Sect. 20. — Of the Age at which Deacons might be ordained.
I speak nothing here of the qualifications required in
deacons, because they were generally the same that were
required in bishops and presbyters, and will be spoken of
hereafter ; only in their age there was some difference,
which is here to be observed. Bishops and presbyters, as
has been noted above, might not ordinarily be ordained be-
fore thirty, but deacons were allowed to be ordained at
tv\enty-five, and not before. This is the term fixed both
by the civil and canon law, as may be seen in Justinian's^
No\els, the council of Agde,^ Carthage, Trullo, and many
others. And it was a rule very nicely observed ; for though
we meet with some bishops that were ordained before this
age : yet those (as I have showed before) were never dea-
cons, but ordained immediately bishops from laymen ; but
amonof those that were ordained deacons, we scarce meet
with an instance of any one that was ordained before the
age of twenty-five in all the history of the Church.
Sect. 21.— Of the Respect which Deacons paid to Presbyters, and received
from the Inferior Orders.
The last thing which I shall observe of deacons, is the
great deference and respect they were obliged to pay to
presbyters, as well as to the bishop. It has been proved
before, that the presbyters had their thrones in the Church,
whereon they sat together with their bishop ; but the dea-
cons had no such privilege, but are always represented as
' Justin. Novel, iii. c, 1. ^ jygj Novel. 123. c. M. Presby-
tenim niinorem triginta quinque annorum fieri non permittimus. Sed neque
Diaconum aut Subdiacopum viginti quinque. * Con. Agathens.
c. 16, (Jon. Carth. iii. c. 4. Con, Trull, c. 11. Con.Tolet.iv. c. 19.
CHAP. XX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 235
Standing by them. So the author* of the Constitutions and
Gregory Nazianzen* place them in this order, viz. the
bishop sitting on the middle throne, the presbyters sitting
on each hand of him, and the deacons standing by, The
council of Nice expressly^ forbids deacons to sit among the
presbyters in the Church. And it is evident from St. Jerom,*
and the author under the name of St. Austin,^ that though
the Roman deacons were grown the most elated of any
others, yet they did not presume to sit in the Church.
Nay, some Canons go further, and forbid^ deacons to sit
any where in the presence of a presbyter, except by his
permission.
The hke respect they were to pay to presbyters in several
other instances, being obliged to minister to them, as well
as to the bishop, in the performance of all divine offices ;
none of which might be performed by a deacon in the pre-
sence of a presbyter, without some special reason for it, as
has been noted before. Nay, a deacon was not allowed so
much as to bless a common feast, if a presbyter was present
at it : as we may see in St. Jerora"s ' Epistle to Evagrius,
where he censures the Roman deacons somewjiat sharply
for presuming to do so.
But then, as the Canons obliged deacons to pay this re-
spect to presbyters; so to distinguish them from the lesser
clergy, all the inferior orders were required to pay the same
respect to them. The council of Laodicea in the same
canon that says, " a deacon shall not sit in the presence of
a presbyter without his leave," adds immediately after,
" that in like manner the deacon shall be honoured by the
subdeacons and all the other clergy." And the council of
Agde^ repeats the canon in the same words. I shall here
' Constit. Apost. lib.ii. c. 57. ^ Greg. Naz. Soiifti. de Eccles.
Anastas. « Con. Nic. c. 18. * Hieron. Ep. 85, ad Eva-r.
In Ecclesia Romse Presbyteri sedent, et stant Diaconi. * Aug.
Qufest. Vet. et Nov. Test, c, 101. Quanquain Romanic Ecclesia; Diaconi
modice inverecundiores vldeantur, sedendi tamen dijrnjtatrm in Ecclesia non
prfcsumupt. * Con. Laodic. c.:20. Carth. 4. c. 39.
' Hieron. Ep.Sj. ad Evagr. Licet, increbrescentitjus vitiis, inter Presbyleros,
absentc Episcopo, sedere Diacomim viderim : et in doniesticis conviviis.
Benedictiones Presbyteris dare. (al. Bcnedictiones coram Presbyleris dare.)
* Cou. Agatlu ns. c. Go. Nou oportel Diaconum stdorc , pracseate Prtsbytero,
236 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
also remind the reader of what I have observed before, that
deacons in some Churches had power to censure the inferior
clerg-y in the absence of the presbyters. St. Jerom' seems
also to say, " that their revenues were rather greater than
those of the presbyters, which made them sometimes trou-
blesome .and assuming-. Beside all this the order of dea-
cons was of great repute, because the archdeacon was
always then one of this order, and he was commonly a man
of great interest and authority in the Church ; of whose
powers and privileges because it is necessary to discourse
a little more particularly, I shall treat distinctly of them in
the following chapter.
CHAP. XXI.
Of Archdeacons.
Sect. 1. — Archdeacons anciently of the same Order with Deacons.
Though archdeacons in these last aoes of the Church
have usually been of the order of presbyters, yet anciently
they were no more than deacons : "which appears evidently
from those writers, who give us the first account of them.
St. Jerom- says, " the archdeacon was chosen out of the
deacons, and was the principal deacon in every Church, as
the archpresbyter was the principal presbyter; and that
there was but one of each in every Church." Optatus calls
Caecilian^ " archdeacon of Carthage ;" yet he was never
more than a deacon, till he was ordained bishop, as has
been showed before : and that made Csecilian himself say,
" that if he was not rightly ordained bishop, as the Dona-
sed ex jussione Presbyter! sedeat. Similiter autem honorificetur Diaconns a
Ministris inferioribus et omnibus Clericis. » Hieron. Ep. 85. ad Evagr.
Presbyter noverit se Lucris minorem, Sacerdotio esse majorem. Id. Com. in
Ezek. c. 48. Ultra Sacerdotes, hoc est, Presbyteros intuniescunt : et Digni-
tatem non mcrito sed divitlis a>stimant. « Hjeron. Ep. So. ad Evagr.
Aut Diaconi eligant de se, quern industriiun noverint, et Archidiaconum
Tocent. Id. Ep. 4. ad Rustic. Singuli Ecelesiarum Episcopi, singuli Archi-
presbyteri, singuli Arehidiaconi. ^ Opiat. lib. i. p.40. Cum correp-
tionem Arehidiaconi Coeciliani ferre non posset, etc.
OHAP. XXI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 237
lists pretended, he' was to be treated only as a deacon." It
is certain also St. Laurence, archdeacon of Rome, was no
more than the chief of the deacons, or the principal^ man of
the seven, who stood and waited at the altar, as Prudentius
words it. From these testimonies it is very plain, that in
those times the archdeacon was always one of the order of
deacons.
Sect. 2. — Elected by the Bishop, and not made by Seniority.
But how the archdeacon came by his honour, and after
what manner he was invested with his office, is a matter of
some dispute among- learned men. Salmasius^ and some
others are of opinion, that originally he was no more than
the senior deacon, though they own that in process of time
the office became elective. Habertus* thinks it was alw^ays
elective, and that it was at the bishop's liberty and discre-
tion to nominate which of the deacons he thought fit to the
office. That it was so in the case of Athanasius, seems
pretty evident from what Theodoret^ says of him, " that
though he was very young", yet he was made chief of the
order of deacons ; for this implies, as Valesius there ob-
serves, " that he was chosen by the bishop, and preferred
before his seniors." St. Jerom, in the forecited passag-e,
as plainly asserts that the office went not by seniority, but
election ; only he seems to put the power of electing in the
deacons: but if they had any hand in it, it must be under-
stood to be under the direction of the bishop, who is re-
quired by some Canons to choose his own archdeacon, and
ordinarily to give preference to the senior, if he was duly
qualified; but if not, to make choice of any other, whom he
thought most fit to discharge the offices of the Church,^
and the trust that was reposed in him.
' Optat. Ibid. p. 41. Iterum a Cseciliano raandatum est, ut si Ff!ix in se,
sicut illi arbitrabantur, nihil contulisset, ipsi tanquam adhuc Diaconum ordi-
narent Ccccilianum. ^ Prudent. Hymn, de S. Steph.Hic Primus e sep-
tem Tiris, qui stant ad aram proximi. ^ Sahnas. de Prlmat. p. 8.
Suioer. Thesaur. Eccl. torn. i. p. 531. * Habert. Pontifical, obs. 6.
p. 206. ^ Theod. lib. i. c.26. Nsoe fxiv wv ryv y'jXiKiav, tS xops dk
rStv £iaic6vo)v r)yi^itvoQ. ^ Con. Agathens. c. 23. Si Officium Archi.
diaconatus, propter simpliciorcm naturam implore aut cxpedire nequivcrit,
ille loci sui nomcn teneat, et ordinationi Ecclesiag, quern Episcopus elegerit,
praeponalur.
^38 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
Sect. 3.— Commonly Persons of such Interest in the Church, that they were
chosen the Bishop's Successors.
The office of the archdeacon was always a place of great
honour and reputation : for he was the bishop s constant
attendant and assistant 5 and next to the bishop the eyes of
whole Church were fixed upon him. By which means he
commonly gained such an interest, as to get himself chosen
the bishop's successor before the presbyters ; of which it
were easy to give several instances, as Athanasius, Caecilian,
and many others. And this, I presume, was the reason
why St. Jerom says, " that an archdeacon thought himself
injured, * if he was ordained a presbyter ;" probably, because
he thereby lost his interest in the Church, and was disap-
pointed of his preferment. We might certainly conclude it
was thus in the Church of Rome, if what Eulogius, a Greek
writer in Photius, says, might be depended on as true :
" That it was a law ^ at Rome to choose the archdeacon the
bishop's successor ; and that, therefore, Cornelius ordained
Novatian presbyter, to deprive him of the privilege and
hopes of succeeding." But I confess there is no small
reason to question the truth of this relation, both because
we read of no such law in any writer of th<? Latin Church;
and because this author palpably mistakes, in saying, that
Cornelius ordained Novatian presbyter, who was presbyter
long' before; and probably never was archdeacon, nor dea-
con, but ordained presbyter immediately from a layman, as
may be collected from the letters of Cyprian^ and Cornelius*
which tacitly reflect upon him for it. Yet, if by law Eulo-
gius meant no more than custom, perhaps it might be cus-
tomary at Rome, as at some other places, to make the arch-
deacons the bishop's successors ; their power and privileges,
as I observed commonly gaining them a considerable in-
terest both among the clergy and the people.
' Ilieron. Com. in Ezek. c. 48. Certe qui Primus fuerit Ministrorum, quia
per sinicula concionatur in populos, et' a Pontificis latere non rccedit, injuriam
putat, si Presbyter ordinetur. "Eulotr. ap. Phot. Cod. 182. Tbi- a'pxi-
cioKovov ivd'o^HTo fiaooxoi/ rS dpxupaTivoi'TOi: Ka^irnal^ai ^ Cypr.
Ep. 52. al. 55. ad Antonian. p. 103. * Cornel. Ep. ad Fabian, ap.
Euseb. lib. vi. c. i3.
CHAP. XXI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 239
Sect. 4,— The Offices of the Archdeacon. l.To attend the Bishop at the
Altar, &c.
As to the archdeacon's office, he was always the bishop's
immediate minister and attendant ; " A latere Pontijicis non
recessit,''' to use St. Jerom's phrase, " he ivas always by his
side, ready to assist him ^ particularly at the altar, when
the bishop ministered, he performed the usual offices of a
deacon, that have been mentioned in the last chapter. The
author of the Constitutions calls him, " 'O 7rap£<?(J<; tw
'A/>xtepa, the deacon that stood by the bishop,'''' and pro-
claimed, when the communion-service began, "Let no one*
approach in wrath ag-ainst his brother ; let no one come in
hypocrisy." To him itbelong^ed to minister the cup to the
people, when the bishop celebrated the eucharist, and had
administered the bread before him, as we learn from the
account which St. Ambrose^ gives of Laurentius, archdeacon
of Rome. It was his business, also, as the bishop's substi-
tute, to order all thing's relating to the inferior clergy, and
their ministrations and services in the Church : as what
deacon should read the Gospel, who should bid the prayers,
which of them should keep the doors, which walk about
the Church to observe the behaviour of the people ; which
of the readers, acolythists, subdeacons, should perform their
service at such a time, or in what post and station : for these
thing's were not precisely determined, but at the bishop's
liberty to ordain and appoint them ; which he commonly
did by his archdeacon, whose orders and directions, there-
fore, are sometimes called Oi-dinationes, and Ordinatio^ Ec-
clesia, in some of the ancient councils ; whence I presume
came the name, ordinary, which is a title given to archdea-
cons in after ages.
Sect. 5.-2. To assist him in managing the Church's Revenues.
He assisted the bishop in managing' and dispensing-
the Church's revenues, having the chief care of the poor,
orphans, widows, &c. under the bishop, whose portions
'Constit. Apost. lib. ii. c. 57. s^n^l^-os (Jp Offic. lib. i. c. 41.
*Vid. Con. Agathens. c. 23. Isidor. Hispal. Ep. ad Ludifred. ap. Gratian.
Dist. 25. c. 1.
240 THE ANTIQUITIES OE THE [bOOK II.
were assio-ned by him, and sent by the hands of the other
deacons that were under him. The fourth counelP of
Carthage makes mention of this part of his office, when it
requires the bishop " not to concern himself personally in the
care and g-overnment of the widows, orphans, and strangers,
but to commit this to his archpresbyter or archdeacon." Upon
this account Piudentius, ^ describing the offices of St. Lau-
rence, whom he makes to be archdeacon of Rome, among
other things assigns him the keys of the Church's treasure,
and the care of dispensing the oblations of the people.
And for the same reason both he and St. Ambrose,^ and all
other writers of his passion, bring in the heathen perse-
cutor, demanding of him those treasures which he had in
his keeping ; which he promising to do, in a short time after,
brought before him the poor, the lame, the blind, the
infirm : tellino- him, " those were the riches which he had in
his custody, for on them he had expended the Church's
treasure." St. Austin says this was his office, as he was
archdeacon of the Church. Paulinus,* therefore, calls the
archdeacon, " Arcce custodem, the keeper of the chest /'
because, though the other deacons were the dispensers and
conveyors, vet he was the chief manager and director of
them, and from him they took their orders, as from the
guardian of the Church's treasure. It was upon this ac-
count that the Donatists charged Caecilian, among other
thing's, " that he had prohibited the deacons from carrying
any provision ^ to the martyrs in prison;" which objection
must be grounded upon this, that he was obliged by his
office, as he was archdeacon, to see that the martyrs were
' Con. Carth. iv. c. 17. Ut Episcopus gubernationein Viduaruin, Pupil-
loruni, ac Peregrinorum, non per seipsuin, sed per Archipresbyterum, aut per
Archidiaconum agat. ^ Prudent. Hymn, de Sto. Laur. Levita sub-
limis gradu, et CfEteris preestantior, claustris sacrorum prajerat ; Ccelestis
arcanum Domus fidis gubernans clavibus, votasque dispensans opes.
^Ambros. de Offic.lib. ii. c. 28. Aug. Serm. 111. de Diversis. Sanctus Lau-
rcntius Archidiaconus fuit: Opes Ecclesiae ab illo Persecutore quserebantur.
Id. de Divers. Ser. 123. * Paulin. de Mirac. S. Martin, lib. iv. Bibl.
Patr. torn. viii. p. 865.
Protinus adstanti Diacono, quern more priorum
Antistes Sanctse Custodem legerat Arcae,
Imperat, &c.
•5 Aug. Brevic. CoUal. iii. c. U;
CHAP. XXI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 241
provided of sustenance; which they pretended he had not
only neglected, but abused his authority, in forbidding- those
that were under his command, to minister unto them.
Sect. 6. — 3. In Preaching.
Another part of his office was to assist the bishop in
preaching. For as any deacon was authorized to preach by
the bishop's leave, so the archdeacon being the most emi-
nent of the deacons, was more frequently pitched upon to
discharg'e this office ; if we may so understand those words
of St. Jerom, which have been cited before in the third sec-
tion, ''Primus Ministrorum per singula concionatur in
populos, — the chief minister or archdeacon, is many times,
and in many places employed in preaching to the people.^''
For the word, singula, may relate both to times and places.
But if any one thinks, that concionai'i here signifies no
more than prcedicare and K^pvaauv, doing the office of an
holy cryer in the assembly, I shall not contend about it ;
but only say, that St. Jerom, speaking of something that
then made the archdeacons popular, seems rather to mean
the office of preaching, than any otlier.
Sect. 7. — 4, In Ordaining the Inferior Clergy.
The archdeacon usually bore a part with the bishop
in the ordinations of the inferior clergy, subdeacons, acoly-
thists, &c. His office in this matter is particularly de-
scribed in several canons^ of the fourth council of Car-
thage, which relate the manner how the inferior clergy
were to be ordained, viz. not by imposition of hands, which
belonged only to the superior orders, but by receiving
some vessels or utensils of the Church, partly from the
hands of the bishop, and partly from the hands of the
archdeacon. As to give only one instance in the ordination
of an acolythist, the canon says, " The bishop was to inform
him what his duty was ; and then the archdeacon was to give
him a taper into his hand, that he might know that he was
appointed to light the candles of the Church."
• Con. Carth. iv. c. 5, 6, 9.
VOL. I. 2 G
242
THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
Sect. 8.-5. The Archdeacon had Power to censure Deacons and the Infe-
rior Clergy, but not Presbyters.
The archdeacon was invested also with a power of
censuring- the other deacons, and all the inferior clergy of
the Churcli. That it was so, at least in some Churches, is
very evident from a passage in the Acts of the council of
Chalcedon, where Ibas, bishop of Edessa, speaking- of
Maras, one of the deacons of his Church, says, "he was not
excommunicated by himself, but by his archdeacon, who,*
for a crime committed against a presbyter, suspended him
from the communion."
But whether the archdeacon had any power over presby-
ters, is a matter of dispute among learned men : Salmasius,^
and the learned Suicerus^ after him, scruple not to assert,
" that even the archpresbyter himself in the Roman Church
was subject to him." Cujacius, and some others, who are
cited by Baluzius,* go one step further, and say it was so in
all Churches. Yet there is not the least footstep of any
such power to be met with in any ancient writer or council ;
but the original of all the mistake is owing to a corruption
in Gratian's Decree, and Gregory the Ninth's Decretals,
who cite the words alleged* in the margin, the one as from
Isidore of Sevil, and the other from the council of Toledo,
pretending- that the archpresbyter is to be subject to the
archdeacon : when yet, as both Baluzius and the Roman
correctors confess, there are no such words to be found in
Isidore's Epistle 5 nor will Garsias Loaisa own them to he
the genuine decree of atiy council of Toledo. So that the
whole credit of this matter rests upon Gratian and the com-
pilers of the Decretals, whose authority is of little esteem
in things relating- to antiquity, when there is no better
proof than their bare assertion. Yet I shall not deny, but
that in Gratian's time it might be as he represents it ; for
' Con. Chalced. Act. x. p. 653. 'Akoivmvijtoq tri ry it^u^ 'Apxi^iaKoyi,),
&c. ^ Salmas. de Primat. c. i. p. 9. » Suicer. Thesaur.
torn. i. p. 633. * Baluz. Not. ad Gratian. Dist. xxv. c. 1. p. 455.
* Grat.Dist. XXV. c. l.exEpist. Isidor. Hispal. ad Ludifred. Archipresbyter
vero se esse sub Archidiacono, ej usque prseceptis, sicut Episcopi sui, sciat
obedre. In Gregory's Decretal, lib. i. tit. 24. De Officio Archipresb. c. 1.
The same words are cited ex Concilio Toletano.
CHAP. XXI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 243
probably by this time the archdeacons were chosen out of
the order of presbyters ; though when first they beg^an to
be so, is not very easy to determine. Only we are certain
that some centuries before the time of Gratian the custom
was altered. For archdeacons, in the ninth century, were
some of them at least of the order of presbyters ; as appears
from Hincmar's Capitula* directed to Guntharius and Odel-
hardus, two of his archdeacons, w horn he styles, presbyter-
archdeacons. And there is reason enough to think it was
so in the time of Gratian : the archdeacons were then ge-
nerally of the order of presbyters, as they have been ever
since ; which makes it no wonder that in Gratian's time
they should have power over the Archipresbyteri, which, in
the language of that age, often signifies no more than rural
deans, over which the archdeacons have usually power at
this day. But by this the reader may judge how little such
writers are to be depended on, who take their estimate of
former ages from the practice of their own, and reckon
every thing* ancient, that is agreeable to the rules and cus-
toms of the times they live in.
Sect. 9. — Of the Name 'ATraiTtrj/c, Cirrumlustrator, and whether Archdea-
cons had any Power over the whole Diocese.
But to return to the archdeacons of the primitive Church.
There is one thing more may admit of some dispute,— ^whether
the archdeacon's power anciently extended over the whole
diocese, or was confined to the city or mother Church'? In the
middle ages of the Church there is no question but they had
power over the whole diocese ; forlsidorusHispalensis, who
lived in the beginning- of the seventh century, in the account
which he gives of the archdeacon's office, says, '^ the paro-
chial clergy were under his care, (that is, the deacons and
inferior clergy:) and that it belonged to him* to order mat-
• llincmar. Capilula Archidiaconibiis Preshyteris data. Con. toni. viii.
p. 591. -' Isicior. Ep. ad Ludifred. et up. Gratian. Dist. xxv. c. 1.
Solid tudo quoque Parochilanoriun (al. Parochiaruni) et ordinatio, et jurgia
ad ejuspertiiientcuram: Pro reparandis Dioecesanis Tiasilicis 1,80 suggcrit
Saeerdoti : Ipse iiiqnirit Paroehias eu.ii jubaionv^^ Episcopi, et Ornajniiita, vel
les Basilieariiin Parochitanorum (al. Parochiauni) et Libertatuin Eeelesias-
tiLaruiu Ejiiscopo idem refert.
244 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
ters, and end controversies among- them ; to give the bishop
an account what Churches stood in need of repairing- ; to
make inquiry by the bishop's order into the state of every
parish, and see what condition the ornaments and g-oods of
the Church were in, and whether the ecclesiastical liberties
were maintained/' Habertus thinks^ the archdeacons were
invested with the same power some ages before, and for
proof cites a passage out of the council of Chalcedon,
where in an instrument^ presented by the presbyters of
Edessa against Ibas, their bishop, one Abramius, a deacon
of that Church, in all the Latin translations is called Diaco-
niis Apantita, which Habertus takes to be a general inspec-
tor of the Church. But there are two evident reasons
against this, which it is a wonder so observing a person as
Habertus should not see: 1st. That Abramius was not an
archdeacon, but only a private deacon of the Church ; for
in the same place there is mention made of another arch-
deacon, who, when Ibas was about to have had Abramius
ordained bishop of Batena, interposed and hindered him
from doing it, because he had been censured for the prac-
tice of magic, and never given any satisfaction to the Church.
And though it is said, that Ibas took occasion to remove
that archdeacon from his office, yet it is not once intimated
that he put Abramius in his room ; which if he had done, it
would doubtless have been made another article of accusa-
tion against him before the council. 2dly, The orio-inal
Greek inLabbe's edition is not Am'icovoc diravTiTrig, asHabertus
reads it, but only " Akikovoq utt ayrije rrig r\fiiTipr]g tKKX-t^mag ^
a deacon of that our Church of Edessa ;" and though
' AiravTiT-qq be put into the margin, yet it is not owned to
be any various reading, but only the editor's conjecture ;
which I think is not sufficient to build such an assertion
upon, when no other proof or authority is pretended.
Therefore I determine nothing concerning this power of
the archdeacons in ancient times, but leave it to further
inquiry, and the determination of every judicious reader.
• Habert.iii Pontifical, par. 9. obser. 6. ^Con. Chalced. Act.x. p.650.
CHAP. XXI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH 245
Sect. 10. — Of the Name Cor-Episcopi, why given to Archdeacons.
Valesius takes notice of another name, which he thinks
was sometimes given to the archdeacons, that is the name
Cor-Episcopi ; for which he cites the words of one Joannes
Abbas ^ in a book written about the translation of the relicks
of St. Glodesindis. This at first may look like a corruption
of the name Chorepiscopus, because in the latter ages the
power of the ancient Chorepiscopi dwindled into that of the
archdeacons ; but when it is considered, that all the
deacons anciently were called the bishop's eyes, and his ears,
his mouth, and his heart, as has been noted in the last
chapter, sect. 18. it will appear very probable that the arch-
deacon should be peculiarly dignified with those titles 5
and therefore be called Cor-Episcopi, the bishop's heart,
because he was used to signify his mind and will to the
people : as he is called Oculus Episcopi, not only in ancient
authors 2 but rn the Decretal s,^ and the council of Trent,*
because he was the bishop's eye to inspect the diocese under
him.
Sect. 11. — The Opinions of Learned Men concerning- the first Original of the
Name and Office of Arch-deacon.
Some may perhaps be desirous to know further the first
rise and original of the name and office of archdeacons in
the Church ; but this is a matter involved in so great
obscurity, that it cannot easily be determined. Habertus
and some others^ of the Roman Communion, reckon this
office as ancient as that of deacons themselves, deriving
both from apostolical constitution, and making Stephen the
first archdeacon of the Church. But others with oreater
reason,*^ deduce it only from the third century, and leave it
as a matter under debate and inquiry, whether there were
any such thing as the archdeacon's office in the time of
Cornelius, bishop of Rome, which was in the middle of the
' Joh. Abbas ap. Vales. Not. in Theodorit. lib. i.e. 26. Ad hoc inspici-
endum Sacrorum Ministros cum Archidiacono majore, quern Cor-Episcopi
dicunt, Pontifex direxit. ^ Isidor. Pelus. lib. i. ep. 29.
* Decretal, lib. i. tit. xxiii. c. 7. * Con. Trid. Scss. xxiv. cap. 12.
de Reform. * Habert. Not. in Pontifical, p. 207. Baron, an. 34.
n. 285. 6 Bp. Fell. Not. in Cypr. Ep. 52. al. 49. ad Cornel.
246 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE BOOK II.
third century. This is certain, that Cornelius in his Epistle
to Fabius, where he g-ives a catalogue^ of the Roman clerg-y,
though he speaks of deacons, subdeacons, acolythists,
exorcists, readers, and door-keepers, makes no particular
mention of the archdeacon ; nor does Cyprian ever so much
as once use tlie name. Yet before the end of this century,
Caicilian is supposed to have had the title, as well as the
office, of archdeacon of Carthage, because Optatus calls him
so; and the name often occurs in St. Jerom and other writers
of the fourth age, in which St. Jerom lived. Baronius
indeed urges St. Austin's authority, to prove that Stephen
was properly an archdeacon ; for he says, St. Austin calls
him Primicerius diaconorum. But he that will look into
St. Austin, will quickly find his mistake ; for his words are
not Primicerius diaconorum, but Primicerius'^ martyi'um,
the protomartyr, as we commonly call him, because he was
the first that suffered for the name of Christ. And hence
the reader may observe by the way, that the words primi-
cerius and primus, do not always denote principality or
priority of power and jurisdiction, but only priority of time
or precedency of honour and digntiy, in respect of place, or
outward order. In which sense the same St. Austin^ says,
in another place, " that Stephen is named first among- the
deacons, as Peter was among* the Apostles;" Which is a
primacy that may be allowed to them both, without any
pretence of jurisdiction. Habertus urg-es further the autho-
rity of the Greek Menologion, which g-ives Stephen the
title of archdeacon : but such books are not sufficient evi-
dence, being- they are of a modern date, and speak of
ancient things in the language and phrase of their own
times; for which reason they are not much to be depended on,
except when they are backed with the concurrent testimony
of some ancient authors, of which there are none in this
case to yield any collateral evidence to this assertion. Yet,
on the other hand, the opinion of Salmasius is equally to be
' Comcl. Ep. ad Fab. ap. Euseb. lib. vi. c. 43. 2 .^ug. Scr. i. de
Sanctis, toin. x. llodic celebramus Xatalein, qua Primict-iius Maityruin
mis;r;ivit ex inumlo. ^ Au;. StT. 9t dc Divcrsis. Inter Uiacoaos
jllosuomiiiutu.-i Primiii,, bicut inter Aposlolos Pe(rus.
CHAP. XXII.J CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 247
discarded, who' asserts that the office of archdeacon was not
in the Church in the time of St. Jerom, thoug-h St. Jerom^
himself says, in most express words, " that the custom then
was to have one bishop, one archpresbyter, one archdeacon,
in every Church." But this is the usual way of that author
in his book De Primatu to advance paradoxes of his own
fancy for ancient history, and lay down positive assertions
upon the most slender conjectures; yea, many times ag-ainst
the plainest evidence of primitive records, as in the case
before us, and many others which I have had occassion to
take notice of in this discourse. It were to be wished, that
that author, who wrote upon a useful design, had been a
little more accurate in his accounts of the state of the clerg-y
of the primitive Church ; and whilst he was demolishing
the Pope's supremacy, had not confusedly treated of some
other orders and offices, which were of greater antiquity in
the Church.
CHAP. XXII.
Of Deaconesses.
Sect. 1. — The ancient Name of Deaconesses, Aia/coi'oi, UptajSvTihg,
Vidua:, Mlnistrtc.
Having spoken of deacons and archdeacons, it remains
that I say something* in this place of deaconesses, because
their office and service was of great use in the primitive
Church. There is some mention made of them in Scrip-
ture, by which it appears, that their office was as ancient as
the apostolical age. St. Paul calls Phabe, "a servant of the
Church of Cenchrea." Rom. xvi. 1. The original, word is
AtoKovoc, a deaconess, answerable to the Latin word Minis-
tra, which is the name that is given them in Pliny's Epis-
tle,^ which speaks about the Christians. Tertullian* and
' Salmas. de Priniat. c. i. p. 8. ^ Hieron. Ep A. ad Rustic, cited
befor. sect. 1. ^ Plin. Lib. x. Ep. 97. Quo niagis necessariuni credidi,
ex duabu3 ancillis, quae Ministrae dicebantur, quid esset veri et per tonnenta
quterere. * Tevtul. Lib. i. ad Uxor. c. 7. Id. de Veland. Virg. c. 9.
Epipli. liter. 79. n. 4. Ijjnat. Ep. ad Smyrn. n.l3.
248 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
some others fcall them Vidu<s, widows, and their office Vidu-
attis, because they were commonly chosen out of the
widows of the Church. For the same reason, Epiphanius/
and the council of Laodicea,^ call them npEff/BunStf, elderly
widows, because none but such were ordinarily taken into
this office.
Sect. 2. — Deaconesses to be Widows by some Laws.
For, indeed, by some ancient laws, these four qualifica-
tions were required in every one that was to be taken into
this order. l^t. That she should be a widow. 2dly. That
she should be a widow that had borne children. 3dly. A
widow that was but once married. 4thly. One of a consi-
derable ag-e, forty, fifty, or sixty years old. Though all
these rules admitted of exceptions. In TertuUian's time
the deaconesses were so commonly chosen out of the
widows, that when a certain young- virgin was made a dea-
coness, he speaks of it^ "as a miracle or monstrous thing in
the Church." Yet some learned men are of opinion, that
viro'ins were sometimes made deaconesses even in the time
of Ignatius ; because Ignatius, in his Epistle to the Church
of Smyrna,* salutes " the virgins that were called widows,"
that is, deaconesses, as Cotelerius and Vossius truly ex-
pound it ; for virgins could not be called widows congru-
ously in any other sense. Some suspect that the word, vir-
gins, is a corruption crept into the text : but there is no rea-
son for this conjecture ; for Ignatius is not the only author
that speaks of virgin-deaconesses. Epiphanius^ says, in
his time " they were some virgins, and some widows that had
been but once married." The author of the Constitutions^
says the same, " That the deaconess was either to be a
chaste virgin, or a widow that had been the wife of one
— - — . — ,-. — 11 -— I .. I- ■ — II ■ I— ■ 11^
' Epiphan. Haer. 79. Collyrid. n. 4. ^ Con. Laodic. c. II.
^ Tertul, de Veland. Virg. c. 9. Scio alicubi Virginem in Viduatu ab annis
nondum viginti coUocatam ; cui si quid refrigerii debuerat Episcopus, aliter
utique, salvo respectu disciplinse, praestare potuisset, ne tale nunc miraculum,
ne dixeiim monstrum, in Ecclesia denotaretur. *Ignat. Ep. ad Smyrn.
n. 13. ' AffTrdZofiai rag TTapOevsg Tag Xiyo/xtvag x^lP^C- Coteler. in Loc.
Viduse vocabantur, quia in Giadu Viduali, seu Diaconico erant constitutae.
* Epiph. Expos. Fid. n. 21. "H xjjptiio-ftffai ci;r6 juoi/oya/xiag, f; d«jrap0£j/ot
«<^«'- ^ Const. Apost. lib. vi. c. 17.
CHAP XXII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 249
man." And one of Justinian's Novels* enacted it into a
law, that the deaconesses should be chosen out of one of
these orders. According-ly we find, in the practice of the
Church, virgins as w ell as widows admitted to this office.
Gregory Nyssen ^ says, his own sister, Macrina, who was a
virgin, was a deaconess ; and so was Lampadia, another
virg-in. And So/omen^ relates how that Chrysostom would
have ordained Nicarete, a famous virgin, to this office; but
she refused it for the love she had to a private and philoso-
phic life.
Sect. 3. — And such Widows as had Children.
Yet by some laws they were required not only to be
widows, but such widows as had children also. TertuUian*
seems to intimate that this was the custom of the age he
lived in, to put none into this office but " such as were
mothers, and had had the education of children, in the
training up of whom they had learnt to be tender and com-
passionate in their affections, and so were qualified to as-
sist others, both by their counsel and comfort." Sozomen
also mentions a law^ made by Theodosius to this purpose,
" That no women should be admitted to the office except
they had children and were above sixty years old, according
to the express rule of St. Paul." The law is still extant in
the Theodosian Code,*^ in the same words as Sozomen cites;
but he speaks of it as a new law, that was then made upon
a particular occasion, by reason of some scandal that had
happened in the Church ; which is a plain intimation that,
from the time of TertuUian to the making of this law, the
Church had varied in her practice.
' Just. Novel, vi. c. 6. Aut Virglnes constitutas, aut unius viri quae fue-
rant uxores. ^ Nyssen. Vit. Macrin. torn. ii. p. 181 et 197.
^ Sozom. lib. viii. c. 23. * Tertul. de Veland. Virg. c. 9. Ad quam
sedem praeter annos sexaginta non tantum univirse, id est nuptse, aliquando
eliguntur, sed et matres, et quidem educatrices filiornm : scilicet ut experi-
mentis omnium affectuum structse, facile norint cseteras et consilio et solatio
juvaie. * Sozom. lib. vii. c. 17. 'Ei fifj TraiSag ixouv. * Cod.
Theod. lib. ■x\-\. tit. 2. de Episc. et Cler. Leg. 27. Nulla nisi emensis sexa-
ginta aunis, cui votiva domi proles sit, secundum prseceptum Apostoli ad Dia-
conissarura consortium transferatur.
VOL. I. 2 H
250 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IL
Sect. 4.— Not to be ordained under Sixty Years of Age, by the most ancient
Canons.
And so she had likewise with respect to the age of dea-
conesses. For thoug-h the fore-mentioned law of Theodo-
sius require them to be sixty years of age complete ; and
Tertullian * and St. Basil ^^ speak of the same age. Yet Jus-
tinian, in one of his Novels/ requires but fifty ; and in
another* but forty, which is all that was insisted on before
by the great council of Chalcedon,* whose words are, " No
woman shall be ordained a deaconess before she is forty
years old." And it is probable, in some cases, that term
was not strictly required; for Sozomen^ says, "Neetarius,
bishop of Constantinople, ordained Olympias a deaconess,
though she was but a young widow, because she was a per-
son of extraordinary virtue." By which we may judge, that
as the Church varied in her rule about this matter, so
bishops took a liberty to ordain deaconesses at what ag'e
they thought fit, provided they could be assured of their
probity and virtue,
Sect. 5. — To be such as had been only the Wives of one Man.
But there was another qualification, which they were
more strict in exacting, w hich was, " that the deaconesses
should be such widows as had been only the wives of one
man," according to the Apostle's prescription, 1 Tim. v. 9.
which rule they generally understood as a prohibition of
electing any to be deaconesses who had been twice mar-
ried, tliough lawfully and successively, to two husbandSj
one after another. In this sense Tertullian'^ says, "the
Apostle requires them to be Univiroe, the wives of one man^
which EpiphaniusS calls " XrjpEuVao-ai diro fxovoyaixiag, widows
1 Tevtul. ibid. ^ Basil. Ep. Canonic, c. 24. =* Just. Novel, vi.
c. 6. Super mediam constitutas atatem, et circa quinquaginta annos.
* Novel, cxxiii. c. 13. Diaconissa in sancta Ecclesia non ordinatur, quse minor
quadraginta annis sit. * Con. Chalced. c. 14. al. 15. Aiumvov ^irj
XfipoTOvt'ia^ai yvvalKa TTpo iruiv rtaaapciKovra. Vid. Con. Trull, c. 14
^}^f^- ® Sozora. lib. viii. c. 9. KaiTrtp viav x>ipav ytvo/xevjjv—
SiaKovov txH(,or6viiff£, ' Tertul. ad Uxor. lib. i. c. 7. Viduam allegi
in ordinationem nisi univiram non concedit. It. dc Veland. Vir"-. c. 9.
* Epiph. Exp. Fid. n. 21.
CHAP. XXII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 251
that hare been but once married^ So the author of the Con-
stitutions, and Justinian's Novels,* which have been cited
before.
But Theodoret gives a different sense of the Apostle's
words; for he supposes the Apostle not to forbid the choos-
ing-of widows that had been twice married, but only such^
as had married again after they had divorced themselves
from a former husband ; which was such a scandalous act,
as justly excluded them from the Church's service. And
this sense is embraced, as the most probable and rational,
by the learned Justellus,^ Dr. Hammond,* Suicerus,^ and
several others: of which I shall have occasion to jrive a
further account, when I come to speak of that apostolical
rule as it concerned all the clergy. Thus much will suffice
to be spoken at present concerning the qualifications of
deaconesses before they were ordained.
Sect. 6. — Whether Deaconesses were anciently ordained by Imposkion
of Hands.
The next inquiry is concerning their ordination itself,-—
whether it was always performed by imposition of hands ?
And here learned men are very much divided in their sen-
timents. Baronius^ thinks they had no imposition of hands
at the time of the council of Nice ; and he grounds his as-
sertion upon one of the canons of that council; which, as he
expounds it, denies that deaconesses were ordained by im-
position of hands, and therefore makes no other account of
them than as mere lay-persons. Valesius'^ gives the same
exposition of the canon ; thoug'h he owns, that Balsamon
and Zonaras, the ancient expositors, were of a contrary
judgment, viz. " That the canon speaks not of the dea-
conesses of the Church, but of such as returned to the Ca-
tholic Church from the Paulianists or Samosatenian heretics,
among whom they had received no imposition of hands,
and therefore were to be treated as mere laics." And in
«fc ..■■.■- ■ . . — ■ ■ - '— — ■ ■■■-..,
' Justin. Novel, vi. c. 6. Constit. Apost. lib. vi. n. 17. * Theod,
€oni. in 1 Tim. 5. 9. ^ Just»'l, Not. ad Can. 1. Con. Laodic
* Ilani. Annot. on 1 Tim. 3. 2. * Suicer. Thesaur. torn. i. p. HJM).
« Baron, an. 11. n. 283. It Cabassiu. Notit. t'oncil. c. 56. p. 342. ' Vaiei.
Npt. in. Sozoiricn. lib, viii. c. 9.
252 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK II.
this sense Suicerus/ and Albaspiny/ Christianus Lupus,
Fabrotus, and other modern critics and expositors of the
canon explain it also. To make the reader himself judge
in the matter, I must here recite the words of the canon,
which are these: " Concerning' the Paulianists which return
to the Catholic Church, it is decreed, that they shall be, by
all means, re-baptized; and if any of them were heretofore
reckoned among the clergy, if they appear to be blameless,
and without rebuke, let them be first baptized, and then or-
dained by the bishop of the Catholic Church: but if, upon
examination, they be found unfit, let them be deposed.
The same rule shall be observed concerning deaconesses,
and all others who are reckoned among their clergy. And
we particularly take notice^ of deaconesses, which appear in
that habit or dignity, that having never had any imposition
of hands, they are to be reckoned only among the laity."
These last words about deaconesses seem to refer to what
goes before; and then they must be interpreted of dea-
conesses among the Paulianists, who took upon them the
habit of deaconesses without any consecration. Or, if we
understand them as spoken of deaconesses already in the
Church, they may mean that there were some deaconesses
which had crept into the office without imposition of hands,
and such the council accounts no more than lay-persons.
That which will incline a man to interpret this canon to
some such sense as this, is, that all other councils and
writers speak of ordaining deaconesses by imposition of
hands. Valesius himsslf owns that it was so in the time
of the council of Chalcedon ; for in one of the canons of
that council* their ordination is expressly called both
XeipoTovia and XeipoOeaia, ordination by imposition of hands.
And the author of the Constitutions,^ speaking of their or-
dination, requires the bishop to use imposition of hands.
> Suicer. Thesaur, torn. i. p. 867. 2 Albasp. Not. in Can. 19. Con.
Nicen. Lupus, torn. i. Scliol. in eund. Con. Fabrot. Not. ad Balsamon Col-
lect. Constitut. p. 1417. a Con. Nic. c. 19. 'E/iv>j(T^i;/x£j/ ^l tuiv
SiaKoviaaCiv Twv iv Tq) (7x>;juarit?tTa3^£i(T(I)v, tTret iiijSexiipoBecFiav riva ixsaiv,
&7t 5? UT^avTog iv toIq XaiKoTe dvTctg iKtTaKeTOcu. * Con. Chalced.
';• ^^- *Constit. Apobt. lib. viii. c, 19. ^ii iiTl<JKoin, tTri^^ijffus
avT§rdc x^'pae &c.
CHAP. XXII.] CHRISTIAM CHURCH. 253
with a form of prayer, which is there recited. And thus it
was, both in the Greek and Latin Church, so long- as the
order itself continued to be in use. The council of Trullo,
Anno 692, speaks of their ordination in t\vo canons,^ under
the name of XeipoTovia: and Sozomen ^ uses the same word
in speaking- of the ordination of Olympias. And thoug-h
there be not so many examples of this practice to be met
with in the Latin Church, because the order was there
much sooner laid aside, yet Cotelerius^ has furnished us
with some out of Fortunatus, and the council of Worms,
both which expressly say, the ordination of deaconesses
was performed by imposition of hands. In the council of
Worms, the 15th canon of the council of Chalcedon is
repeated. And Fortunatus's words are, " Manu super-
posita* consecravit diaconam,'^ speaking- of one whom
Medardus, the bishop, consecrated a deaconess by laying-
his hands upon her. All which shows, that it was the con-
stant practice of the Church to ordain deaconesses by im-
position of hands ; and that makes it very probable, that
the Nicene canon is to be understood in that sense, which
is most ag-reeable to the Church's practice.
But the learned Justellus ^ still raises another scruple
about their ordination. He thinks this imposition of hands
was not properly an ordination, but only a benediction ; for
he disting-uishes betwixt those two thing's, and says, "Every
solemn imposition of hands is not an ordination :" which is
very true ; for then the imposition of hands upon the cate-
chumens, or upon the baptized in confirmation, or upon the
penitents, in order to reconcile them, or upon the sick, in order
to their cure, or upon any persons whatsoever, to g-ive them
a common benediction, would be an ordination. But then
that learned person seems not to have considered, that the
imposition of hands upon the deaconesses was something-
more than all these ; for it was a consecration of them to a
certain office in the Church, which sort of imposition of
» Con. Trull, c. U et 40. ^Sozom. lib. viii. c. 9. » Coteler.
Not. in Const. Apost. lib. viii. c. 19. Con. Wonnstiens. c. 73. ex Con.
Chalced. c. 15. ^ Fortun. Vit. Radeguntlis ap. Suriuin. Au-j.
* Ju^td. Bibl. Jur. Canon, torn. i. p. 7.3. Not. in ('on. Nic. c. 19.
254 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [boOK II.
hands, joined with a prayer of benediction, for g-race to dis-
charge that office arig-ht, is what the Church has always
meant, and called particularly by the name of ordination.
Sect. 7. — Not consecrated to any OfTice of tlie Priesthood.
Yet we are not to imag-ine, that this consecration gave
them any power to execute any part of the sacerdotal office,
or do the duties of the sacred function. Women w ere al-
ways forbidden to perform any such offices as those.
Therefore the author of the Constitutions calls it a heathen-
ish practice to ordain women priests, " hpeiag ;^ftpoTov£Tr;" for
the Christian law allowed no such custom. Some heretics,
indeed, as TertuUian ^ observes, allowed w^omen to teach,
and exercise, and administer baptism; but all this, he says,
was against the rule^ of the Apostle. Epiphanius brings
the charge particularly against the Pepuzians, which were
a branch of the Montanists, " that they^ made women
bishops, and women presbyters, abusing that passage of
the Apostle, ' In Christ Jesus there is neither male nor
female,' to put some colour upon their practice," He
charges it also upon the Collyridians ,* " that they did'hfjspytiv
^la yvvaiKwv, use women to sacrifice to the Virgin Mary f
where, it is observed, that the charge is double: 1st, that
they gave divine worship to the holy Virgin ; and 2dly, that
they used women-priests in their service. Against these
he has a particular dissertation, Avherein he shows at large
that no woman, from the foundation of the world, was ever
ordained to offer sacrifice, or perform any solemn service *
of the Church; which, if it had been allowed to any, would
certainly have been granted to the Virgin Mary herself,
who was so highly fiivoured of God. But neither she nor
any other woman had ever the priest's office committed to
' Constit. Apost. lib. iii. c. 9. ^rp^^rtul. de Praescript. c. 41. Ipss
iniilieres hajrcticae qukin procaces, qure audeant docere, contendere, exor-
cismos agere, curationes repromittere, forsitan et tingere. ^ Id. c. 17.
<]e Bapti.siuo. *Epiph. Ha?r. 49. Pcpuzian, n. 2. 'ETri/ricoTronrag,'
(ivTolc yvva~iK(c, 19 TrpeajSvTepoi yvvaiKeg. * Id. Ilrer. 78. AntidicQy
marianil. n. 23. " Id. Hoer. 79. CoUyrid. n. 3. 'Ei iiQnrtvuv yv-
valKti; OKp TTpoffiracriTovro, fj KavoviKov ri tpya'^fg^ai iv iKKkri<jici.-, Un fiaXKov
CHAP. XXII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. . 255
them. " There is, indeed," says he, " ap order of deaconesses
in the Church, but their business* is not to sacrifice, or
perform any part of the sacerdotal office, or any of the
sacred mysteries, but to be a decent help to the female sex
in the time of their baptism, sickness, affliction, or the like:"
and therefore he denies, that the Church made them either
presbyteresses or priestesses, ""H TrpEo-jSurfpiSacj v hpicra-ag;'^
where the reader is to observe, that Epiphanius puts a dis-
tinction betwixt the names IIpeaftvTi^ag and Ylpta^ivTepL^ag,
because the former only denotes elderly women, such as
the deaconesses commonly were ; but the latter he uses to
signify persons ordained to the office of presbyters or
priests, which he absolutely denies any women in the
Christian Church to be.
Sect. 8.— Their Offices. 1. To assist at the Baptism of Women-
And, from hence it is plain, the offices of the deaconesses
were only to perform some inferior services of the Church,
and those chiefly relating to the women, for whose sake
they were ordained. One part of their office was to assist
the minister at the baptizing- of women, where, for de-
cency's sake, they were employed to divest them, (the cus-
tom, then, being to baptize all adult persons by immersion)
and so to order the matter, that the whole ceremony might
be performed with all the decency becoming so sacred an
action. This is evident from Epiphanius, both in the fore-
cited passage, and other places,'^ and it is taken notice of
also by Justinian and the author of the Constitutions,^
who adds, "that the deaconesses were used to anoint the
women in baptism with the holy oil;" as the custom of the
Greek Church then was, not only for the bishops, pres-
byters, and deacons, but also for the deaconesses to use
this ceremony of unction before baptism; of which Cote-
lerius in his Notes* gives several instances out of the an-
cient writers, but these belong to another place.
'Ibid. AutKoviaauiv rdyfia etij^ dg n)v tKicXr/ffiaf, n'W a'xi £'C ro ifpartvai',
iidi Ti fTrtx'fifuTi' tTTiroiTrai'. '^ Epiph. Expos. Fid. n. 21.
3 Justin. Novel, vi. c.C. * Const. Apost. lib. iii. c. 15.
250 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK 11.
Sect. 9.-2. To be a Sort of Private Catechlsts to the Women-Catechumcns.
Another part of their office was to be a sort of private
catechists to the women-catechumcns, who were preparing-
for baptism. For though they were not allowed to teach
pubhcly in the Church, yet they might privately instruct
and teach those, how to make the proper answers that were
required of all persons at their baptism. The author of the
short Notes on the Epistles,* under the name of St. Jerom,
calls this, " private ministry of the word," which the dea-
conesses performed in the eastern Churches in his time.
And it was so usual and ordinary a part of their office in the
African Churches, that the fathers of the fourth council of
Carthage^ require it as a necessary qualification in dea-
conesses, when they are ordained, " that they shall be persons
of such good understanding, as to be able to instruct the
ignorant and rustic women how to make responses to the
interrogatories which the minister puts to them in baptism,
and how they were to order their conversation afterward."
Sect. 10. — 3. To visit and attend Women that were Sick and in Distress,
Another part of their employment was to visit and at-
tend women that wore sick, which is noted by Epiphanius^
and the author of the Constitutions,* who says, " they were
employed likewise in delivering the bishop's messages and
directions to women that were in health, whom the deacons
could not visit because of unbelievers ;*" that is, because of
the scandal and reproach which the heathens were ready to
cast upon them.
Sect. 11. — 4. To Minister to the Martyrs and Confessors in Prison.
In times of danger and persecution they were em-
' Hieron. Com. in Rom. xvi. 1. Sicut etiam nunc inOrientalibus Diaconissae
muliercs, in suo sexu ministrare videntur in Baptismo, sive in ministcrio
Verbi, quia privatira docuisse foeininas inveniinus, &c. ^ Con. iv.
c. 12. Viduae vel Sanctimoniales, quas ad ministerium baptizandarum inuli-
erum eliguntur, tarn instructse sint ad officium, ut possint apto et sano ser-
mone docere imperitas et rusticas mulieres, tempore quo baptizandae sunt,
qualiter Baptizatori interro^atas respondeant, et qualiter, accepto Baptismate
vivant. sEpiph, Har. 79. n. 3. Expos. Fid. n. 21.
*Constit. Apost. lib. iii. c. 15 et 19. Hieron. Ep. ii. ad Nepot. Multas anus
alit Ecclesia, qua; officium a;grotauti pra;stant, &c.
CHAP. XXII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 257
ployed in ministering- to the martyrs in prison ; because they
could more easily gain access to them, and go with less
suspicion, and less dang-er and hazard of their lives from
the Heathen, than the deacons or any other ministers of
the Church could do. Cotelerius ^ and Gothofred collect
this from some passages in Lucian and Libanius, which
seem plainly to refer to this part of the deaconesses' mi-
nistry. For Lucian, in one of his Dialogues, speaking- of
Peregrine, the philosopher, how he was caressed by the
Christians, whilst he was in prison for the profession of
their religion, says, " In the morning one might observe
old women, the widows, waiting- at the prison gate^ with
some of the orphan children ;" where by the widows he
doubtless means the deaconesses of the Christians. And
there is little question but Libanius^ means the same, when
he says, " that the mother or mistress of the old women,
when she finds any one bound in prison, runs about, and
beg-s and makes a collection for him." This plainly refers
to the great charity and liberality of the Christians toward
their martyrs, which was collected and sent to them by the
hands of these deaconesses.
Sect. 12.— 5. To attend the Women's Gate in the Church.
In the Greek Churches the deaconesses had also the
charge of the doors of the Church, which part of their office
is mentioned by the author* of the Constitutions, and the
author under the name of Ignatius,^ who styles them "^psp^g
Twv dylhiv TTvXojvtovy the keepers of the holy gates.^'' But
probably this was only in such Churches as made a distinc-
tion betwixt the men's g-ate and the women's gate; for
bishop Usher observes,^ " that no ancient writers besides
these two make any mention of this, as part of the office of
deaconesses;" and in another place of the Constitutions'
this distinction is plainly expressed ; " let the door keepers
' Coteler. Not. in Const, lib. iii. c. 15. Gothofred. Com. in Cod.Theodos.
lib.xvi. tit. 2. legr- 27. ^ Lucian. Peregrin. Ilopa ry h(TfiioT7]pi({)
TTtptnivovra ypatha, x^9^Q TivaQ, &c. ^ Liban. Orat. 16. in Testa-
men. It. Orat. de Vinclis, cited by Gothofred. ^Constit. Apost.
lib. viii. c. 28. * Pscudo-Ignat. Ep. ad Antioch. n. 12.
** Usser. Dissert. 17. in Ignat. p. 221. ' Constit. Apost. lib. ii. c. 57.
VOL. I. 2 I
258 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK It.
Stand at the gate of tlie men, and the deaconesses at the
firate of the women."
Sect. 13.— G. To preside over the Widows, &c.
Lastly, they were to assign all women their places, and
reoulate^ their behaviour in the Church; to preside over
the rest of the widows f whence, in some canons, they are
styled ripoKa^rjjUEvot, governesses; as Balsamon and Zonaras
note upon the council of Laodicea;^ and if any woman had
any suit to prefer to a deacon or a bishop, a deaconess*
was to introduce her. These w ere the offices of the dea-
conesses in the primitive Church, which I have been a little
more particular in describing, because they are not now so
commonly known ; the order itself having been for some
ages wholly laid aside.
Sect. 14.— How long this Order continued in the Church.
If it be inquired, how long this order continued in the
Church, and what time it was totally abolished ? I answer ; —
it was not laid aside every where at once, bat continued
in the Greek Church longer than in the Latin, and in some
of the Latin Churches longer than in others. In the Greek
Church they continued to the time of Balsamon, that is, to
the latter end of the twelfth century ; for he speaks of them^
as then ministering in the Church of Constantinople;
though it appears from some other passages of the same
author that in other Churches^ they were generally laid
aside. In the Latin Church there were some decrees made
against their ordination long before. For the first council
of Orange, Anno 441, forbids'^ any more deaconesses to be
ordained. And the council of Epone,^ Anno 517, has a
canon to the same purpose, wholly abrogating their conse-
cration. Not long after which the second council of Orleans,
Anno 533, renewed the decree^ against them; and before
any of these the council ofLaodicea, in the eastern Church
•Constit.lib.ii. c. 58. ^ Ibid.lib.iii. c. 7. ^ Cqh, Laodic. c. 11.
♦ Constit. lib. ii. c. 26. ^ Balsam. Resp. adlnterrog. Marci. c. 35. ap. Leun-
clav. Jus. Gr. Rom. torn. i. p. 381. Id. Com. in Con. Chal. c. 15.
' Con. Aiausic. 1. c. 26. Diaconissse omnimodse non ordinandte, &c.
* Con.Epaunens. C.21. Viduarum consecrationem, quas Diaconissas vocant,
ab onmi religionc nostra penitus abrogamus. ^ Con. Aurel. ii. c. 17.
Placuit ut \m\\\ postmodvim fceminjE Diacona,lis Benedictio pro conditionis
ujus fragilitatc credatur.
CHAP. XXII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 259
had forbidden them under the name of ancient widoAvs or
governesses, decreeing"' " that no such for the future should
be constituted in the Church." But these decrees had no
effect at all in the east, nor did they universally take effect
in the west till many ages after. The author, indeed, under
the name of St. Ambrose, would lead an unwary reader
into a great mistake ; for he makes, as if the order of dea-
conesses was no where used^ but among the Montanists ;
ignorantly confounding the presbyteresses of the Monta-
nists, with the deaconesses of the Church. And the author,
under the name of St. Jerom, is not much more to be re-
garded, when he seems to intimate, " that in his time, the
order of deaconesses was wholly laid aside in the west, and
only retained^ in the oriental Churches ;" for I have already
showed, (sect. 6.) from Venantius Fortunatus, who lived. Anno
560, and the council of Worms, which was held in the
ninth century, that deaconesses were still retained in some
parts of the western Church ; which may be evinced also
from the Or do Romanus^ and other rituals in use about
that time, where among other forms we meet with an
*' Ordo ad Diaconam faciendam, an order or form to con-
secrate a deaconess^ But, in an ag'e or two after, that is, in
the tenth or eleventh century, Bona^ thinks the whole order
was quite extinct.
Sect. 15. — Another Notion of the Name Diaconissa, as it signifies a
Deacon's Wife.
Before I make an end of this subject, I cannot but
acquaint the reader, that there is another notion of the name
Diaconissa, sometimes to be met with in the writers of the
middle ages of the Church, who use it to signify not a
deaconess, but a deacon's wife, in the same sense as Pres-
hytera signifies the wife of a presbyter, and Episcopa, the
tvife of a bishop. The word Episcopa is thus used in the
second council of Tours, where it is said, " that if a bishop
• Con. Laodic. c.ll. ITfpi tS ^i) Stiv -Kpiapurua-^, ijruL rr^ioKaOiifiii'ag iv
eKKXi/ffi^ KaOiraaOai. '^ Ambros. Coin, in 1 Tim. iii. II. ^ Hie-
ron. Com. in Rom. xvl. 1. and in 1 Tim. iii. 11. * Ordo Roman,
p. 1(51. ill Bibl. Patr. torn. ix. par. 1621. ' Bona, Rt-r. Lilurg^.
lib. i.e. 2o. n. 15.
200 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK II.
have not a wife,' there shall no train of women folloAv liim."
So also the words Presbytera, Diaconissa, and Sitbdiaco-
nissa,^ for the wives of a presbyter, a deacon, and a subdea-
con, occur a httle after in the same council; and, so in the
council of Auxerre^ and some other places. From which
a learned and ing-enious examiner* of the council of Trent,
concludes, " that bishops in those times were not as yet
oblio-ed by the law of celibacy, not to cohabit with their
wives, in the Gallician Church." But I shall^ireely own, I
take this to be a mistake : for, from the time of Pope Siricius,
the celibacy of the clergy beg-an to be pressed in the
western Church, and these very canons do enforce it ; there-
fore I lay no greater stress upon them than they will bear ;
for as for the cause of the married clergy, it needs not be
defended by such arguments, having the rule and practice
of the whole Catholic Church, for some of the purest ag-es,
to abet and support it. Of which I shall g-ive a just account
hereafter, when I come to consider the g-eneral qualifica-
tions that were necessarily required of the clergy of the
primitive Church, among which the vow of celibacy will be
found to have no place. What, therefore, these canons
mean, by Episcopa and Presbytera, is no more than the wife
of a bishop, or presbyter, which they had before they were
ordained, but in those declining ages of the Church were
not allowed to cohabit with them, after ordination. This
explication agrees both with the scope of those canons, and
the practice of the times, they were made in ; and we have
no dispute with Antonius Augustinus,^ nor any candid writer
of the Romish Communion, who carry this notion no higher
than the ages in which it was broached. But when Baronius*'
and others transfer it to the primitive ages, and make the
practice of the western Church in the sixth age, to be the
practice of the Universal Church in all ages, they manifestly
prevaricate, and put a fallacy upon their readers, which it
may be sufficient to have hinted here, and shall be more
fully made out in its proper place.
• Con. Turon. 2. c. ll. Episcopum Episcopam nou habentem nulla sequa-
tur turba mulierum. - Ibid. c. 20. Si inventus fuerit Presbyter cum
Suii Presibyterfi, aut Diaconus cum sua Diaconissa, aut Subdiaconus cum sua
Subdiaconissa, annum integrum excommunicatus liabeatur. ^ Con. Antis-
siodor. c. 21. * Gentillet. Exam. Con. Trid. lib. iv. p.2.')9. '" Anton.
Aug. de Emendat. Gratiani, Ub.i. dial. 20. p. 22t>. ^ Baron, an. 58. n. IS,
COMMENCEMENT
OP
THE SECOND VOLUME
IN THE
ORIGINAL EDITION
BY THE AUTHOR.
THE
AUTHOR'S DEDICATION.
to THE
RIGHT HON. AND RIGHT REV. FATHER IN GOD,
JONATHAN,
LORD BISHOP OF WINCHESTER,
And Prelate of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.
My Lord,
AS the kind entertainment, which your Lordship and
the world have been pleased to give to the first part of this
work, has encouraged me to g-o on in hopes of doing- pub-
lic service to the Church ; so the nature of the subject con-
tained in this second volume, being- but a continuation of
the former account of the primitive clergy, obliges me
again with all submission to present this second part to
your Lordship, in hopes of no less kind acceptance and ap-
probation. The matters here treated of are many of them
things of the greatest importance, which when plainly set
in order and presented to public view, may perhaps excite
the zeal of many in the present age, to copy out those
necessary duties, by the practice of which the primitive
264 THE author's dedication. '
Church attained to great perfection and gloty; and, as I
may say, still provokes and calls us to the same attainments
by so many excellent rules and noble examples. In the
fourth and sixth of these books, I have endeavoured to
draw up something- of the general character of the primi-
tive clergy, by showing- what qualifications were required
in them before their ordination, and what sort of laws they
were to be governed by afterwards ; respecting both their
lives and labours, in the continual exercise of the duties of
their function. Many of them, I must own, have been very
affecting to myself in the consideration of them; and as I
was willing to hope they might prove so to such others as
would be at the pains to read them. For here are both
directions and provocations of the best sort, to excite our
industry, and inflame our zeal, and to make us eager and
restless in copying out the pattern set before us. If any
shall think I have collected these things together to reflect
upon any persons in the present age, I shall only say with
one of the ancients* in a like case, " They mistake my de-
sign ; which was not to reproach any man's person, who
bears the sacred character of a priest, but to write what
might be for the public benefit of the Church. For, as
when orators and philosophers describe the qualities, which
are required to make a complete orator or philosopher, they
do no injury to Demosthenes or Plato, but only describe
things nakedly in themselves without any personal applica-
tions ; so in the description of a bishop or priest, and ex-
' Hieron. Ep. 83. ad Ocean, torn. ii. p. 323. Ne quis me in sugillationem
istiiis temporis Sacerdotum scripsisse, qua; scripsi, existimet, sed in EcclesiiE
iitilitateni. Ut enim oratores et philosophi, describentes qualem velint esse
per feet uni oratorem et pbilosophuin, non faciunt injuriam Demostheni et
Platoni, sed res ipsas absque personis definiunt : sic in descriptione Episcopi,
et in eoruin expositione, quie scripta sunt, quasi speculum Sacerdotii proponi-
tur. Jam in potestate et conscientiii singulorum est, quales se ibi aspiciant ;
ut vcl dolcre ad dcformitateiii, vel gauderc ad pulchritudinem possint.
THE author's dedication. 265
plication of ancient rules, nothing- more is intended but to
propose a mirror of the priesthood ; in which it will be in
every man's power and conscience to take a view of him-
self, so as either to g-rieve at the sight of his own deformity,
or rejoice when he beholds his own beauty in the glass."
Nothing- is here proposed but rules and examples of the
noblest virtues; probity and integrity of life; studies and
labours becoming the clerical function ; piety and devotion
in our constant addresses to God ; fidelity, diligence, and
prudence in preaching his word to men; carefulness and
exactness, joined with discretion and charity, in the admi-
nistration of public and private discipline; candour and
ingenuity in composing needless disputes among good
men ; and zeal in opposing and confronting the powerful
and wily designs of heretics and wicked men; together
with resolution and patience in suffering- persecutions,
calumnies, and reproaches, both from professed enemies
and pretended friends ; with many other instances of the
like commendable virtues, which shined in the lives, and
adorned the profession of the primitive clergy: whose rules
and actions, I almost promise myself, your Lordship and
all good men will read with pleasure, because they will
but see their own beauty represented in the glass ; and
they that fall short of the character here given, will find it
a gentle admonition and spur to set in order the things that
are wanting in their conduct, and to labour with more zeal
to bring themselves a little nearer to the primitive stan-
dard.
Your Lordship is enabled by your high station and call-
ing to revive the exercise of ancient discipline among your
clergy in a more powerful way ; and you have given us
already some convincing proofs, that it is your settled reso-
lution and intention so to do. As the thoughts of this is a
real pleasure to the diligent and virtuous, so it is to be
VOL. I. 2 k
266 THE AUTHOR S DEDICATION.
hoped it will prove a just terror to those of the contrary
character ; and by introducing a strict discipline among the
clero-y, make way for the easier introduction of it among
the laity also ; the revival of which has long been desired,
though but slow steps are made toward the restoration of
it. In the mean time, it becomes every man according to
his ability, though in a lower station, to contribute his
endeavours toward the promoting these good ends ; to
which purpose I have collected and digested these observa-
tions upon the laws and discipline of the ancient clergy,
that such as are willing to be influenced by their practice,
may have great and good examples set before them: whilst
they, whom examples cannot move, may be influenced
another way, by the authority which your Lordship and
others in the same station are invested w ith, for the benefit
and edification of the Church ; the promoting of which is,
and ever will be the hearty endeavour of him, who is.
My Lord,
Your Lordship's most dutiful
and obedient servant,
JOSEPH BINGHAM.
Headbouin-Worthy,
1710.
CHAP. I.] ANTIQUITIES, &C. 267
BOOK III.
OF THE INFERIOR ORDERS OF THE CLERGY IN
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH,
CHAP. I.
Of the first Original of the Inferior Orders, and the Number
and Use of them : ami how they differed from the Supe-
rior Orders of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons.
Sect. 1. — The Inferior Orders not of Apostolical, but only Ecclesiastical
Institution, proved against Baronius and the Council of Trent.
HAVING in the last book discoursed of the superior
orders of the elerg-y in the primitive Church, I come now
to treat of those which are commonly called the inferior
orders. And here our first inquiry must be concerning the
original and number of them. The two great oracles of
the Romish Church, Baronius^ and the council^ of Trent,
are very dogmatical and positive in their assertions, both
about their rise and number, " that they are precisely five,
viz. subdeacons, acolythists, exorcists, readers, and door-
keepers ; and that they are all of apostolical institution."
And herein they are followed not only by Bellarmine,^ and
the common writers of that side, but also by Schelstrate,* a
person who lived in greater light, and might have seen
through the mists that were cast before the eyes of others.
Cardinal Bona^ distinguishes between subdeacons and the
' Baron, an. 44. n. 78. « Con. Trid. Sess. 23. c. 2. It. Catechism,
ad Parochos. Tit. de Sacramento Ordinis. p. 222. ' Bellarni. de (Jlericis.
lib. i. c. 11. * Schelstrat. Concil. Antiochen. Restitut. Dissert. 4.
c. 17. art. 2. p. 520, * Bona, Rer. Liturg. lib. i, c.25. n, 17. Acoly-
thos, Exprcistas, Lectores, et Ostiarios, ab Apostolis, vel ab Immediatis
pofum ijuccessoribus institutos, Doctores Scholastic! asserunt, sed non probant.
268 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK III,
rest. He f\iirly owns, " that acolytlusts, exorcists, readers,
and door-keepers, are not of apostolical institution,'' as the
modern schoolmen pretend: but, as to snhdeacons, he
joins with them entirely, and says,^ " that though the
Scripture makes no express mention of them, yet their in-
stitution must be referred either to Christ, or at least to his
Apostles." The French writers are not generally so tena-
cious of this opinion, as having never sworn to receive the
decrees of the Tridentine fathers with an implicit foith ;
but many of them ingenuously confess the rise of the infe-
rior orders to be owing only to ecclesiastical institution.
Morinus^ undertakes to prove ".that there was no such order
as that of acolythists, or exorcists, or door-keepers among
the Greeks in the age next to the Apostles ;" nor does
Schelstrate disprove his arguments, though he makes a
show of refuting him. Duarenus^ says, " there were no
such orders originally in the first and primitive Church."
Cotelerius* confesses " their original is involved wholly in
obscurity; that there is no mention made of any of them in
Ignatius, or any other ancient writer before Cyprian and
Tertullian." And therefore Habertus * is clearly of opinion,
" that it would be more adviseable for their Church to ex-
punge all the inferior orders out of the number and cata-
logue of sacraments, and refer them only to ecclesiastical
institution, as the ancient divines were used to do." By the
ancient divines he means the schoolmen, Avho \Aere gene-
rally of this opinion heretofore. For Peter Lombard, who
is set at the head of them, declares® " that the primitive
Church had no orders below those of presbyters and dea-
' Bona, ibid. n. 16. Subdiacononim licet expressa mentio in Sacris Literis
non reperiatur, eorum tamen institutio vel ad Christum, ut recentiores Scho-
lastici existimant, vel ad Apostolos referenda est. * Morin. de Or-
dinat. exerclt. 14. c. 1. ^ Duaren. de Minister, et Beneficiis Eccl.
lib. i. c. 14. • * Coteler.Not. in Constitut. Apost. lib. ii. c. 25.
* Habert. Archieratic. part 5. observ. 1. p. 48. Consultius, meo quidem
judicio, Ordines Hierarchicis inferiores, ipsumque adeo Hypodiaconi, et a
Sacramentorum censu expungere, et ad institutionem duntaxat ecclesiasti-
cam cum antiquis Theologis referre. ^ Lombard. Sent. lib. iv. dist.
24. p. 3 18. Hos solos primitiva Ecclesia legitur habuisse, et de his solis
praiceptum Apostoli habeinus. Subdiaconos vero et Acolythos procedente
tempore Ecclesia sibi constituit
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 269
cons; nor did the Apostle give command about any other;
but the Church in succeeding ages instituted subdeacons
and aeolythists herself." And this is the opinion of
Aquinas,' and Amalarius Fortunatus,- and many others.
Schelstrate himself ^ owtis, " that it was the opinion of two
Popes, Urban the Second and Innocent the Third, that
the order of subdeacons was not reckoned among the
sacred orders of the primitive Church.*' It was indeed an
inferior order in the third centurv, but not dignified with
the title of a sacred or superior order till the twelfth age of
the Church ; when, as ]\Ienardus informs us out of a MS.
book of Petrus Cantor,* a writer of that age, it was then
but just newly dignified with that character; that is, in an
age when bishops and presbyters began to be reckoned but
one order, in compliance with an hypothesis peculiar to the
Romish Church, then the order of subdeacons stepped up
to be a superior order. And whereas the primitive Church
was used to reckon the three superior orders to be those of
bishops, presbyters, and deacons, the Romish Church now
began to speak in a different style, and count the three
superior orders those of priests, deacons, and subdeacons:
so that this last became a superior order, which for some
ages before had been only an inferior order, and at first was
no order at all. For the testimonies alleo-ed by Schelstrate,
after Bellarmine and Baronius, to prove the inferior orders
of apostolical institution, are of no authority or weight in
this case. Jhe Epistle, under the name of Ignatius ad
Antiochenos, and the Constitutions, under the name of
Clemens Romanus, which are the only authorities pretended
in this matter, are now vulgarly known to be none of their
genuine writings, but the works of some authors of much
later date. So that till some better proofs be given, there
will be reason to conclude, that these inferior orders were
not of apostolical, but only of ecclesiastical institution.
■ Aquia. Supplement, par. 3. q. 37. art. 2. Resp. ad .Secundum.
* Amalar. de Offic. Eccl. lib. ii. c. 6. ^ Schelstrat. de Concil. Antioch.
p. ol.j. ' Pet. Cautor, de Verbo Miritico, ap. Menard. Not. in Sacra-
menul. Gregor. p. "iSO. De novo iuslitutum est, Subdiaconatum esse sacrum
Ordinem.
270 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK III.
Sect. 2. — No certain Number of them in the Primitive Church.
And this may be arg-ued further, not only from the silence
of the most ancient writers, but also from the accounts of
those who speak of them presently after their institution.
For though the Romish Church determines them to be pre-
cisely five in number, yet in the ancient Church there was
no such rule; but some acounts speak of more than five,
and others not of so many : which argues that they were
not of apostolical institution. The author under the name
of Ignatius ' reckons six, without acolythists, viz. subdea-
cons, readers, singers, door-keepers, copiatse, and exorcists.
The author of the Constitutions, under the name of Clemens
Romanus,^ counts but four of these orders, viz. subdeacons,
readers, singers, and door-keepers : for he makes no
mention of the copiatae, or of acolythists ; and though he
speaks of exorcists, yet he says ^ expressly it was no Church-
order. The Apostolical Canons,* as they are commonly
called, name only three, subdeacons, readers, and singers.
And though the author under the name of St. Jerom*
mentions four ; yet he brings the Copiatcs or Fossarii into
the account, and makes them the first order of the clergy,
leaving out acolythists and exorcists. Epiphanius® makes
no mention of acolythists, but instead of them puts in the
copiatai and intepreters. Others add the Parabolani also ;
and, except Cornelius, ' there is scarce any other ancient
writer, who is so precise to the nnmber of five inferior or
ders, as now computed in the Church of Rome'
s
Sect. 3.— Not instituted in all Churches at the same Time.
The reason of which difference must needs be this, that
there was no certain rule left originally about any such
drders; but every Church instituted them for herself, at
such times and in such numbers as her own necessities
seemed to require. For at first, most of the offices of these
' Ep. ad Antioch. n. 12. 2 Constit, Apost. lib. iii, c. 1 1.
=^11)1(1. lib. viii. e. 26. *Can. Apost. c. 69. * Jerom. de Sept.
Ordin. Eccl. torn. iv. p. SI. e Epiplmn. Expos. Fid. n. 21.
' Corut'l. Ep. ad Fab. ap. Euscb. lib. vi. c. 43.
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 271
inferior orders were performed by the deacons, as I have
had occasion to show in another place.* But as the num-
ber of converts increased in large Churches, such as that of
Rome, which confined herself to the number of seven dea-
cons, the duties of the deacon's office quickly became too
great and heavy for them; whereupon a sort of assistants to
them were appointed, first in those g-reat Churches, under
the names of these inferior orders, to take off' from the dea-
cons some of the heavy burden that lay upon them. And
that is the reason why we meet with the inferior orders in
such g'reat and populous Churches as Rome and Carthage
in the beginning of the third century ; whereas, in many of
the lesser Churches all the offices were still performed by
deacons, even in the fourth and fifth centuries ; which may
be concluded from the words of the author under the name
of St. Austin,^ where, speakiug* of the deacons of Rome,
he says, " The reason why they did not perform all the in-
ferior services of the Church, was, that there was a multi-
tude of the lesser clergy under them; whereas otherwise
they must have taken care of the altar and its utensils, &c.
as it was in other Churches at that time ;" which seems evi-
dently to imply, that these inferior orders were not taken
into all Churches when that author made this observation.
Sect. 4. — The principal Use of them in the Primitive Church, to be a Sort of
Nursery for the Hierarchy.
But such Churches as admitted them, made them sub-
servient to divers good ends and purposes ; for besides
that of relieving the deacons in some part of their office,
they were also a sort of nursery for the sacred hierarchy, or
superior orders of the Church. For, in those days such
Churches as had these orders settled in them, commonly
chose their superior ministers, bishops, presbyters, and dea-
cons, out of them ; and the clergy of these lesser orders
• Book ii. chap. 20. sect. 15. ^ Aug. Qiifest. Vet. ct Nov. Test.
torn. iv. c. 101. Ut autem non omnia ministcria obsequiorum per ordinem
agant, multitudo facit C'lcricorum. Nam utique et altarc portarent, et vasa
ejus, et aquam in manus funderent Sacerdoti, sicut videmus per omnea
Ecclesias.
272 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK III,
were a sort of candidates under trial and probation for the
greater. For the Church, not having the advantage of
Christian academies at that time, took this method to train
up fit persons for the ministry; first exercising them in some
of the lower offices, that thev mig-ht be the better disci-
plined and qualified for the duties of the superior functions.
And by this means every bishop knew perfectly both the
abilities and morals of all the clergy of his diocese ; for
they were bred up under his eye, and governed by his care
and inspection. In some places they lived all in one house,
and eat all at one table ; as Possidius' particularly notes of
St. Austin's Church at Hippo, and Sozomen^ of the Church
of Rinocurura in the confines of Palestine and Egypt, "that
they had house and table, and every thing in common."
Hence it became a custom in Spain, in the time of the
Gothic kings, about the end of the fifth century, for parents
to dedicate their children very young to the service of the
Church; in which case they were taken into the bishop's fa-
mily, and educated under him by some discreet and grave
presbyter, whom the bishop deputed for that purpose, and
set over them by the name of Prcepositus, and Magister Dis-
ciplinee, the superintend ant, or master of discipline, be-
cause his chief business was to inspect their behaviour, and
instruct them in the rules and discipline of the Church ; as
we may see in the second and fourth councils^ of Toledo,
which give directions about this affair.
Sect. 5. — Not allowed to forsake their Service, and return to a mere Secular
Life again.
And upon this account these inferior clergy were tied as
' Possid. Vit. Aug, c. 25. Cum ipso semper Clerici, unS. etiam domo ac
mensfi, sumptibusque comraunibus alebantur et vestiebantur. ^ g^.
zom. lib. vi. c. 31. Koti//) ^s 6Tt toiq avroSri kXt]()ik61q biKtjmg i^ rpdirs^a ic)
rdXXa irdvTa. ^ Con.-Tolet. ii. c. 1. De his quos voluntas Pa-
rentum a primis infantise annis in Clericatfis Officio vel Monachal! posuit, sta-
tuimus - - - ut in Donio Ecclesia; sub Episcopali prsesentia a Praiposito sibi
debeant erudiri. It. Tolet. iv. c. 23. Si qui in Clero Puberes aut Adoles-
centes existunt, omnes in uiio conclavi atrii commorcntur, ut in Disciplinis
Ecclesiasticis agant, deputato probatissimo Seniore, quern et Magislrum Dis-
cipline et Testem vitae habeant.
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 273
well as others, to the perpetual service of the Church,
when once they had devoted and dedicated themselves to
it. They might not then forsake their station, and return to
a mere secular life again at their own pleasure. The coun-
cil of Chalcedon * has a peremptory canon to this purpose :
" That if any person ordained among the clergy betake ^
himself to any military or civil employment, and does not
repent and return to the office he had first chosen for God's
sake, he should be anathematized ;" which is repeated in
the council of Tours, ^ and Tribur,^ and some others, where
it is interpreted so as to include the inferior orders as well
as the superior.
Sect. 6. — How they differed from the Superior Orders, in Name, in Office,
and in Manner of Ordination.
But though they agreed in this, yet in other respects they
differed very much from one another. As first, in name : the
clergy of the superior orders are commonly called the
'Ifpw'/xevot, holy, and sacred,*" as in Socrates and others; whence
the name, hierarchy, is used by the author under the name
of Dionysius,^ the Areopagite, to sig-nify peculiarly the
orders of bishops,- presbyters, and deacons ; as Hallier, a
famous Sorbonne doctor, has abundantly proved ag-ainst
Cellotius, the Jesuit, in his learned and elaborate Defence ®
of the Hierarchy of the Church. But on the other hand, the
inferior orders in the ancient canons have only the name of
Insacrati, unconsecrafed ; as in the council of Agde,''^ where
the Insacrati Ministri are forbidden to touch the sacred
vessels, or to enter into the Diaconicon, or sanctuary, it is
plain there must be meant the inferior orders. 2. Another
difference, which gave rise to the former distinction, was
' Con. Chal. c. 7. Tse liira^ iv K\r}p<j) Ttrayjjikviiq wpiffafisv, I'-hn iirl
'^parnav, fii]Te etti a^iav KocfjiiKriv fpxfcrQai, &'C. '^ Siquis Clericus
relicto officii sui Ordine, laicam voluerit agere vitam, vel se iiiilitifE tradi-
derit, excommunicationis pcenCi fcriatur. ^ Con. Triburicns. c. 27.
* Socrat. lib. i. c. 10 et 15. * Dlonys. de Hievar. Ecclcs. c. 5. n. 2.
* Hallier Defensio Hierarch. Eccles. lib. i. c. 3. Lib. iii. sect. 2. c. 1 et 2.
' Con. Agathen. c. 66. Non licet Insacratos Ministros licentiam habere, in
Secretarium, quod Grseci Diaconicon appellant, ingrcdi, et contingere vasa
Dominica.
VOL, I. 2 L
274 tHE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK lit.
the different ceremonies observed in the manner of theif
ordination. The one were always ordained at the altar ;
the others not so : the one with the solemn rite of imposi-
tion of hands ; the other commonly without it. Whence
St. Basil* calls the one BaS-^oc, « degree; but the other
'AvctpoTovjjroc vTrrjpeata, an inferior ministry which had no
imposition of hands. 3, The main difference was in the
exercise of their office and function. The one were or-
dained to minister before God as priests, to celebrate his
sacraments, to expound his word publicly in the Church,
&c. In which respects the three superior orders of bishops,
presbyters, and deacons are said by Optatus, and others,
to have each their share and degree in the Christian priest-
hood, as has been noted in the former book :^ but the in-
ferior orders were not appointed to any such ministry, but
only to attend the ministers in divine service, and perform
some lower and ordinary offices, which any Christian, by
the bishop's appointment, was qualified to perform. What
these offices were, shall be showed by a particular account
of them in the following chapters.
CHAP. II.
Of Subdeacons.
Sect. 1.— No mention of Subdeacons, till the Third Century.
The first notice we have of this order in any ancient
writers is in the middle of the third century, when Cyprian
and Cornelius lived, who both speak of subdeacons as
settled in the Church in their time. Cyprian^ mentions
them at least ten times in his Epistles ; and Cornelius, in
his mmous Epistle* to Fabius, bishop of Antioch, where he
gives a catalogue of the clergy then belonging to the
Church of Rome, reckons seven subdeacons among them.
' Basil. Ep. Canon, c. 61. * See Book ii. chap. xix. sect. 15.
s Cypr. Ep. 8, 20, 29, 34', 35, 45, 78, tD, ed. Oxon. * Ap. Euseb.
lib, vi. c. 43.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTAIN CHURCH. 275
But some think they nere not quite so early in the Greek
Church ; for Habertus * says, no Greek writer speaks of
them before Athanasius,* who hved in the fourth century.
Sect. 2.— Their Ordination performed without Imposition of Hands In the
Latin Church.
The author of the Constitutions indeed refers them to an
apostohcal original, and in compliance with that hypothe-
sis brings inThomas, the Apostle, giving direction to bishops
to ordain them with imposition ^ of hands and prayer, as he
does for all the rest of the inferior orders. But that author
is singular in this ; for it does not appear to have been the
practice of the Greek Church, whose customs he chiefly
represents. St. Basil, a more credible witness, says of
this and all the other inferior orders, that they* were
" 'AxetpoTovTjrot, ordained without imposition of the hajuls.^^
And, for the Latin Church, it is evident from a canon of
the fourth council of Carthag-e, where we have the form
and manner of their ordination thus expressed ;^ " When a
subdeacon is ordained, seeing he has no imposition of
hands, let him receive an empty patin and an empty cup
from the hands of the bishop, and an ewer and towel from
the archdeacon." Which form, wholly excluding imposition
of hands, is a good collateral evidence (as Habertus^ con-
fesses ingenuously) to prove that this order was not in-
stituted by the Apostles ; for they did not use to omit this
ceremony in any of their ordinations,
Sect. 3. — A brief Account of their Office.
As to the office of subdeacons, we may in some measure
learn what it was from the forementioned canon, viz. — " that
it was to fit and prepare the sacred vessels and utensils of
the altar, and deliver them to the deacon in time of divine
' Habert, Archieratic. p. 49. ® Athan. Ep. ad, Solitar. Vit.
agent. ^Constit. Apost. lib. viii. c. 21. * Basil. Ep.
Canon, c. 51. * Con. Carth. iv, c. 5. Subdiaconus quuui ordinatur,
quia manfis impositionem non accipit, patinam de Episcopi manu accipiat
vacuain, et caliccm vacuum. De manu vero Archidiaconi,urceolum cuui aquft,
et mantilc, et manutergium, ^Habert. Archieratic. p. 4S.
276 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK III.
service." But they were not allowed to minister as deacons
at the altar ; no, nor so much as to come within the rails of
it, to set a patin, or cup, or the oblations of the people
thereon; as appears from a canon' of the council of Lao-
dicea, which forbids the 'YTrijofVat, by which is meant sub-
deacons, to have any place within the Diaconicon, or
sanctuary, nor to touch the holy vessels, meaning at the
communion-table. Though this is now their office in the
Church of Rome ; and in that, Bona^ owns they differ from
those of the ancient Church. Another of their offices was
to attend the doors of the Church during- the communion-
service. This is mentioned by the council of Laodicea, in
a canon^ which fixes them to that station. And Valesius
thinks Eusebius meant them, when, describing- the temple
of Paulinus, he speaks* of some, whose office it was,
"QvpavXeiv itj Trodrjynv Tsg hmovrag, to attend the doors, and
conduct those that came in, to their proper places'' The
author of the Constitutions* divides this office between the
deacons and subdeacons, ordering the deacons to stand at
the men's gate, and the subdeacons at the women's, that
ho one might go forth, nor the doors be opened in the time
of the oblation. Besides these offices in the Church, they
had another office out of the Church, which was to go on
the bishop's embassies, with his letters or messages to
foreign Churches. For in those days, by reason of the
persecutions, a bishop did not so much as send a letter to a
foreign Church but by the hands of one of his clergy ;
whence Cyprian*"' gives such letters the name of Literce
Clericce ; and the subdeacons were the men that were
commonly employed in this office : as appears from every
one of those Epistles in Cyprian, which speak of subdea-
cons; particularly in that, which he wrote to the clergy of
• Con. Laodic. c. 91. ^ Bona, Rer. Liturg. lib. i. c. 25. n. 16.
Olim nee calicem, nee patinam, nee oblationes in altari ponebant.
^ Con. Laodic. c. 22. 'Ov SiX i/7r>jp£r?jv Tag Sfipag iyKaTaXijxiTdveiv.
* Euseb. Hist. lib. x. c. 4. * Constit. Apost. lib. viii. c. 11.
6 Cypr. Ep. 4. al. 9. Grave est si Epistolte ClericBe Veritas mendacio aliquo
et fraude corrupta est.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 277
Carthage in his retirement, where he* tells them, " that having
occasion to write to the Church of Rome, and needins"
some of the clerg-y to convey his letter by, he was oblig-ed
to ordain a new subdeacon for this purpose, because the
Church could not spare him one at that time, having- scarce
enough left to perform her own daily services." These were
anciently the chief of the subdeacons offices at their first
institution.
Sect. 4. — What Offices they might not perform.
And great care was taken, that they should not exceed
their bounds, or encroach too much upon the deacon's
offices. They might not take upon them to minister the
bread^ or the cup to the people at the Lord's table ; they
might not bid the prayers, nor do any part of that service
which the deacons did, as they were the K^pvKfg, or holy
cryers of the Church. This is the meaning of the canon*
of the council of Laodicea, which prohibits the subdeacons
from wearing an horarium in the time of divine service;
which was an habit of deacons, that they made use of as
a signal to give notice of the prayers, and other services
of the Church, to the catechumens, penitents, &c. who
were to observe their directions : this habit therefore the
subdeacons might not wear, because it was a distinguishing
habit of a superior order. And further, to show the same
subjection and deference to deacons, as deacons did to
presbyters, they are forbidden by another canon* of that
council to sit in the presence of a deacon without his leave.
Sect. 5.— The Singularity of the Church of Rome, in keeping to the precise
Number of Seven Subdeacons.
There is but one thing' more I shall note concerning this
order, which is the singularity of the Church of Rome, in
* Cypr. Ep. 24. al. 29. Quoniam oportuit me per Clericos scribere ; — Scio
autem nostros plurimos abseutes esse, paucos vero, qui illic sunt, vix ad mi-
nisterium quotidiani operis sufficere ; necesse fuit novos aliquos constituere,
qui mitterentur : Pecisse me autem sciatis Lectorem Saturum, et Hypodiaco-
num Oplatum Confessorem. - Con. Laodic. c. 25. 'Ou Stl
virrtpkraq dpTOv hSovai, tide 7roT))pioi> ivXaytlv. ^ Ibid. c. 22. 'Ov lei
virijptrr}v wpctpiov ^opeTv, &c. * Con, Laodic. c. 20.
278 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK III.
keeping to the number of seven subdeacons. For in the
Epistle of Cornelius,! which gives us the catalogue of the
Romish clergy, we find but seven deacons, and seven sub-
deacons, though there were forty-four presbyters, and forty-
two acolythists, and of exorcists, readers, and door-keepers
no less than fifty-two. But other Churches did not tie
themselves to follow this example. For, in the great Church
of Constantinople, and three lesser that belonged to it,
there were ninety subdeacons, as may be seen in one of
Justinian's Novels,^ where he gives a catalogue of the clergy
and fixes the number of every order, amounting to above
five hundred in the whole,
CHAP. III.
Of Acolythists.
Sect. 1.— Acolythists an Order peculiar to the Latin Church, and never men-
tioned by any Greek Writers for Four Centuries.
Next to the subdeacons, the Latin writers commonly put
acolythists, which was an order peculiar to the Latin
Church ; for there was no such order in the Greek Church
for above four hundred years ; nor is it ever so much as
mentioned among the orders of the Church by any Greek
writer all that time, as Cabassutius,^ and Schelstrate,* con-
fess. And though it occurs sometimes in the latter Greek
rituals, yet Schelstrate says, it is there only another name,
for the order of subdeacons. But in the Latin Church these
two were distinguished ; for Cornelius, in his catalogue,
makes a plain difievence between them, in saying, there
were forty-two acolythists, and but seven subdeacons in
the Church of Rome. Cyprian also speaks of them ^ fre-^
quently, in his epistles, as distinct from the order of sub-
• Ap. Euseb. lib. vi. c. 43. ^ Justin. Novel, iii. ^ Cabassiit.
Notit. Con. c. 42. p. 249. * Schelstrat. de Con. Antioclieno Dissert, iv,
c. 17. p. 526. ^Cypr. Ep. 7, 34, 52, 59, 77, 78, 79, cd. Oxon.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 279
deacons ; though wherein their offices differed, is not very
easy to determine from either of those authors.
Sect. 3. — Their Ordination and Office.
But in the fourth council of Carthage there is a canon
which gives a httle hght in the matter ; for there we have
the form of their ordination, and some intimation of
their office also. The canon* is to this effect: — "When
any acolythist is ordained, the bishop shall inform him how
he is to behave himself in his office ; and he shall receive a
candlestick, with a taper in it, from the archdeacon, that he
may understand that he is appointed to light tlie candles of
the Church. He shall also receive an empty pitcher, to
furnish wine for the eueharist of the blood of Christ."" So
that the acolythyst's office seems at that time to have con-
sisted chiefly in these two things : lighting the candles of
the Church, and attending the ministers with wine for the
eueharist ; the designation to which office needed no impo-
sition of hands, but only the bishop's appointment, as is
plain from the words of the canon now cited.
Sect. 3.— The Origination of the Name.
Some think 2 they had another office, which was to ac-
company and attend the bishop whithersoever he went ; and
that they were called acolythists upon this account; or,
perhaps, because they were obliged to attend at funerals in
the company of the Canonica and Ascetria>, with whom
they are joined in one of Justinian's^ Novels. The origi-
nal word, 'AkoXs^oc, as Hesychius* explains it, signifies a
young servant, or an attendant who waits continually upon
another : and the name seems to be given them from this.
But the inference which a learned person^ makes from
• Con. Carth. iv. c. 6. Acolythus quum ordinatur, ab Episcopo quidem
doceatur qualiter in officio suo agere debeat : sad ab Archidiacono accipiat
ceroferarium ciun cereo, ut sciat se ad accendenda EccIesiiE luminaria nian-
cipari. Accipiat et urceolum vacuum ad suggerendum vinum in Eucharistiam
sanguinis Christi. ^ Duareii. de Minister, et Benefic. lib. i. c. 14.
^ Justin. Novel. 69. * Hesych. 'AkoXhQoq, b vioirt^w^ nan^, Snpdnuv,
6 TTfpi TO cwiia. * Bp. Fell Not. in Cypr. Ep. vii.
280 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK III.
hence, that the order of acolythists was first in the Greek
Church, because the name is of Greek original, seems not
to be so certain ; because it can hardly be imagined, that it
should be an order of the Greek Church, and yet no writer
before Justinian's time make any mention of it.
Sect. 4.— Whether Acolythists be the same with the Deptdati and Cerofe'
ram of later Ages.
I know, indeed, St. Jerom^ says, " it was a custom in the
Oriental Churches to set up lighted tapers when the Gos-
pel was read, as a token and demonstration of their joy ;"
but he does not so much as once intimate, that they had a
peculiar order of acolythists for this purpose ; nor does it
appear that this was any part of their office in the Latin
Church. For that, which the council of Carthage speaks
of, is probably no more than lighting- the candles at night,
when the Church was to meet for their Lucei'nalis Oratio,
or evening prayer. This office of acolythists, as much as
the Romanists contend for the apostolical institution of it,
is now no longer in being' in the Chtirch of Rome, but
changed into that of the ceroferarii, or taper-hearers ^
whose office is only to walk before the deacons, &c. with
a lighted taper in their hands : which is so different from
the office of the ancient acolythists, that Duarenus^ cannot
but express his wonder, how the one came to be changed
into the other, and why their doctors should call him an
acolythist of the ancient Church, who is no more than a
taper-bearer of the present. Cardinal Bona^ carries the
redection a little further, and with some resentment com-
plains, that the inferior orders of the Romish Church bear
no resemblance to those of the primitive Church, and that
for five hundred years the ancient discipline has been lost.
' Hieron. cont.Vigilant. torn. ii. p. 123. Per tolas Orientis Ecclesias, quando
legendum est Evangelium, accenduntur lumina, &c. ^ Diiaren, de Minister,
et Bcnefic. lib. i. c. 14. p. 74. Nescio quomodo tandem factum est, ut hoc
munus in Luminariorum ciiram postea conversum sit, et Doctores nostri pas-
sim Acolythos Ceroferarios interpretentur. 3 Bona, Rer. Liturg.
lib. i. c. 35. n. 18. Desierunt quoque minoium Oidinum officia, quae ple-
rumque a pueris, et hominibus mercede conductis, nullisque ordinibus initia-
tis exercentur, &c.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 281
CHAP. IV.
Of Exorcists.
Sect. 1. — Exorcists at first no peculiar Order of the Clergy.
There is nothing- more certain, than that in the apostoH-
cal age, and the next following", the power of exorcising-, or
casting- out Devils, was a miraculous gift of the Holy Ghost,
not confined to the clerg*y, much less to any single order
among them, but given to other Christians also ; as many
other extraordinary spiritual gifts then were. Origen* says,
" private Christians (that is laymen) did, by their prayers
and adjurations, dispossess Devils." And Socrates^ ob-
serves particularly of Gregory Thaumaturgus, " that whilst
he was a layman he wrought many miracles, healing the
sick, and casting out Devils, by sending letters to the pos-
sessed party only." And that this power was common t<J
all orders of Christians, appears further from the challenges
of the ancient Apologists, Tertullian,^ and others, to the
Heathens, wherein they undertake, that if they would bring
any person possessed w ith a Devil into open court, before
the magistrate, any ordinary Christian should make him con-
fess that he was a Devil and not a God. Minucius* speaks of
this power among Christians, but he does not ascribe it to
any particular order of men: as neither does Justin Martyr,*
nor Irenoeus,'' nor Cyprian,^ nor Arnobius,^ though they
frequently speak of such a power in the Church.
' Orig. cont. Cels. lib.vii. p.. 33-t. 'Ei'xy xal upKuxTiffiv iccCJTai to toih-
Tov Trpdffffam, &c. ^ Socrat. lib. iv. c. 27. Aaiicoe wv 7ro\\«
ffijfida knoiriae voaSvraq S^tparrtiHtiv, Kai Sati-iovaQ ^l svi^oXwv (puyaStvwj'.
^ Tertul. Apol. c. 23. Edatur hie aliquis sub Tribunalibus vestris, quein
Dsemone agi constet. Jussus a quolibet Christiano loqui Spiritus ille, tain se
Daemonem confitebitur de vero, quam alibi Deum de falso. * JVIinuc.
Octav. p. S3. Ipsos Daemonas de semetipis coufiteri, quoties a nobis tormen-
tis verborum et orationis incendiis de corporibus exiguntur. *Justin.
Apol. i. p. 45. ^ Iren. lib. ii. c. 56 et 57. ^ Cypr. ad Donat.
p. i. * Arnob. cont. Gent. lib. i.
VOL. I. 2 M
282 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK lit.
Sect. S. — Bishops and Presbyters, for the Three First Centuries, the usual
Exorcists of the Church.
But as this g-ift was common to all orders of men, so it
is reasonable to believe, that it was in a more especial
manner conferred upon the bishops and presbyters of
the Church, who, when there was any occasion to use any
exorcism in the Church, were the ordinary ministers of it.
Thus Cardinal Bona' understands that famous passage of
Tertullian, where, speaking^ of a Christian woman, who
went to the theatre, and returned possessed with a Devil,
he says, " The unclean spirit was rebuked in exorcism for
presuming to make such an attempt upon a believer ;'^ — to
which the spirit replied, " That he had a right to her, be-
cause he found her upon his own ground." This exorcism,
I say, Bona supposes to be performed by some presbyter of
the Church, endowed with that miraculous gift. And the
like may be said of those exorcists in Cyprian,^ who cast
out Devils by a divine power: and of those also, who are
mentioned by Firniilian,* as persons inspired by divine
grace to discern Evil-Spirits, and detect them ; as one of
them did a woman of Cappadocia, who pretended to be in-
spired, and to work miracles, and to baptize, and consecrate
the eucharist by divine direction. These exorcisms were
plainly miraculous, and prove nothing more than that some
persons had such a gift, who probably were some eminent
presbyters of the Church ; at least they do not prove that
exorcists were as yet become any distinct orders among the
clergy in the Church.
Sect. 3. — In what Sense every Man his own Exorcist.
Some think the order was as old as Tertullian, because
Ulpian, the great lawyer, who lived in Tertullian's time, in
• Bona, Rer. Litui-g. lib. i. c. 25. n. 17. = Tertul. de Speclac. c. 26.
Theatruin adiit, et inde cum Dsemonio rediit. Itaque in Exorcismo cum one-
raretur immundus Spiritus, quod ausus essct Fideleni aggredi: " constanter et
justissime quidem," inquit, " feci, in meo enim inveni." * Cypr. Ep.
76. al. 69. ad Magnum, p. 187. Quod hodie etiam geritur, ut per Exorcistas,
voce humana et potestate divina, flagelletur, et uratur, et torqueatur Diabolus.
* Firmil. Ep. 76. ap. Cypr. p. 223. Unus de Exorcistis— inspiratus Dei gra-
tia fortiter restitit, et esse ilium nequissimum Spiritum, qui prius Sanctus pu-
tabatur, ostendit.
CHAP. IV.J CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 283
one of his books* speaks of exorcizing-, as a thing- used by
impostors, by whom probably he means the Christians.
Gothofred thinks he means the Jewish exorcists, who were
commonly impostors indeed. But admitting that he means
Christians, (which is more probable, considering- what Lac-
tantius^ says of him, "That he pubhshed a collection of
the penal laws that had been made against them,") yet it
proves no more than what every one owns, — that exorcizing
was a thing then commonly known and practised among
the Christians. Others urge the authority of Tertullian
himself in his book, De Corona Mil if is ; where yet he is ho
far from owning any particular order of exorcists, that he
rather seems to make every man his own , exorcist. For
there among other arguments, which he urges to dissuade
Christians from the military life under heathen emperors, he
makes use of this,^ " That they would be put to guard the
idol-temples, and then they must defend those Devils by
night, whom they had put to flight by day by their exor-
cisms, " by which he means their prayers, as Junius rightly
understands him. And so in another place, dissuading
Christians from selling such things as would contribute to-
wards upholding of Idolatry, or the worship of Devils, he
argues thus ; That otherwise the Devils would be their
Alumni ; that is, might be said to be fostered and main-
tained by them, so long as they furnished out materials to
carry on their service. " And with what confidence," says
he,* " can any man exorcize his own Alumni, those Devils,
whose service he makes his own house an armoury to main-
tain V Vicecomes^ and Bona,^ by mistake, understand this
as spoken of exorcism before baptism, taking the word
Alumni, to signify the catechumens of the Church ; where^
as, indeed, it signifies Devils in this place, who are so called
by Tertullian, in respect of those, who contribute to uphold
" Ulpian, lib. viii. de Tribunal, in Digest. lib. 1. tit. xiii. leg-. 1. SI in-
c^ntavit, si imprecatus est, si (ut vulgari verbo impostorum utor) exorcisavi?.
s Lact. Instit. lib. v. c. 11. ^Tertul. de Coron. Milit. c. 11. Qiios In-
. terdiu Exorcismis fugavit, noctibus derensabil. 'Ttnlid. deldol.c. II.
Qua constantia exorcizabit Alumnos suos, quibus domuni suam Cellaiiaui
prieslal? ^Vicceoni. de Ritib. Bapt. lib. ii. c. 21). p. 303,
''Boiia, Rcr. Liluig. lib. i. f. "io. n. \7.
284 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK. III.
their worship ; for such men are a sort of foster-fathers to
them. So that this passag-e, when rightly understood, makes
nothing" for the antiquity of exorcists, as a pecuUar order of
the clergy, but only shows in what sense every Christian is
to be his own exorcist, viz. by his prayers, resisting- the
Devil, that he may fly from him.
Sect. 4>. — Exorcists constituted into an Order in the laUer End of the
Third Century.
Setting" aside, then, both that extraordinary power of ex-
orcising, which was miraculous, and this ordinary way also,
in which every man was his own exorcist, it remains to be
inquired ; — When the order of the exorcists was first settled
in the Church '? And here I take Bona's opinion to be the
truest, " That it came in upon the withdrawing' of that ex-
traordinary and miraculous power ;*" which probably was by
degrees, and not at the same time in all places. Cornelius,^
who lived in the third century, reckons exorcists among the
inferior orders of the Church of Rome. Yet the author of
the Constitutions, who lived after him, says,^ " It was no
certain order, but God bestowed the gift of exorcising as a
free grace upon whom he pleased ;" and therefore, con-
sonant to that hypothesis, there is no rule among those
Constitutions for giving any ordination to exorcists, as
being appointed by God only, and not by the Church. But
the credit of the Constitutions is not to be relied upon in
this matter ; for it is certain by this time exorcists were
settled as an order in most parts of the Greek Church, as
well as the Latin ; which is evident from the council of
Antioch, Anno 341, in one of whose canons* leave is given
to the Chorepiscopi to promote subdeacons, readers, and
exorcists; which argues, that those were then all standing
orders of the Church. After this exorcists are frequently
mentioned among the inferior orders by the writers of the
fourth Century, as in the counciP of Laodicea, Epiphanius,«
' Bona, ibid. Postea subtracta hfic Potestate, constituit Ecclesia Ordinera,
qui DfEmoniaexpelleret. =^Ap. Euseb. lib. vi. c.43. » Constit.
Aposl. lib. viii. c. 26. *Con. Antioch. c. 10. * Con. Laodic.
c. 34 et 26. «Epiphau. Expos. Fid. n. 21.
CHAP. IV-] CHRISTIAIf CHURCH. 285
Paulinus/ Sulplcius Severus,^ and tlie Rescripts of Theo-
dosius/ and Gratian* in the Theodosian Code, where those
emperors grant them the same immunity from civil offices,
as they do to the other orders of the clerg-y.
Sect. 5. — Their Ordination and Office.
Their ordination and office is thus described by the fourth
council of Carthage:^ "When an exorcist is ordained, he
shall receive at the hands of the bishop a book, wherein the
forms of exorcising- are written, the bishop saying-, * Re-
ceive thou these, and commit them to memory, and have
thou power to lay hands upon the energumens, whether
they be baptized or only catechumens.' " These forms were
certain prayers, together with adjurations in the name of
Christ, commanding the unclean spirit to depart out of the
possessed person ; which may be collected from the words
of Paulinus, concerning the promotion of St. Felix to this
office, where he says,*' " From a reader he arose to that
degree, whose office was to adjure Evil-Spirits, and to drive
them out by certain holy words." It does not appear, that
they were ordained to this office by any imposition of hands
either in the Greek or Latin Church ; but yet no one might
pretend to exercise it either publicly or privately, in the
Church or in any house, without the appointment of the
bishop, as the council of Laodicea'^ directs; or at least the
license of a Chorefiscofus, who in that case was authorized
by the bishop's deputation.®
Sect. 6. — A short Account of the Energumens, their Names and Station in
the Church.
As to the energumens, for whose sake this office was ap-
pointed, they were so called from the Greek word, 'Ev£/o-
» Paulin. Natal, iv. S. Felicis. ^g^ipjc yit. S. Martin, c. 4.
^Cod.Theod. lib. xii. tit. 1. de Decurion. leg. 121. * Ibid. lib. xvi,
tit. 2. dc Episc, Leg. 24. * Con. Carth. 4. c. 7. Exorcista quum or-
dinatur, accipiat de nianu Episcopi libellum, in quo scripti sunt Exorcismi,
dicente sibi Episcopo: " Accipe et connnenda memoriae, et habcto potestatcm
imponendi manus super Euergumenum, sivcBaptizatum, sive Catechumenum."
* Paulin. Natal, 4. Felic. Primis Lector servivit in annis, inde gradum cepit,
cui munus voce tidcli adjurare malos, et sacris pelicre verbis. ^ Con.
Laod. c. 20. ^ Con. Antioch. c. 10.
286 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [booK 111.
jifievoi, which in its larg-est sig-nification denotes, Persoris
who are under the motion and operation of any Spirit, whe-
ther good or bad ; but in a more restrained sense it is used
by ecclesiastical writers for persons whose bodies are seised
or possessed with an evil-spirit. Upon which account they
arc otherwise called Aatfiovi^ojutvot, dcemoniacs, and Karc-
•Xpfxtvoi, possessed. And because this was frequently at-
tended with great commotions and vexations, and disturb-
ances of the body, occasioning" sometimes phrenzy and mad-
ness, sometimes epileptic fits, and other violent tossing-s
and contorsions ; such persons are often upon that account
styled Xftjua^ojucvot, by the Greek, and Hyemantes, by the
Latin writers ; that is, tossed as in a winter-storm or tem-
pest. Thus the author of the Constitutions in some places^
styles them simply XufiaZ,6fiivoL, by which that he means
the encrgumens is evident, because in another place ^ he
styles them Xetjua^ojujvoi viro ts dXXorpts, such as were under
the commotions and vexations of Satan ; and tells us that
prayer was made for them under that character, in the ob-
lation at the Altar for all states and conditions of men, that
God would deliver them from that violent energy or agi-
tation of the wicked one. And thus most learned men, ex-
cept Albaspinaeus, understand that phrase in the canon of
the council of Ancyra,^ which orders some certain notorious
sinners, " 'Etc rSg xuixaZofuvaq tvxhce^ai,''' to pray in Loco
Hyemaniium, in that part of the Church where the daemo-
moniacs stood, which was a place separate from all the rest.
And some also think* the name, IsXv^wvi^ontvoi, was given
to the encrgumens upon the same account, because it
signifies persons agitated by a spirit, as a wave in a tempest.
Sect. 7.— The Exorcist chiefly concerned in the Care of them.
Now these encrgumens, or demoniacs, or whatever other
name they were called by, v\^ere.the persons about whom
the exorcists were chiefly concerned. For besides the
» Constlt. Apost. lib. viii. c. 35 ct 37. ^Constit, lib. viii. c. 12.
IlaprtKaXs^t)/ at virip riof xtif^nZofikviov vtto th oXXorpia — ottwc ica^apiffi]^ t/c
rfi^ iyepytimj rs TTovi/pa. ^Cou. Ancyr. c. 17. * Vid. Dodwel.
Disst-rt. 1. ill Cypr. ii. 17.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 287
prayers which were offered for them in all public assem-
blies, by the deacons and bishops, and the whole congre-
gation, (some forms of which prayers may be seen in the
author^ of the Constitutions,) the exorcists were obliged to
pray over them at other times,'^ when there was no assembly
in the Church ; and to keep them employed in some inno-
cent business, as in sweeping-^ the Church and the like, to
prevent more violent agitations of Satan, lest idleness
should tempt the tempter; and to see them provided of daily*
food and sustenance, while they abode in the Church,
which it seems was the chief place of their residence and
habitation.
Sect. 8. — The Duty of Exorcists in reference to the Catechumens,
This was the exorcists' office in reference to the enerofu-
mens; to which Valesius* and Gothofred" add another
office, viz. that of exorcizing the catechumens before
baptism ; which is a matter that will admit of some dispute.
For it does not appear always to have been the exorcists'
office, save only in one of these two cases ; either first
when a catechumen was also an energumen, which was a
case that very often happened ; and then he was to be com-
mitted to the care of the exorcists, whose office was to
exorcize all energumens, whether they were baptized, or
only catechumens, as is evident from the canon already
alleged (sect. 5.) out of the council of Carthage. Or, se-
condly, it might happen, that the exorcist was also made the
catechist, and in that case there can be no question, but
that his office was as well to exorcize, as to instruct the
catechumens. But then the catechist's office was many
times separate from that of the exorcist's, (though some
modern writers confound them together); sometimes a pres-
byter, or a deacon, or a reader was the catechist; and in
1 Constit. Apost. lib. viii. c. 6. et 7. * Con. Carth. iv. c. 90. Omni
die Exorcistae Energumenis manus imponant. ^ Ibjd. c. 91. Pavi-
menta Domorum Dei Energumeni verrant. * Ibid. c. 92. Energume-
nis in Domo Dei assidentibus victus quotidianus per Exorcistas opportune
tempore ministretur. ^ Vales. Not. in Euseb. de Martyr. Palsslin.c. 2.
e Gothofred. Not. in Cod. Th. lib. xvi. tit. 9. leg, 24.
288 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IK.
that case it seems more probable, that the exorcism of the
catechumens was performed by tlie catechist, than by the
exorcist; and for that reason I shall treat of the office of
catechist distinctly in its proper place.
CHAP. V.
Of Lectors or Readers.
Sect. 1. — The Order of Readers not instituted till the Third Century.
It is the opinion now of most learned men, even in the
Romish Church, that there was no such order as that of
readers distinct from others for at least two ages in the pri-
mitive Church. Bona' owns it to be one of the four orders,
which he thinks only of ecclesiastical institution. And Co-
telerius^ says, there is no mention made of it before the
time of Tertullian, who is the first author that speaks of it
as a standing order in the Church : for writing* against the
heretics,^ he objects to them, " That their orders were de-
sultory and inconstant; a man was a deacon among- them
one day, and a reader the next :" which implies, that it was
otherwise in the Church, and that readers then were as
much a settled order as deacons, or any other. Cyprian,
who lived not long after Tertullian, frequently speaks of
them as an order of the clergy. In one * place he says, he
had made one Saturus a reader ; and in another place, he
mentions one Aurelius, a confessor, whom he had ordained
a reader for his singular merits, and constancy in time of
persecution:* and for the same reason he made Celerinus,
another confessor, one of the same order^ among the clergy.
So that it was then reckoned not only a clerical office, but
an honourable office, to be a reader in the Church, and such
» Bona, Rer. Liturg. lib. i. c. 25. n. 17, = Coteler. Not. in Constit.
Apost. lib. ii. c. 25. ^ Tortul. de Prescript, c. 41. Hodie Diaconus,
qXii eras Lector. ♦ Cypr. Ep. 2i. al. 29. Fecisse me sciatis Lectorem
Saturum. * Id. Ep. 33. al. 38. Merebatur Aurelius clericse Ordi-
nationis ulteriores gradus— Sed interim placuit ut ab Officio Lectionis inci-
piat, &c. 6 Id Ep 34._ 3i 39 Referimus ad vos, Celerinum—Clero
noslro nonhumana suffragatioiie, sed diviua Dignatioae conjunctum, &c.
CHAP, v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 289
an one as a confessor needed not to be ashamed of. Some-
times persons of the greatest dig-nity were ordained to this
office, as Juhan is said to have been in the Church of
Nieomedia* while he professed himself a Christian. Sozo-
men* says expressly, " that both he and his brother Gail us
were reckoned among- the clergy, and read the Scriptures
publicly to the people," And there is no writer of that
age, but always speaks of readers as a distinct order of the
clergy in the Church.
Sect. 2. — By whom the Scriptures were read in the Church before the Insti-
tution of that Order,
But since the order of readers, though frequently spoken
of in the third and fourth ages, are never once mentioned
in the two first, it will be proper to inquire, — By whom the
Scriptures were read in the Church for those two centu-
ries 1 Mr. Basnage ^ is of opinion, that the Christian Church
at first followed the example of the Jewish Church, and in
this matter took her model from the Synagogue ; where, as
he observes out of Dr, Lightfoot,* the custom was, on every
Sabbath-day, to have seven readers, first a priest, then a
Levite, and after them five Israelites, such as the minister
of the congregation, (whom they called the bishop or in^
spector and angel of the Church,) thought fit to call forth
and nominate for that purpose. He thinks it was much
after the same manner in the Christian Church ; the oflice
was not perpetually assigned to any particular man, but
chiefly performed by presbyters and deacons, yet so as that
any other might do it by the bishop's appointment. But
indeed the matter is involved in so great obscurity, that no
certain conjectures can be made from the writings of the
two first ages; but all, that we can argue, is from the seem-
ing remains of the ancient customs in the following ages.
For since we find that deacons in many Churches continued
to read the Gospel, even after the order of readers was
' Socrat. lib. iii. c. 1. Nazian. luvectiv. I. toixi. i. p. 58. " Sozoin.
lib. V. c. 2. 'Qg K, (cX//j)^j lyKa-aXfyi'ivat, k, vnavayivMaituv n^ \ai^ tuq
iKK\n'na<7iKiiQ (Sij3XnQ. ^ Basnag. Exercit. in Baron, p. 6*23.
* Lightfopt Hium. p. 479.
VOL. I. "2 N
288 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK HI.
that case it seems more probable, that the exorcism of the
catechumens was performed by tlie catechist, than by the
exorcist; and for that reason I shall treat of the office of
catechist distinctly in its proper place.
CHAP. V,
Of Lectors or Readers.
Sect. 1. — The Order of Readers not instituted till the Third Century.
It is the opinion now of most learned men, even in the
Romish Church, that there was no such order as that of
readers distinct from others for at least two ages in the pri-
mitive Church. Bona^ owns it to be one of the four orders,
which he thinks only of ecclesiastical institution. And Co-
telerius^ says, there is no mention made of it before the
time of Tertullian, who is the first author that speaks of it
as a standing- order in the Church : for writing- against the
heretics,^ he objects to them, " That their orders were de-
sultory and inconstant; a man was a deacon among- them
one day, and a reader the next :" which implies, that it was
otherwise in the Church, and that readers then were as
much a settled order as deacons, or any other. Cyprian,
who lived not long- after Tertullian, frequently speaks of
them as an order of the clergy. In one* place he says, he
had made one Saturus a reader ; and in another place, he
mentions one Aurelius, a confessor, whom he had ordained
a reader for his sing-ular merits, and constancy in time of
persecution:^ and for the same reason he made Celerinus,
another confessor, one of the same order^ among- the clergy.
So that it was then reckoned not only a clerical office, but
an honourable office, to be a reader in the Church, and such
' Bona, Rer. Liturg. lib. i. c. 25. n, 17. ^ Coteler. Not. in Constit.
Apost. lib. ii. c. 25. ^ Tortul. de Prfescript. c. 41. Hodie Diaconus,
qui eras Lector. * Cypr. Ep. 24<. al. 29. Fecisse me sciatis Lcctorem
Saturum. * Id. Ep. 33. al. 38. Merebatur Aurelius clericae Ordi-
nationis ulteriores gradus — Sed interim placuit ut ab Officio Lectionis inci-
piat, &c. 6 Id. Ep. 34. al. 39. Referimus ad vos, Celerinum— Clero
nostro non humana suffragatione, sed divina Dignatioue conjunctum, &c.
CHAP, v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 289
an one as a confessor needed not to be ashamed of. Some-
times persons of the greatest dignity were ordained to this
office, as Julian is said to have been in the Church of
Nicomedia^ while he professed himself a Christian. Sozo-
men^ says expressly, " that both he and his brother Gallus
were reckoned among the clergy, and read the Scriptures
publicly to the people." And there is no writer of that
age, but always speaks of readers as a distinct order of the
clergy in the Church.
Sect. 2. — By whom the Scriptures were read in the Church before the Instw
tution of that Order.
But since the order of readers, though frequently spoken
of in the third and fourth ages, are never once mentioned
in the two first, it will be proper to inquire, — By w horn the
Scriptures were read in the Church for those two centu-
ries ? Mr. Basnage ^ is of opinion, that the Christian Church
at first followed the example of the Jewish Church, and in
this matter took her model from the Synagogue ; where, as
he observes out of Dr. Lightfoot,* the custom was, on every
Sabbath-day, to have seven readers, first a priest, then a
Levite, and after them five Israelites, such as the minister
of the congregation, (whom they called the bishop or in^
spector and angel of the Church,) thought fit to call forth
and nominate for that purpose. He thinks it was much
after the same manner in the Christian Church ; the office
was not perpetually assigned to any particular man, but
chiefly performed by presbyters and deacons, yet so as that
any other might do it by the bishop's appointment. But
indeed the matter is involved in so great obscurity, that no
certain conjectures can be made from the writings of the
two first ages; but all, that we can argue, is from the seem^-
ing remains of the ancient customs in the following ages.
For since we find that deacons in many Churches continued
to read the Gospel, even after the order of readers was
' Socrat. lib. iii. c. 1. Nazian. Iiivectiv. 1. toiii. i. p. .58. " Sozoin.
lib. V. c. 2. 'i}g t:, kXiiou^} ^yKaraXfyf/rai, k, i'TraraytvoxTKUV riji \a<^ rag
sKKXjj(7taT(icMc j8('/3\«e. ^ Basnag. Exercit. in Baron, p. 623.
* Liglnifopt Harm. p. 479.
VOL. I. 2 N
290 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK III.
set Up, (as I have had occasion to show ^ in another place
from the author^ of the Constitutions, and St. Jerom,^ and
the council* of Vaison,) we may thence reasonably con-
clude, that this was part of their office before ; and since
presbyters and bishops in other Churches did the same,
as Sozomen* informs us, it may as rationally be inferred,
that this was their custom in former ages. But whether
laymen performed this office at any time by the bishop's
particular direction, as the Israelites did in the Jewish
Church, cannot be so certainly determined. Only we find
that in after ag-es, in the most celebrated Church of Alex-
andria, even the catechumens, as well as believers,*^ were
admitted to do the office of readers ; and that may incline
a man to think, that this office was not wholly confined to
the clerg-y in the two first ages. But this being peculiar
to the Church of Alexandria, nothing can be argued from
it concerning the practice of the Universal Church ; and
therefore till some better light is afforded, I leave this matter
undetermined.
Sect. 3. — The Manner of Ordaining Readers.
It is more certain, that, after the order of readers was set
up, it was generally computed among the orders of the
clergy ; except perhaps at Alexandria, where that singular
custom prevailed of putting catechumens into the office.
For it can hardly be supposed, that they reckoned persons
that were unbaptized, and not yet allowed to partake of the
holy mysteries, into the number of their clergy. But in all
other places it was reputed a clerical order, and persons
deputed to the office were ordained to it with the usual
solemnities and ceremonies of the other inferior orders. In
the Greek Church Habertus' thinks they were ordained
with imposition of hands, but among the Latins without it.
The author of the Constitutions prescribes a form of prayer
to be used with imposition of hands ; but whether that
' Book ii. chap. xx. sect. 6. ^ Constit. Apost. lib. ii. c. 57.
'Hieron. Ep. 57. ad Sabin. * Con. Vasens. ii. c. 2. * Sozom.
lib. vii. c. 19. * Socrat. lib. v. c. 22. 'Ev rrj avry ^e AXt^avdpdq.
dvayvio~ai ^ VTro/SoXeTc dSia(po(tou, lire Karrjxiifitvoi lialv, hti irirot.
' Habert. Archicratic. par. 4i, obs. i. p. 11.
CHAP, v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 291
was the practice of all the Greek Church is very much
questioned. In the Latin Church it was certainly other-
wise. The council of Carthag-e^ speaks of no other cere-
mony, but the bishop's putting- the Bible into his hands in
the presence of the people, with these words : " Take this
book, and be thou a reader of the Word of God, which
office if thou fulfill faithfully and profitably, thou shalt have
part with those that minister in the Word of God." And in
Cyprian's time they seem not to have had so much as this
ceremony of delivering- the Bible to them, but they were
made readers by the bishop's commission, and deputation
only to such a station in the Church.
Sect. 4. — Their Station and Office in the Church.
This was the pulpitum, or tribunal ecclesice, as it is
commonly called in Cyprian, the reading-desk in the body
of the Church, which was distinguiehed from the bema or
tribunal of the sanctuary. For the reader's office was not
to read the Scriptures at the altar, but in the reading-desk
only. Whence, " Super pulpitum imponiT and " Ad
pulpitum venire,^'' are phrases in Cyprian^ to denote the
ordination of a reader. In this place, in Cyprian's time,
they read the Gospels, as well as other parts of Scripture ;
which is clear from one of Cyprian's Epistles ; ' where,
speaking- of Celerinus, the confessor, whom he had ordained
a reader, he says, " it was fitting- he should be advanced
to the pulpit or tribunal of the Church, that having- the
advantag-e of an higher station, he might thence read the
Precepts and Gospels of his Lord, which he himself as a
courageous confessor had followed and observed." Albas-
piny* says, they also read the Epistles and Gospels in the
* Con. Garth, iv. c. 8. Lector cum ordinatur, facial de illo verbum Epis-
copus ad Plebem, indicans ejus Fideni, Vitam, et Ingeniuni. Post hsec spec-
tante Plebe tradat ei Codicem, de quo lecturus est, dicens, " Accipe et esto
Lector Verbi Dei, habiturus, si fideliter et utiliter impleveris officium, par-
tem cum eis qui Verbum Dei ministraverunt." * Cypr. Ep. 38 et 39.
Ed. Oxon. * Cypr. Ep. 34. al. 39. Quidaliud quam super Pulpitum,
id est, super Tribunal Ecclesise oportebat imponi, ut loci altioris celsitate
subnixus — legat Praecepta et Evangelia Domini, quse fortiter ac fideliter
sequitur 2 * Albaspin. Not. in Con. Carth. iii. can. 4.
292 tHE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK III.
communion-service ; but he should first have proved, that
those were anciently any part of the communion-service.
For they do not appear to have been so from the most
ancient Litursries, but v^ere only read in the Missa Cate-
chumenorum, or as we now call it, the first service, at which
the catechumens were present : and wheresoever they were
taken into the communion-service, it was the office of
deacons, and not the readers, to rehearse them. But of
this more when we come to the Liturg-y and Service of the
ancient Church,
Sect. 5. — The Age at which they might be Ordained.
There is but one thing more to be noted concerning- this
order, which is the age at which readers might be ordained.
That is fixed by one of Justinian's Novels,^ precisely for-
bidding any one to be ordained reader before he was com-
pletely eighteen years old. But, before this law was made,
it was customary to ordain them much younger ; for Enno-
dius, bishop of Ticinum, says of Epiphanius, his prede-
cessor,^ that he was ordained reader at eight years old ; as
Csesarius Arelatensis^ is said to have been at seven. And
this leads us to understand what Sidonius Apollinaris
means, when speaking of John, bishop of Chalons, he says,
*' he was a reader* from his infancy." Which is also said
of St. Felix by Paulinus,* " that he served in the office of a
reader from his tender years." So VictorUticensis, describ-
ing the barbarity of the Vandalic persecution in Afric,
aggravates their cruelty with this circumstance, " that they
had murdered or famished all the clergy of Carthage, five
hundred or more, among whom® there were many infant
readers." Now the reason why persons were ordained so
young to this office, was what I have intimated before, that
• Justin. Novel. 123. c. 54. * Ennod. Vit. Epiphan. Bibl. Patr.
torn. XV. p. 295. Annorum ferme octo Lectoris Ecclesiastici susclpit officium.
* Vit. Caesar, ap. Sur. 27. Aug. Clero adscriptum inter ipsa infantiae rudi-
menta, post exactum aetatis septennium. * Sidon. lib. iv. Ep, 25.
Lector hie primum, sic minister altaris, idque ab infantia. * Paiilin.
Natal. 4. Felic. Primis Lector servivit in annis. « Victor, de Per-
sec. Vandal, lib. iii. Bibl. Patr. torn. vii. 613. Fere quingenti vel amplius,
inter quos quamplurimi erant Leetores infantuli, &c.
CHAP. VI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 293
parents sometimes dedicated their children to the service of
God from their infancy, and then tliey were trained up and
disciplined in some inferior offices, that they ini<>ht be
qualified and rendered more expert for the greater services
of the Church.
CHAP. VI.
Of the Ostiarii or Doorkeepers.
Sect. 1.— No mention of this Order till the Third or Fourth Century.
This is the last of those five orders, which are pretended
by the present Church of Rome to be of apostolical insti-
tution : but fur three whole centuries we never so much as
meet with the name of it in any ancient writer, except in
the epistle of Cornelius,^ bishop of Rome, where the
IluXwpoi, or door-keepers, are mentioned with the rest. In
Cyprian and Tertullian there is no mention of them. The
first and lowest order with them is that of readers, as it is
now in the Greek Church, among whom the order of door-
keepers has been laid aside from the time of the council of
Trullo, Anno 692, as Schelstrate^ scruples not to confess,
though he blames Morinus for being a little too frank and
liberal in extending this concession to the apostolical ages ;
and in order to confute him alleges the authority of Igna-
tius and Clemens Romanus^ for the antiquity of this order.
But he refers us only to spurious treatises under their names,
not known till the fourth century, about which time it is
owned this order began to be spoken of by some few Greek
writers. For Epiphanius* and the council of Laodicea*
put the QvpiopoX, that is, door-keepers, among the other or-
ders of the clergy: and Justinian also, in one of his No-
vels,« speaks of them as settled in the great Church of
Constantinople, where he limits their number to one liun-
dred, for the use of that and three other Churches. This
' Ap. Euseb. lib. vi. c. 43. ^ Schelstrat. Con. Antioch. Dissert, iv.
c. 17. p. 520. 3 igj,at_ Ep^ ad Antioch, et Clement. Consiit. lib. iii.
c. 11. ♦ Epiphan. Expos. Fid. n. 21. * Con. Laodic. c. 24..
•Just. Novel, iii. c. 1, Insuper centum existentibus, qui vocantur Ostiarii.
29-1 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK III.
proves that they were settled in some parts of the Greek
Church, thoug-h, as Habertus observes,^ they continued
not many ag"es, nor ever universally obtained an establish-
ment in all Churches.
Sect. 2. — The Manner of their Ordination in the Latin Church.
What sort of ordination tliey had in the Greek Church
we do not find ; for there is no author that speaks of it. In
the Latin Church it w^as no more but the bishop's commis-
sion, with the ceremony of delivering the keys of the
Church into their hands, and saying, " Behave thyself as
one that must give an account to God of the things that
are kept locked under these keys ;" as the form is^ in the
fourth council of Carthage, and the Ordo Romanus,^ and
Gratian/ who have it from that council.
Sect. 3. — Their Office and Function.
Their office is commonly said to consist in taking care of
the doors of the Church in time of divine service, and in
making a distinction betwixt the faithful, and the catechu-
mens, and excommuniated persons, and such others as
were to be excluded from the Church. But I confess this is
more than can be made out from ancient history, at least
in reference to the state and discipline of many Churches.
For in the African Church particularly, as I shall have oc-
casion to show in another place, a liberty was given, not
only to catechumens and penitents, but also to heretics,
Jews, and heathens, to come to the first part of the
Church's service, called the Missa Catechumenorum, that
is, to hear the Scripture read, and the homily or sermon
that was made upon it ; because these were instructive, and
might be means of their conversion, so that there was no
need of making any distinction here. Then for the other
part of the service, called Missa Fidelium, or the commu-
7iion-service, the distinction, that was made in that, was
» Habert. Archieratic par. 5. obs. 1 . p. 47. ^ Con. Carth. 4. c. 9.
Ostiarius cum ordinatur— ad suggestionem Archidiaconi tradat ei Episcopus
claves Ecclesiae, dicens ; " Sic age quasi redditurus Deo rationem de his rei
bus quae his clavibus recluduutur." * Ordo Roman, part. 2. p. 98.
♦ Grat. Dist. 23. c. 19.
CHAP. VII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 295
done by the deacons or subdeacons, and deaconesses, as I
have showed before in speaking- of those orders. So that
all that the door-keepers could have to do in this matter
was only to open and shut the doors, as officers and ser-
vants under the others, and to be governed wholly by their
direction. It belonged to them likewise to give notice of
the times of prayer and Church-assemblies ; which, in time
of persecution, required a private signal, for fear of disco-
very : and that, perhaps, was the first reason of instituting
this order in the Church of Rome, whose example by de-
grees was followed by other Churches. However it be,
their office and station seems to have been little more than
that of clerks and sextons in our modern Churches.
CHAP. vn.
Of the PsalmistcB or Singers.
Sect. 1. — The Singers a Distinct Order from Readers in the ancient Church.
I HAVE hitherto given an account of those five inferior
orders, which the Church of Rome has singled out from
the rest, and without any reason stamped them with the
authority and character of apostolical institution; whilst
yet she takes no notice of some others, which have as good
pretence to antiquity, and to be styled distinct clerical or-
ders, as most of the former. Among these I reckon the
Psalmisfce, the Copiatce, and the Parabolani of the primi-
tive Church. Habertus^ and Bellarmin,- and others, who
are concerned to maintain the credit of the Romish Church
in making but five inferior orders, pretend that singers and
readers are only one and the same order. But as the
Canonists of their own Church generally reckon them two,
so nothing can be more evident than that they were always
accounted so in the primitive Church from their first insti-
tution. For they are distinguished, as much as any other
orders, by all the writers that mention them; as the reader,
that is curious in this matter, may satisfy himself by con-
• Habert. Archierat. par. 4. obs. 4. p. 44. - Bellanu. de Clericis,
lib. i.e. 11.
^96 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK III.
sultino" the places of Ephrem Syrus,^ the council of Lao-
dicea,^ and those called the Apostolical Canons,^ and Con-
stitutions,* the author^ of St, Mark's Liturgy, the Epistle
under the name of Ig-natius,'' Justinian,'^ and the council
of Trullo,^ referred to in the margin. Particularly Justi-
nian's Novel does so distinguish them, as to inform us, that
there were twenty-five singers, and one hundred and ten
readers in the Greek Church of Constantinople ; which is
a convincing evidence that they were of different orders.
Sect. 2. — Their Institution and Office.
The first rise and institution of these singers, as an order
of the clergy, seems to have been about the beginning- of
the fourth century. For the council of Laodicea is the first
that mentions them, unless any one thinks perhaps the
Apostolical Canons to be a little more ancient. The reason
of instituting them seems to have been to regulate and en-
courage the ancient psalmody of the Church. For from the
first and apostolical age singing was always a part of divine
service, in which the whole body of the Church joined
together: which is a thing so evident, that though Cabas-
sutius^ denies it, and in his spite to the Reformed Churches,
where it is generally practised, calls it only a protestant
whim; yet Cardinal Bona has more than once*" not only
confessed, but solidly proved it to have been the primitive
practice. Of which therefore I shall say no more at pre-
sent, but only observe, that it was the decay of this that
first brought the order of singers into the Church. For
when it was found by experience, that the negligence and
unskilfulness of the people rendered them unfit to perform
this service, without some more curious and skilful to guide
and assist them ; then a peculiar order of men were ap-
pointed, and set over this business, with a design to retrieve
and improve the ancient psalmody, and not to abolish or
' Ephrem. 93. Serm. tie Secuiido Doni. Advent. ^ Con. Laodic.
can. 2*. ^ Can. Apost. c. 69 et 43. * Constit. Apost. lib. iii.
c. 11. * Liturg. Maici. Bibl. Patr. Gr. Lat. torn. ii. p. 35. ^ Epist,
ad Antiochcn. ' Justhi. Novel. 3. c. 1. '' Con. Trull, c. 4.
s Cabassut. Notit. Con. c. 3S. p. '-201. '" Bona, Rer. Liturg. lib, i.
c. 25. n. 19. It. dc Divin. Psalaiod. c. 17.
CHAP. VII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 297
destroy it. And from this time these were called KavoviKoX
^aXToi, the canonical singers, that is, such as were er\tered
into the canon or catalogue of the clergy, which distin-
guished them from the body of the Church. In some
places it was thought fit for some time to prohibit all others
from singing but only these ; with design, no doubt, to re-
store the concent of the ancient ecclesiastical harmony;
which otherwise could not well have been done, but by
obliging the rest for some time to be silent, and learn of
those, who were more skilful in the art of music. Thus I
understand that canon of the council of Laodicea,' which
forbids all others to sing in the Church, except only the
canonical singers, who went up into the ambo, or singing-
desk, and sung out of a book. This was a temporary pro-
vision, designed only to restore and revive the ancient psal-
mody, by reducing it to its primitive harmony and perfec-
tion. That, which the rather inclines me to put this sense
upon the canon, and look upon it only as a prohibition for
a time, is, that in after ages we find the people enjoyed
their ancient privilege of singing all together; which is
frequently mentioned by St. Austin, Ambrose, Chrysostom,
Basil, and many others, who give an account of the psal-
mody and service of the Church in their own ages; of
which I shall speak more hereafter in its proper place.
Sect. 3. — Why called 'Yn-ojSoXttg.
Here I must note, that these canonical singers were also
called 'Yiro^oXdq, monitors, or suggestors, from their office,
which was to be a sort of precentors to the people ; for the
custom in some places was for the singer or psalmist to
begin a psalm or hymn, and sing half a verse by himself,
and then the people answered in the latter clause; and from
this they were said " vin^x^lv,'^ or " succinere,"' to sing
after him,hy way oi Antiphona, or responsal. In this sense
Epiphanius Scholasticus understands the name 'Y7ro/3oXtTc
in Socrates,2 for he translates it, Psalmi Pronunciatores ;
' Con. Laodic. c. 15. M/) Ulv -rrkiov rdv KavoviKwv ^aXnov tu,p f tti tov
iKK\}i(ri(f. 2 SocnU. lib. v. c, S'i.
VOL. 1. ^ ^
298 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK III.
and so both Valesius' and Cotelerius^ explain it. But
Habeitus is of the contrary mind: he thinks^ the name,
'YTToBoXtTc, denotes not singers, but readers ; and that they
were so called, because they suggested to the preachers a
portion of Scripture to discourse upon: for then their homi-
lies were frequently upon such parts of Scripture, as the
reader had just before repeated. The controversy is nice
betwixt these learned men, and I shall no further inquire
into the merits of it, but leave it to every judicious reader
to determine.
Sect. i. — What sort of Ordination they had.
There is but one thing more, that needs be noted, con-
cerning this order, which is the manner of their designation
to this office ; which in this agreed with all the other infe-
rior orders, that it required no imposition of hands, or so-
lemn consecration. But in one thing it differed from
them; — That, whereas the rest were usually conferred by
the bishop or a Chorepiscopus, this might be conferred
by a presbyter, using this form of words, as it is in the
canon of the fourth council of Carthage,* " See that thou
believe in thy heart what thou singest with thy mouth, and
approve in thy works what thou believest in thy heart."
And this is all the ceremony we find any where used about
their designation.
CHAP. VIII.
Of the Copiatce or Fossarii.
Sect. 1.— The Copiatce or Fossarii reckoned among the Clerici of the
Primitive Church.
Another order of the inferior clergy in the primitive
Church were those, whose business was to take care of
» Vales, in Socrat. ibid. "" Coteler. Not. in Constit. Apost. lib. ii.
c. 67. * Habert. Archierat. par. iv. obs. i. p. 39. * Con.
Carth. iv. c. 10. Psahnista, id est, Cantor potest absque scicntia, episcopi,
sola jussione Presbyteri, officium suscipere cantandi, dicente sibi Presby-
tero: vide ut, quod ore cantas, corde credas : et quod corde credis, operibus
comprobes.
CHAP, VIII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 299
funerals, and provide for the decent interment of the dead.
These in ancient writers are commonly termed Copiatte,
which is the name that Constantius gives them in two Re-
scripts in the Theodosian Code. ' Epiphanius ^ speaks of
them vmder the same name, styhng- them KoTrmrat, and
the author^ under the name of Ignatius, KoTrtwi/T-tc. Gotho-
fred* deduces it from the Greek word kotto^hv, which sig-
nifies resting ; others from KOTreroc mourning ; but gene-
rally the name is thought to be given them from kottoq and
KoinacT^ai, which signify labouring ; whence they are by
some called Lahorantes. The author under the name of
St. Jerom^ styles them Fossarii, from digging of graves ;
and in Justinian's Novels^ they are called Lecticarii, from
carrying the corps or bier at funerals. Gothofred thinks it
improper to reckon these among- the Clerici^ of the ancient
Church. But when we are speaking- of things and customs
of the ancient Church, I know not how we shall speak more
properly than in the language of the ancients, who them-
selves call them so. For not only the author^ under the
name of St. Jerom calls them the first order of the Clericiy
as they are in his account, but St. Jerom himself also gives
them the same title ; speaking- of one that was to be interred,
" The Clerici,'" says he, " whose office^ it was, w ound up
the body, digged the earth, builded a vault, and so, accord-
ing to custom, made ready the grave." This is the reason
why Epiphanius ^^ and the counterfeit Ignatius reckon them
among the inferior orders. And Gothofred had no need to
make emendations upon those imperial laws" in the Theo-
> Cod. Theod. lib. xiii. tit. I. de Lustrali CoUat. leg. 1. It lib. xvi. tit. 2.
de Episc. leg. 15. * Epiphan. Expos. Fid. n. 21. ^ Epist. ad
Antioch. n. 12. * Gothofred. Com. in. Cod. Theod. lib. xiii. tit. 1.
leg. 1. ^Hieron. de Sept. Ordin. Eccles. torn. iv. p. 81. « Justin.
Novel. 43 et 59. ' Gothofred. Not. in Cod. Theod. lib. xvi. tit. 2.
leg. 15. * De Sept. Ordin. Eccles. Primus in Clericis Fossariorum Ordo
est, &c. ^ Hieron. Ep. ad Innocent. De Muliere septies icta. torn. i.
p. 235. Clerici, quibus id officii erat, cruentum linteo cadaver obvolvunt, et
fossam humum lapidibus construentes, ex more tuniulum parant.
"Epiphan. et Ignat. ubi supra. " Cod. Theod. lib. vii. tit. 20. De
Veteranis. leg. 12. Dum se quidam vocabulo Clericorum, ct infaustis defunct-
orum obsequiis occupatos — defendunt. &c. Ibid. lib. xiii. tit. I. De Lustrali
CoUat. leg. 1. Clericos excipi tantiim, qui Copiatae appellantur, &c. Ibid.
lib. xvi. tit. 2. De Episc. leg. 15. Clerici vero, vel hi, quos Copiatas re-
cens usus instituit nuncupari, &c.
300 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE BOOK III.
dosian Code, which g-ive the Copiatae the name of Clerici,
and entitle them to some immunities and privileges upon
that account ; for this, as appears, was only to speak in the
language and style of other ecclesiastical writers.
Sect. 2. — First instituted in the Time of Constantine.
This order seems to have been first instituted in the time of
Constantine ; for Constantius, his son, in one of those laws
just now referred to, speaks of it as a late institution, and
there is no writer of the three first ages that ever mentions
it : but all that time the care of interring the dead was only
a charitable office, which every Christian thought himself
obliged to perform as occasion required. And that is the
reason, why we meet with so many noble encomiums of this
sort of charity in the writers of those ages, but never once
mention of any order instituted for that purpose. But when
Constantine came to the throne, and was quietly settled in
his new seat at Constantinople, he incorporated a body of
men, to the number of eleven hundred, in that city, under
the name of Copiatee, for that particular service ; and so
they continued to the time of Honorius and Theodosius
Junior, who reduced them^ to nine hundred and fifty. But
Anastatius augmented them again to the first number, which
Justinian confirmed by two Novels,^ published for that pur-
pose. And I suppose fiom this example of the Constanti-
nopolitan Church they took their rise in other populous
Churches.
Sect. 3. — Why called Decani and Collegiati.
But probably there might be some little difference be-
tween those in the Church of Constantinople and others in
the lesser Churches. For at Constantinople they were in-
corporated into a sort of civil society, in the Roman lan-
guage called collegium, a college ; whence the laws some-
times styled them collegiati, and decani, coUegiates, and
deans. As in the fore-mentioned laws of Honorius and
Theodosius Junior, and Justinian, and another of Theodo-
» Cod. Just. lib. i. tit. 2. De SS. Eccles. leg. 4-. Non plures quam non-
genti quinquaginta Decani deputentur EcclesiEe, &c. ^ Justin. Novel.
43 et 59.
CHAP. VIII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 301
sius the Great,* in the Justinian Code, where he grants
them an exemption from some other civil offices, provided
they did not act upon a feigned and pretended title, but
were really employed in the service of the Church. But
why they were called Decani, is not very easy to conjecture.
Propably it might be, because they resembled the palatine
deans, who were a sort of military officers belonging- to the
emperor's palace, and are styled also Corpus Decanorum in
both Xha Codes 2 mentioned by St. Chrysostom,^ and other
Greek writers, under the name of Aekovoi Iv toXq [iaaiXdoig,
deans of the palace, to distinguish them from those other
deans of the Church, which some unwarily confound to-
gether. But I am not very confident that this was the
reason of the name, and therefore I only propose it as a
conjecture, till some one assigns a better reason for it.
Sect. 4. — Their Office and Privileges.
Their office' was to take the whole care of funerals upon
themselves, and to see, that all persons had a decent and
honourable interment. Especially they were obliged to per-
form this last office to the poorer sort, without exacting any
thing of their relations upon that account. That it was so
at Constantinople, appears from one of Justinian's Novels,*
which acquaints us, how Anastatius, the emperor, settled
certain revenues of land upon this society, and ordered a
certain number of shops or workhouses in the city to be
freed from all manner of tribute, and to be appropriated to
this use ; out of whose income and annual rents of the
lands, the defensors and stewards of the Church, who had
the chief care and oversight of the matter, were to pay
these deans, and see the expenses of such funerals defrayed.
Justinian not only confirmed that settlement, but a com-
plaint being made of an abuse — that, notwithstanding the
laws of Anastatius, pay was exacted for funerals, — he pub-
' Cod. Just. lib. xi. tit. 17. De Collegiatis. leg. unic. Qui sub praetextu
Decanorum seu CoUegiatorum, cum id raunus non irapleant, aliis se muneribus
conantur subtrahere, eorum fraudibus credimus esse obvianduni. ^ Vid.
Cod. Theod. lib. vi. tit., 33. de Decanis. leg. 1. It. Cod. Just. lib. xii.
tit. 27. leg. 1 et 2, » chrys. Hoin. 13. in Hebr. p. 1849.
* Justin. Novel. 59.
302 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK III.
lished that, his Novel, on purpose to correct it. But we do
not find that such settlements were made in all other
Churches ; but it is more probable, that the Copiatce were
maintained partly out of the common stock of the Church,
and partly out of their own labour and traffic, which, for
their encourag-ement, was g-enerally exempted from paying'
custom or tribute, as we shall see hereafter.
CHAP. IX.
OJ the Paraholani.
Skct. 1, — The Parabolani ranked by some among the Clerici.
Another order of men, which by some are reckoned
among the Clerici of the ancient Church, were those,
whom they called Parabolani. Theodosius Junior, in one
of his laws relating" to them in the TheodosianCode,' puts
them among the Clerici, and evidently includes them un-
der that common title, as Gothofred rightly observes in his
exposition of the place. Baronius himself does not deny
that they were of the clergy, but he would persuade his
reader, that they were not a distinct order, but chosen out
of the inferior orders of the clergy,- of which there is no-
thing said in that law, but rather the contrary, that they
were to be chosen out of the poor of Alexandria.
Sect. 2. — Their Institution and Office.
Their office is described in the next law, where they are
said to be deputed to attend upon the sick, and to take care
of their bodies in time of their weakness.^ At Alexandria
they were incorporated into a society to the number of five
' Cod.Theod. lib. xvi. tit. ii. de Episc. leg. 42. Placet nostra ClementiBe, ut
nihil commune Clerici cum publicis Actibus vel ad curiam perlinentibus ha-
beant. Gothofr. Not. in Loo. Sane Clericorura eos numero fuisse, turn hujus
Legis initium, tum utraque haec Lex et sequens ostendunt. ® Baron,
an. 416. torn. iv. p. 400. Fuisse hos minoris ordinis Clericos allectos, exor-
dium dati hoc anno Rescript! insinuare videtur. ^ Cod. Theod. Ibid. leg.
43. Parabolani, qui ad curanda debilium agra corpora deputantur, quingen-
tos esse ante praecepimus : sed quia hos minus sufficere in prsesenti cognovi-
mus, pro quingeotis sexcentos conslitui prajcipimus, &c.
CHAP. IX.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 303
or six hundred, to be chosen, at the discretion of the bishop
of the place, out of any sort of men except the honorati and
curiales, who were tied to serve in the civil offices of their
country, and therefore were not allowed to enter them-
selves into any ecclesiastical service. They were to be
under the government and direction of the bishop, as ap-
pears from the same law, which is a correction of the for-
mer law; for by it they were put under the government of
the Prcefectus Augustalis, as the chief civil magistrate was
called at Alexandria. But by this law Theodosius revoked
his former decree, and subjected them entirely to the care
and disposition of the bishop, or, as the Greek collector of
the Ecclesiastical Constitutions out of the civil law* styles
him, the pope ; meaning, not the pope of Rome, as some
ignorantly mistake, but the pope or bishop of Alexandria.
For then it was customary to give every bishop the name
of Papa, as has been showed in another place.^ What
time this order began, we cannot certainly determine. The
first notice we have of it is in these Laws of Theodosius
Junior, Anno 415. Yet it is not there spoken of as newly
instituted, but as settled in the Church before ; and proba-
bly it might be instituted about the same time, as the
Copiatee were under Constantine, when some charitable
offices, which were only voluntarily practised by Christians
before, as every one's piety inclined him, were now turned
into standing" offices, and settled upon a certain order of
men particularly devoted to such services. That it was not
any order peculiar to the Church of Alexandria, is evident,
because there is mention made of the Parahalani being at
Ephesus in the time of the second council, that was held
there, Anno 449. For Basilius Seleuciensis, who subscribed
there to the condemnation of Flavian and the absolution of
Eutyches, the heretic, being- brought to a recantation in the
council of Chalcedon, makes this apology for himself, " that
he was terrified into that subscription, by the soldiers that
came armed into the Church, together with Barsumus and
his monks, and the Parabalani,^ and a great multitude of
' Collect. Constit. Eccles. lib. i. tit. 3. c. 18. ^ Book ii. chap. ii.
sect. 7. ' Con. Chalced. Act. i. torn. iv. p. 252.
304 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK III.
Others." The original word is IlapajSaXavac; which the old
translator rightly renders, Parabalani, which is the same
with Paraholani, for it is written both ways in ancient
authors. But Binius, in his Greek edition of the Councils,
not understanding the word, explains it, " ii qui circa
balnea versantur,"" as if the Parabalani had been persons
attending at the public baths; whereas now all men know
their office was of a different nature, and their names given
them for a reason very different from that of giving attend-
ance at the bathp.
Sect. 3. — The Reason of the Name Parabalani.
As to the reason of their name, to omit the fanciful inter-
pretations of Aleiat and Accursius, which are sufficiently
exposed by Gothofred, the opinion of Duarenus,* and Gotho-
fred seems to be the truest, that they were called Paraba-
lani from their undertaking " Ilapa/BoXov epyov,'" a most
dangerous and hazardous office, in attending the sick,
especially in infections and pestilential diseases. The
Greeks were used to call those OapajSoXot, who hired them-
selves out to fight with wild beasts in the amphitheatre. And
so Socrates, the historian ,2 uses the word; speaking of Theo-
dosius's exhibiting one of the public games to the people
at Constantinople, he says, " the people cried out to him
that he should suffer one of the bold Ilo^ajSoXot to fight
with the wild beasts." These w ere those, whom the Romans
called Bestiarii, and sometimes Paraboli and Parabolarii,
from the Greek word Unga^aWta^ai, which signifies expos-
ing a man's life to danger, as they that fought with wild
beasts did. In this sense, I have had occasion to show^
before, the Christians were generally called Parabolarii by
the Heathens, because they were so ready to expose their
lives to martyrdom. And it is the opinion of Gothofred*
and some other* learned critics, that the ancient reading. of
the Greek copies of St. PauFs Epistle to the Philippians,
• Duarcn. DeMinist. et Benefic. lib.i. c. 19. ^ Socrat. lib. vii. c. 22.
'O (tf/ixof K-aTfj(3(j«, Cfii'ip ^ripii^ eva tS)v iv(jtvon' napajSoKiov firrxfcrOnt.
"Book j. chap. ii. sect.' 9. * Gothol'r. Kot. in Cod. Th. xvi. 2. 42,
* Vid. Grot. Hammond. Cupel, in Philip. 2. 30.
\
CHAP. IX,] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 305
chap. ii. ver. 30, was "Ua^aftoXevaaintvoi- ry i/zuxV " exposing-
his life to danger, as an old Latin interpreter of Puteanus
renders it, " Paraholatus cle animd sua.''' In the same
sense these Paraholani of the primitive Church, we are now
speaking- of, had their name from their boldly exposing their
lives to danger in attendance upon the sick in all infectious
and pestilential distempers.
Sect. 4. — Some Laws and Rules concerning their Behaviour.
I shall only observe further of them, that being- commonly,
according to their name, men of a bold and daring spirit,
they were ready upon all occasions to engage in any quar-
rel, that should happen in Church or State. As they seem
to have done in the dispute between Cyril, the bishop, and
Orestes, the governor of Alexandria ; which was the reason,
why Theodosius, by his first law, sunk their number to
five hundred, and put them under the inspection of the
Prcsjectiis Augustalis, and strictly prohibited them from
appearing at any public shows, or in the common council
of the city, or in the judge's court, unless any of them had
a cause of his own, or of the whole body, as their syndic,
to prosecute there ; and then he must appear single without
any of his order or associates to abet him. And though
he not long after revoked this law as to the former part,
allowing them to be six hundred, and the bishop to have
the choice and cognizance of them; yet in all other respects
lie ordered it to stand in its full force, still prohibiting them
to appear in a body upon any of the foresaid* occasions.
And Justinian made this law perpetual by inserting it into
his own Code; which shows, that the civil government
always looked upon these Paraholani as a formidable body
of men, and accordingly kept a watchful eye and strict
hand over them : that, whilst they were serving the Church,
they might not do any disservice to the State, but keep
within the bounds of that office, whereto they were ap-
pointed,
' Cod. Just. lib. i. tit. 3. De Episc. leg. 18. Hi sexcenti viri revercndissi-
nii Sacerdotis jirteceptis ac disj)Ositionibus obsecundent ; reliquis, qua; duduin
latae legis forma couiplcctitiir super his Parabolanis, vol de spectaculis, vel
de judiciis, CcEterisquc (sicut jam statutum est) custodiendis.
VOL. I. Z P
306 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK III.
CHAP. X.
Of the Catechists.
'Sect. 1. — Catechists no distinct Order of the Clergy, but chosen out of any-
other Order.
I have hitherto discoursed of such particular orders of the
ecclesiastics in the primitive Church, as were destinated
precisely to some particular office and function: but there
were some offices which did not require a man to be of any
one distinct order, bat might be performed by persons of
any order ; and it will be necessary I should g-ive some ac-
count of these also, whilst I am treating* of the clergy of
the Church. Tlie first of these I shall speak of is the ca-
techist, whose office was to instruct the catechumens in the
first principles of relig'ion, and thereby prepare them for
the reception of baptism. This office was sometimes done
by the bishop himself, as is evident from that passag-e in St.
Ambrose, where he says,^ " Upon a certain Lord's-Day,
after the reading the Scriptures and the sermon, when the
catechumens were dismissed, he took the Competenfes, or
candidates for baptism, into the baptistery of the Church,
and there rehearsed the creed to them." This was on
Palm-Sunday, when it was customary for the bishop him-
self to catechize such of the catechumens as were to be
baptized on Easter-Eve. Theodorus Lector^ takes notice of
the same custom in the eastern Churches, when he tells us,
*' that before the time of Timothy, bishop of Constantinople,
the Nicene Creed was never used to be repeated publicly
in that Church, except only once a year, on the g-reat day
of preparation, the day of our Lord's passion, when the
bishop was wont to catechise." At other times presbyters
and deacons were the catechists. St. Chrysostom per-
formed this office, when he was presbyter of Antioch, as
' Amhros. Ep. 3.3. Post Lectiones atque Tractatum, diniissis Catechume-
nis, Symbolum aliquibus Coinpetentibus in Baptisteriis tradebam Basiliese.
^Theodor. Lector. Collectan. lib. ii. p. 563. To avj.ij3o\ov anai tS trug
Xtyojuti'O)' TTQortpov tv ry nyia rrapaffx^^y fa Stta TrciQut;, r^ Kaipy rwV
CHAP. X.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 307
appears from one of his Homilies,' which is inscribed,
Kor»j>/»JO''C 7r()oV thq juiXXovrac f})(i,Ti^e(T.^(u, A catechism or
instruction for the candidates of baptism. Deogratias was
cateehist w^hen he was deacon of Carthao-e; as we learn
from St. Austin's book,^ Be CatechizanAis Rudibus, which
he wrote at his request, to give him some assistance in per-^
forming his duty.
Sect. 2. — Readers sometimes made CatechistfS.
Nor was it only the superior orders that performed this of-
fice ; but sometimes persons were chosen out of the inferior
orders to do it. Optatus was but a reader in the Church of
Carthag-e, and yet Cyprian made him cateehist, or as it is in
his phrase, 3 '''Doctor Audienfium,'' — the master of the
hearers, or lowest rank of catechumens. Orig-en seems to
have had no higher degree in the Church, when he was first
made cateehist at Alexandria; for both Eusebius* and St.
Jerom* say, he was but eighteen years old, when he M'as
deputed to that office; which was at least seven years be-
fore he could be ordained deacon by the Canons of the
Church.
Sect. 3. — Why called NavroXoyoi by some Greek Writers.
The author under the name of Clemens Roraanus seems
to* have had regard to this, when comparing the Church to
a ship, and the clergy to the officers in it, he plainly dis-
tinguishes the catechists from the bishop, presbyters, and
deacons, saying, " The bishop*^ is to resemble the Tlpwpevg,
or Pilot; the presbyters the 'Navrai, ov mariners ; the dea-
cons the Tot;i^ap\ot, or chief rowers; the catechists the
NanroXo-yoi, or those whose office it was to admit passen-
gers into the ship, and contract with them for the fare of
their passage. This was properly the catechist's duty, to
'Chrys. Horn. 21. ad Popul. Antiochen. ^Aug. dc Catechizand.
Rudibus. c. l.tom. iv. p. 295. Dixisti quod saepe apud Carthaginem, ubi Dia-
conus es, ad te adducantur, qui fide Christiana imbuendi sunt, &c.
^ Cypr. Ep. 24. al. 29. Optatum inter Lectores Doctorem Audientium consti-
tuimus. * Euseb. lib. vi. c. 3. ^Hicron. de Scriptor. in Origine.
Decimo octavo setatis su£b anno KaTrixv'^^'^f op"S aggressus, &c.
«Clem. Ep, ad Jacob, n. U.
308 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK III.
show the catechumens the contract they were to make, and
the conditions they were to pcriorm, viz, repentance, faith ,
and new obedience, in order to their admittance into the
Christian ship, the Church, in which they were to pass
throuo-h this world to the Kingdom of Heaven. Upon tliis
account the catechists were termed NauroXoyoi, and as such
distinguished from bishops, presbyters, and deacons. Co-
telerius* says he found a Greek MS. in one of the French
King's hbraries, where the same comparison is made,
and cited out of the Constitutions, in these words : " The
Church is hke a ship; Christ is the governor; the bishop,
the pilot; the presbyters, the mariners; the deacons, the
chief rowers; the catechists, or Nautologi, the orders of
subdeacons and readers." So that it is evident the cate-
chists were sometimes chosen out of the inferior orders,
when any of them were found duly qualified to discharge
the duties of that function. And this will be the less won-
dered at by any one that considers, that the deaconesses,
whilst their order was in being, were required to be a sort
of private catechists to the more ignorant and rustic women
catechumens; which I need not stand to evince here, be-
cause I have done it heretofore in speaking of the offices,
which belonged to that order. See book ii. chap. 22.
sect. 9.
Sect. 4, — Whether all Catechists taught publicly in the Cliurch.
But in all these cases there is one thing to be diligently
noted, — that this sort of catechists were not allowed to in-
struct their catechumens publicly in the Church, but only
in private auditories appointed particularly for that purpose.
Valesius^ observes this in the case of Origen, and rightly
concludes it from the Invective of Demetrius, bishop of
Alexandria, against Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem, and
Theoctistus, bishop of Caesarea, who had authorized Origen
' Coteler. Not. in Constit. Apost. lib. ii, c, 57. p. 263, "EotKtv »; iKK\r\cia
vrj'i 0 fiiv yv^ipvi'jrrjQ etiv 6 XpiTog. 6 Si Trpwptvf, 6 iirlaKoiroq. 6i vavroi, ot
irp£(7|3iir£poi, 6i roixapxot, ot diuKovot. 6t j'rtvroXoyot, rb tUv avayvioTiuv ici
vTcrifitTuiv rdyixa. ^ Vales, Not. in Euseb. lib. vi. c. 19. It. Ilallier.
de Hierarch. Eccles. lib. i. c. 7. p. 66.
CHAP. X.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 309
to prea<;h publicly in the Church, uhen as yet he was no
presbyter. This accusaliou had been ridiculous, had he
himself given Orioen the same power before, when lie was
catechist at eighteen years of age, at Alexandria. RuiKn,
indeed, in his Translation of Eusebius, says positively,
" that Demetrius gave him authority to catechise and teach
publicly in the Church."' But that is an interpolation and
false paraphrase of Eusebius's words, who says no such
thing-, but only, '^ " that Demetrius, bishop of the Church,
had committed to his care the office of catechizing," or (as
we may render it,) " the catechetic school," where probably
for some time he also taught grammar, and other human
learning. That there were such sort of catechetic schools
adjoining to the Church in many places, is evident from a
noveH of the Emperor Leo, who calls them " K«r>)xs/i£va,"
and says, "they were a sort of buildings belonging to the
Church." It might be the baptistry, as St. Ambrose calls
it, or any other places set apart for that purpose.
Sect. 6.— Of the Succession in the Catechetic School at Alexandria.
Such a school as this we may suppose that to have been,
wherein Origen and so many other famous men read cate-
chetic lectures at Alexandria. Eusebius* says, " Pantsenus
taught in this school, Anno 181 ; and that it was a school of
sacred learning from ancient custom long before, and that
it continued so to be to his own time." St. Jerom deduces
its original from St. Mark, the first founder of the Church of
Alexandria, telling us, " that Pantaenus^ taught Christian
philosophy at Alexandria, where it had been the custom of
old always to have ecclesiastical doctors from the time of
•Ruffin. lib. vi. c. 3. Demetrius - - - Catechizandi ei, id est, docendi
Magisterium in Ecclesia tribuit. ^ Euseb. lib. vi. c. 3. 'Avrtf) ^luiu^
Ti]Q rs Karijxtiv ^tarpt/3;;f vvrb At]fir]Tpiii rs r>;(; iKKXritriaQ TTpos'rdJTug tTTire-
Tpai.ifiivt]g. ^ Leo. Novel. 73. In Ecclesiarum Ccenaculis, quse proniis-
cuuni Tulgus Karr}x>iixiva vocare solet. Vid. Con. Trull, c. 97. Balsanion.
Zonar. in Loc. ''Euseb. lib. v. c. 10. "Hyaro niviKavra rijc nov
in'^ijiv dvTo^i ^larpi^ifQ Jlavraivoq' i'i aQxaia i^ag iioaffKaXein tiHv UpiZvXoytfiv
Trap avToig trvviruiTOC' 6 Kj tig t'lfing TrapaTtu'ercti. ^Hieron. dc Scrip
tor. c. 36. Pantsenus StoiciE Sectse Philosoplnis, juxta quanduin Veterum in
Alexandria consuetudincm, ubi a Marco Evangclista semper Ecclesiastici
fucre Doctorcs - - - Docuit sub Scvcro Principe, &c.
310 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK TIT.
St. Mark." Where, by ecclesiastical doctors, he does not
mean the bishops and presbyters of the Church (which
were orig-inally in all Churches as well as Alexandria) but
the doctors of Christian philosophy in the catechetic school,
whereof there had been a succession from the first founda-
tion of the Church. And the succession was continued for
someag"es after: for Clemens Alexandrinus^ succeeded Pan-
taenus; and Origen,* Clemens; Heraclas,^ Origen; and
Dionysius,* Heraclas. After whom some^ add Atheno-
dorus, Malchion, Athanasius, and Didymus. And the
author of the Greek Synodicon, published by Pappus, says,^
Arius taught in the same school before he broached his he-
resy. It were easy to recount many other such school sat
Rome, Caesarea, Antioch, &c. but I shall have another
occasion to speak of these, when I come to consider the
encouragement that Christian emperors gave to schools of
learning and the professors of liberal arts and sciences.
What has here been suggested upon this head, may suffice
at present to show what was the office of the catechist; and
what the use of catechetical schools in the Church.
CHAP. XI.
Of the Ecclesiecdici and Defensor es, or Syndics of the Church.
Sect. 1. — Five Sorts of Dcfensorex noted, Two whereof only belonged
to the Church.
Another office, which will deserve to be spoken of in
this place, because it was sometimes, though not always,
managed by the hands of the clergy, is that of the Defen-
sores ; for the understanding of which, it w ill be necessary
in the first place to distinguish between the civil and eccle-
siastical defensors. For Gothofred thinks, there were in all,
four sorts of them, viz. The Defensores Senatiis, Defensores
Urbimn, Defensores Ecclesiarum, and Defensores Paupe-
» Euseb.lib. vi. c. 6 '^ Id. llb.vi. c. 19. » Ilieron.
de Scriptor. in Origeiie. Euseb. lib. vi. c. 26. * Euseb. lib. vi.
c. 29. * Hospin. de Teraplis lib, iii. c. 5, *• Synodicon
Con. torn. ii. p. HQl.
CHAP. XI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 311
rum. Blithe might have added one more, which Ulpian^
calls Defensores rerum puhlicarum, whose office was to
be a sort of proctors or syndics in manag-ing the public
causes of that corporation, or company of tradesmen, to
\\hich they belonged ; which sort of defensors were first
instituted by Alexander Severus, as Lampridius^ tells us in
his hfe. The Defensores Civifatum, or, as they are othewise
called, Defensores Plebis, were a sort of Tribunes of the
people ; one of their chief offices being- to defend the poor
plebeians against the insults and oppressions of the great
and wealthy citizens. Now, in imitation of these, I presume
the ecclesiastical defensors were instituted, as both their
name and office seem plainly to imply.
Sect. 2. — 0{ \he Defensores Pauperum.
The defensors of the poor had much the same employ-
ment in the Church, as the Defensores Plebis had in the
State: for if any of the poor, or virgins, or widows, belonging
to the Church, were injured or oppresed by the rich, it was
the business of these defensors, as their proctors or advo-
cates, to see them righted, and to solicit the magistrate
that they might have justice done them. This is evident,
from the decree made in the fifth council of Carthage, Anno
401 ; which is also inserted into the African Code, and is
to this purpose ; " That, ^ forasmuch as the Church was
incessantly wearied with the complaints and afflictions of
the poor, it was unanimously agreed upon by them in coun-
cil, that the emperors should be petitioned to allow defen-
sors to be chosen for them, by the procurement and appro-
bation of the bishops, that they might defend them from the
power and tyranny of the rich.
Sect. 3. — Of the Defensores Ecclesice, their Office and Function.
As to the other sort of defensors called, Defensores
• Digest. lib. xlix. tit. 4. leg. i. * Lamprid. Vit. Alexand. Cor-
pora omnium Constituit, Vinariorum, Lupinarioruin, Caligariorum. et omnino
omnium artium; hisque ex sese Defensores dedit. ^Con. Carth.
V. C.9. Ab Imperatoribus universis visum estpostulandum, propter afflictioncm
pauperum, quorum molestiis sine intermissione fatigatur Ecclcsia, ut defen-
sores eis, adversus potentias divitum, cum cpiscoporum provisione delegentur.
Vid. Cod. Ecclcs. Afr. Can. 7o.
312 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK III.
Ecclesice, (whom I speak of separately, because Gothofred
makes a distinction between them, though others take them
to be the same,) their office did as plainly resemble that of
the other sort of of civil defensors, called, Defensores Reruni
publicarum : for, as those were the proctors and syndics
of their respective companies, to manage the public con-
cerns of their societies at law upon all emergent occasions ;
So, these did the same for the Church, whose syndics they
were, being employed to solicit the cause of the Church, or
any single ecclesiastic, when they w^ere injured or oppressed,
and had occasion for redress in a civil court ; or if they
were not remedied there, they w'ere to address the empe-
rors themselves in the name of the Church, to procure a
particular precept in her favour. Thus Possidius^ tells us in
the Life of St. Austin, " that when the circumcellions in
their mad zeal had plundered and slain some of the catholic
clergy, the defensor of the Church prosecuted them at law
for the fact, that the peace of the Church might no more
be disturbed or impeded/' In the like manner we read in the
first council^ of Carthage, " that it being a thing against the
imperial laws for any layman to impose a secular office
upon a clergyman ; if any such injury was offered to the
Church," it is said, " the ajOTront might be redressed, if the
defensors of the Church did not fail in their duty:" which
plainly implies, that it was the business of the defensors to
see the rights of the Church, that were settled upon her by
law, truly maintained ; and if any encroachments were
made upon them, they were to prosecute the aggressors
and invaders, before the magistrates, and execute the
isentence, which they gave in favour of the Church. It is
further observable, from a law of Arcadius and Honorius,
recited in the next paragraph, that in case of necessity,
they V, ere likewise to make application to the emperors,
and bring their mandate to the inferior judges, when they
' Possid. Vit. Aug. c. 12. De quCi re, nc pads EcclcsiiE amplius iinpediretur
profectus, Defensor Ecclesiie inter Leges non silnit, &c. ^ Con.
Carth. i. c. 9. Ipsis non liceat Clericos nostros eligere Apothecarios vel
Ratiocinatores. — Quod si injuria Constitutionis Tmperatoriffi C'lerLcos in(|iiie-
tandospulavcrint, si Defensio Ecclcsiastica iios non dcridct, pudor publicus
vindicabitur.
CHAP. XI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 313
could not otherwise have justice done them. By a canon
of tlie council of Chalcedon, defensors are also empowered
to admonish such idle monks, and clerks as resorted to the
royal city of Constantinople, without any licence or commis-
sion from their bishops ; and if after admonition they con-
tinued still to loiter there, the same defensors were to
expel them thence by force,^ and cause them to return to
their own habitation. It appears also from Justinian's laws,^
that the defensors, tog-ether with the (Economt, were made
a sort of superintendents over the Copiatce, or great body
of deans, whose business was to attend at funerals, as has
been showed before ; the defensors were charg-ed with
the care of these, both in reference to their revenues and
persons. They were likewise to make inquiry, whether
every clerk, belonofino" to the Church, carefully attended the
celebration of mornino- and evenino- service in the Church :
and to inform the bishop of such as neglected, that they
mig-ht be proceeded against with ecclesiastical censures.^
These were the chief, if not the only offices of the defen-
sors in the primitive Church. For as to any spiritual power
or jurisdiction over the clergy, they had none ; nor were
they as yet admitted to hear criminal causes, great or little,
in the bishop's name. But these things were devolved upon
them in later ages, as Morinus* shows at large in a long
dissertation upon this subject, to which I refer the inquisitive
reader, contenting myself to give such an account of the
defensor's office and power, as I find it to have been in the
ages next after their institution.
*G
Sect. 4.— Of their Quality;— whether they were Clergymen or Laymen.
The next inquiry must be into their quality ; — whether
they were of the clergy or laity 1 For learned men are not
agreed about this. Petavius * says, they were always lay-
> Con. Chalced. c.'23."AKovraQ avrig oid r« avrQ 'EkC^Ikh iK^aXKiaQu, k, thC
iSiag KciraXafijiai'tiu roTrsf. ^ Justin. Novel. 59. * Cod.
Justin, lib. i. tit. 3. de Epis. leg. 49, n. 10. * Morin. deOrdinat.
Eccles. par. 3. excrcit. xvi. c. 7. * Petav. Not. in Epiphan.
Har. 72. n. 10.
VOL. I. 2 Q
314 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK III.
4.
men; but Morinus,* and Gothofied,* with much better rea-
son, assert the contrary ; that at first they were generally
chosen out of the clerg-y, till, for some particular reasons,
it was thoug-ht most proper to have advoeates-at-law to
discharge this office in the African Churches. This chang-e
was made about the year 407, when the African fathers in
the council of Carthage^ petitioned the emperor Honorius,
*' that he would give them leave to choose their defensors
out of the Scholastici, or advocates-at-laiv, who were actu-
ally concerned in pleading of causes ; that so they who
took upon them the defence of the Churches, might have
the same liberty as the provincial priests w ere used to have,
to o'o upon necessary occasion into the judge's consistory,
or council-chamber behind the veil, and there suggest what
they thought necessary to promote their own cause, or ob-
viate the plots of their adversaries." In answer to this pe-
tition, Honorius shortly after published a law, wherein he
granted them liberty to make use of such advocates for
their defensors as they desired; for he decreed*" that
whatever privileges were specially obtained of the empe-
ror, relating to the Church, should be intimated to the
judges, and executed, non per coronatos, not by clergymen,
(as Gothofred rightly explains it,) but by advocates-at-law."
So that now it was no longer necessary, that the defensors
should be of the clergy ; but the office was frequently en-
trusted in the hands of laymen. Which is further evident
from an Epistle of Pope Zosimus, who lived about the same
time ; for he says,* " The defensors of the Church were
> Morin. Ibid. Exer. xvi. c. 6. n. 16. * Gothofi-ed. Not. in Cod.
Theod. lib. xvi. tit. 2. de Epis. leg. 38. » Con. African, vulgo dic-
tum, can. 64. Placuit ut petant Legati a gloriosissimis Imperatoribus, ut
dent facultatem Defensores constituendi Scholasticos, qui in actu sunt, vel in
munere Defensionis causarum ; ut more Sacerdotum Provinciae, iidem ipsi qui
Defensionem Ecclesiarum susceperint, habeant facultatem pro negotiis Eccle-
siarum, quoties necessitas flagiiaverit, \el ad obsistcndum obrepentibus, vel
ad necessaria suggerenda, ingredi Judicum Secretaria. Vid. Cod. Can. Afr.
Gr. Lat. c. 97, et Con. Milevitan. c. 16, to the same purpose. * Cod.
Theod. lib. xvi. tit. 9. de Epis. leg. 38. Ut qusecunque de nobis ad Eccle-
siam tantilm pertinentia, specialiter fuerint impetrata, non per Coronatos, sed
ab Advocatis, eorum arbitratu, et Judicibus innotescant, et sortiantur efTec-
tum, &c. * Zosim. Ep. i. c. 3. Defensores Ecclesise, qui ex Laicis fiunt,
supradictd observatione teneantur, si meruerint esse in Ordine Clericatus.
CHAP. XI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 315
chosen out of the laity, and mig-ht .afterward, if they were
deserving-, be ordained among- the clergy." Yet after this,
we find the defensors, in some places, continued still to be
of the clergy : for Morinus shows, that in the first session
of the council of Chalcedon, there is frequent mention made
of one John, a presbyter and defensor;^ as also, in many
Epistles of Gregory the Great, the defensors of the Roman
Church are said to be of the clerji-y. To which I shall add
a fragment of Theodorus Lector, taken out of Damascen,^
which speaks of one John, as both deacon and defensor of
the Church of St. Stephen, at Constantinople, in the time
of Anastatius, the emperor, which was in the beginning of
the sixth century. From all which it is very evident against
Petavius, that the defensors were sometimes chosen out c f
the clergy, and not always made of advocates or laymen.
Sect. 5.— The 'Ek^ikoi and 'EicicXj/fftEKt^tKoi among the Greeks the same
with the Defensors of the Latin Church.
I must not omit to acquaint the reader, that what the
Latins call Defensores, the Greek Church commonly calls
"EKgtKot and 'EKKXrjo-a'icStKot, which signify the same as de-
fensors; though Gothofred,^ without any just reason, makes
a difference between them. For not only their offices and
powers are described to be the same, but also whenever
the Greeks have any occasion to speak of the Latin defen-
sors, they give them the name of "EKStKoi ; as may be seen
either in the Code of the African Church,* published by
Justellus, or that which the Greeks commonly call the
council of Carthage, published by Ehinger,^ and Dr. Beve-
rege,^ in the Pandects. But whether Iljoo-arrjc be another
Greek name for a defensor, is not so certain. The word is
only found once used by Epiphanius,'^ who speaking of one
Cyriacus, styles him K^pmicoe HpoTarTjCj which Petavius
renders, Cyriacus defensor. He seems indeed to have had
some office in the Church, because he is joined in the sub-
»Con. Chalced. Act. i. * Vid. Damascen. Orat. iii. de Imagin.
p, 799. et Fragment. Theod. Lector, edit, a Vales, p. 583. \wavvi)Q ctaKovog
ic, tKCiKO^ tS LvnySc oi/c8 ^.Tt^pava, &c. * Gothofred. Not. in Cod.
Theod. lib. xvi. tit. 2. leg. 38. * Cod. Can. Eccles. Afr. c. 75 et 97.
* Con. Carth. Gr. ap. Ehinger. c. 76 et 99. ^ Con. Carlh. ap. Bevercjf.
c. 78 et 100. ' Epiph. Hajr. 7-2. Marcel, n. 10.
316 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK HI.
scription of a letter with the clergy, presbyters, deacons,
subdeacons, and readers : but whether that be a sufficient
reason to make him a defensor, I must leave the judicious
reader to determine.
Sect. 6. ~ Chancellors and Defensors not the same in the Primitive Church.
There is one thing- more must be resolved before I dis-
miss this subject; that is, whether chancellors and defen-
sors were the same in the primitive Church '? In answer to
which I say, it is very plain they were not ; because the
first time we find any mention of the office of chancellors
in the Church, they are expressly distinguished from the
"^Ek^ikoi, or defensors; and that is in the Novel of Heraclius,
made in the beginning of the seventh century, where, deter-
minino' the number of ecclesiastical officers, that were to be
allowed in the great Church of Constantinople, he says,
" there should be two syncelli, twelve chancellors,* ten
defensors, twelve referendaries, forty notaries, and twelve
sceuophylaces, whereof four to be presbyters, six deacons,
and two readers." It is not very easy to determine what
the office of these chancellors was at that titTie ; but it is
very evident, however, from this, that they were not the
same with the defensors. They, who are acquainted with
the civil law, know that the Cancellarii in the civil courts
were not judges, but officers attending the judge in an in-
ferior station ; which appears evidently from a title in both
the Theodosian and Justinian Code,^ De adsessoribus et
domesticis et cancellariis judicum. Hottoman and Accur-
sius take the mfor actuaries or notaries ; but Gothofred,^ in
his learned notes upon the Theodosian Code, proves at
large, out of Cassiodore and Agathias, that they were the
Custodes Secretarii, the guards of the judge's consistory, and
called Cancellarii, because they stood ad cancellos, at the
rails or harriers which separated the secretum from the rest
of the court So that their office then was not to sit as
' Heraclius Novel, ii. ap. Leunclav. Just. Gr. Rom. torn. i. p. 79.
Kny/cfXrtpiee ^k t'tQ tj3, ki'iKSC dg (. * Cod. Theotl. lib. i. tit. 12. Cod
Justin, lib. i. tit. 51. =» Gothofred Com. in Cod. Thepd. !ib,i. tit. 12.
(Je Adsessorib. lej. 3.
GHAP. XI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH , 317
judges or assessors, but only to .ittend the judo"es, and
keep peace and i:;ood order under him. And if this was the
condition of the Cancellarii in the state, it is probable they
had some such otfice in theCIuirch in the time of Herachus,
who first mentions them ; but what that office was I am not
able to determine any further, save only that it was not the
same with that of the defensors of the Church.
Sect. 7. — Whether the Defensor's Office was the same with that of our
modern Chancellors.
It may be asked then, — whether the office of our mo-
dern chancellors has any relation or resemblance to that of
defensors in the ancient Church 1 There are some learned
men, who make them altogether the same. Bp. Beve-
reoe derives the authority of them both from the same
fountain ; for he says,^ " the defensors heard and deter-
mined causes in the bishop's name, and those not only,
that related to the poor, who soug-ht the patronage of
the Church ; but also, when presbyters and deacons had any
controversy with any other, whether of the clergy or laity,
they might bring their action before the YlptoriK^iKoq, or
defensor.''' Whence he concludes, that chancellors of
later ao-es are the very same ecclesiastical officials as the
defensors of the primitive Church. It w ere to be wished,
that that learned person had given us ancient records for
that power, which he ascribes to the old defensors ; for then
they would have looked more like chancellors under
another name. But indeed the authorities he alleges are
all modern, such as Papias's Glossary, and Balsamon's
Meditata, and the Catalogues of Officials in the Church of
Constantinople, which were Avritten several ages after the
first institution of defensors, and in times when the Protec-
clicus among the Greeks w^as become an officer of great
authority and power. So that though the power of chan-
cellors might be much the same as that of the"EKS<Kot
among the modern Greeks; yet that it was altogether the
same with the ancient defensors, seems not hitherto to be
solidly proved; since the business of the ancient defensors
Bevereg. Not. in Can. 'i3. Con. Clialce.d.
318 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK III.
was not to do the office of judges, but of advocates-at-law,
to defend the rights of the poor, and the liberties of the
Church, against all ag-gressors and invaders. But if any
can show, from ancient records, that the defensors had a
larger power, he will very much obUge the world with such
a discovery. In the mean time, the reader will pardon me
for not ascribing to them greater powers than I had autho-
rity to do. The matter is curious, and may exercise the
pens of learned men, and be the subject of furtlier disqui-
sition and inquiry.
CHAP. XII.
Of the OSconomi.
Sect. 1.— The CEconomi instituted in the Fourth Century. The Reasons of
their Institution.
In the writings of the fourth and fifth centuries we fre-
quently meet with an officer in the Church, styled by the
Greeks * 'Oticovo/ioc, and by the Latins,^ (Econo^nus, or
Prccpositus Domus, as it is in St. Austin.^ His office was
to manage the revenues of the whole diocese, under the
inspection of the bishop. For anciently, as I have showed
elsewhere,* the whole revenue of the Church was intrusted
in the hands of the bishop, to be divided among the clergy
and poor of the Church by his direction and appointment ;
and in manaainff this affair he commonly made use of his
archdeacon, as a proper assistant to ease himself of the
great burthen and incumbrance of it. But upon the general
conversion of heathens, and the consequent augmentation
of every diocese, and Church-revenues, both the bishop
and his archdeacon had business enough of another nature
to take up the greatest part of their time : and then it was
found necessary to institute officers on purpose, and set
them over this affair, under the name of CEconomi, or stew-
» Vid. Con. Chalced. c. 2, 25, 26, ^ Liberat. Breviar. c, 16.
» Possid. Vit. Aug. c. 21. ^ Book ii. chap. iv. sect. 6.
CHAP. Xtl.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 319
arils of the Church. Morinus' thinks they wore instituted
to avoid suspicion ; and in sonrie Churclies there is no
question but it was so ; for in the remaining fragments of
the council of Tyre, Anno 448, which are inserted into the
Acts of the council of Chalcedon,- we find that Ibas, bishop
of Edessa, being accused by some of his clergy for em-
bezzling the revenues of the Church, is obliged to pro-
mise, that for the future the revenues should be managed
by CEcono77ii, or stewards, chosen out of the clergy, after
the manner of the great Church of Antioch. And it is not
improbable, but the like accusation being brought against
Dioscorus, bishop of Alexandria, in the council of Chalce-
don, was the reason, that moved that council to make a
general decree in this matter, " that forasmuch as they
were informed, that in some Churches the bishops alone
administered the ecclesiastical revenues without any stew-
ards, they now ordained, that every Church, having a bishop,
should also have ^ a steward of her own clergy, to manage
the revenues of the Church by the direction of the bishop:
that so there might be witnesses of the right administration
of them ; and by that means neither the Church's goods be
embezzled, nor any scandal or reproach brought upon the
priesthood." But then I cannot think this was the case of
all Churches : for these canons were made plainly against
such bishops as managed the revenues of the Church,
" 'A/itiprupot," as the canon words it, without either arch-
deacon or CEconomus to attest the fidelity of their manag'e-
ment. But in such Churches, where bishops took the assis-
tance of their archdeacon, this could not be the reason for
setting up the office of the Qiconomus ; because suspicion
of mismanagement was provided against, as well by the
testimony of an archdeacon, as any other officer that could
be appointed. And therefore I have assigned a more
general, and as I take it, a truer reason for the institution
of this office in the Church.
• Morin. de Ordinal. Eccl. par. iii. exerc. 16. c. 5. n. 3. * Con.
Chalced. Act. 9. ^ Con. Chalced. c. 26. 'E?o?fv iraaav 'E/cicX);ff«av
'fKiaKonov ix>i<rnv, ^ oiKovofiov ex*'" «'« ^^ '^'« ^^•»;P«- ' "- "Tt fi') a^aprupov
tlvai rijv otKovoixiav riiQ iKKXijciag, &c.
320 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK Hi.
Sect. 2,— Always to be chosen out of the Clergy;
And that, which further confirms my opinion, is, that the
Q^co7iomi, as well as the arclideacons, were always to be
chosen out of the clergy. For so those canons of the
councils of Tyre and Chaicedon, already cited, plainly di-
rect ; and for any thing-, that appears to the contrary, this
was the constant practice of the Church. We find in
the Acts of the council of Ephesus,' which are inserted
also into the council of Chaicedon, one Charisius styled
both presbyter and G^conomus of the Church of Philadel-
phia. And Liberatus'^ speaks of one John, who was (Eco-
nomus of Alexandria, and presbyter of Tabennesus, a
region belonging to Alexandria. Possidius tells us in the
Life of St. Austin,^ " that he always made one of his clerg-y
the Prcepositas Domus, (as he calls him) whose office was
to take care of the Church-revenues, and give an account
of what he received and expended, when it was demanded
of him." And to the same purpose Socrates* says of Theo-
philus, bishop of Alexandria, " that having advanced two
monks to the honour of the clergy, he made them the
CEconomi of the Church.'" So that it was both the rule
and practice of the Church to take the OEconomi out of
some of the clergy, and we never meet with any instance
or order to the contrary ; which argues plainly, that the
true reason for devolving this office upon them, which for-
merly belonged to the archdeacons, was no other than that
because of a multiplicity of business the archdeacons now
could not so well attend it.
Sect. 3. — Their Office to take care of the Revenues of the Church, especi-
ally in the Vacancy of the Bisliopric.
What the office itself was, appears from what has already
* Con.Ephes. in Act. 1. Con. Chalced. torn. iv. p. 292. Charisius Pres-
byter et Oilconoinus PhiladclphiiE. ^ Liberal. Breviar. c. 16.
Johannes ex CEcononio factus Presbyter Tabenneslotes. - - - Factusque est
iterum OEconomus, habens causas onniium Ecclesiarum. ^ Possid.
Vit. Aug. c. 2i. Domus Ecclesice curam, omncmque substantiam ad vices
valentioribus Clericis delegabat et credebat ; nunquam clavem, nunquam
annuluin in nianu habens, sed ab eisdeni Domus Prtppositis cuncta et accepta
ct erogata notabantur. * Socrat. lib. vi. c. 7. T/)j/ oiKovoixiuv
OHAP. XIII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 321
been said: to which I shall only add one thino-; that, by
tlie authority of the council of Chalcedon,* i\\G (Economus
was to continue in his office during- the vacancy of the
bishopric, and to look after the income of the Church, that
it might be preserved safe for the succeeding bishop; which
canon, some not improbably think, was desig-ned to prevent
delays in filling- of vacant sees; that no metropolitan, or
interventor, under whose care the vacant Church was,
mig-ht He under any temptation to defer the election of a
new bishop, in hopes of enriching himself from the reve-
nues of the Church. But whether this was the reason or
not, it certainly argues, that these men were generally per-
sons of extraordinary credit and worth, since the Church
could securely repose so great a confidence in them.
Sect. -t. — The Consent of the Clergy required in the Choice of them.
And indeed all imaginable care was taken in their elec-
tion, that they should be persons of such a character : to
which purpose some canons required, that they should
be chosen by all the clergy ; as particularly Theophilus,
bishop of Alexandria,^ in his Canonical Epistle, gives a
direction in that case. Which provision was but reason-
able; for since all the clergy had a common concern in the
revenues of the Church, which were their livelihood and
subsistance, it was fit the (EconGmus, to whose care the
revenues were committed, should be chosen by common
consent, that he might be a person without exception, and
no one have reason to complain, that he was injured or
defrauded of his dividend or portion.
CHAP. XIII.
A brief Account of some other Inferior Officers in the Church.
Sect. 1. — Of the TlapafiovaQioi, or Mansionarii.
Beside the officers already mentioned, there were in the
• Con. Chalced. c. 25. ^ Theophil. Can. ix. ap. Beveroj^. Pandect,
tom. ii. p. 173, Ffwyitj/ TraiTof Upa-tis biKov(>i.iov ci—oltiy^Qiivdi, &.c,
VOL. I. 2 R
322 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK Ilf.
fourth and fifth centuries some few others, whose names are
not very commonly met with ; and therefore I shall but just
hint the signitication of them, and not spend my time in any
curious inquiries about their offices and employments. The
same canon* of the council of Chalcedon, which speaks of
the QHconomus and Defensor, mentions also another officer
belong-ing- to the Church, who is styled Y{aguf.iov(:'ipioq in
the language of that council. But the translators and
critics are not agreed upon the meaning of the word. The
ancient translation of Dionysius Exiguus renders it Mansio-
narius, and explains that, in a marginal reading, by Osiiarius,
or door-keeper of the Church. And indeed this was the
office of the Mansionarius in the Roman Church, about the
time when Dionysius Exiguus lived. For Gregory, the
Great, not long after in one of his Dialogues,^ speaking of
Abundius Mansionarius, gives him also the title of Gustos
Ecclesice ; and in another Dialogue he makes it the office
of the Mansionarius^ to light the lamps or candles of the
Church. Yet notwithstanding this the best learned of the
modern critics give another sense of the Greek name Ilapa-
liovaQioq. Justellus* explains it by Villicus, a bailiff, or
steward of the lands. Bishop Beverege'^ styles him Rerum
Ecclesiasticarum Administrator, which is the same. And
their opinion is confirmed by Gothofred, Cujacius, Suiccrus,
Vossius, and many others, whose judgment in the case may
be sufficient to decide the controversy, till the reader sees
better reason otherwise to determine him.
Sect. 2. — Of the Custodes Ecclesiarum, and Cuslodes Locorum Sanctorum;
and how those difl'ered from each other.
The civil law takes notice of another sort of officers, who
are called Custodes Ecclesiarum, and Custodes Locorum
Saiictorum ; which though some writers confound together,
yet Gothofred makes a disfinction between them. The
Custodes Ecclesiarum were either the same with the
Ostiarii, or order oi door-keepers ; or else with those called
' > Con. Chalced. c.2. ^ Q.y^„^ ]vi. Dial. lib. iii. c.25. » lb.
Dial, lib.i. c. 5. Constantins Mansionarius omnes lampades Ecclesia; hnplevit
aqua, etc. * Justel. Bibliothec. Jur. can. toni. i. p. 91. '* Bevercg.
Not. in Con. Chalced. c.2.
CHAP. XIII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 323
Seniores Ecclesicp, which, as I have sliowed' in another
place, were much of the same nature with our church-
wardens and vestry-men. But the Custodes Locorum Sanc-
torum were the keepers of those particular places in Palaes-
tino, which, if Gothofred judges right, had more peculiarly
the title of Loca Sancta, holy places, because they were a
sort of memorials of our Saviour; such as Bethlehem, the
place of his nativity; and Mount Golgotha, the place of
his crucifixion ; and his grave or monument, which was the
place of his resurrection ; and Mount Olivet, the place of
his ascension. These places were frequently visited by
Christians in those ages, as appears from Eusebius, Gregory
Nyssen, St. Jerom, and several others, whom the reader,
that is curious in this matter, m.ay find quoted by Golhofred,*
who maintains, " that upon that very account those places
had a sort of guardians or keepers assigned them, under
the title of Custodes Locorum Sanctorum:' But however
this matter be, it is certain they had such an employment m
the Church, as in the- eye of the law was reputed a religious
service; and accordingly they were entitled to the same
privilege^ as the ecclesiastics had, to be exempt from per-
sonal tribute, in regard to this their employment ; as appears
from a law of Theodosius the Great, by whom tliis immunity
was o-ranted them.
Sect. 3.— Of the Sceuophy laces, or CeimeliarchtE.
Next to these, for the similitude of the name and oflTice,
I mention the Sceuophylaces, or, as they were otherwise
called, Keifxnyiojv ^u'XcticEc, keepers of the Ka/ajXui, that is,
the sacred vessels, uiensils, and such precious things, as
w^ere laid up in the sacred repository of the Church. This
was commonly some presbyter; for Theodorus Lector*
says, Macedonius was both presbyter and Sceuophylax of
' Book ii. chap. xix. sect. 19. ^ Gothofrorl. Not. ia Cod. Th lib. xvl.
tit 2 len-. 20. » Cod. Th.lib.svi. tU.:.'. ,:eF.(is.le£r.2r,. Lnr.crsos,
quos constiterit Custodes Ecclesiarum esse, vel Sanctorum Locorum, ac reh-
giosis obsequiis de^ervire, nuUius adtontationis molcstiam sustinere decenn-
mus. Quiscninieos capite censos patiatur esse deviactos quos necessano
intelligit supra memorato obsequio niancipatos ? * rbeodor. Lector,
lib. ii.
321 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK III.
the Church of Constantinople ; and Sozomen,^ before him,
speaking- of the famous Theodore, presbyter of Antioeh,
who suffered martyrdom in the days of Julian, styles him
" fpvXoKa nov KtifirjX'iwv, keeper of the sacred utensils ,•"" and
says, " he was put to death because he would not deliver
up, what he had under his custody, to the persecutors." It
will not be improper to give this officer also the name of
Chartophylax and Custos Archivorum, because the rolls and
archives are reckoned part of the sacred repository of the
Church. Whence Suicerus^ observes, that in Photius the
names Sceuophylax and Chartophylax are given to the
same person. But I must note, that the modern Greeks
have a little changed this office, and added powers to it,
which did not belong' to it in the primitive Church. For
now, as Balsamon^ informs us, the Chartophylax acts as
the patriarch's substitute, excommunicating, censuring, and
licensing the ordinations of presbyters and deacons, and
sits as supreme ecclesiastical judge, under the patriarch, in
many other cases relating to the Church; which are things
we do not find belonging to the office of a Sceiiophylax in
the primitive ages.
Sect. 4.— Of tlie Hermeneuta, or Interpreters.
Epiphanius takes notice of another sort of officers in the
Church, to whom he gives the name* of 'Ep^rjvturai, inter-
preters, and says, " their office was to render one lang'uage
into another, as there was occasion, both in reading the
Scriptures, and in the homilies that were made to the
people." That there was such an office in the Church ap-
pears further from the Passion of Proeopius, the martyr,
published by Valesius,'^ where it is said, "that Proeopius
had three offices in the Church of Scythopolis: he was
reader, exorcist, and interpreter of the Syriac tongue." I
' Sozom. Ub.v. C.8. ® Suicer. Thesaur. torn. ii. p. 971.
3 Balsam. Not. ad Can, 9. Con.Nic. 2. * Epiph. Expos. Fid. n. 21.
'Epjti^jj'EJTOt yXiltaariQ tlq yXioaanv, ?) iv tchq dvayviixrtaiv, jj. iv TotQ
iTQOffofiiXiaic. ^ Acta Procop. ap. Vales. Not. in Euseb. de Martyr.
Palfestin. c. I. Ibi Ecclesise tria Ministeria pr{ebebat,unum in legend! ofRcio,
altenim in Syri interpretatione sermonis, et tertium adrersus Daemones iHauus.
impositione consumnians.
CHAP. XIII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 325
conceive the office w.is chiefly in such Clmrches, where the
people spake diflPerent languages; as in the Churches of
Palsestine, where probably some spake Syriac, and others
Greek; and in the Churches of Afric, where some spake
Latin, and others Punic. In such Churches there was oc-
casion for an interpreter, that those, who understood not the
language in which the Scriptures were read, or the homilies
preached, might receive edification by having them imme-
diately rendered into a tongue which they did under-
stand. So far was the primitive Church from encouraging
ignorance, by locking up the Scriptures in an unknown
tongue, that she not only translated them into all lan-
guages, but also appointed a standing office of interpreters,
who were viva voce to make men understand what was read,
and not suffer them to be barbarians in the service of God ;
which is a tyranny that was unknown to former ages.
Sect. 5. — Of the Nntarii.
Another office, that must not wholly be passed over,
whilst we arc upon this head, is that of the ISotarii, or
Exceptores, as the Latins called them ; who are the same
that the Greeks call ''O^vy^cKpoi, and Ta^vYpa^ot, from their
writing short-hand by characters, which was necessary in
the service they were chiefly employed in. For the first
use of them was to take in writing the whole process of the
heathen judges against the Christian martyrs, and minutely
to describe the several circumstances of their examination
and passion ; what questions were put to them ; what
answers they made ; and whatever passed during the time
of their trial and suffering. Whence such descriptions
were called, Gesta Martyrum, the acts and monuments of
the martyrs; which were the original accounts, which every
Church preserved of her own martyrs. The first institution
of these Notarii into a standing office at Rome, Bishop
Pearson* and some other learned persons think, was under
Fabian in the time of the Decian persecution. For in one
' Pearson, de Succession. Epis. Rom. Disstrt. i. c. 4. n. 3. Fell. Not. ia
Cyp. Ep. \2.
1
326 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK III.
of the most ancient Catalog-ues^ of the bishops of Rome,
Fabian is said to have appointed seven siibdeacons to in-
spect the seven notaries, and see that they faithfully col-
lected the acts of the martyrs. But thoug-h it was no stand-
ing office before, yet the thing itself was always done by
some persons fitly qualified for the work ; as appears from
the ancient Acts of Ignatius and Polycarp, and several
others, which were written before Fabian is said to have in-
stituted public and standing notaries at Rome. In after
ages, these notaries were also employed in writing the Acts
of the councils, and taking speeches and disputations, and
whatever else passed in the synod. Thus Eusebius^ notes,
" that Malchion's dispute with Paulus Samosatensis in the
council of Antioch was recorded, as it was spoken, by the
notaries, who took it from their mouths f ' and Socrates says
the same^ of the disputation between Basilius Ancyranus,
and Photinus, in the council of Sirmium. We read, also, of
a sort of notaries in councils, whose office was to recite all
instruments, allegations, petitions, or whatever else of the
like nature was to be offered or read in council. And these
were commonly deacons, aud sometimes a presbyter was
the chief of them, and thereupon styled Primicerius Nota-
riorum ; as in the Acts of the general councils of Ephesns
and Chalcedon* there is frequent mention of Aetius, deacon
and notary, and Peter, presbyter of Alexandria, and chief of
the notaries, Primicerius Notariorum. There were also
notaries, that were employed to take the discourses of fa-
mous and eloquent preachers from their mouths; by which
means, Socrates^ observes, many of St. Chrysostom's ser-
mons were preserved, and some of Atticus, his successor.
Bishops also had their private 'YiroypacpHQ, which some call
notaries ; but Valesius^ reckons them in the quality of
readers. Whatever they were, Athanasius served in this
' Catalog. Rom. Pontif. in Fabian. Hie fecit sex vel septeni Stibtliaconos,
qui septem Notariis inuiiinerent, ut Gesta Martynini fideliter coUigcrent.
2 Eiiscb. lib. vii. c. 29. ' E7riai]^ui>^iik}'(t>v raxoypcKpuJV. ^ Socrat. lib. ii.
C. 3U. 'O'^vy nutpuiv rtic,' (Jimviiq civrcSv ypa^oi'Tiov. *Con. Ephes. Act.
i. ill Actioue 1. Con. Chalced. torn. iv. p. 2Q2. * Socrat. lib. vi. c. 4.
^ It. lib. vii. c. 2. '^ Vales. Not. in Soer. lib. v. c. 22.
CHAP, XIII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 327
office, as 'YTroyf}a<l)iVQ, under Alexander, and Proclus under
Atticus, as Socrates ^ iufornis us.
Sect. G. — Of the Apocrisarii or Responsalcs.
The curious reader, perhaps, will find several other of
these lesser offices, which he will think mig-ht come into
this catalogue; but that I may not seem too minute in small
matters, I will only add one office more, which is that of
the Apocrisarii or Respo7isales. These were a sort of resi-
dents, in the imperial city, in the name of foreign Churches
and bishops, whose office was to negociate, as proctors, at
the emperor's court, in all ecclesiastical causes, wherein
their principals miglit be concerned. The institution of the
office seems to have been in the time of Constantine, or not
long" after, when, the emperors being- become Christians,
forcignCliurches had more occasion to promote their suits at
the imoerial court than formerly. However, we find it
established by law in the time of Justinian ; for in one of
his Novels^ it is ordered, " that forasmuch as no bishop was
to be long- absent from his Church without special com-
mand from the emperor; if, therefore, any one had occasion
to negociate any ecclesiastical cause at court, he should
prefer his petition, either by the Apocrisarius of his Church,
whose business was to act in behalf of the Church, and
prosecute her affiiirs ; or else by the (Economus, or some
other of his clergy, sent on purpose to signify his request."
It does not, indeed, appear from that law, that these Apo-
crisarii were of the clergy, but from other writers we may
easily collect it. For Liberatus^ says, " Anatolius, a dea-
con of Alexandria, was Apocrisarius, or resident for Dios-
corus, his bishop, at Constantinople, by which means he
gained a favourable opportunity of being chosen bishop of
Constantinople upon the death of Flavian." And Evagrius*
/
1 Socrat. lib. vii. c. 17 et 41. ^j^stin. Novel, vi. c. 2. Sanriiuus, si
quando propter Ecclesiasticam occasionem inciderit necessitas, haiic ant per
eos qui res agunt sanctaruin Ecclesiaruui (quos Apocrisarios vocant) aul per
aliquos Clericos hue destinatos, aut CEconoiuos suos notam iniperio facere, &c.
s Liberal. Breviar. c. 12. Ordinatus est pro eo (Flaviano) Anatolius Dia-
conus, qui fuit Constantinopcli Apocrisarius Diosoori. * Evagr. lib.^iv.
C. 38. Taif aVo/cpitrccTtj' 'A/taTaac 'ETricKuiTH luiKoi'tlro, &c.
328 THE ANtlQUItlES OF THE [bOOK HI.
observes the same of Eutyehiiis, "tlmt, from being- Apocri-
sarius to the bishop of Amasia, he was immediately ad-
vanced to be bishop of the royal city after Mennas:" which
seems plainly to imply, that he was one of the clergy be-
fore, since it does not appear, that he was promoted per
saltum. I must further observe, that, in imitation of these
Apocrisarii in the Church, almost every monastery had
their Apocrisarii likewise, whose business was not to reside
in the royal city, as the former did, but to act as proctors
for their monastery or any member of it ; when they had
occasion to give any appearance at law before the bishop,
under whose jurisdiction they were. This is clear from
another of Justinian's Novels,^ which requires the ascetics
in such cases to answer by their Apocrisarii or Responsales.
And these wore sometimes also of the clerg-y, as appears from
the Acts of the fifth general-council, where one Theonas^
styles himself presbyter and Apocrisarius of the monastery
of Mount Sinai. The Latin translator calls him Ambasiator^
which is not so very proper, yet it in some measure ex-
presses the thing-; for as Suicerus^ observes, in process of
time the emperors also g-ave the name of Apocrisarii to
their own embassadors, and it became the common title of
every legate whatsoever ; which I the rather note, that the
reader may distinguish these thing-s, and not confound the
civil and ecclesiastical sense of the name Apocrisarius to-
g-ether. And thus much of the inferior orders and offices
of the clerg-y in the primitive Church.
' Justin. Novel. 79. c. 1. * Con. 6. Gen. Act. 1. in Libell. Monaclior.
Syrite Secundae, toni. v. p. IIR. ^n»vaq Trptrrlivrepog, t?j dTroKpitriupiog tS ayin
opHQ ^iva. * Siiicer. Thcsaur. toni. i. p. -156.
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN CHURCIt. 329
BOOK IV.
OF THE ELECTIONS AND ORDINATIONS OF THE
CLERGY, AND THE PARTICULAR QUALIFICA-
TIONS OF SUCH AS WERE TO BE ORDAINED.
CHAP. I.
Of the several ways of Designing Persons to the Ministry,
in the Apostolical and Primitive Ages of the Church.
Sect. L — Four several Ways of Designing Persons for the Ministry. Of the
First Way, by casting Lots.
Having thus far g-iven an account of all the orders of the
clergy in the primitive Church, both superior and inferior,
together with the several offices and functions, that were
annexed to them, — I now proceed to consider the rules and
methods, that were observed in setting apart fit persons for
the ministry, especially for the three superior orders, which
were always of principal concern. And here, in the first
place, it will be proper to observe, that in the apostolical
and following ages there were four several ways of designing
persons for the ministry, or discovering who were most fit
to be ordained ; the first of which was by casting lots ; the
second by making choice of the first fruits of the Gentile
converts ; the third by particular direction and inspiration
of the Holy Ghost ; and the last in the common and ordinary
way of examination and election. The first method was
observed in the designation of Matthias to be an Apostle, as
we read Acts i. 23, 26. where it is said, " that the disciples
themselves first appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, and
Matthias ; and then praying to God, that he would show
whether of those two he had chosen, they gave forth their
VOL. I. 2 s
330 THE ANTIQUITIES OF TIlS [BOOK IV%
lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias." St. Chrysostom*
says, " they used this method, because as yet the Holy
Ghost was not descended on them, and they had not at
this time the power of choosing- by inspiration ; and there-
fore they committed the business to prayer, and left the
determination to God." The author of the Ecclesiastical
Hierarchy, under the name of Dionysius,^ fancies, that God
answered their prayer by some visible token : but if so, this
had not been choosing by lot, as the Scripture says it wasy
but a quite different method of election. However inter-
preters generally agree, that there was something extraor-
dinary in it: Dr. Lightfoot^ thinks Matthias had no other
ordination to his Apostleship ; for the Apostles did not give
him any ordination by imposition of hands after this, as
they did to presbyters afterwards ; and that, if true, was
exti-aordinary indeed. Others reckon the extraordinarinesa
of it to consist in the singular way of electing and designing
him to that office by lot; for they say* all ecclesiastical
history scarce affords such another instance: and I confess
there are not very many, but some few there are, which show,
that that method of electing was not altogether so singular
as is commonly imagined. For in Spain it was once the
common practice, as may be concluded from a canon ^ of
the council of Barcelona, Anno 599, which orders, " that,
when a vacant bishopric is to be filled, two or three shall
be elected by the consent of the clergy and people, who
shall present them to the metropolitan and his fellow-
bishops, and they, having first fasted, shall cast lots, leaving
the determination to Christ the Lord ; then he, on whom the
lot shall fall, shall be consummated by the blessing of con-
secration." There is nothing different in this from the
first example, save only that in this there is express men-
tion of a consecration afterward, which is not in the history
of Matthias ; and yet perhaps there might be a consecration
' Chrys. Horn. v. in 1 Tim. ^ Dionys. Eccl. Hier. c. v. p. 367,
8 Lightfoot. in Act. 1. 26. * Dodwel. Dissert. 1. in Cypr. n. 17.
« Con. Barcinon. c. 3. torn. v. p. 1606. Duobus aut tribus, quos ante con-
sensus Cleri et Plebis elegerit, Metropolitani jiidicio ejusque Coepiscopis
praesentatis, quem sors, praeeunte jejunio, Christo Domino terminante,
monstraverit, Benedictio consecrationis accumwlet.
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 331
in his case too, though not expressly mentioned; but I leave
this to further inquiry.
Sect. 2. — The Second Way by making Choice of the First-fruits of the Gen-
tile Converts.
The second way of designation was by making choice of
the first-fruits of the Gentile converts to be ordained to the
ministry. For these expressing a greater zeal than others,
by their readiness and forwardness to embrace the Gospel,
were generally pitched upon by the Apostles, as best qua-
lified for propagating the Christian religion in the world.
Clemens Romanus, in his epistle^ to the Corinthians says,
'^' the Apostles in all countries and cities, where they
preached, ordained their first converts bishops and deacons,
for the conversion of others : and that they had the diree-
tion of the Spirit for doing this." And hence the author,
that personates the same Clemens, in his pretended Epistle
to James, bishop of Jerusalem, giving him an account of
the reasons that moved St. Peter to ordain him, says,^ " it
was because he was chief of the first-fruits of his converts
among the Gentiles." Some compare this to the right of
primogeniture among the ancient patriarchs, which intitled
the first-born to the priesthood; and I will not deny but
there might be something of allusion in it ; but then the
parallel will not hold throughout ; for in the latter case it
was not any natural right, but personal merit attending their
primogeniture, that intitled the first converts to the Chris-
-tian priestliood.
Sect. 3.— The Third Way by particular Direction of the Holy Ghost.
Which will appear further by considering, that many of
them were ordained by the particular direction of the Holy
Ghost. For so the words, Aoict^aZovrec ro) YlviVfmTi, m
Clemens Romanus may be understood, to signify the Spirit's
pointing out the particular persons, whom he would have
' Clem. Rom. Ep. 1. n. 42. Kara x^'paet^ToXfic KijpvcfaovriQ, Kaytravov
r«e (iTraoxug cIvtwv, loKijidlovrfQ rqj YlviVftaTi ttg fTri'ffKuTrwf ic, haKovng
rwv (liXiovTUJv ninviiv. * Psciido-Clcm. Ep. ad Jacob, ap. Coteler.
torn. i. p. 006. 2i' yap (5i' il^i tCjv mo'Conivwv i'svioi' a KpecVrwi' dnapx').
332 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
to be ordained ; which I observed to be the third way of
designation of persons to the ministry, very usual in those
primitive times of the Church. Thus Timothy was chosen
and ordained, "according to the prophecies that went before
of him." 1 Tim. i. 18; whence his ordination is also called,
*' the gift that was given him by prophecy," 1 Tim. iv. 14.
In regard to which, the ancient interpreters,Chrysostom* and
Theodoret say, " he had not any human vocation, but was
chosen by divine revelation, and ordained by the direction
of the Spirit." Clemens Alexandrinus in his famous Homily,
entitled, Quis Dives salvetur, observes the same of the
clergy of the AsiaticChurches, whom St. John or dained after
his return from the isle of Patmos ; he says, " they were
such as were signified or pointed out ^ to him by the Spirit."
I know indeed Combefis^ puts a different sense upon these
words, and says, " the designation here spoken of, means
not any new or distinct revelation, but I know not what
divine predestination of the persons; or else their ordination
itself, which was the seal or consignation of the Spirit;
and that there is no authority for the common sense, which
interpreters put upon this passage." But as he owns his
notion to be singular, and contrary to the sense of all other
learned men ; so it is evidently against matter of fact and
ancient history, which affords several other instances of
the like designations in the following ages. I will give an
instance or two out of many. Eusebius* says "Alexander,
bishop of Jerusalem, was chosen Kara aTroKaXvipiv, by reve-
lation, and an oracular voice, which signified to some asce-
tics of the Church, that they should go forth out of the
gates of the city, and there meet him, whom God had
appointed to be their bishop ;" which was this Alexander, a
stranger from Cappadocia, coming upon other business to
Jerusalem. He was indeed bishop of another place before,
but his translation to the see of Jerusalem was wholly by
» Chrys. et Theod. in 1 Tim. 1. 18. ^ ciem. Alex. ap. Euseb. lib.
ill. c. 23. et ap. Combefis. auctar. Noviss. p. 185. KXr;p<;j 'ivayt nva
K\r)p(i)(nov Twv vnb ra Hvii'naTOQ (njfiaivojxtvwv. ^ Combefis. Not.
in Loc. p. 192. Quos Spiritus designfisset divinS, potiiis prajdestinatione,
qiiam nova aliqiia et distincta revelalione, quain nee Clemens siguilicavit,
nee ulla probal auclojitas, &c. * Euseb. lib. 'vi.c. 11.
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 333
divine direction, which is the thing I allege it for. We
have another such instance in the election of Alexander,
sirnamed Carbonarius, bishop of Comana, mentioned by
Gregory Nyssen in the Life of Gregory Thaumaturgus.
This Alexander was a Gentile philosopher, and very learned
man, who upon his conversion to Christianity, that he
might avoid observation, and follow his philosophical
studies with the greater privacy, in his great humility be-
took himself to the trade of a collier, whence he had the
name of Carbonarius. Now it happened, upon the va-
cancy of the bishopric of Comana, that the citizens sent to
Gregory Thaumaturgus to desire him to come and ordain
them a bishop ; but they not agreeing in their choice, one,
by way of jest and ridicule, proposed Alexander, the col-
lier ; who being discovered ^ by special revelation to Gre-
gory Thaumaturgus to be a man of extraordinary virtues
and worth, who had submitted to tha^; contemptible calling
only to avoid being taken notice of, and being found, upon
a due inquiry, to be the man he was represented to be,
was thereupon unanimously chosen by all the Church to be
their bishop, and immediately ordained by St. Gregory. Cy-
prian often speaks of this divine designation, in the case of
Celerinus'^ and Aurelius,^ when they were but to be
ordained readers. And he says also, " he had a divme
direction* to translate Numidicus from another Church
to the Church of Carthage." And Sozomen^ tells us,
from Apollinarius, " that Alexander, bishop of Alexan-
dria, appointed Athanasius his successor by divine com-
mand. For some time before his death it was signified to
him by divine revelation, that no one should succeed him
but Athanasius ; and therefore when he lay upon his
' Nyssen. torn. iii. p. 562. ^ Cypr. Ep. 34. al. 39. ad Ch-r. Carth.
Referiinus ad vos Celerinum Fratrem nostrum - - - Clero nostro non humanii
Suffragatione, sed divina dig-nalione conjunctum. Qui ciim conscntire dubi-
taret, Ecclcsite ipsius admonitu et hortatii iu visionc per noctcm conipidsus
est, ne negaret nobis suadentibus, &c. '' Id. Ep. 33. al. 38. Expcct-
anda non sunt \ stimonia huinana, cum praecedunt divina suft'ragia. ^ I«.
Ep 35 al. 40. Adnionitos nos et instnictos sciatis dignatione divuifi, ut
numidicus Presbyter adscribalur Presbyterorum Carthaginiensiuin numrro.
* Sozom. lib. ii. c. 17. A\£?a^(Vof SucPoxou aurii KariXnrev A^avdfftov. Otta.f
irpo'^dKtciv iTr'avrbi' dyayuiv t>)v •pi'i'pov, &c.
334 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK IV,
death-bed, he called Athanasius by name, who was then
absent, and fled for fear of being- made bishop ; and another
of the same name, who was present, answering to the call,
he said nothing to him, but called Athanasius again; which
he did several times, whereby it was at last understood,
that he meant the Athanasius, that was fled; to whom, though
absent, he then prophetically said, Thinkest thou that
thou art escaped, Athanasius 1 No ; thou art not escaped."
It were easy to add many other instances of the like nature,
but these are sufiieient to show against Combefis, that in
those early ag-es men were sometimes designed to the mi-
nistry by particular divine revelation and prophecy, or else
the ancients themselves were wonderfully deceived. Whilst
I am upon this head, I must suggest two things further: —
First, that a dove's lighting upon the head of any man at an
election was usually taken for a divine omen ; and com-
monly the person, who had that sign, was looked upon as
pointed out by the Spirit, and accordingly chosen before
all others, as having a sort of emblem of the Holy Ghost.
Euscbius observes,* it was this that turned the election
upon Fabian, bishop of Rome, and gave him the preference
before all others, though he was a stranger. " No one,
at first, thought of choosing him ; but a dove being
observed by the people to settle upon his head, they
took it for an emblem of the Holy Ghost, which here-
tofore descended upon our Saviour in the form of a dove;
and thereupon, with one consent, as if they had been
moved themselves by the Holy Ghost, they cried out
"^Ahov, he was icorthtj ; which was the word then used
to signify their consent; and so, without more ado, they
took him and set him upon the bishop's throne." The elec-
tion of Severus, bishop of Ravenna, and that of Euortius,
bishop of Orleans, were determined the same way; as Blon-
del^ has observed out of their lives, in Surius ; and the
inquisitive reader may furnish himself with other instances
from his own observation. The other thing I would sug--
gest is, that sometimes an accidental circumstance was so
providentially disposed, as to be taken for an indication of
' Euseb. lib. \i. c. 29. ^ Blondel. Apol. p. 126. Surius Vit. Sanctor.
Feb. 1. el Sep. 7.
OHAP. I.] CHRISTAIN CHURCH. ,335
the divine will, and approbation of an election. Sulpicius
Seveius makes this observation particularly upon a circum-
stance, that happened in the election of St. Martin, bishop
of Tours. Some of the provincial bishops, who were met
at the place, for very unjust reasons opposed his election;
and more especially one, whose name was Defensor, was a
violent stickler against him. Now it happened, that the
reader, who was to have read that day, not being- able to get
in due time to his place, by reason of the press and crowd-
ing- of the people, and the rest being- in a little confusion
upon that account, one of those that stood by, taking" up a
book, read the first verse that he lighted upon, which hap-
pened to be those words of the 8th psalm, " Out of the
mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise,
because of thine enemies, that thou mightest destroy the
enemy and defensor." For so it seems th'i vulgar Gailican
translation then read it, — Ut destriias inimicum et defenso-
rem. These w'ords were no sooner read, but the people
gave a shout, and the adverse party were confounded. "And
so," says our author,* " it was generally believed, that this
psalm was read by divine appointment, that Defensor, the
bishop, might hear his own work condemned, whilst the
praises of God were perfected in St. Martin, out of the
mouths of babe and sucklings, and the enemy was at once
both discovered and destroyed." By what has been said,
the reader now will be able to judge of the meaning of the
ancients, when they speak of particular divine designations
of persons to the ministry of the Church.
Sect. 4. — The Fourth Way by Common Suffrage and Election.
The fourth and last way of designation was by the ordi-
nary course of suffrage and election of the Church: the
method of which in general was so accurate and highly
approved, that one of the Roman emperors, though an
heathen, thought fit to give a great character and enco-
mium of it, and propose it to himself as an example proper
' Sever. Vit. S. Martin, c. 7. p. 225. Ita hal)ituni est, divino nutu Psalmuin
hunc lectum fuisse, ut testimonium operis sui Defensor audirel, quia ex ore in-
fanlium atque lactentium in Martino Domini laudu perfecta.ct ostensus pariter
et destructus est iuimicus.
336 T«E ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK IV.
to be imitated in the designation and choice of civil officers
for the service of the empire. For so Lampridius* repre-
sents the practice of Alexander Severus; " whenever he
vv^as about to constitute any governors of provinces, or re-
ceivers of the public revenues, he first proposed their
names, desiring the people to make evidence against them,
if any one could prove them guilty of any crime ; but if they
accused them falsely, it should be at the peril of their own
lives; saying, it was unreasonable, that, when the Christians
and Jews did this in propounding those, whom they or-
dained their priests and ministers, the same should not be
done in the appointment of governors of provinces, in whose
hands the lives and fortunes of men were entrusted." This
argues, that all imaginable care was taken in the election
of Christian ministers, since their practice in this respect
has such ample testimony from the heathens. And indeed
all modern writers agree upon the matter in general, that
anciently elections were made with a great deal of caution
and exactness : but as to the particular methods, that were
used, men are strangely divided in their accounts of them ;
by which means there is no one subject has been rendered
more intricate and perplexed than this of elections, which
has even frighted some from attempting to give an account
of it. But I must not wholly disappoint my readers through
such fears, and therefore I shall briefly acquaint them with
the different sentiments of modern authors, who have
handled this subject, and then clear what I take to be the
true state of the case, from evident proofs of ancient history,
which shall be the business of the next chapter.
CHAP. II.
A more particular Account of the ancient Method and
Manner of Elections of the Clergy.
Sect. 1. — The diflerent Opinions of Learned Men concerning the People's
Power anciently in Elections.
The grand question in this affair, upon which learned
men are so much divided, is concerning the persons, who
• Lamprid. Vit. Alex. Sever, c. 45.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 337
had a right to vote in the elections of the clerg-y. Some
think the people were never allowed any other power, save
only to give their testimonials to the party elected, or to
make objections, if they had any just and reasonable excep-
tions, against him ; so Habertus,* and Sixtus Senensis,^
and Bellarmin.^ Others say the people were absolute and
proper electors, and that from apostolical right, which they
always enjoyed for a succession of many ages. This opinion
is advanced, and with great show of learning asserted by
Blondel* against Sancta Clara, and the rest of the other
opinion. De Marca^ takes a middle way between those two
extremes ; he says, " the people had as much power an-
ciently as any of the clergy below bishops;'" that is, their
consent was required in the promotion of a bishop, as well
as their testimony ; yet he will not allow this to be called
electing: for the designation, election, or judgment, he
says, still belonged only to the metropolitan together with
the synod of provincial bishops. And though we read
sometimes of their giving their vote or suffrage ; " yet
that," he says, " is only to be understood of suffrage of
consent, not the suffrage of election." But Mr. Mason,^ in
answer to Pamelius, who had advanced something of this
notion before De Marca, rejects this as a deluding distinction,
and asserts, " that the people had properly a voice or suf-
frage of election," and he quotes Bishop Andrews" for the
same opinion. Yet he does not carry the point so high, as
to maintain with Blondel, that it was of unalterable right,
but left by God as a thing indifferent, to be ordered by the
discretion of the Church, so all things be done honestly
and in order. And this seems to have been the opinion of
Spalatensis,^ Richerius,^ Justellus,*" Suicerus, and some
other learned men of both Churches. Others there are, who
» Habert. Archieratic. p. 436. ^ Sixt. Biblioth. lib. v. Annot. 118.
3 Bellarm. de Clericis, lib. i. c. 7. " Blondel. Apol. p. 379, &c.
* Marca de Concord, lib.viii. c.2. n,2. « Mason Consecrat. of Bishops,
lib. iv. C.4. p. 15a, IGO. ' Andrews Resp. ad Apol. Belli, c. 13. p. 313.
Praesentia Plebis apud Cyprianam includit tfstiinonium de vita, nee cicludit
suffragium de personPi. " Spalat. de Repiib. lib. iii. c. 3. n. 4-i.
9 Richer. Hist. Con. lib.i. c. 12. n. 18. p. 389. '" Justel.Not. in
Csin. 6. Con. Chalced.
VOL. 1. 2 T
338 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
distinguish between the times preceding- the council of
Nice, and those that followed after; for they think, what-
ever power was allowed the people in the three first ages,
was taken away by that council, and the councils of Antioch
and Laodicea, that followed not long after. So Schelstrate^
in his Dissertations upon the council of Antioch, where he
quotes Christianus Lupus and Sirnaond for the same opinion.
But this is exploded as a groundless fiction, not only by
Spalatensis^ and bishop Pearson,^ but also by Richerius,*
Cabassutius,* Valesius,<^ Petavius,^ De Marca,^ and other
learned persons of the Roman communion, who think the
fathers of the Nicene council made no alteration in this
matter, but left all things as they found them. Some again
distinguish between the election of bishops and the other
clergy, and say, " the people's consent was only required
in the election of bishops, but not in the promotion of the
inferior clergy." So Cabassutius,^ and bishop Beverege,^''
who reckons this so clear a point, that there is no dispute
to be made of it. Yet Valesius disputes it, and asserts the
contrary,*^ " that anciently presbyters were not to be
ordained by the bishop without the consent of the clergy
and people." Bishop Stillingfleet, w ho is one of the last
that has considered this matter, gives us his sense in these
following observations. First, " That the main ground of
the people's interest '^ was founded upon the Apostle's
canon, ' that a bishop must be blameless and of good re-
port;' and therefore," he says,*^ '^ the people's share and
concern in elections, even in Cyprian's time, was not to give
their votes, but only their testimony concerning the good or
ill behaviour of the person." Secondly, " That yet upon
this the people assumed the power of elections, and thereby
caused g-reat disturbances and disorders in the Church."
» Schelstr. Not. in Can. 19. Con. Antioch. ^ gpalat. de Repub.
lib. iii. c. 3. n. I'i. ^ Pearson. Vind. Ignat. par. i. c. 11. p.32t.
* Richer. Hist. Con. torn. i. c. 2. n. 7. * Cabassut. Notit. Con, c. 17.
p. 83. ^ Vales. Not. in Euseb. lib. vi. c. 43. ' Petav. Not. in
Synes. p. 56. ® Marca de Concord, lib. viii. c. 3. n. 4. ^ Cabassut.
Notit. Con. c,36. p. 19.6. '" Bevereg. Not. in Can. 6. Con.Chalcecl.
" Vales, in Euseb. lib. vi. c. 43. Presbyteri olim ab Episcopo ordinari non
poterant sine consensu Cleii et Populi. '^ Stillingfleet. Unreason, of
Separat. par. 3. n. 25. p. 312. '' Ibid. p. 316, 317.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 339
Thirdly, " That to prevent these, many bishops were ap-
pointed without their choice, and canons made for the bet-
ter reg'ulating- of them." Fourthly, " That when there were
Christian mag-istrates, they did interpose as they thought
fit, notwithstanding the popular claim, in a matter of so
g-reat consequence to the peace of Church and State."
Fifthly, " That upon the alteration of the government of
Christendom, the interest of the people was secured by
their consent in parliaments; and that, by such consent, the
nomination of bishops was reserved to princes, and the pa-
tronage of livings to particular persons."' In this great
variety of judgments and opinions of learned men, it will
be no crime to dissent from any of them ; and therefore I
shall take the liberty to review their opinions, and express
impartially what I take to be agreeable, or disagreeable in
any of them, to ancient history, and the rales and practice of
the Church.
Sect. 2.— The Power of the People equal to that of the Inferior Clergy
in the Election of a Bishop.
And here, first of all, it will be proper to observe, that
there was no one universal unalterable rule observed in all
times and places about this matter; but the practice varied
according to the different exigencies and circumstances of
the Church ; as will evidently appear in the sequel of this
history. In the mean time, I conceive the observation,
made by De Marca, thus far to be very true : " That what-
ever power the inferior clergy enjoyed in the election of
their bishop, the same was generally allowed to the people,
or whole body of the Church, under the regulation and con-
duct of the metropohtan and synod of provincial bishops."
For their pow er, whatever it w^as, is spoken of in the very
same terms, and expressed in the same words. Some call
it consent; others suffrage or vote; others election or
choice ; but all agree in this, that it was equally the con-
sent, sufi'rage, vote, election, and choice both of clergy and
people. Thus Cyprian observes ^ of Cornelius, "That he
' Cypr. Ep. 53. al. 55. ad Antonian. p. 104. Factus est Cornelius Episco-
pus.--De Clericorum pene omnium testiinonio, de Plebis, qu» turn adfult,
Suffragio.
340 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
was made bishop by the testimony of the clergy, and suf-
frage of the people ;" where it is evident the w oids testi-
mony and suffrage are equally ascribed both to clergy and
people. Socrates,' speaking of the election of Chrysostom,
says, " he was chosen by the common vote of all, both
clergy and people.'' And Theodoret describes the election
of Eustatius, bishop of Antioch, after the same manner,
when he tells us,^ "he was compelled to take the bishopric
by the common vote of the bishops and clergy, and all the
people." Siricius^ styles this "the election of the clergy
and people ;" andCelestin,* " the consent and desire of the
clergy and people;" and Leo,^"both the consent, and elec-
tion, and suffrage or votes of the people ;" who adds, also,
" that in case the parties were divided in their votes, then
the decision should be referred to the judgment of the me-
tropolitan, who should choose, him who had most votes,
and o-reatest merit to recommend him," From all which,
and many other passages, that might be alleged to the same
purpose, it is very evident, that the power of the clergy and
people w as equal in this matter, and that nothing was chal-
lenged by the one, that was not allowed to the other also.
Sect. 3.— This Power not barely Testimonial, but Jadicial and Elective.
And hence it appears further, that this conjunctive power
of clergy and people was not -barely testimonial, but, as
bishop Andrews and Mr. Mason assert, "a judicial and ef-
fective power, by way of proper suffrage and election ;"
and that as well in the time of Cyprian as afterwards. For
Cyprian speaks both of testimony and suffrage belonging to
both clergy and people ; and says further,'^ " that that is a
* Socrat. lib, vi. c. 2. '^j\<pia^iaTi koiv(^ ofiS irdvrwv, kKyiqs ti ^\aS.
^ Theod. lib. i. c. 7. "^fjipif) kowij KaTi]vayKa<jav apx'-^P^'^C Tt ^j 'upiiQ Kj "nraQo
\iwQ. ^ Siric. Ep. 1. ad Himerium Taracon. c. 10. Presbyterio vel
Episcopatui, si eum Cleri ac Plebis evocaverit electio, non iramerito societur.
* Celestin. Ep. ii. c. 5, NuUus invitis detur Episcopus: Cleri, Plebis, et
Ordinis consensus et desiderium requiratur. * Leo. M. Ep. 84. ad Ana-
stas. c. 5. Cum de Summi Sacerdotis electione tractabitur, ille omnibus prae-
ponatur, quern Cleri Plebisque consensus concorditer postularit; ita ut si in
aliara forte personam partium se vota cliviserint, Metropolitani judicio is alteri
prEeferatur, qui majoribus et studiis juvatur et meritis, &c. ^ Cypr.
Ep. 68. al. 67. ad Fratr. Hispan. p. 172. Ordinatio justa et legitiuia, quae
omnium suffragio et Jiwiicio fuerit examinata.
CHAP, II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 34l
just and legitimate ordination, wliich is examined by tlio
sufFiag-e and judg-mont of all, botli clergy and people."' So
that they were then present at the choice of their bishop,
not merely to give testimony concerning- his life, hut, as
bishop Andrews words it, to give their vote and suliVage in
reference to his person. Which observation will be further
evidenced and confirmed by proceeding with the account of
several rules and customs g-enerally observed in these
elections.
Sect. 4. — Evidences of this Power from some ancient Rules find Customs of
the Church. As first, that no Bishop was to be obtruded on an Orthodox
People without their Consent.
One of these was, that no bishop was to be obtruded on
any orthodox people against their consent. I say, an or-
thodox people ; for in case the majority of them were he-
retics or scismatics, the practice was different, as will be
showed hereafter: but where they were all Catholics, and
could agree upon a Catholic and deserving bishop, they
were usually gratified in their choice, and no person was to
be put upon them against their inclination. Sotnetimes,
the bishops in synod proposed a person, and the people ac-
cepted him : sometimes, again, the people proposed, and
tlie bishops consented ; and where they v.ere unanimous in
a worthy choice, we scarce ever find they were rejected.
If they were divided, it was the metropolitan's care to unite
and fix them in their choice, but not to obtrude upon them
an unchosen person. This we learn from one of Leo's
Epistles,^ where he gives us at once both the Church's
rule and practice, and the reasons of it. " In the choice of
a bishop," says he, " let him be preferred, whom the clergy
aad people do unanimously agree upon and require ; if they
be divided in their choice, then let the metropolitan give
preference to him, who has most votes and most merits :—
always provided, that no one be ordained against the will
' Leo. Ep. 84.. c. 5. Si in aliain forte personam partium se vola divisennt,
Metropolitani judicio is alteri praferatur, qui niajoribus et studiis juvatur et
meritis : tantum at nullus invitis et non petenlibus ordinetur, ne Piebs invita
Episcopum non optatum aut conteranat, aut oderit, el fiat minus religiosa
quaraconrenit, cui non licucrit habere quem voluit.
342 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
and desire of the people, lest they contemn or hate their
bishop, and become irreligious or disrepectful, when they
cannot have him, whom they desired." The transgression of
this rule was objected as a great crime to Hilarius Arela-
tensis, by the Emperor Valentinian the Third, ^ " that he
ordained bishops in several places against the will and eon-
sent of the people, whom when they would not admit of,
because they had not chosen them, he used armed force to
settle them in their sees, introducing- the preachers of
peace by the violence of war." Leo^ objects the same
thing- to him, saying-, " That he oug-ht to have proceeded by
another rule, and first to have required the votes of the
citizens, the testimonies of the people, the will of the g-entry,
and the election of the clergy ; for he that was to preside
over all, was to be chosen by all." This evidently shows,
that the suffrage of the people w^as then something- more
than barely testimonial.
Sect. 5. — Secondly. This further confirmed from Examples of the Bishops'
complying with the Voice of the People against their own Inclination.
Another arg-ument is, that in many cases the voices of
the people prevailed against the bishops themselves, when
they happened to be divided in their first proposals. Thus
it happened in the famous election of St. Martin, bishop of
Tours, which has been mentioned in the last chapter, sect.
3. The people were unanimously for him ; Defensor, with
a great party of bishops, at first was ag-ainst him; but the
voice of the people prevailed, and the bishops complied
and ordained him. Philostorgius g-ives us such another
instance. Demophilus, bishop of Constantinople, with
some other bishops suspected of Arianism, meeting- at
Cyzicum, to ordain a bishop there, the people first made a
protestation ag-ainst them, " that unless they would ana-
^ Novel. 24. ad Calcem. Cod. Tlieod. Indecenter alios invitis et repugnan-
tibus civibus ordinavit. Qui quidem, quoniam non facile ab his, qui non
elegerant, recipiebantur, manum sibi contrahebat armatam - - - Et ad sedem
quietis pacem prsedicaturos per bella ducebat. •^ Leo Ep. 89. ad Episc.
Vien. Expectarentur certe vota Civium, testimonia Populorum, quEereretur
Honoratorum arbitrium, electio Clericorum. . . . Qui prasfuturus est omnibus,
ab omnibus eligatur.
CHAP. II,] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 343
thematize publicly Aetius and Eimomius, both in word and
writing-, they should ordain no bishop theref and when
they had comphed to do this, they still insisted on their pri-
vileg-e, "that no one should be ordained but one' of their
own choosing- ;" which was one, who, as soon as he was
ordained, preached the Catholic doctrine of the 'Ojuiosmov,
that the Son was of the same substance with the Father.
Ancient history will furnish the reader with many other
instances of the like nature.
Sect. 6. — Thirdly. From the Manner of the People's "Voting at Elections.
Another evidence of the people's power in elections is
the manner of their voting, or the way of giving their as-
sent or dissent to the ordination of any person ; which was
threefold. For either, first, they were unanimous in their vote
for or against a man, and then their way was to express
their mind by a general acclamation, crying out with one
voice, "AE,iog, or Avd^iog, Dignus or Indigmis, as the word
then was, he is worthy or unworthy. Instances of which
form the reader may find in St. Ambrose, ^ St. Austin,^ Eu-
sebius,* Philostorgius,^ Photius,^ the author of the Consti-
tutions,'' and several others. Or else, secondly, they were
divided in their choice, and then they expressed their dissent
in particular accusations of the parties proposed, and sid-
ings, and sometimes outrageous tumults. St. Chrysostom «
reflects upon this way in his Books of the Priesthood, when
he tells us, " that in those popular solemnities, which were
then customarily held for the choice of ecclesiastical rulers,
one might see a bishop exposed to as many accusations, as
there were heads among the people." And the account
that is given not only by Ammianus Marcellinus,^ but by
Socrates, '« and the other historians, of the tumult raised at
Rome in the election of Damasus, shows that the people
'Philostorg. lib. ix. c. 13. "Ov uvtC^v ni 4//y<)oi Trpoffirarroi'.
= Ambr. de Dignit. Saccrd. c. 5. In Ordinationibus eoruni clamant ct dicunt,
"Dignus es,- et "Justus es." ''Aug. Ep. HO. Dignus et Justus
est, dictum est vicies. * Euseb. lib. vi. c. 29. "«"- >^- V. ; " W'."};
i.:fion.cu. ^Philostorg.lib.ix.c.lO. ,T ^^^-^^^1,^
■< Constit. Apost. lib. viii. c. 4. " Chrys. de Sacerdot. l.b. in. c. 15.
9 Amraian. lib. xxvii. c. 2. '" Socrat. lib. iv. c. 29.
I
344 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
were indulged in something- more than barely giving testi-
mony, else they had hardly run into so great a heat and
ungovernable tumult. There was also a third way of ex-
pressing their consent, which was by subscribing the decree
of election for greater security, that no party might pretend
afterward that they had not given assent to it. Thus it was
in the election of Meletius, bishop of Antioch, who was
chosen by common consent both of Catholics and Arians,
each party presuming him to be of their own opinion. The
election-paper was subscribed by all, Theodoret says, ' and
put into the hands of Eusebius Samosatensis, which Con-
stantius, when Meletius proved a Catholic, demanded to
have had destroyed, but with all his menaces he could not
extort it from him. St. Austin g'ives the like account^ of
the election of Eradius, his successor at Hippo, which for
some reasons he got done in his own life-time. He first
ordered the notaries of the Church to take the acclamations
of the people in writing-, and then required all that could
WTite to subscribe the instrument themselves. And this
was the common way, whenever the metropolitan could not
be present at the election; then the decree of the whole
Church was drawn up in writing, and carried to him for his
consent and approbation. The remains of which custom
may still be seen in the ancient Ordo Romanus,'^ where
there is a form of a decree, which the clergy and people
were to sign upon their choice of a bishop, and present it
to the metropolitan and the synod, in order to his conse-
cration ; in which case, if the metropolitan found him
upon examination to be a person every way qualified, as
they represented him, he then confirmed and ratified their
choice, and so proceeded immediately to his ordination.
AU which argues, that the people had something of a
•Theod. lib. ii. c. 31. ^Aiig. Ep. 110. A Notariis Ecclesise, sicut
cernitis, excipiuntur quse dicimus, excipiuiitur qiise dicitis, et meus serjno, et
vestriE acclaniationes in terrain non cadunt. Hoc ad ultiinqm rogo,
ut geitis istis dignemini subscribcre qui potcstis. "Ordo Roin.
Biblioth. Patr. torn. x. p. 104. Decretum, quod Clcrus et Populus firinare
(al. foniiare) debet de electo Episcopo. - - - - Ut omnium nostrum vota in
hanc electionem convcnire noscatis, huic Decreto I'anonico prouqitissima
voluntatc siiiguli nianibus propriis roborantes subscrii'sinuis.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 31,')
decisive power in elections, and that their suffrao-e was not
merely testimonial.
Sect. 7.— 4thly. From the Use and OfTice of Intcrvenfors.
This is further evident from the nse and office of inter-
ventors in the Latin Church, whose business was to pro-
mote and procure a speedy election of a new bishop in any
vacant see, as I have had occasion to show in another
place.' For in the Roman and African Churches, upon the
vacancy of a bishopric, it was usual for the metropolitan to
grant a commission to some of his provincial bishops to go
to the vacant Church, and dispose the clerg-y and people
to be unanimous in the choice of a new bishop ; and when
they were agreed, they petitioned the metropolitan by the
interventor to confirm their choice, and with a synod of
provincial bishops to come and ordain him, whom they had
elected. Or else they drew up an instrument in writing-,
subscribed both by the interventor and themselves, and pre-
sented the new elect bishop to the metropolitan, who or-
dained him in his own Church. This was the practice of
the Roman province in the time of Symmachus and Gregory
the Great, as appears from their Epistles, which give direc-
tions to the interventors, or visitors, as they call them, con-
cerning- their behaviour in the present case. " Let no one,"
says Symmachus,"^ " draw up an instrument of election
without the presence of the visitor, by whose testimony
the agreement of the clergy and people may be declared."
And Gregory, writing to Barbarus, bishop of Beneventum
and visitor of the Church of Palermo, bids him " endeavour
to make the clergy and people unanimous in their presen-
tation of a worthy person to be their bishop, who could not*
« Book ii. chap. XV. ' Symmach. Ep. 5. c. 6. Decrctum sine
Visitatoris prfesentia nemo conficiat, cujus testiinonio Clericorum, ac Civiuin
possit unaniraitas declarari. ^ Greg. lib. xi. Ep. 16. Dilectio tua
Clerum Plebemque ejusdem Ecclesiffi admonere festiuet, ut, remote studio,
uno eodeinque consensu talem sibi prsficiendum expetaut Sacerdotein qui et
tanto rainisterio dignus valeat reperiri, et venerandis Canonibus nullatenus
respuatur. Qui dum fuerit postulatus cum solemnitate Decreti omnium siib-
scriptionibus roborati, et dilectionis tuae testimonio literarum, ad uos sacian-
dus occunat.
VOL. I. '^ ^
94Q THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
be rejected by the canons ; and then drawing" up their peti-
tion in form of a decree, signed with all their hands, and the
letters testimonial of the visitor, they should send him to
Rome for consecration." Nothing can be plainer, than
that here the clergy and people made the choice of their
bishop, with the assistance of a visitor or interventor, and
then presented him to the metropolitan, who, if he had no
canonical exception against him, confirmed their choice, and
proceeded to his ordination.
Sect. 8.— 5thly. From the Custom of the People's taking Persons, antf
having tliem Ordained by Force.
As a further evidence of this pow er and privilege in-
dulged to the people, it may be observed likewise, that it
was customary in those days for the people in many places
to lay violent hands upon persons, and bring them by force
to the bishop to be ordained. Thus Possidius* tells us it
was in the ordination of St. Austin, "the people seized him
and brought him to the bishop, requiring', with one voice,
that he would ordain him presbyter, whilst he in the mean
time wept abundantly for the force that was put upon him."
Paulinus^ says the same of himself, " that he was ordained
presbyter by force and the irresistible violence of an inflamed
and zealous people." And there are many other instancesr
of the like nature.
Sbct. 0. — 6thly. From the Title of Fathers, which some Bishops upon this
Account by Way of Compliment gave to their People,
I observe but one thing more relating to this matter,
which was the compliment, that some bishops passed upon
their people upon this account, styling them fathers, in
regard to the share and influence they had in their desig-
nation and election. St. Ambrose himself,^ speaking to his
people, addresses himself to them in this style ; " Ye are
' Poss. Vit. Aug. 0. 4. Eum tenuerunt, et ut, in talibus consuetum est,
Episcopo ordinandum intulerunt, omnibus id uno consensu et desiderio fieri
perficique petentibus, magnoque studio et clamore flagitanlibus, ubertim eo
flente. * Paulin. Ep. 35. inter Epist. August. A Lampio apud
Barcilnonam in Hiapanifi, per vim inflammatae subito Plebis sacratus sum.
Vid. Paulin. Ep. 6. ad Severum. p. 101. ^ Ambr. Com. in Luc.
lib. viii. c. 17. Vos enim mihi estis parentes, qui Sacerdotium detulisti*:
Vos, inqkiam, filii vel parentes, filii singuli, universi parentes.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 347
my fathers, who chose me to be bishop ; ye, I sny, are
both my children and fathers ; children in particular, fathers
all tog-ether." In which words he plainly refers to that
providential consent of the people of Milan, who, when they
were divided before into several factions, as soon as Am-
brose was named, all unanimously conspired together in
his election. These are some of those collateral evidences,
that may be brought to prove, that anciently the clergy and
people joined in a common vote in the election of their
bishop, and that their suffrage was something more than
testimonial, especially in the fourth and fifth ages, in the
Latin Church ; where, as De Marca owns, the people's
request was chiefly considered.
Sect. 10.— What Power the People had in the Designation of Presbyters.
Nor was this privilege only indulged them in the election
of their bishop, but sometimes in the designation of pres-
byters also. For St. Austin and Paulinus were but to be
ordained presbyters, when that forcible constraint, just now
spoken of, was laid upon them by the people. Besides St.
Jerom^ says expressly, " that presbyters and the other
clergy were as much chosen by the people, as the bishops
were." And Possidius^ notes this to have been both the
custom of the Church and St. Austin's practice, in the or-
dinations of priests and clerks, to have regard to the majority
or general consent of Christian people. And Siricius, who
speaks the sense and practice of the Roman Church,'' says,
" that when a deacon was to be ordained either presbyter
or bishop, he was first to be chosen both by the clergy and
people." And therefore I cannot so readily subscribe to
the assertion of those learned men, who say, that bjshops
before their ordination were propounded to the people, but
not presbyters or any other of the inferior clergy.
• Hieron. Ep. 4. ad Rustic. Cum te vel Populus rel Pontifex Civitatls in
derum elei^ent, agito qu^e Cleriei sunt. Id. in Ezek. l.b. x. c 3J. p. 609.
Speculate Ecclesice vel Episcopu. vel Presbyter, qui a Populo electus ct.
^^Ed Vit.Aug. .21. 'inordinandisSacerdoUbus H C>ric.s consensu.n
.S^mchristian^ru. et Consuetudinem Ecclesi. -^^"-•'---J/.'^;*-
batur. ^ Siric. Ep. 1. ad Himer. Tarracon. c. 10. .l;f "'^^ J^" J^'
cessu te.nporu,n, Presbyterium vel Episcopaium, M cum tleri ac Pieb.s
evocaverit electio, non iiHiiieritd sortietur.
348 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
Sect, 11.— Whether the Council of Nice made any Alteration in these
Matters.
As to those who assert, that the people were anciently
induig-cd in these matters before the council of Nice, but
that their power was abridged by a new decree of that
council, they are evidently under a mistake. For it is cer-
tain the Nicene Fathers made no alteration in this affair,
but left the whole matter as they found it; for though in
one of their canons^ it is said, " that the presence, or at
least the consent of all the provincial bishops, and the con-
firmation or ratification of the metropolitan shall be neces-
sary to the election and ordination of a bishop ;" yet that
is not said to exclude any ancient privilege that the people
enjoyed, but only to establish the rights of metropolitans
and provincial bishops, which Meletius, the schismatical
Egyptian bishop, had particularly invaded, by presuming to
ordain bishops without the authority of his metropolitan,
or consent of his fellow-bishops in the provinces of egypt.
That nothing else was designed by that canon is evident
from this, that the same council, in the synodical epistle
written to the Church of Alexandria, expressly mentions the
choice of the people, and requires it as a condition of a
canonical election. For, speaking of such Meletian bishops
as would return to the unity of the Catholic Church, it
says, " that when any Catholic bishop died, Meletian
bishops might succeed in their room, provided they were
worthy, and that the people- chose them, and the bishop
of Alexandria ratified and confirmed their choice." Our
learned bishop Pearson^ has rightly observed, that Athana-
sius himself was thus chosen, after the Nicene council was
ended ; which is a certain argument, that the people's right
was not abrogated in that council. The Eusebian party
' Con. Nic. can. 4. ^ Con.Nic. Ep. Synod, ap. Theod. lib. i. c. 9. Et
Socrat.lib. i. c. 9. 'Et n^ioi (paivoivTo, it) 6 Xabg aipoTro, c;vvfm\pi](p'i'CovTOQ
dvTif K, t-n-i(T(ppayiZovTOQ rs rijt' 'AXe'^avSpsiag iTviffKOTra. * Pearson
Vind. Ignat. par. i. c. 11. p. 324. Ed. Antwerp. Eusebiani, qui creationem
Athanasii abrogare voluerunt, defectum j)opularis electionis objiciebant, et
Episcopi iEgyrtti, in synodo congregati, Epistola ad omnos Ecclesiae Catho-
licae Episcopos scripta, contrarium magna animi contentione asseruerunt. -- -,
Quod ncque hi ncque illi fecibsent, si populi suffragia in eligendo Ej)iscopo
locum nullum habuissent.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 349
made it an objection ap,ainst him, " tliat he had not the
choice of the people ;" hut the bishops of Egypt assembled
in synod, in their synodical epistle, do with great earnest-
ness maintain the contrary, assorting, " that the whole
multitude of the people of the Catholic Church,' as if they
had been all united in one soul and body, cried out, re-
quiring Athanasius to be ordained bishop." Whence
Gregory Nazianzen- also says of him, " that he was brought
to the throne of St. Mark, — ^p^^c^tio rS Xa5 iravTog, by the suf-
frage of all the people.'' It were easy to add many other
instances and proofs of the like nature to the time of the
council of Chalcedon, when the people of Alexandria still
enjoyed their ancient privilege, as appears from several
passages in Liberatus,^ who says of Proterius, and some
other of their bishops, " that they were chosen by the
nobles, and the decree, and voice of all the people." But
I shall say no more upon this head, but only allege two
canons of the fourth council of Carthage, which comprise
the whole practice of the Church in relation to this matter ; —
the one decreeing,* " that the ordination of a bishop should
always be by the consent of four parties, the clergy, the
laity, the provincial bishops, and the metropolitan, whose
presence or authority was principally necessary in all such
cases." The other canon ^ orders, " that no bishop shall
ordain any clergymen without consulting with his clergy,
and asking the consent, approbation, and testimony of his
people." This seems to have been the most common and
ordinary practice of the Church.
» Ep. SjTiod. Con. Alex.ap. Athan. Apol. ii. torn. 2. p. 726. Uoq 6 \abc--
dvi86ujv, tKQuKov, a'lTsvTtQ WSravdmov iiriffKoirov. ^ Naz. Oral 21.
toin. i. p. 377. * Liberal. Breviar. c. 14. CoUecti sunt Nobilc, Liyi-
tatis, lit eum qui esset vitfi et sermone Pontificatu dignus, eligcrent. - - - ^o-
vissime in Proterium omnium sentcntia declinavit. Id. c. lo. Scnpsit Im-
perator Leo Duci Alexandria Siihv, ut pelleret quidem ab Kp.scopatu modis
omnibus Timotheum, inthronizaret autem alium Dccreto Popub, qu, synodum
vindicaret. * Con. Carth. iv. c. 1. Cum consensu C Icr.coru.n el La,-
corum, et coBventu totius Provincial Episcoporum, maximeque Me.ropobtam
Tel auctoritatc vel pra^sentia ordinetur Episcopus. •t>>*i • *- •> '• -'^•
Ut Episcopus sine consilio Clcricoru.n snorum Cloncos non orUincl , ita ut
CiviuiD assenbiun, et couniventiam, el tislunomum qusraf.
350 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK IV.
Sect. 12.— Some Exceptions to the General Rule. First, In Case the greatest
Part of the Church were Heretics or Schismatics.
But then, as all general rules have their exceptions, so it
cannot be denied but that this rule varied sometimes, or at
least had its limitations and restrictions: and I shall not do
justice to the reader, nor the subject neither, unless I men-
tion those also. Here therefore we are to observe, in the
first place, that this rule did not hold, when the greatest
part of any Church were turned heretics or schismatics.
For in that case, had elections been made by the general
suffrage of the people, none but heretical or schismatical
bishops must have been ordained. And therefore in the
time of the great prevalency of Arianism, and the long
schism of the Donatists, the Church did not tie herself
always to act precisely by this rule. We find it objected
by the Donatists in the collation of Carthage,' " that the
Catholics made bishops in many places, where they had no
people;" that is, no Catholic people, for they were all
Donatists; consequently those bishops were ordained riot
only without, but against the consent of the people. And
this I take to be the case of those bishops mentioned in the
seventeenth and cio-hteenth canons of the council of An-
tioch ; one of which says, " That if any bishop is ordamed
to preside over a people, and does not take upon him his
office, and go to the Church to which he is ordained, he
shall be excommunicated, till he complies, or a provincial
synod determines otherwise about him ;" and the other says,
*' If such a bishop absents from his diocese, not by his own
default, but Sm rrjv ts Aas rrapatTncnv, because the people re-
fuse to receive him, in that case he shall be honoured as a
bishop, though not admitted to his own Church." These
canons were made at a time, when the Avian faction had
raised great commotions in the Church, which probably
made some bishops unwilling to go to their Churches, and
others could not be admitted, because the faction strongly
prevailed against them; and in both of them, it is supposed,
the ordinations were made without asking the people's
' Collat. Carth. 1. c. 182. Pctiliaiuis Episcopus dixit: linmo crebros iibi
Jiabes Episcopos, sane et sine populis habts.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 3'jI
consent; of which practice we have frequent instance!^ in
ecclesiastical history in cases of the same nature.
Sect. J3.— 2dly. In Case of Ordaining Bishops to far distant Places, or
Barbarous Nations.
Another exception to the rule was, when bishops were to
be ordained for very distant countries, or barbarous nations.
When Athanasius ordained Frumentius, bishop of the
Indies at Alexandria, as the historians' report, no one can
imao-ine that he had the formal consent, thouijfh he miffht
have the presumptive approbation, of all his people. As
neither can we suppose the bishop of Tomi, in Scythia, to be
chosen by his people, when he was the only bishop - in all
that reg-ion, and commonly ordained at Constantinople, as,
by the twenty-eighth canon of the council of Chalcedon,
the bishops of barbarous nations were appointed to be.
Sect. 14. — 3dly. In Case an Interventor or any other Bishop intruded
himself into any See witliout the Consent of a Provincial Synod.
In case an interventor, or visitor, who was sent to procure
a speedy election in any vacant see, got himself settled in
the see, by the interest, which he had gained in the people
during- his administration, yet he was not allowed to con-
tinue in the possession of that see, though he had made
never so strong- a party among the people, or had the con-
sent of them all ; as appears from a canon of the fifth coun-
cil of Carthage^, which is also inserted into the Code of
the African Church. The case was the same with any va-
cant bishops, — 'ETTtcrjcoTroi (TxoXaZovTic, — as the canons call
them, who were ordained to such places as would not re-
ceive them. If any of them intruded themselves into any
vacant Church, without the consent of the metropolitan,
and a provincial synod, they were to be rejected, though all
the people were unanimous in choosing them ; as the coun-
' Ruffin. lib. i. c. 9. Socrat. lib. i. c. 19. Theodoret. lib. i. c. 23.
5 Sozom. lib. vii. c. 19. ^ Con. Carth. v. c. 8. Placuit, ut nulh Inter-
cessori licitum sit, Cathedram, cui Intercessor datus est, qu.bushbetjopulo-
rum studiis, rel seditionibus retinere. Vid. Cod. Can. Lccl. Afr. c. 40.
352 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
cil of Antioch decreed, in express terms,» against such in-
vaders : — " If," say they, " a vacant bisliop transfers himself
into a vacant Church, and seizes the throne by steaUh,
without the authority of a full synod of the province, he
shall be discarded, though all the people, upon whom he
thrust himself, should ag-ree in the choice of him." The
same council has another canon,- which prohibits any
bishop to remove from one diocese to another, either of his
own accord, or by the compulsion of the people ; which
plainly impUes, that in all such cases no regard was had to
the choice of the people, when they pretended to act with-
out the concurrence of a provincial synod.
Sect. 15.— 4tlily. In Case of Factions and Divisions among the People.
When the people wore divided in their choice, and could
not unanimously agree upon any one, then, to prevent fur-
ther disputes, and the mischievous consequences of faction
and division, it was usual for the metropolitan and the synod
to choose an indifferent person, whom no party had named,
and prefer him before all the competitors of the people.
And this was usually done with good success ; for the peo-
ple commonly were ashamed of their own choice, and uni-
versally acquiesced in this. Sidonius ApoUinarius gives us
a famous instance, in the ordination of John, bishop of
Chalons. A triumvirate of competitors, whose characters
were not extraordinary, had, by different interests, drawn
the people into three very great factions; to remedy which
the metropolitan, privately consulting with his fellow-
bishops, but taking none of the people into council, or-
dained this John, to the surprise of them all ; but, as our
author^ observes, " it was managed with that prudence,
that though the advice of the people was not taken, yet
' Con. Antioch. c. 16. "Ei rig eTrtff/coTrof tr^oXa^wi/ stti (rxoXcH^aaav
tKKkrjffiav iavTov STrippixl/ac, vipapTTaZn- tovOqovov Six(i <yvv6Ss TtXtlag : rSrov
cnrojiXijTov ^tivai, K) el ttciq 6 Xabg, ov {Kpapira'Ctv-, i'Xoiro avTov. ^ Ibid.
Can. 21. ETTiffKOTTov drrb Trai^wiiciaQ iTioag dg trkpav [lij [itSnraa^at, fiiiTe
av^cupiTOJQ itrippiiTTovTa iavrbv, fir)Tt vtto Xaiov tK^iia^ofikvov. ^Sidon.
lib. iv. Ep. 25. " Strepitu furentis turba; despecto, sanctum Johannem, stupen-
tibus factiosis, erubescentibus malis, acclaniantibus bonis, reclamantibus nuUis,
colkgam sibi consecravere.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CIU'RCH. 353
the holy man was ortUincd, to the astonishment of the
factious, and eonfusio:i of the vvickerl, wiih the "-enoral
acclamations of the good, and the contradictions and oppo-
sitions of none." And this was a common method in case
of incuiahlo divisions among the people.
Sect. 16.— 5thly. The Emperors sometimes interposed their Authority to
prevent Tumulis in the like Cases.
Sometimes the emperors interposed their authority, and
tlietnselves nominated the person, whom they would have
to be ordained bishop; when they found, by experience,
what dangerous tumults these popular elections mised
among the people. Thus it was in the cavse of Nectari'.is,
bishop of Constantinople, wito was no'ninated by Theodo-
sius only. For the people were not so much as consulted
in the matter, but the emperor ordered the bishops to give
him in a catalog-ue of tit persons, reserving the power of
election entirely to himself. Nay, when some of thebish.ops
objected against Nectarius, " that he was but a cateclm-
men, and unbaptized," the emperor, notwithstanding, per-
sisted in his choice, and the bishops complied, and imme-
diately baptized and ordained him, as Sozomen ' informs
us. Socrates takes notice of the same prerogative made
use of by Theodosius Junior, upon the like occasion, who
nominated Nestorius to the see of Constantinople,"' Bid rig
KivoaTTH^i-dg, by reason of fad io as ani vain-glorious per-
sons^ in the Church." And, for the like reason, the same
author^ tells us, upon another vacancy, to prevent tumults
in the election, he gave his mandate to the bishops to en-
throne Proclus in the Church. De Marca* will furnish the
reader with other instances, and ecclesiastical history with
more, to the same purpose.
Sect. 17. — 6thly. The People sometimes resiraine 1 to the Choice of One out
of Three, which were nominated by the Bishops.
Sometimes, again, we find the peojile and clergy were
confined in their choice, to take one out of three, that were
' Sozom. lib. vii. c. 8. ' Sorrat. lib. vii. c. 99. ' Idem. lib. vii.
c. 40. * Marca de Concord, lib. viii. c. 9. n. 8.
V OL I. "-' ^
354 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
first nominated by the bishops in council. Thus it was in
Fiance, in the time of the (^.econd council of Aries, Anno
452, when that council made an order about elections to
tliis purpose : "That in the ordination of a bishop' this
rule should be observed ; the bishops shall nominate three,
out of which the clergy and people shall have power to
choose one." Other laws"^ appointed the clergy and peo-
ple to nominate three, and the metropolitan and provincial
bishops to cast lots, which of the three should be ordained ;
which was the rule of the Spanish Church in the time of the
council of Barcelona, Anno 599.
Sect. 18.— Lastly, by Justinian's Lav/s the Elections were confined to the
Opiimates, and the Inferior People -wholly excluded.
We find also, in Justinian's laws, that a considerable
alteration was made in this aflair, wherever those laws took
place. For thereby the inferior sort of the common people
were wholly cut off' from having any concern in these elec-
tions, which were now confined to tha clergy, and the
Optimates, or persons of better rank and quality in every
Church. For so, by two of his Novels,-^ it is expressly
provided, " That when a bishop is to be ordained for any
city, the clergy and chief men of the city shall meet, and
nominate three persons, drawing up an instrument, and in-
serting therein upon their oath, that they choose them nei-
ther for any gift, nor promise, nor friendship, nor any other
cause, but because they know them to be of the true Catho-
lic faith, and of honest life, and good learning, &c. That
out of these three, one that is best quaUtied may be
' Con. Arelat. ii. c. 54. Placuit in Ordinatione Episcopi hunc ordinera cus-
todiri, ut tres ab Episcopis noininentur, de quibus Clerici vel Gives ergaunum
babeant elegemli potestatem. ^ Con. Barcinon. can. 3. ^ Justin.
Novel. 123. c. 1. Sancimus, quoties opus fuerit Episcopum ordinari, Clericos
et Primates Civitatis, cui Episcopus ordinandus est, mox in tribus personis
decreta facere, propositis Sacrosanclis Evangeliis, periculo suarum aniinarum
dicentes in ipsis decretis, quia neque propter aliquam donationem, neque
propter aliquam promissionein, aut amicitiain, aut aliam quamlibet causam ;
sed scientes eos rectse et Catholicse Fidei, et honestae esse vitaj, et literas
nosse, hos elegerunt: - - - - Ut ex tribus illis personis mclior ordinetur,
dectione etjudicio ordinantis. See also Novel. 137. c. 2. et Cod. lib. i, tit.
g. de Episc. leg. 42.
4*;HAP. 11.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 355
chosen by the discretion and judgment of the ordainer. '
De Marca thinks the council of Laodicca long before made
a canon to the same purpose, forbidding the elections of
the clergy to be committed " ToTc ox^oig, vili plebecula,'"
as De Marca renders it, ' that is, fo the common and inferior
sort of people. But it is not certain the canon intended the
prohibition in that sense ; or if it did, it was of no force ; for
the people continued their ancient practice for some ages
after that council. However upon the whole matter it ap-
pears, that this power of the people did never so univer-
sally obtain, but that it was limited in several cases by
certain restrictions, and varied according to the different
state of times and nations.
Sect. 19. — How and wli€n Princes and Patrons came to have the chief Power
of Elections.
At last, upon the breaking of the Roman Empire, the
Gothic kings in France and Spain were generally compli-
mented with a share in these elections, and their consent
.was as necessary, as any other, to tlie ordination of bishops
within their dominions. Bv which means their power
quickly increased into a prerogative of nommatmg solely,
and all others had little else to do but to accept their nomi-
nations; which the reader, that is curious in this matter, may
find discoursed at large by De Marca,^ in his account of the
change, that was made in the French and Spanish Churches
in after ages, which it is none of my business here further
to pursue. As to the power of nomination in inferior
patrons, it is generally agreed by learned men,-' that it came
in upon the division of dioceses into distinct parishes,
and the founding of Churches in country places. For to
give greater encouragement to such pious and useful works,
the founder of any Church, who settled an endowment upon
it, was allowed to" retain the right of presentaiion to himself,
to nominate a fit clerk to the bishop for his approbation.
That, which led the way to this practice, was a decree of the
' Cr.n. Laodic. c. 13. Marca de Concord, lib. viii. c. f>. n.8. " Marca
de Concord, lib. viii. c. 9 et 10. , ' See Stillingacct fnreas. of Scp.r.
p. 326.
356 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK IV.
first council of Orange, Anno 441 ; wherein this power and
privilege was first granted to bishops, " that if any bishop
was disposed to found a Church in the territory of another
bisliop, tie bishop of the diocese, where the Church was
built, should consecrate it; reserving- to the founder Mhe
right of nominating- such clerks, as he should desire to have
in his own Church, whom the bishop of the diocese should
ordain at his request; or if they were already ordained, he
should allow them to continue without any molestation."
And this canon is repeated in the second council of Aries, ^
in the editions of Sirmond and Labbe, though it be wanting
in some others. After this, by the laws of Justinian, all
founders of Ch.urches and their heirs are allowed to nomi-
nate their own clerks, upon the right of patronage, to those
Churches. " If any man builds an oratory," says one of his
Novels,^ " and either he or his lieirs are minded to have
clerks ordained thereto ; if they allow maintenance to them,
and they be worthy "persons, such as they nominate shall be
ordained." And tlie bishop has no power to ordain any
other, unless the persons so nominated be unqualified by
the canons. Another No, el* allows the bishop liberty to
examine them, and judge of their qualifications; but, if he
finds them worthy, he is obliged to ordain tliem, having in
that case no power to refuse them. They, who would see
more of this matter, may consult our learned bishop StilUng-
fleet,* who gives an account of the progress of it in fuUire
ages; which being foreign to my subject, I return to the
business of elections in the ancient Church, and proceed to
give an account of the several qualifications that were ne-
cessarily required in persons to be electcMi and ordained to
any office or dignity in the Church.
'Con. ArauSican. i. c. 9. Rescrvata jElilicatori Episcono hie gratiTi, ut
qiios (iesiderat Ck'ricos in re sufi vi'Iere, ipsos ordinet is iu ciijus civitatis tcr-
litorio est ; vel si jam crrlinati sunt, ip.sos habere acquiescat. * Con.
Arehit. ii. Anno +5-2. can. '.iQ. •''Novel. I'iS. c. IS. Si quis oralorii
doininn aiditicaveiit, et voluerit in cPi Clericos ordinare aut ipse, aut ejus
Haeredes : si expensas ipsis Clericis niinistrant, et digiios denoniinant, deiio-
minatos ovdinari. Si ver") qui ab eis cliguntur, tanquani Iridignos jirohihoiit
Sacrse Regulic ordlnaii, tunc Episcopus quoscunque putavcrit iiitliore.-i, ordi-
nari procuret. * Novel. d7. c. 2. ^Sliiiing'. Unreus. of .'itpar.
par. 3. p. 327.
CHAP. 111.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 3-57
CHAP. III.
Of the Examination and Qualifications of Persons to be
Ordained to any Office of the Clergy in the Primitive
Church. And first, of their Faith and Morals.
Sect. 1. — Three Inquiries made about Persons to be Ordained, respecting,
1st, Thtir Faith; 2dly, Their Morals ; 3dly, Their outward Quality and
Condition.
Before any person could reg-ularly be elected, or ordained
to any clerical office in the Church, the electors and or-
dainers were obliged to make several inquiries concerning
him, which I think may be reduced to these three heads ;
the examination of his faith, his morals, and his outward
state and condition in the world. The two first of these
they were most strict in canvassing and examining, because
they were more essential and necessary to the ministry ;
but the third they did not omit, because the peculiar state
of those times did more especially require it. For then
men were tied by the laws of the empire to bear the offices
of the state, according to their quality and substance, and
those offices were commonly inconsistent with the offices
of the Church ; which made it necessary to inquire, before
men were ordained, whether they were under any obliga-
tion to the state, or obnoxious to any distinct power ; for
fear the Church should seem to encroach upon other men's
rigl.ts, or bring trouble upon herself, by having her clergy
recalled to a secular life again.
o
Sect. 2.— The Rule and Method of Examining their Faith and Learning.
The trial of their ftiith and orthodoxy, under which I also
comprehend their learning, was made three ways; partly
by obliging tlie electors to give in their public testimony of
them ; partly by obhging the persons elected to answer to
certain interrogatories, or questions of doctrine, that were
put to them; and partly by making them subscribe a body
of aiticles, or confession of taith, at the time of their ordi-
358 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
nation. By a law of Justinian's' the electors themselves
were to declare upon oath in the instrument or decree of
election, if it were a bishop that was chosen, that they
knew him to be man of the true Catholic faith, and of good
life and conversation, &c. And by the same law the
bishop to be ordained was required to give in a libel, or
form of confession of his faith, subscribed with his own
hand ; and to repeat the form of prayer used at the oblation of
the holy eucharist, and at baptism, with the other prayers of
the Church. Which was an intimation, that he allowed and
approved the liturgy or public service of the Church. The
fourth council of Carthage prescribes a particular form of
examination by way of interrogatories to the bishop, who
was to be ordained, which is too long to be here inserted ;
but it consists chiefly of such questions as relate to the
articles of the creed, and doctrines levelled against the
most noted heresies,^ that either then were, or lately had
been predominant in the Church. Orders also are there
g-iven to examine, whether the candidate be well instructed
in the law of God, and able to expound the sense of Scrip-
ture, and be thoroughly exercised in the doctrines of the
Church. By which we may judge what due precaution
was then taken, to admit none but persons rightly qualified,
as to their faith, to the chief administrations of the Church,,
Sect. 3. — The irregular Ordination of Synesius considered.
Upon which consideration it has seemed very difficult to
some learned men, to account for the practice and conduct
of Theophilus of Alexandria, in ordaining Synesius, at the
same time that he professed he could not yet believe the
doctrine of the resurrection, and some other articles of the
Christian Faith. Baronius,^ and Habertus,* and our learned
* Justin. Novel. 137. n. 2. Quemque ipsoriim jurare secundum divina elo-
quia, et ip.jis psephismatibus inscribi Quod scientes ipsos rectse et Ca-
tholicte Fidei et honestte vitse, ipsos elegerint. Ibid. Exigi etiam ante omnia
ab eo qui ordinandus est, libellum ejus propria siibscriptione complecteutem
quse ad rectam ejus fidem pertinent. Enunciari etiam ab ipso et sanctam
oblationis foruiuiam, quae in sancta communione lit, et eani quse fit in baptis-
matc precatiDuem, et reliquas deprecationes. '*' Con. Carth. 4. c. 1.
^ Baroa. an. 4.10. torn. v. p. 315. * llabert. Archieralic. p. oOO.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. .3M<
bishop Taylor* reckon, he only dissembled, and used tins
stratagem to avoid being- ordained. But had this been the
case, it had still been a just canonical exception against
him ; for the canons^ for})id the ordination of any one,
who accuses himself as guilty of any heinous crime, whe-
ther his accusation be true or false ; for he proves himself
guilty either by confessing* a truth, or at least by telling a
lie about it. But indeed the case of Synesius was no
feigned case, for he spake the real sense of his soul ; as
appears not only from what the historian^ says of it, but
from the account, which he himself gives in one of his
Epistles* to his brother Euoptius: " You know," says he,
" that philosophy teaches the contrary to many of those g-e-
nerally-received doctrines. Therefore I cannot persuade
myself, that the soul is postnate to the body ; I cannot say,
that the world and all its parts shall be dissolved; I look
upon the resurrection to be Upov n icj inroppi]Tov, a sort of
mystical and ineffable thing, and am tar from assenting to
the vulgar opinions about it. — And now being called to the
priesthood, I would not dissemble these things, but testify
them both before God and man." This asseveration seems
too solemn and serious to be the speech of one, who was
only acting- a part, and dissembhng his opinion ; and there-
fore it is more probable, that he was in earnest, as Lucas
Holstenius* more fully shows in a peculiar dissertation
upon this subject against Baronius. Valesius,*^ to vmdicate
Theophilus, says, Synesius altered his opinions before he
was ordained ; but that is more than can be proved. The
best account of the thing is that, which is given by Holste-
nius, " that it was the man s admirable virtues, and excel-
lent qualifications in other respects, and a great want of fit
men in those difficult times, that encouraged Theophilus to
ordain him, in hopes that God would enlighten his mind,
1 Taylor Duct. Dubit. book iii. c. ii. p. 495. ^ Con. Valentin, c. t.
Quicuiique sub ordtnatione vel Diaconatus, vel Presbjterii, vel EpiscopalQs,
mortal i crimine se dixcrint esse pollutos, a supradictis ordinationibus esse
submovendos, reos scilicet vel veri confessioue, vd nu-ndacto falsitatis.
^ Evao-r lib. i. c. 15. "Oi^ttw tov \6yov rf/e avarraai<^Q irapactxonevoi; &c.
^Syne^s Ep 105 p 397. * Holsten. Dissert. 3. de Synesio, ap. Vales.
Not. in"Theodor."p. 203. « Vales. Not. in Evagr. lib. i.e. 15. It Petav.
Vit. Synes. p. t.
300 THE ANTIQUITIES OP THE [bOOK IV.
and not suffer so excellent a person long- to labour under
such errors in religion." But tlie fairest colours, that can
be put upon it, will hardly justify a fact so contrary to the
rules of the Church. The instance was singular, and never
made a precedent, or drawn into imitation ; the general
practice of the Church being", as has been showed, to
examine men's orthodoxy, and require their assent and
subscriptions to the rule of faith before their ordination.
Sect. 4. — A strict Inquiry macle into the Morals of such as were to be
Ordained.
Their next Inquiry was into the morals of tlie person to be
ordained ; and here the examination was very strict and
accurate. For then the custom was generally to ordain
such only, as were known to all the people, and of whose
life and character they were satisfied, and could bear tes-
timony to them. " The bishops and presbyters, who preside
over us," says Tcrtullian,' " are advanced to that honour
\ only by public testimony." " The law is," says Cyprian,^
! " to choose bishops in the presence of the people, who have
perfect knovviedge of every man's life, and are acquainted
with the tenour of their actions by their conversation."
Sect. 5. — For which Jlcason no Stranorer to be Ordained in a Foreign Church.
Upon which account the laws forbad the ordination of
strangers in any Church, to which they did not belong-.
Optatus^ makes it an objection against the Donatists, that in
the Roman see they never had a bishop, who was a citizen
of Rome, but still their succession in that city was supplied
by Africans and strang'ers. Whereas, on the contrary, he
challenges* them to show, when ever the Church at any
time brought a Frenchman or a Spaniard into Afric ; or
ordained a stranger to a people, that know nothing- of him,
' Tertul. Apol. c. 89. President apud nosprobati quique seniores, honorem
istum non pretio, sed testinionio adepti. *Cypr. Ep. GS. al. 67. p. 172.
Episcopus deligatur Plebe prassente, quise singulorum vitani plenissime novit,
et uniuscuj usque actum de ejus conversatione pcrspexit. *Optat. lib.
ii. p. 48. Quid est hoc, quod pars vestra in Urbe Romffi Episcopum Civem
habere non potuit ? Quid est quod toti Afri et Poregrini in ilia Civitate sibi
successisse noscuntur. * Ibid. p. 51. Nunquid nos adduximus His-
panum aut (lalluui ? Aut nos ordinavimus ignorantibus Peregrinufn?
CHAP. III.j CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 301
In the civil law we have a constitution of Honoiius, the
emperor,! to this purpose, " That no clerks should be or-
dained out of any other possession or village, but only that
where their Church was." Or if any one thinks that decree was
made rather for reasons of state, he may read the same in
the canons of the Church; as in the council of Eiiberis,
which decrees,^ " That no strang-er, baptized in a foreio-n
country, should be ordained out of the prevince, where he
was baptized, because his life and conversation could not be
known." And this rule was generally observed, except iu
some extraordinary cases, when either public fame had made
a man eminent and noted over all the world; or there were
some particular reasons for going against the rule, of which
I have given an account in another place. See book ii.
c. X. sect. 3. •
Sect. 6. — Nor any One who had done public Penance in the Church.
The strictness of this examination, as to men's morals,
will appear further from this, — that the commission of any
scandalous crime, for which a man was obliged to do pe-
nance in the Church, did for ever after, according to the
rules and discipline of those times, render that person irre-
gular and incapable of holy orders. For though they
granted pardon and absolution and lay-communion to all
offenders, that submitted to the discipline of public penance,
yet they thought it not proper to admit such to clerical dig-
nities, but excluded them from the orders and promotions
of the Church. At least it was thus in most of the western
Churches in the fourth and fifth centuries, as appears from
the Latin writers of those ages. The Epistles of Siricius
and Innocent show it to have been the practice of the Ro-
man Church in their time. For Siricius says,^ " No lay-
' Cod. Th. lib. xvi. tit. ii. de Episc. leg. 33. Clerici non ex alia pos-
scssione vcl vico, sed ex eo ubi Ecclesiam esse constiterit, ordinentur.
*Con. Eliber. c. 24;. Omnes qui peregre fuerint baptizati, eo quod eorum
minime sit cognita vita, placuit, ad Clerum non esse promovendos in alicnis
Provinciis. ^Siric. Ep. i. ad Hiraer. Tarracon. c. 14. Postpoenitu-
dinem et reconciliationera nulli unquam Laico liccat honorem Clericatus adi-
pisci: quia quamvis sint omnium peccatorum contagione mundati, nulla tamen
debent gerendorum Sacrainentorum instrumenta susciperc, qui duduui fuerint
vasa vitiorum.
VOL. I. 2 Y
362 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
man, after public penance and reconciliatiou, was to be
admitted to the honour of the clergy: because though they
were cleansed from the contag-ion of all their sins, yet they
ought not to touch the instruments of the sanctuary, who
themselves before had been the instruments and vessels of
sin." The letters of Innocent^ are to the same purpose.
And so for the French Churches we have the testimony of
Gennadius^ and the second council of Aries, ^ and Agde ;*
and for the Spanish Churches a canon of the first council
of Toledo,^ which allows not penitents to be ordained, ex-
cept in case of necessity, and then only to the offices of
the inferior orders, door-keepers and readers. The practice
of the African Churches is evident from the fourth council
of Carthag-e,'' which decrees, " that no penitent should be
ordained, though he was a good man at the present : and if
any such was ordained by the bishop's ignorance, not
knowing his character, he should be deposed, because he
did not declare, that he had been a penitent, at the time of
his ordination." By this we may understand what Optatus
means, when speaking of the Donatists, who made some of
the Catholic children do public penance in the Church, he
says, "they thereby gave them a wound, which was in-
tended'' to cut them off from the benefit of ordination ;"
plainly referring to this rule in the Church, that he, who had
done public penance, was thereby made incapable of ordi-
nation ; which seems also to be St. Austin's meaning, when
speaking of a Christian astrologer, who had done penance
for his fault, he says,^ " his conversion, perhaps, might
'Iniioc. Ep. 22. c. 3. Ubi poenitentiffi remedium necessarium est illic, Or-
dinationis honorem locum habere non posse. ^Gennad. de Eccl. Dogm.
c. 73. sCon.Arelat. ii. C.25. *Con. Agath. c. 43. De Pceni-
tentibus nullus Clericus ovdinetur. ^Con. Tolet. i. c. 2. Pceniteutes
non admittantur ad Cleruna, nisi tantim necessitas aut usus exegerit, et tunc
inter Ostiarios deputentur, vel inter Lectores. ^ q^j,. Garth. 4. c. 68.
Ex Poenitentibus fquamvis sit bonus) Clericus non ordinetur. Si per igno-
rantiani Episcopi factum fuerit, deponatiir a Clero, quia se Ordinationis tem-
pore non prodidit fuisse poenitentera. ' Optat. lib. ii. p. 59. Invenistis
pueros, de pcenitentia sauciastis, ne aliqui ordinari potuissent. ^ Aug.
Append. Enarrat. Psal. 61. Posset videri, quia sic conversus est, Clericatum
quffirere in Ecclesia. Panitens est; non quserit nisi solain mlsericordlaiu.
Vid. Aug. Ep. 50. ad Bonifac. p. 87,
CHAP. 111.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 363
make some think, he intended to get an oflice among the
clergy of the Church : but no," says he, " he is a penitent;
he seeks nothing more but only a pardon and absolution :"
meaning, that a person in his circumstances could not pre-
tend to sue for orders by the rules and canons of the Church.
But we are to note, that this is always to bo understood of
public penance, not of private; for the council of Girone or
Gerunda, in Catalonia, expressly makes this distinction >
between public penance in the Church, and private penance
in time of sickness ; making the one to incapacitate men
from taking orders, but not the other. And in all other
canons, where this distinction is not expressed, it is always
to be understood. For it was only that penance, which left
some public mark of disgrace upon men, which unqualified
them for the orders of the Church. But this rule miffht 1 o
dispensed with in extraordinary cases ; and there are some
learned men, who think it was not so generally insisted on
in the three first ages of the Church: but Origen^ speaks
of it, as the rule of the Church in his time,
Bect. 7. — No Murderer to be Ordained, nor Adulterer, nor One that had
lapsed in Time of Persecution.
As to particular crimes, there were a great many that un-
qualified men, whether they had done public penance for
them or not. Such as the three gTeat crimes of murder,
adultery, and lapsing in time ofpers:^cution. The council of
Toledo^ sets murder in the front of those sins, which ex-
clude men from holy orders. The crimes of fornication and
adultery are noted upon the same account by those called
the Apostolical Canons,* the council of Nco-Cfcsarea,* the
council cf Nice,^ Eliberis,^ and several others. Nay, the
council of Neo-Ca5sarea goes a little further, and decrees,^
that if any man's wife committed, adultery, whilst he was a
' Con. Gerundens. an. 517. c. 9. Qui agritudinis languore depressiis^
pcrniteutiffi benedictioneui, qaani viatic\im doputamu'^, per Comniunioncm ac-
ceperit ; et postmodum reconvalescens caput pcriiiii'iUia; in EccUsia pujiicc
non subdiderit; si prohibitis vitiis non detinetur obnoxius. adiniftatur ad
Cleruiii. ''Cent. Cels. lib. iii. p. U3. '* Con. Tolct. 1 can. 2.
* Canon. Apost. c. 61. ,° Con. NeorCas. c. 9 ct 10. « Con.
Nic. c. 2. ' Con. Eliber. c. 30. * Con. Neo-Ca:o. c. 8.
364 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK IV.
layman, he should not be admitted to any ecclesiastical
function. Or if she committed adultery, when he was in
office, he must give her a bill of divorce and put her away;
otherwise be degraded from his office. As to the crime of
lapsing and sacrificing in time of persecution, Origen^
assures us, it was the custom of the Church in his time to
exclude such, as were guilty of it, from all ecclesiastical
power and government. And Athanasius^ says the same,
" that they were allowed the privilege of repentance, but
not to have any place among- the clergy." Or, if any were
ignorantly ordained, they were to be deposed, as soon as
they were discovered, by a rule of the great council of
Nice,^ Which was no new rule, but the ancient rule of the
whole Catholic Church ; for Cyprian * says, it was agreed
upon at Rome, and in Afric, and by the bishops of the
whole world, " that such men mioht be admitted to re-
pentance ; but should be kept back from the ordinations of
the clergy and the honour of the priesthood." Upon
this account the Arians themselves, though they were
not much given to act by rules, sometimes thought fit
to deny men ordination; as Athanasius^ and Socrates*'
say they did by Asterius, the sophist, whom they would
not ordain, because he had sacrificed in time of perse-
cution. But they were far from being constant to. this
rule; for if Philostorgius''^ says true, the leading bishops
of the Arian party, Eusebius of Nieomedia, Maris of Chai-
cedon, Theognis of Nice, Leontius of Antioch, Antonius of
Tarsus, Menophantus of Ephesus, Numenius, Eudoxius,
Alexander, and Asterius of Cappadocia, all sacrificed in the
Diocletian persecution. But then it must be owned, that
some of these were ordained bishops in the Church, before
the Arian heresy began to appear; whence we must con-
clude, that either the bishops, who ordained them, knew
' Oiigen. cont. Cels. lib.iii. p. 145. ^ Atlian. Ep. aclRuffin. tom.ii.
p. 41. 3 Con. Nic. c. 10. * Cypr. Ep. 68. al. 67. p. 174. Ciim
jampridem nobiscum, et cum omnibus omnino Episcopis in toto mundo con-
stitutis, etiam Cornelius, coUega noster— decreverit, ejusmodi homines ad
poenitcntiam quidcm agendam posse admitti ; ab Ordinatione autem Cleri,
atque Sacerdotali Honore prohiberi. •^ Athan. de Synod. Ariiu. et
Sklcuc. torn. i. p. 887. « Socrat. lib. i. c. 36. ^ Philos-
tortf. lib. ii. c. 14.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 365
nothing of their lapsing ; or else, that the Church herself
sometimes granted dispensations in this case also. Baro-
nius^ and some others lay it to the charge of Eusebius,
the historian, " that he sacrificed in time of persecution."
Petavius,^ and Huetius,^ and Mr. Pagi,* bring the same
charge against Origen out of Epiphanius, the first reporter
of the story; whilst Valesius^ and du Pin^ undertake to
vindicate the reputation of Origen from so foul an aspersion.
And Hanckius'^ and Dr. Cave ^ do the same for Eusebius.
I will not interpose in these controversies, but only observe,
that if the accusations brought against those two persons
were true, the consequence must be, either that persons
who had lapsed might be ordained, or at least continue in
their orders undeposed, when the Church saw fit to dispense
with her ordinary rule; which probably was not so strict,
but that it might admit of some relaxation, when proper
occasions and cases extraordinary seemed to require it.
Sect. 8. — No Usurer, or seditious Person.
Another crime, which unqualified men for orders in those
times, was sedition or rebellion ; for he, that stood convicted
of treasonable practices, was never to be ordained. This
appears from the fourth council of Carthage,^ which joins
the seditious and usurers together, and excludes them both
from ordination. As to the crime of usury, I shall not here
stand to explain the nature of it, which will be done in a
more convenient place,^*' but only observe, that this crime,
in the sense in which the ancients condemned it, was of
such an odious and scandalous nature, as to debar men,
that had been guilty of it, from the honour and privilege of
ordination. Whence Gennadius," speaking of the practice
of the Latin Church, and the qualifications required in per-
sons to be ordained, says, " they must not be men con-
> Baron, ad. an. 335. n. 8. ^ Petav. Animadvers. in Epiphan, Hser.
6-k n. 2. ^ Huet. Origenian. lib. i. c. 4. " Pagi Critic, in
Baron, an. 251. n. 6. * Vales. Not. in Euseb. lib. vi. c. 39. « Du
Pin Bibliotheque, torn. i. p. iU. ' Hanckius de Scriptor. Byzantin.
par. i. c. 1. n. 158. * Cave. Hist. Liter, vol. i. p. 128. » Con.
Garth, iv. c. 67. Seditionarios nunquam ordinandos Clericos, sicut nee Usii-
jarios. lOBook vi. " Geunad. de Eccles. Dogm. c. 73.
Neque ilium qui usuras accepisse convincitur.
366 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
victed of taking- usury." In the Greek Church, at least in
the province of Cappadocia, therule seems not to have been
altoofether so strict: for St. Basil's Canons* do not abso-
lutely exclude such from the ministry, but allow them to be
ordained, provided they first gave avs^ay to the poor what
they had gained by usury, and promised not to exercise it
for the future.
Sect. 9. — Nor One who had voluntarily dismembered his own Body.
Another crime, which made a man irregular, and de-
barred him from the privilege of ordination, was the disfi-
guring or dismembering of his own body. If any man in-
deed happened to be born an eunuch, there was no law
against his ordination; for Eusebius^ says, Dorotheus,
presbyter of Antioch, was an eunuch from his mother's
womb. And Socrates^ and Sozomen say of Tigris, pres-
byter of Constantinople, that he was made an eunuch by a
barbarian master. Or if a man had suffered the loss of any
meraljer by the cruelty of the persecutors ; as many con-
fessors in the Diocletian persecution had their right eyes
bored out, and their left legs enfeebled; in that ease there
was no prohibition of their ordination, except they were
utterly incapacitated from doing the office of ministers, by
being made blind, or deaf, or dumb. For so those called
the Apostolical Canons* determined ; " a man, that hath
lost an eye, or is maimed in his leg, may be ordained
bishop, if he be otherwise worthy. For it is not any im^
perfection of body, that defiles a man, but the pollution of
his soul. Yet, if a man is deaf or blind, he shall not be
made bishop ; not because he is polluted, but because he
will not be able to perform the duties of his function."
The council of Nice adds a third case, in which it was law-r
ful to ordain dismembered persons ; which was, when in
case of a mortal distemper the physicians thought it neces-
sary to cut off one limb of the body to save the whole. All
" Basil, can. 14. ap. Bevcreg. Pandect, torn. ii. ^ Ewseb. lib. vii. c. 32.
" yocrat. lib. vi. c. 15. Sozoni. lib. viii. c. -Ji. * Canon. Apost,
V. 70 ft '17.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 367
Uiese were excepted cases, and the prolubition of thcf
canons did not extend to them ; but the cilnie was, when
any one disnnembered himself in health, as the Nieene
canon' words it; such an one was not to be ordained, or if
he was ordained, when he committed the fact, he was to be
deposed. The Apostolical Canons^ give this reason for it,
" because such an one is in effect a self-murderer, and an
enemy of the workmanship of God." Nor was it any ex-
cuse in this case, that a man made himself an eunuch out of
a pretended piety, or to avoid fornication. For such were
liable to the penalty/ of the canon, as well as any others ;
which is noted by Gennadius^ and the council of Aries.*
And indeed the first reason of making- the canon was to
prevent that mistaken notion of piety, which had once pos-
sessed Orig'en,'' who taking* those words of our Saviour,
" there are some, that make themselves eunuchs for the
king-dom of heaven's sake," in a wrong- sense, fulfilled them
literally upon himself. And the Valesian heretics carried
the matter a little further, asserting-, that men ought to
serve God after that manner; and therefore they both made
themselves eunuchs, and all that came over to them, as St.
Austin^ informs us. It was to correct and discountenance
these erroneous opinions and practices, that the Church at
first made this rule ; which was so nicely observed, that we
scarce meet with two instances to the contrary in after ages.
Leontius made himself an eunuch to avoid suspicion in
his converse with the virgin Eustoiium; but he was deposed
from the office of presbyter for the fact, and it gave occasion
to the council of Nice to renew the ancient canon ag-ainst
such practices: so that when the Arians afterward ordained
him bishop of Antioch, the historians "^ tell us, the Catho-
lics generally declaimed against his ordination as uncano-
nical. The only instance, that looks like a dispensation
with this rule, is what we have in Baronius concerning
' Con. Nic. c. 1. 2 Canon. Apost. c. 21. ^ Gennad. de
Eccles. Dogm. c. 73. * Con. Arolat. 2. c.7. Si qui se, caniali vitio
re])ugnarenescientes, abscindunt, ad Clerum perveuire non po^sunt.
* Vid, Eiiseb. lib. vi. c. 8. Epiphaa, Haer. 64. n. 3. * Aug. de User,
c. 37. Valesii et seipsos casti'ant, et hospites sues, hoc modo existimaiUes
Deo se debere servire. ^ Socrat.lib.ii. c.26. Theodor. lib. ii. c.24.
d68 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK IV,
Timotheus, bif^hop of Alexandria, ordairiinfr Ammon, thA
Eg-vptian monk, who to avoid being- ordained had cut off
his own right ear to make himself irregukir ; notwithstand-
ing- which, Baronius' says, Timotheus ordained him, and
justified what he did with this expression: " that this law
indeed was observed by the Jews ; but, for his own part, if
they broug'ht to him a man without a nose, that was but of
g-ood morals, he would ordain him bishop." But there is
some reason to question the truth of this narration ; for not
only Palladius, whom Baronius cites, but Socrates^ and
Sozornen, in telling" the story, seem rather to intimate, that
he was not ordained. However, supposing it to be true, it
is a singular instance, and we shall hardly find such another
in all the history of the Church ; which shows, how cau-
tious tlie ancients were in observing* this rule, that they
might not bring any disrepute or scandal upon the Church.
Sect. 10. —Men only accountable for Crimes committed after Bajitism, as to
what concerned Ordination.
But in all these and the like cases there is one thing par-
ticularly to be observed, that the crimes, which made men
irregular, were generally understood to be such only as
were committed after baptism. For all crimes, committed
before baptism, were supposed to be so purged away in the
waters of baptism, as that a perfect amnesty passed upon
them, and men, notwithstanding thern, were capable of
ordination. So that not only the crimes, wliich men com-
mitted whilst they were heathens, but such, as they fell
into when they were catechumens, were overlooked in this
inquiry, when their morals came to be examined for ordina-
tion. This is evident not only from the known case of St.
Austin, whose faults were never objected to him at his or-
dination, because they were only such as preceded his bap-
tism ; but also from the rule made in the council of Ancyra,
in the case of such as lapsed into idolatry whilst they were
only catechumens. For the canon-* says, " That such, as
sacrificed before baptism, and were afterward baptised,
' Baron, an. 385. p. .51.3. ^ Socrat. lib. iv. c.'iS. Sozoiii. lib. vii.
c. 30. Pullad. Ilist. Lausiac. c. 12. " Cou. Ancyr. c. 12.
ChAP. Til.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 309
might be promoted to ecclesiiistical dignities, as persons
that were cleansed from all crimes l)y the sanctification of
baptism." It is true, that only one crime of sacrificing- is
here specified; but by parity of reason the rule must be
understood to extend to all other cases of the like nature ;
and so the practice of the Church has commonly determined.
Sect. 11.— Except any great Irregularity liappenol in their Baptism itself.
As in the Case of Clinic Baptism.
Yet here ag-ain we must observe, that, if any great irregu-
larity happened in men's baptism itself, such crimes were
always objected against them, to debar them from ordina-
tion. Thus it was frerpjently with those, who wore baptized
only with clinic baptism in time of sickness or urgent ne-
cessity, when they had carelessly deferred their baptism to
such a critical moment, and might have had it sooner, had
it not been their own default. This delaying of baptism
was always esteemed a very great crime, and worthy of
some ecclesiastical censure; and therefore the Church,
among other methods which she look to discountenance the
practice of it, thought fit to punish persons, who had been
guilty of it, and had put themselves upon the fatal necessity
of a clinic baptism, by denying them ordination. We have
a canon, in the council of Neo-Cacsarea,' to this purpose;
" If any man is baptized only in time of sickness, he shall
not be ordained a presbyter, because his faith was not
voluntary, but as it were of constraint; except his subse-
quent faith and diligence recommend him, or else the
scarcity of men make it necessary to ordain him." And
that this was an old rule of the Church appears from the
account, which Cornelius^ gives of the ordination of Nova-
tian to be presbyter. He says, " the clergy and many of
the people objected against it, alleging, that it was not
lawful to ordain one, who had been baptized upon his bed
in time of sickness; and that the bishop was forced to in-
tercede with them, to give way to his ordination, as a mat-
ter of grace and favour;" which shows, that the ordination
' Con. Neo-Caes. c. 12. ^ Ap. Euseb. lib. vi. c. 43.
VOL. I. 2 z
370 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
of such was contrary to the common rule and practice of
the Church.
Sect. 12. — And Heretical BapUsiti.
In like manner they, who were baptized by heretics, were
not ordinarily allowed clerical promotion, when they re-
turned to the bosom of the Catholic Church. The council
of Eliberis ^ is very peremptory in its decree ; " that, what-
ever heresy they came from, they should not be ordained ;
or that, if any such were already ordained, they should be
undoubtedly degraded." Pope Innocent^ testifies for the
same practice in the Roman Church, saying-, " It is the
custom of our Church, to grant only lay-communion to
those, that return from heretics, by whom they were bap-
tized, and not to admit any of them to the very lowest order
of the clergy." But it must be confessed, that the council
of Nice dispensed with the Novatians^ in this respect,
allowing their clergy, though both baptized and ordained
among them, to be received with imposition of hands, and
retain their orders in the Church. And the African fathers
granted the same indulgence to the Donatists, to encourage
them to return to the unity of the Catholic Church. For
in the council of Carthage, Anno 397, which is inserted
into the African Code,* a proposal was made, " that such,
as had been baptized among- the Donatists in their infancy
by their parents' fault, without their own knowledge and
consent, should, upon their return to the Church, be allowed
the privilege of ordination;" and in the next council^ the
proposal was accepted, and a decree past accordingly in
favour of them. By which we may understand, that this
was a piece of discipline, that might be insisted on or
waved, according as Church-governors in prudence thought
' Con. Eliber. c. 51. Ex omni haeresi qui ad nos Fidelis venerit, minime
est ad Clerura promovendus. Vel si qui sunt in praeterituin ordinati, sine
dubio deponentur. ^ innoc. Ep. 22. Nostrse lex Ecclesiae est, veni-
entibus ab Haereticis, qui tamen illic baptizati sunt, per manus impositionem
Laicam tantum tribuere Communionem, nee ex his aliquem in Clerlcatus
honorem vel exiguum subrogare. ^ Con. Nic. c. 8. XeipoSrsrufjLivHe
dvrig fiiviiv sr^c iv rtji sXijpy. * Cod. Can. Afric. c. 48. al. 47.
* Ibid. c. 68. al. 57.
I
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 371
most for the benefit and advantag-e of the Church. But in
ease the persons so returning' had been baptized by such
heretics, whose baptism was null, and to be reiterated in
the Church; — as the baptism of the Pauhanists, or Samosa-
tenian heretics, was ; — in that case it was determined by
the g"reat council of Nice, that such persons, when they
were re-baptized, might be ordained.* For baptism, as has
been noted before, set men clear of all crimes ; and their
former baptism being* null, that was reckoned their only
baptism which they received at their return to the Catholic
Church; and no crimes, committed before that, were then
to prejudice their ordination in the Church.
Sect. 13. — No Man to be Ordained, who had not made all his Family
Catholic Christians,
I cannot here omit to mention another qualification re-
quired of persons to be ordained, because it was of great
use and service in the Church ; which was, that none should
be admitted, at least to the superior degrees of bishops,
presbyters, or deacons, before they had made all the mem-
bers of their family Catholic Christians. This is a rule we
find in the third council of Carthage,^ which was equally
designed to promote the conversion of pagans, Jews, here-
tics, and schismatics, who are all opposed to Catholic
Christians. And it was a very proper rule in that case;
since nothing could be more disadvantageous or disho-
nourable to religion, than to have any countenance or
secret encouragement given to its opposers, by those who
were designed to serve at the altar. Besides that, this was
but a proper way of making reprisals upon the heathen
religion. For Julian had made a like decree for his pagan-
prjests, in opposition to the Christians;^ charging Arsacius,
]iigh-priest of Galatia, — " that he should admit none to
the priest's office, who tolerated either servants, or children,
or wives, that were Galilajans ; and did not come with their
' Con. Nic. c. 19. ' AvaliairTia^evrtg x^ipoTovdff^wtrav. ^ Con.
Carth.iii.c. 18. Ut Episcopi, Presbyteri, et Diaconi non ordinentur, prius-
quara omnes, qui sunt in domo eorum, Christianos Catholicos ftcerint,
^ Julian. Ep. ad Arsac. ap. Sozomen. lib. v. c. 16.
372 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK IV.
whole family and retinue to the worship of the gods in the
idol-temples." It had been a great omission and oversight
in the g-overnors of the Christian Church, had they not
been as careful to secure the interest of the true religion in
the families of their ministers, as that pag;an prince was to
secure a false religion among his idol-priests ; and there-
fore had there been nothing more than emulation in the
case, yet that had been a sufficient reason to have laid this
injunction upon all the candidates of the Christian priest-
hood.
Sect. 14. — What Methods were anciently taken to prevent Siinoniacal
Promotions.
There is but one qualification more I shall menhon
under this head, which was, that men should come honestly
and legally to their preferment, and use no indirect or
sinister arts to procure themselves an ordination. Merit^
and not bribery, was to be their advocate, and the only
thinfi- to be considered in all elections. In the three first
ages, whilst the preferments w ere small, and the persecu-
tions great, there was no great danger of ambitious spirits,
nor any great occasion to make laws against simoniacal pro-
motions. For then martyrdom was, as it were, a thing
annexed to a bishopric ; and the first persons, that were
cjmmonly aimed and struck at, were the rulers and gover-
nors of the Church. But in after ages, ambition and bribery
crept in among other vices, and then severe laws were made,
both in Church and State, to check and prevent tliem.
Sulpicius Severus takes notice of this difference betwixt the
a^-es of persecution, and those that followed, when he says,*
" that in the former, men strove who should run fastest to
those glorious combats, and more greedily sought for
martyrdom by honourable deaths, than in after-times, by
wicked ambitions, they sought for the bishoprics of the
Church." This implies, that jn the age when Sulpicius
lived, in the fifth century, some irregular arts were used,
' Sever. Hist. lib. ii. p. 99. Certatim in gloriosa certamina nicbantur,
multoquc avidius turn niartyria gloriosis mortibus quaerebantur, quum nime.
jEpisojiatus pravis ambitionibus appetuntur.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 373
by particular men, to advance themselves to the prefer^
ments of the Church. To correct whose ambition and ill
designs, the Church inflicted very severe censures upon all
such as were found g"uilty of simony, or, as some then*
called it, XpL'^eixiropuav, the selling of Christ. The council
of Chalcedon decreed,^ " that if any bishop gave ordination,
or an ecclesiastical office or preferment of any kind, for
money, he himself should loose his office, and the party so
preferred be deposed." And the reader may find several
other constitutions of the same import, in those called
the Apostolical Canons ; ^ the council of Constantinople
* under Gennadius, Anno 459 ; the second council of
Orleans;* Bracara,'^ and many others. The imperial laws
also were very properly contrived to prevent this abuse :
for by one of Justinian's laws'' it was enacted, " that,
whenever a bishop was to be chosen, the electors themselves
should take an oath, and insert it into the election-paper,
that they did not choose him for any g'ift, or promise, or
friendship, or any other cause, but only because they knew
him to be a man of the true Catholic Faith, and an unblam-
able life, and good learning." And in another of his laws,
where this same injunction is repeated, it is further provided,
'' that the party elected shall also at the time of his ordina-
tion take an oath, upon tb.e Holy Gospels, that he neither
gave ^ nor promised, by himself or other, nor hereafter will
give to his ordainer, or to his electors, or any other person,
any thing to procure him an ordination." And for any
bishop to ordain another without observing the rule pre-
scribed, is deposition by the same law, both for himself and
• Vid. Epist. Alexandrl Alexandrini, ap. Theodor.lib. i. c. 4.
2 Con. Chalced. c. ii. ^ Cauon. Apost. c. 29. ■ * Con.
CP. Epist. Synod. Con. torn. iv. p. 1925. * Con. Aurel. ii. c. 3 et 4.
6 Bracar. ii. c. 3. ' Justin. Novel, cxxiii. c. 1. Propositis
eis sacrosanclis Evangeliis, pcriculo suaruin animarum diccntes in ipsis decre-
tis, quia neque propter aliquam donationem, necPromissionem, aut Aniicitiam,
aut aliam quandibet causam, sed sclentes eos recta et Catholicae Fidei, et
honestse esse Vila;, et literas nosse, hos elegerunt. * Novel,
cxxxvii. c. 2. Jusjurandum autem suscipere eum qui ordinatur, per Divinas
Scripturas, quod neque per se ipsum nequc per aliam Personam dedil quid,
aut promisit, neque poslhac dabit, vel ordinanti ipsum, vel his qui sacra pro eo
buffragia fecerunt, vel alii cuiquain ordinationis de ipso faciendffi nomine, &fC.
374 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
the other whom he ordained. These were some of those
ancient rules to be observed in the examination of men's
lives and morals, before they were consecrated to the sacred
function, or admitted to serve in any of the chief offices
of the Church.
CHAP. IV.
Of the Qualifications of Persons to he Ordained, respecting
their outward State and Condition in the World.
Sect. 1. — No Soldier to be Ordained.
A THIRD inquiry was made into men's outward state and
condition in the world. For there were some caUing-s and
states of life, which debarred men from the privilege of
ordination, not because they were esteemed absolutely
sinful vocations, but because the duties attending them
were commonly incompatible and inconsistent with the offices
of the clergy. Of this nature were all those callings, which
come under the general name o^ Militia Romana, which we
cannot so properly English, the military life, as the service
of the empire. For it includes several offices, as well civil,
as military ; the Romans, as Gothofred' and other learned
persons have observed, calling all inferior offices by the
name of Militia. So there were three sorts of it. Militia
Palatina, Militia Castrensis or Armaia, and Militia Pra^si-
dialis or Cohortalis ; the first including the officers of the
emperor's palace ; the second, the armed soldiery of the
camp ; and the third, the apparitors and officials of judges
and governors of provinces ; all which were so tied to their
service, that they could not forsake their station. And
for that reason, the laws of the state forbad any of
them to be entertained as ecclesiastics, or ordained
among the clergy. Honorius,^ the emperor, particularly
' GotholYed. Com. in Cod. Th. lib. xii. tit. 1. de Decurion. Leo:. 63. Vales.
Not. in Sozomen. lib. v. c. 4 Pagi Critic, in Baron, an. 375. n. 11.
2 Cod. Th. lib. vii. tit. 20. de Veteranis Leg. 12. Quoniara plurimos vel ante
inilitiam, vel post inchoatam, nee peractam, latere olijectu pise religionis agno-
viinua, duni se quidaui vocabulo Ciericorum - - - defendant, nulli omniuo
tali excusarl objectione pennittimus, &c.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 375
made a law to this purpose, " that none^ who were orig-i-
nally tied to the military life, as some were even by birth,
should, either before or after they were entered upon that
life, take upon them any clerical office, or think to excuse
themselves from their service, under the notion of becoming"
ecclesiastical persons." The canons of the Church seem to
have carried the matter a little further ; for they forbad the
ordination of any, who had been soldiers after baptism,
because they might perhaps have embrewed their hands in
blood. This appears from the letters of Innocent the First,
who blames the Spanish Churches^ for admitting such
persons into orders, alleging- the canons of the Church
against it. The first council of Toledo forbids any such to
be ordained deacons, though they had never been concerned
in shedding of blood ;" because,^ though they had not
actually shed blood, yet by entering upon the military life
they had obliged themselves, if occasion had so required,
to have done it." Which seems to import, that soldiers
might be allowed in the inferior services, but were not to
be admitted to the sacred and superior orders of the Church.
Sect. 2. — Nor any Slave or Freedman without the Consent of the Patron.
Another state of life, which debarred men from the pri-
vilege of ordination, was that of slaves or vassals in the
Roman Empire ; who, being* originally tied by birth or pur-
chase to their patron's or master's service, could not legally
be ordained, because the service of the Church was incom-
patible with their other duties ; and no man was to be de-
frauded of his rig'ht under pretence of an ordination. In
this case, therefore, the patron was always to be consulted
before the servant was ordained. Thus in one of those
called the Apostolical Canons^ we find a decree, "that no
servants should be admitted among the clergy without the
' Innoc. Ep. xxiv. c. 2. Quantos ex militia, qui cum protestatibus obe-
dierunt, severa necessario praecepta sunt executi. Ibid. c. 4. Ne quispiam,
qui post Baptismum militaverit, ad ordinem debeat Clericatds admitti. Vid.
Ep. 2. ad Victriciumrothomagens. c. 2. - Con. Tolet. i. c. 8. Si quis
post Baptismum militavit, et Chlamjdem sunipserit, aut Cingulum ad necandos
Fideles, etiamsi gravia non admiserit, si ad Clerum admissus fuerit, Diaconii
non accipiat dignitatem. ^ Canon. Apost. c. 82,
376 THE ANTIQUITIES OF rHfe [BOOK IV'
tonsent of their masters, to the grievance of the owners
and subversion of their faniiUcs. But if a servant be found
Worthy of an ecclesiastical promotion, as OnCsimus was,
and his master g-ive his consent, and grant him liis freedom,
and let him go forth from his house, he may be ordained."
The council of Toledo ^ has a canon to the same purpose ;
and the council of Eliberis^ goes a little further, arid says,
" Though a secular master, (that is, an heathen, as Albas-
pinaeus interprets it,) had made his servant a freeman, he
should not be ordained." The reason of which is conceived
to be, that such masters gave them only a conditional free-
dom, and still retained a right to exact certain services and
manual labours of them, which would not consist with the
service of the Church. The imperial laws^ also made pro-
vision in this case, that no persons under such obligations
should be admitted to any office of the clergy ; or, if they
were admitted merely to evade their obhgations, their mas-
ters should have power to recal them to their service, unless
they were bishops or presbyters, or had continued thirty
years in some other office of the Church. By which it ap-
pears, that the ordination of such persons was prohibited
only upon a civil account; not because that state of life was
sinful, or that it was any nndervaluing or disgrace to the
function to have such persons ordained, but because the
duties of the civil and ecclesiastical state would not well
consist together.
Sect. 3. — Nor any Member of a Civil Company or Society of Tradesmen,
who were tied to the Service of the Common-wealth.
For the same reason the laws forbad the ordination of any
persons, who were incorporated into any society for the ser-
» Con. Tolet. i. c. 10. Clericos, si quidem obligati sint vel pro iEquatione,
vel de genere alicujus domQs, non ordinandos, nisi probata vitae fuerint, et
patroni consensus accesserit. ^ Con. Eliber. c. 80. Prohibendum est,
ut liberti, quorum patroni in seculo fuerint, ad Clerum provehantur.
8 Valent. iii. Novel. 12. ad Calcem Cod. Th. NuUus originarius, inquilinus,
servus, vel colonus ad clericale munus accedat - - - ut vinculum debitae con-
ditionis evadat. - - - Originarii sane vel servi, qui jugum natalium deeli-
nantes, ad ecclesiasticum se ordinera transtulermU, exceptis Episcopis et Pres-
byteris, ad dominorum jura recedant, si non in eoJcra officio annum tricesimum
conipleverunt.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 377
vice of the common-wealth, unless they had first obtained
the leave of the society and prince, under whom they
served. This is the meaning of that law* of Justinian,
which forbids any of those called TaKiojTai, or Cohortales,
that is, the officers or apparitors of judges, to be ordained,
unless they had first spent fifteen years in a monastic life.
And the first council of Orleans^ requires expressly, either
the command of the prince, or the consent of the judge,
before any such secular officer be ordained. By the laws of
Theodosius Junior,^ and Valentinian the Third,* all corpo-
ration-men are forbidden to be ordained ; and if any such
were ordained among the inferior clergy, they were to be
reclaimed by their respective companies; if among the su-
perior, bishops, presbyters, or deacons, they must provide a
proper substitute, qualified with their estate, to serve in the
company from whence they were taken. The reader, that is
curious in this matter, may find several other laws in the
Theodosian Code,* made by the elder Valentinian, and
Theodosius the Great, with respect to particular civil so-
cieties so incorporated for the use of the public ; no mem-
ber of which might be ordained, but either they must quit
their estates, or be liable to be recalled to the service, which
they had unwarrantably forsaken.
Sect. 4. — Nor any of the Curiales, or Decuriones of the Roman Government.
For reasons of the same nature, the canons were precise
in forbidding the ordination of any of those, who are com-
monly known by the name of Curiales, or Decuriones, in
the Roman government; that is, such as were members of
the Curia, the court, or common-council of every city.
These were men, who by virtue of their estates were tied to
'Justin. Novel. 123. c. xv. Sed neque cohortales, neque decuriones Clerici
fiunto - - - Dempto si monarchicam aliquis ex ipsis vitam non minus quin-
decira annis transegerit. *Con. Aurel. I.e. 4. NuUus secularium ad
Clericatus officium praesumatur, nisi aut cum Regis jussione, aut cum judicis
voluntate. ^Theodos. Novel. 26. de Corporatis Urbis Rorase, ad Cal-
cem Cod. Th. * Valentin. Novel. 12. ibid. * Cod. Th. lib. xiv.
lit. 4. de Suariis. leg. 8. Eos, qui ad Clericatus se privilegia contulerunt,
aut agnoscere oportet propriara functionera, aut ei corpori, quod declinant,
proprii patrimonii facere cessionem. Vid. ibid. 1. 14. tit. 3. de Pistoribus
leg. 11. It. lib. viii. tit. 6. de Cursu Publico, leg. 46.
VOL. I. 3 A
378 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
bear the offices of their country ; so that out of then- body
Avere chosen all eWd officers, the magistrates of every city,
the collectors of the public revenue, the overseers of all
public works, the pontifices or flarnens who exhibited the
public games and shows to the people, with abundance ot
others, whose offices are specitied by Gothofved* to the
number of twenty-two, which I need not here recite. These
were always men of estates, whose substance amounted to
the value of three hundred solids ; which is the sum that is
specitied by Theodosius Junior,^ as qualifying- a man to be
a member of the Curia : and both they and their estates
were so tied to civil offices, that no member of that body
was to be admitted into any ecclesiastical office, till he had
first discharged all the offices of his country, or else pro-
vided a proper substitute, one of his relations qualified with
his estate, to bear offices in his room. Otherwise the per-
son so ordained was liable by the laws of the empire, (of
w'hich I give a more particular account hereafter ^ in the
next book,) to be called back by the Curia from an eccle-
siastical to a secular life again. Which was such an incon-
venience to the Church, that she herself made laws to
prohibit the ordination of any of these Curiales, to avoid
the trouble and molestation, which was commonly the
consequent of their ordination. St. Ambrose* assures usy
" that sometimes presbyters and deacons, who were thus
ordained out of the Curiales, were fetched back to serve in
curial offices, after they had been thirty years and more in
the service of the Church." And therefore to prevent this
calamity, the council of Illyricum, mentioned byTheodoret,*
made a decree, " that presbyters and deacons should always
I be chosen out of the inferior clergy, and not out of these
Curiales, or any other officers of the civil government."
Innocent, bishop of Rome, frequently refers to this rule of
• Gothofred. ParatUlon. Cod. Th. lib. xii. tit. I. de Decurionibus, torn. iv.
p. 339. 2 Theodos. Novel. 38. ad. Calcem Cod. Th. » See
Book V. chap. iii. sect. 15. * Ambr. Ep. 29. Per triginta et innumeros
annos Presbyteri quidam gradu functi, vel Ministri Ecclesise retrahuntur a
munere sacro, et Curiae deputantur. * Ap. Theodor. lib. iv. c. &,
'Ek th lepariKiS TctynaTOg, icj /ir) ciTro ri (^aXivnipia (9 TparcwriKije «PX'^S*
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 379
Ihe Church' in his Epistles, where he g-ives two reasons
Against their ordination. First, " that they were often re-
called by the Curia to serve in civil offices, which brought
some tribulation upon the Church." Secondly, " because
many of them had served in the office of flaniens^ after
baptism ; and were crowned, as the heathen high-priests
were used to be, while they exhibited the public games and
shows to the people." Which, though it was indulged by
the civil law in Christian magistrates, yet the Church
reckoned a crime, for which men were sometimes ob-
liged to do public penance, as appears from the canons* of
the council of Eliberis ; and consequently such a crime, as
made men irregular and incapable of ordination. So that
upon both accounts these Curiales were to be excluded
from the orders of the Church. And though this rule by
the importunity of men was sometimes transgressed, yet
the laws, both of Church and State, always stood in force
agaipst such ordinatioiis ; and sometimes the ordainers them-
selves were punished with ecclesiastical censures. Of
which there is a famous instance related by Sozomen,* who
says, the council of Constantinople, Anno 360, deposed
Neonas from his bishopric for ordaining some of these Cu-
riales bishops. Sozomen indeed calls them " IloAtreKo'/L/evot,"
but that is but another name for Curiales, whom the Greeks
otherwise term " BsXEurat, counsellors ;" and the Latins,
'^ Municipes, burghers, or corporation-men; and Minor
Senatus,^ the little senate of every city,'' in opposition to
the great senate of Constantinople and Rome. These per-
sons, whatever denomination they went by, were so entirely
devoted to the service of the Common-wealth, that, till they
• Innoc. Ep. iv. c. 3. De Curialibus manifcsta ratio est, qnoniam etsi in-
veniantur hiijusinodi viri qui debeant Clerici fieri, tamen quoniam ssepius ad
Curiam repeluntur, cavendum ab his est propter tribulationem, quae seepe de
his Ecclesiae provenit. ^ Innoc. Ep. xxiv. c. 4. Neque de Curialibus
aliquem ad ecclesiasticum ordinem venire posse, qui post baptismum vel
coronati fuerint, vel sacerdotium, quod dicitur. sitstinuerint, ct cditiones
publicas celebraverint, &c. ^ Con. Eliber. c. 3. * Sozoixi.
lib. iv. c. 21. * Majorian. Novel. 1. ad Calcem Cod. Thcod. Curiales
servos esse reipublica; ac viscera civitatuin nuUus ignorat, quorum coetuiit
fecle appellavit aiiiiquitas Alinorein Senatuiu.
380 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK IV,
i
had some way or other discharged that duty, they might
not, as appears, be admitted to serve in any office of the
Church.
Sect. 6. — Nor any Proctor or Guardian, till his Office expired.
Indeed it was a general rule in this matter, as we learn
from one of the councils of Carthage,* " that no one was
to be ordained, who was bound to any secular service."
And for that reason it was decreed by the same council, at
least for the Churches of Afric, " that no agent or factor
in other men's business, nor any guardian of orphans, should
be ordained, till his office and administration was perfectly
expired ; because the ordination of such^ M^ould otherwise
turn to [the reproach and defamation of the Church." But,
if I mistake not, this prohibition did not extend to the infe-
rior orders, but only to those, whose office was to serve at
the altar.
Sect. 6. — Pleaders at Law denied Ordination in the Roman Church.
In some Churches there seems also to have been an ab-
solute prohibition and rule against ordaining advocates or
pleaders at law, not only whilst they continued in their
profession, but for ever after. This seems to have been the
custom of the Roman and Spanish Churches. For Inno-
cent, bishop of Rome, in a letter^ to the council of Toledo,
complains of an abuse then crept into the Spanish Church,
which was, that many, who were exercised in pleading at
the bar, were called to the priesthood. To correct which
abuse, as he deemed it, he proposed this rule to them to be
observed, " that no one, who had pleaded causes after bap-
tism,* should be admitted to any order of the clergy."
What particular reasons the Church of Rome might then
' Con. Carth. i. c. 9. Obnoxiialienisnegotiis non ordinentur. *Ibid.
c. 8. Procuratores, et actores, etiam tutores pupillorum- - - - si ante liber-
tatem negotiorum vel officiorum, ab aliquo sine consideratione fuerint ordi-
nati, Ecclesia infamatur. ^ Innoc. Ep. 24. ad Concil. Tolet. c. 2.
quantos ex eis, qui post acceptam baptismi gratiara, in forensi exercitatione
versati sunt, et obtineudi perlinaciara susceperunt, accitos ad Sacerdotium
esse coinperjmus ? * Ibid. c. 4. Ne quispiam ad ordineni debeat Cle-
ricatus admitti, qui causas post acceptuin baptismum egerit.
CHAP, v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 381
have for this prohibition I cannot say ; but it dofts not ap-
pear, that this was the general rule of the whole Catholic
Church. For the council of Sardica ' allows a lawyer even
to be ordained bishop, if he first went regularly through the
offices of reader, deacon, and presbyter; which shows,
that the custom, as to this particular, was not one and the
same in all Churches.
Sect. 7. — Also Energuraens, Actors, Stage-players, &c. in all Churches,
The reader may find several other cautions, given by
Gennadius,^ against ordaining any, who had been actors or
stage-players ; or energumens, during the time of their be-
ing possessed ; or such as had married concubines, that is,
wives without formality of law ; or that had married harlots,
or wives divorced from a former husband. But I need not
insist upon these, since the very naming them shows all
such persons to have been in such a state of life, as might
reasonably be accounted a just impediment of ordination.
It will be more material to inquire, what the ancients meant
by digamy, which, after the Apostle, they always reckoned
an objection against a man's ordination? — And whether any
vow of perpetual celibacy was exacted of the ancient
clergy, when they were admitted to the orders of the
Church ? — Which, because they are questions that come
properly under this head, it will not be amiss to resolve
distinctly, but briefly, in the following chapter.
CHAP. V.
Of the State of Digamy and Celibacy in particular ; and of
the Laws of the Church about these, in reference to the
Ancient Clergy.
Sect. 1.— No Digamist to be Ordained, by the Rule of the Apostle.
As to what concerns digamy, it was a primitive aposto-
' Con. Sardic. c. 10. 'E«v rig (TxoXa<riKbg airb rtjg ayopac a^ioiTo iiriffKoirog
yivtffOai, /ju) irpore^ov KaGi^aaOai, iav fiij K) dvayvojm, icfCiaKova, t^ Trpta-
^vr'tpu iiirtjptaiav iKTiXkay. • Gennad. de Eccles. Dogm. c, 73.
382 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
lical rule, '*' that a bishop or a deacon should be one, who
was the husband of one wife only," on which rule all the
laws ag-ainst digamy in the primitive Church were founded.
But then we are to observe, that the ancients were not
exactly agreed about the sense of that apostolical rule ; and
that occasioned different notions and different practices
among them in reference to the ordination of digamists.
Sect. 2. — Three different Opinions among the Ancients about Digamy, 1,
That all Persons were to be refused Orders, as Digamists, who were
twice Married after Baptism.
One very common and prevailing notion was, that all per-
sons were to be refused orders, as digamists, who were
twice married after baptism, though legally and succes'r
sively to two wives, one after another. For though they
did not condemn second marriages, as sinful and unlawful,
with the Novatians and Montanists ; yet upon presumption
that the Apostle had forbidden persons twice married to be
ordained bishops, they repelled such from the superior
orders of the Church. That this was the practice of some
Churches in the time of Origen, may appear from what he
says in his Comments upon St. Luke, " that not only forr-
nication,^ but marriages excluded men from the dignities
of the Church ; for no digamist could be either bishop, or
prcvsbyter, or deacon, or deaconess in the Church." Ter^-
tullian, when he became aMontanist, laid hold of tbisargu^
ment, and urged it to decry second marriages in all per-
sons ; pleading,^ " that a layman could not in decency
desire licence of the ecclesiastics to be married a second
time, seeing the ecclesiastics themselves, bishops, presby-
ters, and deacons, were but once married;" which he re-
peats frequently^ in several parts of his writings. And it
cannot be denied, but that many other ancient writers, St.
■ Orig. Horn. 17. in Luc. p. 928. Ab ecclesiasticis dignitatibus non solum
fornicatio, scd et nuptifc repellunt: neque enim Episcopus, nee Presbyter,
nee Diaconus, nee Vidua, possunt esse digami. ^ "pe,..
tul. de Monogain. c. 11. Quails es id matrimonium postulans, quod eis, ii
(juihus postulas, non licet habere? — Ab Episeo])o moiiogamo, ii Presbyteris
el Diaconis ejusdem sacrainenti, &o. ^ Vid.Teitul. de Pcenitent. c. 9.
Dc Exhort. Castitat. c. 7. Ad Uxor. lib. i. r. 7.
CHAP, v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH 3S3
Ambrose,' St. Jerom,^ Gennadius,^ Epiphariius,* and the
councils of Agde,^ and Carthage,*'' put the same sense upon
the words of tlie Apostle. Only Epiphanius puts a distinc-
tion between the superior and inferior orders, making- the
rule in this sense obhg-atory to the former, but not to the
hitter.
Sect. 3. — 2. Others extended the Rule to all Persons twice INIarried, whe-
ther before or after Baptism.
Some there are again, who gave the rule a stricter expo-
sition, making- it a prohibition not only of ordaining persons
twice married after baptism, but also such as were twice mar-
ried before it, or once before and once after ; as many Gen-
tiles and catechumens happened to be in those times, when
baptism was administered to adult persons. St. Ambrose'
was of opinion, that even these were to be excluded from
ordination ; and so it was decreed by Innocent, bishop of
Rome,^ and the council of Valencia^ in France. But this
opinion was generally rejected by others, as furthest from
the sense of the Apostle.
Sect. 4. — 3. The most probable Opinion of those, w^ho thought the Apostle
by Digamists meant Polygamists, and such as married after Divorce.
The most probable opinion is that of those ancient wri-
ters, who interpret the Apostle's rule as a prohibition of
ordaining polygamists, or such as had married many wives
at the same time j and such as had causelessly put away
their wives, and married others after divorcing the former ;
which were then very common practices both among Jews
and Gentiles, but scandalous in themselves, and such as
the Apostles would have to be accounted just impediments
of ordination. This is the sense, which Chrysostom '^ and
Theodoret'* propose and defend, as most agreeable to the
' Ambros. de Offic. lib. i. c. 50. ^ Hieron. Ep. 2. ad Nepotian.
Ep. 11. ad Geront. Ep. S3, ad. Ocean. ^ Gennad. de Eceles. Dogm.
c. 73. * Epiphan. Expos. Fid. n. 21. ^ Con. Agathen. c. 1.
« Con. Carth. iv. c. 69. ' Ambros. Ep. 82. ad Vercellenses.
* Innoc. Ep. ii. c. 6. Ep. xxii. c. 2. Ep. xxiv. c. 6. ^ Con. Valentin.
c. 1. '" Chrysost. Horn. x. in 1 Tim. iii. 2. Horn. ii. in tit. 1.6.
•' Theod. Com. in 1 Tim. iii, 2.
384 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK IV.
mind of the Apostle. And it is certain, that second mar-
riages in any other sense were not always an insuperable
objection ag-ainst men's ordination in the Christian Church.
For Tertullian ' owns, that there were bishops among the
Catholics, who had been twice married; though, in his style,
that was an aftront to the Apostle. And it appears from
the Letters of Siricius,^ and Innocent,^ that the bishops of
Spain and Greece made no scruple to ordain such generally
among the clergy; for they take upon them to reprove them
for it. Theodoret, agreeably to his own notion, ordained
one Irenaeus bishop, who was twice married ; and, when
some objected against the legality of the ordination upon
that account, he defended it by the common practice of
other Churches. " Herein," says he,* " I followed the
example of my predecessors." Alexander, bishop of the
apostolical see of Antioch, withAcacius, of Bercea, ordained
Diogenes, a digamist ; and Praylius ordained Domninus of
Cassarea, a digamist likewise. Proclus, bishop of Con-
stantinople, received and approved the ordination of many
such ; and so do the bishops of Pontus and Palsestine,
among whom no controversy is made about it. From hence
it appears, that the practice of the Church varied in this
matter ; and that therefore Bellarmin and other Romanists
very much abuse their readers, when they pretend that the
ordination of digamists, meaning persons twice lawfully
married, is both against the rule of the Apostle, and the
universal consent and practice of the Church.
Sect. 5.— No Vow of Celibacy required of the Clergy, as a Condition of their
Ordination, for the Three first Ages.
They still more abuse their readers, in pretending, that a
vow of perpetual celibacy, or abstinence from conjugal
society, was required of the clergy, as a condition of their
ordination, even from the apostolical ages. For the con-
trary is very evident from innumerable examples of bishops
' Tertul. de Monogam. c. 12. Quot enim et digami president apud vos,
insultantes utique Apostolo ? ^ Siric. Ep. 1. ad Himer. Tarracon.
c. 8. •** Innoc. Ep. 29. ad Episc. Maced. c. 1. * Theod.
Ep. 1 10. ad Doranum.
CHAP. t>] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 385
and presbyters, who lived In a state of matrimony without
any prejudice to their ordination or function. It is generally
ao-reed by ancient writers, that most of the Apostles were
married. Some say, all of them except* St. Paul and St.
John. Others say, St. Paul was married also, becaiise he
writes " to his yoke-fellow,"" whom they interpret his wife.
Phil. iv. 3. This was the opinion of Clemens x\lexandrinus,®
wherein he seems to be followed by Eusebius,^ and Origen,*
and the author of the Interpolated Epistle^ to the Church
of Philadelphia under the name of Ignatius ; whom some
modern Romanists, mistakinghim for the true Ignatius, have
most disingenuously mangled, by erasing the name of Paul
out of the text; which foul dealing bishop U>her^ has ex-
posed, and Cotelerius'^ does in effect confess it, when he
owns that the author himself wrote it, and that he therein
followed the authority of Clemens,Origen,and Eusebius. But
passing by this about St. Paul, which is a matter of dis-
pute among learned men, the major part inclining to think,
that he always lived a single life, it cannot be denied, that
others of the Apostles were married. And in the next ages
after them we have accounts of married bishops, presbyters,
and deacons, without any reproof or mark of dishonour set
upon them. As to instance in a few, Valens, presbyter
of Philippi, mentioned by Polycarp;^ Chseremon, bishop of
Nilus, an exceeding old man, who fled with his wife to
mount Arabion in time of persecution, where they both pe-
rished together, as Eusebius informs us.^ Novatus was a
married presbyter of Carthage, as we learn from Cyprian's
Epistles.'*' Cyprian himself was also a married man, as Mr.
> Ambros. ad Hilar. In 2 Cor. xi. Omnes Apostoli, exceptis Johanne et
Paulo, iixores habuerunt. Vid. Eplphan. Hasr. 78. Anlidicomarianit. n. 10.
Cotelerius cites Eusebius, Basil, and some (^hers for the same opinion. Not.
in Ignat. Ep. ad Philadelph. Interpolat. n. 4. ® Clem. Alex. Strom,
iii. p. 448. 8 Euseb. lib. iii. c. 30. * Orig. Com. in Rom. i.
p. 459. Paulus ergo (sicut quidam tradunt) cum uxore Tocatus est: de qui
dicit, ad Philippenses scribens : " Rogo te etiam germana compar, &c."
^ Pseudo-Ignat. Ep. ad Philadelph. n. 4. * Usser. Dissert, in Ig-
nat. c. 17. ^ Coteler. Not. in Loc. * Polycarp. Ep. ad
Philip, n. 11. 9 Euseb. lib. vi. c. 42. " Cypr. Ep. 4a.
al. 52. ad Cornel.
VOL. 1. 3 B
386 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
Pagi' confesses ; and so was Csecilius,- the presbyter, that
converted him. As also Numidicus, another presljyter of
Carthag-e, of whom Cyprian ^ tells us this remarkable story,
*' That in the Decian persecution he saw his own wife, with
many other martyrs, burnt by his side ; whilst he himself,
lying half burnt, and covered with stones, and left for dead,
was found expiring by his own daughter, who drew him out
of the rubbish, and brought him to hfe again." Eusebius
assures us, that Phileas,* bishop ofThmuis, and Philoromus
had, each of them, both a wife and children ; for they were
urged with that argument, by the heathen magistrate, to deny
their religion in the Diocletian persecution ; but they gener-
ously contemned his argument, and gave preference to the
laws of Christ. Epiphanius* says, Marcian, the heretic, was the
son of a bishop, and that he was excommunicated by his
own father for his lewdness. Domnus also, bishop of An-
tioch,*' is said to be son to Demetrian, who was bishop of the
same place before him. It were easy to add abundance
more such instances ; but these are sufficient to show, that
men of all states were admitted to be bishops and presby-
ters in the primitive ages of the Church.
Sect. 6. — The Vanity of the contrary Pretences.
The most learned advocates of the Roman Communion
have never found any other reply to all this, save only a
groundless pretence of their own imagination, that all mar-
ried persons, when they came to be ordained, promised to
live separate from their wives by consent, which answered
the vow of celibacy in other persons. This is all, that Pagi^
or Schelstrate* have to say in the case, after all the writers
that have gone before them ; which is said not only without
proof, but against the clearest evidences of ancient history,
which manifestly prove the contrary. For Novatus, pres-
byter of Carthage, whose tase Pagi liad under consideration.
• Pagi Crit. in Baron, ad an. 248. n. 4. ^ Pontius Vit. Cyprian.
Cypr, Ep. 35. al. 40. Numidicus Presbyter uxorem adha;rentem lateri
suo, concrematam simul cum ceteris, vel conservatam magis dixerim, laetus
aspexit, &c. * Euseb. lib. viii. c. 9. * Epiphan. Haer. 42.
«Euseb. lib. vii. c. 30. '' Pagi Critic, in Baron, an. 248. n. 4.
Schelstrat. Eceles. Afric. Dissert. 3. c, 4. ap. Pagi ibid.
a
a
CHAP, v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 387
was certainly allowed to cohabit with his wife after ordina-
tion ; as appears from the charge that Cyprian brings
against him, " that he had struck and abused his wife,* and
thereby caused her to miscarry ; for which crime he had
certainly been thrust out, not only from the presbytery, but
the Church also, had not the persecution coming on so
suddenly prevented his trial and condemnation." Cyprian
does not accuse him for cohabiting with his wife, or beget-
ting children after ordination, but for murdering his chil-
dren which he had begotten ; which was indeed a crime
that made him liable both to deposition and excommunica-
tion ; but the other was no crime at all, by any law then in
force in the African, or in the Universal Church. There
seems indeed in some places to have been a little tendency
towards introducing such a law by one or two zealous
spirits ; but the motion was no sooner made, than it was
quashed immediately by the prudence and authority of wiser
men. Thus Eusebius observes, " that Pinytus, bishop of
Gnossus, in Crete, w^as for laying the law of celibacy upon
his brethren ; but Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, wrote to
him, that he should consider the weakness of men, and not
impose that heavy burthen upon them.''* And thus matters
continued for three centuries, without any law, that we read
of, requiring celibacy of the clergy at the time of their
ordination.
Sect. 7. — The Clergy left to their Liberty by the Nicene Council.
In the council of Nice, Anno 325, the motion was again
renewed, "■ that a law might pass to oblige the clergy to
abstain from all conjugal society with their wives, which
they had married before their ordination." But the propo-
sal was no sooner made, than Paphnutius, a famous Egyptian
bishop, and one himself never married, vigorously declaimed
against it, saying, " so heavy a burthen was not to be laid
upon the Clergy ; that the marriage-bed was honourable.
'Cypr. Ep. .52. al. 4.9. p. 97. Uterus uxoris calce percussus, et abortione
properante in panicidiuiu partus expressus, &c. * Dionys. Ep. ad Pi-
nytum ap. Euscb. lib. iv. c. 2'i. M/y \iapv ipopriov to ntpc ayi>tia<; tTTavayKig
366 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bQOK IV.
-and that they should not by too great severity bring detri-
ment on the Church ; for all men could not bear so severe
an exercise, and the chastity of the wives so separated
would be endangered also. — " Conjugal society," he said,
"was chastity ; and it was enough, that such of the clergy,
as were not married before their ordination, should continue
unmarried, according to the ancient tradition of the Church ;
but it was not proper to separate any one from his wife,
which he had married whilst he was a layman." This said,
the whole council agreed to stifle the motion that had been
made, and left every man to his liberty as before. So
Socrates^ and Sozomen tell the story; to which all, that
Valesius,^ after Bellarmin, has to say, is, " That he suspects
the truth of the thing, and desires leave to dissent from
his historians," Which is but a poor evasion, in the judg^
ment of Du Pin himself, who thus reflects upon them for it ;^
*' Some question the truth of this story," says he, " but I
believe they do it for fear the story might prejudice the
present discipline, rather than from any solid proof they have
for it. But they should consider, that this canon is purely
a matter of discipline, and that the discipline of the Church
Biay change according to the times, and that it is not ne-
cessary, for the defence of it, to prove that it was always
uniform in all places," So that, in the judgment of that
learned Romanist, there is no question to be made, but that
. the council of Nice decreed in fiivour of the married clergy,
as the historians relate it did; and that then the practice
was different from that of the present Church of Rome,
which others are so unwilling io have the world believe.
Sect. 8. — And other Councils of that Age.
It is as evident from other councils of the same age, that
the married clergy were allowed to continue in the service
of the Church, and no vow of abstinence required of them
at their ordination. Socrates observes, that the council of
Gane-ra anathematized Eustathius, the heretic, because he
'^ocral. lib. !. c !1. Sozom. lib. i. c. 23. « Vales, Not. in Socrat,
3i&'. i; c.'Tl. » Du Pin BibliOlheque, tol . ii. p. 253. Eflit. Anglic. •'
CHAP, v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 389
tang-lit men to separate' from such presbyters, as retained
their wives, which they married while they were layman,
saying, their communion and oblations were abominable.
The decree is still extant among the canons of that coun-
cil,* and runs in these words ; " If any one separate from a
married presbyter, as if it were unlawful to participate of the
eucharist, when such an one ministers, let him be Anathema.^''
The council of Ancyra gives leave to deacons to marry after
ordination; " if they protested^ at their ordination that they
could not continue in an unmarried state, they might marry,
and yet continue in their office, having in that case the
bishop's license and permission to do it." And though the
council of Neo-Csesarea in one canon forbids* unmarried
presbyters to marry after ordination ; yet such, as were
married before ordination, are allowed by another canon*
to continue without any censure, being only obliged to se-
parate from their wives in case of fornication. The council
of Eliberis,^ indeed, and some others in this age, began to
be a little more rigorous toward the married clergy ; but it
does not appear, that their laws were of any great force.
For Socrates says,' even in his time, in the eastern Churches,
many eminent bishops begat children of their lawful wives ;
and such, as abstained, did it not by obligation of any law,
but their own voluntary choice. Only in Thessaly, Mace-
donia, and Hellas, the clergy were obliged to abstain under
pain of ecclesiastical censure ; which, he says, was occa-
sioned by Bishop Heliodore's writing his book, called his
Ethiopics. So that as yet there was no universal decree
against married bishops in the Greek Church, much less
against presbyters and deacons. But the council of Trullo,
Anno 692, made a difference between bishops and pres^
byters; allowing presbyters, deacons, and all the inferior
' Socrat. lib. ii. c. 43. nptd/Swrtpa yvvaiKa ixovroc. ijv vojiif) XdiKog wv
ijyayETo, rr)V ivXoyiav ^ Tt)v KoivMvlav wc fivaog tKKXiviiv ticiXivf.
* Con. Gangr. c. 4. 'Et tiq cuikqIvoito Trapa irptafiuripii ytyanriKOTog, wg fir}
■)(pfivai XiirHpyTjTavTog (ivth Trpo<y<popaQ fitraXanfiaveiv, uvcuiifiu trw.
* Con. Ancyr. c. 10. 'Ei tfiaprvpavro 19 i(paTav \p7jvai yafirjaai. fii) cvvafitvoi
HTtitg fikvtiv ; 5roi n'tra ravra yafii'i>7nvTtg Irwaav tv rfj inrrjpirritf, &C.
« Con. Neo-Cees. c. 1. Mhid. c. 8. «Con. Elib. c. 83. Con.
Areiat. ii. c f. ' Socrat. lib. t. c. 22.
390 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
orders, to cohabit with their wives after ordination,' and
giving the Roman Church a smart rebuke for the contrary
prohibition; but yet laying an injunction upon bishops^ to
live separate from their wives, and appointing the wives ^ to
betake themselves to a monastic life, or become deaconesses
in the Church. And so the matter was altered in the Greek
Church, as to bishops, but not any others. In the Latin
Church, also, the alteration was made but by slow steps in
many places ; for in Afric, even bishops themselves coha-
bited with their wives at the time of the council of Trullo,
as appears from one of the foremen tioned canons* of that
council. But it is beyond my design to carry this inquiry
any further; what has been already said, being sufficient to
show, that the married clergy were allowed to officiate in
tlie first and primitive ages ; and that celibacy in those
times was no necessary condition of their ordination, as is
falsely pretended by the polemical writers of the present
Church of Rome. I have now gone through the several
qualifications of the ancient clergy, concerning which, in-
quiry was made before their ordination; I come now, in the
next place, to consider the solemnity of the thing itself, to-
gether with the laws and customs, which were generally
observed at the time of ordination.
CHAP. VI.
Of the Ordinations of the Primitive Qler^y, and the Laws
and Customs generally observed therein.
Sect. I.— The Canons of the Church to be read to the Clerk, before the
Bishops ordained him.
When the election of a person, duly qualified according
to the forementioned rules, was made, then it was the
bishop's office, or the metropolitan's, if the party elect was
himseh" a bishop, to ordain him. But, before they proceeded
to ordination, there were some other laws and rules to be
> Con. Trull, c. 13. -Ibid. c. 12. =* Ibid. c. 48. " Con.
Trull, c. 12. •
OHAP. VI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCtt. 391
observed. For, not to mention here ao-ain the oath aofainst
simony, and the subscriptions, which I have showed before*
were anciently required of persons to be ordained, I must
not forget to note, that in the African Church a rule was
made in the third council of Carthage,- and thence trans-
ferred into the African Code;^ " That, before any bishop or
other clero-vman was ordained, the ordainers should cause
the canons of the Church to be read in his hearing ; that
they might not have cause to repent afterward, that they
had transgressed any of them." This rule was made at the
instance and request of St. Austin, as Possidius* notes in
his life, who says, " that because he was ordained bishop
of Hippo, while Valerius was alive, which was contrary to
the rule of the council of Nice, which he was ignorant of at
the time of his ordination, he therefore prevailed with the
African fathers to make a decree, that the canons of the
Church should be read at every man's ordination. This rule
implied a tacit promise, that the party ordained would ob-
serve the canons, that were read to him; but for greater se-
curity it was afterward improved into an explicit promise by
a law of Justinian,* which requires every clerk, after the
reading of the canons, to profess, that, as far as it was pos-
sible for man to do, he would fulfil what was contained in
them. Whence, no doubt, came those later forms of pro-
fessinof obedience to the canons of the seven oeneral-coun-
cils, in the Greek Church ; and the oath to St. Peter, taken
by the bishops of Rome in the Latin Church, that they
would observe the decrees of the eight general-councils.
The first of which forms may be seen at length in Habertus,*^
and the other in Baronius,"^ and the book called, Liber
Diurnus, by the reader that is curious to consult them.
' See chap. iii. sect. 2 and 14. ^Con. Carth. iii. c. 3. Placiiit, iit
ordinandis Episcopis vel Clericis prius ab ordinatoribus suis Decreta Conci-
liorum auribus eoruni inculcentur ; ne se aliquid contra statuta Concilii fecisse
pceniteat. ^ Cod.Eccles. Afr. c. 19. *Possid. Vit. Aug. c.8.
Quod in seipso fieri non debuisse, ut vivo suo Episcopo ordinaretur, postea et
dixit et scripsit, propter Concilii Universalis vetitum, quod jam ordinatusdidi-
cit : nee quod sibi factum esse doluit, aliis fieri voluit. Unde etiam sategit,
ut Conclliis constitueretur Episcoporum, ab ordinatoribus deberi ordinandis,
vel ordinaiis, omnium statuta Saccrdotura in notltiam esse deferenda.
* Justin. Novel. 6. c. 1. n. 8. ^Hubert. Archieratic. p. 493.
' Baron, an. SC9. torn. x. p. 433.
392 THE ANTlQUtTiSS OF THS [boOK IV*
Sect. 2. —No Clerk to be Ordained dnoXiXv^ieviog.
Secondly. Another rule to be observed in this case was,
"That every man should be fixed to some Church at iiis
ordination, and not be left at liberty to minister wherever
he would, because of several inconveniences that attended
that practice." This rule concerned bishops, as well as the
inferior clergy ; fOr the Nullatenenses of later ages, as Pa-
hormitan calls titular and Utopian bishops, were rarely
known in the primitive Church. For though every bishop
was in some sense ordained bishop of the Catholic Church,
as I have showed before, yet for order's sake he was always
confined to a certain district in the ordinary exercise of his
power. And so presbyters and all other inferior clergy
were confined to the diocese of their own bishop, and might
not be ordained, unless they had some place, wherein to
exercise their function. This was the ancient custom of the
Church, which the council of Chalcedon confirmed by a
canon, " That no presbyter, or deacon, or any other eccle-
siastic should be ordained at large ;* but be assigned either
to the city-church, or some church or oratory in the country,
or a monastery; otherwise his ordination to be null and
void. This the Latins called, Ordinatio Localis, and the
persons so ordained. Locales, from their being fixed to a
certain place. As in the council of Valentia,^ in Spain, we
find a canon, that obliges every priest, before his ordination,
to give a promise, " that he will be Localis^ to the intent
that no one should be permitted to transgress the rules and
discipline of the Church with impunity; which t^hey might
easily do, if they were allowed to rove about from one place
to another. This, in the style of Leo, ^ bishop of Rome, is,
*' Ordination founded upon a place," or, as we would say
now, a title ; without which, he says, the ordination was
' Con. Chalced. c. 6. MjjcfsT'a ano\i\vfikv<i)q xtipoTOVtlaSrai - — el firi
ISiKuig iv kKKXtjaig. voXswq, fi Kw/tjje, fj fiaprvp'Ki), j) fiova'^i]pi(^ iniKijpvTTOiro.
*Con. Valentin, c. 6. Nee uUum Sacerdotem quispiam ordinet, qui localem se
futurum primitus non spoponderit : ut per hoc nuUus a regula vel disciplina
ecclesiae deviare permittatur iinpune. ^ Leo Ep. 92. ad Rustic, c. I.
Vana est habenda ordinatio, quae nee loco fundala est, nee auctoritate munita,.
CHAP. VI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 393
not to be looked upon as authentic. But it must be ob-
served, that a title then did not always signify a parochial
Church, or distinct cure; for this was a rule before dioceses
were divided into parishes : but the confinement laid upon
men at their ordination was, that they should be fixed to
their own bishop's diocese, and officiate in the place, where
he appointed them.
Sect. 3" — Exceptions to this Rule very rare.
There were, indeed, some few exceptions to this rule, but
very rare, and upon extraordinary occasions. Paulinus and
St. Jerom seem to have had the privileg-e gfranted them, of
being- ordained without affixing to any Church. Paulinus
says expressly of himself,' " that he was ordained pres-
byter at Barcelona with this condition, that he should not
be confined to that Church, but remain a priest at large."
And St. Jerom g"ives the same account of his own ordi-
nation at Antioch f " that he was consecrated presbyter, with
license to continue a monk, and return to his monastery
ag-ain." Sozomen^ relates the like of Barses and Eulogius,
two monks of Edessa, " that they were both ordained
bishops, not of any city, but only honorary bishops within
their own monasteries, out of respect to their eminent
virtues." And it was such a sort of ordination, that, Theo-
doret says,* Flavian, bishop of Antioch, gave to Macedonius,
the famous Syrian anchoret, whom he drew from his cell in
the desart, only to ordain him presbyter, and so let him
return to the desart again. These are all the instances of
this kind, which I remember in ancient history. It was not
as yet the custom to ordain bishops " Partibus Injideliumr
that never meant to see their bishoprics. Though after
ages despised this rule, as Zonaras * complains of the Greek
Church, and Habertus cannot but lament it in the Latin ;^
yet the ancient Church was more punctual in observing the
' Paulin. Ep. vi. ad Sever, p. 101. Ea conditione in Barcinonensi Eccle-
si& consecrari adductus sum, ut ipsi Ecclesiae non alligarer; in sacerdotium
tantum domini, non in locum Ecclesise dedicatus. ^Hieron. Ep. 62, ad
Pammach. Tom. ii. p. 181. ^ Sozom. lib. Ti. c. 34. ♦ Theod.
Histor. Relig. c. xiii. torn. iii. * Zonar. Not. in Con.Cbalced. c.6.
* Habert. Archieratic. p. 851.
VOL. I. 3 c
394 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK In-
laws, scarce ever ordaining- either bishop or inferior clerk
without iixing- them to a certain diocese, iVoni which, with-
out the consent of their superiors, they were not to remove
to any other.
Sect. 4. — No Bislvop to Ordain another Man's Clerk witliout his Consent,
And from hence arose a third rule about ordinations,
that no bishop should ordain, or admit into his Church any
elerk belonging- to another Church, without the consent of
the bishop, to whom he formerly belonged. The councils*
are very peremptory in this decree; particularly the great
council of Nice,^ and that of Sardlca,^ and the second of
Aries,* declare all such ordmations null and void. The lirst
council of Carthag-e^ extends the prohi'oition even to la^^-
men belouoino- to another diocese: for it decrees, " that as
no clerk shall be received by another bishop without the
letters dimissory of his own bishop ; so neither shall any
bishop take a layman out of another people, and ordain
him, without the consent of that bishop, out of whose peo-
ple he is taken." The reason of which laws was, that
every bishop was supposed, to have a peculiar right in all
the clergy and people of his own diocese ; and it was very
conducive to the peace and good order of the Cliurch to
have such rules maintained and observed. Only in the
African Church the bishop of Carthage was allowed a pri-
vilege in this case, as he was exarch or primate of all the
African provinces. For by ancient custom, confirmed by a
cation in the third council of Carthage,*"' which is also in-
serted into the African Code,'' the bishop of Carthage is
allowed " to take a clerk out of another Church, and ordain
l)im for the service of any Church under his jurisdiction."
But an exception in his particular case coiitirms the rule in
all the rest.
' Vid. Con. Carthag. iii. e.21. Con. Chalced. c. ^0. Arausican. i. c. 8, 9.
* Con. Nic. c. 16. 'AKvpog i<rw V; x"po''o»'ia. * Con. Sardic. c. 16.
* Con. Arelat. ii. c. 13. Si aliquis, invito Episcopo suo, in aliena Ecclesifi
habitans, ab Episcopo loci Clericus fuerit ordinatus, luijusmodi ordinatio
irrita habeatur. * Con. Carth. i. c. 5. Non licere Clericum alienum
aballquo suscipi sine Llterls Episcopi sui, neqne apud se retinere, nee Lai-
cum usurpare sibi de Plebe aliena, ut eum ordinet sine conscientia ejus Ej)is-
copT, de cujus Plebe est. « Con. Carth. iii. c. 45. ' Cod. Can.
Afric. c. 55. Utpi th k'iilvai t(i> »7rtcr/co7r(f) Kapx);(^(5/'oc, oQii' StXfi, kXIj^ikov
\tipoTO}'tiy,
€HAP. M.] ' CHHISTIAN CHURCH. 39o
Sec't. 5. — No Bi«hop to Ordain in another Man's Diocese.
Another rule for the preservation of order in this af-
fair was, that every bishop should confine himself to his
own Church, and not assume to himself the power of or-
dainin<r in the diocese of another man. So the council of
Antioch,* and those called the Apostolical Canons deter-
mined,* " that a bishop should not presume to ordain out of
iiis own bounds, in cities or countries not subject to him."
St. Austin had occasion to insist upon this rule in the case
of Pinianus, when the people of Hippo required him to
ordain him presbyter ag-ainst his will, and threatened, that,
if he would not, they would have another bishop to ordain
him. St. Austin told them,* " that no bishop could ordain
hira in his Church without first asking- his leave and per-
mission ; and that having- g-iven him a promise, that he
would not ordain him against his will, he could not in ho-
nour consent that any other bishop should come and ordain
him." Socrates says,* Epiphanius took upon him to ordain
a deacon in the diocese of Chrysostom at Constantinople ;
but Chrysostom told him, " tliat he acted contrary to canon,
in ordaining- in Churches, that were not under his jurisdic-
tion." Which shows, that this was an universal law, pre-
vailing both in the eastern and western Churches, And
by the same rule all metropolitans, with their provmcial
bishops, were confined to their own province, and mig'ht
not ordain any bishop in another province, except they
were invited by the bishops of that province to come and
give them their assistance. Which rule was made in the
general-council of Constantinople,^ and confirmed in the
council of Ephesus,*^ upon the controversy that arose be-
tween the Churches of Cyprus and the patriarch of iVntioch,
wdio laid claim to the power of ordiuvations in those Churches^
' Con.Antioch. c. 22. ^^ Canon. Apost. c. 35. 'EniffKoirov fit)
joXfiax' t^ii) rijv iavrn oomv xnpoToviar iroiiirtBai tl(; rag hi) vvoKHfitvaQ
auTio TToXas ic, X''>C"^- " '^"^^- '^P- ^-'^' ^'^ Albiuam. Dicebani ego
qiiibus poteram, qui ad nos in absidem honoratiorci et srraviores nsopndprant,
oec u proniissi fule me posse dimoveri, nee ab alio Ejiijcopo in Ecilesili mihi
traditfi, nisi me interrogato ae pennittento, posse ordinari. * Socrat.
lib. vi. c. 12 et 14-. " Con. Constant, c. 2. • Con. Ephcs. Act. 7.
P^crct. de Episc. Cypr.
396 THE ANTIQVITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
but was rejected in his claim, because they were out of his
district, and under another jurisdiction. But it is to be
observed, that these rules were only made for ordinary cases,
/to preserve peace and a good understanding among tlie
bishops of the Church, whilst every one acted in his pro-
per sphere, and kept to those bounds and limits, which the
laws appointed. For otherwise, as I have showed hereto-
fore,^ every bishop was a bishop of the whole Catholic
Church, and in that capacity authorized to ordain, or per-
form any other acts of the episcopal office in any part of
the world, upon urgent necessity and extraordinary occa-
sions. As Athanasius and Eusebius Samosatensis did in
the times of the great prevalency of the Arian heresy ;
ordaining bishops and presbyters in any province or diocese
(though contrary to the letter of this law) in order to pre-
serve the Catholic Faith, and a succession of orthodox men
in the service of the Churoh. So that this was only a rule
for common and ordinary cases. And in Cyprus, Epipha-
nius says,^ " they did not insist upon the rule at all one
among another, but any bishop ordained in any other
man's diocese, as occasion required, without breach of cha-
rity ; for they gave a sort of general leave to one another, as
finding it most expedient for the Church in tliat province
to use such a liberty among themselves ; though they
stiffly maintained their privilege against the encrcachmcnts
of all foreign sees, and more especially that of Antioch."
Sect. 6.— The Original of the Four Solemn Times of Ordination.
The next things, to be noted in this affair, are such as
concern the time and place of ordination. Concerning the
time there may several inquiries be made. I. Whether
they had originally any set and constant times of ordination,
as the Church now has four times a year 1 — 2. Whether
Sunday was always the day of ordination^ — 3. Whether
ordinations were always confined to morning-service 1 As
to the first inquiry, it does not certainly appear, that the
' Bookii. chap. v. ® Epiphan. Ep. ad Johan. Hierosolym. torn. ii.
p. 313. Multi Episcopi tommuuionis nostrse Preshyteros in nostra ordinave-
runt provincia, &c.
CHAP. VI,] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 397
Church had any constant annual times of ordination before
the fourth century. For Habertus truly observes,* " that
then it was more usual to ordain men singly, as the present
occasions of every Church required." Pope Leo^ indeed
derives the Jejunia quatiior temporum, the fasts of the four
seasons of the year, which are now commonly called Ember
Weeks, from apostolical tradition. But as Mr. Pagi^ and
Quesnel* in their censures of that author observe, there is
nothing more usual with him, than to call every thing an
apostolical law, which he found either in the practice of his
own Church, or decreed in the archives of his predeces-
sors, Damasus and Siricius. So that all other authors
before Leo being silent upon this matter, we can lay no
great stress upon his authority for it. Beside, he does not
so much as once intimate, that these fasts were appointed
upon the account of any set and solemn times of ordinations,
but upon other more general reasons. So that it is not
certain, that the Church had any fixed times of ordination,
when Leo wrote. Anno 450 ; and in the ages before, it is
more evident she had not. For as to bishops, it is certain
the Church never confined herself to any set times for the
ordination of them ; but as soon as any bishop was dead,
another was chosen and ordained in his room with all
convenient speed ; and in some places this was done within
a day or two after his decease, as has been showed in a
< former book.* As to presbyters, and deacons, and others
below them, it is evident also, that for the three first
ages they were ordained at all times, as the occasions of
the Church required. Cyprian ordained Aijrelius a reader
upon the first of December, as bishop Pearson^ computes
by the critical rules of calculation : and he ordained Saturus,
a reader, and Optatus, a subdeacon, in the month of Au-
gust;''' neither of which were solemn times of ordination.
» Habert. Archieratic. par. viii. obs. 4. p. 130. Tunc siiiguli, et quidera
rari, non vei 6 tam niulti ac hodie ordinabantur. * Leo Serm. ii. de
Jejun. Pentecost, p. 77. It. Serm. ix. de Jejun. 7. Mensis, sive de Jejunio
quatuor Temporum. p. 88. It Serm. vii. * Pagi Critic, in Baron, an.
67. ri. 15. * Quesnel ap. Pagi. ibid. * Boois ii. chap. xi.
sect. 2. 6 Pearaon. Annal. Cypr. an, 250! n. 20. p. 25. ' Pear-
son, ibid. n. 15.
398 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK IV,
Paulinus, who lived in the fourth century, was ordained
on Christmas-day, as he himself informs us :* yet neither
was that one of the four days, which afterwards became the
stated times of ordination. The Roman Pontifical, under
the name of Damasus, in the life of almost every bishop,
takes notice of the ordinations, which they made in the
Roman province, of bishops, presbyters, and deacons, during
their whole lives ; and always the ordinations are said to be
made in the month of December ; which, if that book were
of any great authority, would prove, that there was one
fixed time of ordination at Rome, but not four. But I
confess, the credit of that book cannot much be depended
upon for the history of the primitive ages one way or other,
it being of much later date than the title pretends ; and per-
haps the author only spake of ancient things according to
the custom of his own times, when one of these four times
might be brought into use ; which seems to have been be-
fore the time of Simplicius, Anno 467. For the Pontifical,
in his life,^ adds February to December ; as it does also in
the life of Gelasius. And in one of the Decrees of Gelasiiis^
there are no less than five stated times of ordination ap-
pointed, viz. June, September, December, the beginning of
Lent, and the middle of Lent, and Saturday in the evening,
in all these times, to be the precise time of ordination.
Anialarius Fortunatus* takes notice of the change, that was
made in th.8 time of Simplicius ; telling us, that all tlip^
bishops of Rome before Simplicius made their ordinations
*Panlin. Ep. 6. ad Sever, p. 101. Die Domini, quo nasci carne dignatus
est, repentinS, vi multitudinis - - - Presbyteratu iiiitJatus sum. * Pon-
tifical. Vit. Gelas. Hie fecit ordinationes in Urbe Roinfi tres, per Mensem
Dccenibrem et Februaj-ium. ^ Gelas. Ep. 0. ad Epise. Lucanias. c. 11.
al. 13. Ordinationes etiam Presbyterorum et Diacononiin nisi cerlis tempoii-
bus et dicbus exerceri uon debent, id est, Qiiarti Mensis Jejiinio, Seplimi, et
Declmi, sed et etiam Quadragesiuialis initii, ac niedianPi Qua IragesimK die,
Sabbati Jejunio circa vespcram novcrint celebrandas. ^Anialar. de
Offic. Eccl. lib. ii. c. 1. Priini Apostolici semper in Decembrio Mense conse-
crationes ministrabant usque ad Simplicium, qui fuit a 1?. Petro quadragesi-
mus nonus. Ipse primus saeravit in Februario. — And Mr. Wharton in his
Auctarium of Bp. Usher's Historia Dofjniatica de Scripturis et Sacris Verna-
culis, p. 3(53. Omnes y\postolicos a B. Petro, usque ad Simplicium Papani,
ordinationes tantum in Jejunio Deccuibris eclebrrisiic, adnolavit I. Carnotensis
in Libro M.S. de EJeclesiast. Ofiic.
CHAP. VI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 3\)i)
nlways in the month of Decomber, and that he was the fir.'it
that ordained in February. Which no doubt he had from
the forementioned passag'es of the Pontifical, which in some
places speaks of one, and in others of two solemn times
of ordination, but never of four ; which ar»-ues, that these
lour were not as yet determined when that book was writ-
ten, which, with the interpolations that it has now, was not
till after the time of Justinian, as learned men g-enerally
Jigree. So that I leave it to further inquiry, whether there
were any such fixed times of ordination in the Church of
Rome, as these authors mention, for four or five of the first
centuries. In other Churches we read of none ; but the
instances, that have been produced, rather prove the contrary.
The inquisitive reader will be able to furnish himself with
many other such instances, from which it may be concluded^
that the times of ordination were not fixed for four of the
first centuries, since no ancient writer within that space
makes any mention of them. And therefore there is no
necessity, with Baronius,' and Bellarmine,^ to make the
Jejunia quafuor femporum an apostolical tradition ; but it
is sufficient to speak of them as an useful order of the
Church, founded upon ecclesiastical institution some ag-es
after.
Sect. 7. — OrdinatioBs indifferently given on any Day of the Week for
Tliree Centuries.
The same must be said in answer to the second question,
whether Sunday was always the day of ordination ? It is
evident, that for the three first centuries it was not. For
Mr. Pagi has unanswerably proved^ against Papebrochius,
from the most certain rules of chronology, that, before the
time of Constantine, the ordinations of the bishops of Rome
themselves were performed indifferently upon any day of
the week, and that the affixing them to the Lord's Day,
and other solemn festivals, was the business of the fourth
century. So that, when Pope Leo says,* " that such ordi-
nations, as were made upon other days than Sundays, were
' Baron, an. 57. n. 2(H). ^Bellarm. de Verbo Dei non scripto. lib. iv.
c. 3. p. 206. ^ Pag! Critic, in Baron, an. 6T. n. 14). et 16.
■ Leo Ep.91. ad Diosconun, c. 1.
400 THE ANTIQUITlkS OF THK [bOOK IV.
against the canons and the tradition of the fathers/' he is
to be understood, as before, to mean only the custom of his
own times ; if yet it was the custom when Leo hved : for
there is some reason to doubt tlie authority either of Leo's
Epistle, or that of Gelasius, who lived not long- after. For.
Gelasius says,* " the ordinations of presbyters and deacons
were to be made on Saturday, in the evening." So that
either one of these Epistles is spurious, or else the custom
varied in the same century in the Church of Rome.
Sect. 8. — The Ceremony usually performed in the Time of the Oblatioa
at Morning-Service.
1 confess Gelasius is singular in that part of his decree,
which fixes ordinations to-evening-service. For though the
ancients were not always precise to a certain day of the year,
or a certain day of the week ; yet they more punctually ob-
served the time of the day, to give ordinations at morning-
service. This was a very ancient rule of the Church, as we
may learn from the objection that was made against Nova-
tian, that among his other irregularities he was ordained at
an uncanonical hour, " wpft ^ticary, at ten o'clock, or four in
the afternoon,'' as Cornelius,^ in his Epistle to Fabian,
lays the charge against him. The council of Laodicea^ is
still more punctual to the time, that ordinations should not
be given, while the hearers or catechumens were present,
but at the time of the oblation. The reason of which was,
that the person ordained might either consecrate, or at least-
participate of the eucharist at the time of his orditiation.
Whence Theodoret, speaking ofthe ordination of Macedo-
nius, the anchoret, says, it was done,* " rr/c fxv^iKiig Upspyiag
TrpoKUfxivr\g, in the time of the mystical, that is, the commu-
nion-serviced And so Epiphanius* represents the ordina-
tion of Paulinianus, St. Jerom's brother, whom he ordained
presbyter, whilst he ministered in the holy sacrifice of the
> Gelas. Ep. 9. ad Epsic. Lucan. c. 11. Ordinationes Sabbati Jejunio circa
Vesperara noverint celebrandas. * Ap. Euseb. lib. vi. c. 43.
^ Con. Laodic. c. 4. Yli^ii ra fifj Siiv rdc xftporovirtf kni Tra^aaiq. ciKpodjftkvwv
yiveaBai. * Theod. Hist. Relig. c. 13. * Epiphan.
Ep. ad Johan. Hierosol. Cum ministraret in Sanctis sacrificiis, ordinavimus
Presbyterum.
CHAP. VI,] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 401
altar. But this is to be understood chiefly, if not only, of the
three superior orders of bishops, presbyters, and deacons:
for as to the rest, it was indifferent what time they were
ordained, so long- as it was in the Church in any part of
divine service.
Sect. 9. — The Church the only Regular Place of Ordination.
But out of the Church no ordination could be regularly
performed. Though there was this difl'erence between the
superior and inferior orders, that the one were conferred
within the sanctuary, or altar part, and the other without ;
yet they both agreed in this, that the Church was still the
proper place to give birth to all ^such orders, as were to be
employed in any ecclesiastical service. And therefore
Greg"ory Nazianzen justly upbraids Maximus, the cynic,
who intruded himself into his see of Constantinople,^ " that
being- excluded from the Church, he was ordained in the
house of a minstrel ;" which was also objected to Ursinus,
who was competitor with Damasus for the see of Rome,"
that he was not ordained in a Church,^ but in an obscure
corner of the hall, called Sicona.
Sect. 10.— Ordination received kneeling at the Altar.
As to the ceremonies used in the act of ordination itself,
beside what has been noted before in speaking of each par-
ticular order, it will be proper to observe some things of
them in general. As first, that the ordinations of bishops,
presbyters, and deacons^ were always received kneeling
before the altar. So the author under the name of Diony-
sius represents the matter in his Rationale upon the
Church's service.^ And Theodoret mentions it as the cus-
tomary rite, when, speaking of the ordination of a bishop,
he says,* " they brought him to the holy table, and made
him kneel on his knees by force."
* Naz. Carm. de Vit. p. 15. Etc yap x°P^^^*^ Xvirpbv oiKtjrripiov, ILvvuv
ruTrScri tov kcckitov TTot/ilva. ® Socrat. lib. iv. c. 29,
8 Dionys. de Hierarcb. Eccl. c. 5. Conteinpl. 3. n. 7 et. 8. ♦Theod.
lib. iv. c. 16,
VOL.1. 3 D
402 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
Sect. 11. — Given by Imposition of Hands and Prayer.
Secondly, The solemnity itself in giving- the superior
orders was always performed by imposition of hands and
prayer.' Which is evident from St. Jerom,^ who savs,
" that imposition of hands was therefore added to complete
the ordinations of the clerg-y, lest any one by a silent and
solitary prayer should be ordained without his knowledge."
Gregory Nysscn^ indeed tells us a very strange story of
the ordination of Gregory Thaumaturgus, how Phacdimus,
bishop of Amasea, ordained him only by prayer without
imposition of hands; for he was absent, being* fled to the
wilderness, to avoid ordination. Notwithstanding which
Phaedimus consecrated him to. the bishopric of Neo-Ca3;-a-
rea, which he afterwards accepted. But as a learned man
conjectures,* it is most likely that he had another ordination;
or if not, this act must pass for a singular instance, contrary
to the common rule and established order of the Church.
The Greeks call this imposition of hands both Xtiporovia,
and Xapo^ioia, as may be seen in the canons of the council
of Nice and Chalcedon.^ Yet sometimes those words are
distinguished, as in the author of the Constitutions,^ wliere
he says, " TlpEa^vrepog ■^H^o^tTtl, s x^tporovjt, a presbyter
gives imfosition of hands, but does not ordain.'''' Where it
is plain, that imposition of hands means not ordination, but
some other benediction of the Church, wherein imposition
of hands was used, as well as in ordination. Neither does
Xetporovm always signify ordination in ancient writers;
though it does most commonly so, as Fronto Ducaeus' and
other learned persons have showed; but sometimes it de-
notes no more than desiofnation or election: as when Tona-
tius uses the phrase,* " Xttporovrjo-at 0£O7r(>Ea-/3urjjv," only
' The Ordination-Prayers are spoken of by Greg. Naz. Orat. Fun. Patr.
' Hieron. lib. xvi. in Isai. c. 68. p. 265. Xtipororia, id est, Ordinatio Cle-
ricorum non solum ad imprecationem vocis, sed ad Impositionem impletur
manfls : ne scilicet vocis imprecatio clandestina Clericos ordinet nescientes.
* Nyssen. Vit. Greg-. Tliauni. tom.iii. p. 544. * Cave Hist. Literar.
vol. i. p. 94. * Con. Nic. c. 19. Clialced. c. 15. * Constit.
Apost. lib. viii. c. 28. ' Fronto Duca.'. Not. in Chrysost. Horn. i. ad
Pop. Antiorh. p. 1. * Ignat. Ep. ad Suiyrn. n. 1 1. It. Ep. ad Phiia.-
delph. n. 10. Ep. ad Polycarp. n.7.
CHAP. VI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 403
to signify the election or appointment of a messenger to go
upon an errand of the Church. Which I note to caution
the reader agahist mistakes committed by some authors,
who confound ordinations v.ith elections, for want of distin-
guishing the critical senses of words, as the subject matter
requires.
Sect. 12. — The Sign of the Cross used in Ordination.
I must further observe, that as the sign of the cross was
used upon many occasions by the primitive Christians, so
particularly in their ordinations ; which we learn from
Chrysostom, who more than once mentions it upon this
occasion. " If," says he,' " we are to be regenerated, the
cross is used, viz. in baptism; or if we are to eat the mys-
tical food, the eucharist; — or to receive an ordination, we
are signed with the sign of the cross." Upon this account,
Suicerus notes,^ out of the author under tlie nameofDiony-
sius, that the imposition of hands in ordination was called
'S.(ppay\g, consignation, and ^rav^ou^rig (T(j)puy\g, consignation
in form of a cross,^ because the sign of the cross was made
on the head of him that was ordained.
Sect. 13. — But no Unction, nor the Ceremony of delivering Vessels into the
Hands of Presbyters and Deacons.
As to the ceremony of unction, I have already had occa-
sion to show its novelty in another place;* together with
the custom of delivering some of the holy vessels into the
hands of the person ordained ; which, Habertus says, was
never used in giving any of the superior orders, but only
the inferior, by the rule of the fourth council of Carthaae,
which makes that the chief part of their ordination. Though
Habertus* and some others question the authority of that
very council, and reckon all its canons spuvions. But that
only by the way.
' Chrys. Horn, 55. inMatth. K^v uvnjevi>ri^7]vai ^sy, rrntipbg ■Kapnyivfrai
K^v Tparpr^pai Ti)v iiv^iKi/v tictivTjv Tgo(bi]V Kqi' y^finnrov i}^j\vai, &c.
? Suicer. Thesaur. Voce S^ortyif. torn. ii. p. 1 190. ■* Dionys. de ITit'rnrch
Eccl. c. 5. p. 312 ft SU. * Book ii. chap. xix. sect. 17. " Hubert.
Archicratic. p. 323,
404 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
Sect. 14. — Ordinations concluded with the Kiss of Peace.
When the ceremony of consecration was ended, it was
usual for the clergy then present to salute the person, newly
ordained, with the kiss of peace.^ And so being- conducted
to his proper station belonging to his office, if he was a
bishop or a presbyter, he made his first sermon to the peo-
ple. But of this, as it relates to bishops, I have given an
account before. As it relates to presbyters in the Greek
Church, where it was more usual for presbyters to preach,
the reader may find examples of such sermons among those
of Chrysostom^ and Gregory Nyssen,^ which they preached
upon the day of their ordination.
Sect. 15. — The Anniversary Day of a Bishop's Ordination kept a Festival.
I cannot omit to mention one thing -more, which should
have been mentioned in another place, because it was an
honour peculiarly paid to the order of bishops ; which was,
that in many places the day of their ordination was solemnly
kept among the anniversary festivals of the Church. On
these days they had church-assembUes, and sermons, and
all the other solemnities of a festival. Which appears from
St. Austin's sermons,* two of which were preached upon
the anniversary of his own ordination ; and in another,^
published by Sirmondus, he also mentions the day under
the same title of his own anniversary. In a fourth he
speaks also of the anniversary of Aurelius,^ bishop of
Carthao-e, inviting the people to come and keep the fes-
tival in Basilica Fausti, which was a noted church in
Carthage. Among the Homilies also of Leo, bishop of
Rome, the three first are upon the anniversary day of his
assumption to the pontificate. And a late learned critic ''^
has observed, that in St. Jerom's, and some other ancient
' Dionys. Hierarch. Eccl. c. 5. p. 367. Constit. Apost. lib. viii. c. 5.
^Chrys. Horn, cum Presbyter esset designatus. torn. iv. p. 953. ^Nys-
sen. Horn, in suam Ordinal, torn. ii. * Aug. Horn. 21 et 25. ex quin-
quaginta. *Hora. 39. edit, a Sirmond. torn. x. p. 8-11. «Hora.
32. de Verb. Dni. Dies anniversarius ordinationis Domini Senis Aurelii cras-
tinus illucescit. Rogat ct admonet per humilitatem meam charita'cni vestram,
ut ad Basilicam Fausti devotissime venire dignemini. '' Pagi Critic, in
Baron, an. 67. a. 11.
CHAP. VII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 405
martyrologies, there sometimes occur such festivals under
the titles of, Ordinatio Episcopi, et Natale Episcopatus,
that is, the ordination or hirth-day of such or such a bishop.
Which, doubtless, at first were the anniversaries of their
ordination, which they themselves kept in their life-time ;
and which were continued in memory of them after death;
by which means they came to be inserted into the martyro-
logies as standing festivals, denoting there neither the day
of their natural birth, nor their death (as some mistake,) but
the day of their ordination, or advancement to the episcopal
throne. But of this more when we come to speak of the
festivals of the Church.
CHAP. VII.
The Case of Forced Ordinations and Re-ordinations con-
sidered.
Sect. 1.— Forced Ordinations very frequent in the Primitive Church.
For the close of this book I shall add something con-
cerning forced ordinations, and re-ordinations, which were
things that very often happened in the primitive Church.
For anciently, while popular elections were indulged, there
was nothing more common than for the people to take men
by force, and have them ordained even against their wills.
For though, as Sulpicius Severus complains, many men
were too ambitious in courting the preferments of the
Church ; yet there were some, who ran as eagerly from
them as others ran to them ; and nothing but force could
bring such men to submit to an ordination. We have seen
an instance or two of this already, in the cases of St. Aus-
tin* and Paulinus : and ecclesiastical history affords us many
others. For, not to mention such as only fled or absconded
to avoid ordination ; such as Cyprian,^ and Gregory Thau-
maturgus,^ and Athanasius,* and Evagrius,^ and St. Am-
brose ;^ there were some, who were plainly ordained
' See before chap. ii. sect. 8. ^pontius Vit. Cypr. ^Greg'.
Nyssen. Vit. Greg. Thaumaturg. *Sozoinen. lib. ii. c. 17.
* Socrat. lib. iv. c. 23. ^ Paiilin. Vit. Ambros.
40fi THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK IV.
ag-ainst their wills ; as Nepotian, of whom St. Jerom says,*
" that, when his uncle Heliodore ordained him presbyter, he
wept and lamented his condition, aud could not forbear ex-
pressing his anger against his ordainer, though that was the
only time he ever had occasion to do it," St. Martin, bishop
of Tours, was so averse from taking the bishopric, that he
was forced to be drawn out of his cell by craft, and carried
under a guard to his ordination, as the sacred historian in-
forms us^. And the ordination of Macedonius, the anchoret,
by Flavian, bishop of Antioch, was so much against his
will, that they durst not let him know what they were
about, till the ceremony was over; and when he came to
understand that he was ordained presbyter, he broke forth
into a rage against Flavian, and all that w"ere concerned in
the action, as thinking that his ordination would have
obliged him to another sort of life, and deprived him of his
retirement and return to the mountains. So Theodoret, in
bis lives of the eastern anchorets,^ relates the story. And
that tliis was a very common practice in those times, ap-
pears from what Epiphanius says of the custom in Cyprus,*
" That it was usual, in that province, for persons that fled
to avoid ordination by their own bishop, to be seized by
any other bishop, and to be ordained by them, and then be
returned to fhe bishop, from whom they were fled." Which
ara'ues, that forced ordinations in those times were both
practised and allowed.
Sfic^t. 9. — No Excuse adniitted in that Case, except a IVIan protested upon
Oath that he would not be ordained.
Nor was it any kind of remonstrance or solicitation what-
soever, which the party could make, that would prevent
his ordination in such cases, except he chanced to protest
'Hii-rnn. Ep. 3. Epitaph. Nepotian, presbyter ordinatur, Jesu bone, qui
goniilus, qui ejulatus, quse cibi interdictio, qua; fnga oculorum omniimi?
tunc prininin et solum avunculo iratus est. -^ Snip. Sever. Vit. St.
Martin, lil). i. p. 224. Disposilis in itinere civiinn turbis, sub quudani cus-
lodia ad civi!ateni usque deducitiir, &c. ^ Theod. Hist. Kelig-. c. 13.
*Epiph. Rp. ad Johan. Hierosol. Multi Episcoporum conununlonis nostrsc et
Presbyteros in nostrfi ordinavm'iuit provinci.l, quos iios coinprehcndere non
poleruiiuis, et niiserunl ad no* Diuconos ct Ilypodiaconos, quos suscepiinu>i
cum "ratiri.
CHAP. VII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 407
solemnly upon oath ngainst ordination. For in that case he
was to be set at liberty, and not to be ordained against so
solemn a protestation. This is evident from one of the
canons of St. Basil, which says,* " that they, who swear they
will not be ordained, are not to be compelled to forswear
themselves by being ordained/' And this, I think, also may
be collected from the account, which Epiphanius gives of
his own transaction with Paulinianiis, St. Jerom's brother,
upon such an occasion. " Paulinlanus,"" he says, " was one
of those, who tied from their bishop for fear of ordination;
but providentially coming-,^ where Epiphanius was, he caused
him to be seized by his deacons, not dreaming or suspecting
any thing of ordination ; and when he eam^to it, he caused
them to hold his mouth, for fear he shodld have adjured
him by the name of Christ to set him i'ree.'' Thus he or-
dained him deacon first, and presbyter sometime after in the
very same manner. Which seems to imply, that, if he had
suffered him to have made his protestation in the name of
Christ, he could not have proceeded to his ordination. But,
it seems, nothing else but such an adjuration was available
to set him free : and that is a further argument, that in those
times men might be ordained against their will* and yet
their ordinations stand good, and be accounted as valid as
any others.
Sect. 3.— This Practice afterward prohibited .-by the Imperial Laws, and
Canons of the Church.
But in the next age this practice was prohibited, because
of several inconveniences that were found to attend it.
The emperors Leo and Majorian made a law with sanctions
and penalties to prevent it; for they decreed,-* " that no
one should be ordained against his will.'' And, wiiereas
' Basil. Ep. Canon, ad Amphiloch. c. 10.. "Oi oixvvovTtg ni) Kara^ex^ff^'^'-^
Tt)v xfiporoj'i'ai', t^o^ivvntvoi firj avuyKa'Cka^uiaav iwiopKelv. ^ Epi-
phan. Ibid. Ignorantem cum, et nullaiu pcnitus habentem suspicioneni, per
niultos Diaconos apprehend! jussiinus, et teneri os ejus, ne forte liberari se
cupiens, adjuraret nos per noinen Christi, dre. ^ Leo. Novel. 2. in
Append. Cod. Theod. Non nullorum persuasio Sacerdotum reluctantibus onus
istud iniponit, &c. Eo ergo licentiam hujus prajsumptionis excludinius, ut si
quispiam probatus fuerit vL coactus sub contumelii publici clericatus officiis
successisse, spontancis accusatorlbus, vel si ipse voluerit allegare perpessaia
408 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV.
some bishops did impose the burthen of orders upon men
ao-ainst their consent, they granted Uberty in that ease,
either to the party himself, or any other accuser to bring an
action at law against the archdeacon ; who was liable to be
fined ten pounds of gold, to be paid to the injured party, or
to the informers, or to the states of the city. The bishop
also was to be censured by his superiors, and the party
ordained to be set at liberty, as if he had never been or-
dained. Pursuant to this law, John, bishop of Ravenna,
for a transgression of this kind, was threatened to be de-
prived of the power of ordination by Simplicius,' bishop of
Rome, anno 482. And the third council of Orleans,^ anno
538, made a decree for the French Churches, " that if any
bishop ordained a clerk against his will, he should do
penance for the fact a whole year, and remain suspended
from his office till that term was expired." So great an
alteration was there made in one age in the rules and prac-
tice of the Church, from what they had been in the former.
Sect. 4.— Yet a Bishop Ordained against his Will, had not the Privilege to
relinquish.
But I must note, that, after this correction was made, there
was still some difference to be observed between the forced
ordination of a bishop, and that of an inferior clerk, presby-
ter, deacon, or any other. For though the forementioned
imperial law gave liberty to all inferiors, so ordained, to
relinquish their office, which was forced upon them, if they
pleased, and betake themselves to a secular life again ; yet
it peremptorily denied this privilege to bishops, decree-
ing,^ that their ordination should stand good ; and that no
action, brought against their ordainers, should be of force to
evacuate or disannul their consecration. Which seems to
licentiam, commodemus apud judices competentes hujusmodi admissa dam-
nare, ut si inter leges objecta constiterint, decern libras auri Archidiaconus
cogatur inferre ei qui pertulerit exsolvendas : dehinc si ille desistit, accusa-
toris censibus et civitatis ordini profuturas : illo suae reddito voluntati, qui
coactus non potuit consecrari, &c. ' Simplic, Ep. 2. ad Johan. Raven-
natens. * Con. Aurelian. iii. c. 7. Episcopus qui invitum vel recla-
mantem praesumpserit ordinare, annuali poenitentise subditus Missas facere
non praisumat. * Leo Novel. 2. Ibid. Si qui sane Episcopus invitus
fuerit ordinatus, hanc consecrationera nulla violari accusatione permittimus.
CHAP. VII.] . CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 400
be grounded upon that ancient rule of the Church, men-
tioned in the council of Antioch,* and confirmed in the
council of Chalcedon,'^ " that if any bishop was ordained to
a Church, to which he refused to go, he should be excom-
municated till he complied, or something were determined
in his case by a provincial synod.'' Which seems to au-
thorise the using- a sort of violence in compelling men to
undergo the burthen of the episcopal function ; agreeably
to that other law of Leo and Anthemius in the Justinian
Code,^ which puts this among- other qualifications of a
bishop, that he shall be so far from ambition, as to be one
rather that must be sought for and compelled to take a
bishopric. Such were anciently the laws of Church and
State relating to forced ordinations.
Sect. 5. — Re-ordinations generally condemned.
As to re-ordinations, before we can answer to the ques-
tion about them, we must distinguish between the orders,
that were given regularly and canonically by persons
rightly qualified in the Church, and such, as were given
irregularly by persons unqualified, or by heretics and
schismatics, out of the Church. As to such orders as were
given regularl}' in the Church, they were supposed, like
baptism, to impress a sort of indelible character, so as that
there was no necessity upon any occasion to repeat them;
but on tlie contrary it was deemed a criminal act so to do.
The third council of Carthage,* following the steps of the
plenary council of Capua, or Capsa, decreed, " that it was
equally unlawful to re-baptize and re-ordain." And those
called the Apostolical Canons* make it deposition both for
the ordainer and ordained to give or receive a second ordi-
nation. St. Austin says,*' it was not the custom of the
Catholic Church to repeat either orders or baptism. For
• Con. Antioch. c. 17. -- Con. Chalced. Act. 11. ^ Cod. Jus-
tin, lib. i. tit. 3. de Episc. leg. 31. Tantutn ab ainbitu debet esse sepositus,
ut quseratur cogendus, &c. * Con. Carlh. iii. c. 3S. In Capsensi ple-
narifi .Synodo slatuluin, qnoi non liceat fieri rei)aj;iiziitioiifs, ct reordina-
tiones, vol translalioiics Episcoj)oriiiii. ' Canon. Apost. c. 67.
* Aug. Cent. Parnien. lib, ii. c. VS. In Catliollcu utrunique non lioet iterari.
VOL I. 3 E
410 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK IV,
men did not lose their orders,^ as to the internal character
and virtue, though they were suspended from the execution
of their office for some misdemeanor. Optatus testifies
the same, telling us,^ " that Donatus was condemned in the
council of Rome under Melchiades, for re-ordaining- such
bishops, as had lapsed in time of persecution; which was
contrary to the custom of the Catholic Church." And
others accuse the Arians^ upon the same account, for re-
ordaining such of the Catholic clergy, as went over to their
party.
Sect. 6.— The Proposal made by Cfficilian to the Donatists, examined.
There is indeed a passage in Optatus, concerning Coeci-
lian, bishop of Carthage, which at first view seems to import,
as if Cseciiian had been willing to have submitted to a re-
ordination. For Optatus says,* " Caecilian sent this mes-
sao-e to the Donatist bishops, that, if Felix had given him no
true ordination, as they pretended, they should ordain him
ao-ain, as if he were still only a deacon." But St. Austin,
who perhaps best understood Cfecilian's mear^ing,^ says,
" he only spoke this ironically to deride them, not that he
intended to submit to a second ordination, but because he
was certain, that Felix and the rest of his ordainers were no
traditors, as they accused them." So that we have no in-
stances of re-ordaining such, as were regularly ordained, in
the Catholic Church ; it being esteemed " unlawful," as
Theodoret words it,*^ " to give any man the same ordination
twice." Whence neither in the translation of bishops from
one Church to another do we ever read of a new ordination.
> Id. de Bona Conjugal, c. xxiv. torn. vi. Manet in illis ordinatis sacra-
mentum ordinationis ; et si aliqua culpfi quisquam ab officio removeatur,
Sacramento Domini semel imposito non carebit, &c. ^ Optat. lib. i.
p. 44. In Donatum sunt hse sententiae latae. Quod confessus sit se rebap-
tizasse, et Episcopis lapsis nianum imposuisse ; quod ab ecclesiS alienum est.
''Vid. Vales. Not. in Sozom. lib. vi. c. 26. ex Marcellin. Libel. Precuni.
* Optat. lib. i. p. 41. A Cfeciliano mandatum est, ut si Felix in se, sicut illi
arbitrabantur, nihil contulisset, ipsi tanquam adhuc Diaconum ordinarent
Cfficilianum. ^ Aug. Brevic. Colhit. Die iii. c. 16. Quod quideni si
dictum est, ideo dici potuit ad illos deridendos, quibus hoc mandasse pcrhi-
belur, quoniam certus crat ordinatores saos non esse traditores. « Theod.
Histor. Rclig. c. 13. 'Ou SavnTuv fig r)]v avTyv tTrirt^tivai xttporovkf.
CHAP. VIL] christian CHURCH. 411
but only of an enthronization or instalment; as of a new ma-
triculation of presbyters and deacons, when they were taken
out of one Church to be settled in another. Cyprian,*
speaking of his admission ofNumidieus into his own Church
from another, where he was presbyter before, does not say,
he g-ave him a new ordination, but only a name and a seat
among the presbyters of Carthage. And this was the con-
stant practice of tlie Church, in all such cases, for any thing
that appears to the contrary.
Sect. 7. — Schismatics sometimes re-ordaincd.
As to such, as were ordained out of the Cl\urch by
sehismatical or heretical bishops, the case was a little dif-
ferent. For the Church did not always allow of their ordi-
nations, but sometimes for discipline's sake, and to put a
mark of infamy upon their errors, made them i;ake a new
ordination. This was decreed by the great council of Nice
in the case of those bishops and presbyters, whom Meletius,
the schismatic, ordained in Egypt, after he had been de-
posed by his metropolitan of Alexandria. " They were not
to be admitted to serve in the Catholic Church, till they
were first authorised by a more sacred ordinalion,"^ as that
council words it in her Synodical Epistle or Directions to
the Church of Alexandria. In pursuance of this decree,
Theodore, bishop of Oxyrinchus, re-ordained the Meletian
presbyters upon their return to the Church ; as Valesius^
shows out of Marcellinus, and Faustinus's petition to the
emperor Tlicodosius : and ether learned men* are of the
same opinion. Yet in some cases the Church consented to
receive sehismatical bishops and presbyters without obliging
them to take a new ordination. As in Afric, 8t. Austin*
assures us, it was the custom to allow of the ordinations of
• Cypr. Ep. XXXV. al. 40. Adraonitos nos et instructos sciatis dig-natione
divinS, ut Nuinidicus Presbyter adscribatur Presbyterorum Carthaf,'iriiensium
numero, et nobiscum sedeat in t lero. ^ Ep. Synod, ap. Socrat. lib.i. c. 9,
Et Theod. lib. i. c.D. Mv^iKioTecxf.x'iporoviq. j3t^nuoSriVTa!;,&c. ^ Vales.
Not. in Socrat. lib. i. c. 9. *Du Pin Biblioth. Cent. iv. p.251. ^Aug.
Cont. Parmen. lib. ii. c. 13. Si visum est opus esse, ut eadem officia gere-
rent quae gerebant, non sunt rursus ordinati, sed sicut baptisnuis in eis, ita
ordinatio mansit integra, &c. Vid. Cont. Crcscon. lib, ii. c. II. It. Ep. 60.
p. 87. Ep. 162. p. 2/9.
412 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK IV.
the Donatists, and to admit them to officiate in vvhatover
station thay served before tlieir return to tlie unity of tlie
Church, without repeating' their ordination any more than
their baptism. He repeats this in several places of his
writings. And that it was so, appears both from the canons
of the African councils,' and the concessions made in the
Collation of Carthage,^ where the proposal was, " that the
Donatist bishops should enjoy their honours and dignities,
if they would return to the unity of the Catholic Church."
This had before been determined in the Roman council,
under Melchiades, where the Donatists had their first hear-
ing". For there, as St. Austin informs us,^ it was also
decreed, " that only Donatus, the author of the schism,
should be cashiered ; but for all the rest, though they vi ere
ordained out of the Church, they should be received upon
their repentance, in the very same ofiices and quality, which
they enjoyed before." So that the rig-our of Church dis-
cipline was quickened, or abated in this respect, according-
as the benefit or necessities of the Church seemed to
require.
Sect. 8. — And Heretics also upon their Return to the Church, in some Places.
And the treatment of persons ordained by heretics was
much of the same nature. Some canons require all such
without exception to be re-ordained. It was so in the
Greek Church, at the time when those called the Apos-
tolical Canons were made. P^'or the same Canon,* that
condemns re-ordinations in the Churcli, makes an exception
in the case of such as were ordained by heretics ; pro-
nouncing their ordination void, and requiring- them to be
ordained ag-ain. And this was g-enerally the practice of all
those Churches, in the third century, which denied the
validity of heretical baptism ; for by much stronger reason
they denied their ordinations. Therefore Firmilian, who
was of this opinion, tells us also, that the council of Ico-
• Cod. Can. Afric. c. 69 et 70. ^ Collat. Carth. Die i. c. 16.
* Aug. Ep. 50. ad Bonifac. p. 87. Damnato uno quodam Donato, qui Author
Schisinatis fuissp manifestatus est, caiteros correctos, etiauisi extra Ecclesiam
ordinati esscnt, in suis houovibus recipiendos esse censuerunt. * Canon.
Aposf. c. 67,
CHAP. VII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 413
nium,* Anno 256, decreed, " that heretics hiad no power to
minister either baptism, or confirmation, or ordination. Nay
some of those, who allowed the baptism of heretics, yet still
continued to condemn their ordinations. As Innocent,^
bishop of Rome, AAho determines against such as were or-
dained by the Arians and such other heretics, " that they
•were not to be admitted with their honours in the Catholic
Church ; though their baptism might stand good, being-
administered in the Name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost." In another place he says,^ it was
the ancient rule of the Church of Rome to cancel and dis-
annul all such ordinations; though in some places, he
owns, they were allowed: for Anisius, bishop of Thessa-
lonica, with a council of his provincial bishops, agreed to
receive those, whom Bonosus, an heretical bishop of Mace-
donia,* had ordained; " that they might not continue to
strengthen his party, and thereby bring no small damage
upon the Church." Liberius not only admitted the Mace-
donian bishops to communion, but also allowed them to
continue in their office, upon their subscription to the Nicene
Creed, and abjuration of their former heresy; as Socrates,^
and Sozomen,^ and St. Basil, '' and others testify. In France
the custom was, in the time of Clodoveus, to give a new
imposition of hands to the Arian clergy, that returned to
• Firmil. Ep. 75. ap. Cyprian, p. 221. HEeretico sicut ordinare non licet,
nee manum imponere, ita nee Baptizare.— Vid. Cypr. Ep. 72. ad Stephan.
p. 197. » Innoe. Ep. 18. a<l Alexand. c. 3. Non videtur Clerieos
eorum cum sacerdotii aut ministerii cujuspiam suseipi debere dignitate ;
quoniani iis solutn baptisma ratum esse permittiiuus, &c. '' Id. Ep. 22.
ad Episc. INIacedon. c. 5. Anisii quondam fratris nostri, aliorunique Coii-
sacerdotum summa deliberatio haec fuit, ut quos Bonosus ordinaveiat, no cum
eodem remanerent, ac ne fieret mediocre scandalum, ordinati reciperentur.
Jam ergo quod pro remedio ae necessitate temporis statutura est, constat
primitus non fuisse. * Bonosus is called bishop of Macedonia, not
because he was of the province of Macedonia, but of the larger district
called, the diocese of Macedonia, in the Notitite of the empire and the
Church. Learned men were a long timo at a loss to tell, what see he was
bishop of. Baronius and Petavius profess themselves entirely ignorant of
it ; Christianus Lupus says, he was bishop of Sirmium ; but since Garnerius
published tlie works of Marius Mereator, it appears that he was bishop of
Sardica: for Mereator gives him the title of Bonosus Sardicensis.
* Socrat. lib. iv. c. 12. ^ Sozom. lib. vi. c 10. ' Basil. Ep. 7-t.
ad Episcop. Occident.
414 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [coOK IV.
the Catholic Faith; as appears from the first council of
Orleans, which made a decree about it, * But that perhaps
does not mean a new ordination, but only such a recon-
ciliatory imposition of hands, as was used to be g-iven to
penitents in absolution. But if otherwise, it proves that
the Church had different methods of proceeding- in this
case, as she judged it most expedient and beneficial for her
service ; sometimes reversing and disannulling- the ordi-
nations of heretics for discipline's sake, and to show her re-
sentments of their errors; and sometimes allowing- them to
stand good for her own sake, to prevent greater scandals,
and to encourage the straying- people to return with their
leaders to the unity of the Catholic Faith. Upon which
account the general-council of Ephesus made an order
concerning- the Massalian heretics, otherwise called Euchites
and enthusiasts,^ " that if any of their clerg-y would return
to the Church, and in writing- anathematize their former
errors, they should continue in the same station they were
in before ; otherwise they should be degraded, and enjoy
neither clerical promotion nor communion in the Church."
The council of Nice is thought to have made the like de-
cree in favour of the Novatian clergy,^ only gi^'i'^g" them a
reconciliatory imposition of hands by way of absolution, not
re-ordination. And there is nothing more certain, than that
the African Fathers so treated the Donatists ; particularly
St. Austin, in all his writings, pleads as much for the validity
of heretical ordinations, as heretical baptism ; and says
farther,* " that when the Church judged it expedient not to
suffer the Donatist bishops to officiate upon their return to
the Church, she did not thereby intend to deny the reality
^ Con. Aurel. i. c. 12. De Haereticis Clericis, qui ad Fidem Catholicam
plena fide et voluntate vencrint, id censuinius observari - - - ut officiuin, quo
eos Episcopus dignos esse censuerit, cum iinpositse iiianus benedictione sus-
cipiant. ^ (j^n, Ephes. Act. 7. Decret. cent. Messalian. torn. iii.
p. 809. Si Clerici fueiint, nianeant Cleiici. Quod si renuerint anathe-
matizare, si Presbyteri, vel Diaconi faeiint, vel in alio quopiam gradu Ec-
clesiffi, excidant et a Clero et a Gradu et a Communione. '' Con. Nic.
c. 8. * Aug. cont. Parmen. lib. ii. c. 13. Cum expedire hoc judicatur
Ecclesiaj, ut Praepositi eorum venientes ad Catholicam Societatera, honorcs
suos ibi non adniinistrent ; non eis tamen Ipsa oidinationis sacramenta detra-
huntur, sed manent super eos.
CHAP, VII.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 415
or validity of their ordination, but supposed that to remain
still perfect and entire in them." And this is what St.
Austin meant by the sacrament of ordination, as he words
it, or the indelible character, which was thereby imprinted ;
that though a man turned apostate, or was suspended or
deprived for any crime, yet, if upon his repentance and
satisfaction, the Church thought fit to admit hira to
officiate again, there was no necessity of giving- him a new
ordination, no more than a new baptism ; for the character
of both remained entire. This was the doctrine and
practice of the African Church, and most others, in the
time of St. Austin.
416 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK V
BOOK V.
OF THE PRIVILEGES, IMMUNITIES, AND REVENUES
OF THE CLERGY IN THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH.
CHAP. I.
Some Instances of Respect, which the Clergy paid mutually
to one another.
m
SiccT. 1. — The Clergy obliged to give Entertainment to tlieir Brethren, tra
veiling upon necessary Occasions.
Having thus far discoursed of the necessary qualifications
of the clergy, and the several customs observed in the de-
sig-nation of them to the ministerial office; it will be proper
in the next place to speak of the respect and honour, that
was g-encrally paid them upon the account of their office.
Under which head I shall comprise whatever relates to the
privileges, exemptions, immunities, and revenues of the
ancient clergy. Some particular marks of honour, as they
were peculiar to this or that order, have already been men-
tioned in speaking of those orders; but now I shall treat of
those, which were more universal, and common to all orders.
And here it will not be amiss in the first place to say some-
thing of that courteous treatment and friendship, wherewith
the clergy of the ancient Church were obliged to receive
and embrace one another. Two or three instances of which
it will be sufficient to observe at present. First, that wher-
ever they travelled upon necessary occasions, they were to
be entertained by their brethren of the clergy in all places,
out of the public revenues of the Church; and it was a sort
of Clime for a bishop or other clerk to refuse the hospitality
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 417
of the Church, and take it from any other. The historians,
Socrates and Sozomen,* tacitly reflect upon Epiphanius for
an action of this nature, " that when he came to Constan-
tinople, where Chrysostom showed him all imaginable re-
spect and honour, sending his clergy out to meet him, and
inviting him to an apartment according to custom in his
house, he refused the civility, and took up his habitation in
a separate mansion." This was interpreted the same thing
as breaking' Catholic communion with him; as it proved in
effect; for he came on purpose, by the instigations of
Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria, to form an accusation
against him. On the other hand, to deny any of the clergy
the hospitality rf (he Church, upon such occasions, was a
more unpardonable crime, and looked upon as the rudest
way of denying communion. Therefore Firmilian^ smartly
reproves the behaviour of Pope Stephen, both as insolent
and unchristian, towards the African bishops, who were
sent as legates from their Churches to him, " That he nei-
ther admitted them to audience himself, nor suffered any of
the brethren to receive them to his house ; so not only de-
nying- them the peace and communion of the Church, but
the civility of Christian entertainment also." Which was
so much the greater despite and affront to them, because
every private Christian, travelling with letters of credence
from his own Church, might have challenged that piivilege
upon the " contesseration of hospitality," as Tertullian^
words it ; and much more the bishops and clergy from one
another. By the laws of the African Church, every bishop,
that went as legate of a provincial synod to that which they
called a general or plenary synod, was to be provided of all
things necessary in his travels from this liberality of the
Church ; as appears from a canon in the third council of
Carthage, which orders,* that no province should send
above two or three legates ; '' that so they might appear with
less pomp and envy, and be less charge to their entertainers."
' Socrat. lib. vi. c. )2. Sozom. lib viii. c. 14. ^ Firmil. Ep. 73.
ap. Cypr. p. 228. Ut venientibus non solum pax et communio, sed et tectum
et hospitium negaretur. * Tertul. de Praescript. c. 20. * Coi).
Carth. 8. C.2. Ut et minus invidiosi, minusque hospitibus sumptuosi exis-
tant.
VOL. I. 3 F
418 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK V.
This implies, that every Church was obliged, by custom at
least, to give them entertainment in their passage.
Sect. 2.— And to give them the Honorary Privilege of Consecrating the
Eucharist in the Church.
Another instance of customary respect, which the clergy
were obliged to show to one another, was, that when any
bishop or presbyter came to a foreign Church, they were to
be complimented with the honorary privilege of performing
divine offices, and consecrating the eucharist in the Church.
This was a very ancient custom, as appears from what
Irenseus says of Anicctus, bishop of Rome, that when
Polycarp came to settle the paschal controversy with him,
" 7rap£xwf>rja-£v ttji' £u;(^ojot<?tav tu) HoXyKupTrnj^^ which does
not barely signify, " he gave him the eucharist,'" as the first
translators of Eusebius render it; but, " he gave place to
him, or liberty to consecrate the eucharist in his Church.'"
The council of Aries, which turned this castom into a law,
uses the very same expression about it^, " That in every
Church they should give place to the bishop, that was a
stiancrer, to offer the oblation or sacrifice." And the fourth
council of Carthage more plainly,^ " That a bishop or pres-
byter, visiting another Church, shall be received, each in
their own degree, and be invited to preach, and consecrate
the oblation." So they were to be admitted to all the
honours, which the Church could show them; the bishop
was to seat his fellow-bishop in the same throne with him-
self, and the presbyters to do the same by their fellow-
presbyters. For that the canon means by receiving them in
their own degree. Which custom is referred to by the
Catholic bishops in the Collation of Carthago,* where they
promise the Donatist bishops, " that if they would return
to the Church, they should be treated by them as fellow-
bishops, and sit upon the same thrones with them, as
' Iren. Ep. ad Victor, ap. Euseb. lib. v. c.24. * Con. Arelat. i.
C.20. Ut peregrine Episcopo locus sacrificandi detur. ^ Con. Carth.
4. C.33. Ut Episcopi vel Presbyteri, si causa viseridte Ecclesiffi alterius
Episcopi, ad Ecclesiam venerint, et in gradu sue suscipiantur, et tam ad ver-
bum faciendum, quani ad oblationem consecrandam invitentur. * CoUat.
Carth. Die 1. c. IG. Sicut peregrine Episcopo juxta considente coUega.
CHAP. 1.] CHRISTIAN CHIRCH. 419
Strangers were used to do." The author of the Constitu-
tions joins all these things together, saying, " Let the
bishop that is a stranger sit with the bishop, and be invited
to preach; let him also be permitted to offer the eucharist;
or, if in modesty he refuses it, let him at least be constrained
to give the blessing to the people."
Sect. 3.— The Use of the LitercB Formatte, or Commendatory Letters in
this Respect.
But then it is to be observed, that these honours were not
to be showed to strangers, as mere strangers, but as they
could some ways give proof of their orthodoxy and Catholi-
cism to the Church, to which they came. And in this res-
pect the Literes^ Systatic^, or commendatory letters, as they
called them, w ere of great use and service in the Church.
For no strange clergyman was to be admitted so much as
to communicate, much less to officiate, without these letters
of his bishop, in any Church where he was a perfect stran-
ger, for fear of surreptitious, or passive communion, as
tlie Canons call it. ^ And bishops were under the same
obligations to take the letters of their metropolitan, if they
had occasion to travel into a foreign country, where they
could not otherwise be known. The third council of Gai-
thage has a canon to this purpose,^ " that no bishop
should go beyond sea, without consulting the primate of
his province, that he might have his Format(B, or letters of
commendation. And that the same discipline was observed
in all Churches, seems clear from one of those canons of
the Greek Church, among those which go by the name of
Apostolical,^ which says,"" No strange bishops, presbyters,
or deacons shall be received livtv cv^gtikiov, unless they
bring commendatory letters with them ; but without them,
they shall only be provided of necessaries, and not be ad-
mitted to communicate, because many things are surrepti-
» Con. Carth. 1. c. 7. Clericus vel Laicus non communicet in alienS plebe
sine Uteris Episcopi sui. Msi hoc observafum fuerit, commiinio fiet passiva.
Vid. Con. Laodicen. c. 41. Con. Antioch. c. /'. Agathens. c. 38. Chalced. c. 11.
2 Con. Carth. iii. c. 58. Ul E-iisooji trans mare non proficiscantur, nisi
consulto Prima; Scdis Eniscopo, ut ab Episcopo priBcipiie (leg. Prseipuo)
possiut sumere Formatam vd Comnundationeni. ^ Canon, Apost. c. 11,
420 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [boOK V.
tiously obtained." The translation of Dionysius Exig-uus
indeed denies them necessaries also ; but that is a manifest
corruption of the Greek text, which allows them to commu-
nicate in outward g-ood things, but not in the communion
of the Church. And this is what some think the ancients
meant by, Communio Peregrina, the communion of stran-
gers; when such, as travelled without letters of credence,
were hospitably entertained, and provided of sustenance,
but not admitted to participate of the eucharist, because
they had no testimonials of their life and conversation. But
others g-ive a diflcrent account of this, which I shall more
nicely examine, when I come to speak of the discipline of
the Church, under which head the Communio Peregrina
will come to be considered, as a species of ecclesiastical
censure.
Sect. 4. — The Clergy obliged to end all their own Controversies among
themselves.
A third instance of respect, which the clerg-y showed to
one another, was, that if any controversies happened
among- themselves, they freely consented to have them de-
termined by their bishops and councils, without having-
recourse to the secular magistrate for justice. Bishops, as
I have had occasion to show before,* were anciently au-
thorized by the imperial laws to hear, and determine secular
pecuniary causes, even among laymen, when both the liti-
g-ants would ag-ree upon compromise to take them for arbi-
trators. But among- the clerg-y there needed no such par-
ticular compromise ; for by the rules and canons of the
Church they were broug'ht under a general obligation not
to molest one another before a secular magistrate, but to
end all their controversies under the eog-nizance of an eccle-
siastical tribunal. The ease was somewhat different when a
layman and a clergyman had occasion to g-o to law
together; for then the layman was at liberty to choose his
court, and was not oblig-ed to refer his cause to any ecclesi-
astical judge, unless by compromise he brouglit himself
' Book ii. chai>. vli.
CHAP. 1,] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 421
under such an obllg-ation. For so the imperial laws in this
case had provided.^ Though in France, in the time of the
Gothic king-s, it was otherwise; for laymen there were not
to sue a clerk in a secular court, without the bishop's per-
mission ; as appears from a canon of the council of Ao-de,^
made under Alaric, Anno 506, which equally forbids a
clerg-yman to sue a layman in a secular court, or to answer
to any action brought against him there, without the bishop's
permission. But whatever difference there was betwixt the
Roman and Gothic laws in this particular, it is evident, that
as to any controversies arising among the clergy them-
selves, they were to be determined before ecclesiastical
judges; as appears from a canon of the council of Chal-
cedon, which is in these words,^ " If any clergyman hath a
controversy with another, he shall not leave his own bishop,
and betake himself to any secular court, but first have a
hearing before his own bishop, or such arbitrators as both
parties should choose with the bishop's approbation : other-
wise he should be liable to canonical censure." Which
censure, in the African Church, was the loss of his place,
whether he were bishop, presbyter, or deacon, or any other
inferior clerk, that dechned the sentence of an ecclesiastical
court, either in a civil or criminal cause, and betook himself
to a secular court for justice. Though he carried his cause,
and sentence were given on his side, in a criminal action,
yet he was to be deposed ; or if it was a civil cause, he
mast lose whatever advantage he gained by the action, as
the third council of Carthage,* in this case, determined ;
' Valentin. Novel. 12. ad Calcem Cod. Th. In Clerico petitore consequens
erit, ut secundum leges pulsati forum sequatur, si adversarius suus ad Epis-
copi vel Piesbyteri audientiam non prsestat adsensuin. 2 q^j^ Ag&-
tliens. c. 32. Clerieus nee qnenquam praesumat apud secularem judicein,
Episcopo non pennittente, pulsare. Sed si pulsatus fuerit, non respondeat,
nee proponat, nee audeat criminale negotiuni in judicio seculari proponere.
8 Con. Chalced. c. 9. 'Ee ti£ kXij^ikoq Tr(>bg KXiipiKov Trpay/ia fx*^/«')
fyKaraXtjtiTravsrw rbv vike'iov iniaKOTrov^ k, iiri KOfffiiKa (^KaTj'jp/rt KaraTpfXfru),
&c, * Con. Carth.iii. c. 9. Quisquis Episcoporinn, Preshyterorum, et Dia-
conorum, sou Clericorum, cum in ecclesia ei crimen fuerit intentatum, vel
civilis causa fuerit commota, si derelicto ecclesiastico judicio publicis judiciis
purgari voluerii, etianisi pro ipso prolata fuerit sententia, Locum suum amittat,
et hoc in criminali actione. In civili vero perdat, quod evicerit, si locum
suum oblinere maluerit, &c.
422 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK V.
because lie despised the whole Church, in that he could
BOt confide in any ecclesiastical persons to be his jndg-es.
Many other councils determined the same thing-, as that of
Vannes,* Chalons,^ and Mascon.^ And the council of
Milevis decreed,* " that no one should petition the emperor
to assign him secular judges, but only ecclesiastical, under
pain of deprivation." So great confidence did the clergy
generally place in one another, and pay such a deference
to the wisdom, integrity, and judgment of their brethren,
that it was then thought they had no need to have recourse
to secular courts for justice, but they were v-iliing to de-
termine all controversies of their own among themselves.
And as the imperial laws did not hinder this, but encourage
it ; so we seldom find any ecclesiastics inclined to oppose
it, but either some factious and turbulent men, or such
whose crimes Jiad made them so obnoxious, that they had
reason to dread an ecclesiastical censure.
Sect, 5.— What Care was taken in receiving Accusations against the Bishops
and C'lergj^ of the Church.
I shall but observe one thing more upon this head, which
is, the great care the clergy had of the reputation and cha-
racter of one another; which being a sacred and necessary,
thing in persons of their function, they did not think fit to
let it be exposed to the malicious calumnies and slanders
of every base and false accuser. But first in all accusations,
especially against bishops, the testimony of two or three
witnesses was required, according to the rule of tlse Apostle.
Therefore, when the Synod of Antiocli proceeded to condemn
Eustathius, bishop of Antioch,upon a single testimony, the
historian censures it,'' as an arbitrary proceeding in them
a""ainst that apostolical canon, — " Receive not an accusa-
tion against an elder, but before two or three witnesses.""
Secondly, the character of the witnesses was to be ex-
amined, before their testimony was to be allowed of. An
' Con. Vcnctic. c. 9. ^ Con. Cabillon. c. 11. ^ Con. Mar
tiscon. V. 5. * Con. Alilev. c. 19. Quicunqiic ab imperatore
co^nitionem judiciorum publicoruni petierit, Honore pioprio privxtur. Si
autcm cpLscopalc judicium ab liupcratore posluiavcrit, nihil ei obsit.
^Theod.Uibt. lib. i. c. -iO.
CHAP. 1.] CHRISTIAN CHTJUOH. 423
heretic was not to g-Ive evidence ag-ainst a bishop, as mav
be collected from tliose Canons which bear the name of the
Apostles, one of whicli joins these two thing's together;'
" Receive not an heretic to testify against a bishop ; nor a
single witness, though he be one of tlse faithful ;" for the
law saith, " in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall
every word be established." Athanasius pleaded the privi-
lege of this law, when he was accused for suffering- Ma-
carius, his presbyter, to break the communion-cup ; he
urg-ed,^ " that his accusers were Meletians, who ought
not to be credited, being" schismatics, and enemies of the
Church." By the second council of Carthage,-* not only
heretics, but any others, tliat were known to be guilty of
scandalous crimes, were to be rejected from g-iving- testi-
mony against s.ny elder of the Church. Tiie first g-eneral-
council of Constantinople distinguishes the. causes, upon
which an accusation might be brought ag-ainst a bishop;
for a man mig-hfc have a private^ause of complaint og-ainst
him, as that he was defrauded in his property, or in any the
like case injured by him ; in which case his accusation was
to be heard, without considering- at all the quality of the
person or his religion. For a bishop was to keep a g'ood
conscience, and any man, that complained of being- injured
by him, was to have justice done him, whatever religion Le
was of. But if the crime was purely ecclesiastical, which
was alleged against him, then the personal qualities of
the accusers were to be examined ; so that no heretics
should be allowed to accuse orthodox bishops in causes
ecclesiastical ;* nor any excommunicate persons, before they
had first made satisfaction for their own crimes ; nor any,
who were impeached of crimes, of which they had not
proved themselves innocent. The council of Chalcedon
adds,^ " that no clergyman or layman should be admitted
to impeach a bishop or a clerk, till his own reputation and
character were first inquired into and fully examined."" So
' Canon. Apost. c. 75. ^ Athan. Apol. ad Constant, toin. i. p. 73 J.
' Con. t'aith. ii. c. 6. Qui aliquibus s:elerihus irrctitus est, voccm adversus
niajdres natii non habeat acciisandi. Vid. Cod. Can. Ai"ric. c. 8.
* Con. Constant. Gen. i. c. 0. ^ Con. Chalced. c. 21.
426 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [fiOOK V.
can fathers in the fifth council of Carthage, where it was
ag-reed,' " to petition the emperors, to make a decree, that,
if any persons referred a civil cause to the arbitration of the
Church, and one of the parties chanced to be displeased
with the decision or sentence, that was g-iven against him, it
should not be lawful to draw the clerg-ymany who was judge
m the cause, into any secular court, to make him give any
testimony or account of his determination." This was not
intended to exempt elerg-ymen in general from being called
to be witnesses in a secular court, but only to free them
from the prosecutions of vexatious and troublesome men^
who, when they had chosen them for their arbitrators, would
not stand to their arbitration, but prosecuted them in the
civil courts, as if they had given a partial sentence against
them. And though it was contrary to the law to give them
any such trouble, because, as I have sliowed in another
place,^ all such determinations were to be absolutely de-
cisive and final without appeal; yet it is probable some
secular judges in Afrie might give encouragement to such
prosecutions ; which made the African fathers complain of
the grievance, and desire to have it re«uessed, in the fore-
mentioned canon, to which Gothofred thinks the law of
Theodosius refers. But whether the law of Theodosius be
thus to be limited, is a matter that may admit of further
inquiry. Gothofred himself confesses that Justinian took
it in a larger sense ; and that is enough for me to found this
privilege of bishops upon, that they were not to be called
into a secular court, to give their testimony there in any
case whatsoever.
Sect. 2. — Nor oblfged to give their Testimony apon Oatli, by the Laws of
Justinian.
Another privilege of this kind, which also argued great
respect paid to bishops, was, that when their testimony was
'Con. Carth. v. c. 1'. It. Cod. Can. Afr. c. 59. Et Con. vulg. diet. Afri-^
canum. c. 26. Petendiira ut statuere dignentur, ut si qui forte in- ecclesia
quainlibet causam, jure apostolico ecclcsiis iinposito, agei-e voluerinl, et for-
tasse decisio Clericorum uni parti (lisplix;uerit ; non liceat Clericum in judi-
cium ad testimonium devocari eum, qui cognitor vel praesens (forsan prteses)
fuerit. Et nulla ad testimoniimi dicenduni Ecclesiaslici cujuslibet persona
pulsetur. *Book ii. chap. vii. sect. 3 and 4.
CHAP. 11,] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 427
tttken in private, they were not obliged to give it upon oath,
as other witnesses were, but only upon tlieir word, as be-
came the priests of God, laying- the Holy Gospels before
them. F'or the same law of Justinian,* which grants them
the former privilege, enacted this in their favour and behalf
also. And in pursuance of that law probably the council of
Tribur,^ some ages after, decreed, " that no presbyter should
be questioned upon oath, but instead of that only be inter-
rog-ated upon his consecration, because it did not become a
priest to swear upon a light cause." But it does not appear,
that this indulg-ence was granted to bishops before the time
of Justinian. For the council of Chalccdon^ exacted an
oath in a certain case of the Egyptian bishops ; and the
council of Tyre* required the same of Ibas, bishop of Edessa,
And there are many other instances of the like nature.
Sect. 3. — Whether the single Evidence of one Bishop was good in Law
against the Testimony of many others.
Constantine the Great granted many privileges to the
clergy ; but there are some that go under his name, which
were certainly never granted by him. As his famed do-
nation to the bishops of Rome, which Baronius^ himself
gives up for a forgery, and De Marca^and Pagi' prove it to
be a spurious fiction of the ninth century, invented most
probably by the same Isidore Mercator, who forged the
Decretal Epistles of the ancient bishops of Rome. There
are other privileges fathered upon Constantine, which,
though not such manifest forgeries as the former, are yet by
learned men reputed of a doubtful nature ; such as that,
which is comprised in a law under the name of Constantine**
at the end of the Theodosian Code, where all judges are
'Justin. Novel. 123. c. 7. Proposifis SS. Evangeliis, secundum quod decet
Sacerdotes, dicant quod noverint, non tamen juront. -Con. Tribtir.
C.21. Presbyter vice juranienli per sanctum consecrationeni iniorrogetur ;
quia Sacerdotes ex levi causa jurare non dehent, &c. ^('on. Chaired,
act. iv. torn. iv. p. 518. * Con. Tyr. in Act. ix. Con. Chalced. p. Gui).
•'■Baron, an. 321. n. 118. <^Marca de Concord, lib. vi. c.6. n.6.
i' Pagi Critic, in Baron, an. 324. n. 13. '^Lixi. Tli. lib. xvi. tit. 12. do
Episc. Audient. leg. 1. Testimonium etiam ab uno licet Episcopo porhibituin,
omnes judices indubitaiitcr accipi;'.ii', nee alius audiatur, cum testimonium
Ji^piscopi a qualibet parte fuerit repromissum,
428 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK V.
commanded tp take the single evidence of one bishop, as
good in law, againt all others whatsoever. Gothofred is of
opinion, that this whole title in the Theodosian Code is
spurious ; and for this law in particular, there are two argu-
ments that seem to prove it not genuine. First, because
Constantine himself in another law says,^ "the testimony of
a single witness shall not be heard in any case, no, not
though the witness be a senator." Secondly, because the
ecclesiastical laws, as well as the civil, require two wit-
nesses, as has been noted in the last chapter; which, I
think, are sufficient arguments to prove, that no such extra-
vagant privilege could be granted to bishops by Constan-
tine ; but I leave the reader to judge for himself, if he can
find better arguments to the contrary.
Sect. 4. — Presbyters privileged against being questioned by Torture, as other
Witnesses were.
We have better proof for another privilege, that we find
granted to presbyters, which was, that, if any of them were
called to give testimony in a public court, they should not
be examined by scourging or torture, as the law directed in
other cases. For by the Roman laws witnesses might be
examined upon the rack, in some cases, to make them de-
clare the whole truth ; as we learn not only from the laws^
themselves, but from St. Austin," and Synesius,* who men-
tion several new sorts of torture, which Andronicus, the
tyrannical prefect of Ptolemais, invented beyond what the
law directed. But now notliing of this kind could be im-
posed upon any presbyter of the Church ; for they were ex-
empted from it by a law of Theodosms the Great, which is
still extant in both the Codes,^ by which it also appears, that
it was a peculiar privilege granted to bishops and preshy-
' Cod. Th. lib. xi. tit. 39. de Fide Testium. leg. 3. Sancimus, ut uniuai om-
nino testis responsio non audiatnr, etianisi prreclare curias honore prrefulgeat.
■^ Vid. Cod. Justin, lib. ix. tit. 41. de Ques^ionibus. It. rod.Theodos. lib. xiii.
tit. 9. de Naufragiis leg. 2. ^ Aug. Serin. 49. de Divers, torn. x. p. 520.
* Synes. Ep. 68. * Cod. Th. lib. xi. tit, 39. de Fide testium. leg. 10.
Presbyteri citra injuriam qua^stionis testimonium dicant; ita tamen ut falsa
non simulent. Cstteri vcro Clerici, qui eorum gradum vcl oidincm subse-
quuntur,si ad testimonium dicenduni petiti fueriat, prouj, leges prajciplunt, au-
diunlur. YiJ. Cod. Justin, lib. i. tit. 3. leg. 8.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 429
ters, but to none below them : for the rest of the clerg-y are
excepted, and left to the common way of examination, which
in other cases the law directed to be used.
Sect. 5. — The Clergy exempt from the ordinary Cognizance of the Secular
Coiirts in all Ecclesiastical Causes.
But the next privilege I am to mention, was a more uni-
versal one, that extended to all the clerg-y ; which was their
exemption from the ordinary cognizance of the secular
courts in several sorts of causes. To understand this matter -
aright, we must carefully distinguish two things. First, the
different kinds of causes, in which the clergy might be con-
cerned ; and secondly, the difi'erent pow ers of the inferior
courts from that of the supreme magistrate, who was in-
vested with a peculiar prerogative-power above them. The
want of attending to which distinctions is the thing, that has
bred so much confusion in modern authors upon this sub-
ject, and especially in the Romish writers, many of which
are intolerably partial in their accounts, and highly injurious
to the civil magistrates, under pretence of asserting and
maintaining the rights and liberties of the Church. In the
first place therefore, to have a right understanding in this
matter, we must distinguish the several sorts of causes in
which ecclesiastical persons might be concerned. Now
these were of four kinds ; — first, such as related to matters
purely ecclesiastical, as crimes committed against the faith,
or canons and discipline and good order of the Church,
which were to be punished with ecclesiastical censures ;
secondly, such as related to mere civil and pecuniary mat-
ters between a clergyman and a layman ; thirdly, such as
related to political matters, as gross and scandalous crimes
committed against the laws, and to the detriment of the
commonwealth, as treason, rebellion, robbery, murder, and
the like, which in the laws are called Atrocia Delicta ;
fourthly, such as related to lesser crimes of the same nature,
which the law calls Levia Delicta, small or petty offences.
Now, according to this distinction of causes, the clergy
were, or were not exempt from the cognizance of the civil
courts, by the. laws of the Roman empire. In all matters,
that were purely ecclesiastical, they were absolutely exempt,
430 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK V.
as Gotliofied,' the great civilian, scruples not to own. For
all causes of that nature were reserved to the hearing- of
bishops and their councils, not only by the canons of the
Church, but by the laws of the state also.
Sect. 6. — This evidenced from tlie Laws of Constantius.
This may be evidenced from the Rescripts of several em-
perors successively one after another, most of which are
extant in both the Codes. Constantius, Anno 355, pub-
lished a law,^ wherein he prohibited any accusation to be
brought against a bishop before a secular magistrate; but,
if any one had any complaint against him, his cause should
be heard and tried by a synod of bishops. This at least
must signify in ecclesiastical causes ; though Gothofred and
some others say, it extended also to civil and criminal
causes; and that though it looked like a privileg'e, yet it
was intended as a snare to the Catholic bishops, to oppress
them by his Arian synods, in those times, Avhen the majority
of bishops in any synod were commonly such as favoured
the Arian party ; and a Catholic bishop might expect more
favour and justice from a secular court, than from them.
But whether this law extended to all civil and criminal
causes, is not very easy to determine: — thus much is cer-^
tain, that, if it did, it was not long after in that part revoked,
whilst in the other part it stood good, and was confirmecj
by the laws of the succeeding em.perors.
Sect. 7. — And those of Valentinian and Gratian.
For Valentinian granted the clergy the same immunity in
all ecclesiastical causes. As appears from what St. Am-
brose writes to the younger Valentinian concerning his
father, saying,-^ " Your father, of august memory, did not
' Gothofr. Comment, in Cod. Th. lib. xvi. tit. 2. leg, 23. 2 c^^^
Th. lib. xvi. tit. 2. de Episc. leg. 12. Mansuetudinis nostraj lege prohihe-
nms in judiciis Episcopos accusari. si quid est igitur qucrelanim, quod
quispiam defert, apud alios potissimum Episcopos convenit explorari, &:c.
"Ambros. Ep. 32. Augustse Memoriae Pater tmis non solum sermono rcs-
pondit, sed etiam legibus suis sanxit, in causa iidei, \cl ecclesiastici alicujus
ordinis eum judicare debere, qui nee munere impar, iiec jure dissimilis. Uvcc
eniin verba Rescript! sunt. Hoc est, Sacerdotes dpSacerdotibus voluit judicare.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 431
only say it in words, but enacted it into a law, that in mat-
ters of faith and ecclesiastical order, they ought to judge,
who were qualified by their office, and of the same order.
For those are the words of his Rescript. That is, he would
havfe priests to judge of priests." This law is not now ex-
tant in the Code, but there is another of Valontinian and
Gratian to the same purpose ; wherein it is decreed,' " that
the same custom should be observed in ecclesiastical busi-
ness, as was in civil causes. That if there arose any con-
troversies about matters of religion, either from the dissen-
tions of men, or other small offences, they should be heard
and determined in the places, where they arose, or in the
synod of the whole diocese. Except only such criminal
actions, as were reserved to the hearing- of the ordinary
judges, the proconsuls and prefects of every province, or
the extraordinary judges of the emperor's own appointing-,
or the illustrious powers," viz, — The Praefectiis-PreEtorio
of the diocese. Here it is plain, that though criminal ac-
tions against the state-laws are excepted, yet all matters
ecclesiastical were to be heard by ecclesiastical judg-es, and
no other.
Sect. 8. — And Theodosius the Great.
In the last title of the Theodosian Code there is a law,
under the name of Theodosius the Great, to the same pur-
pose, w herein it is decreed,'- " that no bishop, nor any other
minister of the Church, shall be drawn into the civil courts
of any ordinary or extraordinary judges, about matters or
causes of an ecclesiastical nature , because they have
judges of their own, and laws distinct from those of the
state. This law is cited in Gratian's Decree, but the
words, " Qaantum ad causas ecclesiasticas tamen pertinet,"'
' Cod. Til. lib. xvi. Tit. 2. de Episc. leg. S3. Qui inos est causariim
civilium, iidem in negotiis ecclesiasticis obtinendi sunt: ut siqua sunt ex
quibusdain dissensionibus, levibusque delictis, ad religionis observantiam
pertinentia, locis suis, et a suae diaceseos synodis audiautur. Exceptis quse
actio criniinalis ab ordinariis extraordinariisque judicibus, aut inlustiibus
potestatibus audientia (leg. audienda) constituif. ^ Cod. Tli. lib. xvi.
tit. 12. de Episc. Judicio. leg. 3. Continua lege sancimus, ut nullus Episcopo-
rum vel eoruui qui Ecclesise necessitatibus seiviunt, ad judicia sive ordina-
riorum sive extraordinariovum judicum (quantum taiuen ad causas ecclesias-
ticas pertinet) pertrahatur, &c.
432 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK V,
are there' fraudulently left out, to serve the current doctrine
and hypothesis of his own times, and make the reader be-
lieve, that the clerg-y anciently enjoyed an exemption not
only in ecclesiastical causes, but all others. I the rather
mention this corruption, because none of the correctors of
Gratian have taken any notice of it. The Roman censors
silently pass it over, and it has escaped the diligence of
Antonius Augustinus and Baluzius also. Gothofred indeed
questions the authority of the law itself; but I shall not
stand to dispute that, since there is nothing- in it contrary
to the preceding laws, or those that follow ed after.
Sect. 9. —And Arcadius and Honorius.
For Arcadius and Honorius continued the same privileg-e
to the clerg-y, confirming- the ancient laws,^ " that when-
ever any cause relating* to religion was debated, the bishops
were to be judges; but other causes, belong-ing- to the cog-
nizance of the ordinary judges, and the use of the common
laws, were to be heard by them only."
Sect. 10. — And Valentinian the Third, and Justinian.
Theodosius Junior and Valentinian the Third refer to
this law of Honorius, as the standing law then in force,
concerning the immunities and liberties of the clergy, say-
ing in one of their decrees,^ " that bishops and presbyters
had no court of secular laws, nor any power to judge of
other causes, except such as related to religion, according
to the Constitutions of Arcadius and Honorius inserted
into the Theodosian Code." So that all the same laws,
which denied them power in secular causes, allowed them
the privilege of judging in ecclesiastical causes ; and the
very excepting of other causes is a manifest proof, that
there was no contest made about these to the time of Jus-
• Gratian Cans. xi. Quaest. 1. c. 5. ^ Cod. Th. lib. xvi. tit. 11. de
Religioiie,leo;. 1. Quoties de religione agitur, Episcopos convenit judicare:
cseteras vero causas, quse ad ordinarios cognitores, vel ad usum publici juris
pertinent, legibus oportet audiri. ^ Valentin. Novel. 12. ad Calc.
Cod. Theod. Constat Episcopos et Presbyteros forum legibus non habere:
nee de aliis cansis, secundum Arcadii et Honorii divalia constituta, quse Theo-
dosianum Corpus ostendit, praiter religioneni posse cognoscere.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTI.4N CHURCH. 433
tinian, who confirmed the privilege, which so many of his
predecessors had g-rantcd before him. For in one of his
Novels we find it enacted, ' " that all ecclesiastical crimes,
which w ere to be punished w ith ecclesiastical penalties and
censures, should be judged by the bishop ; the provincial
judg-es not intermedhng- with them. " For," saith he, " it
is our pleasure, that such matters shall not be heard by the
civil judg-es."
Sect. 11. — The Clergy also exempt in lesser Criminal Causes.
Gothofred is also of opinion,^ that some of the lesser cri-
minal causes of ecclesiastics were to be determined by the
bishops and their synods likewise. For in the foremen-
tioned law of Gratian (see before sect. 7.^ the Levia De~
licta, or lesser crimes are reserved to the hearing- of
bishops. And St. Ambrose, having- spoken of the decree
of Valentinian, which orders all ecclesiastical causes to be
judg-ed by bishops only, adds also,^ " that, if in other
respects a bishop was to be censured, and his morals came
under examination, such causes as those likewise should
appertain to the episcopal judgment." Which seems to put
some distinction between ecclesiastical and civil criminal
causes, and reserves both to the hearing- of bishops and their
synods. But then, as Gothofred rightly observes, this must
only be understood of lesser criminal causes ; for in greater
criminal actions the clergy were liable to the cognizance
of the secular judges, as well as all others. Which is freely
owned by De Marca, and some other ingenuous writers of
the Romish Church. For De Marca* quits the positions of
' Justin. Novel. 83. Si verd ecclesiasticum sit delictum, egens castiga-
tione ecclesiastica et multCi, Deo amabilis Episcopus lioc discernat, nihil
coramunicantibus clarissiniis provincite judicibus. Neque enim volumus
talianegotia omnino scire civiles judices. ^Gothofred.
Com. in Cod. Th. lib. xvi. tit. 2. Leg. 23. s Ambr.
Ep. 32. Quinetiam si alias quoque argueretur Episcopus, et morum esset ex-
aminanda causa, etiam banc voluit ad episeopale judicium pertinere.
* Marca dissert, in Cap. Clericus ad Calcem Antonii Augustini de Emendat
Gratiani, p. 577. In Codice Theodosiano controvcrsiac, quae ad religionem per-
tinent, in quibus sunt crimina Ecclesiastica, et minora delicta e civilium numero,
Episcopiset cujusque dioeceseos sive provinciieSynodis relinquuntur : servata
judiciis publicis atrocium criminum, quse numero quinque, adversus Clericos
cognitione ; ut decent leges aliquot editse cura Sirmondi in Appendice Codicis
Theodosiani.
VOL. I. 3 H
434 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK V.
Baronius and the canonists, and confesses, " that, as it ap-
pears from the Theodosian Code, that the ecclesiastical
crimes, and lesser civil crimes of the clergy were left to the
hearing of bishops, aud the synods of every diocese or pro-
vince ; so the greater civil crimes of the clergy, which he
reckons five in number, were reserved to the hearing of the
public courts and civil judges, which, he says,* " appears
from the laws published by Sirmondus, in his appendix to
the Theodosian Code."
Sect. 12. — But not in greater Criminal Causes.
Some reckon those laws to be of no very great authority,
and therefore I shall rather choose to confirm this position
from the undoubted laws, which occur in the body of the
Theodosian Code. Such as that of Theodosius and Gra-
fian,^ which particularly excepts these greater criminal
actions, and reserves them to the hearing of the ordinary or
extraordinary judges, or the Prcefecfas-Prcstorio of the
diocese ; and those other laws of Theodosius, and Arca-
dius, and Honorius, and Valentinian the Third, which have
been cited in the foregoing sections,^ and need not here be
repeated. To which we may add that law of the elder
Valentinian, which orders* " all such ecclesiastics to be
prosecuted in the civil courts, that were found guilty of
creeping into the houses of widows, and orphans, and so
insinuating into their affections, as to prevail upon them to
disinherit their relations, and make them their heirs." And
that other law of the emperor Marcian, which, in criminal
causes, exempts the clergy of Constantinople* " from the
♦SeeBartho!. Milletot. de Legitima Judieum Secularium Potestate in Per-
sonas Ecclesiasticas. Frane, 1613. p. 774. Liber prohib. ap. Soto-Major.
Bernard. Laurentius. Casus, quibus judex secularis potest manus injicere in
Personas Ecclesiasticas, item de Privilegiis Clericorum. Par. 1517. octav,
Ven. 1584. ^ c^d. Th. lib. xvi, tit. 2. de Episc. leg. 23. Exceptis
quae actio criminalis ab ordinarlis extraordinariisque judicibus, ant illustribus
potestatibus audienda constituit. ^See sect. 8, 9, 10. *Cod.
Th. lib. xvi. tit. 2. leg. 20. Ecclesiastic! - - - Viduarum ac pQpillarum de-
mos non adeant: sed publicis exterminentur judiciis, si posthftc eos aflSnes
earum vel propinqui putaverint deferendos, * Cod. Justin, lib. i. tit. 3,
de Episc. leg. 25. Actor in nuUo alio foro, Tel apud quenquam alterum judi-
cem eosdem Clericos litibus irretire, et civilibus vel criminalibus negotiis tea-
tet inneotere.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 435
cognizance of all inferior courts, but not from the high court
of the Prafectus-Prcetorio of the royal city." Which appears
also to have been the practice at Rome. For Socrates ob-
serves,* that, when in the conflict, which happened at the elec-
tion of Pope Damasus, some persons were slain, many both of
the laity and clergy upon that account were punished by Max-
iminus, who was then Prcefectus-Prcetorio at Rome. It ap-
pears further from the Novels ofValentinian the Third,^ that in
such criminal actions as those of murder, robbing of graves,
or the like, bishops, as well as any other clerks, were bound
to answer before the civil magistrate by their proctors. But
Justinian a little enlarged the privilege with respect to
bishops, making a decree,^ " that no one should draw a
bishop in any pecuniary or criminal cause before a secular
magistrate, against his will, unless the emperor gave p.ir-
ticuiar order to do it." This was the plain state of the matter,
as to what concerned the exemption of the clergy, in this
sort of criminal causes, notwithstanding what Baronius, or
any others of that strain have said to the contrary. Nay,
some ages after, such crimes as murder, theft, and witch-
craft, were brought before the secular judges in France, as
appears from the council of Mascon,* Anno 581.
Sect. 13,— Nor in Pecuniary Causes with Laymen.
The case was much the same in all civil pecuniary con-
troversies, which the clergy had with laymen. For though
they might end all such causes, which they had one with
another, in their own courts, or before a synod of bishops;
and the canons obliged them so to do, as has been noted
in the last chapter ;* yet, if their controversy happened to be
with a layman, the layman was not bound to refer the
» Socrat lib iv. c, 29. Aia tSto itoWhq XciIksc rt k, KX»;piK«e iWi r« rort
i^apvs Ua^ifiivH rt,ta.p,,0r,rat. ^ Valent. Novel. 6. de Sopulcr. Vlolat.
ad Calcem Cod. Theod. It. Novel. 12. Quam forraa.n etiam circa Eplscopo-
rum personam observari oportcre censemus, ut si in hujusjnodi ordims homi-
nes actionem pervasiouis et atrocium injuriarnm dirigi necesse fucrit, per pro-
curatorem solemniter ordinalmn, apud judicem publicum inter leges etjura
confligant. ' Justin, Novel. 123. n. 8. Sad ncque ut Episcopus pro
pecuniaria aliqml aut crirainali causa ad civilem militaremve inagistratum in-
vitus perducainr, sistaturve sine imperiali jussioneconcedimus, * Con.
Matiscon. 1. Can. 7. " Chap. i. beet. 4.
436 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK V.
hearing of his cause to an ecclesiastical court, unless he
voluntarily consented by way of compromise to take some
ecclesiastical persons for his arbitrators. This is evident
from one of the Constitutions of Valentinian the Third,
which says,* " that if the plaintiff was a layman, he might
compel any clergyman, with whom he had a civil contest,
to answer in a civil court, if he rather chose it." And the
council of Epone,^ according to the reading of Sirmond's
edition, says the same, " that the clergy, if they were sued
in a secular court, should make no scruple to follow the
plaintiff thither." But Justinian,^ at the instance of Mennas,
patriarch of Constantinople, granted the clergy of the royal
city a peculiar privilege, " that in all pecuniary matters
their cause should first be brought before the bishop; and
if the nature of the cause happened to be such, that he
could not determine it, then recourse might be had to the
civil judges, but not otherwise." From all which it appears,
that anciently exemptions of this nature were not chal-
lenged as matters of divine right, but depended wholly
upon the will and pleasure of Christian princes, however
after-ages came to put another kind of gloss upon them.
Sect. 14.— Of the necessary Distinction between the Supreme and Subordinate
Magistrates in this Business of Exemptions.
Nay it must be observed, that even in ecclesiastical
causes, a great difference was always observed between the
power of the prince or supreme magistrate, and that of the
subordinate and inferior judges. For though the ordinary
judges vt'ere bound by the laws not to intermeddle with
ecclesiastical causes ; yet in some cases the prince himself
interposed and appointed extraordinary judges, and some-
times heard and decided the causes himself, or reversed the
decisions of ecclesiastics by his sovereign power, which no
ordinary judges were qualified to do. But this belongs to
' Valent. Novel. 12. Petitor Laicus, seu in civili seu in crimiuali causa,
cujuslibet loci Clericum adversariura suum, si id piagis eligat, per auctoritatem
legitiniam in publico judicio resi)ondere compellat. - Con. Epaunens.
c. 11. Si pulsati fuerint, sequi ad seculare. judicium non morentur. Yet note,
that other editions, as that of Crab and Binius, read it to a contrary sense.
Sequi ad seculare judicium non prajsumant. ^ Justin. Novel. 83.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 437
another subject, that will have a more proper place In this
work, when we come to speak of the power of Christian
princes.
CHAP. III.
Of the Immunities of the Clergy in reference to Taxes and
Civil Offices and other burdensome Employments in the
Roman Empire.
Sect I. — No divine Right pleaded by the ancient Clergy to exempt themselves
from Taxes.
Another privilege, which the clergy enjoyed by the fa-
vour of Christian princes, was, that in some certain cases, ac-
cording to the exigency of times and places, they were exempt
from some of the taxes, that were laid upon the rest of the
Roman empire. But whatever they enjoyed of this kind,
they did not pretend to as matter of divine right, but freely
acknowledged it to be owing to the pious munificence and
favour of Christian emperors. Therefore Baronius * does
them great injustice, and is guilty of very gross prevari-
cation, in pretending, that they claimed a freedom from
tribute by the law of Christ; and that no emperor ever im-
posed any tax upon them, except only Julian, the apostate,
and Valens, the Arian, and the younger Valentinian, who
was wholly governed by his mother Justina, an Arian em-
press ; that, when St. Ambrose paid tribute under this Va-
lentinian, he did it only out of his Christian meekness, not
that he was otherwise under any obligation to have done it.
How true this representation is, the reader may judge in
part from the words of St. Ambrose, which are these,^ " if
the emperor demands tribute of us, we do not deny it : the
lands of the Church pay tribute. We pay to Caesar the
things that are Csesar's, and to God the things that are
God's. Tribute is Caesar's, and therefore we do not refuse
' Baron, an. 387. torn. iv. p. 538. - Anibr. Orat. cont. Auxcnt. de
Tradend. Basilic, post Ep. 32. Si tributum petit Imperator, non negamus ;
agri Ecclesiffi solvunt tributum. - - - - Solvimus, quae sunt Caesaris, Caisari,
et quee sunt Dei, Deo. Tributum Cissaris est, non negatur.
438 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK V.
to pay it." This is so far from challenging- any exemption
by divine rig-ht, that it plainly asserts the contrary. As in
another place he arg-ues, that all men are under an ob-
ligation to pay tribute,' because the Son of God himself
paid it, Matt. xvii. 23. And yet Baronius cites ^ that very
passage of the evangelist to prove that the clergy are
jure clivino exempt, because our Saviour says, " then are
the children free/' " For if," says he, " the children be
fi-ee; much more so are the fathers, that is, the pastors,
under whose care princes are." Bellarmin is much more
ingenuous in handling this question ; for he asserts,^ against
the Canonists, whose opinion Baronius labours to maintain,
" that the exemption of the clergy in political matters,
whether relating to their persons, or their goods, was in-
troduced by human right only, and not divine ; and that in
fact they were never exempted from any other but personal
tribute, till the time of Justinian, when they were freed
from taxes upon their estates and possessions also," So
little agreement is there betwixt these two great cardinals
of the Romish Church in their accounts of this matter,
either as to fact or right, that in every thing their assertions
are point blank contrary to one another.
Sect. 2. — Yet generally excused from Personal Taxes, or Head-money,
To set the matter in a clear light, it will be necessary for
me to give the reader a distinct account of the several sorts
of tribute, that were imposed upon subjects in the Roman
empire, and to show, how far the clergy were concerned
in each of them ; which will be best done by having re-
course to the Theodosian Code, where most of the laws
relating to this affair are still extant. And this I shall the
rather do, because Baronius makes use of the same autho-
rity, but with great partiality, dissembling every thing that
would not serve the hypothesis, he had undertaken to
maintain.
» Ambr. lib. iv. in Luc. 5, et ap. Gratlan. cans. 11. Q, i. c. 28. Si censum
Filius Dei solvit, quis tu tantiis es, qui uon putes esse solvendum?
•^ Baron, an. 387. p. 338. ^ Rellarm. de Clericis lib. i. c. 28. Ex-
ceptio Clericonwn in rebus politicis, t.ani quoad personas, quam quoad bona,
jure humano introdueta est, non divino. Haec proposilio est contra Canoa-
islas.
CHAP. HI,] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 439
Now the first sort of tribute, I shall take notice of, is that,
which is commonly called Census Capitwm, or persotmt
tribute, to distinguish it from the Census Agrorum, or tri-
hide arising from mens estates and possessions. That the
clergy were generally freed from this sort of tribute is
agreed on all hands ; only Gothofred has a very singular
notion about it. For he asserts,^ " that under the Christian
emperors there was no such tribute as this paid by any
men ; so that the exemption of the clergy in this case was
no peculiar privilege belonging to them, but only what they
enjoyed in common with all other subjects of the Roman
empire." But in this that learned man seems evidently to
be mistaken. For first, he owns, there was such a tribute
under the heathen emperors, from which, as Ulpian re-
lates,* none were excused, save only minors under fourteen,
and persons superannuated, that is, above sixty-five; nor
does he produce any law to show, when or by whom that
tribute was ordered to be laid aside. Secondly, Theodosius
Junior, the author of the Theodosian Code, makes express
mention of it, when in one of his novels^ he distinguishes
betwixt the Census Capitum, and Census Agrorum. Third-
ly, there are several laws in the Theodosian Code, exempt-
ing the clergy from tribute, which cannot fairly be under-
stood of any other tribute but this sort of capitation. As
when Constantius grants the clergy the same immunity
from tribute, as minors had, he plainly refers to the old law
about minors, mentioned by Ulpian, and puts the cicrgy
upon the same foot with them, granting them this privileg-e,*
" that not only they themselves, but their wives and chil-
dren, their men-servants, and their maid-servants, should all
be free from tribute ;" meaning personal tribute, or that sort
of capitation called Capitis Census. After the same man-
' Gothofred. Com. in Cod. Th. lib. xi. tit. 1. de Annon. et Tribut. leg. 15.
It Com. in lib. xiii. tit. 10. de Censu. leg. 4. ^ Digest, lib. 50. tit. 15.
de Censibusleg. iii. Quibusdam aetas tribuit, ne tributo onorentur. Vcluti in
Syriis a quatuordecim annis masculi, a duodecim fceminfe usque ad sexagesi-
mum quintum annum tributo capitis onerentur. ^Theodos. Novel. 21.
* Cod. Th. lib. xvi. tit. 2. de Episc. et Cler. leg. 10 et 14. Clericis ac juve-
nibus praebeatur immunitas. - - - Quod et conjugibus etliberis eorum et mini-
steriis majoribus pariter ac foeminis indulgeums ; quos a censibus etiam jube-
mus perseverare iininunes.^
440 THE ANTIQUITIES OP THE [BOOK V,
ner we are to understand those two laws of Valentinian/
where he grants to devoted virgins, and widows, and or-
phans under twenty years of age, the same immunity from
tribute, or as it is there called,— the capitation of the vul-
gar. As also that other law of his,^ where he grants the
like privilege to painters, together with their wives and
children. From all which we may very reasonably conclude,
that this exemption from personal taxes was not a thing
then common to all, but a peculiar privilege of some cer-
tain arts and professions, among which the most honourable
was that of the clergy.
This mav be further confirmed from an observation or
two out of Gregory Nazianzen and Basil. Nazianzen, in
one of his Epistles to Amphilochius,^ complains, " that the
officers of the government had made, an illegal attempt upon
one Euthalius, a deacon, to oblige him to pay taxes ;""
therefore he desires Amphilochius* " not to permit this
injury to be done him ; since otherwise he would suffer an
hardship above other men, not being allowed to enjoy the
favour of the times, and the honour, which the emperors
had granted to the clergy." Here he plainly refers to some
immunity from tribute, which the imperial laws granted par-
ticularly to the clergy; which could not be any exemption
of their estates from tribute, for there was no such law then
in force to be appealed to. It must therefore mean their
exemption from personal taxes, from which they were freed
by the laws of Valentinian and Constantius already men-
tioned. This will still receive greater light and confirma-
tion from the testimony of St. Basil, who had occasion to
' Cod. Th. lib. xiii. tit. 10. de Censu leg. 4. In virginitate perpetuS, viven-
tes, et earn viduam de qua ipsa maturitas pollicetur setatis nulli jam earn esse
nupturam, a plebeise capitationis injuria vindicandas esse decernimus : item
pupillos in virili sexu usque ad viginti annos ab istiusmodi functione immunes
esse debere ; mulieres autem donee virum unaquaeque sortitur. Ibid, leg, 6,
Nulla vidua, nemo pupillus, exactionem plebis agnoscat, &c. ^ Cod.
Th. lib. xiii. tit. 4, de Excusat. Artific. leg. 4. Picturse professores, si modo
ingenui sunt, placuit, neque sui capitis centione, neque uxorum, aut etiam
liberorum nomine, tributis esse munificos. ^Naz.Ep. 159. Ataypd^tti/
.iTri-x^tipHai y^^vaov oi tyiq yytfioviKric rd^twQ. * Ibid. Aeivorara civ
wdGoi, fioi/oQ dvdpwTTwv firi Tvyxdvdiv rijg Tuiv Kaipwv ^iXavOpi^niag, (^ rrjt"
^ioop.kv7}£ roTg UpaTiKoXg napd rdv (iacnXiwv niiijg.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 441
make a like complaint to Modestus, who was Prccfectus-
PrcBtorio Or lent is under Valens, of some who had infring-ed
the privileg-e of the clergy in exacting- tribute of them
against the law s. " The ancient way of taxing," » says he,
" excused such, as were consecrated to God, presbyters
and deacons, from paying tribute ; but now they, who are
set over this affair, pretending to have no warrant from your
eminency to excuse them, have taxed them all, except such
as could claim a privilege from their age." Therefore his
request to him w-as, " Suy^^wprj^^vai Kara rov iraXmov vo/Ltov
rijg (TvvTtXdag t^q ItpaTtvovTai, — that the clergy might be ex-
empt from tribute according to the ancient laws.'" St.
Basil in this passage refers to two sorts of laws exempting
persons from tribute ; the one, those ancient laws of the
heathen emperors, which only excused minors and super-
annuates from personal tribute ; the other, those laws of
Constantius and Valentinian, which exempted the clergy
also, g-ranting them that immunity, which only minors en-
joyed before. And this is the thing he complains of, that
the clergy were not allowed the benefit of the Christian
laws, but only those laws of theheathen Gmperors, whereby,
if they chanced to be minors or superannuated, that is, un-
der twenty or above sixty-five, they were excused, but not
otherwise. From all which it evidently appears, that the
clergy might claim a peculiar privilege by the laws to be
exempted from personal tribute, and that this was not com-
mon to all the subjects of the empire, whatever Gothofred,
and Pagi from him have suggested to the contrary,*
Sect. 3. — But not excused for their Lands and Possessions.
The next sort of tribute was that, which was exacted of
men for their lands and possessions, which goes by several
names in the civil law and ancient writers. Sometimes it
is called Kavwi/, as by Athanasius,' where he complains
' Basil Ep. 279. ad Modest. T«C ri^ Ottfi Upw/iirac, Trp£(r/3i/r£p«c ^t
^lUKovue 6 TraXawc Ktjvffo^ artXtie a<^?>-£i'. '0« (t rvy nrroypav/'a/"''"'.
IOC «' \aj36vrtc Trapa Tf]e i'lrtcxpu^g as t'iaaiag TrpoTay/ta, uTTtyi>a\ljayTo,^ n\nv
£1 fit] TTU Tiyic aXXwf \txov virb rf/e >)X<Kiae ti)v affcrtv. ' Pas"- ^'»>'«
in Baron, an. 3.53. n. 10. =* Atlian. Apol. ii. p. 778. ''Jc; ^/i-
Kavova toIq 'Aty I'Tr-ioit,- ImiSaXXoiToi;, &t.
VOL. I. 3 I
442 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK V.
how he was unjustly accused of imposing- a tax upon Egypt
for the use of the Church of Alexandria. So in theTheodo-
sian Code there is a whole title, ^ De Canone Frumentario
Urbis Romcs, which signifies the tribute of corn, that was
exacted of the African provinces for the use of the city of
Rome. It is otherwise called Jugatio from Juga, which, as
Gothofred notes,^ signifies " as much land as a yoke of
oxen could plough in a year;" and, because the taxation
was made according to that rate, it had therefore the name
of Jugatio and Juga. It has also frequently the name of
Capitatio and Capita; and because men's servants and
cattle were reckoned into their taxable possessions as well
as their lands, therefore in some laws^ the one is called
Capitatio Terrena, and the other Capitatio Humana and
Animalium, or Anima.rum Descriptio. These taxes were
usually paid three times a year, once every four months ;
whence Sidonius Apollinaris* styles them Tria Capita, or
the monster with three heads, which he desired the emperor
Majorianus to free him from, that he might live and subsist
the better; for thus he addresses himself to him in his
poetical way :
Geryones nos esse puta, monstrumque trihiitum ;
Hie capita, ut vivam, tii mihi tolle tria.
In which words, which none of the commentators rightly
understood, he refers to a law of Valentinian's,^ and several
others in the Theodosian Code; where this sort of tribute is
required to be paid by three certain portions in a year, or
once in four months, which, in his phrase, is the Tria Ca-
pita, or monster with three heads. The collectors of this
tax were also hence called Cephaleotce, collectors of the ca-
pitation, in some laws of the Theodosian Code : ^ and bc-
' Cod. Th. lib. xiv. tit. 15. Cod. Theod. lib. ii. tit. 9. de Distrahendis
Pignoribus. leg. I. Vestes canonicte, et equi canonici. * Gotliofred.
Com. in Cod. Theod. lib. xiii. tit. 10. de Censu, leg. ii. p. 118. Ego juga
putem dicta tcrrae modum, cui colendo per annum jugo bourn opus est.
s Cod. Th. lib. xi. tit. 20. de Conlat. Donat. leg. vi. *Sidon.
Cann. xiii. ad Majorian. * Cod. Th. lib. xi. tit. 1. de Annon. et
Tribut. leg. 15. Unusquisque annonarias species, pro modo capitationis et
sortium, prcebiturus, per quaternos menses anni curricnlo distributo, tribus
vicibas summam conlationis implebit. * Cod. Th. lib. xi. tit. 24. de
Patrocin. Vicor, leg. 5.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH 443
cause this tribute was commonly paid in specie, as in corn,
wine, oil, iron, brass, &c. for the emperor's service ; there-
fore it is often called Specierum Collatio ; and being- the
ordinary standing- tax of the empire, it is no less frequently
styled Indictio Canonica,'^ in opposition to the Superindicta
et extraordinaria, that is, such taxes as were levied upon
extraordinary occasions. I have noted these things here all
together, that I may not be put to explain the terms at every
turn hereafter, as I have occasion to make use of them,
which are indeed a little uncommon, and not easily under-
stood, but by such as are conversant in the civil law.
Now to the question in hand, — whether the clergy in ge-
neral were exempt from this ordinary canonical tribute laid
upon men's goods and possessions 1 I answer in the ne-
gative against Baronius, who asserts the contrary. Some
particular Churches, indeed, had special favours granted
them by indulgent princes, to exempt them from all tribute
of this kind ; but those very exceptions prove, that what
was matter of grace to some particular Churches, could not
be the common privilege of all Churches. Theodosius
Junior^ granted a special exemption to the Church of Thes-
salonica, " that she should pay no capitation for her own
estate, provided she did not take other lands into her pro-
tection, to the detriment of the commonwealth, under the
pretence of an ecclesiastical title." He also allowed the
Churches of Constantinople and Alexandria the same privi-
lege, upon the like condition,^ " that they should not take
any villages, great or small, into their patronage, to excuse
them from paying their ancient capitation." Gothofred is
also of opinion, that, in the beginning of Constan tine's reign,
while the Church was poor, and her standing revenues but
» Cod. Th. lib. \i. tit. 26. de Proxirais Comitib. &c. leg. U. « Cod,
Th. lib. xi. tit. 1. de Annon. et Tribut. leg. 33. Sacrosancti Thcssaloni-
censis ecclesia. civltatis exceptS, : ita tainen ut aperte sciat, projjriae tan-
tummodo capitationis modumbeneficio mei nuniinis sublevandum : nee exter-
noriim gravaiuine tributorum Rempublicam ecclesiastici nominis abusione Ite-
dendam. ^ Cod. Th. lib. xi. tit. 24. de Patrocin, Vicor. leg. 5. Quic-
quid ecclesiae venerabiles, (id est, Constantinopolitana ct Alexandrina) posse-
disse deteguntur, id piointuitu religionis ab his praecipiiuus firmiter retineri:
sub eft videlicet sorte, ut in futurum functiones omnes quae metrocomiae debent,
et public! vici pro antiquae capitationis professione debent, sciant subeundas.
444 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK V.
Rmall, her estates and possessions were universally excused
from tribute ; for there is a law in the Theodosian Code,*
which may be interpreted to this purpose ; though the words
are so obscure, that, without the help of so wise an inter-
preter, one would hardly find out the sense of them. How-
ever, admitting them to signify such a privilege, it is certain
it lasted not many years ; for in the next reign under Con-
stantius, when the Church was grown pretty wealthy, all
the clergy, that were possessed of lands, were obliged to
pay tribute, in the same manner as all others did ; as ap-
pears from a law of Constantius, directed to Taurus, Prce-
fecius-Prcetorio, which is still extant in both the Codes.*
This is further evident from the testimony of Valentinian,
who, in an epistle to the bishops of Asia, recorded by Theo-
doret,^ says, " all good bishops thought themselves obliged
to pay tribute, and did not resist the imperial power." And
thus matters continued to the time of Honorius and Theo-
dosius Junior,* in one of whose laws the Church-lands are
still made liable to this ordinary or canonical tribute, as it is
there worded, though excused from all other. So little
reason had Baronius to assert with that coniidence, " that
no prince, except Julian, the apostate, and Valens, the iVrian,
and the younger Valentinian, who was under the conduct
of an Arian woman, ever exacted any tribute of the clergy ;"
when, as it appears, every emperor after Constantine
did exact it ; and Baronius could not be ignorant of this,
having viewed and perused the Theodosian Code, where
these things are recorded.
•Cod. Th. lib. xi. tit. 1. de Annon. et Tribut. leg. 1. Prseter privatas
res nostras, et ecclesias Catholicas, et domuin clarissinife memorite Eu-
sebii ex-consule, et Arsacis regis Armeniorum, nemo ex nostra jussione
prfBcipuis einolumentis, familiaris juvetur substantiae. *Cod. Th.
lib. xvi. tit. 2. de Episc. et Cler. leg. 15. De his sane Clericis qui prae-
dia possident, subliinis auctoritas tua non solum eos aliena juga nequa-
quam statuet excusare, sed etiam his quae ipsi possident eosdein ad pensitanda
fiscalia perurgeri : universes namque Clericos possessores duntaxat provin-
ciales pensitationes recognoscere jubemus. Vid. Cod. Justin, lib. i. tit. 3.
leg. 3. ^ Theod. lib. iv. c. 8. Ta dijfibcna Kara vojihq ticrKOfiiZiit' iaaai,
^ s'k dj/ri\€y«(Ti rrj th K^arSvTOQ e^yffj^t. * Cod. Th. lib. xvi. tit. 2.
de Episc. et Cler. leg. 40. Nihil pr«ter canonicam inlationem - - - ejus
funclionibus adscribatur.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHUUCH. 445
Sect. i. — Of the Tribute called, Aurum Tironicum, Equi Canonlcl, ^'C.
If in any thing of this tribute they were exempt, it must
be from the obligation some provinces lay under to furnish
the emperors with new soldiers, called Tirones, and fresh
horses for the wars ; which, because they were exhibited
by way of tribute, are called in the law, Equi Canonici,
from the civil-law term Canon, and Canonica, which, as I
observed before, signifies the tribute, tliat was laid upon
men's lands and possessions. Sometimes this tribute was
exacted in money instead of horses, and then it was called*
Equorum Canonicormn Ado'ratio, horse-money. In like
manner as the sum, that was paid instead of the Tirones,
was called Aiirmn Tironicum, and Stratioticum, soldier s
money, which we find mentioned in Synesius,^ where,
speaking of Andronicus, governor of Ptolemais, he says,
" He set one Thoas to collect this Aurum Tironicum f
which, the editor by mistake says, was so called, " quia sol-
vebatur Tironibus, because it was paid to the Tirones f
whereas, indeed, it was the money that was paid instead of
the Tirones, by way of tribute, into the treasury of the em-
pire. Now, that some bishops, at least in Afric, were ex-
cused from this tribute, is concluded by some learned men
from a law of Theodosius Junior,^ which excuses certain
persons from it, under the title of Sacerdotales, in the pro-
consular Afric, and that, because they were otherwise
obliged to be at great expenses in that province. But now
the question is, — who are meant by the name, Sacerdutalev?
The learned Petit says,* it denotes Christian bishops ; and
if so, the case would be clear as to their exemption. But
Gothofred * rather inclines to think it means the high priests
• Cod. Th. lib. xi. tit. 17. de Equor. Conlat. leg. 3. Equos Canonlcos mili-
taris diceceseos Africanje - - - jussimus adajrari, &c. ^ Synos. Ep. 79.
ad Anastas. p. 293. Tcuq cnrcarijatcnv tra^t th 'r^arnoriKH xp^ain r« koXh-
fiam Tipuii'iKs. ^ Cod. Th. lib. \ii. tit. 13. deTiron. leg. 22. Prajci-
pimus ProconsularisProvinciae non eandemisacerdotaliuni, quae est de cffiteris,
in praebendis Tironibus habendam esse rationem : non inique siquidem ea po-
tissimum ab hoc officio provincia videtur excepta, quae oniniuin intra Africain
provinciarum obtinet principatuni, cnjusque majoribus fatigantur expensis.
♦ Petit Variar. Lection, lib. iii. c. 1. p. 28. * Gothofred. Com. in Cod.
Th. 7, 13, 22.
446 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK V.
among- the heatliens, who were still in being-, and obliged
by their office to be at great expenses in exhibiting the Ludi
Sacerdotales to the people. I will not venture to decide so
nice a dispute betwixt two such learned men, but think,
however, I may safely infer even from Gothofred's notion, —
that, if the Christian emperors were so liberal to the heathen
high priests, they would at least be as liberal to their own
bishops, and grant them the same immunity. But I leave
this matter to further inquiry.
Sect. 5.— The Church obliged to such Burthens as Lands were tied to before
their Donation.
One thing is more certain, that whatever burthens any
lands were originally encumbered with, they were liable to
the same even after their donation to the Church, unless
discharged of them by some particular grant and favour of
the emperors. This we learn from a meiuorable instance
in a particular case, wherein St. Austin was concerned, the
account of which we have from his own relation. For the
rio-ht understanding of which I must first acquaint the
reader, that by the laws of the Roman polity many times a
company of tradesmen were so incorporated into a society,
for the service of the empire, that their estates were tied to
that oflice and duty, so that, whoever had the propriety of
them, he was bound to the duty annexed to them. Thus it
was particularly with the incorporated corppany of the Na-
vicularii of Afric and Egypt, who were concerned in
transporting the yearly tribute of corn from those provinces
to Rome and Constantinople. Their estates were tied to
the performance of this service, as appears from a title in
the Theodosian «Code,^ which is De Prcediis Navicula-
riorum. And they were so tied, that if any ship chanced
to be lost in the passage, the whole body was obliged to
make good the effects to the emperor's coffers;- and the
master of the ship was obliged to give up his men, that
escaped the shipwreck, to be examined by torture after-
> Cod. Th. lib. xiii. tit. 6. « Cod. Th. lib.xiii. tit. 9. de Naufrag.
leg .2. Si quando causatio est de impetu procellarum, medium ex his nautis nu-
merura navicularius exhibeat quiestioui - - - Quo eorum tormentis plenior
Veritas possit inquiri.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 447
wards; otherwise he must have borne the whole burthen
himself alone, on presumption that he was guilty of some
fraud in the matter against the rest of his society. Now
it happened while St. Austin was bishop of Hippo, that one
of these Navicularii, Boniface, a master of a ship, left his
whole estate to the Church ; which yet St. Austin refused
to receive, because of these burthens that lay upon it.
" For," says he,* " I was not willing to have the Church
of Christ concerned in the business of transportation. It is
true indeed, there are many, who get estates by ship-
ping; yet there is one temptation in it, — if a ship should
chance to go and be lost, then we should be required to
give up our men to the rack, to be examined by torture ac-
cording to law, about the drowning of the ship, and the
poor wretches, that had escaped the waves, must undergo a
now severity from the hands of the judge. But we could
not thus deliver them up ; for it would not become the
Church so to do. Therefore she must ansv\er the whole
debt to the exchequer. But whence should she do thisl
for our circumstances do not allow us to keep a treasury.
A bishop ought not to lay up gold in bank, and meanwhile
refuse to relieve the poor." These words of St. Austin do
plainly evince what has been observed, tliat the donation of
an estate to the Church did not ordinarily free it from the
tribute or duty, that the public otherwise demanded of it ;
but if the Church would receive it, she must take it with
the usual burthens that lay upon it. I confess indeed the
sense of the passage, as it Ues in St. Austin without a
comment, is not very easy to be understood ; nor have any
of his editors, no, not the last Benedictins, thought fit to
expound it ; but for that reason, as well as to make good
my own observation, I have recited it in this place, and ex-
1 Aug. Serm.49. de Diversis. torn. x. p. 520. Bonifacii hsEreditatem sus-
cipere nolui ; non misericordia, sed tiinore. Navicalariam nolui esse Eccle-
siam ehristi. Multi sunt quidein qui eliam de navibus acquiiunt: tamen una
tentatio est, si iret navis et naufiagaret, homines ad tormenta daturi eranuis,
et de submersione navis secundum consuetudinem qusEierentur : et torquercn-
tur a judice qui essent a fluctibus IJberati : sed non eos daremus : nullo enim
pacto hoc facere deceret Ecclcsiam. Onus ergo liscale persolveret. Sed unde
peibolveret ? En! thecam nobis habere nou licet, &c.
448 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK V.
plained it from tho?e laws and customs of the empire, to
which it manifestly refers. And such a digression, if it were
a digression, I presume would not be unacceptable to the
curious reader.
Skct. 6.— Of the Chri/sargyrum, or Lustral Tax, and the Exemption of the
Clergy from it.
But now to proceed. Another sort of tribute, in which
the clergy had some concern, was the tax upon trade and
commerce. This in ancient writers' is known by the name
of Xfjvcrapyvpov, Chrysargyrum, the silver and gold-tax,
because it was paid in those coins. Zosimus^ indeed makes
the Chrysargyru7n another thing, viz. a scandalous tax ex-
acted of lewd men and women; and in his spite to Chris-
tianity he represents Constanthie as the author of it: in
which his groundless calumny he is abundantly refuted by
Baronius,^ and more especially by the learned Gothofred,*
and Pag-i, whom the curious reader may consult. Here I
take the Chrysargyrum in the common notion, only for the
tax upon lawful trade and commerce, which St. Basil calls*
UpajfiaTtvTiKov xpuo-tov, commerce-money. In the civil law
it is known by the name of Lustralis Collatio, the lustral
tax, because it was exacted at the return of every Lustrum,
or four years end. It was indeed a very grievous tax, espe-
cially upon the poor ; for not the meanest tradesman was
exempted from it. Evagrius says,*"' it was exacted " even of
those, who made begging their trade, — -"E^ t^civs rnv Tpoi^r\v
TTopit.sm.'''' Whence Llbanius calls if " the intolerable tax
of silver and gold, that made men dread the terrible Pen-
iaeteris, or return of every fifth year." And for the same
reason, as the author under the name of St. Austin takes
notice,^ it was commonly called, Auriim Pannosum, the
poor man's tax, or as some editions read it, Aurum Pmno-
» Evagr. Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. c. 39. « Zosim. lib. ii. » Baron.
An. 330. n. 36. * Gothofred. Coin, in Cod. Th. lib. xiii. tit.i. de Lnstrali
Collat. leg. i. Pagi. Critic, in Beron. An. 330. n. 6. * Basil. Ep. 243.
6 Evagr. lib. iii. c. 39. ' Liban. Orat. \\. cont. Florent. toni.ii. p. 427.
^GOOQ a^opr/rof, apyvpoc k, xP'J(Tbc, (pinrTtii' irmaitirraQ ttouov tuq Ciu'aq
r:tvTatrr)QiSa^. ' * Aug. Quffist. Vet. ct Nov. Test. e. 75. Didrachiiia
capituni vel iributi exactio iuttlligitur ; quod nunc Panuobuin Aurum appella-
tui", quia ct pauperes exigunlur.
CHAP, III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 449
sum, the cruel tax, because it was exacted of the poor. Bat
now a particular respect was paid to the Church in this
matter; for when her revenues were scanty, and not suffi-
cient to give all the clerg-y a decent maintenance, the infe-
rior orders, the Clerici, were allowed to traffic to support
themselves, without paying- any tribute of this nature. This
indulg-ence was first granted by Constantius without any
restriction,* " That if any of them were minded to follow a
calling to maintain themselves, tiiey should he freed from
custom." But, that none of them might abuse this privi-
ieg-e to covetousness, they were confined afterwards by
several laws to trade within a certain sum, which if they
exceeded, they were to pay custom for it. This appears
from a second law of the same Constantius,^ and another
of Gratian's,^ where the Italian and Illyrican Clerici are con-
fined to the sum of ten solids, and the Gallican, to fifteen.
Yet if any would trade further, only with a charitable de-
sign, to raise funds and monte-pios for the use of the poor,
they were allowed, by two other laws of Constantius,* to
employ what sums they pleased, and pay none of this tribute
for them. It is to be noted further, that this immunity was
granted by Honorius to the Catholic clergy only,^ and to
no others. And the priviiege was esteemed so great, that
some covetous tradesmen would use means to get them-
' Cod. Th. lib.xvi. tit. 2. de Episc. et Cler. leg. viii. Si qui de vobis
alimonife causii negotiationem exercere volunt, immunitate potienlur. It.
Cod. lib. xiii. tit. i. de Lustrali Collat. leg i. Negotiatores omnes protinus
convenit aurum argentumque prsebere: Clericos excipi tantum, (et) qui
Copiatffi appellantur, nee alium quenquam esse iinmunem. ^ Ibid,
lib. xvi. tit. 2. de Episc. leg. 15. Clerici vero, vel hi quos Copiatas recens
visus instituit nuncupaii, ita a sordidis muneribus debent immunes atque a
Conlatione prsestari, si exiguis admodum mercimoniis tenuem sibi victum
Testitumque conquirent. * Cod. Th. lib. xiii. tit. 1. de Lustrali Col-
lat. leg. 11. Etsi omnes mercatores spectat Lustralis auri depensio, Clerici
tamen intra lUyricum et ItaJiam in denis solidis ; intra Galliamin quinisdenis
solidis iramunem usum conversationis exerceant. Quicquid autem supra hunc
modum negotiationis vevsabitur, id oportet ad functionera aurariam devocari.
* Cod. Th. lib.xvi. tit. 2. de Episc. et Cler. leg. 10. Negotiatorum dispen-
diis minime obligentur (Clerici,) cum certum sit, quaestus quos ex tabernaculis
(leg. tabernis) atque ergasteriis colligunt, pauperibus profuturos. Ibid. leg.
14. Si quid mercatura, congesserint, in usum pauperum atque egentium mi-
nistrari oportet, &c. * Cod. Th. lib.xvi. tit. 2. leg. 36. Catholicae
religionis Clerici. - - - ab auraria pensione habeantur immunes.
VOL. L 3 K
450 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [SOOK V-
selves admitted to a titular office among- the inferior elerg-y
of the Church, with no other design but to enjoy this im-
munity, and to follow their trade without paying the lustral
duty. Against whose fraudulency and corruptions the
emperor Arcadius made a severe law,* commanding all
such, if they followed their merchandize, to be deprived of
this immunity of the clergy ; or if they would devote them-
selves to the sacred service, then they should abstain from
all such fraudulent and crafty ways of gain: " for," saith
he, " the wages of religion and craft are very different from
one another." And for this reason probably, when the re-
venues of the Church were become sufficient to maintain
all the clergy, Valentinian the Third enacted a law,^ " that
none of the clergy should negociate as formerly ; otherwise
they should come under the cognizance of the secular
judges, and not enjoy the privilege of the clergy."
Evagrius adds^, " that the emperor Anastasius quite abol-
ished the Chrysargyrum, or lustral tax itself;" and that is
the reason, why there is no mention at all made of it after-
ward in the Justinian Code.
Sect. 7. — Of the Metatum. What meant thereby, and the Exemption of the
Clergy from it.
Another sort of duty incumbent on the subjects of the
empire, was the burden and charg-e of giving entertainment
to the emperor's court and retinue, when they had occa-
sion to travel; or to the judges, or soldiers, as they passed
from one place to another. This the civil law calls Meta-
/wm,*and the Greeks Mtraroi', from the word, Mefafores, which
signifies the emperors' harbingers ov fore-runners, who Avere
sent before to provide lodging and entertainment for them.
' Cod. Th. lib. xiii. tit. i. de Lustrali CoUat. leg. 16, Omnes corporatos - - -
prsecipimus conveniri, iit aut commoda negoliatorum seqnentes, a Clericorum
excusatione discedant: aut Sacratissiino Numini servientes, versutis quaesti-
bus abstineant ; distincta enim stipendia sunt religionis et calliditatis.
' Valentin. Novel. 12, ad Calcem, Cod. Theod. Jubemiis ut Clerici nihil
prorsus negotiationis exerceant. Si velint negotiari, sciant se judicibus sub-
ditos, Clericorum privilegio non muniti. ^ Evagr. lib. iii. c. 39.
* Cod. Th. lib. vii. tit. 8. de Ouere Metatf. Cod, Justin, lib.xii. tit. 41. de
Metatis.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 451
In allusion to which, Cyprian speaking of Rogatian, an
eminent presbyter of Carthage, who was the first martyr
that was sent to prison in the Decian persecution, says,*
" he was Metator to the rest, their harbinger, that went
before them to prepare a place in prison for them." And
in the same sense Lueian, the martyr, in Cyprian, elegantly
styles Decius himself,^ " Metatorem Antichristi, the har-
binger of Antichrist,'" who by that terrible persecution made
preparation for his coming into the world. From this no-
tion of the word, Metator, that duty of yielding entertain-
ment to the emperor's retinue, &c. has the name of Metatum
in the two codes of the civil law. But the clergy were ex-
cused from this by a law^ of Constantius,^ where he says
they should not be obliged to entertain strangers ; by which
he cannot be supposed to excuse them from the Christian
duty of hospitality to the indigent, but from this civil duty
of the Roman state, to which other subjects were obliged.
Whence Gothofred very truly observes,* " that the clergy
in this respect had equal privileges with senators' houses,
and Jewish synagogues, and Christian Churches; all which
■were exempt from this duty of entertaining-. And if the
Greek collector of the Ecclesiastical Constitutions out of
the Code, published by Fabrottus, mistake not, this immu-
nity extended to their servants also. For he says,* " neither
the clergy nor their servants were subject to any new im-
positions, or to this burden called the Metatum.''^
Sect. S.— Of the Superindicla and Extraordinaria. The Clergy exempt
from them.
And hence it appears further, that they were freed from
all exactions, which went by the name of Superindicta and
> Cypr. Ep. Rl. al. 6. Edit. Oxon. Piimuin hospitiuni vobis in carcere
nricparavit, el nKlator quodammodo vester nunc quoque vos antecedit.
8 Lueian. ap. Cypr. Ep. 20. al. 22. " Cod. Th. lib. xvi. tit. 2. de
Episc. leg. 8. Prreterea neque hospites suseipietis. * Gotliofred.
Paialitlon ad Cod. Th. lib. vii. tit. 8. de Onere Metati. torn. ii. p. 264. Ln-
muneserant a ISletato Clerici, Senatoruni ('..mus, .syiiagoga; .liidicorum, et
Religionum loca. " Collect. Cpnstit. Eccles. ex Cod. lib. i. tit. 3.
sect. 1. *0t KXnpiicbi K, TO. av^pdiroSa avrwv «x vnii^turai Kuifois tia^opalf;
452 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK V.
Extraordinaria, that is, such impositions, as the emperors
thought necessary to lay upon the empire, or any part of it,
beyond the ordinary canonical taxes, upon great exigen-
cies and extraordinary occasions. For as the ordinary taxes
were called indictions, so these extraordinary were called
superindictions.^ From these the clergy were universally
exempted by several laws of Christian emperors. As by
that of Constantius in the Theodosian Code,^ where he rer
fers to a preceding law to the same purpose. " According
to the decree," says he, " which you are said to have
obtained heretofore, no one shall impose any new taxes
upon you, or your servants, but you shall enjoy a perfect
immunity in that respect." Gothofred upon the place says,
by this law they were freed from all extraordinary tribute,
and only bound to the ordinary and canonical taxes. And
so it was in the time of Honorius and Theodosius Junior,
Anno 412, when, by a law granting many other privileges
to the Church relating to her possessions, they insert this
among the rest,^ " that no extraordinary tribute or superin-
diction, but only the common canonical tax, should be
required of her." Which was finally confirmed by Justi-
nian,* and made the standing law of the Roman empire.
Sect. 9. — The Clergy sometimes exempt from Contributing to the Repara-
tion of Highways and Bridges.
As to some other duties and burdens, the laws a little varied.
For sometimes the clergy were exempted, and sometimes
not ; as particularly in the case of contributing to the
maintenance and reparation of public ways and bridges.
» Vid. Cod. Theod. lib.xi. tit. 6. de Superindicto, et Cod. Justin. lib. x.
tit. 18. de eodcm. « Cod.Th. lib. xvi. tit. 2. de Episc. et Cler. leg. 8.
Juxta sanctionem, quamdudum meruisse perhibemini, et vos et mancipia
vestra nuUus novis collationibus obligavit (id est, obligabit,) sed vacatione
gaudebitis. Gothofred. in Loc. Ab. extraordinariis Collationibus immunes
facti fuerunt, at nondum ab ordinariis et canonicis. ^ Cod. Th. lib.
xvi. tit. 2. de Episc. et Cler. leg. 40. Nihil extraordinariura ab hSc superin-
dictitiumve flagitetur. Nihil prater canonicam inlationem ejus functio-
nibus ascribatur. * Justin. Novel. 131. c. 5. Sancimus omnium sanc-
tarum Ecclesiarum possessiones, neque sordidas functioues, neque extraordi-
narias descriptiones sustinere.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 453
By the forementioned law of Honoiius,* Anno 412, all
Church-lands are excused from those duties, and it is call-
ed an injury to bind them to any contribution toward them.
Yet not long- after, Anno 423, Theodosius Junior made a
law for the eastern empire,^ which excepts no order of
men from bearing a share in this matter, but obliges, as
well his own possessions, (called Domus Divince in the
style and lang-uage of those times,) as Churches, to take
their proportion in it. And about the same time Valentinian
the Third made a law^ to the same effect in the west.
Justinian confirmed the law of Theodosius by inserting it
into his Code,* and added another law of his own among
his Novels,^ where though he grants the clergy an im-
munity from extraordinary taxes, yet he adds, " That if
there was occasion to make a way, or build or repair a
bridg-e, then Churches as well as other possessors should
contribute to those works, if they had possessions in any
city, where such works were to be done," And so, Anno
742, King Ethelbald, in the synod of ClilF or Clovesha,
granted an immunity to Church-lands ; excepting payments
to an expedition, and building bridges and castles.
Sect. 10. — As also from the Duty called Angariee, and Parangarice, &c.
The laws varied likewise in another instance of duty re-
quired of the subjects, which was to furnish out horses and
carriages for conveying of corn for the soldiers, and such
other things as belonged to the emperor's exchequer.
This duty in the civil law^ goes by the name of Cursus
* Cod. Th. lib. xvi. tit. 2. de Episc. et Cler. leg. 40. NuUam jugationein,
quae taliiim privilegiorum sorte gratulatur, miiniendi itineris constringat in-
juria. - - - Nulla pontium instauratio ; nulla translationum sollicitudo gigna-
tur. ^ Cod. Th. lib. xv. tit. 3. de Itin. Muniend. leg. 6. Ad instruc-
tiones reparationesque itinerum pontiumque nullum genus horainura — cessare
oportet. Domes etiam divinas, ac venerandas Ecclesias tam laudabili titulo
libenter adscribimus. ^ Valentin. Novel. 21. ad Calcem. Cod. Th,
* Cod. Just. lib. i. tit. 2. leg. 7, * Just. Novel. 131, c. 5. Si tamen
itineris sternendi aut pontium aedificii vel reparationis opus fuerit, ad instar
aliorura possessorum, hujusmodi opus et sanctas Ecclesias ct venerabiles
Domos complere, dum sub ilia possident civitate, sub qui tale fit opus,
® Cod, Th, lib. viii. tit, 5, de Cursu Publico, Angariis, et Parangariis, Cod.
Justin, lib, xil. tit. 51.
454 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK V.
Puhlicus, and Angaries, and Parangariee, and Translatio,
and Evectio, and the horses used in this service are par-
ticularly called Paraveredi, and Equi Cursuales. Now
the clerg-y at first were exempt from this service by two
laws of Constantius made in the former part of his reign,'
which expressly excuse, both their persons and their estates,
from the duty of the Parangarice. But by another law
in the last year of his reig'n, Anno 360, he revoked this
privileg-e, obliging the clergy to the duty of translation, as
it is there worded,^ by which he means this duty of furnish-
ing horses and carriages for the emperor's service. And
this he did, notwithstanding that the council of Ariminura
had petitioned for an immunity, being at a time when Con-
stantius was displeased with them. However this law con-
tinued in force, not only under Julian, but under Valen-
tinian and Theodosius, till by a contrary law about twenty
years after,^ Anno 382, they restored the clergy to their
ancient privilege ; which was further confirmed to them
by Honorius,* Anno 412, whose law is still extant in both
the Codes, Yet Theodosius Junior and Valentinian the
Third, Anno 440, took away their privilege again, and, by
two laws,** made Church-lands liable to these burdens of
the Angartee,Parangarice, &c. whenever the emperor should
be upon any march or expedition, as well as all others.
From all which it appears, that there was no certain rule
' Cod. Th. lib. xvi. tit. 2. de Episc. et Cler. leg. 10. Parangariarum quo-
que parili modo (a Clericis) cesset exactio. Ibid. leg. 14. Ad Parangaria-
rum quoque prsestatiouem non vocentur, nee eorundein facultates atqiie sub-
sfantiae. *Cod. Th. Ibid. leg. 15. Ut prseterea ad universa inunia
sustinenda, translationeSque faciendas, omnes Clerici debeant adtineri.
3 Cod. Theod. lib. 11. tit. 16. de Extraord. et Sordid. Muner. leg. 15. Circa
Kcclesias, rhetores, atque grammaticos eniditionis utriusque, vetusto more
durante. - - - Ne paraveredorum hujusmodi viris aut parangariarum prasbitio
jiiandctur, &c. * Cod. Th. lib. xvi. tit. 2. de Epis. et Cler. leg. 4a.
Nulla translationum sollicitudo gignatur, &c. al. signetur, as it is in the Justin.
Code, lib. i. tit. 2. de Sacrosanct. Eccl. leg. 5. * Cod. Justin, lib. i.
tit. 2. leg. 11. Nemincm ab angariis, vel parangariis, vel plaustris, vel quoli-
bet munere excusari prsecipimus, ciiin ad fcHcissimaui expeditionem Nostrt
Nr.ni'nis, omnium provincialium per loca, qua iter arripimus, debeant solitit
nobis ministeria exhiberi ; licet ad Sacrosanetas Ecclesias possessiones pcr-
tineant. It. lib. xii. tit. 51. de Cursu Publico, leg. 21. Nullus penitus cujus-
libet ordinis sea dignitatis, vel Sacrosancta Ecdesin, vel Domus Regia teuN
pore expeditionis excusationi;m angariaruin, sen parangamrum habeat.
tmAP. Hi.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 455
observed in this matter, but the clergy had, or had not tins
privileg-e, according as the state of affairs would bear, or
as the emperors were inclined to grant it.
Sect, II.— Of the Tribute called, Denarismvs, Uncia, and DcscvijHio Lu-
crativorum ; and the Church's Exenijition from it.
Besides these public taxes and duties, there was also one
private tax, from which all lands given to the Church, or to
any charitable use, were exempt by the laws of the empire.
This in the civil law is called Denarismus, or Uncits, and
Descriptio Lucrativorum. The reason of which names will
be understood by explaining- the nature of tlie tribute. It
was a sort of tax paid, not to the emperors, but to the Curia
or Curiales of every city, that is, to that body of men, who
were obliged by virtue of their estates to be members of the
court or common-council, and bear the offices of their coun-
try. Now it sometimes happened, that one of these Curiales
left his estate to another, that was not of the Curia; and an
estate, so descending, was said to come to him " ex causa
lucrativd,'' which, being opposed to " Causa onerosa,'' is
when a man enjoys an estate by gift or legacy, and not by
purchase. But now, lest in this case the giving away an
estate from the Curia might have brought a greater burden
upon the remaining part of the Curiales, the person so en-
joying it was obliged to pay an annual tribute to the Curia
of the city, which, from the nature of his tenure, was called
Descriptio Lucrativorum, tJie lucrative tax: and because
every head of land, every Jugum or Caput, as the law-
terms it, was obliged to pay annually a Denarius, or ounce
of silver, therefore the tax itself was called, Uncice and Dc-
narisvius ; as in the laws of Thcodosius the Great, cited in
the margin.* Theodosius Junior and Valentinian the Third
made this tax double, - laying four Siliquce, which is two
1 Cod. Th. lib. xii. tit. 1. de Decurionibus. leg. 107. Quicunque haeres Cu-
riali - - - vel si quem liberalitas locupletaverit forte virentis, quos a Curiae
nexu conditio solet dirimere, sciant, pecuniariis descriptionibus - - - ad de-
narisinum sive uncias, sese auctoris sui nomine retinendum. It. Leg. 1*23.
Ibid. -Cod. Th. lib. xii. tit. 4. de Imponcnda Lucrativis descriptione,
leg. unic. Hi qui ex lucrativa causa possessiones detinent, quae aliquaudo
Curialiuni fuerint, pro singulis earumjugis et capitibus quaternas siliqiias an«
nuae (leg. annuas) ordinibus nomine descriptionis exsolvaut.
456 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [boOK V.
ounces of silver, upon every head of land. According to
which rate, every possessor, \sho held any estate by the
aforesaid tenure, was obliged to pay tribute out of it to the
Curia of the city, to which it belonged. But if any such
estate was given to the Church, it was exempt from this
tribute, if not before, yet at least in the time of Justinian.
For there are two laws of his to this purpose,^ the one in
his Code, the other in his Novels, in both which such lands,
as any of the Curiales gave to a church, or a monastery,
or hospital of any kind, are particularly excepted from this
lucrative tax ; and tliat, " Pietatis intuitu,''^ as it is there
worded, " in regard to I'eligion, and because it was fit to
put some difference between things human and divine."
But whether the church enjoyed this immunity under any
other prince before Justinian, is what I leave the curious to
make the subject of a further inquiry; whilst I proceed to'
consider another sort of immunity of the clergy, which was
their exemption from civil offices in the Roman empire.
Sect. 12. — The Clergy exempt from all Civil Personal Offices.
Of these offices some were personal, and others predial,
that is, such as were tied to men's estates and possessions.
Some again were called. Honores, honourable offices; and
others, Munera Sordida, mean and sordid offices. Now,
from all these, as well patrimonial as personal, honourable
as well as sordid, by the first laws of Constantine, the clergy
were universally and entirely exempt. But after-ages made
a little distinction as to such of the clergy, who enjoyed pa-
trimonial secular estates of their own, distinct from those of
the Church; for such of the clergy were sometimes forced
to leave their ecclesiastical employment, and bear the civil
offices of the empire ; — of which more by and by. But as
'Cod. Justin, lib. i. tit. 2. de Sacrosanct. Eccles. leg. 22. Sancimus res
ad venerabiles ecclesias, vel xenones, vel monasteria, vel orphanotrophia,
vel gerontocomia, vel ptochotrophia, &c. descendentes ex qualicunque curiali
liberalitate - - - a lucrativonim inscriptionibus liberas immunesque esse. - - -
Curenim non faciemusdiscrimen inter res divinas et humanas? Id. Novel. 131,
c. 5. Si quEe vero res ex Curialium substantiis ad quamlibet sacrosanctam
£cclesiam, aut aliam venerabilem domum secundum leges venerunt, aut postea
venerint, liberas eas esse sancimus decriptione lucrativorum.
CHAP. HI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 457
to offices, which were purely personal, the clergy were en-
tirely exempt from them ; as appears from a law of Valen-
tinian and Gratian,i still extant in both the Codes, where
every order of the clerg-y, not only presbyters and deacons,
but subdeacons, exorcists, readers, door-keepers, and aco-
lythists, are specified as exempt from personal offices : and
that is the meaning of that law of Constantius, mentioned
both by Athanasius,^ and Socrates,^ and Sozomen,* where
they say, he granted the clergy of Mgypt, " 'AXeiTspynmav*
and "'ArAstov XEtrspYJj^arwy," — exemption from such offices,
as had been forced upon them in the Arian persecution.
Sect. 13.— And from Sordid Offices both Predial and Pei-sonal.
Ag-ain, for thof-^e called sordid offices, not only the persons
of the clerg-y, but the estates of the Church were discharg-ed
of all burdens of that nature. Constantius made two laws
to this purpose,^ which Valentinian and Theodosius con-
firmed, granting- the clergy, and some other orders of men,
the same immunity in this respect, as they did to the chief
officers and dignitaries of the empire; and they intimate,^
also, that this was no new privilege, but what by ancient
custom they had always enjoyed. The same is said by Ho
norius, that this was an ancient privilege of the Church,
conferred upon her by his royal ancestors, and that it ought
not to be diminished ; therefore he made two laws particu-
larly in behalf of the bishop of Rome,^ "that no extraordi-
nary office or sordid function should be imposed upon him."
Nor do we ever find the clergy called to bear any such of-
» Cod. Th. lib, xvi. tit. 2. de Episc. et Cler. leg. 24. Presbyteros, diaconos,
subdiaconos, exorcistas, lectores, ostiarios etiara, et omnes perinde qui primi
sunt, personalium munerum expertes esse prBecipimus. The Justinian Code
lib. i. tit. 3. leg. 6. has the same, only instead of the words, Omnes qui primi
sunt, it reads Acolythos. ^ Athan. Apol. 2. t. i. p. 772. ^ So-
crat. lib. ii. C.23. *Sozom. lib. iii. c. 21. * Cod. Th. lib. xvi.
tit. 2. de Episc. leg. 10 et 14. Repellatur ab his exactio munerum sordidorura.
eibid. lib. xi. tit. 16. de Extraord. et Sordid. Muner. leg. 15. Maximarum
culmina dignitatum - - - ab omnibus sordidis muneribus vindicentur. - - -
Circa Ecclesias, rhetores, ntquc grammaticos eruditionis utriusque vetusto
more durante, &c. '' Ibid. leg. 21 et 22. Privilegia venerabilis Ec-
olesiae, qusB Divi Principes contulerunt, imminui non oportet : proinde etiam
quffi circa Urbis Roma Episcoj.um, observatio intemerata custodiet. Ita ut
nihil extraordinarii muneris vel sordidse functionis agnoscat.
VOL I. 3 L
458 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK V.
fice in the empire. For though Gothofred, in his Notes
upon the forementioned law of Tlieodosius,* where several
of these offices are specified, reckons the Angaria y and
building" and repairing* of ways and bridges among- sordid
offices ; yet I have showed before, that what was exacted
of the clergy in reference to those two thing-s, was under
the notion of a tribute, and not an office. And the laws,
which require the clergy to contribute toward them, say
expressly,'^ that they are not to be looked upon as sordid
offices, nor any duty to be exacted under that notion."
Sect 14. — Also from Curial or Muiucipal Offices.
As to the other sort of offices called Honores, honourable
or municipal offices, which are otherwise termed curial
offices, hecause they, who bare them, were called Curiales et
Decuriones, men of the court or curia of every city 5 all
the clergy, who had no lands of their own, but lived upon
the revenues and possessions of the Church, were entirely ex-
empt from them, because the duties of the Church and State
were not thoug-ht well consistent in one and the same
person; and it was deemed unreasonable to burden the
lands of the Church with the civil duties of the empire.
When Constantino was first quietly settled in his govern-
ment, immediately after the great Decennial, commonly
called the Dioclesian persecution, he seems to have g-ranted
a full and unlimited immunity in this respect to all the
clergy, as well those, who had lands or patrimony of their
own, as those, who lived wholly upon the revenues of the
Church. For thus he expresses himself in a law directed to
Anulinus, proconsul of Afric, recorded by Eusebius, which
bears date. Anno 312, or 313: " our pleasure is, that all
those in your province, who minister in the Catholic Church,
over which Csecilian presides,^ who are commonly called
•Gothofred. in Cod. Th. lib. xi. tit. 16. leg, 15. ^pod. Th. lib. xv.
tit, 3. de Itin. Muniend. leg. 6. Honor, et Theodos. Jun. Absit ul nos in-
structionem vise publicae, et pontium. stratarumque operam. - - - inter sor-
dida munera nunieremus, &c. Vid. Cod. Justin, lib. i. tit. 2. de SS. Eccles.
leg. 7. Ejusdem Honorii et Theodos. ^ Const. Ep. ad Anulln. ap.
Euseb. lib. x. c. 7. "OvcnrtQ /cXjjptKse inovofia^nv tiw^aaiv, anb irayrMV
aTTa%an\Coq tUv Xiimpyiutv /SsXojuai aXiiTapyrjTH^ ciaipyXax^nvat, &c.
CHAP, in.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 459
the clerg-y, be exempted from all public offices whatsoever,
that they may not be let or hindered in the performance
of divine service by any sacrilegious distraction." Anulinus
has also an Epistle still extant in St. Austin,* written to
Constantino not long- after, wherein he mentions this grant
as sent to him, to be intimated to C?i?cilian and the Ca-
tholic clerg-y, viz. " that by the kind indulgence of his ma-
jesty they were exempt from all manner of offices, that they
might with due reverence attend divine service." And this
Epistle of Anulinus is also related, but not so correctly,
in the Collation of Carthage.^ In this grant it is very ob-
servable, that this privilege was only allowed to the Ca-
tholic clergy ; which made the Donatists very uneasy, be-
cause they could not enjoy the same favour: and upon this
they became tumultuous and troublesome to the Catholics,
procuring- the clergy in some places to be nominated to
public offices, and to be made receivers of the public re-
venues, &e. But complaint hereof being- made to Con-
stantine, it occasioned the publishing of a new order in
Afric, pursuant to the former, " that whereas he was given
to understand, that the clergy of the Catholic Church*
were molested by the heretical faction, and by their pro-
curement nominated to public offices, and made susceptors
or receivers of tribute, in derogation of the privileges,
which he had formerly granted them ; he now^ signified his
pleasure ogain, that if the magistrates found any persons so
aggrieved, they should substitute another in his room, and
take care for the future, that no such injuries should be
offered to the men of that profession." This law was pub-
> Anulin. Ep. ad Constant, ap. Aug. Ep. PS. Scripta coslestia Majestatis
vestrJE accepta atque adorata, Cwciliano et liis qui sub eodem agunf, qiiique
Clerici appellantur, devotio parvitatis nieic insinuare curavit, cosdeimiue
hortata est, ut unitatc consensu omnium factH, cum omni om«/«(> ;«M;jerr in-
dulgentifi majestatis \estia; liberal! esse videantur Catholici, ciishxiita sancti-
tate legis, debita reverentia divinis rebus inserviant. '^Collat. C'artli.
Die. iii. c. 216 et 220. s^od. Th. lib. xvi. tit. 2. de Episo. leg. 1. Ha;-
relicorum factione comperimus Ecclcsira Calli.'-lica! C'lericos ila vexnri, ut no-
minationibus seu susceptionibus aliquibus, qaas puhlicus mos exposcit, contra
indulta sibi privilegia, pr^graventur. Ideoqup idacet. si quem tua Gravitas
invenerit ita \exatum, eidein aliuni snbrogari, et deinceps a supradiLtffi relii.
gionis honiinibus hujusinodi injurias proliiberi.
460 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK V.
lished, Anno 313, and it is the first of this kind that is
extant in the Theodosian Code. About six years after, Anno
319, he put forth another, upon a hlie complaint made in
Italy, that the clergy were called away from their proper
functions to serve in public offices; and in this' he grants
them the same general immunity as before. So again.
Anno 330, a complaint being made against the Donatists
in Numidia, that, when they could not have their will upon
the superior clergy by reason of the former immunity that
was granted them, they notwithstanding forced the inferior
clergy to bear offices in Curia, upon pretence that the exr
emption did not extend to them ; Constantino, to cut off
all dispute, published another law,'^ wherein he particularly
exempts the inferior clerg-y, readers, subdeacons, and the
rest from bearing offices in Curia ; and orders, that they
should enjoy in Afric the same perfect immunity as they did
in the oriental Churches.
Sect. 15. — But this last Privilege confined to such of the Clergy, as had no
Estates but what belonged to the Church, by the Laws of Constantine.
Now this immunity was so great a privilege, that it not
only became the envy of heretics, but also provoked som^
catholic laymen, who were possessed of estates qualifying
them to bear the offices of their country, to get a sort of
titular ordination to some of the inferior offices of the
Church, on purpose to enjoy this immunity ; when yet they
neither designed to do the duty of that office, nor to arise
to any higher order in the Church. Which being inter-
preted a mere fraudulent jcollusion to deprive the state of
fit men to serve the commonwealth, and no ways benefit
the Church, it was presently resented by Constantine as an
abuse ; and various laws were made both by him and his
successors, as occasion required, to restrain and correct it.
' Cod.Th. lib. xvi. tit.2 deEpisc. leg. 2. Qui divlno cultui niinisteria religio-
nis impendunt, id est, hi qui Clerici appeilantur, ab omnibus omnino muneri-
bus excusentur : ne sacrilego livore quorundam a divinis obsequiis avocentur.
2 Cod. Th. lib. xvi. tit. 2. leg. 7. Lectores divinorum apicum, et hypodiaconi,
caeterique Clerici, qui perinjuriam Hsereticorum ad Curiam devocati sunt, ab-
solvantur: et de caelero ad similitudinem Orientis minime ad Curias devocen-!
tur, »ed immunitate plenissimS potiantur.
CHAP. 111.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 461
Constantine at first, as I observed before, granted this im-r
munity indifferently to all the clergy, as well possessors, as
not possessors of private estates, whom he found actually
engag"cd in the service of the Church, when he came to the
quiet possession of the empire ; nor did he for some years
after perhaps restrain any sorts of men from taking orders
in the Church : but when he found this indulgence to the
Church, by the artifice of cunning men, only turned to the
detriment of the state ; and that rich men sheltered them-
selves under an ecclesiastical title, only to avoid the offices
of their country ;he then made a law, that no rich plebeian,
who was qualified by his estate to serve in Curia, and bear
civil offices in any city, should become an ecclesiastic ; or
if he did, he should be liable from the time, that law was
made, to be fetched back and returned in Curiam, to bear
the offices of his country as a layman. What year that law
was made, is not very certain, save only, that it was be-
fbre the year 320, when a second law was made upon the
same subject, referring to the first. And from this we learn
what was the import of both ; — that it was Constantine's
design to put a distinction betwixt* such of the clergy, as
were ordained before that first law, and such, as were or-
dained afterward ; the former he exempted from civil offices,
though they w ere possessed of estates, but not the latter.
Which plainly appears from the w ords of the second law,
which are these;' " whereas by a former law^ we ordained,
that from thenceforward no counsellor or counsellor's son,
nor any one, who by his estate was sufficiently qualified to
bear public offices, should take upon him the name or
function of the clergy, but only such, whose fortune is
small, and they not tied to any civil offices ; we are now
1 Cod. Th. lib. xvi. tit. 2. de Episc. leg. 3. Cum constitutio emissa prseci-
piat, nullum deinceps decurionem, \el ex decurione progenitum, vel etiam in-
structum idoneis facultatibus, atque obcundis publicis muneribus opportunum,
ad Clericorura nomen obsequiumque confugere ; sed eos - - qui fortuna tc-
nues, ncque muneribus civilibus teneantur obstricti : cognovimus illos etiam
inquietari, qui ante legis promulgationem Clericorumseconsortio sociaverint:
ideoque priEcipimus, his ab omni raolestiCi liberatis, illos qui post legem latam
obsequia publica declinantes, adClericorum numerum conlugcrunt, Curiae Or-
diuibusque lestitui, et civilibus obsequiis inservire.
462, THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK V.
given to understand, that such of the clergy, who were or-
dained before the promulgation of that law, are molested
upon that account. Wherefore our command is, that those
be discharged of all further trouble ; and that such only,
as entered themselves among the clergy since the law was
made, with intention to decline public offices, shall be re-
turned to the Curia and states of their city, to serve in the
civil offices of their country." There is another law of Con-
stantine's published after this,^ Anno 326, a year after the
council of Nice, which speaks to the same effect, and shows,
that this was the standing rule of the latter part of Con-
stantine's reign, to exempt none among the clergy, who
were qualified by estates of their own, from bearing per-
sonally the public offices of the empire.
Sect. 16.— Constantine's Laws a little altered by the succeeding Emperors
in Favour of tlie Church.
Bat however this might be well designed at first by him
to prevent some abuses, yet in process of time it became
very prejudicial to the Church. For by this means some-
times presbyters and deacons, after they had been twenty
or thirty years in the Church's service, were called upon by
litigious men to bear civil offices, inconsistent with the spi-
ritual, and thereupon they were forced to forsake their ec-^
clesiastical function. This was so great an inconvenience,
that it well became the wisdom of the following emperors
to find out some suitable remedy for it ; which they did
by new modifying Constanstine's law, and abating some-
thing of the rigour of it. For they did not lay the burden
of civil offices upon the persons of the clergy, but only
upon their patrimonial estates, not belonging to the Church,
and in some cases they excused those also, Constantius
acquitted all bishops of this burden, both as to their estates
and persons ;^ for by his laws they might keep their estates
' Cod. Th. lib. xvi. tit. 2. leg. 6. Si inter Civitatem et Clericos super alicujus
nomine dubitetur, si eum aequitas ad publica trahat munera, et progenie inuni-
ccps, vel patriinonio idoneus dignoscetur, exemptus Clericis Civitati tradatur :
opulentos eniin Seculi subire necessitates oportet, pauperes Ecclesiarum
divitiis sustentari. ^ Cod. Th. lib. xii. tit. 1. de Decurion. leg. 4.D,
Episcopum facultates suas Curire, sicut ante fuerat constitutum, nuUus
adigat raanciparc, sed antistes maneat, nee laeiut Substantia; cessioneui, &c.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 463
to themselves, and neither be obUged to bear civil offices in
person, nor substitute any other in their room. And he
allowed the same privilege to presbyters, and deacons, and
all others, provided they were ordained by the consent of
the civil court or Curia, and the general request of the
people. But, if they were not so ordained, all that they
were obliged to do, was only to part with two thirds of
their estate to their children or next relations, and substitute
them in their room ; or in defect of such relations, to give
up two parts of their estate to the Curia, and retain the
third to themselves. Valentinian in the first year of his
reign. Anno 364, made the law a little stricter,' " that such
persons, when they were ordained, should give all their
estate to one of their relations, and substitute him as a
Curialis in their room, or else give it up to the Curia itself:
otherwise they should be liable to be called back to serve
in civil offices as laymen." But he extended this obligation
no further than to the beginning of his own reign ; for
by anotlier law,^ made seven years after, Anno 371, he ex-
empted all such, as were in the service of the Church when
he came to the crown, though they had estates of their own
quahfying them to bear civil offices. Valens^ exempted all
such as had been ten years in the Church's service; so that,
if they were not called upon by the civil courts within that
term, they were for ever after to be excused. Valentinian the
Second* exempted them, provided they put a substitute in
their room. Theodosius* exempted all that were ordained
before the year 388, which was the tenth year of his reign :
and of those that were ordained afterward he only required
the aforesaid conditions,^ " that they should either provide a
» Cod. Th. lib. xii. tit. 1. de Decurion, leg. 59. Qui partes eligit Ecclc-
siae, ant in propinquum bona propria conferendo eum pro se faciet curialem,
aut facultatibus Curiae cedat, quam reliquit; ex necessitate revocando eo qui
neutrum fecit, cum Clericus esse coepisset, &c. ^ Cod. Tii. lib. xvi.
tit. 2. de Episc. leg. 21. Qui Ecclesise juge obsequiuin deputarunt, Curiis
habeantur immunes, si tainen ante ortum Imperii nostri ad cultum se legis
nostrsE contulisse constiterit. ^ Cod. Th. lib. xvi. tit. 2. leg. 19. .Si
in consortio Clericatus decenniuin quietis impleverit, cum patrimonio suo
habeatur iimnunis: Si vero intra finitos annos fuerit a CuriCi revocatus, cum
substantia sua functionibus subjaceat Civitatis. * Cod. Th. lib. xii.
tit. 1. de Decurion. leg. 99, * Ibid. leg. 121 et 123. « Ibid.
leg. 104 et 113.
464 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK V,
proper substitute, or g-ive up their estates to the court at
their ordination." Which is also taken notice" of by St.
Ambrose in his answer to Symmachus, where he shows,'
how unreasonable it was for him to plead for the exemption
of the heathen priests in this respect, when the laws did not
grant it to the Christian clergy but upon such conditions.
Arcadius indeed, by the instigation of Eutropius, Artno 398,
cancelled all these favourable laws, and brought the clerg-y
ao-ain to the hard rule of Constantine,^ " that if any of the
Curiales were ordained in the Church, they should by force
be returned to the civil courts ag-ain in person, and not en-
joy the benefit of those laws, which allowed them to take
orders, provided they disposed of their estates to proper
substitutes, who might bear offices in their stead.'" But
this law was but very short lived ; for Chrysostom and some
others very justly declaiming against it, Arcadius disannulled
it the year following by anew law, wherein^ he granted
such of the clergy, as were taken and ordained out of the
body of the Curiales, the same privilege that they had un-
der his father Theodosius, which was, — that all, that were
ordained before the second consulship of Theodosius,
Anno 388, should enjoy a perfect immunity without any
molestation ; and such, as were ordained after that term, if
they were of the superior clergy, bishops, presbyters, or
deacons, might continue in the Church's service, either
providing a substitute to bear the offices of the Curia for
them, or giving up their estates to the Curia, as former
laws in that case had directed. Only it was required, that the
inferior clergy, readers, subdeacons, &c. should be returned
to the Curia again, and obliged to bear offices in person.
' Ambros. cont. Symmach. ^ Cod. Th. lib. ix. Tit. 45. De his
qui ad Eccles. confug-. leg. iii. Decuriones manu mox injecta revocentur:
quibus ulterins legem prodesse non patimur, quije cessione patrimonii subse-
cuta, decuriones esse Clericos non vetabat. ^ Cod. Th. lib. xii. tit. 1.
de Decurion. leg. 163. Si qui ex secundo Divi Patris nostri consulatu curiam
relinquentes, clericorum se consortio manciparunt, si jam Episcopi, vel Pres-
byteri, vel Diaconi esse raeruerunt, in sacris quidem et secretioribus Dei mys-
teriis perseverent, sed aut substitutum pro se Curiae offerre cogantur, aut ju.xta
legem dudum latam tradant Curite facilitates. Residui omnes, Lectores, sub-
diaconi, vel hi Clerici quibus Clericorum privilegia non debentur, debitismox
patritE muneribus prtesentcutur.
CHAP. HI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 465
And the same was determined by Theodosius Junior,' and
Valentinian the Third;^ and Majorian/whose laws are ex-
tant at the end of theTheodosian Code. Justinian also has
a Novel to the same purpose,* wherein he orders such of
the inferior clerg-y, as were taken out of any Curia, to be
returned thither again, unless they had lived fifteen years a
monastic life ; and then they were to give three parts of
their patrimony to the Curia, and retain one to themselves.
But he allowed bishops to put in a substitute, and be free
from bearing- civil offices in person, as Julianus Antecessor
in his Epitome of the Authentics understands him.^ Thoug-h
I confess there is something to incline a man to think Jus-
tinian at first was a little more severe to such bishops, be-
cause he revived that antiquated law of Arcadius in his
Code.« But however this be, upon the whole matter it ap-
pears, that the Christian princes from first to last always
made a wide difference between tlie public patrimony of
the Church, which was properly ecclesiastical, and the
private estates of such of the clergy, as had lands of a civil
or secular tenure ; for the one, the clergy were obliged to
no duty or burthen of civil offices, but for the other they
w^ere, and could not be excused from them, but either by
parting with some portion of their estates, or providing pro-
per substitutes to officiate for them. The reason of which
was, that such of the clergy were looked upon as irregu-
larly promoted ; it being as much against the rules of the
Church, as the laws of the State, to admit any of the
Curiales to an ecclesiastical function, v.ithout first giving
satisfaction to the Curia, whence they were taken, as has
been showed in another place. I have been the more curi-
ous in searching to the bottom this business about tribute
and civil offices, and given a particular and distinct account
of them from the grounds of the civil la\\ , because but few
> Theod. Novel. 26 et 38. - Valentin. Novel. 12. » Majo-
lian. NovL'l. 1. * Justin. Novel. 123. c. 15. Ex. Epitoin. Julian.
Antecess. * Vid. Julian. Epit. Novel. 123. c. 4. post leg. 38. Cod. de
Episc. Episcopalis ordo liberal a fortuna servili, sed non a curiali sive
officiali; nam et post ordinationem durat; ila ut per subjectam vel inter-
positam personam officium adiniplcatur, &c, "^ Cod. Just. lili. i. tit. 3.
de Episc. leg. 12.
VOL. I. 3 M
466 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK V.
men have recourse to those fountains, whence this matter is
to be cleared ; and the reader will scarce find this subject
handled, but either very imperfectly, or with some partiality,
or some confusion, in modern authors.
CHAP. IV.
Of the Revenues of the Ancient Clergy.
Sect. 1. — Several Ways of providing a Fund for the Maintenance of the
Clergy. 1st, by Oblations. Some of wliich were Weeldy.
The next thing-, that comes in order to be considered, is
the maintenance of the ancient clergy. Where it Avill be
proper first to inquire into the ways and methods, that were
taken for raising funds for their subsistence. And here,
to set aside a little the consideration of tithes, which \\\\\
be spoken of in the next chapter, we find other ways, by
which, in ancient times, a decent provision w'as made for
them. As first, by the voluntary oblations of the people, of
which some learned persons think there were two sorts ;
1st, the weekly or daily oblations, that were made at the
altar ; 2dly, the monthly oblations, that were east into the
treasury of the Church. The first sort of oblations were
such, as every rich and able communicant made at his
comincr to partake of the eucharist ; where they offered not
only bread and w ine, out of which the eucharist was taken,
but also other necessaries, and sometimes sums of money,
for the maintenance of the Church, and relief of the poor ;
as is evident from those words of St. Jerom, in his Com-
ments upon Ezekiel,*- where he tells us, " that thieves and
oppressors made their oblations among others, out of their
ill-crotten goods, that they might glory in their wickedness,
while the deacon in the Church publicly recited the names
of those that offered : — such an one offers so much, such an
» Hieron. Cora, in Ezek. xviii. p. 537. Multos conspiciraus, qui opprimunt
per potentiam, vel furta committunt, ut de multis parva pauperibus tribuant,
et in suis sceleribus glorientur, publiceque Diaconus in Ecclosia recitet Offer-
entium Nomina :— tantum offert ille, tantum ille poUicitus est ;— placcntque
sibj ad plausum populi, torciuente conscientia.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 467
one hath promised so much : — and so they please themselves
with the applause of the people, while their own conscience
lashes and torments them." Those called the Apostolical
Canons,' speak also of the oblation of fruits and fowls and
beasts, but order such to be sent home to the bishop and
presbyters, who were to divide them with the deacons, and
the rest of the clerg-y.
Sect. 2.— And others Monthly.
Another sort of oblations were made monthly, when it
was usual for persons, that were able and willing-, to g^ive, as
they thoug-ht fit, something to the ark or treasury of the
Church. Which sort of collation is particularly taken no-
tice of by TertuUian,^ who says, "it was made Menstrua die,
once a month, or when every one pleased, and as thoy
pleased; for no man was compelled to it: it was not any
stated sum, but a voluntary oblation." Baronius^ thinks
this ark or treasury was called the Corhan of the Church,
because Cyprian* uses that word, when he speaks of the
offerings of the people ; rebuking a rich and wealthy
matron for coming to celebrate the eucharist without any
regard to the Corban, and partaking of the Lord's Supper
without any sacrifice of her own. Others conceive,^ that
Corban is not a name for the treasury, but signifies the gift
or oblation itself; and that Cyprian so uses it, making it the
same with the sacrifices or offerings of the people. But
the evangelist. Mat. xxvii. 6, seems rather to favour the
opinion of Baronius ; for when he says, the chief priests did
not think it lawful to put Judas's money, " t tc Toy ico^>/3avai/,
it is evident, he there by Corhan means the treasury, as
most translators render it.
' Canon Apost. c. 3, 4, 5. -Tertul. Apol. c. 39. Si quod area; ge-
nus est, non de ordinariii sumnia, quasi redemptii; rcligionis congrejjutur :
modicam nnusqiiisque stipem menstrua die, vel quum volit, et si nindo velit, et
si modo possit, apponit: nam nemo cojiiptllitur, sed s^cnte ciuifeii.
^ Baron, an. 44. n. 69. ■* C ypr. de Oper. et Eleemos. p. 203. Locujiles
et dives es, et dominicum celebrarc te credls, quaj corbonam onmino non re«-
picis ; qiuu in doniiiilcum sine siicriUcio \enis ; qua; jiartem de sacrificio, (juod
pauper obtulit, siuuis .' ° Dasnag. ExerciU in liaion. jt. o'Jt.
It
468 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK V.
Sect. 3. — Whence came the Custom of a Monthly Division among the Clergy.
But however this be, it is very probable, that hence came
the custom of dividing" these oblations once a month among
the clerg-y. For as Tertullian speaks of a monthly collation,
so Cyprian frequently mentions' a monthly division, in
which the presbyters had their shares by equal portions,
and other orders after the same manner. Whence the clerg-y
are also styled in his languag-e^- Sporlulantes fr aires, far-
takers of the distribution ; and what we now call Suspensio
d beneficio, is in his style,^ Suspensio a divisione mensiimd,
suspension from the mo7ithly division. Which plainly im-
plies, that this sort of Church-revenues was usually divided
once a month among- the clergy. And perhaps in confor-
mity to this custom it was, that the Theodosian heretics,
having- persuaded one Natalius, a confessor, to be ordained
a bishop among" them, promised him a monthly salary of
one hundred and fifty Denarii, — " fxriviala dvvdpia i-carov
TTevrjjKovra," as Eusebius words it,* referring* to the usual
way of distribution once a month among- the clerg-y.
Sect. 4. — Secondly, other Revenues aiisinsr from the Lands and Possessions of
the Church. •"
Another sort of revenues, which the clerg-y enjoyed, were
such as arose annually from the lands and possessions,
which were given to the Church. These indeed at first
were but small, by reason of the continual vexations and
persecutions, which the Church underwent for the three
first ages, when immoveable goods were always most ex-
posed to danger. It was the custom of the Church of Rome
therefore never to keep any immoveable possessions, no, not
for many ag-es, if we may credit Theodorus Lector,'' who
speaks of it as customary in his own time. Anno 520. But,
if any such were given to the Church, they immediately
sold them, and divided the price into three parts, giving
' Cypr. Ep. 34e. al. 30. Ut etsportulis iisdem cum Presbyterls honorentur,
et divisiones mensurnas aequatis quantitatibus parliantur. ® Id. Ep.
Gfl. al. 1. Sportulantes Fratres, tanqu^ra decimas ex fructibus acci[ientes.
^Id. Ep. 28. al. 34. Interim se a Divisione PilcnsurnCi tantum contir.ranf, &c.
*Euseb. lib. v. c. 28. '^Tiieodor. I.s'ct. Collectan. lib. ii. p. .567,
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 469
one to the Church, another to the bishop, and the third to
the rest of the clergy. And Valesius finds no exception
to this till near the time of Greg-ory the Great. But, if this
was the custom of the Church of Rome, it was a very sin-
gular one. For other Churches had their immoveables,
both houses and lands, even in the times of persecution ;
as appears from the edicts of Maximinus, wherein he re-
voked his former decrees, that had raised the persecution,
and in these latter edicts granted the Christians liberty,
not only to rebuild their Churches, but also ordered,^ " that
if any houses or lands belonging to them had been confis-
cated, or sold, or given away, they should be restored to
them again." That this was meant of houses and lands
belonging to the Church, as well as private Christians, is
evident from the decree of Constantino and Licinius pub-
lished the same year, Anno 313 ; wherein they give orders,
that whereas the Christians were known to have not only
places of assembly, but also other places belonging not to
any private man, but to the whole body ,2 all such places
should be restored to the body, and to every particular
assembly among them. Which is repeated again in Con-
stantine's letter to Anulinus,^ and other public acts of his
recorded by Eusebius in his life,* where he makes mention
of houses, gardens, lands, and other possessions belonging
to the Church, of which she had been plundred and des-
poiled in the late persecutions. These are undeniable
evidences, that some part of the ecclesiastical revenues
was anciently raised from houses and lands, settled upon
the Church, even before any Christian emperors could give
encouragement to them.
Sect. 5. — These very much augmented by the Laws of Conslantine.
But, when Constantine was quietly settled upon the
Throne, the Church-revenues received great augmentations
in this kind. For he enacted a law at Rome, which is still
extant in both the Codes,^ " that any one whatsoever should
» Euseb. lib. ix. c. 10. = Ap. Euseb. lib. x. c. 5. " Constant.
Ep. ad Amilin. ap. Eusob. ihid. ' Euseb. Vit. Const, lib. ii. c. 37
et 39. *Cod. Th. lib. xvi. tit, 2. de Episc. leg. 4.. It. Cod, Justin.
470 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK V,
have liberty at his death to bequeath by will what part of
his g-oods he pleased to the holy Catholic Church," By
v/hich means the liberality of pious persons was very much
encouraged, and g-reat additions were made to the standing
revenues of the Church. Therefore Baronius is very inju-
rious* to the memory of Constantine, and justly corrected
by Gothofred^ and Mr.Pagi^ for it, in that he insinuates, as
if Constantine had relapsed toward heathenism at this very
time, Anno 321, when he published this law so much in fa-
vour of the Church.
Sect 6. — Whose Laws were confirmed, and not revoked by the succeeding
Emperors, as some mistake.
Others are no less injurious to some of his successors,
when they represent them as injurious to the Church, in
forbidding widows and orphans to leave any legacies to the
Church. Baronius cannot help complaining also upon this
point, though he contradicts himself about it. For in one
place he says,* " the foresaid law of Constantine did so
augment the Church's wealth, that the following emperors
began to dread the consquences of it, that it would turn to
the detriment and poverty of the commonwealth ; and there-
fore they made laws to restrain the faithful from being so
profuse in their donations to the Church." Yet when he
comes to speak particularly of those laws,^ he owns, " they
were not designed against the Church, but only to correct
the scandalous practices of some sordid m.onks and eccle-
> ^siastics, who being of an avaricious and parasitical temper
made a gain of godliness, and under pretence of religion so
screwed themselves into the favour and affections of some
rich widows and orphans, that they prevailed upon them to
leave them e-reat Icofacies, and sometimes their whole
lib. i. tit. 2. de Sacrosanct. Eccles. leg. I. Ilabeat unusquisque licentiam
sanctjbsimo catiiolico veuerabilique concilio, decedens bonorum quod opta-
verit rolinquere, ' Baron, an. 32 1 . n. 18. " Gothofred. Com.
in Cod. Th. lib. xvi. tit. 10. de Paganis leg. 1. ^ Pagi Critic, in Ba-
ron, an. 321. n. 4 et 5. *Baion. an. 321. n. 17. ^ Baron, an.
370. torn. iv. p. 270. Qua quidem sanctione ncquaquam prohibentur Ecclesite
haireditatcs accipere vel legata, sed ecclesiasticre persouic, sivc Ck-rici, f>ive
rdonachi. - - - ul planC' iattlligaii hoscc utbulonut, tauquuni hurpjias quuti-
dam inhianteb mutronarum divitiis. &c.
CHAP. IV.j CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 471
estates, to tli« prejudice of the right heirs and next re-
lations." Which was so dishonest and unbecoming- a
practice in such persons, that Valentinian made a law to
prevent it, decreeing,' " that no ecclesiastics, nor any, that
professed the monastic life, should frequent the houses of
widows or orphans; nor be qualified to receive any gift ov
legacy from the donation or last will of any such persons."
Which law, as Gothofred rightly observes,'^ did not pro-
hibit them from leaving any thing to the Church; though
some learned men so misunderstand it ; but only tended to
correct this unworthy practice of some particular persons,
which is equally complained of by the ancient writers of
the Church. St. Ambrose, and St. Jerom, and others men-
tion this law, yet they do not at all inveigh against it, but
ae-ainst those vices that occasioned it. " I do not comolain
of the law," says St. Jerom, ^ " but am g-rioved, that we
should deserve such a law ; that when idol-priests and
stage-players, and carters, and harlots may inherit, only
clerks and monks are prohibited ; and that, not by perse-
cuting emperors, but Christian princes." He adds, " that
it was a very prudent caution in the law, but yet it did not
restrain the avarice of such persons ; who found out an
artifice to elude the law, jper fidei-commissa, — by getting
others to receive in trust for themy Which shows os the
sense St. Jerom had of this matter, that he did not think
the emperors were injurious to the Church in making such
a law, but those persons were only to be blamed, whose
avarice and sordid flatteries compelled them to make it.
And any one, that will consult St. Ambrose,* or the author
under his name,^ will find that they give the same account
of it. Theodosius indeed some years after made a lavv,*^
' Cod. Til. lib. xvi. tit. 2. dc Episc. leg. 20. Ecclesiastici, vel qui conli-
nentium se volunt nomine nuncupari, viduaruni aut pupillarum domes non
adeant. Censemus etiam, ut memorati nihil de ejus mulieris libcialitate
quacunque vel extreme judicio possint adiplsci. - Gothofred in loc.
^ Hieron. Ep. 2. ad Ncpotian. Sacerdotes, dicerc pndet, idolorum, mimi, et
aurigfE, et scorta hoereditates capiuct ; solis clericis et monachis prohihetur:
et prohibetur non a persecutoribus, sed a principibus Cliristianis. - - Nee de
lege conqueror, sed doleo cur meruimus banc legem, &c. * Anibros.
Ep. 31. ad Valentin, p. lib. * Idem Homil. 7. ^ « Cod. Th.
lib. xvi. tit. 2. dc Episc. leg-. 27. Nihil de monilibus ct supellectili, nihil de
472 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK V
relating" particularly to such deaconesses of the Church, as
were of noble families, " that they should not dispose of
their jewels, or plate, or furniture, or any other such thing's,
as were the ancient marks of honour in their families, under
pretence of relig'ion, while they lived ; nor make any Church,
or clerk, or poor, their heirs, when they died." But as this
law was made upon some particular reasons of state ; so it
did no harm to the Church ; for within two months the same
emperor recalled it by a contrary law,* which g-ranted liberty
to such deaconesses to dispose of their g'oods in their life-
time to any Church or clerk whatsoever. And P*lareian
made the law- a little more extensive, allowing- deaconesses
and all other religious women to dispose of any part of
their estate, by will or codicil, to any Church, or oratory, or
clerk, or monk, or poor whatsoever. Which law Justinian
also confirmed and inserted it into his code.^ So that Con-
stantine's law continued always in its full force, and the
succeeding" princes did not derog"ate from the privilege,
which he had granted the Church in this respect, for fear,
as Baronius pretends, lest the liberality of the subject to
the Church should impoverish the Commonwealth. Men
were very liberal indeed in their g"ifts and donations to the
Church in this age, but yet not so profuse, as to need
statutes of mortmain to restrain them.
Sect 7. — Tliirdly, anotlier Part of Church-Revenues raised by Allowances
out of the Emperor's Exchequer.
For besides the liberality of the subjects, the emperors in
auro, argento, cajterisque clara; doinus msignibus, sub religionis defensione
consumat. - - - Ac si quando diera obierit, nullum ecclesiam, nullnm cleii-
cuin, nullum pauperem scribat hairedes, &c. ' Ibid. leg. 28. Legem,
quffi diaconissis vel Viduis nuper est proraulgata, ne quis videlicet clcricus,
neve sub Ecclesiaj nomine, mancipia, prsedam, velut infinni sexus dcspoliator,
et remotis adfinihus et propinquis, ipse sub prffitextu catholica; disciplinffi se
ageret viventis lueredem, eatenus animadvertat esse revocatani. ^ Mar-
cian. Novel. 5. ad calcem Cod. Th. General! lege saucimus, sive vidua, sive
diaconissa, sive virgo Deo dicata, vel sanctinionialis mulicr, sive quocunque
alio nomine religiosi honoris vel dijjr.itatis foeniina nuncupetur, testaraento vel
cotlicillo suo - - - Ecclesiae, vel martyrio, vel clerico, vel monacho, vel pau-
peribus aliquid vel ex iatcgro vel ex parte, in quPicunque re vel specie crc-
diditrelinquendura, idmodis omnibus ratum firmumque constet. ^Cod.
Jusliii. lib. i. tit. 2. de Sacrosanct. Eccl. leg. 13.
ChAP, IV.] CHRISTIAX CHURCH. 473
these ages found it necessary to make the clergy an al-
lowance out of the pubhc revenues of the empire ; which
v^as another way of providing* a maintenance for them.
Constantine both g"ave the clergy particular largesses, as
their occasions required, and also settled upon them a
standing- allowance out of the exchequer. In one of his
epistles to Caecilian, bishop of Carthage, recorded by Eu-
sebius,* he acquaints Csecilian with his orders, which he had
g'iven to Ursus, his general-receiver in Afric, to pay him
three thousand pholles, — Tpi<T\i\isg (poXXeig, — to be divided at
his discretion among- the clergy of the provinces of Africa,
Numidia, and the two Mauritania's. And, if this sum would
not answer all their present necessities, he g"ave him
further orders to demand of his procurator Heraclides,
whatever he desired more. I need not stand here to in-
quire critically what this sum of 3000 pholles was, (thoug-h
it maybe computed above twenty thousand pounds,) since
Constantine gave the bishop unlimited orders, to demand as
much as the needs of the clergy should require. But he
not only supplied their present necessities, but also g-ave
orders for a standino- allowance to be made them out of the
public treasury. For Theodoret,^ and Sozomen say,^ he
made a law requiring the chief magistrates in every pro-
vince to grant the clergy, and virgins, and widows of the
^ Church, an annual allowance of corn, — EDjcrta aiTq^iaia, —
out of the yearly tribute of every city. And thus it con-
tinued to the time of Julian, who withdrew the whole al-
lowance. But Jovian restored it again in some measure,
granting them a third part of the former allowance only,
because at that time the public income was very low, by
reason of a severe famine ; but he promised them the whole,
so soon as the famine was ended, and the public store-houses
were better replenished. But either Jovian's death pre-
vented his design, or the necessities of the clergy did not
afterward require it. For though Sozomen seems to say,
the whole was restored ; yet Theodoret, who is more ac-
curate, affirms, that it was only, TpiTr]iJ.6piov, — a third part ;
•Euseb. lib. X. c. G. «Theod. lib. i. c. II. sgozomen.
lib. V. c. 5.
VOL. I. 3 N
474 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK V.
and that so it continued to his own times. In this sense
therefore we are to understand that law of the eJnpeiov
Mareian, which Justinian has inserted into his Code,^ de-
creeing-, "that the salaries, which iiad been always given to
the Churches in diverse sorts of grain out of the pubUc
treasures, should be allowed them, without any diminution."
This did not entitle them to the whole allowance first made
tl\em by Constantine, as some may be apt to imagine from
the general words of the law, but only to the third part^,
which had been the customary allowance from the time of
Jovian.
Sect. 8.— Fourthly, the Estates of Martyrs and Confessors dying without
Heirs settled upon the Church by Constantine.
Another w^ay, by which some small addition was made to
the revenues of the Church, was from a law of Constantine,
meiitioned by Eusebius in his life,^ where he tells us,
" that, as he ordered all the estates of martyrs and con-
fessors, and whoever had suffered in tinae of persecution^
to be restored to their next relations ; so, if any of them died
without relations, the Church shoukl become their heir,
and, in every place where they lived, succeed to their in-
heiitance."
Sect. 9.— Fifthly, the-Estates of Clergymen, dying without Heirs and Will,
settled in like mannes.
Theodosius Junior and Valentinian the Third made such
another law,* in reference to the temporal possessions of the
clergy ; " that, if any presbyter, or deacon, or deaconess, or
subdeacon, or other clerk, or any man or woman professing-
a monastic life, died without will and without heirs, the
estates and goods they were possessed of, should fall to the
Church or monastery, to which they belonged, unless they
were antecedently tied to some civil service." This implies,
that the clergy wore at liberty to dispose of their own tem-
• Cod. Justin, lib. i. tit. 2. de Sacrosanct. Eccles. leg. 12. Salaria quseSa-
crosanctis Ecclesiis in diversls speciebus de publico hactenus ministrata sunt,
jubemus nunc quoque inconcussa, et a nuUo prorsus imniinutaprtestari.
^Euseb. Vit. Const, lib. ii. c. 30. » Cod. Th. lib. v. tit. 3. de Bonis-
tlericor. leg. 1. Cod. Just. lib. i. tit. 3. de Episc. leg. 20.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 475
poral estates as thoy pleased ; and they fell to the Church
only in case they died intestate. But the council of x\g-de*
in France under Alaric, the Goth, Anno 506, went a little
further, and decreed, " that every bishop, who had no
children or nephews, should make the Church his heir, and
no other;" as Caranza's edition, and Gratian, and some
others read it. And the council of Sevil^ made a like de-
cree for the Spanish Churches; upon which Caranza^
makes this remark, " that the canon was fit to be renewed
in council, that the Church should- be the bishop's heir, and
not the Pope. And that it was against the mind of those
fathers, that bishops should set up primogenitures, or en-
rich their kindred out of the revenues of the Church."
Which reflection among other things might perhaps con-
tribute towards his being brought into the Spanish Inqui-
sition, though he was archbishop of Toledo; after which he
underwent a ten years' imprisonment at Rome, and had
some of his books prohibited in the Roman Index, of which
Spondanus,* in his Annals, will give the reader a further
account. — But I return to the primitive Church.
Sect. 10. — Sixthly, Heathen Temples and their Revenues sometimes given to
the Church.
Where we may observe another addition made to the re-
venues of the clergy, by the donation of heathen temples,
and sometimes the revenues, that were settled upon them.
For though the greatest part of these went commonly to
the emperor's coffers, or to favourites that begged them,
upon the demolishing of the temples, as appears from the
laws of Honorius and Gratian, and several others in the
Theodosian Code,^ yet some of them were given to the
Church; for Honorius ^ takes notice of several orders and
1 Con. Agathen. c. 24. al. 33. ap. Gratian. Caus. V2. Q. ii. c. 34. Episco-
pus qui filios aut nnpotei non habuerit, alium quam Ecclcsiam non rclin(}iint
haeredem. ^Con. Hispalens. i. c. 1. ^ Caranz. in loc. Hie
canon erat renovandus in con'-ilio, ut h?cres dcfinicti Ep!SC(-pJ csset Eccle;ia,
non taiiien Papa. Secundo alienum est a sententia horuin Patrum liccre Epis-
copo Instituere primog^eni turns, vtl locspletare consans^uinoos. Sen T}p. Bur-
net, Prof, to the Life of Bp. Be.icl. p. 12. *Spondan. Aiuial. E-rl.
an. 1559. n. 29. * t.'"J- Tli.lib. xvi. tit. 10. dc Paganis, leg. 19. et 20.
* Ibid. le°". 20. Ea autem qua; niultiplicibus constitutis ad venerabiieui
476 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE' [BOOK V.
decrees of his own, whereby such settlements had been
made upon theChurch, which were to continue the Church's
property and patrimony for ever. And it is probable some
other emperors mii^ht convert the revenues of the temples
to the same use. At least tlie fabrics themselves, and the
silver and golden statutes that were in them, were some-
times so disposed of. For Sozomen says,* the Mi^piov, or
temple of the sun at Alexandria, was given to the Church
by Constantius. And we learn from Socrates,^ that in the
time of Theodosius the statues of Serapis, and many other
idols at Alexandria were melted down for the use of the
Church ; the emperor giving orders, that the gods should
help to maintain the poor.
Sect. 11.— Seventhly, as also Heretical Conventicles and their Revenues.
Honorius made a like decree, Anno 412, in reference to
all the revenues belonging to heretical conventicles, that
both the churches or conventicles themselves, and all the
lands,^ that were settled upon them, should bo forfeited, and
become the possession and property of the Catholic Church,
as by former decrees he had appointed. And I suppose, it
was by virtue of these laws, that Cyril, bishop of Alexan-
dria, shut up all the Novatian Churches, and seized upon
all their revenues, and deprived Theonas, their bishop, of his
substance ; though Socrates* in tolling the story represents
the matter a little more invidiously, as if Cyril had done all
this by his own private usurped autliority and arbitrary
power ; which will hardly gain credit w ith any one, that con-
siders, that those laws of Honorius were published before
Cyril came to the episcopal throne, which was not till the
year 412, when those laws were reinforced by the imperial
power.
Ecclesiam voluimus pertinere, Christiana sibi merito religio vindicavit, id est,
vindicabit, Vid, Prosper, de Prcediction. par. 3. c. 38. Honorius templa
omnia, cum suis adjacentibus spatiis, Ecclesiis contulit. ' Sozomen.
lib. V. c. 7. 2 Socrat. lib. v. c. 16. « Cod. Th. lib. xvi. lit. 5.
de Hseret. leg. 52. Ecclesiis eorum vel conventiculis, prasdiisque, si qua in
eorum ecclesias hsereticorum, largitas prava contulit, proprietati potestatique
catholicse, sicut.jaradudum statuimus, vindicatis. ^Sociat. lib. vii. c. 7.-
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 477
Sect. 12.— Eighthly, the Estates of Clerks, deserting the Church, to be
forfeited to the Church.
While I am upon this head, it will not be improper to
observe further, that by Justinian's laws,^ if any clergymen
or monks, who were possessed of temporal estates, forsook
their church or monastery, and turned seculars again, all
their substance was forfeited to the church or monastery, to
which they belonged. These were the several methods,
that were anciently taken for augmenting and improving the
revenues of the Church, besides those of first-fruits and
tithes, of which more hereafter.
Sect. 13.— No disreputable Ways of augmenting Church-Revenues encou-
raged. Fathers not to disinherit their Children to make the Church their
Heirs.
But I must observe, that as these methods were generally
reputed legal and allowable, so there were some other as
generally disallowed and condemned. Particularly we find
in St. Austin s time, that it was become a rule in the African
Church, to receive no estates that were given to the Church to
the great detriment and prejudice of the common rights of any
others. As if a father disinherited his children to make the
Church his heir, in that case no bishop would receive his
donation. Possidius tells us^ St. Austin refused some estates
so given, because he thought it more just and equal, that
they should be possessed by the children, or parents, or
next kindred of the deceased persons. And that he did so,
is evident from his own words in his discourse, De I ita
Clericorum,^ where he says, he had returned an estate to a
son, which an angry father at his death had taken from him ;
and he thought he did well in it ; professing for his own part,
" that if any one disinherited his son, to make the Church
his heir, he should seek some one else to receive his dona-
1 Cod. Justin, lib. i. tit. 3. de Episc. leg. 55. Si illi moiiastcria aut eccle-
sias relinquant, atque mundani fiaut ; omne ipsorura jus ad monasterium aut
ecclesiam pertinet. Vid. Novel, v. c. 4. et 6. It Novel. 123. c. 42.
2 Possid. Vit. Aug. c. 24. ^ Aug. Serm, 49. de Diversis. torn. x. p. 520.
Quando donavi filio, quodiratus pater moriens abstulit, bene feci. Quid
plura, fratres mei ? quicunque vult exhteredato filio h.-eredem faccre Ecclesiam,
quicrat alterum qui suicipiat, uon Auguctiuuiu ; iinmO, Deo propilio, nemineui
jnveniat.
478 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK V.
tion, and not Austin ; and he hoped, by the grace of God,
there would be none that would receive it." He adds in
the same place* a very remarkable and laudable instance
of great generosity and equity in Aurelius, bishop of Car-
thage, in a case of the like nature. A certain man having
no children, nor hopes of any, gave away his whole estate
to the Church, only reserving to himself the use of it for
life. Now it happened afterwards, that he had children
born to him ; upon which the bishop generously returned
him his estate, when he did not at ail expect it. " The
bishop indeed," says St. Austin, " had it in his power to
have kept it, sed jure fori, non pire poll, — only by the laws
of man, hut not by the laws of heaven;' and therefore he
thought himself obliged in conscience to return it. This
shows how tender they were of augmenting the revenues
of the Church by any methods, that might be thought
unequitable, or such as were not reputable, honest, or of
good report ; herein observing" the Apostle's rule, " to let
their moderation,— rd linuKlg, their equity, — be known to
all men ; not doing any hard thing for lucre's sake, nor
taking advantages by rigour of law, when conscience and
charity were against them."
Sect. 14. — Nothing; to be demanded for Administering the Sacraments of the
Church, nor io': Consecrating Churches, nor Interment of the Dead,
To avoid scandal also, and to provide things honest in the
sight of all men, they forbad any thing to be demanded for
administering the sacraments of the Church. The council
of Eliberis seems to intimate, that it was customary with
some persons at their baptism to cast money into a basin by
way of gratuity to the minister ; but even this is there for-
bidden by a canon,^ " least the priest should seem to sell
what he freely received." Whence we may conclude, that,
if the people might not offer, the priest might much less
'Aug. Senn. 49. de diversis torn. 10. p. 520. Quidam cum filios non haberet,
ncqiic speraret, res suas omnes, retento sibiusufruclu, donavit Ecclesiie. Nail
sunt illi filii, et reddidit Episcopus nee opinanti qua ille donaverat. In potos-
tate habebat Episcopus non reddere ; scd jure fori, non jure poli. ^Coh.
Eliber. c. 48. Emendari phicuit, ut lii qui iiaptizautur (ut fieri solebat)
nummos in concham non niittaiit ; uosace rdos, quod gratis accepit, pretio
distrahere videatuv.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN OHUHCH. 479
exact or demand any thing- for administering- the sacrament
of baplisui. In other Churches a voluntary obUxtion was
allowed of, from persons that were able and willing- to make
it; but all exactions of that nature from the poor were still
prohibited, for fear of discouraging them from offering-
themselves or their children to baptism. Thus it was in
the Roman Church in the time of Gelasius, as we learn from
his Epistles,' and in the Greek Church in the time of
Greo-ory Nazianzen,^ who takes occasion to answer this
• • • T 1
objection, which poor men made against coming immediately
to baptism, because they liad not wiierewith to make the
usual present, that was then to be offered, or to purchase
the splendid robe, that was then to be worn, or to provide a
treat for the minister that baptized them. He tells them, no
such things would be expected or exacted of them ; — " they
need only make a present of themselves to Christ, and en-
tertain the minister with their o-vvn good life and conversa-
tion, which would be more acceptable to him than any other
offerings." This implies, that it was then the custom for
the people to make a voluntary oblation at their baptism ;
but not tlie custom for ministers to demand it, as a matter
of rio-ht, for fear of fi-ivinor scandal. Some editions of
Gratian,^ and Vicecomes* allege a canon of the third or
fourth council of Carthage to the same purpose ; which, if
the allegation were true, would prove that the same custon*
obtained in the African Church. But, as Antonius Augus-
tinus,^ and the Roman*' correctors of Gratianhave obsei-ved,
there is no such canon to be found in any African council;
but it is a canon of the second council of Bracara in Spain,
which finding a corrupt practice crept in among the clergy ,^
(notwithstanding the former prohibition of the Eliberitan
council,) that ministers did exact pledges of the poor, who
> Gelas. Ep. i. al. 9. ad Episc. Lucanite. c.7. Baptizandis consignandisque
fidelibus pretia nulla Presbyter! praefigant, nee illationibus quibusdam iinj)o-
sitis exagitai-e cupiant renascentes ; quonlain quod gratis accipimus, gratis
dare mandamur. Et ideo niliil a prtcdictis exigere nioliantur, quo vel pauper-
tate cogcnte deterriti, vel indignationerevocati, redemptioais su^causas adirc
despiciant. 2 j;az. Orat. 40. deBapt. t. i. p. 655. ^Gratian,
Caus. 1. Q. 1. c. 103. * Vicecoin. de llilib. Bapt. lib. iv. c.2.
* Anton. Aug. de Emend. Gratiani. lib. i. dial. 11. ^ Gratiau. Ibid.
Edit. Rom. an. 1-382.
480 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [uOOK V.
had not ability to make any offering-, endeavoured to re-
dress this corruption, by passing a new order,* " that
thoug-h voluntary oblations might be received, yet no
pledge should be extorted from the poor, who were not
able to offer ; because many of the poor for fear of this
kept back their children from baptism." The same council
of Bracara made a decree,^ " that no bishop should exact
any thing" as a due from any founders of Churches for their
consecration; but, if any thing" was voluntarily offered, he
rnig"ht receive it." And so in like manner for confirmation,-"*
and administering- the Eucharist,* all bishops and presbyters
are strictly enjoined not to exact any thing" of the receivers,
because the g-race of God was not to be set to sale, nor the
sanctification of the spirit to be imparted for money. St.
Jerom assures us further, " that it was not very honourable
in his time to exact any thing- for the buiying" places of the
dead ;" for he censures those that practised it,^ as falling-
short of the merit of Ephron, the Hittite, whom Abraham
forced to receive money for the burying-place, which he
bought of him : " but now," says he, " there are some who
sell burying-places, and take money for them, not by com-
pulsion, as Ephron did, but by extortion rather from those
that were unwilling- to pay." By which we may understand,
that in his time it was hardly allowable to demand any
thing- for the use of a public or private cemetry. Nor was
this any part of the Church-revenues in those days, when
as yet the custom of burying" in Churches was not generally
brought in, but was the practice of later ages ; of which
more, when we come to speak of the funeral rites of the
Church.
, • Con. Bracar. ii. c. 7. Edit. Crab. al. 3. Bracar. Ed. Labbo. Qui infantes
suos ad baptismum offerunt, si quid voluntarie pro suo ofl'erunt voto, suscipia-
tur ab eis ; si vero per necessitatem paupertalis aliquid non habent quod of-
ferant, nullum illis pignus violenler toUatur a Clericis. Nam multi pauperes
hoctimentes, filios suos a baptismo rctrahunt. *Ibid. can. v.
^Gelas. Ep. 1. ad 9. ad Episc. Lucan. c. 7. ♦ Con. Trul. c. 23.
'^ Hieron. Qusst. Hebraic, in Gen. 23. torn. iii. p. 914. Postquam pretio victus
est, ut Sv^pulcrum venderet, &c. appcUatus est Epliran : significante scripturft,
non eum fuisse consumniatse perfecta^que virtutis, qui potuerit memorias ven-
dere mortuorum. Sciant igitur qui sepulcra venditaut, et non coguntur ut ac-
cipiant ])retiuni, sed a nolentibus etiani extorqucnt, immutari noiueu suuiii, et
perirc quid de merito eoruni, &c.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 481
Sect. 15.— The Oblations of the People anciently one of the most valuable
Parts of Church-Revenues.
If any one is desirous to know, what part of the Church-
revenues was anciently most serviceable and beneficial to
the Church, he may be informed from St. Chrysostom and
St. Austin, who give the greatest commendations to the
offerings and oblations of the people, and seem to say, that
the Church was never better provided, than when her main-
tenance was raised chiefly from them. For then men's zeal
prompted them to be very liberal in their daily offerings ;
but as lands and possessions were settled upon the Church,
this zeal sensibly abated ; and so the Church came to be
worse provided for, under the notion of growing richer.
Which is the thing that St. Chrysostom complains of in his
own times, when the ancient revenue arising" from oblations
was in a great measure sunk, and the Church with all her
lands left in a worse condition than she was before. For
now her ministers were forced to submit to secular cares,
to the management of lands, and houses, and the business
of buying and selling, for fear the orphans and virgins and
widows of the Church should starve. He exhorts the peo-
ple therefore to return to their ancient liberality of obla-
tions; which would at once ease the ministry of all such
cares, and make a good provision for the poor, and take off
all the little scoffs and objections, that some were so ready
to make and cast upon the clergy, — that they were too much
g"iven to secular cares and employments; when indeed it
was not choice, but necessity that forced them to it.
" There are," says he,* " in this place, (at Antioch he
means,) by the grace of God an hundred thousand persons,
that come to Church. Now, if every one of these would
but g-ive one loaf of bread daily to the poor, the poor would
live in plenty. If every one would contribute but one half-
penny, no man would want; neither should we undergo
so many reproaches and derisions, as if we were too intent
upon our possessions." By this discourse of Chrysostom's
it plainly appears, that he thought the o'olations of tiie peo-
ple in populous cities, when men acted with their pri-
' Chrys. Horn. 86. in Matth.
VOL. 1. 3 Q
482 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK V.
mitive zeal, was a better provision for the clerg-y, than even
the lands and posses^iions of the Church. And St. Austin
seems to have had the same sense of this matter. For
Possidius tells us in his life/ " that when he found, the
possessions of the Church were become a little invidious,
he was used to tell the laity, that he had rather live upon
the oblations of the people of God, than underg*o the care
and trouble of those possessions ; and that he was ready to
part with them, provided all the servants and ministers of
God mig-ht live as they did under the Old Testament, when,
as we read, they that served at the altar were made par-
takers of the altar. But, though he made this proposal to
the people, they would never accept of it." Which is an
argument, that the people also thought, that the reducing
the clergy's maintenance to the precise model of the Old
Testament would have been a more chargeable way to
them than the other; since'the oblations of the Old Testa-
ment included tithes and lirst-fruits ; concerning the state
and original of which, as to what concerns the Christian
Church, I come now to make a more particular inquiry, _
CHAP. V.
Of Tithes and First-Fruits in particular.
Sect. 1.— Tithes anciently reckoned to be due by Divine Right.
Concerning tithes, so far as relates to the ancient
Church, it will be proper to make three inquiries. First,
whether the primitive fathers esteemed them to be due by
divine right ? — 2dly, If they did, why they were not always
strictly demanded? — 3dly, In what age they were first ge-
nerally settled upon the Church'? — As to the first inquiry,
it is generally agreed by learned men, that the ancients
1 Possid. Vit. Aug. C.23. Dura forte (ut adsolet) de possessionibus ipsis
invidia .Clericis fieret, alloquebatur plebem Dei, malle se ex collationibus
plebis Dei vivere quam illarum possessionum curam vel gubernationeni pati ;
et paratuni se illis cedere, ut eo mode omnes Dei servi et ministri vivt'ient,
quo in VeteriTestamentoleguntur altari deservientes de eodem comparticipaii.
Sed nunquam id Laici suscipere voluerunt.
iCHAP. v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 483
accounted tithes to be due by divine right. BoUarmin in-
deed/ and Rivet/ and Mr. Selden,^ place them upon another
foot. Bat our learned bishop Andrews* and bishop Carle-
ton,* who wrote before Mr. Selden, and bishop Montague,*
and Tillesly,' who wrote in answer to him, not to mention
many others who have written since, have clearly proved,
that the ancients believed the law about tithes not to be
merely a ceremonial or poUtical command, but of moral and
perpetual obligation. It will be sufl&cient for me in this
place to present the reader with two or three of their alle-
gations. Origen, in one of his Homilies on Numbers, thus
delivers his opinion about it:^ " How does our righteousness
exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, if
they dare not taste of the fruits of the earth, before they
offer the first-fruits to the priests, and separate the tithes for
the Levites ; — whilst I do nothing of this, but only so
abuse the-fruits of the earth, that neither the priest, nor the
Levite, nor the altar of God shall see any of them?" St.
Jerom says expressly,^ " that the law about tithes and first-
fruits was to be understood to continue in its full force in
the' Christian Church; where men were commanded not
only to give tithes, but to sell all that they had, and give
to the poor. But," says he, " if we will not proceed so
far, let us at least imitate the Jewish practice, and give part
of the whole to the poor, and the honour that is due to the
priests and Levites, Which he who does not, defrauds
> Bellarmin. de Clericis, lib. i. c. 25. = Rivet. Exerc. 60. in Gen.
xiv. p. 386. « Selden Hist, of Tithes, c. 4. * Andrew de
Decimis, inter Opuscula. * Carleton, Divine Right of Tithes, c. 4.
0 Montague Diatribe, &c. ' Tillesly Answer to Selden. * Orig.
Horn. II. in Num. xviii. torn. i. p. 210. Quoniodo ergo abundat justilia nostra
plusquam Scribarum et Pharisaeorum, si illi de fructibus terraj suse gustare
non audent, priusquam primitias suas Sacerdotibus offerant, et Levitis decimse
separentur ? Et ego nihil horum faciens, fructibus terrae ita abutar, ut Sacer-
dos nesciat, Levites ignorent, Divinuni Altare non sentiat? ' Hieron.
Com. in Mai. iii. Quod de decimis primitiisque dixiraus, quae olim dabantur
a populo Sacerdotibus ac Levitis, in Ecclesiae quoque populis intelligite:
quibus praeceptum est, non solum decimas dare et primitias, sed et vendere
omnia quae habent et dare pauperibus, et sequi Dominum Salvatorem. Quod
si facere nolumus, saltern Judaeorum iraitemur exordia, ut pauperibus partem
demus ex toto, et Sacerdotibus et Levitis honorem debilum deferamus. Quod
qui non fecexit, Deum fraudare et supplantare convuicitur. &c.
484 THS' ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK V^
God, and makes himself liable to a curse." St. Austin as
plainly favours the same opinion, telling men,* " that tliey
oug-ht to separate something out of their yearly fruits, or
daily income; and that a tenth to a Christian was but a
small proportion. Because it is said, the Pharisees gave
tithes r ' I fast tw ice in the w^eek, I give tithes of all that I
possess.' And our Lord saith, ' except your righteousness
exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye
shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.' But if he,,
whose righteousness you are to exceed, gave tithes ; and
you give not a thousandth part; how can you be said to
exceed him, whom you do not so much as equal?" By
these few allegations the reader may be able to judge, what
notion the ancients had of tithes, as due by divine right
under the Gospel, as well as under the law ; and that the-
precept concerning them was not a mere ceremonial of
political command given to the Jews only.
Sect. 2. — Why not exacted in the Apostolical Age and those that
immediately followed.
But why then, it may be said, were not tithes exacted by
the Apostles at first, or by the fathers in the ages imme-
diately follov^ing ? for it is generally believed, that tithes
were not the original maintenance of ministers under the
Gospel. To this bishop Carleton has returned several very
satisfactory answers, which the reader may take in his own
words.2 First, " That tithes were paid to the priests and
Levites in the time of Christ and his Apostles : now the
Synagogue must first be buried, before these things could
be orderly brought into use in the Church." Secondly, " In
the times of the New Testament, and somewhat after, there
was an extraordinary maintenance by a community of alf
things, which supplied the w ant of tithes ; but this commu-
' Aug. Com. in Psal. cxlvi. torn. viii. p. 698. Prsecidite ergo aliquid, et
deputate aliquid fixum vel ex annuls fructibus, vel ex quotidianis quiBstibus
Testris. - - - Decimas vis ? Decimas- exime, quanquam parum sit. Dictum
est enim, quia Pharisffii decimas dabant, &c. Et quid ait Dominns ? nisi
abundaverit justitia vestra plusquam ScribaruraetPharisseorum, nonintrabitis
in regnum coelorum. Et ille, super queni debet abundare justitia tua, decimas--
dat: lu autein nee millosiinam das. Quomodo superabis eura, cui nors
ttquaris I ^ Carleton, Div. Right of Tithes, cap. iv. p. 21.
CHAP, v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 485
nitv was extraordinnry, and not to last alwnys." Thirdly,
" The use of paying- tithes, as the Church then stood, was
so incommodious, and cumbersome, that it could not welt
be practised. And therefore as circumcision was laid asside
for a time, whilst Israel travelled through the wilderness,
not because the people of right oug-ht not then also to have
used it, but because it was so incommodious for that estate
and time of the Church, that it could not without great
trouble be practised : even so the use of tithes in the time of
Christ and his Apostles was laid aside, not because it oug-ht
not, but because it could not, without great encumbrance be
done. And as circumcision was resumed, as soon as the
estate of the Church could bear it; so tithes were re-esta-
blished, as soon as the condition of the Church could
sulFer it. For tithes cannot well be paid, but where some
whole state or kingdom receiveth Christianity, and where
the mao-istrate doth favour the Church, which was not in'
the time of the Apostles." To these reasons some other
learned persons have added a fourth, which is also worth
noting-,* " that the tithes of fruits were not so early paid to
Christian priests, because the inhabitants of the country
were the latest converts ; whence also the name pagans
jjtuck by the heathens, because the greatest relies of
them were in country villages.
Sect. 3. — In what Age they were first generally settled upon the Church.
As to the last inquiry, when tithes began first to bo
generally settled upon the Church ? the common opinion is,
that it was in the fourth century, when magistrates began to
favour the Church and the world was generally converted
from heathenism. Some think Constantine settled them
by law upon the Church ; so Alsted,- who cites Herniannus
Gigas for the same opinion. But there is no law of Con-
stantine's now extant that makes express mention of any
such thing. That, which comes the nearest to it, seems to
be the law about an annual allowance of corn to the clergy
in all cities, out of the public treasuries, which has been
' Bishop Fell Not. in Cypr. Ep. GC. al. 1. ^ Alsted. Supplement,
Chaniicr Ue Meuibris Eccles. c. 10.
486 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK Vi
spoken of in the last chapter ; but this was not so much as
a tenth of the yearly product ; for the whole tribute itself,
seems to have been no more. For in some laws of the
Theodosian Code,^ the emperor's tribute is called Decimoe^
iithes ; and the publicans, who collected it, are upon
that account by TuIIy called Decumani j^ and in Hesychius
the word, AeKarewiv, to tithe, is explained by TcXwvav et
AfKarrjv iKTirpdma^ai, to pay tribute, or pay their tithes to
the collectors of the tribute. Unless therefore we can
suppose, that Constantine settled the whole tribute of the
(empire upon the Church, which it is evident he did not,
we cannot take that law for a settlement of tithes uoon the
clerg-y. Yet it might be a step towards it; for before the
end of the fourth century, as Mr. Selden^ himself not only
confesses, but proves oat of Cassian, Eug'ippius, and others,
tithes w^ere paid to the Church. St. Austin lived in this
age, and he says, tithes were paid before his time, and
much better than they were in his own time ; for he makes
a great complaint of the non-payment of them. " Our fore-
fathers," says he,* " abounded in all things, because they
gave tithes to God, and tribute to Ceesar. But now, because
our devotion to God is sunk, the taxes of the state are
raised upon us. We would not give God his part in the
tithes, and therefore the whole is taken away from us. The
'exchequer devours what we would not give to Christ." St.
Chrysostom,^ and the author of the Opus Imperfectum^ on
St. Matthew, that goes under his nam«, testify for the prac-
tice of other Churches about the same time. And it were
easy to add a list of many other fathers and councils of
the next age,' which speak of tithes as then actually settled
upon the Church. But since they, who dispute most against
• Cod. Th. lib. x. tit. 19. de Metallis leg. 10 et 1 1. « Vid. Cicer. Orat.
3. in Ver. n.21 et22. ^ Seldeti Hist, of Tithes, c. v. p. 47, &c.
* Aug. Horn. 48. ex 50. torn. X. p. 201. Majores nostri, ideo copiis omnibus
abundabant, quia Deo deciinas dabant, et Csesari censum reddebant. Modo
autem quia decessit devotio Dei, accessit Indiclio fisci. Nolumus partiri cum
DeoDecimas, modo totum toilitur. Hoc toUit fiscus, quodnon accipit Chiis-
tus. * Chrys. Horn. 4. in Ephes. p. 1058. ^Opus Imperf. in
Mat. Horn. 44. Si Populus Decimas non obtulerit, murmurant omncs : At si
peccantcm Populum vidcrint, nemo murmurat contra eum. ' Con. Aure-
lian. i. An. 511. can. 17. Con. Matiscon. 2. An. 588. c. v.
CHAP, v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 487
the divine rig-ht of them, do not deny this as to fact, it is
needless to prosecute this matter any farther ; which they,
that please, may see historically deduced through many
centuries by Mr. Selden.*
Sect. 4. — The Original of First-fruits, and the Manner of Offering them.
There is one part more of Church-revenues, whose origi-
nal remains to be inquired into, and that is first-fruits,
which are frequently mentioned in the primitive writers.
For not only those called the Apostolical Canons,^ and Con-
stitutions,^ speak of them, as part of the maintenance of
the clergy ; but writers more ancient and more authentic,
as Origen and Irenseus, mention them also as oblations
made to God. " Celsus," says Origen,* " would have us
dedicate first-fruits to daemons ; but we dedicate them to
him, who said, ' Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb
yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his
kind.' To whom we give our first-fruits, to him also we
send up our prayers, having a great high-priest that is en-
tered into heaven, &c." In like manner Ireneeus says,*
" Christ taught his disciples to offer the first-fruits of the
creatures to God, and that this was the Church's continual
oblation with thanksgiving for the emjoyment of all the
rest." Which implies, either that they had a particular form of
thanksgiving, as there is in both the Greek and Latin Rituals;
or else, that these first-fruits were offered with other obla-
tions at the time of the eucharist. However this be, it is
evident, that as they were principally designed for agnizing
the Creator, so they were secondarily intended for the use
of his servants; and therefore we find the Eustathian here-
tics censured by the synod of Gangra,^ Anno 324, " for
that they took the first-fruits, which were anciently given to
the Church, and divided them among the saints of their own
' Selden Hist, of Tithes, c. 5. &c, ^ Canon. Apost. c. 4.
^ Constit.lib. ii. c. 25. lib. viii. c. 30. * Orig;. cont. Cels. lib. viii. p.
400. * Iren. lib. iv. c. 32. Sed et suis discipuiis dans consilium pri-
mitias Deo ofFerre ex suis creaturis, &e. Ibid. c. 34. Offerre igitur oportet
Deo primitias ejus creaturse, &c. ^ Con.Gangr. in Prwfat. KapTro(f>opiag
rt roe fKK\f;<rio<=riKae rag aveKaS^tv ^iSofikvag ry iKK\)]cri<} tavroit; Ki rcTf Tt'i'
avToTg, iog ayioig, rac via£6(Ttn: noi<ifitvoi.
488 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK V.
party," in opposition to which practice there are two canons
made by that council,' forbidding any one to receive, or
distribute such oblations out of the Church, otherwise than
by the directions of the bishop, under pain of excommunica-
tion. Some other rules are also given by one of the coun-
cils of Carthage,^ inserted into the African Code, concerning
these first-fruits, that they should be only of grapes and
corn ; which shows that it was also the practice of the
African Church. Nazianzen^ likewise mentions, " the first
fruits of the wine-press and the floor, which were to be de-
dicated to God." And the author of the Constitutions has
a form of prayer,* 'ETrtxXrjo-tc tirX dira^x'^ov, an invocation
upon the first-fruits, to be used at their dedication. So that
it seems very clear, that the offering of first-fruits was
a very ancient and general custom in the Christian Church,
and that this also contributed something toward the main-
tenance of the clergy ; whose revenues I have now consi-
dered so far as concerps the several kinds and first original
of them.
CHAP. VI.
Of the Management and Distribution of the Revenues of the
Ancient Clergy.
Sect. 1. — The Revenues of the whole Diocese anciently in the Hands of
the Bishop.
The next thing to be considered is the ancient way of
managing and distributing these revenues among the clergy,
and such others, as were dependants upon the Church.
Which being a little different from the way of later
Ages, since settlements were made upon parochial (^hurches,
for the right understanding of it we are in the first place to
observe, that anciently the revenues of the whole diocese
were all in the hands of the bishop ; who, with the advice
and consent of his senate of presbyters, distributed them as
' Con. Gangr. in Prajfat. can. 7 et8. -^ Cod. Can. Afr. c. 37. al. 10,
Con. African, c. 4, " Naz. Ep. 80. * ConsJit. lib. viii. c. 40.
CHAP. VI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 489
the occasions of the Church required. This will appear
evident to any one, that will consider these two things, which
will hereafter be proved, when we come to speak of paro-
chial Churches and their original. First, that there were
anciently no presbyters or other clergy fixed upon particular
Churches, or congregations in the same city or diocese ;
but they were served indifferently by any presbyter from
the Ecclesia Matrix, the mother or cathedral Church, to
which all the clergy of the city or diocese belonged, and
not to any particular congregation. Secondly, that when
presbyters were fixed to particular Churches or assemblies
in some cities, yet still those Churches had no separate
revenues ; but the maintenance of the clergy officiating in
them was from the common stock of the mother-church,
into which all the oblations of particular Churches were put,
as into a common fund, that from thence there might be
made a general distribution. That thus it was at Constanti-
nople till the middle of the fifth century, is evident from
what we find in Theodoras Lector,* who says, " that Mar-
cian, the (Economus, or guardian of that Church, under
Gennadius, Anno 460, was the first that ordered the clergy
of every particular Church to receive the offerings of their
own Church, whereas before the great Church received
them all.
Sect. 2.— And by his Care distributed among the Clergy.
Now this being the ancient custom, it gives us a clear
account how all the revenues of the Church came to be in
the hands of the bishop, and how it was made one part of
his office and duty by the canons to concern himself in the
care and distribution of them. Of which because I have
already spoken elsewhere, ^ I shall say no more in this place,
save only that the bishop himself, to avoid suspicion and
prevent mismanagement, was obliged to give an account of
his administration in a provincial synod ;^ as also at his
election to exhibit a list of his own goods and estate, that
such thino-s as belonged to him* might be distinguished
» Theod. Lcct. lib. i. p. 553. '^ Book ii. chni). iv. sect. G.
3 Con. Antioch. c. 2o. ' Cauon. Apost. c. 39. al. 40
VOL. I. ^ ^
490 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK V.
from those, that belonged to God and the Church. And for
the same reason the great council of Chalcedon ordered,'
" that every bishop should have an (Economus, or guardian
of the Church, and he to be chosen by the vote of all the
clergy, as has been noted in another place. See book iii.
chap. xii. sect. 4.
Sect. 3. — Rules about the Division of Church-Revenues.
As to the distribution itself, in the most primitive ages we
find no certain rules about it; but as it was in the Apostles'
days, so it continued for some time after : what was col-
lected, was usually deposited with the bishop, and distri-
bution was made to every man according as he had need.
But the following ages brought the matter to some certain
rules, and then the revenues were divided into certain por-
tions, monthly or yearly, according as occasion required,
and these proportioned to the state or needs of every order.
In the western Church the division was usually into three
or four parts ; whereof one fell to the bishop, a second to
the rest of the clergy, a third to the poor, and the fourth
was applied to the maintenance of the fabric and other
necessary uses of the Church. The council of Bracara*
makes but three parts ; one for the bishop, another for the
clergy, and the third for the fabric and lights of the Church.
But then it was supposed, that the bishop's hospitality
should out of such a proportion provide for the necessities
of the poor. By other rules the poor,^ that is, all distressed
people, the virgins and widows of the Church, together
with the martyrs and confessors in prison, the sick and
strangers, have one-fourth in the dividend expressly allotted
them. For all these had relief, though not a perfect main-
tenance, from the charity of the Church. At Rome there
were fifteen hundred such persons besides the clergy pro-
• Con. Chalced. c. 25. ^Con. Bracar. i. c. 25. Placuit, ut de rebus
ecclesiasticis fiant tres aequaa portiones, id est, una Episeopi, alia Clericorum,
tertia in reparatione vol in luminariis Ecclesise. ^Gelas. Ep. 1. al. 9.
ad Episc. Lucaniae. c. 29. Quatuor tarn de redditu quam de oblatione Fide-
lium convcnit fieri portiones . quaruni sit una Pontificis, altera Clerico-
rum, ttrtia Pauiurum, quarta fabricis applicanda. Vid. Siniplicii. Ep. 3. ad
Florent. Oregor. Magn. lib. iii. Ep. 11.
CHAP. VI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 491
vided for in this way in the time of Cornelius;' and above
three thousand at Antioch in the time of Chrysostom:*
by which we may make an estimate of the revenues and
charities of those populous Churches.
Sect. 4. — In some Churches the Clergy lived all in Common.
In some Churches they made no such division, but lived
all in common, the clerg-y with the bishop, as it were in
one mansion, and at one table. But this they did not by
any (>-eneral canon, but only upon choice, or particular
combination and agreement in some particular Churches.
As Sozomen^ notes it to have been the custom at Rino-
curura in Egypt, and Possidius affirms* the same of the
Church of St. Austin. What was the practice of St Austin
and his clerg-y we cannot better learn than from St. Austin
liimself, who tells us,* " that all his clergy laid themselves
voluntarily under an obligation to have all thing-s in com-
mon ; and therefore none of them could have any property,
or any thing- to dispose of by will ; or if they had, they were
liable to be turned out, and have their names expunged out
of the roll of the clerg-y : which he resolved to do, thoug-h
they appealed to Rome, or to a thousand councils ag-ainst
him ; by the help of God they should not be clerks, where
he was bishop." For his own part, he tells us, ^ he was so
punctual to this rule, " that if any one presented him with
a robe finer than ordinary, he was used to sell it; that since
his clergy could not wear the same in kind, they might at
least partake of the benefit, when it was sold and made
common." But as this way of living would not comport
with the state of all Churches, so there were but few that
« Cornel. Ep. ad Fab. ap. Euseb, lib. vi. c. 43. * Chrys. Horn. 67.
inMatth. ^ Sozom. lib. vi. c. 31. * Possid. Vit. Aug. c. 25.
*Aug. Serm. 60. de Diversis, sive de Communi Vita Clericorum, torn. x. p.
523. Quia placuit illis socialis haec vita, quisquis cum hypocrisi vixtrit, quis-
quis inventus fuerit habens proprium, non illi perniitto ut inde faciat testa-
mentum, sed delebo eum de tabula Clericorum, interpellet contra me mille
concilia, naviget contra me quo voluerit, sit certc ubi potuerit, adjuvabit me
Deus, ut ubi ego Episcopus sum, illic Clericus esse non possit. ^ Ibid.
Si quis meliorem dederit, vendo, quod et facere soleo, ut quando non potest
Testis esse communis, pretium vestis sit commune.
492 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK V<,
embraced it ; and those that did, were not compelled to it
by any general law, but only by local statutes of their own
appointment.
Sect. 5. — Alterations made in these Matters by the Endowment of Parochial
Churches.
Yet in one of these two ways the clergy were commonly
provided for out of the revenues of the great Church, till
such times as endowments and settlements began to be
made upon parochial Churches ; which was not done in all
places at the same time, nor in one and the same way.
But it seems to have had its rise from particular foun-
ders of Churches, who settled Manse and glebe upon the
Churches, which they builded, and upon that score were al-
lowed a right of patronage, to present their own clerk, and
invest him with the revenues of the Church, wherewith they
had endowed it. This practice was begun in the time of
Justinian, Anno 500, if not before, for there are two of his
laws, which authorize and confirm it.' About the same time
a settlement of other revenues, as oblations, &c. was also
made in some places upon parochial Churches, as has been
observed before out of Theodorus Lector's accounts of
the Churches of Constantinople. Yet the change is thought
by some^ to be much later in England. For they collect
out of Bede,^ that the ancient course of the clergy's offi-
ciating only pro tempore in parochial Churches, whilst they
received maintenance from the cathedral Church, continued
in England more than an hundred years after the coming
of Austin into England, that is, till about the year 700.
For Bede plainly intimates, that at that time the bishop
and his clergy lived together, and had all things common,
as they had in the primitive Church in the days of the
Apostles.
Sect. 6. — No Alienatjons to be made of Church Revenues or Goods, but upon
Extraordinary Occasions.
I have but one thing more to observe upon this head,
which is, that such goods or revenues, as were once given
* Justin. Novel. 57. c. 2. Novel. 123. c. 18. ^Cawdrey Disc, of
Patronage, c. ii. p. 8. Selden of Tithes, c. ix. p. 355. '* Bede. Hist^
Gentis Anglor. lib. iv. c. 27.
CHAP. VI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 4^^^
to the Church, were always esteemed devoted to God ; and
therefore were only to be employed in his service, and not
to be diverted to any other use, except some extraordinary
case of charity absolutely required it. As if it was to re-
deem captives, or relieve the poor in time of famine, wheri
no other succours could be afforded them ; in that case it
was usual to sell even the sacred vessels and utensils of
the Church, to make provision for the living- temples of
God, which were to be preferred before the ornaments of
the material building-s. Thus St. Ambrose melted down
the communion-plate of the Church of Milan to redeem
some captives, which otherwise must have continued in
slavery ; and, when the Arians objected this to him invidi-
ously as a crime, he wrote a most elegant apology and vin-
dication for himself, where among- other things, worthy the
reader's perusal, he pleads his own cause after this manner;*
" Is it not better that the bishop should melt the plate to
sustain the poor, when other sustenance cannot be had,
than that some sacrilegious enemy should carry it off by
spoil and plunder ? Will not our Lord expostulate with us
upon this account? Why did you suffer so many helpless
persons to die with famine, when you had gold to provide
them sustenance? Why were so many captives carried
away and sold without redemption 1 Why were so many
suffered to be slain by the enemy 1 It had been better to
have preserved the vessels of living men, than lifeless
metals. What answer can be returned to this 1 For what
shall a man say ? I was afraid lest the temple of God
should want its ornaments. But Christ will answer ; my
sacraments do not require gold, nor please me the more for
being ministered in gold, which are not bought with gold.
The ornament of my sacraments is the redemption of cap-
tives; and those are truly precious vessels, which redeem
souls from death." Thus that holy father goes on to jus-
tify the fact, which the Arians called sacrilege, but he, by a
truer name, charity and mercy ; for the sake of which he
concludes it was no crime for a man to break, to melt, to
sell the mystical vessels of the Church, though it were a
' Ambros. de Offic. lib. ii. c. 28.
4^4 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK V,
Very great offence for any man to convert them to his own
private use* After the same example we find St. Austin *
disposed of the plate of his Church for the redemption of
Captives. Acacius, bishop of Amida, did the same for the
redemption of seven thousand Persian slaves from the hands
of the Roman soldiers, as Socrates informs us. ^ From
w hence we also learn, that in such cases they did not con-
sider what religion men were of, but only whether they
were indigent and necessitous men, and such as stood in
need of their assistance. We have the like instances in
the practice of Cyril of Jerusalem, mentioned by Theodoret*
and Sozomen,and in Deogratias, bishop of Carthage, whose
charity is extolled by Victor Uticensis* upon the same oc-
casion. For he sold the communion-plate to redeem the
Roman soldiers, that were taken captives in their wars
with the Vandals. This was so far from being esteemed
sacrilege or unjust alienation, that the laws against sacrilege
excepted this case, though they did no other whatsoever ;
as may be seen in the law of Justinian,* which forbids the
selling or pawning the church-plate, or vestments, or any
other gifts, except in case of captivity or famine, to redeem
slaves, or relieve the poor; because in such cases the lives
or souls of men were to be preferred before any vessels or
vestments whatsoever. The poverty of the clergy was a
pitiable case of the same nature ; and therefore if the an-
nual income of the Church would not maintain them, and
there was no other way to provide them of necessaries ; in
that case some canons^ allowed the bishop to alienate or
sell certain goods of the Church, to raise a present main-
tenance.
'Possid. Vit. Aug. c. 24. Vid. Cave. Hist. Liter. ^Socrat. lib. vii.
c. 21. ^ Tiieod. lib. ii. c. 27. Sozom. lib. iv. c. 25. * Victor,
de Persec. Vandal, lib. i. Bibl. Patr. torn. vii. p. 591. * Cod. Just,
lib. i. tit. 2. de Sacrosanct. Eccles. leg. 21. Sanciinus, nemini licere sacra-
tissima atque arcana vasa, vel vestes, caeteraque donaria, quae ad divinam re-
ligionein necessaria sunt - - - vel ad venditionem vel ad hypothecain vel ad
pignus traliere exccpta causa captivitalis et famis in locis quibus hoc
contigerit. Nam si necessitas fuerit in redemptione captivorum, tunc et ven-
ditionem prsefatarum rerum divinarum, et hypothecara et pignorationes fieri
concedimus ; quoniam non absurdum est,aninias hominum quibuscunque vasis
vel vestimentis praeferri. ® Con. Carthag. v. c. 4, Con. Agathen. c. 7.
CHAP. VI.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 49-5
Sect. 7.— And that with the joint Consent of the Bishop and his Clergy,
■with the Approbation of the Metropolitan or some Provincial Bishops.
But that no fraud mig-ht be committed in any such cases,
the same canons did specially provide, " that when any
uro-ent necessity compelled the bishop to take this extraor-
dinary course, he should first consult his clergy, and also
the metropolitan, and others his comprovincial bishops, that
they might judge of the necessity, and whether it were a
reasonable ground for such a proceeding." The fourth
council of Carthage^ disannuls all such acts of the bishop,
whereby he either gives away, or sells, or commutes any
goods of the Church, without the consent and subscription
of his clergy. And the fifth council of Carthage^ requires
him to intimate the case and necessity of his Church first
to the primate of the province, that he with a certain num-
ber of bishops may judge, whether it be fitting to be done.
The council of Agde says,^ " he should first consult two
or three of his neighbouring bishops, and take their appro-
bation." Thus stood the laws of the Church, so long as the
bishop and his clergy had a common right in the dividend
of ecclesiastical revenues; nothing could be alienated with-
out the consent of both parties, and the cognizance and
ratification of the metropolitan or provincial synod. So
that the utmost precaution was taken in this affair, lest, un-
der the pretence of necessity or charity, any spoil or devas-
tation should be made of the goods and revenues of the
Church.
• Con. Carth. iv. c. 32. Irrita erit donatio Episcoruin, vel venditio vel com-
mutatio rei ecclesiasticse, absque conniventia et subscriptione Clericorum.
2 Con. Carth. v. c. 4. Si aliqua necessitas cogit, banc insinuandam esse Pri-
mati provinciae ipsius, ut cum statute nuinero Episcoporuiti, utrum faciendum
sit arbitretur. ^Con. Agathen. r. 7. Apud duos vel tres comprovin-
ciales vel vicinos Episcopos, causa, quS necesse sit veudi, primitus com ■
probetur.
496 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK VI.
BOOK VI.
AN ACCOUNT OF SEVERAL LAWS AND RULES,
RELATING TO THE EMPLOYMENT, LIFE, AND
CONVERSATION OF THE PRIMITIVE CLERGY.
CHAP. I.
Of the Excellency of these Rules in general, and the Exem-
plariness of the Clergy in Conformi7ig to them.
Sect, 1. — The Excellency of the Christian Rules attested and envied
by the Heathens.
I HAVE in the two foregoing books given an account of
the great care of the primitive Church in providing and
training up lit persons for the ministry, and of the great en-
couragements tliat were given them by the state, as well to
honour and distinguish their caUing, as to excite and pro-
voke them to be sedulous in the discharge of their several
offices and functions. There is one thing more remains,
which is, to give an account also of the Church's care in
making necessary laws and canons, obliging- every member
of the ecclesiastic body to live conformably to his profes-
sion, and exercise himself in the duties of his station and
calling. These rules were many of them so excellent in
their own nature, and so strictly and carefully observed by
those, who had a concern in them, that some of the chief
adversaries of the Christian religion could not but take
notice of them, and with a sort of envy and emulation bear
testimony to them. Among the works of Julian there is a
famous epistle of his to Arsacius, high-priest of Galatia,
which is recorded also by Sozomen,' wherein he takes
' Sozom. lib, V. c. IG.
CHAP. I.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 497
occasion to tell him, " that it was very visible, that the
causes of the great increase of Christianity were chiefly
their professed hospitality towards strangers, and their great
care in burying the dead, joined with a pretended sanctity
and holiness of life." Therefore he bids him, as high-priest
of Galatia, to take care, " that all the priests of that region,
that were under him, should be made to answer the same
character; — and that he should either by his threatenings
or persuasions bring them to be diligent and sober men, or
else remove them from the office of priesthood; — that he
should admonish the priests, neither to appear at the
theatre, nor frequent the tavern, nor follow any calling or
employment, that was dishonourable and scandalous; and
such as were observant of his directions he should honour
and promote them, but discard and expel the refractory and
contumacious." This is plainly to say, and it is so much
the more remarkable for its coming from the mouth of an
adversary, that the Christian clergy of those times were
men that lived by excellent rules, diligent in their employ-
ment, grave and sober in their deportment, cliaritable to
the indigent, and cautious and reserved in their whole con-
versation and behaviour toward all men. Which as it
tended mightily to propagate and advance Christianity in
the world ; so it was what Julian upon that account could
not but look upon with an envious eye, and desire that his
idol-priests might gain the same character; thereby to
echpse the envied reputation of the other, and reflect honour
and lustre upon his beloved heathen religion. We have
the like testimonies in Ammianus Marcellinus' and others,
concerning the frugality, temperance, modesty, and humi-
lity of Christian bishops in their own times ; which coming
from the pens of professed heathens, and such as did neither
spare the emperors themselves, nor the bishops of Rome,
who lived in greater state and affluence, may well be thought
authentic relations, and just accounts of those holy men,
whose commendations and characters, so ample, nothing but
truth could have extorted from the adversaries of their reli-
gion.
• Amiuian. Marcel, lib. xxvii.
VOL. I. 3 Q
498 THE ANTIQUITIES OF TflE [l^OOK VI.
Sect. 2. — The Character of the Clergy from Christian Writers.
This beino* so, we may the more easily g-ive credit, to
those noble paneg-yries and encomiums, which some ancient
Christian writers make upon the clerg-y, and their virtues,
and discipline in g-eneral. Orig-en says,' " it was the busi-
ness of their life to traverse every corner of the world, and
make converts and proselytes to godliness both in cities
and villages. And they were so far from making- a gain
hereof, that many of them took nothing for their service;
and those, that did, took only what was necessary for their
present subsistence, though there wanted not persons
enough, who in their liberality were ready to have commu-
nicated much more to them." St. Austin'^ gives the like
good character of the bishops and presbyters of his own
time, making- them the chief ornament of the Catholic
Church, and extolling their virtues above those of a monas-
tic life, because their province was more difficult, having- to
converse with all sorts of men, and being- forced to bear
with their distempers in order to cure them. He, that
would see more of this general character, must consult the
ancient Apologists, where he will find it interwoven with
the character of Christians in general; whose innocence,
and patience, and charity, and universal goodness, was
owing partly to the institutions, and partly to the provoking
examples of their guides and leaders; who lived as they
spake, and first trod the path themselves, which they re-
quired others to walk in. Which was the thing, that set
the Christian teachers so much above the philosophers of
the Gentiles. For the philosophers indeed discoursed and
wrote very finely about virtue in the theory, but they undid
all they said in their own practice. " Their discourses," as
Minucius observes,^ " were only eloquent harangues against
their own vices; whereas the Christian philosophers ex-
pressed their profession not in their words or habit, but in
the real virtues of the soul ; they did not talk great, but live
well; and so attained to that glory, which the philosophers
pretended always to be offering at, but could never happily
• Origen.Cont. Cels. lib. iii. p. 116. ^ Aug. de Moribus Eccles,
Cathol. c. 32. torn. i. \k 330. ^ Minuc. Octav. p. 110.
CHAP. 1.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 490
arrive to." Lactantius' triumphs over the gentile philoso-
phers upon the same topic; and so Gregory Nazianzen,'*
Tertullian,^ Cyprian,* and many others; whose arguments
had been easily retorted, had not the Christian teachers
been generally men of a better character, and free from
those imputations, which they cast upon the adverse party.
Sect. 3. — Particular Exceptions no Derogation to their general good
Character.
Some few instances indeed, it cannot be denied, are to be
found of persons, who in these best ages were scandals
and reproaches to their profession. The complaints, that
are made by good men, will not suffer us to believe other-
wise. Cyprian^ and Eusebius® lament the vices of some
among the clergy, as well as laity, and reckon them among
the causes, that moved the divine providence to send those
two great fiery trials upon the Church, the Docian and the
Dioc-letian persecutions; thereby to purge the tares from
the wheat, and correct those enormities and abuses, which
the ordinary remedy of ecclesiastical discipline, through the
iniquity of the times, was not able to redress. The like
complaints are made by Chrysostom,^ Gregory Nazianzen,^
and St. Jerora,^ of some ecclesiastics in their own times,
whose practices were corrupt, and dishonourable to their
profession. And indeed it were a wonder, if all ages should
not afford some such instances of unsound members in so
great a body of men, since there was a Judas even among
the Apostles. But then it is to be considered, that a few
such exceptions did not derogate from the good character,
which the primitive clergy did generally deserve; and the
faults of those very men were the occasion of many good
laws and rules of discipline, which the provincial synods of
those times enacted; out of which I have chiefly collected
the following account, which concerns the lives and labours
of the ancient clergy.
> Lact. lib.iv. c.23. Lib. iii. c. 15. - Xa-. Tnvect i. in Julian.
3 Tevtul. Apol. cAQ. * Cypr. deBono Patient, p. 2 10 * ("ypr.
de I>apsis, p. 124. « Eusob. lib. viii. c. 1. ' Chrys. Honi. SO.
in Act. " Naz. Cariu. Cygn. de Episcopis, torn. ii. " Hieron .
Ep. "i. ad Nepotian,
500 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK VI.
Sect. 4. — An Account of some ancient Writers which treat of the Duties
of the Clerg-y.
To these the reader may johi those excellent tracts of the
Ancients, which purposely handle this subject; such as St.
Chrysostom's Six Books De Sacerdotio; St. Jerom's Second
Epistle to Nepotian, which is called, De Vita Clericorum ;
and Greg-ory Nazianzen's Apology for flying from the
priesthood; in all which the duties of the clerg-y are excel-
lently described. Or if any one desires rather to see them
exemplified in some living- instances and great patterns of
perfection, which commonly make deeper impressions than
bare rules, he must consult those excellent characters of
the most eminent primitive bishops, which are drawn to the
life by the best pens of the age ; such as the Life of Igna-
tius by Chrysostom; the Life of St. Basil and Athanasius
by Greg-ory Nazienzen; the Life of St. Austin by Possidius;
the Life of Greg-ory Thaumaturgus and Meletius by Gregory
Nyssen; in all which the true character and idea of a
Christian bishop is set forth and described with this advan-
tag-e, — that a man does not barely read of rules, but see
them as it were exemplified in practice. The chief of these
discourses in both kinds are already translated into our own
language by other pens,^ and they are too prolix to be in-
serted into a discourse of this nature, which proceeds in a-
different method from them. I shall therefore only extract
such observations from them, as fall in with the public and
g^eneral laws of the Church, of which I give an account in
the following chapters, and leave the rest to the curious
diligence of the inquisitive reader.
1 See Bishop Burnet's Pastoral Care, c.4; and Seller's Remarks on the
Lives of the Primitive Fathers.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 501
CHAP. II.
Of Laws relating to the Life and Conversation of the
Primitive Clergy.
Sect. 1. — Exemplary Purity required in the Clergy above other Men,
Reasons for it.
The laws of the Church, which concerned the clergy, I
shall, for distinction's sake, consider under three heads; speak-
ing, first. Of such laws as concerned their life and conver-
sation. Secondly, Of such as more particularly related to
the exercise of the several offices and duties of their func-
tion. Thirdly, Of such as were a sort of out-guards or
fences to both the former. The laws, which related to their
life and conversation, were such as tended to create in them
a sublimity of virtue above other men ; forasmuch as they
were to be examples and patterns to them, which, if good,
would be both a light and a spur to others, but if bad. the
very pests and banes of the Church. It is Gregory Nazian-
zen's reflection' upon the different sorts of guides, which he
had observed then in the Church. " Some," he complains,
" did, wdth unwashed hands and profane minds, press to
handle the holy mysteries, and affect to be at the altar, be-
fore they were fit to be initiated to any sacred service :
they looked upon the holy order and function, not as de-
signed for an example of virtue, but otily as a way of subsist-
ing themselves; not as a trust, of which they were to give an
account, but a state of absolute authority and exemption.
And these men's examples corrupted the people's morals,
faster than any cloth can imbibe a colour, or a plague infect
the air ; since men were more disposed to receive the tinc-
ture of vice than virtue from the example of their rulers."
In opposition to such he lays down this as the first thing to
be aimed at by all spiritual physicians, " that they should
draw the picture of all manner of virtues in their own lives,
and set themselves as examples to the people ; that it might
' Naz. Orat. 1. Ajmloget. de Fuga. turn. i. j). 5.
502 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK VI.
not be proverbially said of them, — that they set about curing-
others, while they themselves were full of sores and ulcers."
Nor were they to draw this image of virtue slightly and to a
faint deg-ree, but accurately and to the hig"hest perfection ;
since nothing" less, than such degrees and measures of virtue,
was expected by God from the rulers and governors of his
people : and then there would be hopes, that such heights
and eminencies would draw the multitude at least to a me-
diocrity in virtue, and allure them to embrace that voluntarily
by gentle persuasions, which they would not be brought to,
so effectually and lastingly, by force and compulsion. He
urges further ^ the necessity of such a purity from the con-
sideration of the sacredness and majesty of the function it-
self. "A minister's office sets him in the same rank and
order with angels themselves ; he celebrates God with
archangels ; transmits the Church's sacrifices to the altar
in heaven, and performs the priest's office with Christ him-
self; he reforms the work of God's hands, and presents the
image to his maker ; his workmanship is for the world
above; and therefore he should be exalted to a divine and
heavenly nature, whose business is to be as a God himself,
and make others gods also." St. Chrysostora makes use
of the same argument,^ " that the priesthood, though it be
exercised upon earth, is occupied wholly about heavenly
things ; that it is the ministry of angels put by the Holy
Ghost into the hands of mortal men; and therefore a priest
ought to be pure and holy, as being placed in heaven itself,
in the midst of those heavenly powers." He presses like-
wise the danger and prevalency of a bad example.^ " Sub-
jects commonly form their manners by the pattern of their
princes. How then should a proud man be able to assuage
the swelling tumours of others 1 or an angry ruler hope to
make his people in love with moderation and meekness ?
Bishops are exposed, Uke combatants in the theatre, to the
view and observation of all men ; and their faults, though
never so small, cannot be hid ; and therefore, as their vir-
tuous actions profit many by provoking them to the like
* Naz. Oi-at. 1. Apcloget. de Fuga. tom.i. p. 31. ^(jhj\ys.flc
Sacerdot. lib. iii. c. 1. ^ Ibid. lib. iii. c. 11.
CHAP. II. J CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 503
zeal, so their vices will render others unfit to attempt or
prosecute any thing- that is noble and g'ood. For which
reason their souls ought to shine all over witli the purest
brightness, that they may both enlighten and extimulate the
souls of others, who have their eyes upon them. A priest
should arm himself all over with purity of life, as Avith ada-
mantine armour ; for if he leave any part naked and un-
g-uarded, he is surrounded both with open enemies and pre-
tended friends, who will be ready to wound and supplant
him. So long as his life is all of a piece, he needs not fear
their assaults ; but if he be overseen in a foult, though but
a small one, it will be laid hold of and improved to the pre-
judice of all his former virtues. For all men are most severe
judg-es in his case, and treat him not with any allowance for
being- encompassed with flesh, or as having- an human nature ;
but expect he should be an ang-el, and free from all infirmi-
ties." " He cannot, indeed," as the same father argues in
another place, ^ "with any tolerable decency and freedom
discharge his office in punishing- and reproving- others, un-
less he himself be blameless and without rebuke. " The
priest's office is a more difficult province^ than that of leading-
an army, or governing- a king-dom, and requires an angelical
virtue. His soul ought to be purer than the rays of the sun,
that the Holy Spirit may never leave him desolate ; but that
he may be always able to say, ' I live, yet not I, but Christ
that liveth in me." He there goes on to draw the com-
parison^ at larg-e between the clerical and the monastic life,
and shows how much more difficult it is to take care of a
multitude of men immersed in secular business, than of a
sing-le person, that lives retired and free from temptation.
And upon the whole matter he concludes,* " that as God
requires greater purity in those that serve at his altar, so he
will exact a more ample account of them, and more sevorely
punish their offences." By these and many other such like
arguments did those holy fathers try to raise both in
themselves and others a just sense of that universal purity,
which becomes the sacred function.
» Chrys. de Sacerd. lib. v. c. 3. ^ Cluys. Ibid. lib. vi. c. 2.
3 Ibid. lib. vi. c. 3. * Ibid. lib. vi. c. 10 ct 11.
504 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK VI,
Sect. 2. — Church-Censures more severe against them than any others.
And to the strenfi-th of these arg-uments the Church added
the authority of her sanctions ; inflicting* severer penahies
upon offending- clerg-ymen than any others. For whereas all
other offenders were allowed, by the benefit of public
penance, to reg-ain the privileg-es of their order, this favour
was commonly denied by the Church to such of her sons
among" the clergy, as were notorious for any scandalous
crimes, whereby they became a reproach to their profession.
For such delinquents were usually deposed from their
office, and sometimes excommunicated also, and oblig-ed
to do penance among- the laymen ; but with this difference,
that though repentance would restore them to the peace of
the Church, yet it would not qualify them to act in their
office and station again; but they must be content thence-
forth to communicate only as laymen. Some canons indeed
did not oblige them to do public penance in the Church,
because they thought it punishment enough to degrade
them; others required them to submit to that part of dis-
cipline also. But still the result and consequence of both
was the same, that such persons for ever after were only
to be treated in the quality of laymen. Those called the
Apostolical Canons are sometimes for the former way ; for
one of them says,' " if a bishop, presbyter, or deacon is
taken in fornication, perjury, or theft, he shall be deposed,
but not excommunicated; for the Scripture saith, " thou
shalt not punish twice for the same crime." I do not now
stand to inquire, whether there be any such Scripture as
these canons refer to, but only observe what was the practice
of the Greek Church when these canons were made, which
is also taken notice of in St. Basil's Canons,^ and those of
Peter of Alexandria,^ and some others, which show it to
have been the customary practice of their Churches. Yet
for simony* and some other crimes,^ the same Apostolical
Canons order both deposition and excommunication. And
in the African Church both punishments were inflicted
» Canon. Apost. c.25. 23^511. Ep. Canon, c. 3, 32, 51.
*Pet. Alex. Ep. Canon, c. 10. ap. Bevereg. Pandect, torn. ii. * Canon.
Apost. c. 29. * Ibid. c. 30 et 51.
-CHAP.II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 505
also for one and the same crime, in the time of Cyprian, as
appears from his Epistle to Cornelius,^ where speaking of
Novatus, who was guilty of murder in causing- his own wife
by a blow to miscarry, he says, " for this crime he was not
only to be degraded, or expelled the presbytery, but to be
deprived of the communion of the Church also." From
whence we may collect the severity of the ancient canons
against such crimes of the clergy in general, as were com-
mitted to the flagrant scandal of the Church.
Sect. 3. — What Crimes punished with Degradation: viz. Theft, Murder,
Perjury, &c.
Hence also we may observe in particular, what sort of
crimes were thought worthy to be punished with degrada-
tion, namely, such as theft, murder, perjury, fraud, sacrilege,
fornication, and adultery, and such like gross and scandalous
offences. For in this case they distinguished between
Peccatum and Crimen, little faults and crimes of a more
heinous nature. For St. Austin observes,^ " it was not all
manner of failings that hindered men's ordination at first ;
for if the Apostle had required, as a qualification in per-
sons to be ordained, that they should be without sin, all
men must have been rejected, and none ordained, since no
man lives without sin ; but ho only requires, that they should
be blameless in respect to criminal and scandalous oilences."
And this was the rule the Church observed in canvassing
the lives of her clergy after ordination, when they were
actually engaged in her service. It was not every lesser
failing or infirmity that was punished with degradation ; but
only crimes of a deeper dye, such as theft, murder, fraud,
perjury, sacrilege, fornication, and adultery. Concerning
the last of which there are these two things furthiCr obser-
vable in some of the ancient canons. 1st, That, if any cler-
cfvman's wife was convicted of adultery, he himself was
' Cypr.Ep. 49. al. 52. p. 97. Propter hoc se non de prosbytinio tantuin, sed
et eommunicatioue prohiberi pro certo tenebat, &c. '^ An?:. Tract. 41.
ill Joh. torn. ix. p. 126. Apostolus Paulub, ijuaudo clcjjit oraiuaiidoii vcl Pns-
byleros vol Diaconos, iH quiounque ordinandus est ad praipositurim Eeclrsire,
non ait, "Si quis sine peccato est ;" hoc enini si diceret, ouiuis hiMiio i^pro-
barctur, i.uUus ordinareiur ; sed ait, " JSi quis sine crimine est,"' sicut e&t
homicidluui, aduUeriuni, aliqua immunditia foniicationib, furlum, fraus, sauri-
Jcgium, et ciBtera hujusmudi.
VOL. I. ^ ^
506 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK VI.
obliged to show his resentment and detestation of the fact
by putting her away, under pain of deposition, if he conti-
nued to live with her. For so the council of Neo-Csesarea^
words it; "A man, whose wife is evidently convicted of
adultery while he is a layman, shall not be ordained ; but it
she commit adultery after his ordination, he ought to put
her away ; and, if he cohabit with her, he may not retain
her and his ministry tog-ether." The council of Elibcris^
is still more severe in this case, denying- comuiunion to such
persons even at their last hour, who retained wives guilty
of adultery ; — " because," says the canon, "they, who ought
to be examples of good conversation to others, do by this
means teach others the way to sin." 2dly, The other thing
to be observed is, that if a bishop neglected to inflict the
censures of the Church upon any of his clergy, who were
guilty of fornication, he made himself liable to be deposed.
As Socrates^ observes the Arians themselves deposed Ma-
cedonius, bishop of Constantinople, for this reason among-
others, that he had admitted a deacon to communion, who
had been taken in fornication.
Sect. i. — Also Lapsing in Time of Persecution.
Another crime, which brought many clerks under this
kind of ecclesiastical censure, vAas that of lapsing- in time
of persecution. In which case repentance was allowed to
restore them to the peace of the Church as laymen, if they
pleased, but not to officiate or communicate as ecclesiastics
any longer. Thus Trophimus was treated in the time of
Cornelius and Cyprian ;* he was admitted to communicate
as a layman, but not to retain his office of priesthood. And
this Cyprian says,* was then the rule at Rome and over all
' Con. Neo-Cses. c. 8. 'Edv fiera ti)v x^'poroi'iav ^toi\£t'3»;, cf tiXfi
aTToXvaai avrrjv. kav Sk ffv^y, 8 dvvarai txicy^ca ttjc tyxi'oi-f^ii(^rjg ai'T(f
virijptaiac, ^ q^^^ Eliber. c. 65. Si cnjus Clerici uxor fuerit moechata,
et sciat earn maritus suus mcEchari, et earn iion statiiu projecerit, nee in fine
accipiat conimunionem: ne ab Jiis qui exemplum bonse conversationis esse de-
bcnt, videantur masisteria scelerum procedere. ssopi-^t, lib. ii. c. 42.
* Cypr. Ep. 5-2. al. 55. ad Antoniau. p. 106. Sic tamen adniissus estTropiiinius,
ut Laiciis communicet non quasi locum Sacerdotis i.«urpet. * Id
Ep. 68. al. 67. ad Pleb. Hispan. p. 174. Fnistra tales episcopatum sibi
usuipur<* conantur, &c.
CHAP, n.j CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 507
the world, if bishops or any other kpsed in time of perse-
cution, to admit them to do penance in tlie Church, but
-withal to remove them from the function of the clergy and
honour of the priesthood. As the African synod, in whose
name he writes to the Spanish Churches, determined in the
case of Basilides and Martial, two Spanish bishops, who,
when they had lapsed, thought to qualify themselves by
repentance to retain their bishoprics ; but this, he tells them,
was contrary to the rule and practice of the Universal Church.
He repeats this in several otlier Epistles,* where he has
occasion to speak of persons in the same unhappy circum-
stances with them. We find the same order in the Canons
of Peter,^ bishop ofAlexandria, and the first council of Aries/
where not only such as fell by sacrificing, or open denial
of their faith, but also all traditors are included in the num-
ber of lapsers, that is, all such as either gave up their
Bibles, or the lioly vessels of the Church, or the names of
their brethren to the persecutors; and all such, who were of
the clerg-y, are for ever excluded from the exercise and
benefit of their order and function. Such was the disci-
pline of the ancient Church in reference to those guides,
who set their people an ill example by their apostacy in
time of persecution ; it was not thought fit to trust them to
be guides and leaders for the future. Though I do not
deny, but that some exceptions may be found to this ge-
neral rule, either when the discipline of the Church was not
so strict, or when it was otherwise found more for the bene-
fit of the Church to restore lapsers to their honours, than to
degrade and remove them wholly from them. For I have
noted before, that both lapsers, and heretics, and schismatics,
were sometimes more favourably treated, when the Church
thouo-ht she miffht find her account in showing favour to
them.
•Cypr. Ep.65. al. 59. ad Cornel, p. 133. It. Ep. 64. al. 65. ad Epictet.
* Petr. Alex. Ep. Canon, c. 10. "Ort lititraifsav^ hk iti Svvavrai XuTnoynv.
sCon.Arelat. i. c. 13. De his qui Scripturas Sanctas tradidisse dicuntur,
velvasa dominica, vel nomina fratrum suorum, placuit nobis, ut quiciinque
eorum ex actis publicis fuerit delectus, non verbis nudis, ab ordlne cleri
amoveatur.
508 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK ti.
Sect. 5. — And Drinking and Gaming.
But to proceed with the laws of the Church relating to
other misdemeanors. As the life of a clergyman was a
continual attendance upon the altar, and constantly to be
employed in the exercise of divine and heavenly things ; so
upon that account the utmost sobriety was required of him,
together with a strict care to spend his time aright, and lay
it out usefully ; so as might best answer the ends of his
calling, and those spiritual employments he was daily to be
engaged in. And for this reason drinking and gaming,
those two great consumers of time, and enemies of all noble
undertakings and generous services, were strictly prohibited
the clergy under the same penalty of deprivation. For so
the Apostolical Canons word it,' " A bishop, presbyter, or
deacon, that spends time in drinking or playing" at dice, shall
either reform, or be deposed." Where we may observe this
difference between this and the former laws, that it does
not make every single act of these crimes ipso facto de-
privation, but only continuance therein without reforming.
And by Justinian's lavv^ the penalty for playing at tables is
changed from deprivation to a triennial suspension, and in-
trusion into a monastery for the performance of repentance.
Some perhaps will wonder at the severity of these laws in
prohibiting the exercise of tables under such a penalty ; but
their wonder will cease, when they are told, that it was
equally prohibited to the laity under pain of excommunica-
tion. For the council of Eliberis orders,^ " that a Christian
playing at dice or tables shall not be admitted to the holy
communion, but after a year's penance aod abstinence, and
his total amendment." And there was good reason for the
Church to make such a law in those times, because this
kind of gaming was prohibited both by the old and new
civil law* among the Romans, and many other nations, of
which the reader may find a particular account in our learned
' Can. Apost. 42. Kv(3oiq (7;^oXa?wv ^ fi'idat^, rj TravaaaSno ii Ka^aipeirSru).
« Justin. Novel. 123. c. 10. ^ Con. Eliber. c. 79. Si quis Fidelis aleS,
id est, tabuiri luserit, placuit eum abstinere : et si emendatus cessaverit, po-
terit post annum commiinione reconciliari. * Digest, lib. xi. tit. 5. da
Aleator. It Cod. Justin. lib. iii. tit. 43. de Aleator.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 509
bishop Taylor,' too-fithor with the reasons of the proliibi-
tion, viz. — ^the evils that coininonly attended this sort of
play, blasphemies, and swearing-, and passion, and Ivino-,
and cursing, and eovetousness, and fraud, and quarrels, and
intemperance of all sorts, the consumption of time, and
ruin of many famihes ; w hich excesses had made it infamous
and scandalous among all nations. So that, what was so
universally prohibited at that time by the laws of all nations,
the Church could not but in decency prohil)it by her own
laws to the laity, and more especially to the clergy, to pre-
vent scandal, and obviate those objections, which might
otherwise have justly been raised against her. Not that
the thing was simply unlawful in itself, when used only as
an innocent recreation ; but the many evil appendages, that
commonly attended the use of it, had made it scandalous,
and consequently inexpedient ; and the spending of time
upon it did much alter the nature of it, and make it so much
the more unlawful.
Sect. 6. — And negotiating upon Usury. The Nature of this Crirae
inquired into.
Another crime, for which a clers-yman was liaV)le to be de-
posed, was the taking of usury, which, by the ancient
canons, is frequently condemned as a species of eovetous-
ness and cruelty, and upon that score so strictly prohibited
to the clergy, who were rather to study to excel in the pn-.c-
tice of the contrary virtues, charity, mercifulness, and con-
tempt of the world and all filthy lucre. The laws con-
demning this vice are too many to be here transcribed: it
will be sufficient to repeat the canon of the council of Nico^
which contains the sum, and speaks the sense of all the rest.
Now the words of that canon are these ;^ — " Forasmuch as
many clerks, following eovetousness and filthy lucre, and for-
getting the Holy Scriptures, which spoak of the righteous
man, ' as one that hath not given his money upon usury,'
have let forth their money upon usur}', and taken the usual
monthly increase ; it seemed good to this great and holy
synod, that if any one, after this decree, shall be found to
' Taylor Duct. Dubitant. lib. iv. c. 1. p. 776. ^ Con. Nic. c. 17.
510 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK VI,
take usury, or demand the principal with half the increase
of the whole, or shall invent any other such methods for
filthy lucre's sake, he shall be degraded from his order, and
have his name struck out of the roll of the Church." The
reader will find the same practice censured by those called
the Apostolical Canons,^ the council of Eliberis,^ the first
and second of Aries, ^ the first and third of Carthag-e,* the
council of Laodicea,* and Trullo,*' not to mention private
writers, Cyprian,'^ Sidonlus Apollinarius,^ St. Jerom,'' and
many others. Nor need this seem strange to any one, that
usury should be so g'enerally condemned in the clergy ;
since it is apparent, that the practice of it was no less disal-
lowed in the laity ; for the first council of Carthage^" con-
demns it in them both, but only makes it a more aggravating
crime in the clergy. The council of Eliberis also," that or-
ders clergymen to be degraded for it, makes it an high mis-
demeanor in laymen ; which, if they persisted in the practice
of it after admonition, was to be punished with excommuni-
cation. We are here, therefore, in the next place to inquire
into the nature of this practice, and the grounds and reasons,
upon which it was so generally condemned both in clergy-
men and laymen. As to the nature of the thing, we are to
observe, that, among the ancient Romans, there were several
sorts or degrees of usury. 1st, The most common was that,
which they called Centesimfs ; the council of Nice ^'^ calls it
'EicoTo^ai; and the council of Trullo'^ uses the same word,
which signifies the hundredth part of the principal paid
every month, and answers to twelve in the hundred by the
year. For the Romans received usury by the month, that
is, at the kalends or first day of every month. Whence St.
BasiP* calls the months the parents of usury. And St.
• Can. Apost. c. 44. '^Can. Eliber. c. 20. ^Con. Arelat. 1.
c. 12. Arelat. ii. c. 14. * Con. Carth. i. c. 13. Carth. iii. c. 16.
« Con. Laodic. c. 5. « Con. Trull, c. 10. ' Cypr. de Lapsis,
p. 124. 8 Sidon. lib. i. Ep. 8. ^ Hieron. in Ezek. cap. 18.
'o Con. Carth. i. c. 13. Quod in Laicis reprelienditur, id multo magis in Cle-
ricis oportet pra^damnari. " Con. Eliber. c. 20. Si quis etiam Laicus
accepisse probatur usuras - - - si in ea iniquitate duraverit, ab EcclesiCt sciat
se esse projiciendum. Vid. Chrysost. Horn. 5G. in Mat. '^Con. Nic.
c. 17. 13 Con. Trull, c. 10. Chrysost. Horn. 56. in Mat. Chrysost.
Horn. 5. De Pcenit. t. i. p. 6S6. '* Basil, in Psalm. 14. t. iii. p. 137.
*o/3arai tsq ii}}vaq wc t6kh>v Trarepat;.
CHAP. 11.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 511
Ambrose says,' the Greeks gave usiiry the name of Tokoc,
upon this account, because the kalends bring forth one
in the hundred, and every month begets new usury. And
hence, as the Poet acquaints us, ^ it became a proverb
among the Romans to say, " A man trembles like a debtor,
when the kalends are coming;" because that was the
time of paying interest. Now this sort of usury is gene-
rally proscribed by the laws of the Church, because it was
esteemed great oppression. Though the civil law allowed
the practice of it ; for Constantine, Anno, 325, the same
year that the council of Nice vvas held, published a law,
stating the rules and measures of usury, ^ wherein the cre-
ditor is allowed to take this centesimal usury, or one in the
hundred every month, and no more. For it seems the old
Roman laws granted a greater liberty before this regulation
of Constantine. Afterward a new regulation was made, and
it was only allowed in some certain cases, as where the credi-
tor seemed to run some hazard, as appears from the laws of
Justinian,* where he settles the business of interest and usury
in his Code. For in trajectitious contracts, as the law terms
them, that is, when a creditor lent money, — suppose at Rome,
to receive interest for it only upon condition of the debtor's
safe arrival with it at Constantinople ; — because in that case
the creditor ran a great hazard, he was allowed to receive a
centesimal interest upon that account. Secondly, Another
sort of usury was that which the canons call 'H/.t(oXtat, or
Sescuplum, the whole and half as much more. St. Jerom*
takes notice of this kind of usury, and condemns it. " For
men," he says, " were used to exact usury, for the loan of
* Ambr. de Tobia c. 12. Toksc Grseci appellaverunt iisuras, eo quod do-
lores partus animae debitoris excitare videantur. Veniunt KalendiH, parit
sors centesimam. Veniunt menses singuli, generantur usurae. *Horat.
lib. i. sat. 3. Odisti et fugis, ut Drusonein debitor aeris - - quum tristes mi-
sero yenere Kalendse. ^ Cod. Th. lib. ii. tit. 33. de Usuris. leg. I.
Pro pecunia ultra singulas centesimas creditor vetatur accipere. •* Cod.
Just. lib. iv. tit. 32. de Usuris leg. 26. In trajcctitiis autein contractibus, vel
specierum fojnori dationibus, usque ad centesimam tantumniodo licere stipiUari,
nee earn excedere, licet \eteribus legibus hoc erat concessum. * Hieroii.
Com. in Ezek. xviii. p. 537. Solent in agris frumenti et milii, vlni et olei,
cseteraruinque specierum usurffi cxigi. Verbi gratia, ut hyemis tempore
denius decern niodios, et in messe recipiamus quindeciiii, lioc est, anipUns
partem jnediani.
512 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [boOK VI.
corn, wine, oil, millet, and other fruits of the ground 5
lendino- ten bushels in winter, on condition to receive fifteen
in harvest, that is, the whole and half as much more.
Which sort of usury, being- a very grievous extortion and
great oppression, is condemned not only in the clergy by
the councils of Nice* and Laodicea,^ under the name of
'H/uoXiat; but also in laymen by the law of Justinian ,3
which allows nothing above centesimal interest to be taken
by any person in any case whatsoever. Though Justinian
intimates, that formerly the laws allowed it. And it is
evident from the law of Constantine, still extant in the
Theodosian Code,* which determined, " that if any creditor
lent to the indigent any fruits of the earth, whether wet or
dry, he might demand again the principal, and half as much
more by way of usury;" as if he lent two bushels, he might
require three. Thirdly, Another sort of usury is called by
the civil law, Bessis Ce7itesimce, which is two-thirds of cen-
tesimal interest, and the same as eight in the hundred. And
this the law^^ allowed masters of workhouses and other
tradesmen to take in their negotiations with others. Fourthly,
Ail other ])ersons were only allowed to receive half the
centesimal interest by the same law of Justinian,*^ which is
the same as six in the hundred. Fifthly, Persons of quality
were bound to take no m,ore but a third part of the Cen-
tesima,'' which is only four in the hundred. Sixthly, In-
terest upon interest was absolutely forbidden by the Roman
lavvs^ to all persons in any case whatsoever, as is evident
> Con. TVic. c. 17. ' Con. Laod. c. 6. a cod. Just, ubi supra,
It. Novel. 3'i, 33, 34. * Cod. Th. lib. ii. tit. 33. leg. 1. Quicnnque
fruges, aridas vel humidas, indigentibus mutuas dederint, usurte nomine
lertiam partem superfiuani consequantur : id est, ul si sumnia crcditi in
duobus inodiis t'uerifc, tertiuni niodiuni aniplius consequantur. * Cod. Just.
Jib. iv. tit. 32. de Usuris. leg. 20. lUos, qui ergasteriis prajsunt, vel aliquam
licitam negotiationem gerunt, usque ad bessem centesimse, usurarum nomine,
in quocunque contractu suam stipulationem moderari. ^ Cod. Just,
ibid. Caeteros omnes homines Dimidiam tantummodo centesiince usurarum no-
mine posse stipulari.— "E0£Kroc tokoq. 6 itti to '((jisktov Ktfa\di>i—A sixth
part of the whole. Suidas voce'E^t/croc. ' Ibid. Jubemus illusiribus
quideni personis, sive eas praicedenlibus, minime licere ultra tertiam partem
centesimtE in qiiocusi<iue contractu stipulari. •* Cod. Jusl. lib. iv. tit. ;>a-
le"'. 28. Ut nulio niodo usura; usurarum a dcbitoribiis exigantur, veteribus
quidein legibus conslitutum fuerat, &.c.
C«AP. II. j CHRISTIAN CHIUCH. 513
from an edict of Justinian's, which both mentions and con-
firms the ancient prohiV)ition of it by tiie laws of the em-
perors, that were before him. So that, several of these kinds
of usury being- prohibited to the laity in general by the
laws of the state, it was no wonder that they should be
more severely forbidden to the clergy by the laws of the
Church. Then for the other sorts of usury, which the state
allowed, the Church had two reasons for discouraging- the
practice of them in tl^e clerg-y. First, because usury was
most commonly exacted of the poor, which the Church
reckoned an oppression of them, who were rather to be
relieved by the charity of lending- without usury, as the
Gospel requires. Secondly, the clergy could not take usury
of the rich and trading part of the world, but that must
needs en^ap-e them in secular business and worldly concerns,
more than the wisdom of the Church in those times thought
fit to allow. And this I take to be the true state of the
case, and the sum of the reasons for prohibiting the clergy
the practice of usury in the primitive Church. Usury was
generally a great oppression to the poor, as the ancient
writers,' who speak against it, commonly complain. Or
else it was thoug'ht to argue, and proceed from, a covetous
and worldly mind ; which made men forsake their proper
employment, and betake themselves to other business,
which was beside their calling, and could not then be fol-
lowed without some reproach and dishonour to it. There-
fore Cyprian^ speaking of some bishops, who were the re-
proach of his age, in enumerating their miscarriages, joins
all these things together; " that they, who ought to have
been exam.ples and encouragers to the rest, had cast off* the
care of divine service, to manage secular affairs ; and leaving
their sees, and deserting their people, they rambled into
other provinces to catch at business that would bring them
' Vide Chrysost. Horn. 56. in Mat. Basil. Horn, in Psalm xiv. p. 136, &c.
^ Cypr. de Lapsis. p. 123. Episcopi pluriini quos et hortainento esse oportet
ciEteris et exeinplo, divina procuratione contempta, procuratores rerum secu-
lariura fieri, derelicta catiiedra, plebe deserta, per alienas provincias ober-
rantes, negotiationis qusestuosie nuadinas aucupari, esiuienlibus in Ecclcsiu
fratribus non subvenirc, habore ar>jLUtum largitcr vclle, fundos insidiosi^
JVaudibiis rapere, usuris multipUcanlibub foeiuis augere.
VOL. I. 3 s
514 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK VI.
in g-ain : meanwhile the poor brethren of the Church were
suffered to starve without relief, whilst their minds were set
upon hoarding up silver in abundance, and g-etting estates
by fraudulent arts, and exercising usury to augment their
own treasures/' When usury was ordinarily attended with
such concomitants as these, it was no wonder it should be
utterly proscribed by the holy fathers of the Church. Be-
sides St. Chrysostom plainly intimates,* " that in his time
all senators and persons of quality were absolutely forbidden
to take usury by the laws of the commonwealth." And
that consideration probably so much the more inclined the
fathers of the Church to forbid it to the clerg-y, lest they
should seem to be outdone by men of a secular life; and
it might be objected to them, that the laws of the Church in
this respect were more remiss than the laws of the state.
Sect. 7.— Of the Hospitality of the Clergy.
Indeed the necessities of the poor, and fatherless, and
strangers, and widows in those early times were so impor-
tunate and craving in every Church, that their revenues
would seldom answer all their demands. " The Church,"
as St. Austin says,« " had very rarely any thing to lay up
in bank. And then it did not become a bishop to hoard up
gold, and turn away the poor empty from him. They had
daily so many poor petitioners, so many in distress and
want continually applying to them ; that they were forced
to leave some in their sorrows, because they had not where-
with to relieve them all." Now in this case, where there
w^as need of greater charities, than they had funds or abili-
ties to bestow, there could be no room for usury, but with
great neglect and uncharitableness to the poor. And there-
» Chrys. Horn. 56. in MaUh. T»c ySv iv a^iwiiaaiv ovraq, ^ tig rfiv
IteyaXrjv TtXHvrae (SsXj/v, nv avyKXnrov KciXsaiv, a ^«/ite roiaVote Ktp^fffii'
(c«rat(rxi'j'f<T^«i. Honorius, Anno 397, published a law which implies the
same. ' Cod. Tiieod. lib. ii. tit. 33. de Usuris, leg. 3. Though by a following
law, Anno 405, he allowed senators half the centesimal interest.
« Aug. Serm.49. de Diversissivede VitS Clericor. torn. x. p. 520. Enthecam
nobis habere non licet. Non enim est Episcopi servare aurum, et revocare
a se mendicantis manum. Quotidie tarn multi petunt, tam multi gemunt, tani
niulti iios inopes interpellant ; ut pluies tristes relinquamus, quia quod posiH-
mus dare omnibus, non habenius.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 515
fore, instead of lending- upon usury, they were obliged to he
exemplary in the practice of the contrary virtues, hospitality
and charity, which the ancients call,* lending upon divine
usury, not to receive one in the hundred, but an hundred
for one from the hands of God. " It was then one of the
glories of a bishop," St. Jerom tells us,'^ " to be a provider
for the poor ; but a disgrace to the holy function, to seek
only to enrich himself." And therefore he gives this direc-
tion to Nepotian, among other good rules, which he pre-
scribes him, " that his table should be free to the poor and
strangers, that with them he might have Christ for his
guest." St. Chrysostom^ speaks nobly of his bishop Flavian
upon the account of this virtue; he says, " his house was
always open to strangers, and such as were forced to fly for
the sake of religion : where they were received and enter-
tained with that freedom and humanity, that his house
might as properly be called, the house of strangers, as the
house of Flavian. Yea, it was so much the more his own,
for being common to strangers ; for whatever we possess,
is so much the more our property for being communicated
to our poor brethren; there being no place where we may
so safely lay up our treasure, as in the hands and bellies of
the poor."
Sect. 8.— Of their Frugality and Contempt of the World.
Now the better to qualify them to perform this duty,
every clergyman was required to lead a frugal life; that is,
to avoid profuseness, as well in their own private concerns,
as in giving great entertainments to the rich ; which is but
a false-named hospitality, and a great usurper upon the
rights and revenues of the poor. We may judge of the
simplicity of those times by the character, which Aiuniianus
Marcellinus, the heathen historian,* gives of the Italian
' Pet, Chrysolog. Serm. 25. p. 269. Usura niundi centum ad unum, Deus
unum accipit ad centum. Vid. C'hrysost. Horn. 56. in Matt. xvii. p. 507. Ed.
Conimelin. * Hieron, Ep. 2. ad Nepoiian. Gloria Episcopi est pau-
perum opibus providers : ignoininia omnium Sacerdotum est propriis studire
Divitiis. * Chrys, Ser. I. in Gen. torn. ii. p.S86. Ed. Front. Dnc^i.
♦ Ammian. lib. xxvii. p. 45S, Antistites quosdam provincialesteuuitas edcndi
potandiiiuc parcisi^ime, vllitas etiam indunifiilorum, et siipercilia liunmni
spectautia, perpetuo Numini verisque ejus cultorilius, ul puios commendaiU
et verecundos.
516 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK VI.
bishops, as it is probable, from his own observation: he
says, " their spare diet, and frugal way of living, their
cheap clothing and grave deportment, did recommend
them to God and his true worshippers, as persons of pure
and modest souls." This made those country-bishops more
honourable, in his opinion, than if they had lived in the
riches, and state, and splendour of the bishops of Rome.
By a canon of the fourth council of Carthage,^ all the
African bishops were obliged to live after this manner; not
to affect rich furniture, or sumptuous entertainments, or a
splendid way of living, but to seek to advance the dignity
and authority of their order by their faith and holy living.
Some indeed were for that other sort of hospitality, for en-
tertaining the rich, and especially the magistrates, on pre-
tence that they might keep an interest in them, and be able
to intercede with them for poor criminals, when they were
condemned. But St. Jerom particularly considers and an-
swers this pretence in his instructions to Nepotian. " You
must avoid," says he,^ " giving great entertainments to
secular men, and especially those that are in great offices.
For it is not very reputable to have the lictors and guards
of a consul stand waiting at the doors of a priest of Christ,
who himself was crucified and poor; nor that the judge of
a province should dine more sumptuously with you, than in
the palace. If it be pretended, that you do this only to. be
able to intercede with him for poor criminals ; there is no
judge but will pay a greater deference and respect to a
frugal clergyman, than a rich one, and show greater reve-
rence to your sanctity, than your riches. Or if he be such
an one, as will not hear a clergyman's intercessions but
only among his cups, I should freely be without this benefit,
and rather beseech Christ for the judge himself, who can
more speedily and powerfully help than any judge." St,
Jerom in the same place^ advises his clerk not to be over
free in receiving other men's entertainments neither. " For
the laity," says he, " should rather find us to be comforters
' Con. Garth. 4. c. 15. Ut Episcopus vilem supellectilem et incnsam ac
victuiii pauperem habeat, et dignitatis sua; auctoritatem fide et merUis vitse
quffii-at. * Hieron. Ep. 2. ad Nepotian. =* Ibid. Facile coa-.
teiunitur Clericus, qui sxpe vocatus ad prandium, ire non recusat.
/
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 517
in their mourning's, than companions in their feasts. That
clerk will quickly be contemned, that never refuses any en-
tertainments, when he is frequently invited to them." Such
were the ordinary rules and directions given by the ancients,
for regulating- the hospitality and frugality of the clergy.
But many bishops and others far exceeded these rules in
transcendent heights of abstinence, and acts of self-denial,
freely chosen and imposed upon themselves, that they
might have greater plenty and superfluities to bestow upon
others. Gregory Nazianzen gives us this account of St.
Basil,* " that his riches was to possess nothing ; to live
content with that little, which nature requires; to despise
delicacies and pleasures, and set himself above the slavery
of that cruel and sordid tyrant, the belly. His most delici-
ous and constant food was bread and salt and water; his
clothing but one coat and one gown; his lodging upon the
ground; not for want of better accommodations; for he was
metropolitan of Csesarea, and had considerable revenues
belonging to his Church ; but he submitted to this way of
living in imitation of his Saviour, who became poor for our
sakes, that we through his poverty might be made rich."
And therefore both the same author,^ and the Church-histo-
rians also tell us,^ that, when in the time of the Arian perse-
cution under Valens he was threatened by one of the em-
peror's agents, that unless he would comply he should have
all his goods confiscated, his answer was, " that no such
punishment could reach him, for he was possessed of
nothing, unless the emperor wanted his threadbare clothes,
or a few books, which was all the substance he was master
of." St. Jerom gives the like character of Exuperius, bishop
of Tholouse, who made other men's wants always his own ;
and, like the widow of Sarepta, pinched and denied himself
to feed the poor, bestowing ail his substance upon the
bowels of Christ. Nay, such was his frugality, that he
ministered the body of Christ in a basket of osiers, and the
blood in a glass cup. '• But nothing," says our author,"^
' Naz. Orat. 20. de Laud. Basil, p. 357. 2 Naz. ibid. p. 3t9.
3 Sozom. lib. vi. c. 16. * Hieron. Ep. i. ad Rustic. Nihil illo ditius,
t^ui corpus J'omiiu caiiistro viiniiieo, sanguiiK-iu portat in vitro.
518 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [boOK VI.
" could be more rich or glorious, than such a poverty as
this." It were easy to give a thousand instances of the
same nature in the Cyprians, the Austins, the Nazianzens,
the Paulinuses, and other such like generous spirits of the
age they lived in ; who contemned the world w ith greater
pleasure, than others could admire or enjoy it. But as
such heights of heroic virtues exceeded the common rule,
they are not proposed as the strict measures of every man's
duty, but only to excite the zeal of the forward and the
good. It may be said of this, as our Saviour says of a
parallel case, — " All men cannot receive this saying, save
they to whom it is given ; but he that is able to receive it,
let him receive it.'
Sect. 9. — Whether the Clergy were anciently obliged by any Law to part
with tlieir Temporal Possessions.
Some Indeed would fain turn this prudential advice into
a law, and attempt to prove, that anciently the clergy were
under an obligation to quit their temporal possessions,
when they betook themselves to the service of the Church.
But this is to outface the sun at noon-day. For as there is
no just ground for this assertion, so there are the plainest
evidences to the contrary. Among tliosc called the Apos-
tolical Canons,' there is one to this purpose: " Let the
goods of the bishop, if he has any of his own, be kept dis-
tinct from those of tlie Church; that when he dies he may have
power to dispose of them, to whom he pleases, and as he
pleases; and not receive damage in his private effects upon
pretence, that they were the goods of the Church. For
perhaps he has a wife, or children, or relations, or servants;
and it is but just both before God and man, that neither the
Church should suffer for want of knowing what belonged
to the bishop, nor the bishop's relations be damaged by the
Church, or come into trouble upon that account, which
would be to the scandal and reproach of the deceased
bishop." Many other canons both of the Greek and Latin
Church are to the same effect.* Nor can it be pretended,
• ' Can. Apost. c. 40. "E'Tw ^avipd ra "tout ri tTriaKoTTs TTfjayjttara (t'iyt k,
Uui ixii) i^) (pnvtna ra kvouiku, &c. - Con. Antioch. c. 2\. Con.
Aarathea. c. -tS. Coii. Carlh. 3. c. 49.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 519
that this is to be understood only of such estates as they
got in the sevvioe of the Cliurch. For St. Amhrose phiinly
intimates, that the law left the clergy in the full possession
of their patrimony, or temporal estates, which they had
before. For he brings in some malcontents among the
clergy thus complaining:^ " What advantage is it to me to
be of the clergy, to suffer injuries, and undergo hard labour,
as if my own estate would not maintain me?" This implies,
that men of estates were then among the clergy. And
indeed there was but one case, in which any clerk could be
compelled to quit his possessions, and that was, when his
estate was originally tied to the service of the empire, of
which I have given a full account before. In all other
cases it was matter of free choice, and left to his liberty,
whether he would dispose of his estate to any pious use or
not. Only, if he did not, it was expected he should be
more generous in his charities, and less burdensome to the
Church, his needs being supplied another way. Though
neither was this forced upon him by any law, but only
urged upon reasons of charity;^ leaving him judge of his
own necessities, and not forbidding him to have his divi-
dend in the Church, if in his own prudence he thought fit
to require it. Socrates^ commends Chrysanthus, a Nova-
tian bishop, upon this account, that having an estate of his
own, he never took any thing of the Church, save two
loaves of the Eulogice, or oiferings on Sunday; though he
does not once intimate, that there was any law to compel
him to do so. As neither does Prosper, who speaks most
of any other against rich men's taking their portion in the
charities of the Church. He reckons it indeed* a disho-
nourable act and a sin in them, because it was to deprive
others of the Church's charity, who stood more in need of
it; and he thinks, though a rich clergyman might keep his
own estate without sin, because there was no law but the
law of perfection to oblig-e him to renounce it, yet it must
' Ambr. Ep. 17. Quid mihi prodest in Clero manere, subire injurias,
labores perpeti, quasi non possit aget meus me pascere. "^ Vide Can.
Apost. C.41. Con. Antioch, c. 25. » Socrat. lib. vii. c. 12.
♦ Prosper, de Vit. Contempl. lib.ii.c. 12. Noverint esse deformius, posses-
sores de eleemosynis pauperuin pasci.
520 THE ArNtiQUrriEs of the [book vi*
be upon condition, that he required none of the maintenance
of the Church.* But he only deHvers this as his own pri-
vate opinion, and does not sig-nify, that there was then any
such standing law in the Church. In Afric they had a
pecuhar law against covetousness in the time of St. Austin^
which was,^ *' That, if any bishop, presbyter, or deacon, or
any other clerk, who had no estate when they were ordained,
did afterward purchase lands in their own name, they sliould
be impleaded as guilty of invading the Lord's revenue,
unless upon admonition they conferred the same upon the
Church." For in those times the Church-revenues being
small, no one's dividend was more than a competent main-
tenance; and therefore it was presumed, that he, who could
purchase lands in such circumstances, must have been some
way injurious to the public revenues of the Church. But
in the same law it was provided, that, if any estate was left
them by donation or inheritance, they might dispose of it as
they pleased themselves ; for the Church made no rules,
but only gave her advice, in such cases as these; exhorting
her wealthy clergy to greater degrees of liberality, but not
demanding their estates to have them at her own disposal.
On the other hand, when clergymen, who had no visible
estates of their own, and were single men, and had no poor
families to provide for, were busily intent upon growing
rich out of the revenues of the Church; this was always
esteemed a scandalous covetousness, and accordingly pro-
secuted with sharp invectives by St. Jerom^ and others of
the ancient writers. So much of the laws of charity, which
concerned the ancient clergy.
' Prosper, de Vit. Contempl. lib. ii. c. 12. Illi qui tam infirini sunt, ut
possessionibus suis renunciare non possiiit; si ea quaj acccpturi eraiU, dis-
pensatori lelinquaiit, nihil habentibus conferenda, sine p'eccato possident sua.
« Con. C'arth. 3. c. 49. Placuit, ul Kpiscopi, Presbyteri, Diaconi, vel qul-
cunque Clerici, qui nihil habentes ordinantur, et tempore episcopatus vel cle-
ricatus sui, agros vel qusecunque prajdia nouiine suo comparant, tanquara
reruin divinaruin invasionis crimine teneantur obnoxii, nisi admoniti Ecclesiai
eadem ipsa contulcrint. ^ Hicron. Ep. 2. ad Nepotian. Nonnulli sunt
ditiores monachi, quam fucrant set-ulares ; et Clerici qui possideant opes sub
rUristo pauperc, quas sub locnplete ct fallace Diabolo non habuerant: ut
suspiret eos Ecclesia divites, quos niundus teuuit ante niendicos.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 521
Sect. 10.— Of their great Care to be inoffensive with their Tongues.
I mig-ht here give acharacteT of their meekness, modesty,
gravity, humility, and several other virtues, which Nazianzen
describes in the person of his own father ; but I shall bat
take notice of two things more, which concerned the con-
duct of their lives, and those are the laws relating first to
their words, and secondly to their fame and reputation.
For their words, they, who were to teach others the most
dillieult part of human conduct, the government of the
tongue, were highly concerned to be examples to the peo-
ple as well in word as action. And to this purpose the laws
were very severe against all manner of licentious discourse
in their conversation. The fourth council of Carthage has
three canons together upon this head ; one of wbich^ for-
bids scurrility, and buffoonery, or that foolish talking and
jesting with obscenity, which the Apostle calls, BwjitoXo^^ta,
under the penalty of deprivation. Another^ threatens such
with excommunication, as use to swear by the name of any
creature. And a third canon ^ menaces the same punish-
ment to such as sing at any public entertainments. St.
Jerom * particularly cautions his clerk against detraction,
because of the temptation he may lie under either to com-
mit the sin himself, or give way to it in others, by hearken-
ing to and reporting false suggestions after them. Wi.ich
is much the same thing; " for no slanderer tells his story to
one that is not willing to hear him," " An arrow," says
he, " never fixes upon a stone, but often recoils back, and
wounds hira that shoots it. Therefore let the detracter
Jearn to be less forward and busy, by your unwillingness to
hear his detraction." St. Chrysostom* takes notice of this
vice, as most incident to inferiors, whom envv and emulation
' Con. Carth. iv. c. 60. Clericum scurrilein, et verbis turpibus joculatorem,
^b officio detrahendum. ' Ibid. c. 61. CUTieum per
creaturas jurantem acerrime objurgandum. Si i'trsiiieiit in vitio, cxcohit
innnicandum. ^ Ibid. c. 62. Clericum inter epiilas cantanteni supra-
dictaj seiitentiae severitate coercenduui. * Hirrcn. E[k 2. adlScpol.
Neqiie vtio ilia justa est excusiitio, — referentibus aliis, iiijuriaiu I'aceri' iion
possum. Nemo invito audiiori libenter refcrt, &c. ^ Chrys. de Sa-
icerd. lib. v. c. 8,
VOL. I. 3 T
522 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK VI.
too often prompt to detract from the authority and virtues
of their bishop; especially when they are grown popular
and admired for their own eloquent preaching; then, if they
be of a bold and arrogant and vain-g'lorious temper, their
business is to deride him in private, and detract from his
authority, and make themselves every thing by lessening-
his just character and power. Upon this hint our author
also takes occasion to show, what an extraordinary courage
and spirit, and how divine and even a temper a bishop
ought to have, that by such temptations, and a thousand
others of the like nature, he be not overwhelmed either
with anger or envy on the one hand, or insuperable sorrow
and dejection of mind on the other. St. Jerom recommends
another virtue of the tongue to his clerk, which is of great
use in conversation; and that is the keeping of secrets, and
knowing when to be silent, especially about the affairs of
great men. " Your office," says he,* " requires you to visit
the sick, and thereby you become acquainted with the fa-
milies of matrons and their children, and are entrusted with
the secrets of noble men. You ought therefore to keep
not only a chaste eye, but also a chaste tongue. And as it
is not your business to be talking of the beauties of women,
so neither to let one house know from you what was done
in another. For if Hippocrates adjured his disciples, be-
fore he taught them, and made them take an oath of silence;
if he formed them in their discourse, their gait, their meek-
ness, and modesty, their habit, and their whole morals ;
how much more ought we, who have the care of souls
committed to us, to love the houses of all Christians, as if
they were our own 1" He means, that the clergy should
be formed to the art of silence, as carefully as Hip-
pocrates taught his scholars; that the peace and unity of
Christian families might not be disturbed or discomposed
by revealing the secrets of one to another ; which it is cer-
tain no one will do, that has the property, which St. Jerom
requires, of loving every Christian family as his own.
' Hieron. Ep. ii. adNepotian.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 523
Sect. 11.— Of their Care to guard against Suspicion of Evil.
2dly. As they were thus taught to be inoffensive both in
word and deed, and tliei eby secure a good name and repu-
tation among men, which was necessary for the due exer-
cise of their function ; so, because it was possible their cre-
dit might be impaired, not only by the commission of real
evil, but by the very appearance and suspicion of it, the
laws of the Church upon this account were very exact in
requiring them to set a guard upon their whole deportment,
and avoid all suspicious actions, that might give the least
umbrage or handle to an adversary to reproach them. It
was not enough in this case, that a man kept a good con-
science in the sight of God, but he must provide or forecast
for honest thing's in the sig-ht of men. And this was the
more difficult, because men are apt to be querulous against
the clergy, as St. Chrysostom obseVves, some through
weakness and imprudence, others through malice, easily
raising complaints and accusations without any just ground,
and difficultly hearkening to any reasons or apologies, that
they can offer in their own defence. But the more queru-
lous and suspicious men are, the more watchful it becomes
the clergy to be against unjust surmises, that they may cut
off occasion from them that desire occasion to accuse or
reproach them. To this end they are to use the utmost
diligence and precaution to guard against the ill opinions
of men, by avoiding all actions that are of a doubtful or
suspicious nature. "For," says St. Chrysostom,^ " if the
holy Apostle St. Paul was afraid, lest he should have been
suspected of theft by the Corinthians ; and upon that account (
took others into the administration of their charity with \
himself, that no one might have the least pretence to blame
him ; how much more careful should we be to cut off all
occasions of sinister opinions and suspicions, however false
or unreasonable they may be, or disagreeeble to our cha-
racter? For none of us can be so far removed from any
sin, as St. Paul was from theft ; yet he did not think fit to
contemn the suspicions of the vulgar ; he did not trust to
' Clirys, de Sacerd. lib. vi. c. 9.
624 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK VL
the repntation, which both his miracles and the integrity of
his life had generally gained him: hut on the contrary he
imagined such suspicions and jealousies might arise in the
hearts of some men, and therefore he took care to prevent
them ; not suffering them to arise at all, but timely fore-
seeing, and prudently forestalling them ; providing, as he
says, for honest things not only in the sight of God, but
also in the sight of men. The same care and much greater
should we take, not only to dissipate and destroy the ill
opinions men may have entertained of us, but to foresee
afar oft" from what causes they may spring, and to cut off
before hand the very occasions and pretences from whence
they may grow. Which is much easier to be done, than to
extinguish them when they are risen, which will then be
very difficult, perhaps impossible; besides that their being
raised will give greiit scandal and offence, and w^ound the
consciences of many." Thus that holy father arg-ues upon
this point, according to his wonted manner, nervously
and strenuously, to show the clergy tlieir obligatidns to
use their utmost prudence to foresee and prevent scandal,
by avoiding all actions of a doubtful and suspicious nature.
St. Jerom* o-ives his clerk the same instructions, to guard
ao-ainst suspicions, and take care beforehand to minister no
probable grounds for raising any feigned stories concerning
him. If his office required him to visit the widows or vir-
gins of the Church, he should never^o to them alone, but
always take some other persons of known probity and gra-
vitv with him, from whose company he would receive no
defamation.
Sect. 12. — Laws relating to this Matter.
Nor was this only the private direction of St. Jerom, but
a public rule of the Church. For in the third council of
Carthage this canon was enacted,^ " that neither bishop
nor presbyter, nor any other clerk should visit the widows
> Hieron. Ep. 2. ad Nepot. Caveto omnes siispiciones : et quicquid proba-
biliter fingi potest, ne fingati'.r, ante devita, &c. ^ Con. Carth. iii.
c. 25. Nee Episcopi, aut Presbyteri, soli habeant accessuin ad hujusmodL
fceminas, nisi aut Clerici prteseutes sint, aut graves aliqui Cluisliani,
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN cHURCH. 52^
and virgins alone, hut in the company and presence of some '
other of the elerg-y, or some grave Clnistians." And in the ^
first council of Carthage,* and the council of Epone,^ there
are canons to the same purpose.
Sect. 18. — An Account of the Agapette, and ^vvs'iaaKToi, and the Laws of the
Church made agamst them.
The great council of Nice ^ made another order upon the
same grounds, to prevent all sinister opinions, " that none
of the unmarried clergy, bishop, presbyter, deacon, or any-
other should have any woman, that was a stranger, and not
one of their kindred, to dwell with them ; save only a
mother, a sister, or an aunt, or some such persons, with
whom they might live without suspicion." They, who
hence conclude, that the clergy w^ere forbidden to cohabit
with their wives, which they had married before ordination,
are sufficiently exposed by Gothofrcd,* as ignorant of the
true import of the original word, 'StwdaaKTog, which never
denotes a wife, but always a stranger, in opposition to
those of one's kindred. And it is evident, the canon was
made not upon the account of the married clergy, but the
unmarried, to prevent suspicion and evil reports, that might
easily arise from their familiar conversation with women,
that were not of their kindred or near relations. We may be
satisfied of this from a law of Honorius and Theodosius
Junior, which was made in pursuance of the Nicene
canon, and is still extant in both the Codes,^ where first having
forbidden the clergy to cohabit with any strange women,
who by some w ere taken in under the title and appellation
• Con. Carth. i. c. 3. ^ ^qj, Epaunens. c. 20. "Con. Niccn.
C. 3. Mt) e^tlvai avviiaaKTCv £%£ti', TrXryv u ^7) upa, [j7]Te(\a, 7; d^f\(piji>, j)
Oelav, &c. * Gothofred. Not. in. Cod. Theodos. lib. xvi. tit. 2. de
Episc. leg. 44. * Cod. Th. lib. xvi. tit. 9. de Episc. leg. 44. It. Cod.
Just. lib. i. tit. 3. leg. 19. Eum qui probabilcm svcido disciplinam agit, cieco-
lari consortio sororiae appcUationis non decet. Quicunque igitur cujuscunque
gradus sacerdotio fulciuntur, vel clericatus honore censentur, extranearum
sibi mulierum iuterdicta consortia cognoscant ; hue eis tantuni facuitato con-
cessa, ut matrcs, tllias, atque germauas intra domoruin suarum septa conti-
neant. In his eniin nllul sffivi criminis existimari faedus naturnle pernsittit.
lUas etiam non relinqui castitatis hortatur affectio qua? ante sacerdotium mari-
torum legitinunn meruere coujugium. Neque eniniClericis incompetenter
adjuncts sunt, qua; dignos sacerdotio viros sua conversatione fecerunt.
526 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK Vi.
of sisters ; and having" named what persons they might
lawfully entertain in their houses, viz. mothers, daughters,
and sisters, heeause natural consanguinity would prevent all
suspicion of these ; lest not excepting" of wives mig-ht seem
to exclude them also, a particular clause is added concern-
ing- them, " that such, as were married before their husbands
w ere ordained, should not be relinquished upon pretence of
chastity, but rather be retained upon that account ; it being-
but reasonable that they should be joined to their husbands,
who by their conversation made their husbands worthy of the
priesthood." The "SiWHaaKTOi then, or strairgers, who in
these laws are forbidden to cohabit with the clergy, are not
their lawful wives, but others, who were taken in under the
name of sisters, as that law of Honorius, and other ancient
writers^ intimate they were called by those that entertained
them. St. Jerom^ and Epiphanius ^ tell us, they were
also known by the name of Agapetcs, 'AyoTTjjrai, that is,
beloved. So that all these several names sig-nify but that
one sort of persons, most commonly called strangers, Ex-
tranecB, and SurEto-aicrot, whose conversation was suspicious,
and therefore so often proliibited by tiie laws of the Church.
They were commonly some of the virg-ins belonging- to the
Church, whom they, that entertained them, pretended only to
love as sisters with a chaste love. But their manner of con-
versing- was sometimes so very scandalous, that it justly
g-ave great offence to all sober and modest persons ; and
had not the Church always interposed with her severest
censures, it must have made her liable to as great reproach.
For it appears from the complaints of St. Cyprian,* St.
Jerom,* and others, that the practice of some was very
intolerable. For they not only dwelt together in the same
house, but lodged in the same room, and sometimes in the
same bed ; and yet would be thought innocent, and called
• Vid. Con. Ancyr. c. 19. « Hieron. Ep. 29. ad Eustoch. p. 138. ^Epi-
phan.Hffir.63.0iigen. n. 2. ''Cypr. Ep.6. al. 14. Ep.7. al. 13. Ep.62.al.4.
* Hieron. Ep. 22. ad Eustoch. de Virgin. Servand. Unde in Ecclesias Aga-
petarum pestis introiit? Unde sine nuptiis aliud nomcn uxorum? Imrao unde
novum concubinarum genus? Plus interani : Unde merctrices univirae ? Quae
eadem douio, uno cubiculo, saepo uno tenentur e( lectulo; et suspiciosos nos
vocant, si aliquid existimamus.
CHAP. II.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 52T
Others uncharitable and suspicious, that entertained any
hard thoughts of them. But the Church did not regard
vain words, but treated them as they justly deserved,
as persons that used a scandalous and indecent liberty,
and who were the very pests and plagues of the Church.
Cyprian' commends Pomponius for excommunicating- a
deacon, who had been found guilty in this kind. And
the council of Antioch^ alleged this among other rea-
sons for their deposing* Paulus Samosatensis from his
bishopric. In the following' ages, besides the councils of
Nice and Ancyra already mentioned, we meet with many
other canons made upon this account,, as in the second
council of Arles,^ the first, third, and fourth, councils of
Carthage,* the council of Eliberis,^ and Lerida,^ and many
others prohibiting the clergy to entertain any women, who
were strangers, and not of their near relations, under pain
of deprivation. The intent of all which canons was to
oblige the clergy, not only to live innocently in the sight of
God, but also unblameably, and without suspicion, and
censure in the sight of men. It being more especially ne-
cessar}' for men of their function to maintain not only a
good conscience, but a good name ; the one for their own
sake, the other for the sake of their neighbours : ' that men
might neither be tempted to blaspheme the ways of God,
by suspecting the actions of holy men to be impure, when
they were not so ; nor be induced to imitate such practices,
as they at least imagined to be evil ; either of which would
turn to the destruction of their souls. So that it was cruelty
and inhumanity, as St. Austin concludes, for a man, in such
circumstances to neglect and disregard his own reputation.
Sect. 14. — Malevolent and unavoidable Suspicions to be contemned.
But it might happen, that a man, after the utmost human
caution and prudence that could be used, might not be able
to avoid the malevolent suspicions of ill-disposed men : for
' Cypr. Ep. 62. al. 4. ad. Pompon. ^ Epist. Synod, ap. Euseb. lib. vii. e. 30.
8 Con. Arelat. ii. c. 3. * Con. Carth. i. c. 3. et 4. Carth iii. c. 17.
Carth. iv. c. 46. •* Con. Eliber. c. 27. * Con. llerdens. c. 15.
' Aug. de Bono Viduitat. c. xxii. torn. 4. Nobis necessaiia est vita nostra,
aliis fama nostra, &c.
528 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK VI.
our blessed Lord, whose innocence and conduct were both
equally divine, could not in his converse with men wholly
escape them. Now in this case the Church could pre-
scribe no other rule, but that of patience and Christian con-
solation, given by our Saviour to his Apostles;* " Blessed
are ye, when men sliall revile you, and persecute you, and
shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake;
rejoice, and be exceeding- g-lad ; for great is your reward in
heaven." '"When we have done," says St. Austin,- "all
that in justice and prudence we could to preserve our good
name, if after that soiae men, notwithstanding, will endea-
vour to blemish our reputation, and blacken our character,
either by false suggestions or unreasonable suspicions, let
conscience be our comfort, nay, plainly our joy, that great
is our reward in heaven. For this reward is the wages of
our warfare, whilst we behave ourselves as good soldiers of
Christ, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand
and on the left, by honour and dishonour, by evil report
and good report." — So much of the laws of the Church, re-^
lating to the life and conversation of the ancient clergy.
CHAP. III.
Of Laws more particularly relating to the Exercise of the
Duties and Offices of their Function,
Sect. 1. — The. Clergy obliged to lead a studious Life.
I COME now to speak of such laws as more immediately
related to their ftmction, and the several offices and duties
belonging to it. In speaking of which, because many of
these offices will come more fully to be considered hereaf-
ter, when we treat of the liturgy and service of the Church,
I shall here speak chiefly of such duties, as were required of
them by way of general qualification, to enable them the
better to go through the particular duties of their function.
Such was, in the iirst place, their obligation to lead a stu-
^Mat.v. II. '^Aag. ibid.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. .'329
dious life. For since, as Greg-ory Nazianzen observes,*
the meanest arts could not be obtained Avithout much time,
and labour, and toil, spent therein ; it were absurd to think,
that the art of wisdom, which comprehends the knowledge
of things human and divine, and comprises every thing- that
is noble and excellent, was so light and vulgar a thing, as
that a man needed no more but a wish or a will to obtain it.
Some indeed, he complains,- were of this fond opinion,
and therefore, before they had well passed the time of their
childhood, 6v knew the names of the books of the Old and
New Testament, or how well to read them, if they had but
g'ot two or three pious words by heart, or had read a few of
the Psalms of David, and put on a grave habit, which made
some outward show of piety, they had the vanity to think,
they were qualified for the government of the Church.
They then talked nothing but of Samuel's sanctification from
his cradle, and thought themselves profound scribes, and
great rabbles and teachers, sublime in the knowledge of
divine things, and were for interpreting the Scripture, not by
the letter, Jaut after a spiritual way, propounding their own
dreams and fancies, instead of the divine oracles, to the
- people. This, he complains, was for want of that study
and labour, which ought to be the continual employment of
persons, who take upon thetm the offices of the sacred func-
tion. St. Chrysostom pursues this matter a little further,
and shows the necessity of continual labour and study in a
clergyman, from the work and business he has upon his
hand, each part of which requires great sedulity and appli-
cation. For, first, 3 he ought to be qualified to minister
suitable remedies to the several maladies and distempers of
men's souls ; the cure of which requires greater skill and
labour than the cure of their bodily distempers. And this is
only to be done by the doctrine of the Gospel, which there-
fore required, that he should be intimately acquainted with
every part of it." Then again,* he must be able to stop
the mouths of all gainsayers, Jews, gentiles, and heretics,
who had different arts and diiferent weapons to assault the
•Naz.Oral. i. deFug. tom.i. p.22. «Ibid.p. 21, *Chrys.
deSacfrd. lib.iv.c. 3. ■» Ibid. lib. iv. c. 4.
VOL. I. 3 U
530 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [booK VI<
truth by ; and unless he exactly understood all their fiilla-
cies and sophisms, and knew the true art of making- a proper
defence, he would be in dang-er not only of suffering- each
of them to make spoil and devastation of the Church, but of
encouraging- one error, whilst he was opposing another."
For nothing was more common, than for ignorant and un-
skilful disputants to run from one extreme to another ; as he
shows in the controversies, which the Church had with the
Marcionites and Valentinians on the one hand, and the Jews
on the other, about the law of Moses ; and" the dispute
about the Trinity between the Arians and Sabellians. Now,
unless a man was well skilled and exercised in the Word of
God, and the true art and rules of disputation, which could
not be attained without continual study and labour, he con-
cludes, " it would be impossible for him to maintain his
ground, and the truth, as he ought, against so many subtle
and wily opposers." Upon this he inculcates ' that direc-
tion of St. Paul to Timothy, I Tim, iv. 13. " Give attend-
ance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine r meditate upon
these things; give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting-
may appear to all men." Thirdly, he shows, ^ " how ditficult
and laborious a work it was to make continual homilies and
set discourses to the people, who were become very severe
judges of the preacher's composures, and would not allow
him to rehearse any part of another man's work, nor so
much as to repeat his own upon a second occasion. Here
his task was something the more difficult, because men had
generally nice and delicate palates, and were inclined to
hear sermons as they heard plays, more for pleasure than
profit. Which added to the preacher's study and labour ;
who, though he was to contemn both popular applause and
censure, yet was also to have such a regard to hie audi-
tory, as that they might hear him with pleasure co their
edification and advantage." " And^ the more famed and
eloquent the preacher was, so much the more careful and
studious ought he to be, that he may always answer his
character, and not expose himself to the censures and accu-
' Chrys. Ibid, lib, iv. c. 8. * Ibid. lib. v. c. 1. » Ibid^
lib, V. C.5.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 531
sations of the people." These and the like arguments does
that holy father urge, to show how much it concerns men
of the sacred calling to devote themselves to a studious and
laborious life, that they may be the better qualified thereby
to answer the several indispensible duties of their functions.
Sect. 2.— No Pleas allowed as just Apologies for the contrary.
Some indeed, St. Chrysostom says, were ready to plead
even the Apostle's authority for their ignorance, and almost
value themselves for want of learning, because the Apostle
says of himself, that he was rude in speech. But to this
the holy father justly replies,* " that this was a misrepre-
sentation of the great Apostle, and vainly urged to excuse
any man's sloth and negligence in not attaining to those
necessary parts of knowledge, which the clerical life re-
quired. If the utmost heights and perfections of exotic
eloquence had been rigidly exacted of the clergy ; if they
had been to speak always with the smoothness of Isocrates,
or the loftiness of Demosthenes, or the majesty of Thucy-
dides, or the sublimity of Plato ; then indeed it might be
pertinent to allege this testimony of the Apostle. But rude-
ness of style, in comparison of such eloquence, may be
allowed ; provided men be otherwise qualified with know-
ledge, and ability to preach and dispute accurately con-
cerning the doctrines of faith and religion ; as St. Paul
was, whose talents in that kind have made him the wonder
and admiration of the whole world ; and it would be unjust
to accuse him of rudeness of speech, who by his discourses
confounded both Jews and Greeks, and wrought many into
the opinion, that he was the Mercury of the gentiles. Such
proofs of his power of persuasion were sufficient evidence,
that he had spent some pains in this way; and therefore his
authority was fondly abused to patronise ignorance and
sloth, whose example was so great a reproach to them."
Others again there were, who placed the whole of a minister
in a good life, and that was made another excuse for the
want of knowledge and study, and the art of preaching and
disputing. But to this St. Chrysostom also replies,^ " that
' Chrys. dc Saccrd. lib. iv. c. 6. '^ Vou\. c. 8 el 9.
532 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK VI.
both these quahfications were required in a priest; he must
not only do, but teach the commands of Christ, and g-uide
others by his word and doctrine, as well as his practice :
each of these had their part in his office, and were necessary
to assist one another, in order to consummate men's edifi-;
cation. For otherwise, when any controversy should arise
about the doctrines of relig-ion, and Scripture was pleaded
in behalf of error ; what would a good life avail in this case?
What would it sig-nify to have been diligent in the practice
of virtue, if after all a man, through gross ignorance and
unskilfulness in the Word of Truth, fell into heresy, and cut
himself off from the body of the Church ? as he knew many
that had done so. But admit a man should stand firm him-
self, and not be drawn away by the adversaries ; yet wheil
the plain and simple people, who are under his care, shall
observe their leader to be baffied, and that he has nothing
to 8ny to the arguments of a subtle opposer, they will be
ready to impute this not so much to the weakness of the
advocate, as the badness of his cause: and so, by one man's
ignorance, a whole people shall be carried headlong to utter
destruction; or at least be so shaken in their faith, that they
shall not stand firm for the future." St. Jerom * gives also
a smart rebuke to this plea, telling his clerk, " that the
plain and rustic brother should not value himself upon his
sanctity, and despise knowledge; as neither should the
artful and eloquent speaker measure his holiness by his
tongue. For though of two imperfections it was better to
have a holy ignorance, than a vicious eloquence ; yet to
couf^ummate a priest, both qualifications were necessary^
and he must have knowledge, as well as sanctity, to fit him
for the several duties of his function." Thus did those holy
instructors plead against ignorance in the clergy, and urge
them with proper arguments to engage them upon a stu-
dious life, which was the only way to furnish them with
sufficient abilities to discharge many weighty duties of their
function.
' Hieron. Ep. 2. ad Nepotian. Nee rusiiciis et tamen simplex fiater iiled
se sanctum putei, si nihil noverit : nee peiiUis et eloquens in lingui ffisliniet
sanclilatein. Mu! toque melius est e duobus imperl'ectis rusticitatem sanclara
habti'e, quam eloquentiam peccatriceni.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 533
Sect. 3. — Their chief Studies to be the Holy Scriptures, and the approved
Writers and Canons of the Church.
But it was not all sorts of studies that they equally re-
commended, but chiefly the study of the Holy Scriptures ;
as being- the fountains of that learning-, which was most
proper for their calling, and which upon all occasions they
were to make use of. " For," as St. Chrysostom observes,*
" in the way of administering spiritual physic to the souls
of men, the Word of God was instead of every thing that
was used in the cure of bodily distempers. It was instru-
ment, and diet, and air ; it was instead of medicine, and fire,
and knife ; if caustics or incisions were necessary, they
were to be done by this; and if this did not succeed, it
would be in vain to try other means. This was it, that was
to raise and comfort the dejected soul, and take down and
assuag-e the swelling tumors and, presumptions of the con-
fident. By this they were both to cut off what was super-
fluous, and supply what was wanting, and do every thing
that was necessary to be done in the cure of souls. By this
all heretics and aliens were to be convinced, and all the
plots of Satan to be countermined : and therefore it was
necessary, that the ministers of God should be very diligent
in studying the Scriptures, that the word of Christ might
dwell richly in them." This was necessary to qualify them
especially for preaching; since, as St. Jerom rightly notes,®
"the best commendation of a sermon was to have it seasoned
well with Scripture rightly applied," Besides, the custom
of expounding the Scripture occasionally, many times as it
was read, required a man to be well acquainted with all the
parts of it, and to understand both the phrase and sense,
and doctrines, and mysteries of it, that he might be ready
upon all occasions to discourse pertinently and usefully
upon them. And to this purpose some canons appointed,-*
1 Chrys. tie Sacerd. lib. iv. c. 3. et 4. * Hieron. Ep. 2. ad Nepot.
Sermo Presbyteri Scripturarum lectione conditus sit. Nolo te declamatorem
esse et rabulam, garrulumque sine ratione, sed mysteriorum pcritum, &c.
8 Con. Tolet. 3. c. 7. Quia sclent crebro incnsis otiosas fabulas interponi, in
omni sacerdotali convivio lectio Scripturarum divinarum misceatur : per hoc
fnim et aniniEe ffidificantur in bonura, et fabulte non necessaricC prohibentur.
534 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK VI.
" that their most vacant hours, the times of eating- and
drinking-, should not pass without some portion of Scripture
read to them ; partly to exclude all other trifling- and un-
necessary discourse, and partly to afford them proper
themes and subjects to exercise themselves upon to edifi-
cation and advantag-e." St. Jerom^ commends his friend
Nepotian for this, " that at all feasts he was used to pro-
pound something- out of the Holy Scripture, and entertain
the company with some useful disqiiisition upon it. And
next to the Scriptures he employed his time upon the study
of the best ecclesiastical authors, whom by continual reading-
and frequent meditations he had so treasured up in the
library of his heart, that he could repeat their words upon
any proper occasion, saying, thus spake Tertullian, thus
Cyj)rian, so Lactantius, after this manner Hilary, so Mi-
nucius Felix, so Victorinus, these were the words of Arno-
bius, and the like." But among ecclesiastical writings, the
canons of the Church were always reckoned of greatest
use ; as containing a summary account not only of the
Ch.urch's discipline, and doctrine, and government, but also
rules of life and moral virtues; upon which account, as
some laws directed, that the canons should be read over at
every man's ordination; so others^ required the clergy
afterward to make them part of their constant study to-
gether with the Holy Scripture. For the canons were then
a sort of directions for the pastoral care, and they had this
advantage of any private directions, that they were the
public voice and rubrics of the Church, and so much the
more carefully to be read upon that account. In after ages
in the time of Charles the Great, we find some laws'*
obliging the clergy to read, together with the canons, Gre-
gory's book, De Curd Pastorali,
' llieron. Epitaph. Nepot. Ep. 3. ad Heliodor. Sermo ejus (leg. per) omne
convivium de Scripturis aliquid proponere, &c. ^ Con. Tok't. t. c. at.
Sciant Sacerdoles Sciipturas sanctas, el (Jauones incditentur - - - ut ffiJificent
cnnctos tain fidei scientiu, quam operuiii disciplina. ^ Con. Turon. c. 3.
Coa. Cabillon. c. I.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CMURCH. 535
Sect, t.— How far the Study of Heathen or Heretical Books was allowed.
As to Other books and writings, they were more cautious
and sparing- in tlie study and use of them. Some canons '
forbad a bishop to read heathen authors. Nor would they
allow him to read heretical books, but only upon necessity,
that is, when there was occasion to confute them, or to cau-
tion others against the poison of them. But the prohibition
of heathen learning, though it seem to be more peremptory,
was to be understood likewise with a little qualification.
For men might have very different views and designs in
reading heathen authors. Some might read tiiem only for
pleasure, and make a business of that pleasure, to the ne-
glect of Scripture and more useful learning; and all such
were highly to be condemned. St. Jerom says of these,^
" that, when the priests of God read plays instead of the
Gospels, and wanton bucohcs instead of the Prophets, and
loved to have Virgil in their hands rather than the Bible,
they made a crime of pleasure, and turned the necessity of
youthful exercise into a voluntary sin." Others could not
relish the plain and unaffected style of Scriptures, but con-
versed with heathen orators to bring their language to a
more polite or Attic dialect. And these also came under
the censures of the Church. It is remarkable what Sozomen-^
tells us of Triphyllius, a Cyprian bishop, (who was one of
these nice and delicate men, who thought the style of Scrip-
ture not so elegant as it might be made), that having occa-
sion in a discourse before Spiridion, and some other Cyprian
bishops, to cite those words of our Saviour, " ""Apov a^ ro
Kpa/3/3arov icf TrepiirdTU, take up thy bed arid walk, he would
not use the word, Kpa|3/3aTov, but instead of it put, (TKijUTro^a,
as being a more elegant word in his opinion. To whom
Spiridion with an holy indignation and zeal replied, " art
thou better than him that said, Kpa/S/Baroi/, that thou
' Con. Carth. iv. c. 16. Ut Episcopus gentilium libros non legal; haereti-
corum autem pro necessitate et tempore. ® Hieion. Ep. 146. ad Dama-
suin de Filio Prodigo. torn. iii. p. i'29. Sacerdotes Dei, omissis Evangeliis et
Prophetis, videmus conicedias legero, aniatoria I)ucolicoruiii versiuun verba
canere, Viigilium tenere ; et id quod in pi:eris necessitatis est, crimen in se
facere voluptatis. * Sozoni. lib. i. e. 11.
53G THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [eOOK VI.
shouldest be ashamed to use bis words?'' Tliereby ad-
monishing- him to be a little more modest, and not g-ive
human eloquence the preference before the Holy Scriptures.
Another sort of men conversed with heathen authors ratlier
than the Scriptures, because they thought them more for
their turn, to arm them with sophistry to impose their errors
upon the simplicity of others. As the anonymous autlior
in Eusebius,* who writes against the Theodosian heretics,
observes of the leading men of that party, " that, leaving-
tlie Holy Scriptures, tliey generally spent their time in
Euclid and Aristotle, Theophrastus and Galen ; using the
quirks and sopliisms of infidel writers to palliate their
heresy, and corrupt the simplicity of the Christian Faith."
Now in all these cases, the reading of heathen authors for
such unworthy ends was very disallowable, because it was
always done with a. manifest neglect and contempt of the
Holy Scriptures, and therefore upon such grounds deserv-
edly forbidden by the canons of the Church. But then on
the other hand there were some cases, in which it was very
allowable to read gentile authors, and the Church's prohi-
bition did not extend to these. For sometimes it was ne-
cessary to read them, in order to confute and expose their
errors, that others might not be infected thereby. Thus St.
Jerom observes ofDaniel,^ "that he was taught in the know-
ledge of the Chaldecans, and Moses in all the wisdom of
the Egyptians ; which it was no sin to learn, so long as they
did not learn it to follow it, but to censure and refute it."
St. Ambrose says,^ " he read some books that others might
not read them; he read them to know their errors, and cau-
tion others against them." This was one reason, why
sometimes heathen writers might be read by men of learn-
ing, in order to set a mark upon them. Another reason
was, that many of them were useful and subservient to the
cause of relioion, either for confirming the truth of the
Scriptures, and the doctrines of Christianity, or for exposing-
' Euseh. lib. v. c. 28. ^ Hicron. Coin, in Dan. c. 1. Nunquam
acquicscerent discere quod non licobat. Disciint autem non ut sequantur,
sed ut judicent atque convincant. ^Ambros. Prooem. in Luc. Evang.
Legiinus aliqua, ne Icgantur ; leginnis, ne ignoreinus ; leglinus, non Ut tenea-
mus, sed ut repudiemus.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 537
and refuting the errors and vanities of the heathens them-
selves. Thus St. Jeroni observes,' " that both the Greek
and Latin historians, such as Diodorus Siculus, Polybius,
Trogus Pompeius, and Livy, are of great use as well to ex-
plain as confirm the truth of DanieFs prophecies." And St.
Austin^ says the same of the writings of Orpheus and the
Sibyls, and Hermes, and other heathen philosophers," that,
as they said many things that were true both concerning
God and the Son of God, they were in that respect very
serviceable in refuting the vanities of the gentiles." Upon
which account not only St. Austin and St. Jerom, but most
of the ancient writers of the Church, were usually well
versed in the Earning of the gentiles, as every one knows
that knows any thing of them. St. Jerom, in one short
Epistle,^ mentions the greatest part of those that lived be-
fore his own time, both Greeks and Latins, and says of
them all in general, that their books are so filled with the
sentences and opinions of philosophers, that it is hard to
say which is most to be admired, their secular learning, or
their knowledge in the Scriptures. And herein is com-
prised the plain state of this matter ; — the clergy were ob-
liged in the first place to be very diligent in studying- the
Scriptures, and after them the Canons, and approved writers
of the Church, according to men's abilities, capacities, and
opportunities ; for the same measures could not be exacted
of all. Beyond this, as there was no obligation on them to
read human learning, so there was no absolute prohibition
of it ; but where it could be made to minister as an hand-
maid to divinity, and not usurp or encroach upon it, there
' Hieron. Prolog', in Dan. Ad intelligendas extreraas partes Danielis, multi-
plex Graecoium historia necessaria est, &c. Et si quando cogimur literaruiii
secularium recordari, et aliqua ex his dicerequa; olim oinisimus ; non nostras est
voluntatis, sed ut ita dicatn, gravissiniBe necessitatis. Ut probemus ea, quae
k Sanctis Prophetis ante multa secula pra;dicla sunt, tarn Grfficoriun qiulm
Latinoriini et aliaruin Gentium litcris contineri. ^ Aug. cent. Faust,
lib. xiii. c. 15. Sibyllae et Orpheus, et nescio quis Hermes, et si qui alii
vatcs, vel theologi, vel sapientes, vel philosophi Gentium do Filio Dei, a'lt de
Patre Deo vera pnedixisse sen dixisse perhibentur; valet quidem aliquid ad
Paganoruni vaiiitateni revincendam. ^ Hieron. Ep. St ad Magnum.
In taniuui plillosophorum doctrinis atque sententiis sues refercinnt libros, ut
ne.scias (juid in illis priniuaj admirari debeas, eruditionem seculi, an scien-
tiaai Scripturarum.
VOL. 1. 3 X
538 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK VI.
it was not only allowed, but commended and encouraged,
And it must be owned, that though the abuse of secular
learning- does sometimes great harm, yet the study of it
lightly applied did very great service to religion in the pri-
mitive ages of the Church.
Sect. 5. — Of their Piety and Devotion in their Public Addresses to God,
From their private studies pass we on next to view them
in their more public capacities, as the people's orators to
God, and God's embassadors to the people. In regard to
which offices and character, I have showed before,^ they
were esteemed a sort of mediators in a qualified sense be-
tween God and men. In all their addresses to God as the
people's orators, their great care was to offer all their sacri-.
fices and oblations of prayer and thanksgiving in such a
rational, decent, and becoming way, as best suited the
nature of the action ; that is, with all that gravity and seri-
ousness, that humility and reverence, that application of
mind and intenseness and fervency of devotion, as both be-
came the greatness of that majesty to whom they addressed,
and was proper for raising suitable affections in the people.
This is the true meaning of that famous controverted pas-
sage in Justin Martyr's Second Apology, where, describing
the service of the Church, and the manner of celebrating*
the eucharist, he says,^ " the bishop sent up prayers and
praises,— oo-jj dvvaf.iig, — with the utmost of his abilities to.
God." Some misconstrue this passage, and interpret the
abilities of the minister officiating so as if they meant no.
more but his invention, expression, or the like; making it
by such a gloss to become an argument against the "Anti-
quity of public liturgies, or set forms of prayer; whereas
indeed it signifies here a quite different thing, viz. that spi-
ritual vigour, or intenseness and ardency of devotion, with,
which the minister offered up the sacrifices of the Church to
God; being such qualifications as are necessary to make
our prayers and praises acceptable unto him, who requires
them to be presented with all our soul and might ; which
may be done in set forms, as well as any other way. And
so Gregory Nazianzen and Justin Martyr himself use the
'.Bpok ii. chap.xix. sect. 16. * Justin. Apol. ii. p. 98.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 539
phrase, ocrtj ^vvaiiig, where they speak of set forms of prais-
ing' and serving God; of which more hereafter in its proper
place. St. Clirysostom' is very earnest in recommending"
this same duty to the priests of God, under the name of
SttsS)/ and 'EuXa/Stm, care and reverence. " With what
exact care," says he, " ought he to behave himself, who
g'oes in the name of a whole city, nay, in the name of the
whole world, as their orator and embassador to intercede
with God for the sins of all? But especially when he invo-
cates the Holy Ghost, and offers up — rrjv ^pticwSt^arjjv
^vcFiav, the tremendous sacrifice of the altar ; — with what
purity, with what reverence and piety should his tongue
utter forth those words ; whilst the Angels stand by him,
and the whole order of heavenly Powers cries aloud, and
fills the sanctuary in honour of him, who is represented as
dead and lying upon the altar V Thus that holy father
argues with a warmth and zeal suitable to the subject, and
such as is proper to raise our devotion, and kindle our af-
fections into an holy flame, whenever we present the sup-
plications of the Church on earth to the Sacred Majesty of
heaven.
Sect. 6. — The Censure of such as neglected the Daily Service of the Church.
And this ardency of devotion was continually to be che-
rished and preserved. To which purpose the Church had
her daily sacrifices, wherever it was possible to have them ;
and on these every clergyman was indispensibly obliged to
attend ; and that under pnin of suspension and deprivation,
whether it was his duty to officiate or not. For so the first
council of Toledo determined for the Spanish Churches,^
" that if any presbyter or deacon, or other clerk, should be
in any city or country where there was a Church, and did
not come to Church to the daily sacrifice or service, he
should no longer be reputed one of the sacred function."'
The council of Agde^ orders such to be reduced to the
communion of strangers, which at least implies suspension
' Chrys. de Sacerd. lib. vi. c. 4. * Con. Tolet. i. c. 5. Presbyter,
Diaconus, &c. qui intra civitatem fuerit, vel in loco in quo Ecclesia est, si in
Ecclesiam ad sacrificium quotidianum non venerit, CIcricus non habeatur.
* Con. Agathens. c. 2. Clericis qni Ecclesiam frequentare, vel officium suuin
implere neglexerint, puregrinacomniunio tribuatur.
540 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK VI.
from their office. And the law of Justinian ^ punishes them
with degradation, because of the scandal they g-ive to the
laity by such neglects or contempts of divine service. So
careful were the ancient law-givers of the Church to cut off
all indecencies and abuses of this nature, and make the
clergy provoking examples of piety to the people.
Sect. 7. — Rules about Preaching to Edification.
Next to their office in addressing God as the people's
orators, we are to view them as God's embassadors, ad-
dressing themselves in his name to the people. Which
they did by public preaching and private application ; in
both which their great care was to perform the duty of
watchmen over God's flock, and of good stewards over his
household. In their preaching, their only aim was to be
the edification of the people. To which purpose the great
masters of rules in this kind, Gregory Nazianzen,Chrysostom,
and St. Jerom, lay down these few directions. First, That
the preacher be careful to make choice of an useful subject.
Gregory Nazianzen^ specifies the rule in some particular
instances, such as the doctrine of the world's creation, and
the soul of man ; the doctrine of Providence, and the re-
storation of man; the two covenants; the first and second
coming of Christ, his incarnation, sufferings and death ; the-
resurrection, and end of the world, and future judgment,
and different rewards of Heaven and Hell; together with'
the doctrine of the blessed Trinity, which is the principal
article of the Christian Faith. Such subjects as these are
proper for edification, to build up men in faith and holiness,
and the practice of all piety and virtue.
But then, secondly, they must be treated on in a suitable
way ; not with too much art or loftiness of style, but with
g-reat condescension to mens capacities, who must be fed
with the word as they are able to bear it. This is what
Gregory Nazianzen^ so much commends in Athanasius,
when he says, " he condescended and stooped himself to
the mean capacities, whilst to the acute his notions and
r • ■
> Cod. Just. lib. i, tit. 8. de Episc. leg. 42. n. 10. « Naz. Orat. 1.
de Fug. torn. i. p. 15. *Naz. Orat. 21. de Laud. Athan. torn. i. p. 396.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 541
words were more sublime." St. Jerom* also observes upon
this head, " that a preacher's discourse sh.ould always be
plain, intelligible, and affecting; and rather adapted to
excite men's groans and tears, by a sense of their sins, than
their admiration and applause, by speaking* to them what
neither they, nor he himself perhaps, do truly understand.
For it is ignorant and unlearned men chiefly, that affect to
be admired for their speaking above the capacities of the
vulgar. A bold forehead often interprets what he himself
does not understand ; and yet he has no sooner persuaded
others to they know not what, but he assumes to himself
the title of learning upon it. When yet there is nothing so
easy as to deceive the ignorant multitude, who are always
most prone to admire what they do not understand," Upon
this account, St. Chrysostom^ spends almost a whole book
in cautioning" the Christian orator against this failing; " that
he should not be intont on popular applause, but with a
generous mind raise himself above it ; seeking chiefly to
advantage his hearers, and not barely to delight and please
them." To this purpose, he concludes, it would be neces-
sary for him to despise both the applauses and censures of
men, and all other things that might tempt him rather to
flatter his hearers, than edify them. " In a vvord,^ his chief
end in all his composures should be to please God: and
then, if he also gained the praise of men, he might receive
it ; if not, he needed not to court it, nor torment himself
that it was denied him. For it would be consolation enonoh
for all his labours, that in adapting* his doctrine and elo-
quence he had always sought to please his God."
Thirdly, A third rule g'iven in this case, was, " that men
should apply their doctrine and spiritual medicines accord-
ing to the emergent and most urgent necessities of their
hearers. Which was the most proper duty of a watchman,
to perceive with a quick eye, where the greatest danger lay;
which was men's weakest and most unguarded side; and
• Hieron. Ep. 2. ad Nepotian. Docente te in Ecclesifi, non clamor popiili,
sed gemitus suscitetur ; lachrymae auditoi-ura laudes tuse sint. - - - - Celeiitate
dicendi apud iraperitum valgus admirationem sui facere indoctoruin hominum
est. Attrita frons interpretatur ssepe quod nescit ; et cum aliis persuascrit,
sibi quoqiie usurpat scientiain. * Clirys. de Sacerd. lib. v. c. I.
^ Ibid. c. 7.
542 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bc50K f I.
then apply suitable remedies to their maladies and distem-
pers." St. Chrysostom* in speaking- of this part of a minis-
ter's duty, says, " he should be vrt(pa\iog icj diopariKog, watch-
ful and perspicacious, and have a thousand eyes about him,
as living not for himself alone, but for a multitude of people.
To live retired in a cell is the business of a monk; but the
duty of a watchman is to converse among- men of all de-
grees and callings ; to take care of the body of Christ, the
Church, and have regard both to its health and beauty ;
curiously observing, lest any spot or wrinkle or other de-
filement should sully the grace and comeliness of it. Now
this obliged spiritual physicians to apply their medicines,
that is, their doctrines, as the maladies of their patients
chiefly required ; to be most earnest and frequent in en-
countering those errors and vices, which were most reigning,
or which men were most in danger of being infected by."
And this is the reason, why in the homilies of the Ancients
we so often meet with discourses against such heresies, as
the world now knows nothing- of; such as those of the
Marcionites and Manicliees, and many others, which it
would be absurd to combat now in popular discourses ; but
then it was necessary to be done, because they were the
prevailing heresies of the age, and men were in dang-er of
beino- subverted by them. And it is further observable,
that the most formidable heresies, and prevaihng factions,
such as that of the Arians, when armed with secular power,
could never either force or court the Catholic preachers
into silence, to let the wolves devour the sheep by such
a tame and base compliance. In this case no worldly
motives could prevail with them, when they saw the danger,
not to give warning- of it. They thought they could not
otherwise answer the character of watchmen, and stewards
of the mysteries of God, since it was required in stewards
that a man be found faithful.
Sect. 8.— Of Fidelity, Diligence, and Prudence, in Private Addresses and
Applications.
But their fidelity was not only expressed in their pul)lic
discourses, but also in their private addresses and applica-
tions to men, who had either cut themselves off from the
' Clirys. de Saccrd. lib. jii. c. 19. Lib. iv. c. 2 et 3.
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 543
body of Christ by heresies and schisms, or by their sins made
themselves unsound members of the body, whilst they
seemed to continue of it. With what fidelity and meekness
and diligence they addressed themselves to the former sort,
we may learn from the good effects, which their applications
often had upon them. Theodoret* tells of himself in one
place, that he had converted a thousand souls from the he-
resy of the Marcionites, and many others from the heresies
of Arius and Eunomiiis, in his own diocese. And in anO"
ther place ^ he augments the number of converted Marcio-
nites to ten thousand, whom, with indefatigable industry, in
a diocese of forty miles in length and breadth, containing
eight hundred Churches in it, he had reduced from their
strayings to the unity of the Catholic Church. What won-
ders also St. Austin wrought in Afric upon the Donatists
and others the same way, by private letters and conferences
and collations with them, the reader may learn from Possi-
dius,3 the author of his life, who frequently mentions his
labours in this kind, and the great advantage that accrued
to the Church by these means. For he lived to see the great-
est part of the Manichees, Donatists, Pelagians, and Pagans
converted to the Catholic Church. They were no less care-
ful to apply themselves in private to persons within the
Church, as occasion required. And here great art and pru-
dence, as well as fidelity and diligence, was necessary to
give success to their endeavours. " For mankind," as Na-
zianzen observes,* is so various and uncertain a sort of
creature, that it requires the greatest art and skill to manage
him. For the tempers of men's minds differ more than the
features and lineaments of their bodies ; and, as all meats
and medicines are not proper for all bodies, so neither is the
same treatment and discipline proper for all souls. Some
are best moved by words, others by examples ; some are of
a dull and heavy temper, and so have need of the spur to
exstimulate them ; others that are brisk and fiery, have more
need of the curb to restrain them. Praise works best upon
some, and reproof upon others, provided each of them be
ministered in a suitable and seasonable way; otherwise
> Theod. Ep. 113. ad.Leon. ^d. Ep. Mo. p. 1026. » Possid.
Vit. Aug. c. ix. 13, 18. * Niu. Oral. 1. de Fug. p. 14,
544 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK VI'
they do more harm than g"ood. Some men are drawn by
g"entle exhortations to their duty ; others by rebukes and
hard words must be driven to it. And even in the business
of reproof, some are afi'ected most with open rebuke, others
w^ith private. For some men never reg"ard a secret reproof,
who yet are easily corrected, if chastised in pubHc. Others
ag-ain cannot bear a public disgrace, but g-row either morose,
or impudent and implacable upon it ; who, perhaps, would
have hearkened to a secret admonition, and repaid their mo-
nitor with their conversion, as presuming" him to have ac-
costed them out of mere pity and love. Some men are to
be so nicely watched and observed, that not the least of
their fciults are to be dissembled ; because they seek to hide
their sins from men, and arrog-ate to themselves thereupon
the praise of being- politic and crafty : in others it is better
to wink at some faults, so that seeing- we will not see, and
hearing- we will not hear, lest by too frequent chidings we
bring them to despair, and so make them cast off modesty,
and g-row bolder in their sins. To some men we must put
on an angry countenance, and seem to contemn them, and
despair of them as lost and deplorable wretches, when their
nature so requires it; others, again, must be treated with
meekness and humility, and be recovered to a better hope
by more promising and encouraging prospects. Some men
must be always conquered, and never yielded to, whilst to
others it will be better sometimes to concede a little. For
all men's distempers are not to be cured the same way ; but
proper medicines are to be applied, as the matter itself, or
occasion, or the temper of the patient will admit of. And
this is the most difficult part of the pastoral office, to know
how to distinguish these things nicely, with an exact judg-
ment, and with as exact a hand to minister suitable reme-
dies to every distemper. It is a master-piece of art, which
is not to be perfectly attained but by good observation,
joined with experience and practice." What our author
thus here at larg-e discourses by way of rule and theory, he
in another place sums up more briefly in the example of the
groat Athanasius, whose pattern he proposes to men's imi-
tation, as a living image of this admirable prudence and
dexterity in dealing with men according to this great variety
CHAP, in.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 545
of tempers ; telling" iis,^ " that liis design was always one
and the same, but his methods various ; praising some, mo-
derately correcting others ; using the spur to some dull
tempers, and the reins to others of a more hot and zealous
spirit ; in his conversation, master of the greatest simplicity,
but in his government master of the greatest artifice and va-
riety of skill ; wise in his discourses, but much wiser in his
understanding, to adapt himself according to the different
capacities and tempers of men." Now the design of all this
was, not to give any latitude or license to sin, but by all
prudent and honest arts to discourag-e and destroy it. It
was not to teach the clergy the base and servile arts of
flattery and compliance; to become time-servers and men-
pleasers, and sooth the powerful or the rich in their errors
and vices ; but only to instruct them in the different methods
of opposing sin, and how, by joining prudence to their zeal,
they might make their own authority most venerable, and
most effectually promote the true ends of religion. St.
Chrysostom puts in this caution, in describing this part of
a bishop's character. " He ought to be wise, as well as
holy ; a man of great experience, and one that understands
the world : and, because his business is w ith all sorts of
men, he should be — iroiKiXog — one tliat can appear with
different aspects, and act with great variety of skill." "But
when I say this, I do not mean," says he,^ "that he should
be a man of craft, or servile flattery, or a dissembling hypo-
crite; but a man of great freedom and boldness, who knows
notwithstanding' how to condescend and stoop himself for
men's advantage, when occasion requires, and can be as
well mild as austere. For all men are not to be treated in
the same way : no physician uses the same method w ith all
his patients." The true mean and decorum, he thinks,
which a bishop should observe in his converse and applica-
tions to men, is to keep between too much stiffness and ab-
jectness. " He must be grave without pride ;^ awful, but
courteous; majestic, as a man of authority and power, yet
• Naz. Orat. 21. de Laud. Athan. p. 398. * Chrys. de Sacerd. lib. vl.
C 4. YloiKiXov airrbv tifai ^il. ttoikCKov te Xtyw, ay; vrrnXov, «' KoXaica, «(c
viroK^iT))v, &c. ^ Cluys. de Sacerd. lib. iii. c. 16.
VOL. I. 3 Y
546 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK VI.
afiiihle and communicative to all. Of an integrity that can-
not be corrupted, yet officious and ready to serve every man ;
humble, but not servile; sharp and resolute, but yet gentle
and mild. By such prudence he will maintain his authority,
and carry any point with men, whilst he studies to do every
thing without hatred or favour, only for the benefit and edi-
fication of the Church." We must reduce to this head of
prudence, in making proper address and application to of-
fenders, that direction given by St. Paul, and repeated in
several ancient canons, that a bishop be no smiter, — f.irji
TrXijKrrjv, — which the twenty-seventh of those called the
Apostolical Canons thus paraphrases: " If any bishop, pres-
byter, or deacon, smite either an offending Christian, or an
injurious heathen, we order him to be deposed. For our
Lord did not teach us this discipline, but the contrary ; for
he was smitten, but did not smite any; when he was reviled,
he reviled not asfain : v^^hen he suffered, he threatened not."
Justinian forbids the same in one of his Novels,' as a thing
unbecoming the priests of God, to smite any man with their
own hands. The word, TrArjo-orav, signifies also smiting wath
the tongue, by reproachful, bitter, and contumelious lan-
guage, as St. Chrysostom, St. Jerom, and others, understand
it. In which sense also it was forbidden, as a thing inde-
cent, and unbecoming the gravity and prudence of the
Christian clergy.
Sect. 9.— Of Prudence and Candour in composing unnecessary ControTersies
in the Church.
St. Chrysostom enlarges upon several other parts of
prudence, which I need not here insist upon, because they
have either already been mentioned, or will hereafter be
considered in other places; such as prudence- in opposing
heresies ; prudence ^ in managing the virgins and widows,
and the revenues of the Church ; prudence* in hearing and
determining secular causes ; and prudence * in the exercise
of discipline and Church-censures, which last will be
' Just. Novel. 123. c. 11. Sed neque propriis manibus llceat Episcopo quen-
qiiara percutere : hoc enim alienum est a Sacerdotibus. * Chrys.
de Sacerd. lib. iv. c. 4. ^ Ibid. lib. iii, c. 16. * Ibid. lib. iii.
c. 18. ' Ibid. lib. iii. c. 18.
CHAP, in.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 547
spoken to under another head. I shall here therefore only
add one instance more of their prudence in allaying- unne-
cessary disputes, which rose among Catholics, and men of
the same opinion in the Church, which indeed was rather
a complication of many noble virtues : prudence, candour,
ingenuity, moderation, peaceableness, and charity, joined
together, which hke a constellation of the brightest quali-
ties always shined with the greatest lustre. This is whttt
Gregory Nazianzen chiefly admired in the conduct of Atha-
nasius, and therefore he gives it the highest commend^ition
and preference before all his other virtues, as thinking* there
was no one thing whereby he did greater service to the
Church of God. It happened in the time of Athanasius,
that the Catholics were like to be divided about mere words;
a warm dispute asising about what names the three divine
persons were to be called by, some were for calling them
only T^i'a U^oadJira, Three Persons, to avoid Arianism ;
others called them Tpelg 'Yiro-daHg, Three Hypostases,
to avoid Sabellianism. Now they all meant the same thing,
but not understanding each others terms, they mutually
charg-ed one another with the heresies of Arius and Sabel-
lius. The one party in the heat of disputation could under-
stand nothing by Three Hypostases but three subtances or
essences in the Arian sense ; for they made no distinction
between hypostasis and essence, and therefore charged
tlieir opposites with Arianism. The other party were afraid
that T^jiu np6(T0)Tra signified no more than nominal persons,
in the sense of Sabellius, who himself had used those very
terms in an equivocal sense to impose upon the vulgar,
and therefore they inveighed against their adversaries as
designing to promote Sabellianism. " And so,'' says Nazi-
anzen,^ " this little difference in words making' a noise as
if there had been difference in opinion, the love of quarrel-
ing and contention fomenting the dispute, the ends of the
earth were in danger of being divided by a few syllables.
Which when Athanasius, the true man of God7 and great
guide of souls, both saw and heard, he could not endure
to think of so absurd, and unreasonable a division among
' Nuz. Orat. 21. dc Laud. Athan. torn. i. p. 396.
548 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK VI.
the professors of the same faith, but immediately appUed
a remedy to the distemper. And how did he make his
appheation ? having- convened both parties with all meek-
ness and humility, and accurately weighed the intention
and meaning' of the words on both sides, after he found
them ag-reeing- in the things themselves, and not in the
least differing in point of doctrine, he ended their dispute,
allowing the use of both names, and tying them to unity of
opinion." " This," says our author, " was a more advanta-
geous act of charity to the Church, than all his other daily
labours and discourses ; it was more honourable than all
his watchings and humicubations, and not inferior to his
applauded flights and exiles." And therefore he tells his
readers in ushering in the discourse, " that he could not
omit the relation, Avithout injuring them, especially at a time
when contentions and divisions were in the Church ; for
this action of his would be an instruction to them, that
were then alive, and of great advantage, if they would
propound it to their own imitation ; since men were prone to
divide not only from the impious, but from the orthodox
and pious, and that not only about little and contemptible
opinions, which ought to make no difference, but about
words, that tended to one and the same sense." The cau-
tion is of use in all ages ; and had it always been strictly
observed, it would have prevented many wild disputes, and
fierce contentions about words in the Christian Church.
Skct. 10.— Of their Zeal and Courage in Defending the Truth,
But now we are to observe on the other hand, that as they
were eminent for their candour and prudence in composing-
unnecessary and verbal disputes ; so, where the cause was
weighty, and any material point of religion concerned, they
were no less famous for their zeal and courage, in standing
up in the defence of truth against all opposers. It was
neither the artifice and subtlety, nor the power and malice
of their enemies could make them yield, where they
thought the faith was in danger to be destroyed. " In other
cases," says Nazianzen,' " there is nothing so peaceable, so
■ Naz. Oral. 21. de Laud. Athan. p. 388. Ot k&v rdWa Cjuiv liprjviKoi rt k/
GHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 549
moderate as Christian bishops but in this case they cannot
bear the name of moderation, to betray their God by silence
and sitting" still ; but here they are exceeding" eag^er warriors,
and fig-hting- champions, that are not to be overcome." He
does not mean, that the weapons of their warfare were
carnal ; that they used any pious frauds, or plotted treasons
or rebellions, or took up arms in defence of religion ; but
that with an undaunted courage and brave resolution they
stood up firm in defence of truth, and mattered not what
names they were called by, contentious, unpeaceable, im-
moderate, factious, turbulent, incendiaries, or any thing of
the like nature, nor yet what they suffered in any kind,
whilst they contended for that faith, which was once deli-
vered to the saints. Church-history abounds with instances
of this nature ; but it will be sufficient to exemplify the
practice of this virtue in a sing'le instance, which Gregory
Nazianzen ' gives us in the Life of St. Basil, where he re-
lates a famous dialogue that passed between Modestus, the
Arian governor under Valens, and that holy man. Modes-
tus tried all arts to bring him over to the party, but, finding
all in vain, he at last threatened him with severity. " Whaf?"
said he, " dost thou not fear this power, which I am armed
with V " why should I fear V said Basil, " what canst thou
do, or what can I suffer V " what canst thou suff'er "?" said
the other, " many things that are in my power ; confiscation
of thy goods, banishment, torment, and death." " But thou
must threaten me with something else," said Basil, " if thou
canst, for none of these things can touch me. As for con-
fiscation of goods, I am not liable to it ; for I have nothing
to lose, unless thou wantest these tattered and threadbare
garments, and a few books, which is all the estate I am
possessed of. For banishment, I know not what it means,
for I am tied to no place ; I shall esteem every country as
much my own, as that were I now dwell ; for the whole
earth is the Lord's, and I am only a pilgrim and a stranger
in it. As for torments, what can they do to him, who has not
fikrpioi, THToyt h (pkoaaiv Ittiukuq iCvai, Oebv irpoSiSovaiSia tT]c yffvxiac dWa,
K, \im> tiTi?' (vrai'^a noXtixiKoi rt kj hvafiaxoi-. ' Naz. Orat. 20.
de Laud. Basil, p. 349.
550 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK VI.
a body that can hold out beyond the first stroke 1 and for
death, it will be a kindness to me, for it will but so much
the sooner send me unto God, to whom I live and do the
duty of my station ; being- in a great measure already dead,
and now of a long- time hastening unto him." The g-overnor
was strangely surprised at this discourse, and said, " no
man ever talked at this free and bold rate to Modestus be-
fore." " Perhaps," said Basil, " tiiou didst never meet with
a bishop before ; for, if thou hadst, he would have talked
just as I do, when he was put to contend about such matters
as these. In other things we are mild and yielding, and
the humblest men on earth, as our laws oblige us to be ;
we are so far from showing ourselves supercihous or
hauo-hty to magistrates in power, that we do not do it to
persons of the meanest rank and condition. But, when the
cause of God is concerned, or in danger, then indeed we
esteem all other things as nothing, and fix our eyes only
upon him. Then fire and sword, wild Ijeasts, and instru-
ments of torture to tear ofi' our flesh, are so far from being
a terror, that they are rather a pleasure, and recreation to
us. Therefore reproach and threaten us, do your pleasure,
use your power to the utmost, and let the emperor know
all this : yet you shall never conquer us, or bring us to
assent to your impious doctrine, though you threaten us ten
thousand times more than all this." The governor hearing
this, and finding him to be a man of invincible and inflexible
courage, dismissed him now not with threatenings, but with
a sort of reverence and submission, and went and told the
emperor, that the bishop of that Church was too hard for
them all ; for his courage was so great, his resolution so
firm, that neither promises nor threatenings could move him
from his purpose. Nor was it only open violence they thus
bravely resisted, but also the more crafty attempts of the
en7?mies of truth, who many times went artificially to work
againstit ; partly byblackening the characters of its champions
and defenders, and representing them as base and intole-
rable men ; and partly by smoothing their own character,
and pretending unity in faith with the orthodox, and that
their designs were only designs of peace, to remove un-
scriptural words and novel terms out of the way, that all
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 551
men might be of the same opinion. These were the two
gTand artifices of the Arian party, whereby the leading' and
politic men among- them, Eusebius of Niconiodia, Valens,
Ursacius, and others, always laboured to overthrow the
truth. Upon this account Athanasius was forced to underg"0
a thousand calumnies and slanderous reproaches ; he was ac-
cused to Constantine, as one that assumed to himself imperial
authority to impose a tax upon Eg-ypt ; as one g'uilty of mur-
der in cutting' off the hand of Arsenius, a Meletian Vjishop, as
g'uilty of treason in siding- withPhilumenus, the rebel, and fur-
nishing-him with money; asan enemy to the public for attempt-
ing* to hinder the transportation of corn from Eg-ypt to Con-
stantinople : which accusation so far prevailed upon the
emperor, that he banished him to Triers upon it. In the
next reign he was accused ag-ain of repeated murders ; and
of sacrileg-e, in diverting- Constantine's liberality to the
widows of Eg-ypt and Libya to other uses; of treason, in
joining' interest with Magnentius, the tyrant; and many
other such charges were spitefully and diabolically levelled
against him. St. Basil was likewise variously accused both
by professed enemies and pretended friends; who, as is
usual in such cases, broug'ht charges against him directly-
contrary to one another. Some accused him of tritheism,
for defending the doctrine of Three Hypostases against the
Sabellians ; others, of Semiarianisra, or heterodoxy in the
article about the divinity of the Holy Ghost, because in his
Church he sometimes used a difierent form of doxology from
what was used in other Churches. Some again accused
him of Arianism, because he had received Eustathius of Se-
bastia into communion upon his professing the Catholic
faith ; others said, he com.municated with Apollinaris, the
heretic, because upon some occasions he wrote letters to
him. Thus were two of the greatest and best of men ma-
liciously traduced and wounded in their reputation ; both
indeed for the same cause, but with this difierence, that the
one was prosecuted by open enemies without the Church,
the other chiefly by secret enemies within ; of whom there-
fore he had reason to take up the prophet's complaint, and
say, " These are the wounds, with which I was woimded in
the house of my friends." And these were sucli temptations
552 THS ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK VI.
as might have unsettled any weak and waveiing mhids, and
made them turn their backs upon reUgion : but true zeal is
above temptation, and can equally despise the wounds of
the sword, and the wounds of the tongue ; having always
the consolation, which Christ gives in his Gospel, ready at
hand to support it, " Blessed are ye, when men shall revile
you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil
against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding
glad ; for great is your reward in heaven." Such examples
show us, that innocence itself cannot always exempt men
from calumny, but sometimes is accidentally the occasion
of it. But then it has this advantage, that being joined with
a suitable zeal, it never sinks under the weight and pressure
of its burden, but always comes off conqueror at the last, as
we see in the instances now before us.
The other artifice, which I said the Arians used to de-
stroy the Faith, was the specious pretence of peace and
unity. The politic and crafty men among them in the time
of Constantius pretended, that they had no quarrel with the
Catholic Doctrine of the Trinity itself, but only were ag-
grieved at the novel, and unscriptural words, such as the
'Ofioimov, consubstantial, S^-c. which the council of Nice had
used to express it by. These, they said, were dividing
terms, and the cause of all the quarrel and combustion:
and therefore they still urged the removing these terms, as
the great stumbling-block, out of the May, that the peace
and unity of the Church might follow upon it. But Atha-
nasius and other wise Catholics easily perceived, whither
this sly stratagem tended; being very sensible, that their
design was not against the bare terms, but the Faith itself,
and therefore they always stoutly and zealously opposed it.
Nor could the Arians ever gain this point upon the Ca-
tholics, till at last in the council of Ariminum, Anno 359, by
great importunity, and clamours for unity and peace, they
were prevailed upon to sink the word, consubstantial, and
draw up a new creed without it, yet, as they thought, con-
taining the very same doctrine, and in as full terms as could
be expressed, save that the word, consubstantial, was not
in it. But here it must be owned, these Catholic bishops
were wanting in their zeal, as they themselves were quickly
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 553
after convinced. For no sooner was this concession made,
but the Avians immediately gave out and boasted over all
the world, that the Nicene faith was condemned, and Ari-
anism established in a g-eneral-eouncil, though nothing- was
less intended by the Catholic bishops, that were present at
it. But now they were sensible they had made a false
step, by suffering themselves thus to be imposed upon by
designing men: they now saw, that they ought to have stuck
to the Nicene terms, as well as the Faith, since the Faith
itself so much depended on them. They now began to
complain of the fraud, and asked pardon of their brethren
for their want of foresight and caution, in a case so tender
and material. St. Jerom, who gives us this account of the
whole transaction, from the Acts of the synod and other
records extant in his time, brings them in making this
apology for themselves : " the bishops," says he,^ " who
had been imposed upon by fraud at Arirainum, and who
were reputed heretics without being conscious to themselves
of any heresy, went about every where protesting by the
body of Christ, and all that is sacred in the Church, that
they suspected no evil in their creed: they thought the
sense had agreed with the words, and that men had not
meant one thing in their hearts, and uttered another thing
with their lips. They were deceived by entertaining too
good an opinion of base and evil men. They did not sup-
pose the priests of Christ could so treacherously have
fought against Christ. In short, they lamented their mis-
take now with tears, and offered to condemn as well their
own subscription, as all the Arian blasphemies." Any one,
that reads St. Jerom carefully, will easily perceive, that
these bishops were no Arians, nor ever intended to sub-
scribe an Arian creed; but their fault was want of zeal in
> Hieron. Dial. cont. Lucif. torn. ii. p. 143. Concurrebant Episcopi, qui
Arimincnsibus dolis irretiti, sine conscientia hajretici fercbantur, contestantes
corpus Domini, et quicquid in Ecclesia sanctum est, se nihil mali in sua Fide
suspicatos. " Putavimus," aiebant, " sensum congruere cum verbis; nee in
Ecclesiis ubi siniplicitas, ubi pura confessio est, aliud in corde clausum esse,
aliud in labiis proferri timuimus. Decepit nos bona de nialis existimatio.
Non sumus arbitrati sacerdotcs Christi adversus Christum pugnare." Multa-
qua alia qua; brevitatis studio praBtereo, flentes assL-rebant, parati et sub-
scriptionem pristinam et omnes Arianorum blaspheniiass condemnare.
VOL. I. 3 z
554 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK VI.
parting- with the Nieene creed, to take another instead of it
without the word, consahstantial; which though they snb-
seribed in the simplicity of their hearts as an orthodox
creed, (and indeed the words, as St. Jerom describes them,
in their plain sense are sound and orthodox, as St. Jerom
says in their excuse,) yet the Arians put an equivocal and
poisonous sense upon them; giving* out, after the council
was ended, that they had not only abolished the word, con-
substantial, but with it condemned the Nieene faith also.
Which was strange surprising news to the bishops, that had
been at Ariminum. " Then," says St. Jerom, " wgemuit
totus orbis, et Arianum seesse miratus est, — the whole world
groaned, and was amazed to think she should he reputed
Arian^ That is, the Catholic bishops of the whole world,
for there were three hundred of them present at that coun-
cil, were amazed to find themselves so abused, and repre-
sented as Arians, when they never intended in the least to
confirm the Arian doctrine. But now by this the reader will
be able to judge, what kind of zeal the Catholic Church
required then in her clergy, viz. That they should not
only contend for the Faith itself, but also for those catholic
forms and ways of expressing it, which had been prudently
composed and settled in general-councils, as a barrier
against heretics; the giving up of which to subtle and dan-
gerous adversaries, would always give them advantage to
make fiercer attacks upon the Faith itself, and prove de-
structive to the catholic cause ; as those bishops found by
woeful experience, who were concerned in the concession
made at Ariminum. It is candour indeed, when good Ca-
tholics are divided only about words, to bring them to a
right understanding of one another, which w ill set them at
peace and unity again : but it is tameness to give up the
main bulwarks of the Faith to fallacious adversaries and de-
signing men, whose arts and aims, however disguised, are
always known to strike at the foundation of religion. And
tlierefore, though no man was ever more candid than Atha-
nasius towards mistaken Catholics, yet neither was any
more zealous in opposing the arts and stratagems of the
Arian party ; always sticking close to the definition of the
CHAP. III.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 555
Nicene council, and never yielding-, that any tittle or syllable
of that creed should be erased or altered.
Sect. 11. — Of their Obligations to maintain the Unity of the Church ; and of
the Censure of such as fell into Heresy or Schism.
Whilst I am upon this head, I cannot but take notice
of the obligations the clergy lay under to maintain the unity
of the Church, both in faith and discipline, and what penal-
ties were inflicted on such as made a breach therein, whether
by falling- into heresy or schism themselves, or giving en-
couraofement to them in others. I shall not need to state
the nature of Church-unity and communion in this place
any further, than by saying-, — that, to maintain the purity of
the Catholic Faith, and live under the discipline and govern-
ment of a Catholic bishop, who himself lived in communion
with the Catholic Church, were then as it were the two cha-
racteristic notes of any man's being- in the communion of
the Church ; and therefore, as every member was obliged
to maintain the unity of the Church in both these parts, so
much more the ciergy, who were to be the chief guardians
of it. And if they failed in either kind, that is, if they lapsed
either into heresy or schism, by the laws of the Church they
were to be deposed from their office ; and though they re-
pented and returned to the unity of the Church again, yet
they were not to act in their former station, but to be ad-
mitted to communicate only in the quality of laymen. This
was the rule of the African Church in the time of Cyprian,
as appears from the Synodical Epistle * of the council of
Carthage, to which his name is prefixed. For, writing to
Pope Stephen, they tell him, their custom was to treat such
of the clerg-y as were ordained in the Catholic Church, and
afterward stood up perfidiously and rebelliously against the
Church, in the same manner as they did those that were first
ordained by heretics ; that is, they admitted them to the
> Cypr. Ep. 72. p. 107. Si qui Presbyteri aut Diaconi qui vel in Ecrlesia
Catholicl prius ordinati fuerint, et poslmodum periidi ac rebcUes contra Ec-
clesiam steltrint, vel apnd Hf^reticos a Pseudo-Episccpis et Aiiticliri.slis con-
tra Cliristi disposilioneni profana ordinatione promoti sunt - - - eos quoque
hac conditionc susolpi cCiiu revertuntur, ut connnunicent Laici, et satis habeaut
quod admitluntur ad paceni. qui hostis pads extiterint, &c.
556 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK VI.
peace of the Church, and allowed them the communion of
laymen, but did not permit them to officiate again in any
order of the clergy. And this, he says, they did to put a
mark of distinction between those that always stood true to
the Church, and those that deserted it. Yet if any consider-
able advantage accrued to the Church, by the return of such
an heretic or schismatic, as if he brought over any consider-
able part of the deluded people with him ; or if he was ge-
nerally chosen by the Cluirch, or the like ; in such cases
the rule was so far dispensed with, that the deserter might
be admitted to his pristine dignity, and betillovved to offi-
ciate in his own order again. Upon this account, Cornelius,
bishop of Rome, received Maximus, the presbyter, to his
former honour upon his return from the Novatian schism.*
And in after ages both the Novatians and Meletians were
particularly favoured with this privilege by the council of
Nice, and the Donatists by the African fathers in the time
of St. Austin, as I have had occasion to note more than
once before.^ But if they continued obstinate in their
heresy or schism, then many times an anathema was pro-
nounced against them, as in the second council of Carthage.
" If a presbyter," says the canon, ^ " that is reproved or ex-
communicated by his bishop, being puffed up with pride,
shall presume to offer the oblation in a separate assembly,
or set up another altar against him, let him be anathema."
The council of Antioch,* and those called the Apostolical
Canons,^ have several decrees of the like nature. Yea, so
careful were the clergy to be of the unity of the Church,
that they were not to give any encouragement to heretics,
or schism.atics, or excommunicated persons, by communi-
cating with them in prayer or other holy offices of the
Church, or so mucli as frequenting their society, feasting
with them or the like. But I do not enlarge upon these
' Cornel. Ep. 46. al. 49. atl C\ j)r. p. 93. Maximum Presby terum locum suum
agnoscere jussinius. See other instances in Socrates, lib. vii. c. 3.
2 Book iv. chap. vii. sect. 7 and 8. ^(^lon^ Carth. 2. c. viii. Si quis
forte Presbyter ab Episcopo suo correptus vel excommunicatus, turaore vel su-
perbi.l inflatus, putaverit separatiin Deo sacrilicia offerenda, vel aliud erigen-
dum altare— Anathema sit. * Con. Antioch. c. 4 ct 5. * Canon.
Apost. c. 32.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 557
things here, because being- matters of discipline, they will
come again to be considered under that head in another
place.
I have now g-one throug-h some of the chief g-eneral du-
ties, Avhich more immediately concerned the office and func-
tion of the clergy ; and by mixing public rules with private
directions and great examples, have made such an essay to-
wards the idea and character of a primitive clerk, as may, I
hope, in some things excite both the emulation and curio-
sity of many of my readers, who may be concerned to imitate
the pattern I have been describing. If here it be not drawn
so full, or so exactly to the life in all its beauties as they
could wish, they will find their account in satisfying their
curiosity, by having recourse to the fountains themselves,
from whence these materials were taken. For many things,
that might here have been added, were purposely omitted
for fear of drawing out this part of the discourse to a greater
length than would consist with the design and measures of
the present undertaking. And I had rather be thought to
have said too little, than too much, upon this head, that I
might not cloy, but leave an edge upon the appetite of the
inquisitive reader.
CHAP. IV.
An Account of some other Laws and Rules, ivhich were a
Sort of Out-Giiards and Fences to the former.
Sect. 1. — No Clergyman allowed to desert or relinquish his Station without
just Grounds and Leave.
Having thus far discoursed both of such laws, as related to
the life and conversation of the primitive clergy, and of
those that more immediately concerned the duties and of-
fices of their function ; I come now to speak of a third sort
of laws, which were like the Jew's Sepimenta Legis, a sort
of by-laws and rules, made for the defence and guard of the
two former. Among these we may reckon such laws as
were made to fix the clergy to their proper business and
calling; such as that, which forbad any clergyman to desert
558 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK VI.
or relinquish his station, without just grounds or leave
granted by his superiors. In the African Church, as has
been showed before,' from the time that any man was made
a reader, or entered in any of the lower orders of the
Church, he was presumed to be dedicated to the service of
God, so as thenceforth not to be at liberty to turn secular
again at his own pleasure. And much more did this rule
hold for bishops, presbyters, and deacons. Therefore Cyril
of Alexandria, as he is cited by Harmenopulus,^ says in one
of his canons, " that it was contrary to the laws of the
Church for any priest to give in a libel of resignation : for,
if he be worthy, he ought to continue in his ministry ; if he
be unworthy, he should not have the privilege of resigning,
but be condemned and ejected." The council of Chalcedon^
orders all such to be anathematized, " as forsook their or-
ders to take upon them any military office or secular dignity,
unless they repented and returned to the employment,
which, for God's sake, they had first chosen." The council
of Tours,* in hke manner, decrees, '* that whoever of the
clergy desert their order and office, to follow a secular life
and calling again, shall be punished with excommunication.
The civil taw was also very severe upon such deserters. By
an order of Arcadius and Honorius* they are condemned to
serve in Curia all their lives, that they might never have
the privilege of resuming the clerical life again. And by a
law of Justinian's,'^ both monks and clerks, so deserting,
were to forfeit whatever estate they were possessed of, to
the church or monastery to which they belonged.
'Book iii. chap. i. sect. 5. 'Harmenopul. Epitom. Can.ap. Leimclav.
Jus. GiiEC. Rom. toni. i. p. 11, liapd rsc t/c/cXj/o'ia's-iKag S'tffjuaf, roXi/SiXXej^
■7rapaiT)](7to)7' Trpoffdyuv rivdc ritiv Itpapydiv, &c. ^Gon. Chalccd. c. 7.
Tssf ava^ iv /cX/jpy riTayiiivaQ, fir'jre £;ri Tpariiav p-r]rt Ltti al'iav /corrytuKj/j'
tpx^crS'at, &c. *Con. Turon. c.5. Si quis Clericus, relicto officii sui
ordine, laicam voluerit agere vitam, vel se militiae tradiderit, excoimnunicatio-
^is poena feriatur. * Cod. Th. lib. xvi. tit, 2. de Episc. leg. 39. Si
qui profossum sacrae religionis sponte dereliquerit, continuo sibi euiii Curia
vindicet : ut liber ill! ultra ad Ecdeslftm recursus esse non possit.
? Cod. .lustin. lib. i. tit. 3. de Epist;. leg. 55. Quod si ilU monasteria ant Eccle-
sias relinquant, atque mundani fiant : ouine ipsorum jus ad inonasteriuin aut
ecclesiam pcrtinet.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. rif)9
Sect. 2. — Yet in some Cases a Resignation was allowed of.
But this rule, as it was intended for the benefit of tlie
Church, to keep tlie clergy to their duty, so when the be-
nefit of the Churcli, or any other reasonable cause required
the contrary, might be dispensed with ; and we find many
such resignations or renunciations practised, and some al-
lowed by g-eneral councils. For not to mention the case of
disability by reason of old age, sickness, or other infirmity,
in which it was usual for bishops to turn over their business
to a coadjutor ; of which I have given a full account in a
former book ;* there were two other cases, which come
nearer to the matter in hand. One was, when a bishop,
through the obstinacy, hatred, or disgust of any people
found himself incapable of doing them any service, and
that the burthen was an intolerable oppression to him ; in
that case, if he desired to renounce, his resignation was
accepted. Thus Gregory Nazianzen renounced the see of
Constantinople, and betook himself to a private life, because
the people grew factious, and murmured at him, as being a
stranger. And this he did with the consent and approba-
tion of the general-council of Constantinople, as not only
the historians, Theodoret^ and Socrates,^ but he himself*
testifies in many places of his writings. After the samer
manner, Theodoret says,^ Meletius, the famous bishop of
Antioch, when he was bishop of Sebastia, in Armenia, was
so ofl'ended with the rebellious temper and contumacy of a
perverse and froward people, that he abandoned them, and
retired likewise to a private life. So Theodorus Lector*
tells us, how Martyrius, bishop of Antioch, being offended
at the factiousness of his people and clergy, upon the in-
trusion of Peter FuUo, renounced his Church with these
words : " a contumacious clergy, a rebellious people, a
prophane Church, I bid adieu to them all, reserving to my-
self the dignity of priesthood." Another case was, when
in charity a bishop resigned, or showed himself willing to
« Book ii. chap. xiii. sect. 4. ^ Theod. lib. v. c. 8. « Socrat.
Hb.v. C.7. ♦ Naz. Orat. 3-2. It. Caira, de Vua siul. ^ Theod.
lib.ii. c.Sl. BTheodor. Lcct.lib. i. p,y55.
560 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK VI.
i-esign, to cure some inveterate schism. Thus Chrysostom*
told his people, " that, if they had any suspicion of him, as
if he were an usurper, he was ready to quit his govern-
ment, when they pleased, if that was necessary to preserve
the unity of the Church." And so Theodoret tells us,'^ that,
in the dispute between Flavian and Evagrius, the two
bisltops of Antioch, when Theodosius, the emperor, sent for
Flavian, and ordered him to go and have his cause decided
at Rome, he bravely answered, " Great Sire, if any accuse
my faith as erroneous, or my life as unqualifying me for a
bishopric, I will freely let my accusers be my judges, and
stand to their sentence, whatever it be ; but if the dispute be
only about the throne and government of the Church, I
shall not stay for judgment, nor contend with any, that has
a mind to it, but freely recede, and abdicate the throne of
my own accord. And you, sire, may commit the see of
Antioch to whom you please." The emperor looked upon
this as a noble and g-enerous answer, and was so affected with
it, that instead of obligin"" him to yo to Rome, he sent him
home again, and bad him go feed the Church committed to
his care ; nor would he ever after hearken to the bishops of
Rome, though they often solicited him to expel him. There
is one instance more of this nature, which I cannot omit,
because it is such an example of self-denial, and despising
of private interest for the public good, and peace, and unity
of the Church, as deserves to be transmitted to posterity,
and to be spoken of with the highest commendations. It
was the proposal, which Aurelius, bishop of Carthage, and
St. Austin, with the rest of the African bishops, made to the
Donatists, at the opening of the conference of Carthage f
that, to put an end to the schism, wherever there was a
Catholic and a Donatist bishop in the same city, they should
both of them resign, and suffer a new one to be chosen.
" For why," say they, " should we scruple to offer the
' Chrys. Horn. 11. in Ephes. p. 1110. "Eroijuoi 7rapaxa»p))(rai rrjg dpxVQ*
fiovov iKK\r](Tia t^M fiia. ® Theod. lib. v. c. 23. ^ Collat. Cartli.
Die i. c. 16. Utrique de medio secedamus - - - quid enira dubitemus Redemp-
tori nostro sacrificium istius liumilitatis offerre? An vero ille de ccells in
membra humana descendit, ut membra ejus esseiuus? Et nos, ne ipsa ejus
membra crudeli divisione lanicntur, de catliedris descendere formidamus? &c.
CHAP. IV,^ CHRTSTIAN CHURCH. 561
sacrifice of such an humility to our Redeemer ? Did he
descend from heaven to assume our nature, and make us
his members ? And shall we make any doubt to descend
from our chairs, to prevent his members being- torn to pieces
by a cruel schism 1 We bishops are ordained for the peo-
ple of Christ. What therefore is most conducive to the
peace of Christian people, we ought to do in reference to
our episcopacy. If we be profitable servants, why should
we envy the eternal gain of our Lord for our own temporal
honours ? Our episcopal dignity will be so much the more
advantageous to us, if by laying- it aside we gather toge-
ther the flock of Christ, than if we disperse his flock by re-
taining it. And with what face can we hope for the honour
which Christ has promised us in the world to come, if our
honours in this world hinder the unity of his Church." By
this we see there were some cases, in which it was law-
ful for men to renounce even the episcopal office, and
betake themselves to a private life ; the grand rule being- in
these and all other cases, to do what was most for the benefit
and edification of the Church, and sacrifice private interest
to the advantage of the public.
Sect. 3. — And Canonical Pensions sometimes granted in such Cases.
In these cases, a bishop after he had renounced was not
to intermeddle with the affairs of the Church, to ordain, or
perform any offices of the like nature, unless he was called
to assist by some other bishop, or was commissioned by
him as his delegate; yet he was allowed the title, and ho-
nour, and communion of a bishop, as the general council of
Ephesus* determined it should be, in the case of Eustathius,
bishop of Perga and metropolitan of Pamphylia, who had
renounced his bishopric, being an aged man, and thinking
himself unable to discharge the duties of it. In such cases
likewise, when any one receded with the approbation of a
council, he was sometimes allowed to receive a moderate
pension out of the bishopric for his maintenance. As it was
' Con. Ephes. Act. 7. in Epist. ad Synod. Pampliylise. llabeat Episcopi
nomen et lionorem ac communionem, sic quidem ulneque ipse ordinet, neque
in ecclesiara propria auctoritate ordinaturus vcniai,nisi forte coassumatur, &c.
VOL. I. ^ ^
5f)2 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK VI.
in the case of Domnus, bisliop of Antioch, who having- been
ejected, though unjustly, by Dioscoius in the second synod
of Ephesus, yet quietly resigned the bishopric to Maxirnus ;
upon which account Maxirnus desired leave of the council
of Chaleedon, that he might allow him an annual pension
out of the revenues of the Church, which the council of
Chaleedon ' readily complied with. And this, as Richerius^
ingenuously owns, was the ancient design and meaning" of
canonical pensions, which were not used to be granted but
by the authority or approbation of a synod, and only to such,
as having- spent the greatest part of their life in the service
of the Church, desired to be disburthoned of their office by
reason of tlieir age. For the reserving- a pension out of a
bishopric, which a man only resigns to take another, was a
practice wholly unknown to former ages.
Sect. 4. — No Clergyman to remove from oae Diocese to another without the
Consent and Letters Dimissory of his own Bishop.
Another rule, designed to keep all clergymen strictly to
their duty, was, — that no one should remove from his own
Church or diocese, without the consent of the bishop, to
whose diocese he belong-ed. For as no one at first could
be ordained diroXiXvutviog, but must be fixed to some Church
at his first ordination ; so neither, by the rules and discipline
of the Church then prevailing, might he exchange his sta-
tion at pleasure, but must have his own bishop's license, or
letters dimissory, to qualify him to remove from one diocese
to another. For this was the ancient right, which every
bishop had in the clergy of his own Church, that he could not
be deprived of them without his own consent ; but as well the
party that deserted him, as the bishop that received him,
were liable to be censured upon such a transgression. "If
any presbyter, deacon, or other clerk," says the Apostolical
1^ Canons,^ " forsake his own diocese to go to another, and
• Con. Chalced. Act. 7. al Act. 10. Edit. Labbe. torn. iv. p. 681. ^ rj.
cher. Hist. Concil. par. i. c. 8. n. 30. p. 218. Nihil antiquitus consuetum fieri
nisi synodic^ comprobatuni; hincque jus Pensionum Canonicarum potest con-
firmari ; que iis tantuui tribui consueverant, qui magnam vitae partem in mi-
nisterio consumserant, et propter ECtatem se exonerabant episcopatu.
' Canon. Apost. c. 1-5 et 10. Vid. Con. Chalced. cau.20.
CHAP. I v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 563
there continue without the consent of his own bishop; we
decree, that such an one shall no longer minister as a clerk,
especially if after admonition he refuse to return, but only
be admitted to communicate as a layman. And if the
bishop, to whom they repair, still entertain them in the
quality of clergymen, he shall be excommunicated as a
master of disorder.'' The same rule is frequently repeated
in the ancient councils, as that of Antioch,* the first and
second of Aries,- the first and fourth of Carthag-e,^ the first
of Toledo,* and the council of Tours,^ and Turin,*^ and the
g-reat council of Nice," to whose canons it may be sulHcient
to refer the reader. I only observe, that this was the
ancient use of letters dimissory, or as they were then called,
\A7roXv-iKal, ^Eipr]viKa\, Su-orocai, and Concessorics, \\\ ich
were letters of license granted by a bishop, for a clergyman
to remove from his diocese to another ; though we now tak^
letters dimissory in another sense ; but the old canons call
those dimissory letters, which were given upon the occa-
sion that I have mentioned. The council of Carthage gives
them only the name of the bishop's letters,^ but the council
of Trullo styles them expressly,' dimissory ; when, rein^
forcing' all the ancient canons, it says, " No clergyman of
what degree soever shall be entertained in another Church,
Ifcroc T^iQ ■''5 oiKt'is 'ETTicTKOTTs lyypa(j)8 diroXvTiKi'ig, — without the
dimissory letters of his own bishop ; which he might grant or
refuse, as he saw proper occasion for it. For there was no
law to compel him to gi-ant it, whatever arts any clerl^
mif^ht use to 2"ain a dismission any other wav. St. Austin
mentions a pretty strange case of this nature, that hap-
pened in his own diocese. One Timotheus, a subdeacon of
his Church, being desirous to leave his post under St.
Austin, and go to Severus, a neighbouring bishop, protests
upon oath to Severus, that he would be no long-er of St.
Austin's Church ; upon this Severus, pretending a reverence
' Con. An-ioch. c. 3. ^ Arelat. i. c. 22. Ardaf. ii. f. 1.?, » Con.
Carth.i.c. 5. Carth. iv. c. -27. ^ Co:). Tolet. i. c. i:i. * Con.
Tiiroii. c. 11. * Con. Taurin. c. 6. ' Con. Xic. e. 10.
* Con. Carth. i. c. 5. Non lii-cie Clericuni alienum ab ali.iuo suscipi sine
iitcris Episcopi sui, iieque aj»ud se relhiere, ^ C'ou. Tnil), c. 17,
564 THE ANTIQUITIES OP THE [BOOK VI.
for his oath, writes to^St. Austin, and tells him, he could
not return him his clerk for fear of making- him guilty of
perjury. To which St. Austin replied,* " that this opened
a way to licentiousness, and there was an end of all eccle-
siastical order and discipline, if a bishop would pretend to
keep another man's clerk' upon such a scruple, for fear of
being- accessory to his perjury." This evidently imphes,
that there was no law then to compel a bishop to grant
letters dimissory to his clerk ; for if there had been any
such, Timotheus needed not to have used the stratag-em of
an oath, but might have compelled St. Austin to have
granted them. But the Church then did not think lit to put
it in every man's powder to remove from one diocese to
another, at his own pleasure, but left every bishop sole
judge in this case, as best knowing the necessities and cir-
cumstances of his own Church, and whether it were expe-
dient to part with the clergy, which were ordained for her
service.
Sect. 5. — Laws against the BaKai'Tt(3oi, or Wandering Clergy.
The laws were no less severe against all wandering- cler-
gymen, whom some of the ancients call BoicaWtfBoi,'^ or
Vacantivi, by way of reproach. They were a sort of idle
persons, who having- deserted the service of their own
Church would fix in no other, but went roving from place
to place, as their fancy and their humour led tliern. Now,
by the laws of the Church, no bishop was to permit any
such to ofiiciate in his diocese, nor indeed so much as to
communicate in his Church; because, having neither letters
dimissory, nor letters commendatory from their own bishop,
which every one ought to have that travelled, they were
to be suspected either as deserters, or as persons guilty of
some misdemeanor, who fled from ecclesiastical censure.
Therefore the laws forbad the admitting of such, either to
ecclesiastical or lay-communion. " A presbyter, or dea-
* Aug. Eji. 2-10. ad Severuin. Adit\is aperitur ad dissolvendum ordinem ec-
desiasticiB discipline, si alteriiis Ecdesite Clerieus cuicuvuiiu- jui'averit, quod
ab ipso nou sit recessurus, cum secuui csst' penuitial; ideo se facere affinnans,
e author sit ejus perjurii, &c, ' Synes. Ep. 67.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 565
con," says the council of Agde,* " tliat rambles about with-
out the letters of his bishop, shall not be admitted to com-
munion by any other." The council of Eporie^ repeats the
decree in the same words. And the council of Valentia,^
in Spain, orders such wandering- and roving clerks, as will
not settle to the constant performance and attendance of
divine offices in the Church, whereto they were deputed by
the bishop that ordained them, to be deprived both of the
communion and the honour of their order, if they persisted
in their obstinacy and rebellion. So strict were the laws
of the ancient Church in tying the inferior clergy to the
service of that Church, to which they were first appointed,
that they might not upon any account move thence, but at
the discretion of the bishop that ordained them.
Sect. 6. — Laws against the Translations of Bisliops from one See to
another, how to be limited and understood.
Nor were the bishops so arbitrary in this matter, but that
they themselves were under a Uke regulation, and liable to
laws of the same nature. For, as no clerk could remove
from his own Church without the license of his bishop, so
neither might any bishop pretend to translate or move him-
self to another see, without the consent and approbation of
a provincial council. Some few there were, who thought
it absolutely unlawful for a bishop to forsake his first see,
and betake himself to any other; because they looked upon
his consecration to be a sort of marriage to his Church,
from which he could not divorce himself, nor take another
without incurring the crime of spiritual adultery. To this
purpose they wrested that passage of St. Paul, " A bishop
must be the husband of one wife," taking it in a mystical
and figurative sense, as St. Jerom informs us.* But this
was but the private opinion of one or two authors, which
' Con. Agathen. c.52. Presbytero, sive Diacono sine Antistitis sui epis-
tolis ambulanti ccmiiiunionen! nuUus impendat. ^ Con. Epaunens. c. 6.
3 Con. Valentin, c. 5. Vagus atque instabilis Clericus, si Episcopi, a quo
ordinatus est, prieeeptis non obedierit, ut in delcgatfi sibi Ecclesia officium
dependat assiduum, quousque in vitio permanserit, et coniniunione et honore
piivetur. * Ilieron. Ep. 83. ad Oceanum. torn. ii. p. 321. Quidani
coacte interprelautur uxores pro Kcclesiis, viros pro Episcopis debere accipi,
566 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [boOK VI.
never prevailed in the Catholic Church; whose prohibition
of the translation of bishops was not founded upon any such
reasons, but was only intended as a cautionary provision to
prevent the ambition of aspiring- men ; that they mig"ht not
run from lesser bishoprics to greater, without the authority
of a provincial synod, which was the proper judge in such
cases. Some canons indeed seem to forbid it absohitely
and universally, as a thing* not to be allowed in any case.
The council of Nice,* and Sardica,- and some others pro-
hibit it without any exception or limitation. But other
canons restrain it to the case of a bishop's intruding him-
self into another see by some sinister arts, without any
legal authority from a provincial synod. So those called
the Apostolical Canons distinguish upon the matter:^ " It
shall not be lawful for a bishop to leave his diocese, and
invade another, thoug-h many of the people would compel
him to it, unless there be a reasonable cause, as that he
may the more advantage the Church by his preaching-;
and then he shall not do it of his ov.n head, but by the
judgment and entreaty of many bishops, that is, a provincial
synod." The fourth council of Carthag-e distinguishes
much after the same manner :* " A bishop shall not remove
himself from an obscure to a more honourable place out of
ambition; but, if the advantage of the Church require it, he
may be translated by the order and decree of a provincial
synod." Scheistrate* aijd some other learned persons
think, that these canons were a correction of the former;
the one allowing" what the other had positively forbidden.
But this is not at all probable: it is more reasonable to
think, that though in the Nicene and Sardican canons these
exceptions are not expressed, yet they are to be understood;
because the council of Nice itself translated Eustathius,
bishop of Beraea, to Antioch, as Mr. Pagi*^ rightly observes
' Con.Nic. c. 15. •* Con. Sardic. c. I et 2. Con. Antioch, can. 21.
Con.Carth. iii. C.38. ^ Canon. Apost. c. It. * Con. Carth. iy.
c. 27. Ut Episcopus de loco ignobili ad nobJleni per anibitioneiu nou tran-
seat. — Sane si id utilitas Ecclcsiic fiendum poposcerit, decreto pro eo Cleri-
corum et Laicorum Episcopis porrecto, per .scuteati^m synodi transferalur.
^ Schelstrat, de Concil. Antioch, can. 21. p. Gli. * Pagi Critic, m
Barou. An. 32i, n. 22.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 567
out of Sozomen,* and other historians of the Church.
Which had been to break and affront their own rule at the
very first, had it meant, that it should not be lawful in any
case to translate a bishop from one see to another. We
must conclude then, that the design of all these canons was
the same, to prevent covetousnoss, ambition, and love of
pre-eminence in aspiring- men, who thrust themselves into
other sees by irregular means, by a faction, or the mere
favour of the people, without staying for the choice or con-
sent of a synod; which was the common practice of the
Arian party in the time of Constantine and Constantius,
and occasioned so many laws to be made against it. But
when a synod of bishops in their judgment and discretion
thought it necessary to translate a bishop from a lesser to
a greater see, for the benefit and advantage of the Church,
there was no law to prohibit this, but there are a thousand
instances of such promotions to be met with in ancient
history; as Socrates^ has observed long ago, who has col-
lected a great many instances tothis purpose. Those, that
please, may see more in Cotelerius^ and bishop Beverege ;*
for in so plain a case I do not think it necessary to be more
particular in my account of them, but proceed with other
laws of the Church, which concerned the clergy.
Sect. 7.— Laws concerning the Residence of the Clergy.
The next laws of this nature were such as concerned the
residence of the clergy; the design of which was the same
as all the former, to bind them to constant attendance upon
their duty. And these laws equally concerned bishops and
all the inferior clergy. The council of Sardica has several
canons relating to tliis matter. The seventh decrees, " that
no bishop should go tig cparoTrtSov— /o the emperors court,
unless the emperor by letter called him thither." The next
canon provides,^" that whereas there might be several cases,
which might require a bishop to make some application to
the emperor in behalf of the poor, or widows, or such as
> Sozora. lib. i. c. 2. * Socrat, lib. vii. c. 36. » Coteler.
Not. in Can. Apost. c. 14. * Bevereg. Not. in Eund. Canon.
* Con. Sardic. c. 8,
588 THK ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK VI,
fled for sanctuary to tlie Cluirch, and condemned criminals,
and the like; in such cases the deacons or subdeacons of
the Church were to be employed to g-o in his name, that
the bishop might fall under no censure at court, as ne-
g-lecting the business of his Church."' Justinian' has a law
of the same import with these canons, " that no bishop
should appear at court upon any business of his Church
without the command of the prince; but if any petition was
to be preferred to the emperor, relating- to any civil contest,
the bishop should depute his Apocrisarius, or resident at
court, to act for him, or send liis GiJconomus, or some other
of his clerg-y to solicit the cause in his name ; that the
Church might neither receive damag-e by his absence, nor
be put to unnecessary expenses. Another canon ^ of the
council of Sardica limits the absence of a bishop from his
Church to three weeks, unless it were upon some very
weighty and urg-ent occasion. And another canon ^ allows
the some time for a bishop, who is possessed of an estate
in another diocese, to go and collect his revenues, provided
he celebrate divine service every Lord's day in the country
Church, where his estate lies. And by two other canons*
of that council, preslryters and deacons are limited to the
same term of absence, and tied to the forementioned rules
in the same manner as bishops were. The council of
Agde^ made the like order for the French Churches, de-
creeing, " that a presbyter or deacon, who was absent from
his Church for three weeks, should be three years suspended
from the communion. In the African Churches, upon the
account of this residence, every bishop's house was to be
near the Church by a rule of the fourth council of Carthag-e.*'
And in the fifth council there is another rule,'' " that every
bishop shall have his residence at his principal or cathedral
' Just. Novel. 6. C.2. ^ Qq^. Sarilic. c. 11. » q^^. Sardic.
c. 12. * Con. Sardic. c. 16 et 17. * Con. Agathen. c. 04.
Diaconus vel Presbyter, si per tres hebdoinadas ab Ecclesia sufi defuerit
tnennio a couimunione suspendatiir. ^ Con. Carth. iv. c. 14. Ut
Episcopus noi! longe ab Ecclesia hospitioluni habeat. ' Con. Cartli.
V. C.5. Placuit ut nemini sit facultas, relictu piincipali cathedra, ad allquam
Eccksiam in diocesi constltutam se conferre: vel in re propria diutius quara
oi;ortet constituUini, curam vel fiequentalionem propria cathedrsE negligere.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 569
Chiircl), which he shall not leave, to betake himself to any
other Church in his diocese; nor continue upon his private
concerns, to the neg'lect of his cure, and hindrance of his
frequenting the cathedral Church." From this it appears,
that the city Church was to be the chief place of the bishop's
residence and cure: and Cabassutins,' in his remarks upon
this canon, reflects upon the French bishops, as transgress-
ing- the ancient rule, in spending the greatest part of the
year upon their pleasure in the country. Yet there is one
thinir that seems a difficultv in this matter: for Justinian
says,^ " No bishop shall be absent from his Church above
a whole year, unless he has the emperor's command for it."
Which implies, that a bishop might be absent from his
bishopric a year in ordinary cases, and more in extraordi-
nary. But, I conceive, the meaning of this is, that he might
be absent a year during his whole life ; not year after year ;
for that would amount to a perpetual absence, which it was
not the intent of the law to grant, but to tie them up to the
direct contrary, except the prince upon some extraordinary
affair thought fit to grant them a particular dispensation.
Sect. 8. — Of Pluralities, and the Laws made about tliem.
Another rule, grounded upon the same reasons with the
former, was the inhibition of pluralities ; which concerned
both bishops, and the inferior clergy. As to bishops, it
appears plainly from St. Ambrose, that it was not thought
lawful for a bishop to have two Churches. For speaking
of those words of the Apostle, " a bishop must be the
husband of one wife," he says,^ " If we look only to the
superficies of the letter, it forbids a digamist to be or-
dained bishop; but if we penetrate a little deeper to the.
profounder sense, it prohibits a bishop to have two Churches."
_ _« « . ■ — — ~ — s
' Cabassut. Notit. Con. c. 44. Hire canoni contraveniunt Epii^copi, qui
majjnri parte anni rure versantur et deliciantur. ^ Justin. Novel. 6.
c. 2. Et illud etiara definiinus, ut nemo Deo amabilium Episcoporum foris k
sufi Ecclesia plusquam per totum annu.m abesse audeat, nisi hoc per imperii
alem fiat jussionem. ^ Ambros. de Dignit. Sacerd. c. 4. Si ad super-
ficiem tantum literse re'jpicianius, prohibet bigamum Episcopum ordinari: si
vero ad altlorem sensum conscendimus, inhibet Episcopum duas usurpare
Ecclesias.
VOL. L 4 P
570 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK VI.
That is, wherever there were two dioceses before, it was
not lawful for one bishop to usurp them both, except where
the wisdom of the Church and State thought it most conve-
nient to join them into one. And it is remarkable, that
thoug-h there be many instances of bishops removing from
lesser sees to greater ; yet there is no example in all
ancient history, that I remember, of any such bishops hold-
ing both together ; no, not among the Arians themselves,
who were the least concerned in observing rules of any
other. As to the case of the inferior clergy, we must dis-
tinguish betwixt diocesan and parochial Churches, and
between the office and the benefit in parochial Churches.
The circumstances and necessities of the Church might
sometimes require a presbyter or deacon to officiate in more
than one parochial Church, when there was a scarcity of
ministers ; but the revenues of such Churches did not
thereupon belong to him, because they were paid into the
common stock of the city or cathedral Church, from whence
he had his monthly or yearly portion in the division of the
whole, as has been noted before. And this makes it further
evident, that in those early ages there could be no such
thing as plurality of benefices, but only a plurality of offices in
the same diocese, within such a district, as that a man might
personally attend and officiate in two parocial Churches. But
then as to different dioceses, it being ordinarily impossible,
that a man should attend a cure in two dioceses, the canons
are very express in prohibiting* any one from having a name
in two Churches, or partaking of the revenues of both. The
council of Chalcedon has a peremptory canon to this
purpose :' " It shall not be lawful for any clergyman to
have his name in the church-roll or catalogue of two cities
at the same time, that is, in the Church, wliere he was first
ordained, and any other, to which he flies out of ambition as
to a greater Church ; but all such shall be returned to their
own Church, where they were first ordained, and only
minister there. But if any one is regularly removed from
one Church to another, he shall not partake of the revenues
.' Con. Chalced. c. 10. M>/ s^tTfat kXtj^ikov tv dvo iroXiwv kcit avrov
KaraXiyta^ai tK^Xj/ffiaif, &c.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 5tl
of the former Church, or of any oratory, hospital, or alms-
house belonging- to it. And such, as shall presume, after
this definition of this great and oecuminical council, to trans-
gress in this matter, are condemned to be degraded by the
holy synod." And, that none might pretend under any
other notion to evade this law, the same rule was made for
monasteries, that one abbot should not preside over two
monasteries at the same time. Which provision is made by
the council of Agde' and Epone, and confirmed by the im-
perial laws of Justinian,- who inserted it into his Code.
Now the design of all these laws was to oblige the clergy
to constant attendance upon their duty in the Church, where
they were first ordained; from which if they once removed,
whether with license or without, to any other diocese, they
were no longer to enjoy any dividend in the Church or
diocese, to which they first belonged. xAnd this rule con-
tinued for several ages after the council of Chalcedon, being
renewed in the second council of Nice,^ and other later
councils.
Sect. 9.— Laws prohibiting the Clergy to take upon them Secular Business
and Offices.
In pursuance of the same design, to keep the clergy
strict and constant to their duty, laws were also made to
prohibit them from following any secular employment,
which might divert them too much from their proper busi-
ness and calling. Among those called the Apostolical
Canons, there are three to this purpose. One of which says,*
" no bishop, presbyter, or deacon, shall take upon him any
■worldly cares, under pain of degradation." Another says,^
" no bishop or presbyter shall concern himself in any
secular offices or administrations, that he may have more
time to attend the needs and business of the Church ; and
this under the same penalty of degradation." The last
' Con. Agathen. c. 57. Unum Abbatem duobus monasteriis interdiciraus
prsesidere. Vid. Con. Epaunens. c. 9. ^ Cod. Just.Ub.i. tit. 3. de
Episc. leg. 40. Non sit vero Abbas duorum monasteriorum. * Con.
Nic. 2. c. 15. *Can. Apost. c. 7. KoaniKag (ppovri^ac fir) avaXaji^avkrii) .
tiSe fitf, naJ^aipkff^o). * Ibid. c. 81."0rt fii] xp'> STriffKonov t) TrptffjSirtQov
572 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK VI.
says/ " a bishop, presbyter, or deacon, that busies himself
in any secular office, and is minded to hold both a place in
the Roman Government, .ind an office in the Church, shall
be deposed. For the things of Caesar belong- to Caesar, and
the thingrs of God to God." Balsamon and Zonaras take
this canon to mean only the prohibition of holding military
offices, because it uses the word 's^parda : but I have showed
before, out of Gothofred and others, that the words, '^pania
and militia, are used by the Romans in a larger significa-
tion, to denote all kinds of secular offices, as well civil as
military ; and therefore they more rightly interpret this
canon,^ who understand it as a prohibition of holding any
secular office, civil as well as military, with an ecclesiastical
one, as things incompatible and inconsistent with one
another. Eusebius informs us, from the Epistle of the
council of Antioch,^ which deposed Paulus Samosatensis,
" that, among other crimes alleged against him, this was
one, — that he took upon him secular places, and preferred
the title of Diicenarias before that of bishop." Ihe Du-
cenarii among the Romans were a sort of civil officers, so
called from their receiving a salary of two hundred Sestertia
from the emperor, as Valesius* observes out of Dio. And
this makes it plain, that the intent of the canons was to
prohibit the clergy from meddling with civil offices, as well
as military. Only in some extraordinary cases, where the
matter was a business of great necessity or charity, we
meet with an instance or two of a bishop's joining an eccle-
siastical and civil office together, without any censure. As
Theodoret^ notes of the famous Jacobus Nisibensis, that he
was both bishop and prince, or governor of Nisibis, or
Antioch in Mygdonia, a city in the confines of the Persian
and Roman empires. Theodoret represents him as a man
of great fame in his country for his miracles, by which he
sometimes relieved the city, when besieged by the Persians;
' Can. Apost. c. 83. SrpaTfi^ ff;^o\«?(ov, kj jSsKSfitvoQ an^oTipa Karexdv,
PwftaiKr]v apx>)v ^ ttpartK/)f SiotKriaiv, Ka^aiptaGw. * Bevereg. Not.
in Can. Apost. c. 83. ^ Euseb. lib. vii. c. 30. KofffiiKu d^iw/iara
vTroSvofiivoQ, (^ SiiKt]vdpio^ fiaXkov j) tTricKUTTog, ^tXuJv KaXtlaSrca.
* Valesius in Loc. Ducenarii dicebantur procuratores, qui ducenta sestertia
annui salarii nomine accipiebant a Principe ex Dione, lib. liii. * Theod.
lib. ii. c. 30.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 573
and it is piohable, in regard to this, the emperors, Con-
stantine and Constantius, pitched upon him, as the proper-
est person to take the g-overnment of the city upon him,
being- a place in great danger, and very much exposed to
tlie incursions of the Persians. But such instances are
rarely met with in ancient liistory.
Sect. 10,— Laws prohibiting the Clergy to be Tutors and Guardians, how
far extended.
In some times and places the laws of the Church were so
strict about this matter, that they would not suffer a bishop
or presbyter to be left trustee to any man's will, or a tutor
or guardian in pursuance of it; because it was thought this
would be too great an avocation from his other business.
There is a famous case in Cyprian relating to this matter.
He tells us, it had been determined by an African synod,
that no one should appoint any of God's ministers a curator
or guardian by his will, V)ecause they were to give them-
selves to supplications and prayer, and to attend only upon
the sacrifice and service of the altar. And therefore,^ when
one Geminius Victor had made Geminius Faustinus, a pres-
byter of the Church of Furni, guardian or trustee by his
last will and testament, contrary to the decree of the fore-
said council, Cyprian wrote to the Church of Furni, that
they should execute the sentence of the council against
Victor, which was, that no annual commemoration should be
made of him in the Church, nor any prayer be oiiered in his
name, according to the custom of the Church in those times,
in the sacrifice of the altar. This was a sort of excommu-
nication after death, by denying to receive such a person's
oblations, and refusing to name him at the altar among
others that made their offerings, and neither honouring him
with the common prayers or praises, that were then put up
to God for all the faithful that were dead in the Lord. This
was the punishment of such as transgressed this rule in the
' Cypr. Ep. 66. al. 1. ad Cler. Furnitan. p. 3. Ideo Victor cum contra for-
mam nuper in Concillio a sacerdotibus datani, Geuiinium Faustinuni, Presby-
terum, ausus sit tutorem constituere, non est quod pro donnitione ejus apud
vos fiat oblatio, aut deprecatio aliqua nomine ejus in Ecclesia frequeiitetur.
574 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK VI.
days of Cyprian. And in the following ages the canon was
renewed, but with a little difference. For though bishops
were absolutely and universally forbidden to take this office
upon them, both by the ecclesiastical and civil law ;* yet
presbyters, aud deacons, and all the inferior clergy, were
allowed to be tutors and guardians to such persons, as by
right of kindred might claim this as a duty from them.
But still the prohibition stood in force against their being
•concerned in that office for any other, that were not of their
relations, as appears from one of Justinian's Novels,^ which
was made to settle this matter in the Church.
Sect. 11. — Laws against their being Sureties, and pleading Causes at the
Bar, in behalf of themselves, or their Churches.
By Other laws they were prohibited from taking upon them
the office of pleaders at the bar in any civil contest, though
it were in their own case, or the concerns of the Church.
Neither might they be bondsmen or sureties for any other
man's appearance in such causes ; because it was thought,
that such sort of incumbrances might bring detriment to
the Church, in distracting her ministers from constant at-
tendance upon divine service, as appears both from the fore-
said Novel of Justinian,-^ and some ancient canons,* which
forbid a clergyman to become a sponsor in any such cause
under the penalty of deprivation.
Sect. 12. — Laws against their following Secular Trades and Merchandize.
Now as all these offices and employments were forbidden
the clergy upon the account of being' consumers of their time,
and hindrances of divine service ; so there were some others
* Con. Carth. iv. c. 18. Ut Episcopus tuitionem testamentorum non susci-
piat. ^ Just. Novel. 123. c, 5. Episcopos et Monachos ex nulhl lege
tutores aut curatores cujuscunque personam fieri concedimus. Presbyteros
autem et Diaconos et Subdiaconos, si jure ac lege cognationis ad tutelain aut
curara vocentur, ejusmodi munus suscipere concedimus. Vid. Con. Chalced.
c, 3. ^ Just. Novel. 123. c. 6. Sed neque procuratorem litis, aut
fide jussorem pro talibus causis Episcopum, ant alium Clericum, proprio no-
mine, aut Ecclesise sinimus ; ne per banc occasionem sacra ministeria impe-
diantur. * Canon. Apost. c. 20. KXrjpiKog iyyvag SiSiiQ KaSraipe(7^u).
Vid. Constit. Apost. lib. ii. c. 6.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 575
prohibited, not only upon this account, but also upon the
notion of their being generally attended with covetousness
and filthy lucre. Thus, in the first council of Carthage,*
we find several prohibitions of clergymen's becoming stew-
ards or accountants to laymen. The third council ^ forbids
both that, and also their taking any houses or lands to
farm, and generally all business, that was disreputable and
unbecoming their calling. The second council of Aries ^
likewise forbids their farming other men's estates, or fol-
lowing any trade or merchandize for filthy lucre's sake,
under the penalty of deprivation. The general-council of
Chalcedon has a canon to the same purpose,* " that no
monk or clergyman shall rent any estate, or take upon him
the management of any secular business, except the law
called him to be guardian to orphans, in the case that
has been spoken of before, as being their next relation,
or else the bishop made him steward. of the Church-reve-
nues, or overseer of the widows, orphans, and such others,
as stood in need of the Church's care and assistance." And
here the reason given for making this canon is, that some
of the clergy were found to neglect the service of God, and
live in laymen's houses, as their stewards, for covetousness
and filthy lucre's sake. Which was an old complaint made
by Cyprian,^ in that sharp invective of his against some of
the bishops of his own age, who were so far gone in this
vice of covetousness, as to neglect the service of God to
follow worldly business ; leaving their sees, and deserting,
their people, to ramble about in quest of gainful trades in
other countries, to the provocation of the divine vengeance,
and flagrant scandal of the Church. So that, these being
> Con. Carth. i. c. 6. Qui serviunt Deo, et annexi sunt clero, non accedant
ad actus seu adniinistrationem vel procurationem doinorum. Ibid. c^. 9. Lai-
cis non liceat Clericos nostros eligere apothecarios vel ratiocinatores.
s Con. Carth. iii. c. 15. Clorici non sint conductores, neque procuratores,
neque ullo turpi vel inhonesto negotio victum quterant. ^ Con.
Arelat. i. al. 2. c. 14. Siquis Clericus conductor alienee rei voluerit esse aut
turpis lucri gratia aliquod genus negotiatior.is exercuerit, depositus a
clero, a comnQunione alienus liaheatur. * Con. Chalced. c. 3.
* Cypr. de Lapsis, p. 123. Episcopi plurimi divina procuratione conterapta,
procuratores rerum secularium fieri, derelicta cathedra, plebe deserta, per
alienas pvovincias oberrantes, negotiatioiiis quajstuoss nundinas aucupari, &c.
576 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK VI.
the reasons of making- such laws, we are to judg-e of the
nature of the laws themselves by the intent and design of
them ; which was to correct such manifest abuses, as cove-
tousness and neg-lect of divine service, which, either as
cause or effect, too often attended the clerg^y's engagement
of themselves in secular business.
Sect. 13, — What Limitations and Exceptions tliese Laws admitted of.
But in some cases it was reasonable to presume, that their
engagements of this nature were separate from these vices.
For in some times and places, where the revenues of the
Church were very small, and not a competent maintenance
for all the clergy, some of them, especially among the in-
ferior orders, were obliged to divide themselves between
the service of the C'nurch and some secular calling. Others,
who found they had time enoug-h to spare, negotiated out of
charity, to bestow their gains in the relief of the poor, and
other pious uses. And some, who, before their entrance
into orders, had been brought up to an ascetic and philoso-
phic life, wherein they wrought at some honest manual
calling- with their own hands, continued to work in the same
manner, though not in the same measure, even after they
were made presbyters and bishops in the Church: for the
exercise of their humility, or to answer some other end of a
Christian life. Now in all these cases, the vices complained
of in the forementioned laws, as the reasons of the prohi-
bition, had no sliare or concern ; for such men's negociations
were neither the effects of covetousness, nor attended pro-
perly with any neglect of divine service ; and consequently
not within the prohibition and censure of the laws.
For first, both the laws of Church and State allowed the
inferior clergy to work at an honest calling, in cases of ne-
cessity, to provide themselves of a liberal maintenance, when
the revenues of the Church could not do it. In the fourth
council of Carthage' there are three canons, immediately
following one another, to this purpose ; " that they should
' Con. Garth, iv. c.51. Clericus quantumlibet verbo Dei eruditiis, artificio
victum quserat. Ibid. c. 59. f'lericas victuni et Testimcntum sibi, artificiolo
vel agriculturS, absque ofTicii s«i ditntaxut delrimcnto, pra^parct. Ibid. c. 53,
Omnes Cierici, qui adopcrandum validi sunt, et arliticiola ct lileias discant.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 577
provide themselves of food and raiment at some honest
trade or husbandry, without hindering tlie duties of their of-
fice in the Church; and such of them, as were able to labour,
should be taught some trade and letters togetlier." And
the laws of the State were so far from hindering this, that
they encouraged such of the clergy to follow an honest
calling-, by granting them a special immunity from the
Chrysargyrum , or lustral tax, which was exacted of all
other tradesmen, as I have showed' more at large in another
place.'
Secondly. It was lawful also to spend their leisure hours
upon any manual trade or calling, when it was to answer
some good end of charity thereby ; as that they might not
be overburdensome to the Church, or might have some su-
perfluities to bestow upon the indigent and needy; or even
that they might set the laity a provoking example of indus-
try and diligence in their callings : which were those
worthy ends, which the holy Apostle St. Paul proposed to
himself in labouring with his own hands at the trade of tent-
making ; after whose example many eminent bishops of the
ancient Church were not ashamed to employ their spare
hours in some honest labour, to promote the same ends of
charity, which the Apostle so frequently inculcates. Thus
Sozomen^ observes of Zeno, bishop of Maiuma, in Palaestine,
*' that he lived to be an hundred years old, all which time he
constantly attended both morning* and evening the service
of the Church, and yet found time to work at the trade of
a linen-weaver, bv which he not only subsisted himself, but
relieved others, though he lived in a rich and wealthy
Church." Epiphanius^ makes a more general observation
against the Massalian heretics, who vi'ere great encouragers of
idleness, — " that not only all those of a monastic life, but
also many of the priests of God, imitating their holy father
in Christ, St. Paul, wrought with their own hands at some
honest trade, that was no dishonour to their dignity, and
consistent with their constant attendance upon their eccle-
siastical duties ; by which means they had both what was
' Book V. chap. iii. sect. 6. ^Sozoui. lib. vii. c. '28. ^Epiphan.
Ha;r. 80. Massaliaii. ii. (i.
VOL. 1. 4 c
578 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK VI.
necessary for their own subsistence, and to give to others,
that stood in need of their reUef." The author of the Apos-
toHcal Constitutions^ brings in the Apostles recommending-
industry in every man's calling, from their own example,
that they might have wherewith to sustain themselves, and
supply the needs of others. Which though it be not an ex-
act representation of the Apostle's practice, for we do not
read of any other Apostle's labouring with his own hands,
except St. Paul, whilst he preached the Gospel, yet it serves
to show what sense that author had of this matter ; that he
did not think it simply unlawful for a clergyman to labour
at some secular employment, when the end was charity, and
not filthy lucre. And it is observable, that the imperial
laws for some time g-ranted the same immunity from the
lustral tax to the inferior clergy, that traded with a charitable
design to relieve others, as to those that traded out of ne-
cessity for their own maintenance ; of both which I have
given an account in another place.
Thirdly. We have some instances of very eminent bishops,
who, out of humility and love of a philosophical and labo-
rious life, spent their vacant hours in some honest business,
to which they had been accustomed in their former days.
ThusRuffin,^ and Socrates,^ and Sozomen,* tell us of Spiri-
dion, bishop of Trimithus in Cyprus, one of the most eminent
bishops in the council of Nice, a man famous for the gift of
prophecy and miracles, " that, having- been a shepherd be-
fore, he continued to employ himself in that calling, out of
his great humility, all his life." But then he made his
actions and the whole tenor of his life demonstrate, that he
did it not out of covetousness. For Sozomen particularly
notes, " that, whatever his product was, he either distributed
it among the poor, or lent it without usury to such as needed
to borrow, whom he trusted to take out of his storehouse
what they pleased, and return what they pleased, without
ever examining or taking any account of them."
' Constit. Apost. lib. ii. C.63. '^Ruffin. lib. i. c. 5. Hie pastor
ovium etiam inepiscopatu positus permansit. ^Socrat. lib. i. c. 12.
Aia ?i aTV(})iav TroXXjyi', txoiJLtvoc ttjq iTri(TKOTrrj<j inoifiaivi Kj tu, TiQofiaTU.
*Sozoni. lib. i, e, 11.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. ' 579
Fourthly. I observe, that thc^e lavvs,\vhich were most severe
against the superior clergy's negoeiaiing in any secular bu-
siness, in cases of necessity allowed them a privilege, which
was equivalent to it; that is, that they might employ others
to factor for them, so long as they were not concerned m
their own persons. For so the council of Eliberis words it:*
"Bishops, presbyters, and deacons, shall not leave their
station to follow a secular calling, nor rove into other pro-
vinces after fairs and markets. But yet, to provide them-
selves a livelihood, they may employ a son, or a freeman, or
an hired servant, or a friend, or any other : and, if they ne-
goeiate, let them negociate within their own province." So
that all these laws were justly tempered with great wisdom
and prudence; that as, on the one hand, the service of
God and the needs of his ministers and servants might be
supplied together; so, on the other, no encouragement
should be given to covetousness in the clergy, nor any one
be countenanced in the neglect of his proper business, by
a license to lead a wandering, busy, distracted life, which
did not become those, that were dedicated to the sacred
function. It is against these only, that all the severe in-
vectives of St. Jerom,' and others of the ancients,^ are level-
led, which the reader must interpret with the same limitations
and distinction of cases, as we have done the public laws ;
the design of both being only to censure the vices of the
rich, who, without any just reason or necessity, immersed
themselves in the cares of a secular life, contrary to the rules
and tenor of their profession.
Sect. 14. — Laws respecting their outward Conversation.
Another sort of laws were made respecting their outward
behaviour, to guard them equally against scandal in their
1 Con. Eliber. c. 19. Episcopi, Presbyteri, et Diaconi, de locis suis negoti-
andi causS non discedant, nee circumeuntes provincias, quaestuosas nundinas
sectentur. Sane ad victum sibi conquiren lura, aut filium, aut libertum, aut
mercenarium, aut amicwm, aut quemlibet mittant : et si voluerint negotiari,
intra provinciam negotientur. ^ jjigron. Ep. 2. ad Nepotian. Nego-
tiatorem Clericum quasi pestem fuge, &c. ^ Sulpic. Sever. Hist. lib.
i. p. 30. Tanta hoc tempore animos eorum habendi cupido veluti tabes inccs-
sit: inhiant possessionibus, praedia excolunt, auro incubant, emunt, vendunt-
que quaestui, per omnia student, &c.
580 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK VI.
character, and dang-eiin tl»e*ir conversation. Such were the
laws ag-ainst corresponding- and conversing- too familiarly
with Jews, and Gentile philosophers. The council of Eli-
beris* forbids thein to eat with the Jews under pain of sus-
pension. The council of Agde^ has a canon to the same
purpose, forbidding- them to give, as well as receive an en-
tertainment from the Jews. And those called the Apostoli-
cal Canons^ not only prohibit them to fast or feast with the
Jews, but to receive " TiJe toprrig Kivia,"" — any of those por-
tions or presents, which they were used to send to one
another upon their festivals. And the laws against con-
versing- with Gentile philosophers were much of the same
nature. For Sozomen says,* Tlieodotus, bi. liop of Laodi-
cea, in Syria, excommunicated the two Apollinarii, father
and son, because they went to hear Epiphanius, the sophist,
speak his hymn in the praise of Bacchus ; which was not so
agreeable to their character, the one being- a presbyter, the
other a deacon in the Christian Church. It was in regard
to their character likewise, that other canons restrained them
from eating- or drinking- in a tavern, except they were upon
a journey, or some such necessary occasion required them
to do it. For among those called the Apostolical Canons,*
and the decrees of the councils of Laodicea*^ and Carthage,^
there are several rules to this purpose; the strictness of
which is not much to be wondered at, since Julian required
the same caution in his heathen priests, that they should
neither appear at the public theatres, nor in any taverns, un-
der pain of deposition from their office of priesthood, as
may be seen in his letter to Arsacius, high-priest of Galatia,
which Sozomen records,** and other fragments of his wri-
tings.
Sect. 15. — Laws relating to their Habit.
To this sort of laws we may reduce those ancient rules,
' Con. Eliber. c. 50. Clericus, qui cum Judaeis cibum sumpserit, placuit eum
a conimumone abstinere, ut debeat emendari. ^Con. Agathen. c. 40.
Oranes Clerici Judseorum convivia evitent. Nee eos ad convivia quisquam
excipiat. * Canon. Apost. c. 70. * Sozom. lib. vi. c. 25.
* Canon. Apost. c. 53. ^ Con. Laodic. c. 24. ' Con. Carth. Hi.
c. 27. ^ Sozom. lib. t. c. 1G. Vid. Julian. Fragment. Epist. p. 547.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 5^1
which concerned the o;-arb and habit of the ancient clergy j
in which such a decent mean was to be observed, as miglit
keep them from obloquy and censure on both hands, either
as too nice and critical, or too slovenly and careless in theiv
dress : their habit being generally to be such, as might
express the gravity of their minds without any superstitious
singularities, and their modesty and humility without affec-
tation. In this matter therefore their rules were formed
according to the customs and opinions of the age, which
are commonly the standard and measure of decency and
indecency, in things of this nature. Thus for instance, long-
hair, and baldness by shaving the head or beard, being then
generally reputed indecencies in contrary extremes, the
clergy were obliged to observe a becoming mediocrity be-
tween them. This is the meaning of that controverted
canon of the fourth council of Carthage, according to its
true reading,! ^i tjjat a clergyman shall neither indulge
long hair, nor shave his beard, — Clericus nee comam nu-
triat, nee barham radat."" The contraiy custom being now
in vogue in the Church of Rome, Bellarmin^ and many
other writers of that side, who will have all their ceremonies
to be apostolical, and to contain some great mystery in
them, pretend, that the word, radat, should be left out of
that ancient canon, to make it agreeable to the present
practice. But the learned Savaro^ proves the other to be
the true reading, as well from the Vatican, as many other
MSS. And even Spondanus himself* confesses as much,
and thereupon takes occasion to correct Baronius for as-
serting, that, in the time of Sidonius Apollinaris, it was
the custom of the French bishops to shave their beards :
whereas the contrary appears from one of Sidonius's Epis-
tles,^ that their custom then was to wear short hair and long
beards, as he describes his friend Maximus Palatinus, who
of a secular was become a clergyman : he says, " His habit,
his gait, his modesty, his countenance, his discourse, were
» Con. Carth. iv. c. 44. ^ Bellarm. de Monach. lib. ii. c. 40.
8 Savaro. Not. in Sidonium. lib. iv. Ep. 24. p. 306. * Spondan. Epit.
Baron, an. 58. n. 58. * Sidon. lib. iv. Ep. 24. Habitus viro, gradus,
pudor, color, senno rcligiosus : turn coma brevis, barba proUxa, &c.
582 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK VI.
all relig"ious; and agreeably to these, his hair was short,
and his beard long-." Custom, it seems, had then made it
decent and becoming- ; and upon that g-round the ancients
are sometimes pretty severe ag-ainst such of the clerg-y as
transg-ressed in this point, as guilty of an indecency in
g-oing contrary to the rules and customs of the Church,
which were to be observed, thoug-h the thing- was otherwise
in itself of an indifferent nature.
Sect. 16. — The Tonsure of the Ancients very different from that of the
Romish Church. ,
The Romanists are g-enerally as much to blame in their
accounts of the ancient tonsure of the clergy ; which they
describe in such a manner, as to make parallel to that
shaving- of the crown of the head by way of mystical rite,
which is now the modern custom. Whereas this was so far
from being' required as a matter of decency among- the an-
cients, that it was condemned and prohibited by them.
Which may appear from that question, which Optatus puts
to the Donatists,^ when he asks them, — "where they had a
command to shave the heads of the priests ?" as they had
done by the Catholic clergy in order to bring them to do
public penance in the Church. In which case, as Albas-
pinseus rightly notes,^ " it was customary to use shaving to
baldness, and sprinkling the head with ashes, as signs of
sorrow and repentance. But the priests of God were not to
be thus treated." Which shows that the ancients then knew
nothing of this, as a ceremony belonging to the ordination,
or life of the clergy. Which is still more evident from what
St. Jerom says upon those words of Ezekiel, xliv. 20. " Nei-
ther shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locksto
grow long, they shall only poll their heads." — " This," says
he,^ " evidently demonstrates, that we oug-ht neither to have
• Optat. cont. Parmen. lib. ii. p. 58. Docele, ubi vobis mandatum est ra-
dere capita Sacerdotuni, cum e coutrario sint tot exempla proposita, fieri non
debere. - - - Qui parare debebas aures ad audiendum, parasti novaculam ad
delinquendum. * Albasp. in Loc. p. 141. ^ jjieron. lib. xiii.
in Ezek. cap. xliv. p. 668. Quod autem sequitur, capita sua non radent, &c.
perspicue demonstratur, nee rasis capitibus, sicut sacerdotes, cultoresque
Isidis atque Serapis, nos esse debere; nee rursum comara demittere, quod
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 583
our heads shaved, as the priests and votaries of Isis and
Serapis; nor yet to suffer our hair to grow long-, after the
luxurious manner of barbarians, and soldiers, but that priests
should appear with a venerable and grave countenance ;
neither are they to make themselves bald with a razor, nor
poll their heads so close, that they may look as if they were
shaven ; but they are to let their hair grow so long, that it
may cover their skin." It is impossible now for any rational
man to imagine, that Christian priests had shaven crowns in
the time of St. Jerom, when he so expressly says, they had
not, and that none but the priests of Isis and Serapis had.
But the custom was to poll their heads, and cut their
hair to a moderate degree ; not for any mystery that was in
it, but for the sake of decency and gravity ; that they might
neither affect the manners of the luxurious part of the
world, which prided itself in long hair ; nor fall under con-
tempt and obloquy by an indecent baldness ; but express a
sort of venerable modesty in their looks and aspects, which
is the reason that St. Jerom assigns for the ancient tonsure.
Sect. 17.— Of the Corona Clericalis, and why the Clergy called Coronati.
From hence we may further conclude, that the ancient
clergy were not called Coronati from their shaven crowns,
as some would have it, since it is evident there was no such
thing among them. But it seems rather a name given them,
as Gothofred^ and Savaro.^ conjecture, from the form of the
ancient tonsure; which was made in a circular figure, by
cutting away the hair a little from the crown of the head,
and leaving a round or circle hanging downwards. This in
some councils^ is called Circuli Corona, and ordered to be
used in opposition to some heretics, who it seems prided
themselves in long hair and the contrary custom. But I
am not confident, that this was the reason of the name.
proprie luxuriosum est, barbaroruraque et militantium ; sed ut honestus ha-
bitus Sacerdotum facie demonstretur ; nee calvitium noTacula esse faciendum,
nee ita ad pressum tondendum caput, ut rasoruni similes esse videamur ; sed
in tantura capillos esse demitteudos, ut operta sit cutis. • Gothofred.
Com. in Cod. Theod. lib. xvi. tit. 2. de Episc. leg. 38. ^ gavaro Not.
in Sidon. lib. vi. Ep. 3. ^ Con. Tolet. .iv c. 40. Omnes Clerici, detonso
superius capite toto, inferius solani circuli corouam lelinquant, &c.
584 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK VI.
Coronati. It might be g-iven the clergy in general, ovit of
respect to their office and character, which was always of
great honour and esteem : for Corona signifies honour and
dignity in a figurative sense, and it is not improbable but
that the word was sometimes so used in this case, as has
been noted before' in speaking of the form of saluting
bishops, Pe?' Coronam.
Sect. 18. — Whether the Clergy were distinguished in their Apparel
from Laymen.
As to the kind or fashion of their apparel, it does not
appear for several ag'es, that there was any other distinction
observed therein between then) and the laity, save that tliey
were more confined to wear that which was modest and
grave, and becoming their profession, M'ithout being tied to
any certain garb or form of clothing. Several councils re-
quire the clergy to wear apparel suitable to their profession ;
but they do not express any kind, or describe it otherwise,
than that it should not border upon luxury or any affected
neatness, but rather keep a medium between finery and
slovenliness. This was St. Jerom's direction to Nepotian,-
*' that he should neither wear black nor white clothing.
For gaity and slovenliness were equally to be avoided ; the
one savouring of niceness and delicacy, and the other of
vain-glory." Yet in different places different customs seem
to have prevailed, as to the colour of their clothing. For
at Constantinople, in the time of Chrysostom and Arsacius,
the clergy commonly went in black, as the Novatians did in
white. Which appears from the dispute, which Socrates*
speaks of between Sisinnius, the Novatian bishop, and one
of Arsacius's clergy : for he says, " Sisinnius going one
day to visit Arsacius, the clergyjnan asked him, why he
wore a garment which did not become a bishop? an4
where it was written, that a priest ought to be clothed in
white 1 to whom he replied, you first show me, where it is
written, that a bishop ought to be clothed in black V From
' Book ii. chap. ix. sect. 5. - Ilieron, Ep. 2. ad Nepot. Vestes
puUas ffiquc devita, ut Candidas. Ornatus, ut sordes pari modo fugiendie
sunt ; quia alterum delicias, alterum glorium rcdolet, &c. ^ Socrat,
lib. \i. c. 22.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 585
this it is easy to collect, that by this time it was become the
custom at Constantinople for the clerg-y to wear black, and
that perhaps to distinguish themselves from the Novatians,
who affected it seems to appear in white. But we do not
find these matters as yet so particularly determined or pre-
scribed in any councils. For the fourth council of Car-
thage^ requires the clerg-y to wear such apparel, as was
suitable to their profession, but does not particularize any
further about it, save that they should not affect any finery
or g'aity in tiieir shoes or clothing-. And the council of
Acrde^ ffives the very same direction. Baronius^ indeed is
very earnest to persuade his reader, that bishops in the time
of Cyprian wore the same habit, that is now w^orn by car-
dinals in the Church of Rome, and such bishops, as are ad-
vanced from a monastery to the episcopal throne. As if
Cyprian had been a monk or a cardinal of the Church of
Rome. But, as the learned editor* of Cyprian's works ob-
serves, there is scarce any thing* so absurd, that a man, who
is eng-aged in a party-cause, cannot persuade himself to
believe, and hope to persuade others also. For is it likely,
that bishops and presbyters should make their appearance
in public in a distinct habit, at a time, when tyrants and
persecutors made a most diligent search after them to put
them to death ? do the clergy of the present Church of
Rome use to appear so in countries, where they live in
danger of being discovered and taken 1 but what shall we
say to the writer of Cyprian's Passion, who mentions Cy-
prian's^ Lacerna or Birriis, and after that his Tunica or
Dalmatica, and last of all his Linea, in which he suffered?
of which Baron ius makes the Linea to be the bishop's
rochet ; and the Dalmatica or Tunica, that which they now
call the loose tunicle ; and the Lacerna or Birrus, the red
'Con.Carth. iv. c.45. Clericus professionem suam et in habitu etin incessu
probet : et ideo nee vestibus nee ealceamentis decorem quaerat. '^ Con.
Agathen. e. 20. Vestimenta vel caleeamenta etiam eis, nisi quae religionera
deceant, uti aut habere non liceat. " Baron, an. 261. n. 44.
♦ Vid. Bp. Fell. Not. in Vit. Cypr. p. 13. * Passio Cypr. p. 13. Cy-
prianus inagrum Sexti productus est, et ibi se Lacerna Birri expoliavit. - - -
Et cum se Dalmatica (al. TunicS) expoliasset, et diaconibus tradidisset, in
linefi stetit, et coepit spiculatorem sustinere.
VOL. I. 4 D
586 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK Vf.
silken vestment that covers the shoulders. Why, to all
this it may be said, that these are only old names for now
thino-s. For besides the absurdity of thinking-, that Cyprian
should go to his martyrdom in his sacred and pontifical
robes, which were not to be worn out of the Church, it is
evident these were but the names of those common gar-
ments, which many Christians then used without distinction.
F. Simon,^ speaking- of the canons of the synods of Poitiers
and Langree, Anno 1396 and 1404, says, the clergy did
not then wear clothes of a particular colour ; they were
only forbidden to wear red, green, or any other such colour.
In former times there was no distinction of clothes between
the clergy and the laity: all men of any note wore long
clothes, as one may see in old pictures. None, but the
common people, wore short ones ; which occasioned the
word, courtant de boutique. None were then called gown-
men ; but because short clothes appeared by degrees to be
very convenient, they grew fashionable. However the ma-
gistrates and the clergy continued to wear long clothes:
an ecclesiastic could not wear a short gown, reaching no
lower than his knee, without acting against his character.
Sect. 19.— A particular Account of the Blrrus and Pallium.
As to the Birrus, it is evident that it was no peculiar
habit of bishops, no, nor yet of the clergy. That it was not
peculiar to bishops, appears from what St. Austin* says of
it, that it was the common garment, which all his clergy
wore as well as himself. And therefore if any one presented
him with a richer Birrus than ordinary, he w^ould not wear
it. " For, though it might become another bishop, it would
not become him, who was a poor man, and born of poor
parents. He must have such an one, as a presbyter could
have, or a deacon, or a subdeacon. If any one gave him a
' Bibl. Critique, vol. iii. n. 31. eked by Mr. La Roche. Memoir, vol.
ii, p. 3. 2 Aug.Serm. 50. de Diversis, torn. x. p. 523. OfTeratur mihi
birruiii pretiosuin, forte decet Episcopum, qnamvis non deceat Augustinum, id
est, hominein pauperem, de pauperibus natum. Talem debeo habere, qua-
lem potest habere Presbyter, qualem potest habere Diaconus, et Subdiaco-
nus. - - - Si quis melioreni dederit, vendo, quod et facere soleo, ut qoando non
potest vestis esse couimunis, pretiuin vestis sit commune.
THAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHUFCH. 587
better, he was used to sell it; that, since the g-arment itself
could not be used in common, the price of it at least might
be common." This shows plainly, that the Birrus was not
the bishop's peculiar habit, but the common garment of all
St. Austin's clerg-y. And that this was no more than the
common Tunica, or coat, worn generally by Christians in
Afric and other places, may appear froga a canon of the
council of Gangra,' made against Eustathius, the heretic,
and his followers, who condemned the common habit, and
brought in the use of a strange habit in its room. Now
this common habit was the Birrus, or Brjpoc, f>s they call it
in the canon made against them,which runs in these words:*
" If any man uses the Pallium, or cloak, upon the account
of an ascetic life, and, as if there were some holiness in that,
condemns those, that with reverence use the Birrus, and
other garments, that are commonly worn, let him be ana-
thema." The Birrus then was the common and ordinary
coat, which the Christians of Paphlagonia and those parts
generally wore; and though the ascetics used the
rifpt/SoXmov, the yjhilosophic Pallium, or cloak, yet the
clergy of that country used the common Birrus, or coat.
For Sozomen,^ in relating the same history, instead of
B^poc, Uf^es the word XWiw, which is a more known name
for the Latin Tunica, or coat ; and he also adds, " that
Eustathius himself, after the synod had condemned him,
changed his philosophic habit, and used the same garb, that
the secular presbyters wore." Which plainly evinces, that
as yet the clergy in those parts did not distinguish them-
selves bv their habit from other Christians, though the asce-
tics generally did. In the French Churches, several years
after this, we find the clergy still using the same secular
habit with other Christians. And when some endeavoured
to alter it, and introduce the ascetic or philosophic habit
amono- them, Celestine, bishop of Rome, ^^rote a repri-
' Con. Gangr. inPrsefat. 'S'iva afupiucniara iir'i KaTa-jrri'xni ri)-: KcivorTjro^
Twv afKpiaffftaTwv avvdyovrtc, ^c^n, Gangr. c. 12. 'Ei ti^ anyiov
it, tv avi'ijSui^ Say ia^iJTi Kix9')l^^^''^^'> ntfd^tftu tro). 'Syzom,
lib. iii. <:. 14.
588 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [boOK VI.
manding- letter to them, asking,''^ why that habit, the cloak,
was used in the French Churches, when it had been the
custom of so many bishops, for so many years, to use the
common habit of the people? from whom the clergy
were to be distinguished by their doctrine, and not by their
garb; by their conversation, not their habit; by the purity
of their souls, rather than their dress." But yet I must
observe, that in some places the ascetics, when they were
taken into the ministry of the Church, were allowed to re-
tain their ancient philosophic habit without any censure.
Thus St. Jerom^ observes of his friend Nepotian, that he
kept to his philosophic habit, the Pallium, after he was
ordained presbyter, and Avore it to the day of his death.
He says the same of Heraclas,^ presbyter of Alexandria,
that he continued to use his philosophic habit, when he was
presbyter. Which is noted also by Eusebius, out of Origen,
who says,* " that when Heraclas entered himself in the
school of philosophy, under Ammcnius, he then laid aside
the common garb, and took the philosophic habit, with
which he sat in the presbytery of Alexandria.'' Upon which
Valesius very rightly observes,^ " that there was then no
peculiar habit of the clergy, forasmuch as Heraclas always
jetained his philosophic Pa/^mm; which was the known
habit of the ascetics, but as yet was very rarely used among
the clero-y, who wore generally the common habit, except
when some such philosophers and ascetics came among
them.*" For hero we see it was noted as something- rare
and singular in Heraclas: but in after ages, when the clergy
were chiefly chosen out of the monks and ascetics, the
philosophic habit came in by degrees with them, and was
encouraged, till at last it became the most usual habit of
• Celestin. Ep. 2. ad Episc. Gall. c. 1. Unde hie habitus in Ecclesiis
GalUcanis, ut tot annorum, tantorumque pontificiim in alteruin habitum con-
suetudo vertatur? Discernendi a plebe vel CECteris sumus doctrinu, non
■veste ; conversationc, non habitu ; mentis puritate, non cultu. ^ Hie-
ron. Epitaph. Nepotian. ^ Hieron. de Scriptor. c. 51. Heraclam,
Presbyterum, (]ui sub habitu philosophi persevcrabat, &c. . * Orij!;. ap.
Euseb. lib. 11'. c. 19. Dporfpov Koivy eaOi'iri xpw/^ti'oc, "ToSuffajuei'o^ /q
(t:i\o(yo(pov civa\a(5wv (Txrina i-nxQ'^ '''^ hvpo Ttjpn. * Vales. Not. inLoc.
Ex his apparet, nullum etiam tum poculiarem fuisse veslitum C'leiicorum,
quandoquidera Heraclas philosophicuin pallium semper relinuit. '
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 589
the clerg-y of all sorts. But this was not till the fifth or
sixth century, as may be collected from what has been said
before on this subject.
Sect. 20. — Of the Collobium, Dalmalica, Caracalla, Ilemiphorium, and
Linea.
But some perhaps may think, the clergy had always a
distinct habit, because some ancient authors take notice of
the Collobium, as a g-arment worn by bishops and presbyters
in the primitive ages. For Epiphanius speaking of Arius,
while he was presbyter of Alexandria, says,^he always wore
the Collobium or Hemiphorium. And Pius, bishop of Rome,
in his Epistle to Justus, bishop of Vienna, which by many
is reckoned genuine, speaks^ of Justus as wearing- a Col-
lobium also. But this was no more than the Tunica, of
which there were two sorts, the Dalmaiica and Collobium,
which differed only in this respect, that the Collobium was
the short coat without long sleeves, so called from KoXojSoc?
curt us ; but the Dalmatica was the Tunica manicata et
talaris, the long coat with sleeves. Both which were used
by the Romans, though the Collobium Vvas the more com-
mon, ancient, and honourable garment. As appears from
Tully,^ who derides Catiline's soldiers, because they had
their tunicce manicatce et talares ; whereas the ancient
Romans were used to wear the Collobia, or short coats ivith-
out long sleeves; as Servius* and St. Jerom* after him
observe from this place of TuUy. So that a bishop's or a
presbyter's wearing a Collobium, means no more, when the
hard name is explained, but their wearing a common Rom.an
garment. Which is evident from one of the laws of Theo-
dosius the Great, made about the habits, which senators
were allowed to use within the walls of Constantinople,
' Epiph. Hser. 69. Arian. n. 3. 'H/xi^ooiov yart 6 TotSrog del, ^ KoWojSUova
tvvtcv(TK(')[jitvoc. * Pius Ep. 2. ad .Just. Vieti. Tu vero apud senatoiiam
Viennam CoUobio Episcopoium vestitus, &c. ^ Clcer. Orat. 2. in
Catalin. n. 22. * Servius in Virgil. 9. yEneid. v. 616. Et tunicse
manicas, et habent redimicula mitrae, * Hieron. Quiest. Hebraic, in
Genes. 37. 32. Tom. iii. p. 222. Pro varia tunica Symniachus interprctatus
est lunicam manicatani ; sive quod ad talos usque descenderet, sive quod
baberet manicas ; anliqui cnim magis coUobiis utebanlur.
590 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK VI.
where they are forbidden^ to wear the soldier's coat, the
Chlamys, but allowed to use the Collobium and Penula,
because these were civil habits, and vestments of peace.
The Dalmafica, or as it was otherwise called XstpoSorocj
or Tunica manicata, because it had sleeves down to the
hands, was seldom used among the Romans ; for Lampri-
dius notes it,^ as a singular thing' in the life of Commodus,
the emperor, that he wore a Dalmafica in public; which he
also^ censures in Heliogabalus, as Tully had done before
in Cataline. And that is a good argument to prove, that
the clergy of this age did not wear the Dalmatica in public,
since it was not then the common garment of the Romans.
And the conjecture of a learned man* is well grounded,
w ho thinks, " that in the life of St. Cyprian, where the an-
cient copies have, tunicam tulif, some officious modern
transcribers changed the word, Tunica, into Dalmatica, as
being more agreeable to the language and custom of their
own time, when the Dalmatica was reckoned among the
sacred vestments of the Chuvch, though we never find it
mentioned as such in any ancient author."
The Caracalla, which some now call the cassoc, was
originally a Gallic habit, which Antonius Bassianus, who
was born at Lyons in France, first brought into use among
the Roman people, whence he had the name of Caracalla,
as Aurelius Victor,'' informs us. It was a long garment,
reaching down to the heels, which Victor says the Roman
people put on, when they went to salute the emperor. But
whether it was also a clerical habit in those days, may be
questioned, since no ancient author speaks of it as such :
but if it was, it was not any peculiar habit of the clergy ;
' Cod. Theod. lib. xiv. tit. 10. de Habitu quo utioportet intra Uibem. leg. 1.
Nullus Senalorum habitum sibi vindicet niilitaiem, sed chlamydis terrore do-
posilo, quieta colloborum ac pcnulaniminduat veslinienta, &c. '-^ Lamprid.
Vit. Comraodi. p. 139. Dalmaticatus in publico procossit. s jj yit.
Heliogab. p. 317. Dalmaticatus in publico post ccenam stepe visus est.
* Bp. Fell. Not. in Vit. Cypr. p. 13. ^ Victor. Epit. Vit. Caracallre.
Cum e gallia vestem plurimam devexisset, talaresque caracallas fecisset,
coegissetquc plebem ad se salutandum indutam taiibus introire, de nomine
hujus vestis, Caracalla cognominatus est.
CHAP. IV.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 691
•since Spartian,' who lived in the time of Constantine, says,
they were then used V)^ the common people of Rome, who
called them, Caracallce AntoniniaiKS from tlieir autlior.
The 'H/it(^optov, which Epiphanius joins with the Collo-
hium, was either but another name for the same garment,
or one like it; for it sig-nifies a short cloak or coat, as Peta-
vius^ and other critics explain it, "H/itcrv 'IfxaTdag, or
Dimidium Pallium, which answers to the description of
the CoUobium given before.
As for the Lima mentioned in the Life of Cyprian, which
Baronius calls the bishop's rochet, it seems to have been
no more than some common garment made of linen, though
we know not what other name to give it. Baronius says
pleasantly, " it was not his shirt," and therefore concludes
it must be his rochet ; which is an argument to make a
reader smile, but carries no great conviction in it. And yet
it is as good as any that he produces to prove, that bishops
in Cyprian's time appeared in public differently habited from
other men.
That the clergy had their particular habits for ministering
in divine service, at least in the beginning of the fourth cen-
tury, is not denied, but will be proved and evidenced in its
proper place ; but that any such distinction was generally
observed Extra Sacra in their other habits in that age, is
what does not appear, but the contrary, from what has been
discoursed. It .was necessary for me to give the reader
this caution, because some unwarily confound these things
together, and allege the proofs or disproofs of the one for the
other, which yet are of very different consideration.
' Spartian.Vit. Caracal, p. 2.51. Ipse Caracalla; nomenaccepit a vestiinentcr
quod popiilo dederat, deir.isso usque arl talos, quod ante non fuerat ; unde
hodieque Antoninianae dicuntur Caracalhc hujusuiodi, in usu maxime Ronia-
nse Plebis fiequentatiE. ® Petav. Not. in Epiphan. Haer. 69. n. 3,
Suicer. Thesaur Eccles. torn. i. p. 1334.
592 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE ^^OOK VI.
CHAP. V.
Some Reflections upon the foregoing Discourse, concluding
with an Address to the Clergy of the present Church.
Sect. 1. — Reflection 1. All Laws and Rules of the Ancient Church not neces-
sary to be observed by the Present Church and Clergy.
Having thus far gone over, and as it wore broiig-lit into
one view, the chief of those ancient laws and rules, Avhich
concerned the elections, qualifications, duties, and general
offices of the primitive clergy ; reserving the consideration
of particular offices to their proper places, I shall close this
part of the discourse v/ith a few necessary rejections upon
it, in reference to the practice of the clergy of the present
Church. And here first of all it will be proper to observe,
that all the laws and rules of the primitive Church are not
obligatory to the present clergy, save only so far as they
either contain matters necessary in themselves, or are
adopted into the body of rules and canons, which are au-
thorized and received by the present Church. For some
laws were made upon particular reasons, peculiar to the
state and circumstances of the Church in those times ; and
it would neither be reasonable nor possible, to reduce men
to the observance of all such laws, when the reasons of
them are ceased, and the state of aflairs and circumstances
of the Church are so much altered. Other laws were made
by particular Churches for themselves only, and these never
could oblige other Churches, till they were received by
their own consent, or bound upon them by the authority of
a general-council, where they themselves were represented,
and their consent virtually taken. Much less can they
oblige absolute and independent Churches at the distance
of so many ages ; since every such Church has power to
make laws and rules about things of an alterable nature for
herself, and is not tied to the laws of any other. Nor con-
sequently are any of the members of such a Church bound
to observe those rules, unless they be revived and put in
force by the Church, whereof they are members. As this
CHAP, v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 593
is agreeable to the sense and practice of the Catholic
Church ; so it was necessary here to be observed, that no
one might mistake the desig-n of this discourse, as if it
tended to make every rule, that has been mentioned therein,
become necessary and oblig-atory ; or designed to reflect
upon the present Church, because in all things she does
not conform to the primitive practice ; which it is not pos-
sible to do, without making all cases and circumstances
exactly the same in all ages.
Sect 2. — Reflection 2. Some ancient Rules would be of excellent use, if
revived by just Authority.
But secondly, notwithstanding this, I may, I presume,
without offence take leave to observe in the next place,
that some ancient rules would be of excellent use, if they
were revived by just authority in the present Church.
What if we had a law agreeable to that of Justinian's in
the civil law, that every patron or elector, who presents a
clerk, should depose upon oath, that he chose him neither
for any gift, or promise, or friendship, or any other cause,
but because he knew him to be a man of the true Catholic
Faith, and good life, and good learning 1 Might not this be
a good addition to the present laws against simoniacal con-
tracts ? What if the order of the ancient Chorepiscopi were
reduced and settled in large dioceses? and coadjutors in
case of infirmity and old age? Might not these be of great
use, as for many other ends, so particularly for the exercise
of discipline, and the easier and constant discharge of that
most excellent office of confirmation? the judicious reader
w ill be able to carry this reflection through abundance of
other instances, which I need not here suggest. And I
forbear the rather, because I am only acting the part of an
historian for the ancient Church ; leaving others, whose
province it is, to make laws for the present Church, if any
things are here suggested, which their wisdom and prudence
may think fit to make the matter of laws for the greater
benefit and advantage of it.
voL. I.
4 E
^94 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK Vf.
Sect. 3.— Reflection 3. Some anciont Laws may be complied with, though
not Laws of the present Church.
Thirdly. It may be observed further, that there were
some laws in the ancient Church, which, though they be not
established laws of the present Church, may yet innocently
bo complied with ; and perhaps it would be for the honour
and advantage of the clergy voluntarily to comply with
them, since there is no law to prohibit that. I will instance
in one case of this nature. It was a law in the anciont
Church, as I have showed, ^ that the clergy should end all
their civil controversies, which they had one with another,
among themselves, and not go to law in a secular court, un-
less they had a controversy with a layman. Now, though
there be no such law in the present Church, yet there is no-
thing to hinder clergymen from choosing bishops to be their
arbitrf\tcrs, and voluntarily referring all tlieir causes to them,
or any other judges, whom they shall agree upon among
themselves ; which must be owned to be the most Christian
way of ending controversies. Whence, as I have showed,
it was many times practised by the laity in the primitive
Church, who took bishops for their arbitrators by voluntary
compromise, obliging themselves to stand to their arbitra-
tion. And what was so conamendable in the laity, must
needs be more reputable in the clergy, and more becoming
their gravity and character ; not to mention other advan-
tages, that might arise from this way of ending disputes,
rather than any other. From this one instance it will be
easy to judge, how far it may be both lawful aud honourable,
for the clergy to imitate the practice of the ancients, in
other cases of the like nature.
Sect. 4. — Reflection 4. Of the Influence of great Examples, and Laws of
perpetual Obligation.
Fourthly. The last observation, I have to make upon the
foregoing discourse, is in reference to such laws of the an-
cient Church, as must be owned to be of necessary and eter-
nal obligation. Such are most of those, that have been
mentioned in the second and third chapters of this book,
' Book V. chap. i. sect, 4.
CHAP, v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 59.5
relating to the life and duties of the clerp^y ) in which the
cleriTV of all Churches will for ever be concerned, the matter
of those laws being in itself of absolute and indispensibie
obligation. The practice of the ancients, therefore, in com-
pliance with such laws, will be a continual admonition, and
their examples a noble provocation to the clergy of all ages.
There is nothing, that commonly moves or affects us more,
than great and good examples ; they at once both pleasantly
instruct, and powerfully excite us to the practice of our
duty ; they show us, that rules are practicable, as having al-
ready been observed by men of like passions with ourselves ;
they" are apt to inflame our courage by an holy contagion,
and raise us to noble acts by provoking our emulation ;
they, as it were, shame us into laudable works, by upbraid-
in o- and reproaching our defects in falling short of the pat-
terns set before us ; they work upon our modesty, and turn
it into zeal; they raise our several useful passions, and set
us to work by exciting those inbred sparks of emulation,
and principles of activity, that are lodged within us. And
for this reason, whilst others have done good service by
Avriting of the pastoral office and care, in plain rules and
directions, I have added the examples of the ancients to
their rules; the better to excite us to tread those paths,
w hich are chalked out to us, by the encouragement of such
instructive and provoking examples, 'W'ho can read that
brave defence and answer,' which St. Basil made to the
Arian prefect, without being warmed with something of his
zeal for truth upon any the like occasion ? How resolute
and courageous will it make a man, even against the ca-
lumnies of spite and malice, to contend for the Faith, when
he reads^ what base slanders and reproaches were cast
upon the greatest luminaries of the Church, and the best
of men, Athanasius and Basil, for standing up in the cause
of religion against the Anan heresy 1 Again, how peace-
able, how candid, how ingenuous and prudent will it mcske
a man in composing unnecessary disputes, that arise among
Catholics in the Church, always to have before his eyes
that great example of candour and peaceableness, which
^ , , • — ■ — I*
' Set- book vi. eliap. iii. sect. 10. 'Ibid,
596 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [bOOK VI.
Nazianzen describes in the person of Athanasius,'' who, by
his prudence, reconciled two contending- parties, that for a
few syllables and a dispute about mere words had like to
have torn the Church in pieces 1 To instance but once
more,^who that reads that g-reat example of charity and
self-denial in the African Fathers at the Collation of Car-
thage,^ and considers with what a brave and public spirit
they despised their own private interest for the g-ood, and
peace, and unity of the Church, will not be inspired with
something- of the same noble temper, and ardent love of
Christ ; which will make him willing to do or suffer any
thing for the benefit of his Church, and sacrifice his own
private interest to the advantage of the public ; whilst he
persuades himself with those holy fathers, that he was made
for the Church of Christ, and not the Church for him 1 As
it is of the utmost consequence to the welfare of the Church,
to have these and the like virtues and graces planted in the
hearts of her clergy ; so among other means, that may be
used for the promoting this end, there is none perhaps more
likely to take effect, than the recommending such virtues
by the powerful provocation of such noble examples. And he,
that offers such images of virtue to public view, may at least
be allowed to make the apology, which SulpiciusSeverus^
makes for his writing the Life of St, Martin: — Etsi ipsi non
viximus, ut aliis exemplo esse possimus ; dedimus tamen
opero.m, 7ie illi latereiit, quiessciit imitandi.
Sect. 5. — Some particular Rules recommended to Observation. 1st, Relat-
ing to the ancient Method of training up Persons for the Ministry.
But, whilst I am so earnest in recommending the exam-
ples of the ancients, I must not forget to inculcate some of
their excellent rules. Such as their laws about training up
young men for the ministry, under the Magister Disciplina>,
whose business was to form their morals, and inure them
to suc-ti studies, exercises, and practices, as would best
qualify thorn for higher offices and services in the Church.
This method of education being now changed into that of
I See book vi, chap. iii. sect. 9. - Ibid. chap. iv. sect. 2. * Sever,
deVit. S. Martin, in Prologo.
CHAP, v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 597
universities, and schools of learning-, it hig-lil}^ concerns
them, on whom this care is devolved, to see that the same
ends however be answered, that is, that all young men, who
aspire to the sacred profession, be rightly formed, both in
their studies and morals, to qualify them for their great
work and the several duties of their calling. And they are
the more concerned to be careful in this matter, because
bishops now cannot have that personal knowledge of the
morals of such persons, as they had formerly, when they
were trained up under their eye, and liable to their inspec-
tion; but now, as to this part of their qualification, they
must depend first upon the care, and then upon the testi-
mony of those, who are instructed with their education.
Besides a late eminent writer,* who inquires into the causes
of the present corruption of Christians, where he has occa-
sion to speak of the pastoral office, and the ordinary methods
now used for training- up persons to it, makes a double
complaint of the way of education in several of the univer-
sities of Europe. As to manners, he complains, "that young
people live there licentiously, and are left to their own con-
duct, and make public profession of dissoluteness: — nay,
that they not only live there irregularly, but have privileges,
which give them a right to commit with impunity all man-
ner of insolencies, brutalities, and scandals, and which ex-
empt them from the magistrates' jurisdiction." Now such
universities, as are concerned in this accusation, which by
the blessing of God those of our land are not, have great
reason to consider how far they are fallen from the primi-
tive standard, and what a difference there is between the
ancient way of educating- under the inspection of a bishop,
and the conduct of a master of discipline in every Church,
and the way of such academies ; where, if that learned
person say true, " the care of masters and professors does
not extend to the regrulatin2' of the manners of their disci-
pies." The other complaint he makes is in reference to
the studies, which are pursued at universities, in which he
observes two faults, one in reference to the method of
teaching. " Divinity is treated there, and the Holy Scripture
' Ostervald's Causes of the Corruption of Christians, par. ii. c. 3. p. 333.
5*J8 THE AKTIQUITIES OF THE [rOOK VI.
explained altogether in a scholastical and speculative manr-
ner. Common places are read, which are full of school
terms, and of questions not very material This makes
young men resolve all religion into controversies, and gives
them intricate and false notions of divinity." The other fault,
he thinks, is more essential. " Little or no care is taken to
teach those, who dedicate themselves to the service of the
Church, several tlsings, the knowledge of which would be
very necessary to them. The study of history and of Church
antiquity is neglected, morality is not taught in divinity-
schools, but in a superficial and scholastic manner ; and in
many academies it is not taught at all. They seldom speak
there of discipline, they give few or no instructions con-
cerning the manner of exercising the pastoral care, or of
governing the Church. So that the greater part of those,
who are admitted into this ollice, enter into it without know-
ing wherein it consists; all the notion they have of it is,
that it is a profession, which obliges them to preach and to
explain texts." I cannot think all universities are equally
concerned in this charge, nor shall I inquire how far any
are, but only say, that the fiiults iiere complained of were
rarely to be met with in the methods of education in the
primitive Church ; where, as I have showed, the chief stu-
dies of men devoted to the service of the Church, both
before and after their ordinations, were such as directly
tended to instruct them in the necessary duties and offices
of their function. The great care then was to oblige men
carefully to study the Scriptures in a practical way, and to
acquaint themselves with the history, and laws, and disci-
rAme of the Church, by the knowledge and exercise of
which they became expert in all the arts of curing souls,
and making pious and holy men, which is the business of
spiritual physicians, and the whole of the pastoral office ;
in which therefore their rules and examples are proper to be
proposed to all Churches for their imitation.
Sect. 6.— 2dly. Their Rules for examining the Qualifications of Candidates
for the Minisiry.
Another sort of rules, worthy our most serious thoughts
and consideration, were tho'ie, which concerned the cxami^
GHAP. v.] CHRISTIAN CHl'RCH. 599
nation of the candidates for theministrv. For bv these such
methods were prescribed, and such caution used, that it
was scarce possible for an unfit or immoral man to he ad-
mitted to an ece'esiastieal office, unless a bishop and the
whole Church combined, as it were, to choose unworthy
men, which was a case that very rarely happened. It was
a peculiar advantage in the primitive Chr.rch, that by her
laws ordinarily none were to be ordained but in the Church,
where they were personally known ; so that their manners
and way of living- might be most strictly canvassed and ex-
amined ; and a vicious man could not be ordained, if either
the bishop or the Church had the courage to reject him.
Now though this rule cannot be practised in the present
state of the Church, yet the m.ain intent of it is of absolute
necessity to be answered, and provided for some other way;
else the Church must needs suffer g-reatly, and infinitely fall
short of the purity of the primitive Church, by conferring
the most sacred of all characters upon immoral and unwor-
thy men. The only way, which our present circumstances
will admit of, to answer the caution that was used in for-
nler days, is to certify the bishop, concerning the candidates'
known probity and integTity of life, by such testimonials as
he may safely depend upon. Here therefore every one
sees, without my observing- it to him, that to advance the
present Church to the purit}- and excellency of the primi-
tive Church, there is need of the utmost caution in this
matter ; that testimonials in so weighty an affair be not pro-
miscuously granted unto all ; nor to any but upon reason-
able evidence and assurance of the things testified therein:
otherwise we partake in other men's sins, and are far from
consulting truly the glory of God, and the good of his
Church, whilst we deviate so much from the exactness and
caution, that is showed us in the primitive pattern.
The other part of the examination of candidates, which
related to their abilities and talents, was made with no less
diligence and exactness. The chief inquiry was, whether
they were well versed in the sense and knowledg-e of the
Holy Scriptures ; whether they rightly understood the fun-
damentals of religion, the necessary doctrines of the Gos-
pel, and the rules of morality, as delivered in the law of
600 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK VL
God ; whether they had been conversant in the history of
the Church, and understood lier laws and discipline ; and
were men of prudence to g'overn, as well as of ability to
teach the people committed to their charge. These were
things of great importance, because most of them were of
daily use in the exercise of the ministry and pastoral care;
and therefore proper to be insisted on in examinations of
this nature. These were the qualifications, which, joined
with the burning and shining light of a pious life, raised
the primitive Church and clergy to that height of glory,
which we all profess to admire in them. And the very
naming that is a sufficient provocation to such, as are con-
cerned in this matter, to express their zeal for the welfare
and glory of the present Church, by keeping strictly to the
measures, which were so successfully observed in the an-
cient Church ; and without which the ends of the ministry
cannot be fully attained in any Church, whilst persons are
ordained that want proper qualifications.
Sect. 7. — 3dly. Their Rules about private Address, and the Exercise of
private Discipline.
I shall not now stand to inculcate any other rules about
particular duties, studying, preaching, or the like, but
only beg leave to recommend the primitive pattern in two
things more. The one concerns private pastors, the
other is humbly offered to the governors of the Church.
That, which concerns private pastors, is the duty of pri-
vate address, and the exercise of private discipline to-
ward the people committed to their charge. Some
eminent persons,* who have lately considered the duties
of the pastoral office, reckon this one of the principal
and most necessary functions of it ; which consists in in-
specting the lives of private persons, in visiting families, in
exhortations, warnings, reproofs, instructions, reconciliations,
and in all those other cares, which a pastor ought to take
of those, over whom he is constituted. " For," as they
rightly observe, " neither general exhortations, nor public
discipline can answer all the occasions of the Church.
' Ostervald's Causes of the Corrupt, of Christians, p. 318. Sec also Bishop
Burnet's Pastoral Cure, c. viii. p. 96.
CHAP, v.] ^ CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 601
There are certain disorders, which pastors neither can, nor
ought to repress openly, and which yet oug-ht to be re-
medied by them. In such cases, private admonitions are to
be used. The concern of men's salvation requires this, and
it becomes the pastoral carefulness to seek the stray in o-
sheep, and not to let the wicked perish for want of warn-
ing-." But now because this is a nice and difficult work,
and requires not only great diligence and application, but
also g-reat art and prudence, with a proportionable share of
meekness, moderation, and temper, to perform it arig-ht ; it
is often either wholly neglected, or very ill performed •
whilst some think it enough to admonish sinners from the
pulpit, and others admonish them indiscreetly, which tends
more to provoke, than reclaim them. To remedy both these
evils, it will be useful to reflect upon that excellent dis-
course of Gregory Nazianzen, which has been suggested in
the third chapter of this book,' where he considers that o-reat
variety of tempers, which is in men, and the nicety of all
matters and occasions, that a skilful pastor ought to con-
sider, in order to supply suitable remedies to every dis-
temper. And there the reader will also find some other ex-
cellent cautions and directions given by Chrysostom and
others upon this head, with examples proper to excite him
to the performance of this necessary duty.
Sect. 8. — 4thly. Their Rules for exercising Public Disciplineupon Delinquent
Clergymen, who were convicted of scandalous Offences.
The other thing, I would humbly offer to the consideration
of our superiors, who are the guardians of public discipline,
and inspectors of the behaviour of private pastors, is the
exercise of discipline in the ancient Church. By which I
do not now mean that general discipline, which was ex-
ercised toward all offenders in the Church, but the particu-
lar discipline, that was used among the clergy ; by virtue of
which every clerk convicted of immorality, or other scan-
dalous offence, was liable to be deposed, and punished with
other ecclesiastical censures ; of which, both crimes and
punishments, I have given a particular account in the three
' See Book vi. chap, 3. sect. 8.
VOL. 1. 4 F
602 THB ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK VI.
foreg-oing chapters of this Book. It is a thing generally
acknowledged by all, that the glory of the ancient Church
was her discipline ; and it is as general a complaint of the
misfortune of the present Church, that corruptions abound
for want of reviving" and restoring the ancient discipline.
Now, if there be any truth in either of these observations, it
ought to be a quickening argument to all, that sit at the
helm of government in the Church, to bestir themselves
with their utmost zeal, that discipline, where it is wanting,
may at least be restored among the clergy ; that no scan-
dals or offences may be tolerated among them, whose lives
and practices ought to be a light and a guide to others.
As there is nothing to hinder the free exercise of it here,
so it is but fitting it should be exemplified in them ; as for
many other reasons, so particularly for this, that the laity
may not think, they are to be tied to any discipline, which
the clergy have not first exercised upon themselves with
greater severity of ecclesiastical censures. And if either
rules or examples can encourage this, those of the primi-
tive Church are most provoking ; her rules of discipline
were most excellent and exact in themselves, and for the
most part, as exactly managed by persons intrusted with the
execution of them.
Sect. 9. — Julian's Design to reform the Heathen Prit'Sts by the Rules of the
Priiaitive Clergy, an Argument to provoke our Zoal in the present Age.
After these reflections, made upon the laws and practice
of the primitive clergy, it will be needless to make any long
address to any orders of the clergy of the present age. I
will therefore only observe one thing more, that Julian's
design to bring the laws of the primitive clergy into use
among the heathen priests, in order to reform them, as it
was then a plain testimony of their excellency, so it is now
a proper argument to provoke the zeal of the present clergy,
to be more forward and ambitious in their imitation. I have
already in part recited Julian's testimony and design, out of
his Letter to Arsacius, high priest of Galatia ; I shall here
subjoin a more ample testimony from a fragment of one of
his Epistles' printed among his Works, where, speaking of
' Julian. Fragment. Epist. p. 542.
CHAP, v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 603
the g-entile priests, he says, " It was reasonable they should
be honoured, as the ministers and servants of the g^ods, by
whose mediation many blessings were derived from heaven
upon the world; and so long- as they retained this charac-
ter, they were to be honoured and respected by all, but if
wicked and vicious, they should be deposed from their
office, as unworthy their function,' Their lives were to be
so regulated, as that they might be a copy and pattern of
what they were to preach to men. To this purpose they
should be careful in all their addresses to the gods, to ex-
press all imaginable reverence and piety, as being in their
presence, and under their inspection.^ Tl^ey should neither
speak a filthy word, nor hear one ; but abstain as well from
all impure discourse, as vile and wicked actions, and not let
a scurrilous or abusive jest come from their mouths. They
should read no books tending this way, such as Archilochus
and Hipponax, and the writers of loose wanton comedies;
but apply themselves to the study of such philosophers, as
Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Chrysippus, and Zeno, whose
writings were most likely to create piety in men's minds.
For all sorts of books were not fit to be read by the priests.
Even among philosophers, those of Pyrrho and Epicurus
were wholly to be rejected by them; and instead of these
they^ should learn such divine hymns, as were to be sung
in honour of the gods, to whom they should make their
supplications publicly and privately thrice a day, if it might
be ; however twice at least, morning and evening. In the
course of their public ministrations* in the temples, which,
at Rome, commonly held for thirty days, they were to reside
all the time in the temples, and give themselves to philo-
sophic thoughts, and neither go to their own houses, nor
into the forum, nor see any magistrate but in the temple.
When their term of waiting was expired, and they were
returned home, they might not converse or feast promiscu-
ously with all, but only with their friends and the best of
men ; they were but rarely then to appear in the forum, and
pot to visit the magistrates and rulers, except it were in
I Julian. Fragment. Epist. p. 543. » Ibid. p. 547. » Ibid. p. 551,
♦ Ibid. p. 553.
604 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK VI.
order to be helpful to some that needed their assistance.
While they ministered in the temple, they were to be ar-
rayed with a mag-nificent garment ; but out of it they must
wear common apparel, and that not very costly, or in the
least savouring of pride and vain glory. They were in no
case * to go to see the obscene and wanton shows of the
public theatres, nor to bring them into their own houses,
nor to converse familiarly with any charioteer, or player, or
dancer, belonging to the theatre.'' After this he signifies,
out of what sort of men the priests should be chosen.
" They should be the best that could be found in every city,
persons that had true love for god and man, and then it
mattered not whether they were rich or poor ; there being
no difference to be made between noble and ignoble in this
case. No one was to be rejected upon other accounts, who
was endued with those two qualities, piety to god, and hu-
manity to men. Whereof the former might be evidenced
by their care to make all their domestics as devout as
themselves ; and the latter, by their readiness to distri-
bute liberally to the poor, out of that little they had, and
extending their charity to as many as was possible. And
there was the more reason to be careful in this matter, be-
cause it was manifestly the neglect of this humanity in the
priests, which had given occasion to the impious Galileans,
by whom he means the Christians, to strengthen their party
by the practice of that humanity, which the others neglected.
For as kidnappers steal away children, whom they first
allure with a cake; so these begin first to work upon
honest-hearted gentiles with their love-feasts, and enter-
tainments, and ministering of tables, as they call them, till
at last they pervert them to atheism, and impiety against
the gods."
Now, from this discourse of Julian, I think it is very evi-
dent, that he had observed what laws and practices had
chiefly contributed to the advancement of the character and
credit of the Christian clergy, and of the Christian religion
by their means; and therefore he laboured to introduce the
' Julian. Fragment. Epist. p. 555.
CHAP, v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 605
like rules and discipline among the idol-priests, and intended
to have made many other alterations in the heathen customs,
in compliance with the envied rites and usages of the Chris-
tian religion, as is observed both by Gregory Nazianzen *
and Sozomen,^ w^ho give us a particular account of his in-
tended emendations ; the very mentioning which, if I mistake
not, is a loud call to us, to be at least as zealous, as Julian
was, in copying out such excellencies of the primitive clergy,
as are proper for our imitation. It is the argument, which
the Apostle makes use of in a like case : — " I will provoke
you to jealousy by them that are no people, by a foolish
nation will I anger you." Rom. x. 19. I must needs say, it
will be but a melancholy consideration for any man to find
hereafter, that the zeal of an apostate heathen shall rise up
in judgment against him, and condemn him.
Sect. 1Q. — The Conclusion, by way of Address to the Clergy of the present
Church.
We all profess, as it is our duty to do, a great zeal for
the honour and welfare of the present Church. Now, if in-
deed we have that zeal which we profess, we shall be careful
to demonstrate it in all our actions ; observing those neces-
sary rules and measures, which raised the primitive Church
to its glory. We are obliged, in this respect, first, to be
strict and exemplary in our lives ; to set others a pattern of
sobriety, humility, meekness, charity, self-denial, and con-
tempt of the world, and all such common graces, as are re-
quired of Christians in general to adorn their profession ;
and then to add to these the peculiar graces and ornaments
of our function, diligence, prudence, fidelity, and piety in
the whole course of our ministry ; imitating those excel-
lencies of the Ancients, which have been described; con-
fining ourselves to the proper business of our calling, and
not intermeddling or distracting ourselves w ith other cares ;
employing our thoughts and time in useful studies, and di-
recting them to their proper end, the edification of the
Church; performing all divine offices with assiduity and
constancy, and in that rational, decent, and becoming* way,
' Naz. Invect. 1. iii Julian. ^ Sozom. lib. v. c. 16.
606 THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE [BOOK VI.
as suits the nature of the action ; making- our addresses to
God with a serious reverence, and an affecting fervency of
devotion ; and in our discourses to men, speaking" always, as
the oracles of God, with Scripture eloquence, which is the
most persuasive ; in our doctrine showing uncorruptness,
gravity, sincerity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned;
in our reproofs, and the exercise of public and private dis-
cipline, using great wisdom and prudence, both to discern
the tempers of men, and to time the application to its proper
season, mixing charity and compassion with a just severity,
and endeavouring to restore fallen brethren in the spirit of
meekness ; showing gentleness and patience to them that
are in error, and giving them good arguments with good
usage, in order to regain them ; avoiding all bitter and con-
tumelious language, and never bringing against any man a
railing accusation ; treating those of our own order, whether
superiors, inferiors, or equals, with all the decency and re-
spect that is due to them, since nothing is more scandalous
among clergymen than the abuses and contempt of one
another; endeavouring here, as well as in all other cases,
*f to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace ;" show-
ing ourselves candid and ingenuous in moderating disputes
among good Catholics, as well as resolute and prudent in
opposing the malicious designs of the professed enemies of
truth ; briefly, employing our thoughts day and night upon
these things, turning our designs this way, and always act-
ing with a pure intention for the benefit and edification of
the Church ; even neglecting our own honours, and de-
spising our own interest, when it is needful for the advan^
tage of the public.
Such actions will proclaim our zeal indeed, and draw
every eye to take notice of it. Such qualities, joined with
probity and integrity of life, will equal our character to that
of the primitive saints ; and either give happy success to
our labours, or at least crown our endeavours with the corn-
fort and satisfaction of having discharged a good conscience
in the sight of God. The best designs indeed may be frus-
trated, and the most pious and zealous endeavours be dis-
appointed. It was so with our Lord and Master himself,
and no one of his household then is to think it strange, if it
CHAP, v.] CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 607
ha* pen to be liis own case. For, "though he spake as
ne\er man spake;" though he had done so many miracles
among the Jews, yet they believed not on him. Tliis seems
to be written for our comfort, that we should not be wholly
dejected, though our endeavours fail of success, since our
Lord himself was first pleased to take his share in the dis-
appointment. It will still be our comfort, that we can be
able to say with the prophet in this case, " Though we have
laboured in vain, and spent our strength for nought, yet
surely our judgment is with the Lord, and our work with
our God. And then though Israel be not gathered, yet
shall we be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and our God
shall be our strength." Isai. xlix. 4, 5.
END OF VOL. I.
Bingham, Printer,
14, Tavistock-street, Covent-garden.
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