had met the like And the Theodosian Code makes frequent mention of these Mansions l. 21. de Decur Magistrates are appointed for those places out of the Cities in whose Territories they are Claudiopolis Tottas and Vordis are said to be Towns or Mansions in Bithynia l. 119. de Decur Cod. Theod. And this Thermae is mentioned in Antonin's Itinerary in the way from Tavia to Caesarea the first stage And one Elpidius a Bishop of this place subscribes the sixth General Council and calls it St. Agapius his Thermae in the second Galatia Of the same Creation is the Bishop of the Monastery of Studius which our Author (o) Prim. Ep. p. 39. produces out of Theodorus Lector after the decease of another who presided there For learned men have observed long ago that the word Bishop should be corrected and the word President put in its place And Valesius in his note upon that passage does agree to the amendment And that this may not seem to be done only from conjecture and the seeming necessity of sense Theophanes (p) Theoph. in Chron. p. 135. and Nicephorus (q) Niceph. H. E. l. 16. c. 25. do vouch it The same misfortune of faulty reading has made us Bishops of Monasteries here in England and it is upon no other ground that our Author (r) Prim. Ep. p. 39. is so positive that in Brittain there were commonly Bishops in Monasteries and such too as were in subjection to the Abbot of the Convent though a Presbyter as appears by the Synod of Hereford Vt Episcopi monachi non migrent c. Spelm. p. 153. Beda l. 4. c. 5. The word Episcopi in Mr. Wheelock's Edition of Bede is distinguished from the Text and the Saxon Version disowns it and Mr. Wheelock (s) Dele obsecro Episcopi pro Mss iâ—i lege ipsi in his Errata's takes care to advertise the Reader that this word must be corrected and ipsi put in its place For so he found it in all his Manuscripts that is ipsi This might be no news to our Author for my Lord Bishop of St. Asaph (t) Hist Account p. 68. had taken notice of it in his Historical account of the Church Government of Great Britain But Chifllet in his late (u) Anno 1681. Edition of Bede printed from an old Copy (x) Adorandum Antiquitatis optimaeque notae Codicem Chifl Praef. of S. Maximin's in Treves of reverend Antiquity has restored ipsi though he takes no notice of the Emendation It is possible that in this Book the word ipsi might be writ at length I have seen some Manuscript Copies that vouch this Emendation though the word be not written at length but with contraction Yet there is one very old Copy of the Cotton Library which has the word at length and without any abbreviation that puts an end to all further criticizing upon this passage Although I cannot but observe how unhappy our Author is in this particular who in confirmation of that multiplicity of Bishops which he vainly imagins was once in the Church of England hath chosen to instance in a time when there were indeed no more than seven Bishops in all the Saxon part of Britain In Spain it self says our Author (y) Prim. Ep. p. 39. Damium is an Episcopal seat Says Ortelius and it is a Monastery in Isidorus and Honorius Vnde Martinus Episcopus qui scripsit de quatuor Virtutibus cardinalibus oriundus It is true that St. Martin call'd the Apostle of Gallicia having converted Theodomir King of the Suevi or as others name him Chararacus from the Arian Heresie was made Bishop in that Monastery which he had built But that he had no other Diocese than his Monastry we have no reason to believe For in the Council (z) Aerae 607. A. Christi 569. Vid. Not. Gars Loyasae in Conc. Luc. apud Lucum Dumium is said to have Familia Regia belonging to it and in the distribution of Dioceses made by King Wamba the bounds of this Diocese are marked from Duma to Albia and from Rianteca to Adasa When this St. Martin was made Arch-bishop of Braga he ordain'd no other in Dumium but when he was dead to do honour to the Seat of so great a Man they might perhaps think for some time to appoint him a successor in Dumium as we find by the subscriptions of several Spanish Councils Yet even in the Gothick times this place was restor'd to Braga For in the 16th Council of Toledo Felix writes himself of Braccara and Dumium as Vasaeus (a) Vasaei Chron. c. 20. informs us from a M. S. copy of Canons in Rodericus Arch-bishop of Toledo Nay it may be question'd whether there ever was another Bishop of this Dumium after Martin For Luitprandus (b) Luitpr Advers informs us that there were two places of this name Episcopal Seats one in Asturia and the other in Gallicia which is the place of which we are speaking But to give this Instance a positive Answer A Monastery in the Suburbs of Braga made a Bishops seat about the middle of the sixth Century is no argument of Primitive Episcopacy but on the contrary this place had always till this time belong'd to the Bishop of a City 2. All this matter is extraordinary to do honour to a person who had so highly deserv'd of the Kingdom of Spain and therefore ought not to be drawn into a Precedent much less to prescribe what sort of places are to be made Bishops seats And after all it does not appear that there was not a Diocese of several Congregations belonging to it Those who are not acquainted with the state of the Ancient Church when they find instances of Bishops in Villages or in a Monastery may be apt to fancy That these might be the Remains of another sort of Episcopacy Therefore to prevent such mistakes I will briefly lay down the state of the Churches of Spain from which our Author has produc'd some instances from the oldest Records that remain of them In the Year 569. King Theadomir complains (c) Conc. Luc. Not. Garc. Loyasae that in the Province of Gallicia the Dioceses were so large that their Bishops were not able to visit them in a Year and therefore desires that they would take some order to remedy it Whereupon they erected several new Bishopricks and one new Metropolis yet all the Bishopricks of that great Province after this accession were but thirteen When the Bishops of all Spain met in the Synod of Valentia (d) Anno. 541. Luitpr Advers cum Episcopi totius Hispaniae convenissent they were in all but sixty four In the old Book of Sevil there are but 6 Arch-bishops and 67 Bishops in all the Kingdom of Spain In the old Book of Oviedo there are but 76 Bishops Under King Wamba (e) Anno. 666. according to the old Bood call'd Itacius of which Luitprandus makes frequent mention there
house in which there is not one dead and I would to God there were but one dead in a house However we Christians cast out and persecuted and put to death even then kept the Feast For the place of every ones affliction was to him a place of solemn assembly the open field the wilderness the ship the inn the prison where each happened then to be in this time of dispersion was to him a Church If I had a mind to trifle I might urge this for proof that the Christians of Alexandria had several panegyrical assemblies if it may be said without solecism at the same time and in the several places mentioned by Dionysius But I have neither inclination nor forehead to follow our Author in this way of discourse nor is it in every ones power to recommend for fair probabilities what he cannot but know to be nothing to the purpose (a) Prim. ep p. 97. But Athanasius in his Apology to Constantius about Anno. 355 makes it evident beyond all contradiction he being accused for assembling the people in the great Church before it was dedicated makes this part of his defence That the confluence of the Pascal Solemnity was so great that if they had met in several assemblies the other Churches were so little and streight that they would have been in danger of suffering by the crowd And it was better for the whole multitude to meet in that great Church being a place large enough to receive them all together This passage hath been often urged and answered by several hands so that I might spare my self the labour of any farther reply than referring to those books in which it has been examined especially since our Author has thought fit to add nothing new but words of assurance and ostentation that it is evident beyond contradiction and to take notice of nothing that hath been offered to impeach this irrefragable evidence However to avoid cavil I am content here again to take it into examination And first tho' it should be yeilded to our Author that it is certain from this passage that all the Christians in Alexandria were present in this assembly yet will it not be of that service to his notion as he might imagin Suppose then the flock of Athanasius reduced so low that one great Church might receive it all If this should proceed from some late accident and be owing to such separations as had been lately made from the Communion of the Church it can be of no use either for the proving of Congregational Episcopacy in elder times or for the discovering of the proportion of Christians in other Cities Suppose the Dissenters should prevail so far in some one Diocese with us as to leave the Bishop no more people than might be crowded into one of the greatest Cathedrals of the Kingdom it would surely be but a sorry argument that the constitution of our Episcopacy is Congregational or that we have no Diocese greater than may assemble in one Church This according to Mr. Clerkson (b) No Evidence for Dioces Episc p. 47. was the case of Alexandria in Athanasius his time At the first breach Meletius had many more adherents than Peter and from that time to Athanasius the Meletians had such encouragements that their numbers were not like to be impaired And as for the Arrians if we may take the measure of the people by their Officers they were more numerous than the Catholicks in this City for (c) Theod. H. E. l. 4. c. 22. Soz. l. 1. c. 15. of nine it should be nineteen Presbyters and Deacons which the Church of Alexandria had eleven embraced Arrianism There are many mistakes in what is here advanced concerning the Meletians and the party of Arrius but the course of the argument must not be interrupted In these circumstances the Arrians might well out-vie the followers of Athanasius in numbers and these declined as the others increased Now if the party of Athanasius which in Mr. Clerkson's judgment was inferior in number to the Arrians was yet so great as to fill all the Churches in Alexandria and could not have met in any one Church before that vast fabrick was erected by Constantius the Arrians surely who are supposed to be the greater party must divide into many Congregations and live in the Diocesan way especially in the time of Gregory who seems to have joyned the Arrian and Meletian party for by Epiphanius (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph. Haer. 69. n. 2. he is stiled both Arrian and Meletian For tho' that Sect divided from the Church upon a point of Doctrin yet did they not pretend to make any alteration in Discipline and had but one Bishop in a City how great soever it might be So that our Author while he lessens the Catholicks of Alexandria does unawares make the Arrians not a Congregation but a Diocese Nor is it any advantage to the Congregational fancy to streighten the Catholick Christians within the walls of one Church while his indulgence to other Christian Sects permits them to increase beyond his Rule and to grow up into a Diocesan stature Having considered the consequence of this passage of Athanasius upon a kind supposition that it proved the thing for which it was produced I proceed to shew that this Testimony does not certainly evince that the Christians of Athanasius his Communion were no more than could meet or actually assembled in that great Church Mr. Baxter (e) Ch. Hist p. 10. is not so rigid in his inference from this Testimony as to contend that every Christian of Alexandria was present in that assembly I do not hence gather says he that every man woman and child was present And to him this only seemeth hence plain that the main body of them could meet and hear in one assembly But all things are not equally plain to all people For if all the other Churches in Alexandria could not receive this Congregation I am afraid they could not all hear unless it were the Amen which they all pronounced aloud and that indeed might be heard from far For in Alexandria besides this great Church Epiphanius (f) Epiph. Haer. 69. n. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 names nine more and adds that there are other Churches besides which he had probably named with the rest if they had been but few Nor can they well be conceived much fewer than twenty for in Rome (g) Optat. l. 2. there were above forty in the beginning of Constantine's reign Suppose then a Congregation that twelve Churches could not contain which though much inferiour to this new Cathedral yet had some of them served the Bishop of the greatest City in the world after Rome and his Congregation It will be scarce possible to conceive how all that multitude should hear especially since I do not find that in those days any Church had scaffolds or galleries but all the people stood in the Area and nothing raised above the
who refuse full or competent Evidence when the Proofs rise up to a Demonstration or are direct and suitable to the nature of the Matter But for Men to advance new Notions and Paradoxes concerning things at very great Distance of which the Proofs are obscure and the Evidence only conjectural and then to cry out upon those who are not convinc'd as Persons of no Faith or Equity argues a Confidence very unusual and rarely to be seen either in understanding or good Men. That for the space of the first three Centuries a Bishop was no more than a Pastor to a single Congregation is in the first place a Conclusion very new and never heard that I can learn before the last Age. The space of time intervening between the nearest point of the three Centuries assign'd and the Birth of this Notion wants little of Thirteen compleat Centuries and therefore the Evidence of a matter so remote ought to be positive and direct and it must be expected that some Ancient Witnesses who liv'd within the compass of that Term or in the next Age at least should be produced and have declared expresly that no Bishop had more than one single Congregation or that it was the Opinion of those Times that a Bishop ought to have no more If but one Author of Credit had left this Testimony the circumstantial Evidence might reasonably be admitted for Confirmation but when all the Proof of a Fact so distant consists only of Conjectures and Suspicions and unconcluding Circumstances I hope that in this time of Liberty an honest Man may refufe to believe so obscure and unnecessary Inferences without any Diminution of his Reputation It may be very true that some Villages had Bishops that several Cities were not greater than some of our Market-Towns that all the People may be said in an usual sense to be present at Church in the greatest Cities all this may be true and yet very far from proving the Point in Question The Conclusion Congregational Episcopacy may remain still at as great a distance from these Premises as the Primitive Times we speak of are from the present Age or as some gifted Mens Discourses are from the Text. When this fancy of Primitive Congregational Episcopacy came first into Mens heads the Diocesan way had been every where Establish'd and that we may not take this for a piece of Popery no Churches came nearer to the Congregational Standard than those that were under the immediate Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome nor was it pretended that Diocesan Bishops were new they had an acknowledg'd Prescription of above twelve hundred years but the time of its rise was not so positively assign'd Cartwright pretended to trace some footsteps of the Congregational way in the two first Centuries but I do not find that he or the Dissenters of his Time had made the Conclusion so universal that no Bishop within that compass of Time had more than one Congregation Rome and Alexandria and the greatest Cities seem'd to stand out and remain'd Exceptions but now they too are taken in and reduc'd to the Congregational Model It is something hard to conceive how the Species of Church-Government should come to be chang'd and no Account of so important a Change be transmitted to Posterity Those who fancy Presbytery turn'd into Episcopacy in the former part of the second Century make some shew of Reply when they say that it is a very obscure Age and hath left little or nothing of its Story behind it But the Ages in which Primitive Episcopacy is pretended to have been transform'd into Diocesan were of another Character they abounded with Learning and Writers and a great many of their Books have been preserv'd but not the least hint of this Fundamental Alteration of Church-Government What! so just an Offence given by the Church and no Sectary no Schismatick to reproach her Those who were so minute and trifling in their Cavils could they overlook so obvious a Topick as this of Diocesan Innovation Nay these very Sects where their Numbers made them capable liv'd themselves under the Diocesan Way If then in times of so much Division Contention and Dispute such a change as this could be introduc'd without any Opposition and all Parties of different Opinions and Interest conform'd to it for my part I cannot see how it can be denied that it was done by Miracle For what greater Miracle can we well imagin than that so many sorts of Christians divided by Principles and mutual Aversions should conspire to receive this pretended alteration of Episcopacy So that those who deny it to be Primitive must allow it a higher Title since Miracle carries with it much greater Authority than Prescription Mr. Clerkson therefore had great reason to aprehend that it would appear a great Paradox to hear that a Bishop of Old was but the Pastor of a single Church or that his Diocese was no larger than one Communion Table might serve It does indeed seem very strange not only to those who take the Measures of Ancient times and things by their own or are much concern'd they should not be otherwise than they are now but most of all to those who have competent knowledg of those Times and who are qualify'd to make some Judgment of the State of the Primitive Church from the Testimonies of Ecclesiastical Writers It is a great weakness to take the measures of Ancient times by our own (a) P. 116. but I know none more unfortunate in this way of reckoning than the Author himself who measures the Ancient Territories of Greek and Roman Cities by Liberties that belong to Ours and demands with more Zeal than Knowledg How many Cities in the Roman Empire can be shâ—wn us where this Jurisdiction of the City Magistrates reach'd farther than it doth in our English Cities Vrbem quam dicunt Romam Melibaee puâ—avi Stultus Ego huic nostrae similem But of this in its proper place How great Advantages may be expected from a clear discovery of what the Author thinks to be true in this particular I cannot readily discern having not the assistance of his Prospective to discover things at so vast a distance much less can I see that it may contribute much to the deciding of the Controversies among us about Church-Government and bringing them to a happy Composure Now to deal liberally with this Notion of Primitive Episcopacy let us yield up the point at once and grant that no Bishop for the three first Centuries had more than one Congregation But at the same time let us take the Reason along with us that for so long time no City had more Christians then might meet in one Church no Bishop then could have more Congregations then all the Christians of his City and Territory did compose But the Controversies about Church-Government are still undecided for this does not preclude the Bishops from a right of having many Congregations under their inspections if more had been
anciently to other Provinces In the Synodical (x) Omnes pariter congregati Ep. Episc Isaur ad Leon. Epistle of Isauria to Leo the Emperour tho' by the names of the Cities it appears that this Province was enlarged yet we find but seventeen Bishops (y) Prim. Ep. p. 29. Sasima is Angusta Villula in Nazianzen who was ordained Bishop there It is true that this was a Village and made (z) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. Carm. de vita sua an Episcopal See upon the quarrel (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 between Basil and Anthimus But it was not so from the beginning for before Gregory it never had a Bishop but belong'd to Tyana from whence it was distant (b) From Sasima to Andabalis 16. m. from Andabalis to Tyana 16 m. Anton. lilner about two and thirty miles It was situate on the confines of both Dioceses and being erected late and upon a competition of Jurisdiction makes but a sorry instance of primitive Congregational Episcopacy For this Bishoprick is wholly owing to the contention of two Metropolitans and Gregory (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 complains that Basil had done it without necessity having no less then fifty Chorepiscopi (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 belonging to his great Diocese The Country place of Simplicia seems to be no other than Doara of which we have spoken before And for the other places which Basil made Bishops seats and those Bishopricks were not a few no body could ever find them out And notwithstanding the expression of Nazianzen of the Country having more Bishops by this contention they could not be many and perhaps no more than one For in the subscriptions to the Synodical Epistles (e) Ep. Synod c. of the two Cappadocia's to Leo the first in which Caesarea was Metropolis there were but two Suffragans and the second under Tyana has but seven and the Bishops of Sasima and Doara are among the subscribers So two large Provinces had not after all these new erections above eleven Bishops But Gregory (f) Prim. Ep. p. 30. applauds this multiplying of Bishopricks as an excellent art souls being hereby better look'd after He does indeed in the funeral oration of Basil set this in the best light as becomes a Panegyrick But in his verses he is more blunt and makes it unnecessary for one who had fifty Chorepiscopi to make a Bishop of so poor a place as Sasima And though (g) Naz. Carm. de vita sua vide supra care of souls was the pretence the true reason was love of preheminence The charitable reflection with which our Author concludes his range of Cappadocia that others would have souls less regarded and the Bishops honour more becomes the temper of a Fanatick A venomous beast may be in danger from his own poison if he have no vent rather than burst let him discharge For my part I believe a Dissenter may be of kin to the Cappadocian in the Greek Epigram whose blood poison'd a viper that happen'd to bite him (h) Prim. Ep. p. 30. In Pontus Polemoniacus Pityus and Sebastopolis were Bishops seats and yet they were not Cities in Justinian's (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nov. 28. account That they were Bishops seats in Justinian's time or some time after does no where appear that I know In the old Notitia (l) Car. a S. Paulo of the Patriarchat of C. P. it neither was a Bishop's See nor yet in the Notitia said to be compil'd under Leo the wise For in both these there are but five Bishops seats in that Province according to the number of Cities mention'd in that Novel of Justinian And before that in the time of Leo the first there were but four Bishopricks as appears from the subscriptions to the Synodical letter to that Pope Indeed there is a Bishop of Pityusa among the subscriptions of the first Nicene Council but those subscriptions have little credit being judged by learned men to belong to the second and not the first Council of Nice (m) Prim. Ep. p. 30. Coracesium is but a Castle in Strabo yet it had a Bishop in Leo Sophus his catalogue And Thymbria is a Village in Strabo and had a Bishop in the Council of Chalcedon Amyzon and Heraclea in Caria were no more than Castles in Strabo and yet are Bishops seats in Miraeus Heraclea ad Lathmum Ceramus and Bargesa are called little Cities by Strabo (n) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and were Bishops seats I have already shew'd the weakness of such Allegations from the great distance of time between Strabo and Leo Sophus which was near 900 years which may very fairly be allow'd to make great changes in the circumstances of these places How many Villages are become Cities How many Cities are sunk into Villages or into places utterly desolate Yet our Author will make no allowances but all things must be taken in after-times as they were in Strabo and the being recorded in that Book leaves an indelible character of a City or a Village Some considerable Cities are said to be owing to the dreams of great men but our humble Author can dream of nothing but Villages and those which he finds to have been such before the beginning of Christianity he is resolv'd as far as the power of dreams will go to keep under in the same low condition lest they should become the possession of Diocesan Bishops Yet after all several of these places as Amyzon and Heraclea are said to be Cities by Strabo (o) L. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though not equal to the three which he calls the considerable and Ptolomy names them both among the Cities of Asia and both the Heraclea's mention'd by our Author were in Caria the one ad Lathmum and the other in Hierocles his Notitia and the subscription of the Council of Chalcedon writ with the addition of Salbacis by Ptolomy Albanum but restored by Holstenius (p) Holsten in Steph. de Vrb in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salmacis And there is indeed Thymbria a Village of Caria mention'd by Strabo (q) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 14. but whether this had a Bishop or was under Ephesus is a great question it was four Stadia's from Myus which in Strabo's time was dispeopled and added to Miletus in whose room this may possibly arise And Coracesium is nam'd by Ptolomy l. 5. among the Maritime Cities of Cilicia (a) Prim. Ep. p. 30. Docimia is a Village in Strabo and a Bishop's seat often mention'd in subscriptions of Councils Our Author proceeds upon his own principle not yet receiv'd in the world that what was once a Village must always remain so And therefore makes no difficulty to argue from Strabo to the subscriptions of Councils in the fourth and fifth Century Now unknown to our Author this Village of Strabo was grown
account of many of the places in which our Author finds few or no Christians comes from the Monks who are said to convert them and for my part I am much inclin'd to suspect that they were apt to represent places as Heathenish to give themselves the reputation of converting them by their miracles And though we are told they found all things wild yet in a little while they made it like Eden and converted (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socr. l. 4. c. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soz. l. 6. c. 34. all to a man so that Island was reduced So the Syrians But of Bucolia a Region near Alexandria in Ortelius this is Jerom 's character in Bucolia nullus est Christianorum Vit. Hilar. Notwithstanding the authority of Ortelius our Author might have let this place too pass among the remoter parts of Egypt for Scaliger (h) Scalig. Animad in Euseb Chron. p. 18 19. places it beyond and distinguishes it from the Country of the Egyptians and withall sets it beyond the bounds of the Roman Empire For (i) Heliod Aethiop l. 1. c. 2. these barbarous people gave great trouble to the Roman Prefect who guarded that part with a strong Garrison which was nam'd from this wild people against whom they were plac'd This agrees with their character in Jerom (l) Barbara ferox natio Bubulcorum sedes erat Vit. Hilarion that they were a fierce and a barbarous nation (m) Prim. ep p. 75. But that which Hilary fixes on the whole Country is not much more favourable Egypt is full of Idols and worships all kind of monsters for Deities Com. in Matth. 1. But this character was given with respect to what it was when our Saviour fled thither not to what it was when Hilary wrote As appears plainly from the words of Hilary which are these Herod seeking the death of the child Joseph is by an Angel admonished to carry him into Egypt in Egyptum idolis plenam c. into Egypt full of Idols and worshipping for Deities all kind of monsters Where Mr. Clerkson by no very commendable artifice hath changed the words of Hilary so as they may seem to speak of the present time Our Author bids us look a little further into Africa and there Firmicus he says in Constantine 's time affirms that a great part of the Africans did worship Juno and Venus If our Author had look'd but into the Title page of Fermicus he would scarce have told us of this Writers affirming this matter in Constantine's time when the Book is dedicated to Constantius and Constans after they had been Emperours a considerable time And if he had looked into the book we had in all probability escaped this instance The truth is the Centuriators deceived him and he seldom looked farther upon this head of the remains of Heathenism Firmicus (n) Assyrij pars Afrorum Aerem ducatum habere elementorum volunt nomine Junonis Veneris consecrarunt Jul. Firmic de err prof Rel. then affirms that a part not a great part of Africk worshipped the Air under the names of Juno and Venus without any reflection upon the time in which he wrote but only giving an account of the variety of Gentile superstition But Mr. Clerkson is vain enough to be pitied when he comes to refine upon this mistake and to comment upon an Author he had not seen We are told then that he i. e. Firmicus means that part of Africa then known and that was it in which the Gospel had found some entertainment It were very strange if he should mean an unknown part or that any place then not known should come into his mind But that Writer gives not the least intimation what part that was only by the wariness of the word we may conceive that this was not the general opinion of the Heathen of Africa However he finds long after this (o) Cod. Afric can 58. ed. Zon. 64. that in most maritime places of Africa and other parts thereof Idolatry was in use and he adds this remark that most of their Cities were maritime and those usually most populous In the first place that Canon does not speak as he makes it for it is not most but many maritime places Then for Cities there is not a word but of Country farms and Villages there is as if the poor remains of Heathenism had been now driven out of the Cities and most eminent Towns and retir'd to the obscurest places of the Country And that Heathenism was now in a very low and expiring condition in that Country appears from the expression of that Canon (p) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which the African Bishops desire the Emperors that the Reliques of Idols might be destroyed Whereupon Zonaras (q) Zonar in Can. 64. notes that the Gospel having enlarged its self the tayl of the Dragon could only move for the head of it had been bruised before To conclude then with Africa This may be the reason our Author (r) Prim. ep p. 76. thinks why there were but five Bishopricks in the Province of Tripolis when they were so numerous in other Provinces and it is suggested by one of their Councils (s) Interjacere videntur Barbarae Gentes those parts of the Country were taken up with Heathens He guesses in the dark and like a Man who had never seen those Canons he speaks of Tripolis was the remotest of the African Provinces Eastward and was bounded by Ara Philenorum where the Egyptian Diocese began It had but five Bishops and no African Canon gives any reason for it The likeliest is that the Donatist Faction had no great party there and so it remained content with that number of Bishopricks which had been anciently established there But in some African Councils (t) Can. Carth. 14. that require many Bishops to be present at Ordinations and that all attend Synods they make some abatement in respect of this Province that but one should be required to attend Synods from that Province And when some required that no Bishop should be ordein'd without ten or twelve Bishops to assist Aurelius (u) Can. Carth. 54. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 observes that in Tripolis and Arzua it would be impossible because there were but five and they were encompassed with barbarous Nations so that they could not be assisted easily from other Provinces and those barbarous Nations said to lye between them and the other Bishops is made a reason why the ancient form should continue and three Bishops be sufficient for Episcopal Consecration Now when our Author says those parts of the Country were taken up by Heathen it is said of the Country about Tripolis and not of the Province it self and therefore it can be no reason of its having few Bishops since those neighbouring Pagans did not hinder their multiplying of Bishops but only intercept the communication between them and the other Provinces (x)