about limits the Apostles made no new distributions but followed the form of the Empire planting in every City a compleat and entire Church that consisted not only of the Inhabitants of the City but of the Region belonging to it If any were converted and if their distance or number made them incapable of repairing to the City-Church upon all their Religious occasions they had Congregations apart and subordinate Officers to attend them as it was in the civil disposition our Saviour having appointed several Orders in his Church and the Apostles propagating those and appointing some new as occasion required Only as in greater causes the Country people sued in the City Courts so likewise in such causes of Religion that concerned the whole community such as that of receiving in and turning out of the communion the Christians of the Territory were under the authority of the city-City-Church Hence it is that the Canons of ancient Councils mention a Territory belonging to every City Bishop The thirty fourth Canon (u) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. Ap. 34. of those called Apostolick forbids a Bishop to do any thing without the concurrence of his Metropolitan but what related to his own Diocese and the Territories under it And the ninth of Nice that provides so favourably for the Puritans when they should return to the communion of the Church supposeth Bishops to have a considerable Diocese besides their City For by this it is ordered that if a Bishop of the Puritans should embrace Catholick Communion and there were another Bishop of the Catholick Church in the same City that then (x) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. Nicen. 8. the Puritan should either retain the title of a Bishop in the same City if the other did think fit or else be received as a Presbyter But least this may have the appearance of two Bishops in the same Town some place is to be provided for him that he may be either a Chorepiscopus or a Presbyter in the Country The Synod of Antioch forbids the Presbyters of the Territories to send Canonical letters and in another gives the Bishop of the City full authority (y) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. Antioch 9. to order Ecclesiastical affairs not only in his City but in the whole Territory that belongs to it to ordain Presbyters and Deacons to exercise Jurisdiction within the extent of his Diocese And in the next Canon forbids (z) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. Antioch 10. the Chorepiscopi to ordain Presbyters or Deacons in the Country without the consent of the Bishop of the City to which they and the Territory did belong The Council of Elvira speaks of Deacons (a) Diaconus regens plebem Can. Eliber 77. that had Country cures and that the Bishop to whom they belonged was to perfect those who were baptized by these Curees by confirmation Basil (b) Basil ep 192. salutes the Country Clergy of the Diocese of Nicopolis distinct from those of the City and Theodoret who had a Diocese forty miles square reckoned (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theod. ep 42. his Episcopacy of divine institution and that his large Territory as well as his City was committed into his hands by God Theodosius Bishop of Synnada is said to drive the Macedonian Hereticks not only out of his City but (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socr. l. 7. c. 3. out of all his Territories And Eustathius (e) Basil ep 73. overthrew all the Altars of Basilides in all the Territory of Gangrae And Synesius writing to the whole Church of Ptolemais addresseth to the people of the City and to those of the Country Parishes that belonged to it It would be an endless labour to alledge all the instances of this nature since nothing is more obvious and occurs more frequently in Ecclesiastical Writers I have shewed how great Territories belonged anciently to the Greek and Roman Cities how unlike their constitution was to ours and especially in this respect I have also shewed that the civil and Ecclesiastical Territories were the same and Mr. Clerkson confesses it His demands therefore concerning this matter receive a full answer and the proof which he (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Synes ep 11. required not without intimation of despair made good and beyond all reasonable exception To make this matter yet more clear I will instance in some Bishopricks whose extent are known or so much at leastwise as discovers them to be Dioceses consisting of many Country Parishes besides the City Churches I will begin with the Bishoprick of Theodoret because the limits of it have been described with greatest exactness and particularity The Diocese of Cyrus was forty miles in length and as much in breadth And Theodoret (h) Theod. ep 42. proceeds to describe it so minutely that he sets down the number of acres together with the condition and tenure of the land There were fifty thousand free from any service ten thousand belonging to the Fisc about fifteen thousand more subject to taxes but unable to pay according to the proportion then set So that this instance seems clear beyond all exception And as to the Ecclesiastical state of this Territory in his Epistle to Leo he says (i) Theod. ep 113. there were eight hundred Churches in it all belonging to his care Yet some have endeavoured to take off the evidence of this Epistle to Leo when it was urged by the learned Bishop of Worcester Mr. Baxter suspects it because it came from the Vatican Library and Mr. Clerkson (l) No evid of Dioc. Ep. p. 39. suggests the same suspition But this frivolous cavil hath been answered by the same hand that alledged the instance I will take the liberty to add only this that it happens fortunately to this Epistle that it hath an ancient voucher and a clear testimony in the next age after it was written For Liberatus (m) Quos secutus Theodoretus Papae suggessit quanta mala pertulerit rogans ut tali causae subveniretur Liber Brev. c. 12. makes mention of it and informs us that Theodoret wrote to Leo suggesting how much he had suffered of Dioscorus and desiring that for the remedy of these evils another Council might be called And (n) Constat ex ep p. 113 116. Garner in Liber p. 83. Garnerius in his observation upon this place directs us to this Epistle to Leo. Mr. Clerkson instead of eight hundred Churches constantly reads eighty without so much as giving notice that it is only his conjecture But be the number how it will we must lay aside all thoughts of Congregational Episcopacy in this Region Another exception against this instance is offered by Mr. Clerkson (o) No evid of Dioc. p. 39. that this was not a Diocese but a Province and that Theodoret was a Metropolitan And for this he quotes the learned Author whose testimonies he pretended to answer although he expresly says that this is not to be
were in Spain 71 Bishops and 7 Metropolitans In a Controversy between the Arch-bishops of Toledo and Valentia it is said that Constantine had divided the Country into Provinces and Dioceses much to the same effect with what has been already produc'd with this agrees the observations of Luitprandus which are taken from the same Books For speaking of the 13th Council of Toledo he saith the number of the Bishops there were 76 of whom 27 subscrib'd by Proxies And in his Chronicon he gives notice of several new Bishopricks erected in Spain in the later end of the seventh Century The Dioceses of Spain must be very large then when so great a Country was divided between 70 or 80 Bishops and especially considering the Province of Narbon was then reckon'd to Spain At the time of the Council of Illiberis Spain seems to have but few Bishops For tho' we find by the Subscriptions that the Bishops had met there from all the Provinces of Spain yet were there in all but 19. And long before this (g) Anno. 254. in St. Cyprians time two Cities in Spain seem'd to belong to one Bishop as may be gather'd from the Inscription of St. Cyprians (h) Ep. 67. Epistle Foelici Presbytero plebibus consistentibus ad Legionem Asturicae Upon which Vasaeus (i) Vasaeus in Chron. Hisp Anno. 256. has this Remark Colligi videtur Legionenses atque Asturicenses eo tempore eidem Episcopo fuisse subjectos licet postea divisi Episcopatus fuerint Our Author (l) Prim. ep p. 40. cites Rabanus Maurus to very little purpose when he makes him to say that there were fewer Bishops at first but in process of time they were Ordain'd not only in Cities but in places where there was no need Which then is the most Primitive way the first or that which comes after After a tedious peregrination our Author (f) Anno. 305. Conc. Illib (m) Prim. ep p. 40. is very kind to let us come nearer home I need not tell you how few Cities there are in Ireland yet Primat Usher tells us out of Nennius that St. Patrick founded there 365 Churches and as many Bishops I hope no reasonable man will blame me as too difficult of belief if I refuse this fable for evidence The authority of Nennius may be question'd without imputation of scepticism and can never pass as long as men have judgment enough to distinguish between History and Legend But I take Nennius his way of writing to be a degree even below Legend But since this fabulous Calendar of Irish Bishops has pass'd without contradiction not that any body ever believ'd it but because it is too gross to be refuted and since it has been and is still urg'd for History in the behalf of Primitive Episcopacy I will endeavour to trace it to its Original and when the ground of the Story is understood it will do the Congregational way but very slender service Arch-Bishop Vsher (n) Antiquit. Eccl. Brit. p. 473. ult Ed. publish'd a Catalogue of old Irish Saints which is divided into three ranks which are distinguish'd one from another as well by time as by merit The first is the best they consisted all of Bishops and their number was 350 they were founders of Churches c. This Order of Saints lasted for four Reigns the last of which was Tuathail but they were not all Irish but Romans and Franks and Britans Now according to Arch bishop Vshers (o) Antiquit. p. 490. Ed. ult Chronology of those Reigns there is above a hundred years from the beginning of St. Patrick's Apostleship to the end of Tuathail only there is one King before him in that Chronological Table which the old Catalogue does not mention That these were the Bishops of St. Patrick's ordination we may find in Jocelin (p) Usher Antiq. p. 492. who says that St. Patrick ordain'd just so many with his own hand and founded 700 Churches To compleat the Irish Calendar Nennius increas'd their number to 365 a singular complement to a lazy Nation to make it holiday for them all the year round Now whether all these liv'd in Ireland or were all ordained by Patrick the Catalogue does not say But it says expresly That they were of several other Nations besides Irish So that this may rather represent the Communion of Patrick and the number of Bishops in Britain and France that kept Easter on the fourteenth of the Moon than his Suffragans of Ireland And the fewness of Bishops in succeeding times and under the second order seems to represent a great change not in the lives of the Bishops for if I mistake not it is the cause that is in the bottom of that Catalogue but in the observances which are there mention'd For whether the Franks by this time had taken another way and the Brittish Churches were under great calamities or Augustin the Monk had introduc'd the Roman customs there are but few Bishops in the second order But supposing these holy Bishops had been all of Ireland yet there is no need of so many Cathedrals for them for they lasted four Reigns which makes up a hundred years And though all the Bishops seats in Ireland had not been above fifty they might easily have afforded 350 Saints in the compass of a hundred years But because there are but sixty years allow'd for St. Patrick's Government in Ireland even in that and the surviving generation this number of Bishops might easily rise from fifty I mention this number because sometimes Ireland has had so many Dioceses or more as we may see in a copy of the Provincial publish'd by (q) Geogr. Sacr. S. Paulo which hath more Seats in it than that of which Cambden speaks After all I am not well satisfi'd but all St. Patrick's Bishops may be a fable and he himself only a Saint of imagination For who can tell but Patricius Arvernensis may have sunk a day lower in the Calendar and made the Irish a Patricius Hibernensis Or the Spanish Patrick (r) Luitpr Advers of Malaga who according to Luitprandus lays claim to that day might appear to the Irish in a Dream as St. George did to our Country-men and become their Protector and at last their Apostle For the Calendar is the ground upon which the Legendaries run divisions and as barren as it seems to be it has produced a world of devout Fables For in old time give a Monk but a name and he would quickly write a life Our Author taking S. Patrick's (s) Prim. Ep. p. 40. 365 fabulous Bishopricks for effective is not content but would increase their number about the twelfth Century Afterwards says he the number of Bishops increased in Ireland so that when Malachias went into Ireland near 600 years after S. Patrick Anno 1150. (t) Bern. vit Malach. Vnus Episcopatus non esset contentus uno Episcopo sed singulae paene Ecclesiae singulos haberent
A DEFENCE OF Diocesan Episcopacy IN ANSWER to a BOOK OF Mr. DAVID CLARKSON Lately Published ENTITULED Primitive Episcopacy By HENRY MAURICE D. D. LONDON Printed by Hannah Clark for Iames Adamson at the Angel and Crown in St. Paul's Church Yard 1691. Imprimatur Carolus Alston R. P. D. Hen. Episc Lond. Ã Sacris Nov. 4. 1690. THE PREFACE AS in many of his Actions the Devil expresses an Emulation of the divine power and greatness and affects to resemble the most high In the production of Schism he tries to counterfeit the Creation For as God produced this world out of nothing his power operating without any matter So the Devil too creates a Schism from colour or the shadow of a pretence or whatever else may be thought to stand in a nearer degree to nothing Now it is the common way to judge of the nature of Schism by the quality of the pretence if this be slight and frivolous they conceive the other cannot be dangerous and must be in a near disposition to admit a Cure But common experience proves this to be a mistake For on the contrary where the occasion of difference seems to be most trifling there we may observe the animosities to be highest And the reason is plain enough for he who is resolved to force a quarrel will lay hold on any pretence and the more frivolous it is the more bitterness and rancour it discovers in that Spirit that lusteth to envy And at the same time it is a good testimony of the integrity and exactness of the party against which the quarrel is affected that those who were resolved to break are forced to take up with so mean Cavils When you have done all you can to remove occasion from those who seek offence the Prediction of our Lord and his Apostles will continue to be accomplished Offences will come and Heresies and Schisms must be and those who are sincere will be made manifest and those who are otherwise will not be hid The Enemy of Christian peace does confirm the Gospel while he endeavours to destroy it by divisions as the Jews fulfilled the Prophets by condemning the Messiah While the Church remained under the conduct of the Apostles in the simplicity of the Christian Faith and exactness of Discipline it might be expected there should be no Dissenters But those golden times for our comfort have left us their complaints that then there were railings evil surmises and perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth even then there were false Apostles deceitful Workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ Then as well as now there were some who separated themselves and forsook the Assemblies of the faithful S. Paul the popular and complying Apostle who became all things to all men had no small struggle with this spirit of Separation Some were such proficients in a free censoriousness as to think of him as though he walked according to the flesh some disparaged his Gifts and despised his bodily presence as weak and his speech contemptible detracting from him doubtless to add to themselves the character of more acceptable and more edifying Teachers Some were puffed up despised his authority and made divisions in the Churches under his care He who healed all manner of diseases who raised the dead and could cast out a Heathen spirit of Divination found it a harder matter to deal with the spirit of separation that operated in the such false Prophets as bore the forms and titles of Christianity The Divine providence permitted many Demoniacks in our Saviour's and the Apostles time when God conferred miraculous abilities to dispossess them but seems to have shortned the chain of evil Spirits in succeeding ages in the same proportion that he lessened the gifts by which they were mastered But the Spirit of separation was still suffered to practice his Arts of deluding and to break the peace of the Church by infinite variety of pretences Sometimes it was too pure for the mixed society of the Church sometimes it was exalted with new Revelations and those who would not receive them were carnal and in short was so diligent in inventing reasons and in snatching occasions of dividing Communion that all the Topicks of Schism seemed to be exhausted But this Spirit it seems will not be stinted nor confine its self within its own ancient Precedents For in these last times it is become nice in taking offence beyond former examples and beyond all measure acute in assigning causes of dissatisfaction The old Church-dividers swallowed many things that our Dissenters strain at as fundamental corruptions and most of the things which they object as the causes of their departure from us were never known before to have made any difference between Christians For who I pray before our Dissenters separated from a Church for having a set Form and Order of Divine Service Who before our times ever took offence at the use of the Prayer that Christ taught his Disciples What sect from the beginning forsook the Assemblies of the faithful for using the sign of the Cross as the common Ensign of the faith of Christ crucified upon the solemn admission of Church-members Who ever divided the Communion of any Church because it had a Bishop Aerius indeed pretended to see no difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter but this was not the reason but only the effect of his separation for having no Bishop of his Communion he was forced to represent them as unnecessary though he durst not condemn their Institution It is strange that these blemishes should so long deform the Church and no Greek or Latin Sectary have the sagacity to discern them that so palpable motives of separation should escape the spirit of Maximilla and the acuteness of Tertullian that the Novatians reputed skillful men in observing faults should be so little perspicacious as not to discover such gross abominations Or that the Donatists should puzzle themselves so long with a story of Cecilian that they could never make out and leave such Topicks as these untouched I cannot think the people of former ages so gross as some of our Virtuosi may represent them From the principles they chose they reasoned as well as we and their Sectaries wanted no wit to find out such objections of Nonconformity as our Dissenters have advanced But as I am apt in some things to be favourable to Antiquity so in this case I cannot but commend the judgment of ancient Schismaticks for not using such frivolous pretences as must unavoidably expose them to the scorn of all discerning men who seeing through such miserable shifts must conclude that no ingenuous mind could use them and nothing but consummate and hardened Hypocrisie persist in them But of all the Pleas preferred by Dissenters against the Church of England none looks more new or more affected than that which concerns Diocesan Episcopacy The old quarrel about the preheminence of Bishops above Presbyters seems in a
he was only a Monk but our Author in his haste was pleas'd to create him a Bishop But if he does too much honour to his person by one mistake he does as much disgrace his seat by another For though Stephanus make Hypselis a Village yet was it not so when Arsenius was Bishop there for this Arsenius the Meletian Bishop so famous in the story of Athanasius (s) Athan. Ap. 2. p. 786. T. 1. styles himself Bishop of the City of Hypselis Socrates speaking of the same person says (t) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socr. l. 1. c. 32. that he subscrib'd the condemnation of Athanasius as Bishop of the City of Hypselis with the same right hand which was pretended to have been cut off by Athanasius and Epiphanius (u) Epiph. Haer. 66. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaking of this place gives it the same title For giving an account of Scythianus the Father of the Manichean doctrin he says that he came to Thebais to a City call'd Hypselis And to conclude Ptolomy (x) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 makes it the Metropolis of the Country call'd from it Hypseliotes (y) Prim. Ep. p. 21. Dracontius being made a Bishop in the territory of Alexandria could have no City for his seat (z) Athan. Ep. ad Drac Our Author pronounces too rashly from this passage for the Territory of Alexandria is the same with its Nomus or Prefecture and in the same Nomus there may be more Cities than one otherwise all Egypt must have but six and thirty Cities for into so many Nomi it was divided But that this Dracontius had a City for his seat our Author might have learnt from Athanasius (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athan. Ep. ad Antioch in a place which is often cited in this chapter It was Hermopolis the lesser which Ptolomy (b) Ptol. l 4. Steph. places in the Alexandrian Region and the only place he mentions there besides Alexandria (c) Prim. Ep. p. 21. Secontaurus was a very small and contemptible Village that Ischyras was made Bishop of containing so few Inhabitants that there was never Church there before And is this then to be a model of Primitive Episcopacy But this place deserves a more particular consideration This Ischyras who pretended to be a Presbyter of Meletius or Colluthus his Ordination accus'd Athanasius of forcing his Church overthrowing his Communion-Table and breaking the Chalice although it was prov'd he never was a Presbyter nor had any Church for there never had been any in his Village For a reward of calumny this Hamlet was erected into a Bishop's seat by Constantius in opposition to the Catholick faith to the rules of the Church and to (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athan. Ap. p. 802. p. 793. ancient tradition and usage of that Country Athanasius (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athan. Ap. 2. p. 802. Socr. l. 1. c. 27. is very particular in his Description of this place which was made the scene of his Accusation and tells us that Mareotis the Region in which this Village was had always belong'd to the Bishop of Alexandria as part of his Diocese that here never had been a Bishop nor so much as a Chorepiscopus before Ischyras but the Villages were distributed to Presbyters some having ten some more of them to make up one Parish In this Region there were fourteen Parish Presbyters and thirteen Deacons as appears by their subscriptions to the Letter they sent to the Synod of Tyre on the behalf of their Bishop This was the state of that place and since our Author was not asham'd of urging this instance to countenance his notion I am content the whole cause should be try'd upon this issue and that it may be judg'd by this instance which Episcopacy was the primitive Diocesan or Congregational Here was a large Region that had many Churches and many more Villages so near Alexandria that they could not want Christians in the earliest times yet we are assur'd by a (f) Athan. Ap. 2. p. 792. competent Judge of this matter that this Region never had a Bishop of its own but was always under the Bishop of Alexandria who at certain times visited it in person But about three hundred years after St. Mark had planted the Church of Alexandria Constantius upon the Instigation of the Arians made one of the least of these Villages a Bishop's seat against all Rule and Prescription as Athanasius contends Judge then which is most ancient or most primitive in this place the Diocesan or the Parish Bishop And since the council of Sardica is obliquely tax'd by Mr. Clerkson as guilty of Innovation upon the account of forbidding Bishops to be made in Villages excepting such where Bishops had been formerly made This passage is sufficient to clear and justifie that Canon against frivolous reflections since it appears from hence that there was too much reason to put a check to the innovations of the Arians who for the encouragement and strengthning of the party took upon them to multiply Bishopricks contrary to the ancient tradition and practice of the Church (g) Prim. Ep. p. 21. That was little better where the (h) Gro. Alex. p. 110. Anon. 345. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 writers of the life of Chrysostom tell us Theophilus of Alexandria setled a Bishop How long shall we have Innovations urg'd upon us for proof of Primitive Episcopacy Theophilus is justly blam'd by all the writers of Chrysostom's life for erecting new Bishopricks against the Canons of the Church in places unseemly and where there had been no Bishop before And such wâ—â— this place which our Author has produc'd for an Episcopal seat it never had any Bishop before Theophilus ordain'd one there A happy place where primitive Episcopacy began about four hundred years after Christ when from the days of St. Mark to that time it had lain under the yoke of Diocesan Usurpation Having travell'd through Egypt not with the usual curiosity to see great Cities and Pyramids but with an humble inquisitiveness to look for Villages and the obscurest places that had been the seats of Bishops let us now sit down and recollect what we have observ'd We have found after great search that two Villages in Lybia where Cities are not very frequent once in distracted times had a Bishop though they had been Parishes belonging to Erythros for near four hundred years after Christ One Village we find had a succession of two Bishops but the circumstances of the place or people are altogether unknown Another Village we observ'd in Lybia that gave name to a people and had a considerable territory Four Cities we mistook for Villages not because they were small but for want of skill One Village wanted nothing of a City but the name and to make amends for this defect a large Country was joyn'd to it One was made a Bishops seat for private ends about the beginning of the
but 500 or as he reckons 900 Dioceses in Africk there were no more Towns or Villages in the whole Country He is pleased to add that he never yet could see any proof any instance of a small Village that had so extended a Territory under one Bishop But did he ever see an instance of a Bishop who had no Diocese but the single Village in which he resided Or has he ever seen the limits of such a Bishoprick described If he have why does he not produce it For one such instance had been worth his whole Chapter about Village Bishops If he have not why does he use so much confidence when he is wholly in the dark There are but very few ancient Dioceses that are delivered down to us with an account of their Circuit But we happen to know the number that was of old in several Countries and from thence can infer in general of the greatness and smallness of the Bishopricks And to give our Author one instance more in a Country he quotes for Village-Bishops In Cyprus in Sozomen's time it was usual to have Bishops in Villages and yet in all that Island at that very time there were but nine Bishops under one Metropolitan as appears from the subscriptions of the Council of Chalcedon (t) Conc. Chalc. Act. 6 15. For in the Copy of subscriptions publish'd by Labbe from the Papers of Sirmond there are six Subscribers from that Island And again the Metropolitan subscribing with several others for his Suffragans that were absent had but three remaining to subscribe for And therefore we must conclude that either the Village-Bishops had a considerable Territory or the City Bishopricks were enormously great At last this Chapter concerning Village-Bishops is brought to a Conclusion and upon the whole matter I conceive two points to be very clear 1. That although there were some Bishops seated in Villages yet it does by no means follow that they were but Pastors to a single Congregation 2. That a great number of places which our Author took to be Villages are prov'd to be Cities before he can find any Bishops to be seated there So that either the skill and the diligence of Mr. Clerkson were not so great as his friends give out who in these matters are very implicit believers or else we must complain of want of ingenuity and fair dealing a fault which the Saints are very easy to forgive when it is committed in pure zeal to their Cause but we Church of England men take for one of the blackest sins CHAP. III. AFter a tedious Journey through Villages and obscure places we are at last come to Cities and may hope now for a nobler Subjuct of our enquiry and observation But to our great disappointment and mortification we are inform'd by our Author (a) Prim. ep p. 45. That far the most part of them viz. those that were very little and those that were not great were for their largness but like our Villages or market Towns They are much to blame who have hitherto admir'd the magnificence of Greek and Roman Cities and pretend to judge of their former greatness by the ruins that remain as we discover the stature of Giants by some of their Bones Whereas these celebrated Cities were far the most of them as we are now told not superior to Putney or Batersey or to say the utmost to Kingston or Colebrook But to make out this Paradox our Author (b) Prim. ep p. 46. enters into a critical dispute concerning the Greek and Hebrew word for City and shews that some have bestow'd the title of City upon those places that others call Villages City says he is not only City but Town because according to one Evangelist (c) Luk. 10.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Saviour saith whatsoever City ye enter According to another (cc) Math. 10.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatsoever City or Village And again in one place (d) Luk. 4.43 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Math. 9.35 he tells the Capernaites he must preach in other Cities In another place (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and upon another occasion our Saviour is said to go about all Cities and Villages preaching And in another place (f) Mark 1.38 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 joyns both the words in one let us go into the chief Villages But these instances are so far from proving that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a Village that some of them do plainly shew the quite contrary for they distinguish between Cities and Villages And the other where Cities are only mention'd and Villages imply'd they are there to be understood not from the notion of the word but from the nature of the thing For instance suppose one were order'd to preach to all the Citizens of Rome and by vertue of this order should preach to the Strangers and Servants there shall therefore a Citizen signifie a stranger or a slave yet from the nature of the thing these might be understood to be included tho' not from the signification of the word and tho' another relation of this order should add the particulars omitted yet the former word Citizens would not have a double sense If one should say he had view'd a certain house and at another time speaking of the same thing should say he had view'd the house and gardens does therefore a house signifie a garden The less principal parts are often omitted in ordinary discourse tho' when men speak with more exactness they are enumerated Our Saviour and his Disciples may have enter'd some times into solitary and alone Houses as well as into Villages and if one of the Evangelists had happen'd to have added this must therefore a Village or a City signifie a simple house (g) Prim. ep p. 46. Bethlem is Luke 2.38 the City of David but no other than a Village John 7.24 Which Epiphanius (h) Epiph. Haer. 51. takes notice of and gives this reason for it That it was reduc'd to small compass and had very few inhabitants And what can be more directly against our Author's purpose than this reason For it is call'd a City with respect to its ancient greatness and a Village in respect of its present mean condition as the same man by an usual civility is stil'd by an office he once bore tho' he be reduc'd to a meaner place yet the one title does by no means signifie or imply the other But this instance of Bethlem will prove yet more prejudicial to the cause of Congregational Episcopacy upon another account For the design of our Author in disparaging Cities by making the title common to Villages is to shew what mean places those were that made up the Dioceses of ancient Bishops whereas this instance overthrows that vain imagination and proves the quite contrary For this place which is call'd City had never any Bishop of its own for above a thousand years after Christ but was part of the Diocese of
offer themselves to Martyrdom what couldst thou do with so many thousands of people when Men and Women every sex every age and condition should offer themselves What fires what swords would be sufficient to destroy them How much must Carthage suffer which then would be decimated by thee Every one would suffer in his Relation or his Friend and there might appear among the sufferers persons of thy own rank and of the highest quality If thou wilt not spare us spare thy self if thou wilt not spare thy self spare Carthage All this must appear very absurd and provoke the derision of the Heathen if this multitude so populously set out might be summed up in one assembly and that no great one Since the Christians had not the convenience of great and capacious Churches at that time and might not be very willing to raise extraordinary Fabricks lest they should expose themselves too much to the observation and envy of their enemies He who is not yet perswaded that there was no more than one Congregation of Christians in Carthage when Tertullian wrote this let him if he thinks fit make himself the Advocate of some Sect in London that makes but one Congregation and plead their cause in this Harangue and then see how well it will fit them Now if the Christians in Carthage were so numerous in the beginning of the third Century that it is incredible they could meet in one Church and such a Church as the condition of those times could bear the forty years that follow must exceedingly increase their numbers since they were the most favourable that the Church met with in the three first ages And in Afric especially where Mr. Dodwell (c) Dissert Cypr. xi ss 48. 52. finds no Persecution from the tenth year of Severus Anno 202 to the first of Decius Anno 250. And in general Origen observes the increase of Christians within this time to be extraordinary and much greater than it had been in former times (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. Cont. Cels p. l. 3. p. 120. because they were not then oppressed by the Emperours as they had been formerly (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the rigours of the Heathen against them had for a long time ceased This long peace tho' it corrupted the manners of the Christians yet it added much to their numbers as Cyprian (e) Disciplinam longa pax corruperat populi aliquando numerosi lamentanda jactura Cypr. de laps p. 123. observes who speaking of the Christians of Carthage before Decius his Persecution extols their numbers while he bewails the ruin of those who yielded to the enemy Yet (f) Prim. ep p. 104. In Cyprians time in all Church administrations and transactions of moment in the Church and Bishoprick of Carthage all the people were to be present Tota fraternitas plebs Universa stantes Laici as he declares every where in his Epistles And how all could be present if they were more than could meet together is not intelligible Alas how difficult is it for some men to understand the plainest things in the World when they have no mind to it It is an incomprehensible figure of speech it seems to say that what is transacted in an Assize is done before the whole County and yet there is scarce any Hall so large as to hold the people of one Hundred much less a whole County and still people will talk after this unintelligible rate But of this Topick we have said more than enough To the same effect is that of Optatus concerning the Election of Caecilian suffragio totius populi And the deductions he makes upon the account of the Donatists in Carthage so as to leave the Catholick Christians but one Congregation are by much too liberal to the Schismaticks For it is known to every body that has but looked into St. Austin that those of the Catholick Communion in that City had many and great Churches for their assemblies in the fourth Century To the four greatest Cities of the Empire our Author (g) Prim. ep p. 106. thinks fit to add Jerusalem altho ' far inferiour in greatness because of the many thousands converted there by the Apostles But I have shewed that of those five thousand Converted the twentieth part cannot in reason be accounted inhabitants of the City What he has said of this matter hath been examined at large In Jerusalem many accessions of Converts are mentioned in the beginning of the Acts which he does account for and all this in a few years before the calling of the Gentiles and the Conversion of St. Paul Nor did the progress of Christianity in Jerusalem stop where St. Luke breaks off his relation of the numerous Conversions but before the destruction of that City and the Jewish Nation we are told by Hegesippus (h) Apud Euseb l. 2. c. 23. that the Scribes made an uproar and cried that the whole City was in danger of becoming Christian Their apprehensions had been very childish if the Christians had not yet increased beyond one Congregation when the Rabbins will have near five hundred Synagogues to have been in Jerusalem at that time About forty years after this Church consisted of no more than Pella a small City could entertain together with its own inhabitants What might happen to this Church a few years before the destruction of Jerusalem is altogether unknown But that not long before it was very flourishing we learn from the Acts and Hegesippus If Persecutions or Apostacies had diminished it a little before that fatal Revolution we are not to take the measures of it from such a calamitous state Nay this story of the transmigration to Pella comes from no certain Authority And Valesius (i) Annot. in Euseb l. 3. c. 5. hints his mistrust of it when he observes that Eusebius quotes no Author and probably took all this matter from Tradition which is no very certain way of conveying any thing to posterity Nor is it unlikely (l) Epiph. Haer. Nazar n. 7. Id. de Pond Mens n. 15. Joseph Scalig. Anim. in Euseb p. 212. that this story should come from the Nazarens who dwelt about Pella and in the Region of Decapolis who to give themselves greater credit might pretend to be the remainder of the Apostolick Church of Jerusalem (m) Prim. ep p. 107. Not long after they setled in the ruins of a part of that desolate City no fit place to entertain multitudes where they had a few houses and a little Church and therefore one would judg they could not be very many The story of these houses and Church and several Synagogues in Mount-Sion that escaped in the first desolation are all Jewish Fables and inconsistent with our Saviours Prophesie of that City that one stone should not be left upon another as Scaliger (n) Animadv in Euseb Chron. has observed and any one may see it who will but read the story in Epiphanius who
ordain and if any of them should have presumed against the rule of the Church in that particular the Church of those times would not only have declared the Ordination null but a prodigy and think that Antichrist was at hand and the world drawing towards an end when such new and unexampled confusions were permitted to arise What sentence shall we think would they have pronounced upon Presbyterian Ordinations when they did not stick (s) Can. Nic. 9 10 16. Can. Ant. 73. to rescind Orders conferred by Bishops against the Canons and established discipline of the Church and in some cases to (t) Nic. Can. 19. re-ordain Aerius who declared there was no difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter is represented by Epiphanius (u) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph. Haer. 74. n. 1. 3. as a prodigy and his opinion madness though there is no mention at all of his Ordinations But the case of the Ordinations of our Dissenters is peculiar and they do forreign Churches great wrong when they concern them in their quarrel For first the Independents have no root of Orders but their Pastors are of Lay Original extraction The Presbyterians have Ordination from Presbyters not only without but in opposition to Bishops against all the established rules of this Church against the Laws of the Country as well as practice of ancient Churches And if upon this account we pronounce them void we do no more than what all the Protestant Churches abroad would do in the like case If some Deacons or Lay-men would take upon them to ordain Pastors in the French Churches for separate Congregations in opposition to the received discipline setled in their general Synods I would appeal to any Minister of those Churches whether he held such an Ordination valid And yet by the principles of those Churches Lay-men may confer orders in some cases as appears (x) Hist Eccles T. 1. l. 2. by the first Ordination in Paris where there was no Presbyter present and by the confession of Beza (y) Hist Eccles T. 1. l. 4. in the Conference of Poissy Nay though a Presbyter deposed by their Synod should take upon him to ordain I still appeal to the Ministers of those Churches whether they would account the Orders valid If we therefore do judge such Ordinations here to be nullities because administred by subordinate Officers against the Laws of the Church in opposition to their superiours and against the practice and discipline of the Primitive Christians we cannot be thought singular in this judgment since all ancient Churches would have done the same thing and all the Protestant Churches in Europe in the like case would follow our example It is in vain to cite Jerom and Chrysostom to lessen the difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter because both may do almost all the same things Yet is Ordination still excepted and accounted the peculiar prerogative of the Bishop And though in some Churches Presbyters did assist the Bishop in ordaining Presbyters which is likewise the practice of our Church yet is there no instance of their ordaining without a Bishop FINIS Books Printed for James Adamson I. VIta Reginaldi Poli Cardinalis ac Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi Acta Disceptationis inter Legatos Angliae Galliae in Concilio Constantiensi de utriusque Gentis Dignitate Praerogativa in Conciliorum Tomis desiderata Libri Rarissimi olim quidem Editi sed paucis noti ac nullis facile obvii Octavo II. Pauli Colomesii Observationes sacrae Editio secunda auctior emendatior accedunt ejusdem Paralipomena de Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis Passio sancti Victoris Massiliensis ab eodem emendata Editio quarta ultima longe auctior emendatior Octavo III. The Travels of Monsieur de Thevenot into the Levant In three parts viz. 1. Into Turky 2. Persia 3. The East-Indies In Folio IV. Mr. Chillingworth's Book called The Religion of Protestants a safe way to Salvation made more generally useful by omitting Personal Contests but inserting whatsoever concerns the common Cause of Protestants or defends the Church of England with an exact Table of Contents and an Addition of some genuine Pieces of Mr. Chillingworth's never before printed viz. against the Infallibility of the Roman Church Transubstantiation Tradition c. And an Account of what moved the Author to turn Papist with his Confutation of the said Motives In Quarto V. A Treatise of the Celibacy of the Clergy wherein its Rise and Progress are Historically considered Quarto VI. A Treatise proving Scripture to be the Rule of Faith writ by Reginald Peacock Bishop of Chichester before the Reformation about the Year 1450. VII Doubts concerning the Roman Infallibility 1. Whether the Church of Rome believe it 2. Whether Jesus Christ or his Apostles ever Recommended it 3. Whether the Primitive Church knew or used that way of deciding Controversies VIII A brief Historical Account of the Behaviour of the Jesuits and their Faction for the first twenty five Years of Queen Elizabeth's Reign with an Epistle of W. Watson a Secular Priest shewing how they were thought of by other Romanists of that time Quarto IX A brief Examination of the present Roman Catholick Faith contained in Pope Pius his new Creed by the Scriptures Ancient Fathers and their own Modern Writers In Quarto