that are grounded upon a mistake for this is rather to be counted a Consultation than a Council and as if they had wanted Authority to determine any thing in that ticklish point of receiving the lapsed into Communion they only agreed this ap Cypr. Ep. 31. That nothing should be changed before the Election of their next Bishop as appears by their Letter to the Clergy of Carthage the Bishops that were here present were such as came to assist and advise the Roman Clergy in a time of so great danger and not to determine any thing authoritatively in Council much less to be presided and govern'd by the Roman Presbyters After this says he p. 35. § 26. there was another Council in Carthage two in Rome and one in Carthage about the same Controversie These he passes over very lightly and the Schism that was the occasion of some of them because it was impossible to charge it upon any Bishop Cyprian behaved himself like a prudent good man and an indulgent Father and yet all this could not prevent Schism and Conventicles Faelicissimus Priest of Carthage makes the first breach whom Mr. B. mistakes for Felicissimus the Deacon § 26. who joyn'd himself afterwards with Novatus against the good Bishop Cyprian Novatus an African Presbyter improved this difference and not content to disturb his own Church went to Rome and kindled Discord and Dissention there Baronius would have this Novatus to be a Bishop because he is said by Cyprian to have ordained Felicissimus a Deacon but it is plain as well out of Cyprian as the Chronicle of Eusebius that he was but Priest Novatus Presbyter Cypriani Romam veniens Ep. 49. c. saith Eusebius and Cyprian after he had shewed what manner oâ— man he was adds that being conscious of such horrid Crimes he must expect non 〈◊〉 Presbyterio excitari tantum sed Communicatione prohiberi and as for the Ordination oâ— Felicissimus Cyprian in the same Epistle shewâ— it to have been done against all Rule and Order because he says that he did it nec pâ—mittente me nec sciente but sua factione ambitione which plainly shews that Novatâ—â— was Cyprian's Presbyter and ought not to have ordained a Deacon unless it were in Conjunction with him or by his Permissionâ— whereas if he had been a Bishop his right to the ordaining of Deacons would have been unquestionable This was the Author of that Schism Mr. B. favours so much throughout his whole History and claims Kindred with them as the Puritans and Nonconformists of those Times yet having known what manner of man he had been he might have been ashamed of such a Progenitor who if Cyprian be to be believed was always restless arrogant proud perfidious a Flatterer and an Incendiary that carried a tempest with him wheresoever he went and was a sworn Enemy to Peace and Settlement he robb'd the Orphans cheated the Widows purloin'd the Treasures of the Church he suffer'd his Father to starve and would not as much as bury him when dead he kick'd his Wife being great with Child and caused sudden Abortion and this was the great Saint and Puritan that could find no Church no Bishop holy enough for his Communion this was the severe Judge that would not admit Repentance and represented God cruel and implacable as himself for it was really his Opinion as I shall shew in due place that there was no pardon for the lapsed no not with God and that Mr. B. mistakes when he affirms this Rigour to extend no farther than to refuse an outward Reconciliation with the Church The next is another Council of Carthage p. 36. under Cyprian where one Victor is condemned for making a Priest Guardian of his Children and intangling a man devoted to the Service of the Altar in the Affairs of this World All that he has to except against this is the Rigor of the Sentence that forbids his name to be mentioned in Prayer for the dead and that there should be no Oblation made for his Rest but this shews that the ancient praying for the dead was intended rather as an honourable Remembrance of them than any act of Charity toward the Soul departed else it is not likely so good and indulgent a man as St. Cyprian was would have been so cruel in his Intentions as to deprive a poor Soul of any Relief he had judg'd necessary for it p. â—5 § â—8 After this he gives a short account of several Councils called upon the subject of Rebaptization of Hereticks and here to do him Right he is just enough in his Remarks The Generality of the World was for rebaptizing Hereticks and considering what manner of men the first Hereticks were it is probable they had Tradition as well as Reason on their side However Mr. B. endeavours fairly to excuse these Differences and speaks of the Bishops with Honour and respect allowing them to be men of eminent Piety and Worth Had he used the same Candour towards others who were no less eminent it would have been no Disparagement to his Judgment or Sincerity but his contrary unequal Dealing is not much for the Reputation of his Charity and Modesty There is a mistake § 29. where he make Eus bius to speak that in his own Person 〈…〉 which he cites not of Dionysius Alexandrinus That he does not condemn the rebaptizing of Hereticks Euseb l. 7 c. 6. which was a Tradition of so great Antiquity The Councils of Antioch that condemn'd Paulus Samosatenus are in effect acquitted by Mr. B. when he acknowledges him that was rejected by those Councils a gross Heretick That infamous meeting of Traditors at Cyrta p. 36. § 37. A meeting of 12 evil men that were Bishops lib. 1. contra Parmen was rather a Conspiracy than a Council and I am sorry Mr. B. has not done that Right to the Catholick Church as to shew who these men were Opatus Milev reproaches his Donatist Adversary with these Progenitors amongst these was Donatus Masculitanus Victor Rusicciadiensis Marinus ab aquis Tibilitanis Donatus Calumensis and the Murtherer Purpurius Limatensis the great Promoters of the Schism of the Donatists and as it were the Apostles of that Sect yet these men tho they were confessed Traditors became of so tender Consciences soon after as to abhor Communion with Cecilianus because he was ordained by Felix whom they suspected of the same Crime that they had pardoned one another The Church is so unconcerned with the crimes of these men that they are in some measure her Vindication they went out from us because they were not of us and they left the Communion of the Church because their crimes made them despair of enjoying it The next Council he mentions c. 2. § 38. is that of Sinuessa one of the most nonsensical pieces of Forgery that ever I saw three hundred Bishops are said to meet together to judge Pope Marcellinus and could find no better
Salvation Eusebius Euseb l. 6. c. 43. who had seen all this and a great deal more relating to the Novatians and in all Probability had read several of their Books understood this to be their Doctrine for Novatus saith he so he calls Novatian a Presbyter of the Roman Church puff'd up with Insolence and Pride against the laps'd as if there remain'd to them no hopes of Salvation although they should perform all things that are requisite to a sincere Conversion became Author of that Sect who arrogantly assume the name of Puritans These Witnesses are so express and full that Socrates takes off nothing of the force of their Testimony for he says only this That they remitted Sinners to God who was only able to forgive them but they never give the least hope that he will do so or that any Salvation is to be attain'd out of the Communion of the Church so that this is to be lookt upon rather a Shift or a put off to divert Envy and Clamour than to give any Comfort or Encouragement to the penitent As to M. B's 2d Observation That the Authors of this Heresie did not deny Pardon to other great Sinners but only to those that laps'd to Idolatry or denying Christ and that it was their Followers long after that extended it to other hainous Crimes Socrates expressly confutes it in the place above cited where speaking of Novatian's Letters to several Churches upon the occasion of his Schism adds That several were offended at the Severity of that Rule that admitted none to Communion who had sinn'd mortally after Baptism The word there indeed is Sinn'd unto Death but that he did not understand that particular one of Apostacy by it appears by what follows in the same Chapter That some took part with Novatian others with Cornelius according to their several Inclinations and Course of Life the looser and more licentious sort favouring the most indulgent Discipline the other of more austere Lives inclining most to the Novatian Severity which implies that all Sins in the Opinion of these Schismaticks were equally irremissable And a little before in the same Chapter Novatian confesses as much where he remits the forgiving not only of this Sin of Apostacy but all Sins in general to God alone which is fuller confirm'd by St. Ambrose l. â— de Poeâ—it c. 1. who charges them with the Stoical Opinion that all Sins are equal Now let us see whether the Council of Eliberis dâ—es favour this Doctrine and whether Mr. B. had any reason to admire how that Council should be received as Orthodox and yet the Novatians be accounted Hereticks p. 39. He notes in his Margin that Abbaspinaeus has learnedly made the best of it so has Mendoza in his large Defence of this Council who vindicates this Canon by great numbers of Instances of the same nature in other Councils He must be a great Stranger to the ancient Discipline of the Church that has not heard of Penitents not being received into full Communion at the hour of Death but this is far enough from being Novatianism for such although they were not receiv'd into the Lord's Supper or within the Congregation were yet upon their Repentance received into the Order of Penitents who though they were not admitted into all the Priviledges and Familiarity of the Communion yet they were received into the Charity and Unity of the Church they had the Benefit of the Churches Prayers and at last were reconciled by Imposition of hands though not by the receiving of the Sacrament which was the more usual way We do not find that this Sect was much more mortified than it's Neighbours unless it were in Phrygia where Socrates saith In the place last cited l. 1. de paenit The People were naturally averse to Pleasures But at Constantinople their Bishop Sisinnius was so gay and luxurious as to give Offence to the Orthodox Party and Saint Ambrose objects the same thing to the whole Sect. Lastly they were no less Enemies to Peace than they were to Truth though Mr. B. commends their Moderation in one Instance for the Catholicks in time of common Persecution frequented their Churches and would have made up the old Breach Socr. l. 2. c. 38. but the Novatians would not comply but kept to their ancient rule of Seperation and refused to unite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doctor Forbes intended a particular History of the Novatians to shew the Nature and Method of Schism it is Pity that great man did not live to perform what he design'd Steph. Keuchelius writ a Book of the Novatian Heresie so he makes it Strasburg 1651. Quarto CHAP. III. Of the Council of Nice and some that followed it THE great Council of Nice gives Title to Mr. B's third Chapter Ch. Hist p. 45. § 1. He cannot deny but the Controversie about which it was called was of great Moment and that it was brought to a happy end but lessens as much as he can the Credit of the Bishops and ascribes very little to their Prudence and Judgment I do not envy Constantine the Reputation of having heal'd the Differences of the Church and there is no doubt but he contributed much to the stilling that Controversie for a while yet it seems he did not judge the Bishops and Councils to be of so little use as Mr. B. would represent but was at great Pains and Expence to bring an extraordinary number of them together and he knew no other way of composing Differences about Religion than by getting a Consultation of the most learned and eminent of those that had the Direction of the Church Some of these indeed had their Grievances to represent and complaints against each other but the Modesty of Constantine put an end to their Quarrels and Disputes burning all their Accusations without reading them It is no wonder if in so great a number assembled from all the Provinces of the Roman World considering their great Dissentions about Religion that there should be some that might retain the Sense of Injuries received and complain of such as had done them wrong but these were but few and the matter soon accommodated Mr. B. adds That Eusebius Nicomed and Arrius were brought but to counterfeit Repentance § 1. which satisfied Constantine though not Athanasius who refusing to receive Arrius into Communion upon Constantine's Request caused much Calamity afterwards This is an oblique Accusation of that great Champion of the Christian Faith and seems to charge him with all the Calamities which that unhappy Controversie brought upon the Church but how justly we will refer to Mr. B's own Words who calls Arrius's Recantation A counterfeit Repentance and Consent to the Nicene Faith If Athanasius saw through this Dissimulation why is he yet blamed for not admitting him into the Church before he had sincerely corrected that Fault for which he was justly cast out Socr. l. 1. c. 27. And it was no hard matter
not stand in need of that Charity Some of them spoke loosely in compliance with a Platonick Notion of the Trinity not fore-seeing what Consequences might be drawn from their Expressions or how narrowly they should come afterwards to be examin'd Certain it is that the Fathers that followed the Nicene Council Athan. ad Afros Hist Tripart l. 2. c. 7. Socr. l. 5. c. 10. Sozom. l. 7. c. 12. took all the Ecclesiastical Writers before their time to be of their Opinion and Sisinnius the Novatian Reader afterwards Bishop is said to have confounded all the Arrian Disputants by putting the matter to this issue Whether they would stand to the Judgment of the Ancient Fathers in the Interpretation of such places of Scripture as were controverted between them Eusebius no Enemy to the Arrians Ep. ad Caesar Hist Tripart l. 2. acknowledges 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be used by some Ecclesiastical Writers long before the Council of Nice the Creed of the Council of Antioch against Paulus Samosatenus has it Vid. Conâ— Antioch and several other things that shew how much the Doctrine of the Church at that time differ'd from that of the Arrians It would be a great Service to the Truth that seems now to labour under some Prejudice if some learned hand would take the Pains to shew which I believe is not impossible how Petavius has betray'd the constant Tradition of this Doctrine to establish it by the Authority of the Church and relieve the Memories of those holy Martyrs that he leaves charg'd with the Suspition of blasphemous Opinions concerning our Saviour Having done with the Nicene Council p. 50. §. 7. and all that related to it Mr. B. thinks it worth his labour to add the Sum of the History of the Audians out of Epiphanius Epiph. Haeres Audian That the World may percieve what Spirit the hereticating Prelates were then of and how some called Hereticks were made such or defamed as such and who they were that did divide the Churches and break their Peace The Author of this Sect was Audius a man severe in his Life and sound in his Principles but one that took great Liberty of Speech and reproved sharply whatsoever he found amiss though it were in the Bishops they in Revenge persecuted him and turn'd him out of the Church He is made Bishop of his own Sect and so exasperated as to abhor all Communion with the Bishops of the Catholick Church If all things were as Epiphanius represents them Audius had very hard Measure but it seems from Epiphanius his own account that there was not wanting just occasion against him for he held that God had Humane Shape a Doctrine if obstinately maintain'd and such bold men are not easily reclaim'd altogether intolerable But I am afraid Epiphanius had this Story from as bad hands as that of the Meletians for this Schism happening in a remote part of the World and being scatter'd afterwards into several Parts it is likely that some Audian might impose upon him l 4. Haeret. â—ah For it looks like the Story of one party and the more likely because Theodoret a man that lived in that Country where they first sprung gives an infamous Character of them That they held some of the Doctrines of the Manichees That God was not the Author of Fire and Darkness that they exercised Usury that they cohabited with Women without Marriage that they were great Hypocrites of a proud Pharisaical Spirit that cried Touch me not for I am holier than thou If Audius were like his Followers I know nothing so like him and them as Labady and his Disciples See Labady's Epist against Reformation This was a man very free in his Reproofs too he spoke sharply against the Vices of the Clergy where he lived though there were no Bishops amongst them and it may be one of his Followers may be able to perswade a learned man in Constantinople that he was banish'd only for his Liberty of Reprehension and out of Envy to his Virtue Page 52. Section 14. we have several shrewd Remarks upon some Canons of the Council of Nice As first That no Patriarchs are named there Secondly That they nullifie the Ordination of scandalous and uncapable men Can. 9.10 Which will justifie Pope Nicholas forbidding any to take the Mass of a fornicating Priest This fornicating Priest of Pope Nicholas is no other than a married one and whatsoever will justifie that Prohibition cannot but condemn Mr. B. who is himself married As for deposing scandalous Ministers there is none but wishes it but not in the manner he seems to insinuate by the Sentence of the people but by their lawful Superiors which these two Canons do suppose 3. That Rural Bishops were then in Vse and allowed by the Council Can. 8. And what can he infer from hence Not surely That every Country Parish had a Bishop but that such Cities as had larger Territories belonging to them had Ecclesiastical Visitors under the City-Bishop which were called Chorepiscopi Can. 57. Conc. Laodic Whether they were Bishops indeed or Priests with a delegated Episcopal Power is not agreed amongst Learned men Sure it is that they had this Obligation common to them with other Presbyters not to do any thing of Moment without the Advice and Approbation of the Bishop Conc. Carthag 4. 4. That no Bishop was to remove from one Church to another yet some other Councils allow this Translation and Gelasius understands it only of such as out of Covetousness or Ambition and by indirect means shall endeavour to translate themselves and the Practice of the Church was never very conformable to this Canon the most eminent Bishops in the World Socr. l. 7. c. 36. having transgres'd it 5. The Arabick Canons the fourth Si pâ—pulo placebit is a Condition of every Bishops Election Newer Translations render this Concurrence of the People Cum consensu Pepuli Populo consersum praevente which implies little more than that the Bishop ought to be such as the People should have nothing material to object against and not that they were to please themselves and to indulge their Fancies in the Election of their Bishops for that did belong to the Clergy Vid. loâ— ap Synod Bâ—â—â—r â—0 and particularly to the Metropolitan as the â—â—â—th Arabick Canon does expressly inform us 6. The fifth Arabick Canon in case of Discord among the People who shall be their Bishop or Priest refers it to the People to consider which is most blameless and no Bishop or Priest must be taken into anothers place if the former was blameless so that if Pastors be wrongfully cast out the People must not forsake them nor receive the obtruded Nothing can be more disingenuous than this Dealing The design of that Canon is that there should be but one Bishop in every City but if the People disagree and one party stand up for one and another for another
Vid. loc they ought to consider the Justice of the Cause and he that is already Bishop ought to continue so if they have nothing material to lay to his Charge and that be not evidently proved so we see plainly that this Disagreement is only between the People who have no Power to depart from the rightful Bishop and factiously to set up another against him but that the People should stand by their Pastor when he is canonically ejected by his Superiours assembled in Synod is very far from being any meaning of this Canon though Mr. B. would force it to that purpose Besides all this though any of these Arabick Canons should directly favour either his Notion of a Church or the cause of Dissenters or disallow the Practice of our Church in any thing they scruple it would give them but very small Relief since there is no Church and much less ours that ever receiv'd them nor were they ever heard of till the last Age. 7. Those ordained by Meletius were to be received into the Ministry where others dyed if by the Suffrage of the People they were judged fit and the Bishop of Alexandria design'd them Whither this tends is not hard to conjecture but it would spoil the Drift if one should observe maliciously First That these Meletians were Episcopally ordain'd Secondly That they were receiv'd into the Ministry upon the Supposal of their Submission to the Canons and Orders of the Church Thirdly That in that same place Sozomen declares in the Name of the Council that it is not lawful for the People to elect whom they please Page 53. l. 1. c. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cir. Ath. Ep. ad Strap The Council of Gangrae he has nothing to object against that of Tyre is manifestly Arrian and abhorr'd by the Catholick Church that of Jerusalem is of the the same Stamp but here Mr. B. goes along with the common Mistake that Arrius was here receiv'd into Communion whereas Athanasius affirms him to have died out of the Communion of the Church And it is plain that comparing Socrates Sozomen and Athanasius Arrius the Author of that Heresie was dead before the Council of Jerusalem and it is observable that Athanasius in his account of that Council every where expresses himself thus Ep. Synod Con. Hiero◠ap Athan. l. de Synod That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were there receiv'd into Communion See Vales his Annot. Ecclesiast in Socrat. Sozom. The next of any Note p. 54. § 21. is the Council of Antioch of near a hundred Bishops of which thirty six were Arrians the most Orthodox and the holy James of Nisybis one yet they depos'd Athanasius and the Arrians it 's like by the Emperour's Favour carry'd it Thus far Mr. B. Many have wonder'd how the major part of this Council being Orthodox Athanasius should be condemn'd by it Mr. B. who does not seem much to favour him because he was not kind to the Nonconformist Meletians insinuates a base complyance of these Orthodox Bishops with the Emperours Inclination a moderate man and always for the most charitable Construction However Pope Julius's Letter is express that he was condemn'd but by thirty six Bishops whether they were Arrians or no he does not say Athanasius reckons ninety Hilary ninety seven Sozomon ninety nine and be they never so many it seems the lesser number carry'd it and if the Emperour made that a Law the Orthodox Dissenters ought to be absolved Certain it is that this Council lay under the Imputation of Arrianisin for when it was objected to Chrysostom that he resum'd his Place after that he had been ejected without the Authority of a Synod to restore him which the Canons of this Council did require his Defence was that this was not a Canon of the Church but of the Arrians Sozomen makes them all Arrians The Faction of Eusebius saith he with several others that favour'd that Opinion in all ninety seven Bishops assembled at Antioch from several places under Colour of consecrating a Church but indeed as the Event prov'd to abrogate the Decrees of the Nicene Council Athanasius rejects them as sworn Enemies to him and the Faith so that there is no likely-hood that the majority was Orthodox since Constantius and Eusebius had the contriving of this Synod and by it's means the Ruine of Athanasius But how came this Opinion of thirty six only being Arrians and yet carrying the Cause Some say that they acted secretly and did not admit the Orthodox to vote with them for so the Condemnation of Athanasius past at Tyre or that they might be impos'd upon by their specious Pretence of disowning Arrius but because there is no account of any Difference between the Arrians and Orthodox in this case no Protestation enter'd nay if any such thing had been it cannot be imagin'd but that Sozomen must have mention'd it where he speaks of the Bishop of Jerusalem absenting himself on purpose lest he should be drawn in a second time to subscribe to the Condemnation of Athanasius we must conclude That these were all of a Party and pack'd together upon that design And perhaps the reading of thirty six in Julius's Epistle may be a mistake of Transcribers it being easie to mistake the Greek figure of 90 for 30 unless we shall judge the contrary to be the true Reading for the two ancient Latin Translations of Dionysius Exiguus and Isidorus Mercator conclude consenserunt subscripserunt 30 Episcopi and the Greek Synodical Epistle wants but one of just thirty Subscriptions Sozomen mentions another Synod at Antioch of just thirty Bishops and confounds the Acts of it with those of this first but whether it be his mistake or the old Translators that might confound the second with the first I am not able to determine and the matter is too confus'd to be extricated here Though the Authority of this Council was not great yet it seems the Canons of it were so wisely suited to the condition of a distracted Church and to the depressing of Schism that they were adopted afterwards by General Councils Mr. B. mentions several that are most of them levell'd against Dissenters and yet they are such as the Dissenters themselves that own any Discipline cannot find fault with and when they are in any Power find necessary to observe The fifth forbids any Priest or Deacons to gather Churches or Assemblies against the Bishop's will and if any did and did not desist upon admonition he was to be deposed and if he went on to be opprest by the exteriour Power as seditious The word opprest it seems is Emphatical and has indeed an old Version to favour it but what may be Oppression in his sense with the Council was Legal Punishment and the Greek word it uses signifies not so much the Penalty as the End for which it was to be inflicted the reduction of Schismaticks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And
Justification and the Example and Miracles of St. Martin But this Instance could become no man worse than Mr. B. who in a Letter to Dr. Hill confesses himself to have been a man of Blood and therefore despairs of the honour of ever being instrumental in the Peace of the Church If St. Martin was so far in the right why does not M. B. imitate him why does he not renounce Communion with those bloody men that instigated the Long Parliament and People to rebell that pressed the King's death and defended it when it was done why does he not renounce these especially since they never gave the least sign of Repentance These were the men that applied themselves to the Maximi of this Nation to persecute not Priscillianists but a great many Worthy Honest Men And I need not call to Mr. B's remembrance who were the sordid Compliers with these Usurpers who compar'd Cromwel to David Disput 1. Ep. Ded. to R. Cromwel and his wise Son to Solomon but this has transported me a little too far and to say truth who can forbear where men have the confidence to suggest those things against others that they stand most notoriously guilty of themselves The next thing worth Reflection is his Remark upon the Council of Capua §. 20. This Council sayes he had more wit than many others and order'd that both Congregations Flavian 's and Evagriu 's being all good Christians should live in loving Communion O that others had been as wise in not believing the Prelates that perswaded the World that it is so pernicious a thing for two Churches and Bishops to be in one City as Peter and Paul are said to be at Rome Whatever Wit this Council had it seems Mr. B. shews little in mistaking it so grossly for the Council of Capua never order'd that the two opposite Bishops and Congregations at Antioch should joyn in loving Communion but only that the Eastern Bishops that had divided themselves upon that occasion some taking part with Flavianus others with Evagrius Conc. Cap. that these should be received into the Communion of the Catholick Church if they were Orthodox in the Faith so that if the Schism at Antioch could not be compos'd the Mischief should not go any further or divide the Catholick Church Ambros Theoph. Ep. 78. as St. Ambrose writes to Theophilus Alex. Cui bonae pacis naufragio Synodus Capuensis tandem obtulerat possum tranquillitatis ut omnibus per totum Orientem daretur Communio Catholicam confitentibus fidem duobus estis tuae sanctitatis Examen impertiretur And now Mr. B's violent Exclamation against those who would perswade the World that it is so pernicious a thing to have two Bishops in the same City might have been spar'd but this is to be pardon'd when we consider that a Gun makes the same noise whether it hit or miss the mark But this Council condemn'd a new Heresie Hereticating was in fashion viz. of one Bishop Bonosus Ch. Hist § 21. p. 72. denying Mary to have continu'd a Virgin to her death Here Mr. B. makes himself pleasant with his own Dream for surely no man with his Eyes open ever saw this Condemnation of Bonosus by the Council of Capua which determines only that the neighbouring Bishops should judge between him Bonosus and his Accusers Ambr. Ep. 79. sed cum hujusmodi fuerit Concilii Capuensis judicium ut finitimi Bonoso atque ejus accusatoribus Judices tribuerentur praecipuè Macedones qui cum Episcopo Thessaloniensi de ejus factis cognoscerent advertimus quod nobis judicandi forma competere non posset Next sayes our Author we have a strange thing § 23. a Heresie raised by one that was no Bishop but the best is it was but a lit-Heresie that of Jovinian But how is it so strange a thing that a Heresie should be raised by one that is no Bishop or did he not turn Heretick because he was not made one Cerinthus Ebion Marcion Valentinus Artemon Arrius c. were they Bishops I suppose it will be a hard matter to find any Bishops to have been the Authors of any Heresie for a long while after Christ and even those that gave names to Heresies were not the first that gave them being as we shall shew more particularly hereafter It is strange sayes Mr. B. that Binnius vouchsafes next § 24. to add out of Socrates when he hereticates him also a Council of the Novatians And why should it be so strange since Binnius sets down a great many more Councils that were Heretical in his opinion But let Mr. B. enjoy his wonder when he is in the fit he must give others leave to wonder a little too at the Transports of a man that pretends so much to moderation that would say as loud as I can speak if all the proud ambitious hereticating part of the Bishops had been of this mind O what Sin Ch. Hist p. 73. § 24. what Scandal and what Shame what Cruelties Confusions and Miseries had the Christian World escap'd And what is all this about The leaving Easter indifferent i. e. Whether it be to be observ'd with the Jews or the Christian Church And yet Mr. B. in this very Paragraph finds fault with silencing of Ministers that would not keep it at the wrong time If all times be indifferent to observe it in what time is wrong and who changes the nature of things indifferent the Bishops or those that make a Conscience of Observing it upon a mistaken time He is very much here in the Commendation of the Novatians as if none had ever observ'd this Moderation but these Schismaticks Did not Irenaeus and many other good Bishops shew the same moderation before Novatian was born But these Hereticks than whom there never was a more proud Pharisaical sort of men must have the Honour of it when it was their necessity that put them upon this Indulgence one towards another and that you may understand how peaceably they behav'd themselves in this present case take this short account of it out of Socrates and Sozomen who if they were not Novatians as most Learned men both Protestants and Papists are of Opinion were too great Favourers of that Sect as all complain of them The Novatians Socr. l. 5. c. 20. Sozom. l. 7. c. 18. in the time of Valens the Emperour did think fit for Reasons unknown to change the Rule for the Observation of Easter which by the Decree of the Council of Nice was become in a manner Universal It may be they would have no Observance common with the Catholick Church and especially at that time when they were all under the same Persecution and the Catholicks desir'd a Reconciliation with them and therefore they flew off as much as they could to avoid such a Conjunction However this Innovation did not so generally obtain among the Eastern Novatians but that the contrary Usage prevail'd almost every
next neighbouring Bishop but the Chorepiscopi may send such as were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for friendly correspondence and concord And the next Canon about the power of Metropolitans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. 9. where it is forbid any Bishop to do any thing of great moment that may concern the whole Province without the concurrence of the Metropolitan does notwithstanding allow that he may govern his own Church and all the Regions under his jurisdiction Another Canon supposes more than one City in a Diocess and therefore Orders That a Bishop shall not Ordain a Presbyter or a Deacon in another City than his own * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Can. 22. or that is not subject to him Concil Agrippin An. 346. Non opinione sed veritate cognovi pro finitimi loci conjuncta Civitate The Council of Colen discovers the Dioceses thereabout to be very large for the Bishops assembled had most of them their Seats at a great distance from Colen Sêrvatius Bishop of Tongres in his Subscription adds something concerning his own knowledg of Euphratas Bishop of Colen and he gives for his reason that he was his next neighbour and yet their Cities are fifty or sixty English miles distant one from the other and the extent of the Diocess of Colen appears from the same Council where not only the people of the City exhibite their complaint against him but of all the Towns of the second Germany Subscriptio Servatii Cumque recitata fuisset Epifiola plebis Agrippinensis sed omnium Castrorum Germaniae secundae Ap. Conc. acta Provincia Germaniae secundae Metropolis Civitas Agrippinens Colozia Libel Provinciar whereof Colen was Metropolis and most of them belonged to that Diocess The Council of Sardica considering what course the Arians took to strengthen their party by increasing the number of Bishops as the instance of Ischyras Presbyter of Mareotes shews who was Ordained Bishop of a Village by the Arian Council of Tyre thought fit to declare against such proceedings as derogating from the dignity of a Bishop and therefore Decree That no Village or inconsiderable City shall have a Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Con. Sard. c. 6. or any place where a Presbyter may suffice and lest you may imagine this an innovation to favour the growing greatness of the Bishops they add immediately That the Bishops of a Province shall Ordain Bishops in those Cities where there were any before which supposes that there were several Cities after the Empire became Christian that had never yet had Bishops Nay they add farther That when a City grows very populous so as to be fit to receive a Bishop it may have one To the same purpose is the Decree of the Council of Laodicea held after that of Sardica and much later than is generally pretended That Bishops ought not to be made in Villages 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Visitatores qui circumtant Isid Merca. or in the Country but Visitors who by the name they bear appear to be Diocesans because they have several Congregations under them which they are to visit and as for such Country Bishops as are already they must take care to act nothing of moment without the advice and privity of the City Bishops Yet all this while Dioceses do multiply against all means used to prevent it as we may perceive by the extraordinary numbers that met in Councils Acciti atque tracti 400 à mplius Episcopi Sul. Sev. l. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph. Synod ap Athan. de Synod exceeding very much the greatest of those that had gone before Extraordinary numbers met at Sirmium and Ariminum at the latter all the Bishops of the West are said to have met for the Emperperors Officers were sent all over Illyricum Italy Africk Spain France to summon the Bishops to meet at Ariminum and all the Bishops are said to come thither from all the Cities of the West And now as we may observe the number of Bishops and Dioceses to increase so we may make some judgment concerning the occasion from that little light that is left in this particular We have but a very obscure account of the erecting of Bishopricks how and when most of them were founded but those instances that are preserved are sufficient to make us comprehend how the numbers came to increase so sensibly after the breaking out of the Arian controversy and in Egypt some time before upon the occasion of the Meletian Schism Epiph. Her 68. Meletius having left the Communion of the Catholick Church formed a separate faction and Ordained Bishops and Presbyters in every Country and in every place through which he passed nor was he content to set up only one Altar against another but to erect several in the same Diocess Nor is there yet any end of dividing Dioceses but these increase in proportion to the divisions of the Church Meletius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Epiph. Haer. 68. and as the Meletian Schism multiplyed Bishops in Egypt the Author of that Sect Ordaining Bishops in every Region and in every place that he passed through several in the same Diocess and as the Arian Controversy made Bishops where there never were any before so it is not to be doubted but the Controversies which followed Athan. Ap. 2. multiplyed Dioceses no less than these But besides this the multiplying of Metropolitans by the Christian Emperors contributed no less to multiply Bishops We have an eminent instance of this in the Province of Cappadocia in the time of Basil the Great The province being divided between two Civil Metropoles the Bishop of Tyana the new Metropolis thought that accordingly all that part of the Country that belongeâ—â—o the Civil jurisdiction of his City became no less subject to him as his Ecclesiastical Province which occasioned great disputes and animosities between the two Metropolitans Basil complains of the Bishops of the second Cappadocia that they presently renounced him in a manner Ep. 259. and when he made any difficulty of Ordaining any Bishop belonging to his Province Anthimus was ready to admit him as it happened in the case of Faustus Therefore to oppose the power of this new Usurping Metropolitan he betakes himself to the ordinary relief of making more Suffragans that by this means he might have some remedy from a Provincial Synod Epist 58. 195. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. de Vit. suâ Ep. 22 23. To this purpose Sasima a small Town belonging to Caesarea is made an Episcopal Seat and Gregory Nazianzen is preferred to it much against his will as a Person that might be of use to him against his Antagonist which he complains of in his Epistles to Basil and in his account of his own life and so sensible was he of Basil's ingaging him in this quarrel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. Or. de Basil that he cannot forbear expressing his resentments even
him which I wonder as much he should believe as that he be satisfied with another Friend's Computation of the Christians in Alexandria in Strabo's time 't is in short this That he though his Voice was none of the lowdest yet he preacht to a Congregation judg'd to be about ten thousand men 2 part of Ch. Hist in one place he has but 6000. but in another he comes up again to 10000. and that they all hear'd him I am afraid that this Friends Calculation exceeds as much as the other falls short for we reckon now that three thousand makes an extraordinary Congregation and it may be possible for a mighty Voice to speak to a thousand more but it may be that the World is degenerated since and that our Lungs are no more in Comparison with those of the times he speaks of than they were compared to those of the Eastern Preachers At last to make sure work he concludes that though Jerusalem might have many Assemblies and yet but one Church p. 81. 82. and after the dispersing of the Apostles but one Bishop yet this is no Precedent This I must needs say is something more than the Independents would adventure to say they minced the matter and told us that Jerusalem being the first born Church and nursed up by the joynt care of all the Apostles might arrive to an extraordinary Stature and look gigantick in Comparison of the rest yet they durst not say it had more than one Congregation and was no Precedent What shall we judge then That the Apostles built the Church of Jerusalem after one model and those of other Cities after another or if they did surely they were both lawful does that overthrow the Church and Discipline of Christ's Institution that is according to the practice of his own Apostles Or can a Conformity to the Discipline of the Mother-church of Jerusalem become in it's self a Sin Wherein shall we be saved if the Imitation of the Apostles do not secure us But Mr. B. says the Office of a Bishop supposes him to have no more than one Congregation since he must hold personal Communion with all in Preaching and Administration of the Sacraments visiting the Sick relieving the Poor and the like but must all these Acts be performed by himself in Person Must he have no Assistance Is nothing to be done within his Congregation without his Presence May not he do all this occasionally as the Apostles and Evangelists did Every Bishop had Presbyters in the first times and if he were so indispensably oblig'd to do all himself what use were they of and yet appoint Elders for the ordinary and constant Performance of the Ministry whom he shall supervise and direct It is very strange that the Bishops should have been so many hundred years in an Office which it was impossible for them to discharge and yet this be never discover'd by themselves or others However the generality of Bishops you say for a long while after the Apostles had but one Congregation to govern what then If all the Believers in and about a City would hardly make a Congregation that is to be ascribed to the Condition of those times and not to be reckon'd essential to the Office all things have their Beginning but are not confin'd to the Measures of their Infancy and if the Beginnings of the Church were but small even the greatest Cities it cannot be a prejudice to the Governour of it if the number of Believers should increase since they are appointed in Clemens Opinion for the Government not only of those that have already Ep. ad Corinth but of such as shall afterwards believe The Practice of the universal Church is evidently on our side for who has ever heard of two Bishops in one City though it were never so great unless in time of Schism and it is strange when the number of Believers did encrease beyond all Possibility of personal Communion that none should ever discern the necessity of dividing into several Churches and learn this Wisdom from the Example of Bees But the Bishops of Rome and Alexandria by their Affectation of Empire became evil Examples to others by their first Corruption of Church Discipline It is strange then that among all the Quarrels of the Bishops and in all their Accusations of one another that this Crime of so high a Nature should never be objected that no good man could never complain of this Corruption that there should never be laid to their Charge this usurping of Authority over whole Cities and multitudes of Congregations But supposing this an Usurpation in the Bishops of Rome and Alexandria how is it credible that all the great Cities in the World should be carryed away with their Example that there should be not one honest Bishop left that understood the nature of his Office or the just bounds of his Diocess Or suppose the Bishops so far prejudiced with self-Interest as to have neglected a Duty that redounded so much to the Diminution of their Power yet were the People who in those times had some part in their Election ignorant of this great Secret would not they right themselves and not have suffer'd their several Congreations to become Chappelries c. Dependencies upon the Bishops Church Would not they have govern'd themselves rather than become as it were a Province to the Bishop or if the People were ignorant of this was there no Priest that was ambitious enough to be Bishop that could inform them of their Right in Expectation that they would be grateful to the Discoverer of their Priviledges And lastly was there no Schismatick learned enough to justifie his setting up of an Altar against an Altar by this Argument that there were more Believers than could hold personal Communion with the Bishops Altar that there was work enough for more Bishops than one and that in populous Cities there ought to be several Churches yet they were all so dull as never to think of this way but on the contrary every one pretended that there ought to be but one Bishop in a City and that himself had the Right and the other was the Usurper In short since the Nature of the Church requires that it should swarm when Believers grew too numerous for one Assembly and send out new Colonies under Independant-officers Is it not very strange that it should so far forget it's Nature as never to have done this and to leave not one poor instance upon whose Authority the Independency of Congregations might relye It is upon this that the present Question turns and not whether Bishops at first had but single Congregations for if there were no more Believers within or belonging to the City they could have no more but after they were multiplyed into several Congregations still they had but one Bishop and Mr. B. does not as much as pretend to any Evidence of History to the contrary unless it be when the Church was divided
Truth is sometimes so miscall'd that no Doctrines are damnable because men have condemned one another for some that are not so Is there no Truth because Contradictions lay claim to it and because that every man honours his mistake under speciousness of that Title for all these confusions of terms the things are the same and a real Heresie is damnable and ought to be reproved and cast out of the Church nothwithstanding that under this pretence the greatest Truths have been discredited Mr. B. gives such an account of those Controversies that exercised the four first General Councils as seems in great measure to excuse those Heresies which were condemn'd by them and to blame their condemnation calling the Bishops in derision Hereticators and Damners because they pronounced Arrius Macedonius Nestorius c. Hereticks men of dangerous Principles and not to be tolerated in the Communion of the Church yet for all this I belive Mr. B's own Rule will absolve them for in his Book called The true and only way of Concord pag. 291. seq he makes a Catalogue of such Errours which men ought to be restrain'd from preaching and propagating now all those Errours condemn'd by the four first General Councils are laid down there not only in the Sense but in the very Terms they were condemn'd in these Doctrines are by him own'd to be dangerous and by no means to be suffered to be preach'd But what if men grow incorrigible and will preach them notwithstanding these Prohibitions and Restraints his Resolution is very moderate that every one should not be ejected or silenced that holdeth or preacheth any one such Errour what then must he be suffer'd to propagate the Infections and to teach these Opinions that are so confessedly dangerous nor that neither for there follows such an Exception in this Toleration as wholly overthrows it for those are to be cast out who consideratis considerandis are found to do more harm than good Now what if the Orthodox Bishops did find that consideratis considerandis those Hereticks they condemned did more hurt than good that they destroy'd with one hand much more than they edified with the other and that the propagating of one of these dangerous Doctrines was not compensated by all the other Truths that they preach'd there is no variety of wholsom food can countervail the Mischiefs of one envenom'd bit and that Physician is not to be trusted that puts in any one dangerous Ingredient though the rest of the Composition were very innocent and this was the Rule they went by the Hereticks in their Opinions were dangerous men they were obstinate in their Opinions industrious in propagating them and were mostly upon the vindication of these controverted Doctrines it was therefore necessary since they did more hurt than good that they should be cast out of the Church Nor is he less displeas'd with the Form than the Matter of this Condemnation and therefore he gives the Bishops the Titles of Hereticating Cursing Damning Bishops but what Antichristian words are these that can move a moderate healing-man to so great Indignation Anathema esto is the usual form of condemnation in Councils which he so frequently calls Cursing and Damning the word is St. Paul's 1 Corintâ— 16.22 If any one love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema-maran-atha and he had borrowed it from the Jews which signifies no more than the separation of any thing from common Use and is used sometimes in a good sometimes in a bad sense In the first he denotes any thing consecrated or devoted to God in the latter any thing which we abhorr and separate our selves from for fear of Pollution so that the addition of it to those Errours which they condemn is dangerous As for Instance If any man shall say that there was a time when Christ was not let him be Anathema imports no more than that we declare our abhorrence of such Doctrines and will have nothing common with those that profess them but Mr. B. I know not out of what Dictionary translates it God damn you and calls it the Religion of the Bishops and their Councils Nay though this did imply so much they may plead the Example of St. Paul even in that case since they do no more than apply his general Sentence which he repeats more than once Gal. 1 9. If any man preach any other Gospel unto you than that ye have received let him be accursed And that you may not think that this other Gospel does directly overthrow that which he had preach'd and teach men to deny and renounce our Saviour Jesus Christ we must understand that all this relates to the Legal Observances which some would introduce into the Churches of Galatia and their compliance with those Teachers is by the same Apostle called a turning away unto another Gospel and the preaching of those men the Perverting of the Gospel and so warm is the same Apostle against those Disturbers of the Church that he wishes that they were even cut off which troubled them chap. 5.12 Yet the Councils did not go so far in their Anathema's they did but declare the Leprosie as the Priest under the Law turn'd out the Diseas'd and gave warning to all People of the danger of the Infection and it was but fit that such should remain without the Camp till the Disease was heal'd lest it should spread and the whole Church become an Abomination and Anathema to him whose Faith it had suffer'd to be corrupted This was the Design of the Bishops and their Councils to this end they directed their Anathema's and if they have not always met with the Success that were to be wish'd we must not judge uncharitably and undervalue or deride their Endeavours And now let us consider their Acts and see what it is that they have done The first Councils about the time of the Observation of Easter he passes over with only mentioning for there is little of them remaining Pope Victor was doubtless to be blam'd for endangering the Peace of the whole Church Euseb l. 5. c. 24. upon so light an occasion Ch. Hist p. 34. Whether Victor did actually excommunicate the Churches of Asia or only threatned and endeavour'd to do it is not very clear from the Relation of Eusebius Valesius is of opinion and it seems the most probable that this proceeded no farther than Letters of Accusation Vales in locum which he sent to most Churches to represent the Asiaticks as unworthy of Communion but the generality of Bishops not approving it and advising to Peace it is likely the business went no farther so Schism was avoided by the peaceable counsel and disposition of the Bishops The Councils of Carthage Labese under Agrippinus and that of Arabia under Origen he does but just mention that of Rome c. 2. p. 35. after the death of Fabian held by the Roman Clergy in the Vacancy he makes some Remarks upon
had all Wheat and no Tares were great Calumniators of Bishops and the honest Clergy that took their part they gave great Jealousie to the Civil Government and spoke Disrespectfully of Princes I will not say that any of our Separatists do resemble them in any of this The succeeding Councils of Ancyra Neocaesarea and two of Alexandria escaped with pretty good Quarter the Acts of some not displeasing him and of others being lost The next is that of Laodicea p. 42. § 49. They were so few that without Contention they made divers good Canons of 32 Bishops not so few but they could have fallen out if they had been so disposed three Canons of this Council he cites in favour of his congregational Church The forty sixth requires That those that are to be baptized and not already baptized as Mr. B. translates should learn the Creed and repeat it to the Bishop or Presbyters on the Friday of the last Week i. e. of the Lent or any other next preceeding the day of solemn Baptism By this saith Mr. B. You may conjecture how large a Bishoprick then was They might be as large as ours for all this For though the Bishop may not hear them all himself upon the same day yet the Presbyters of his Diocess may and the Canon is satisfied with that And Canon 56 forbids the Presbyters to go into the Church before the Bishop but with him and Mr. B's Inference from hence is That every Church had a Bishop though some Chappels afar off had but Presbyters only But I cannot see what Service this Remark does him for 't is confessed that no Bishop had but one Cathedral and that is the Church meant here in the Canon for it is added Nec sedere in Tribunalibus which were put up only in the Episcopal Church but that there were other Parish Churches supplied by Presbyters and those far from the Cathedral is acknowledged by Mr. B. I will not contend with him about their Title whether they were Churches or Chappels it is sufficient to disprove his Notion that they were several Congregations Canon 57. It is order'd that Bishops should not be ordain'd in Villages and Hamlets The Canon does not distinguish between the small and great putting Villages indefinitely but instead of Bishops they were to have Visitors i. e. qui circum eant that should go about and visit them § 49. which Expression imports that there was no small number of them under the same Association and yet all these were under the Bishop of the City upon which they depended and their Visitor was to do nothing without his Knowledge or Privity which Mr. B. translates Conscience Sine Conscientia Ep. nibil faciant But least he should have forgot the thirteenth Canon or taken no notice of it I would recommend it to his consideration it is but short Quod non sit permittendum turbis Electionem eorum facere qui sunt ad sacerdotium provehendi which shews that the Peoples Right of electing Bishops or Ministers is not so general as to have no Exception in Antiquity That great Roman Council of two hundred seventy five Bishops p. 43. p. 53. this is confess'd to be partly false if not all which Mr. B. mentions out of Crabb is of so little Credit as either not to be taken notice of by the following Compilers or else as is most probable is set down elsewhere for Crabb sets them down twice It is uncertain says Mr. B. whether it was before or after the Nicene Council for my part I believe it was neither before nor after but just the same time with the other great Roman Council that follows next to it of 284 Bishops which is said to be held after that ibid. Constantine was baptized by Sylvester A hundred and twenty nine Bishops came to this latter from the City of Rome and not far from it How big were Bishopricks then says Mr. B. But had there been no more Bishops in Italy than were in this Council they would not have exceeded the number of Christians in Alexandria when Strabo described it After this he finds fault with several things in this imaginary Synod first Because men are curs'd for being ignorant of the time of the Moon and then he congratulates the Makers and Improvers of the English Liturgy he should have said the Almanack-makers that they did not live in those severe times For alas one year they mistook the time of Easter and this is one of the things for which two thousand Ministers are silenc'd for not declaring Assent Consent and Approbation of yea and the use of it and so to keep Easter at a wrong time The silenc'd Ministers have little Reason to thank him or any body else that gives this reason of their Separation nor do I believe they would be thought such strict Observers of Times and Festivals and it is strange this should trouble their Consciences who care no more for Easter than they do for Christmas but only that it falls upon a Sunday and if the old observance of Easter in this Country upon the fourteenth day of the Moon had continued we must have expected to have had as many Arguments against the Feast of the Resurrection as we have had against that of the Nativity After this he quarrels with several other Canons of this Council and at last ends in these Exclamations O brave Pope and Clergy O patient Council that subscribed to one man and pretended to no Judgment O humble Constantine that subscribed to all this and said nothing and a Womans Subscription perfecteth all and O credulous Reader that believeth this Why then does he speak so modestly that the Fiction is but uncertain Why does he make Advantage of the number of these imaginary Bishops Why does he find Fault and aggravate and exclame if after all this is but a dream and his Reader a Fool to believe it Before I close this Chapter I must give an account of Mr. B's Favourite Sect the Novatians whom he speaks so favourably of as often as he has occasion to mention them The Original of their Schism he slubbers over p. 35. after this manner And Novatus and Novatian as 't is said being against their taking i. e. the laps'd into Communion at all the Councils excommunicated them all as Schismaticks One would imagine by this account that Novatus and Novatian had been thrust out of the Church and that their Schism was an Effect of their Excommunication but the contrary is notorious Ep. 39. for Cyprian charges Novatus with having first departed from the Vnity of the Church and drawn away several Brethren from the Communion of their Bishop and the Reason of all this was his Consciousness of those horrid Crimes he had committed which he foresaw would unavoidably bring the Censures of the Church upon him as soon as ever the Persecution was over This was the tender Conscience of the Author of the ancient Sect of
the Puritans Euseb l. 6. c. 43. Novatian in like manner withdrew from the Communion of the Church before he was excommunicated and the reason of his being renounced by the Church was because he had first renounced their Communion this Pharisaical Saint could not vouchsafe to enter into the same Church with Sinners and if it were not purged of all Dross and Corruption it must be unworthy of his Communion yet this severe Refiner of all others had least reason to exact this Purity whose Entrance into the Church as well as the Ministry was by extraordinary Dispensation and Indulgence he was baptized in his bed in great danger of Death he neglected to be confirmed by the Bishop he was made Priest against Ecclesiastical Laws that forbid Clinicks to have any share in the Government of the Church by the intercession of the Bishop who promis'd the People who were generally against his Admission that this Act should never be drawn into Precedent Being made Priest he became no great credit to his Friends that promoted him for in time of Persecution being desired to assist some of the Brethren that were in distress he renounc'd his Office and Religion saying that he would be Priest no longer and had an inclination to betake himself to another sort of Philosophy than the Christian this is the man that was so rigid and cruel as not to receive the Repentance of such as had fallen in time of Persecution but insinuating himself into the good opinion of the Confessors such as had endured the fiery Tryal he began to bring them into a dislike of the Church since it did receive those that had abjured that Religion for which the Confessors had so gloriously suffered and equalled them to these holy Martyrs in all the Priviledges of Communion Some of these good men were carried away with his dissimulation to do countenance to the Schism and their Authority brought off several others from the Communion of the Bishop but these at last discovering the Wolf in Sheeps clothing forsook the Impostor and return'd to the Unity of the Church he in the mean time uses all diligence to widen the breach and to make it perpetual by setting up himself for a Bishop which then was thought necessary to the Being of a Church although he had sworn solemnly before never to take the Office upon him To compass his Design he sends some of the subtilest of his Agents to three plain ignorant Bishops to invite them to Rome under pretence that this wretched Schism might be ended by their good Offices These good men suspecting no trick came and overcome with his good Entertainment with too much Wine and Perswasion were forc'd at last to lay their hands on him and consecrate him a Bishop and not thinking himself secure enough yet under this Title he makes every one of his Congregation engage himself by Oath never to forsake him or to return to Cornelius and this in a manner so Solemn that the relation of it is sufficient to strike a horrour on the mind of the Reader for when he administred the Sacrament after Consecration he made every one that received when the Bread was in his hand to swear to him by the Body and Blood of our Saviour that they would never forsake him or return to their former Bishop These were the men these were the means by which the Schism of the Novatians was begun and carried on a Schism no less execrable in the Conduct of it than infamous in its Authors and which is yet worse than all this most blasphemous in its Doctrines Mr. B. is too favourable in his representation of the Novatian Doctrine for in the place above-cited he makes these two Observations in favour of them First that Novatus did not deny the laps'd pardon of Sin with God p. 39. but only Church-Communion Secondly That he did not deny this to other great Sinners repenting but only to those that laps'd to Idolatry or denying Christ but the Novatians long after extended it to other heinous Crimes as upon suppos'd parity of Reason As to the first lib. 4. c. 28. Socrates does endeavour to excuse them by saying that those who had sacrificed to Idols in times of Persecution were to be exhorted to Repentance though not to be admitted to Communion and as to the Pardon of their Sin they were to leave that to God who alone has power to forgive Sins It must be confess'd that Socrates is an Historian of good credit and it seems well acquainted with the History and Doctrine of the Novatians who probably in his time might have grown more moderate in their Opinion concerning Remission of Sin but nothing can be more evident than that the Authours of that Schism denied not only the Communion of the Church but God's Pardon to those who had sinned after Baptism for this all the Writers of that time who must be suppos'd to understand their Tenets do unanimously affirm Dionysius Alexandrinus who lived the same time with Novatian and writ to him to advise him to return and be reconcil'd to the Church and lay down that Honour of a Bishop which he pretended was forc'd upon him this ancient Writer gives us this account of their Doctrine Euseb l. 7. c. 8. Novatian sayes he I justly abhor because he has divided the Church and drawn aside several Brethren into Impiety and Blasphemy and brought in a most wicked Doctrine concerning God representing our most merciful Saviour as cruel and void of pity Besides this be evacuates holy Baptism and overthrows the Faith that was before him And lastly He banishes the Holy Ghost irrevocably from those in whom there is great reason to hope that either it Remains still or may return to them again So far Dionysius Cypr. ad Nov. Haer. S. Cyprian argues in several places upon the same Supposition and looks upon their Severity in not admitting Penitents to Communion as the Effect of a more cruel Doctrine that God would never receive them into favour idem ad Anton. l. 4. ep 2. This was the main Argument against the lapsed He that denies me before men him will I deny before my Father which is in Heaven and consequently they denied them Communion because they believed Christ would finally reject them This the same Father uses great diligence to explain and confutes their Inference from it by the Example of St. Peter who deny'd his Master and yet was received into Grace He does acknowledge indeed frequently that Novatus did exhort those to Repentance he refused to receive but then he urges that nothing can be more impertinent than to press men to repent and yet to take away from them all hopes of Pardon and therefore he notes this as a pernicious Effect of their Doctrine That it frighted men out of their Religion and made them turn Heathen upon despair of Mercy and cast away all thoughts of Repentance since it would not avail them to
where in a short time Sabbatius a Convert Jew ordain'd Priest by Marcianus the Novatian Bishop of C. P. began to favour the Jewish time of observing Easter established in the Council of Pazus and for this and the pretence of greater Purity began to separate from the Church He is call'd upon to shew the Reasons of his Separation and declares his greatest Grievance is about Easter The Novatian Bishops perceiving this was but a Pretence and that his real Disease was the desire of being a Bishop were resolv'd to take away this Excuse and leave it indifferent for every one to observe Easter when he thought fit And what was the Issue He seem'd to be satisfied for some time till he found he had some Followers and an Opportunity to set up a Congregation for himself and then notwithstanding his Compliance turn'd Schismatick so little good does Concession do with men that are set upon Separation So that though you should take away all Rule and all Order yet there is a sort of men that a Wantonness of Spirit has made restless that would never be satisfied the Disease is fed by Concession and then it is most violent when they know not what they would have A great Council says our Historian was call'd at Hippo p. 73. § 25. and Augustin yet a Presbyter was there Good men will do well and most of the African Councils were the best in all the World And why would you judge Because their Bishopricks were but like our Parishes and they strove not who should be the Greatest or domineer I am content he should like any Councils or Bishops but I am afraid this good Opinion will not continue long for the Reason of his good Liking is a great Mistake that they were Bishops according to his own Model Whose Dioceses were no bigger than our Parishes But surely this cannot be for all Africa from Tangier to Aegypt had but four hundred sixty six Bishopricks Notitia Affr. which were thus divided according to the Provinces 1. Proconsularis 54. 2. Numidia 125. 3. Provincia Bizac 107. Sees without Bishops 006. 4. Maurit Caesar 120. without Bishops 006. 5. Maurit Sitifens 044. 6. Tripolis 005. 7. Sardinia 008. There is some Difference between the Sum in gross and the Particulars which will not agree though you should deduct the twelve vacant Sees for then the Particulars will not come up to the Sum of four hundred sixty six And now judge whether the African Bishopricks were not bigger than our Parishes by comparing the vast Extent of Africk with our England which is not near so big as some of those Provinces and yet the Bishopricks of Africk were multiply'd thus occasionally as we shall shew hereafter and cannot prescribe to other Countreys Nor could the Churches of Africk notwithstanding the Multitude of their Bishops and Narrowness of their Dioceses keep themselves in Peace any more than their Neighbours but were divided as soon as any and their Divisions were as long and irremediable as their Neighbours And indeed Schism came over from hence into the other parts of the World with Novatus and who taught the Roman Presbyters first to set up against their Bishops In short there was no where a greater Breach nor more extravagant Schismaticks who oppos'd themselves not only against the Discipline of the Church but the Civil Government too Now lest this may put our Author out of Conceit with the Bishops and Councils of Africk as well as the rest I must put him in mind of his own Remark That good men will do well whether they be Bishops or not whether they have large or small Dioceses and a very good man in a very great Diocess will do an extraordinary deal of good A Donatist Council at Bagai S 29. p. 73. had three hundred and ten Bishops who condemn'd Maximianus and upon this Council Mr. B. makes two observations 1. How great a number the Donatists were and upon what Pretence as over-voting them they call'd others Hereticks and Schismaticks Very unjustly no doubt for they were Hereticks and Schismaticks themselves still notwithstanding their Increase Multitude may render a Sect formidable but it is but a poor Argument of Right 2. How small Bishopricks then were the number tells us not so small as our Parishes though the Donatists did use all means in the World to multiply them and to strengthen their Party The Council of Turin order'd p. 74. § 30. That Communion should not be deny'd Felix one of Ithacius his Party and not the contrary according as the false Reading of Binnius Vid. Conc. Sirm. So Sirmond in loc Male enim in vulgatis qui Felici non communicant abest enim in Manuscriptis Negatio Another Carthage Council § 31. call'd the second which Binnius saith was the last is plac'd next and so our Author takes it This Mistake Binnius takes from Baronius Conc. T. 2. p. 1158. as Labbe shews Erravit post Baronium Binnius verè enim hoc Concilium celebratum fuit Anno 390. Sub Genethlio decessore Aurelii cujus nomen necnon Alypii exulat à MS. optimae notae The Canons that Mr. B. instances from hence in favour of his Congregational Church will not comply with his Design ibid. That the Bishops only had the Power of making Crisme and all the Priests were to receive it from him that the Bishop alone was to reconcile Penitents publickly this may consist with a great many Congregations and the Canon Can. 3. Reconciliare quemquam in publicâ Missâ Presbytero non licere may probably extend only to the Cathedral Service and that the Priest should not do this in the Presence of the Bishops as he is forbid several other Acts which he is supposed to do apart and in the Bishops Absence but with the Supposition of his Consent Can. 4. The fourth Canon expresses the Absolution of Penitents by Reconciliare sacris Altaribus the plural tho it must be confess'd it is improper for there was but one principal Altar that was properly so call'd though several Communion-Tables depending upon the great Altar there might be in the same Diocess unless the reconciling to one Church be reckon'd a Reconciling to all other parts of the Catholick Church The fifth Canon is disingeniously cited by Mr. B. thus Can. 5. When Christians were multiply'd they that desir'd a Bishop in a place that had none before might have one but he leaves out the Consent of the Bishop out of whose Diocess that other is taken which is made absolutely necessary Dioeceses quae nunquam Episcopos habucrunt non habeant illa Dioecesis quae aliquando habuit habeat proprium si accedente tempore crescente fide Dei populus multiplicatus desideraverit proprium habere rectorem ejus videlicet voluntate in cujus potestate est Dioecesis constituta habeat Episcopum Which is confirm'd by the third Council of Carthage where it is added
please But the best of it is that if God permitted a Bishop of so eminent a Church as that of Antioch to fall into Heresie he on the other hand rais'd up Godly and Orthodox Bishops to oppose him and to vindicate not only the Christian Religion but the Order of Episcopacy also which he had dishonour'd For the Neighbour Bishops assembled in the Second Council of Antioch Condemn'd and Depos'd him Dionysius of Alexandria being now very old and unfit for Travel could not be there but writ to him says Theodoret Theod. Haer. Fab. l. 1. Eus l. 7. c. 30. Eusebius cites the Epistle of this Synod that expresly denys that saying that Dionysius of Alexandria had writ to the Council but had not vouchsafed so much as to salute Paulus From which passage Valesius concludes that the Letter of Dionysius to that Heretick Bishop in the Bibliotheca Patrum is forg'd Vales Annot in Eus l. 7. c. 30. notwithstanding Baronius receives it for genuine Now because Mr. B. promises to shew not only Who have been the cause of Heresies c. but also How It will not be impertinent to shew briefly how this Bishop also fell into Heresie It was in short by the way of Comprehension for Zenobia Queen of Palmyrene after her Husbands death being very considerable in the East and being Proselyted to the Jewish Religion for which reason likely Lâ—nginus her Favourite speaks so favourably of Moses this Paul Bishop of Antioch thought that by reducing Christ to be a meer man he might reconcile both Religious and take away the Partition-wall that divided the Jews and Christians nothing being so great an offence to the Jews as that Christ was own'd by his Disciples to be God And thus compliance and vain projects of Comprehension made this man a Heretick But Philastrius is not to be regarded Phil. Haer. 17. Ap. Biblieth Patr. who charges this Bishop with being turn'd Jew and teaching Circumcision and bringing over Zenobia to Judaism Before this time there is another Bishop reckon'd by some Collectors of Heresies as the Author of one Nepos Nepos an Egyptian Bishop who taught out of the Revelation of St. John as he pretended Euseb Hist l. 7. Theod. Haer. Fab. l. 3. that the Saints should live a Thousand years of pleasure here on Earth If this be a Heresie it was much older than this Nepos Just Mart. Dial. cum Tryph. p. 307. Ed. Par. For it was so ancient and so general an opinion that Justin Martyr did not believe they were perfectly Christians that did not believe it For all that were Orthodox did look for the Restauration of Jerusalem and that Christ should reign there gloriously with his Saints a thousand years which he endeavours to prove out of the Revelations and the Book of the Prophet Isaiah Iren. l. 5. c. 33 34 35. Ireneus endeavours to prove the same thing at large and derives the Doctrine from Papias and by him from St. John the Beloved Apostle So that if Nepos prove Heretick for this he is like to find very good company but Author of it he cannot be It is some favour to him that Epiphanius and Philastrius pass him by for I do not remember that either of them mention him However you will say that though he was not the first that taught this Doctrine yet he was the first that divided the Church about it And that is a heavy fault that Mr. B. charges upon the Bishops that they divide the Church about unnecessary nice Speculations But this Nepos is as far if not farther from the Imputation of Schism than that of Heresie For Dionyfius charges him not with Schism but only with writing a book for the Millenary opinion which others afterwards laid a great stress upon and by that means several Churches were divided and some entirely carried away and all this after Nepos his death They might have done the like with Justin Martyr or Irenaeus if they had pleas'd and made the same stir and yet those Fathers not at all concern'd in the Schism this is manifestly the present case there is no account of any Schism made about this point till after this Nepos his death And Dionysius who writes against him thinks himself oblig'd to make his Apology before hand saying that he honour'd the man for many great good qualities and was sorry that he was forc'd to write against his Brother in the defence of Truth And as to the matter of fact it was thus He found in the Region of Arsinoe several Churches distracted about this matter so that they began to make Schisms in several places The Bishops surely must be concern'd where there is any Schism or Heresie they must have a hand in it But here by good fortune no such thing appears Euseb l. 7 here is mention only of Presbyters and Teachers whom this Bishop assembled Presbyters of the Villages and these after some Dispute he at last perswaded to Peace But what became of the Bishop of that Region will you say It may be he was dead and that this Nepos was the man unless one may imagine the Diocess of Alexandria to extend so far for the Country adjoyning to the Lake Mareotes and call'd by that name was part of the Alexandrian Diocess as we have shew'd before out of Athanasius and the Arsinoeites was the next Region to that But however this be our point is sufficiently clear'd that this Nepos was neither Heretick nor Schismatick Nor does it appear that any Bishop was concern'd in that difference save only Dionysius of Alexandria who by his Prudence and Authority did compose it To conclude For the first three hundred years after Christ there is but one Bishop found who was the Author or rather the Reviver of a Heresie and yet Mr. B. looks upon it as a strange thing that there should be a Heresie rais'd by one that was No Bishop The following Ages were not so happy but as Christians generally degenerated so did the Clergy too but yet not so much as our Author would make it appear The beginning of the fourth Century was very unhappy to the Church not only by reason of a most violent Persecution rais'd against it from without but also of Heresies and Schisms from within Meletius an Egyptian Bishop Meletius and the first of that Order that began a Schism forsook the Communion of the Church because they that fell from the Faith under Persecution were receiv'd into it Epiph. as Epiphanius tells his story though others of better Authority give other Reasons that this Bishop had himself deny'd the Faith and being condemn'd by a Synod of Bishops he set up a Schism But of this we have said enough elsewhere Athan. Ap. 2. About the same time started up the Schism of the Donatists Donatus named so from one of their Bishops Aug. de Haeâ—es that lived a good while after the rise of that Faction this was carried
the deprivation of Communion is a sorer punishment to those who have known the value of the Ordinances of Christ and have tasted the grace of God in them than any other that can be inflicted on mens bodies or estates And here can be no other relief but by Separation and Schism 2. When a Pastor is turned Heretick and has seduc'd his Congregation into a good opinion of his Doctrine they have no relief because they have no judge to examine the Doctrine and to remove the evil from among them 3. If a Congregation shall conspire to be wicked turn Libertines and Antinomians who shall censure them for it the Magistrate may not be a Christian or may not take notice of it But the inconveniences of this way may be farther observ'd by looking into the several forms whereby this Congregational Supremacy either is or may be Administred 1. Suppose the Pastor invested with this whole power without any appeal to be made from his sentence what temptation would this independence be to abuse that unaccountable power since no superior Court could revise his Acts And if this man sâ—â—uld prove imprudent and wilful in the Administration of so great a power what peace could be expected And yet we must expect this power should fall often into the evil hands and it must be a wretched constitution that should not make some provision against it But in the Congregational way the first thing is extremity But I will not urge this because the Independents will not allow the Pastor any such power and therefore let us consider this way as managed by the Pastor and a select Presbytery the inconveniences are rather greater For 1. In many Congregations the Church power must come into the hands of such as have little capacity or experience and by that means would become contemptible 2. Suppose they should not all agree upon a Sentence of Excommunication must the majority conclude it and against the opinion of the Minister This would be something hard for him to pronounced sentence against his own judgment and condemn a person he believes to be innocent if he does refuse then he resists the Authority of the Church and that must needs produce a Rupture 3. They of the select Presbytery must be supposed to have a mixture with the rest by way of dealing and commerce and this begetting differences and feuds between them it cannot be â—voided but that Church censures will be abused to revenge private Animosities and those upon whom they are to be executed will be more loth to submit when they recollect that they proceed from persons they had disoblig'd and instead of reflecting upon their guilt they will be apt to ascribe all to private grudge upon which reason in common Law he that is supposed to be judged by his neighbours has the liberty to reject any with whom he has had any falling out 4. This would probably degenerate into a civil Tyranny when a poor man should refuse to comply with some of his Ecclesiastical Judges to his own disadvantage they would find some advantage against him and by disgracing him in the Congregation ruine him consequently in his livelyhood 5. The exercising of such censures within so little compass as that of a Congregation by the members of it one on the other must in a little while ingage the whole body in parties and factions without any hopes of uniting the sufferers will be discontented and when they grow numerous will not conceal their resentments but bend them to the disturbance of that Congregational unity But lastly if we suppose the whole Congregation concerned to declare it self in every act of Excommunication few of the inconveniences before mentioned will be removed and there will be others yet greater For 1. It cannot well be avoided but upon many causes the Congregation will be divided and when it happens to be upon the subject of removing from or restoring to Church communion such differences do lead them into Schism for since there is no judge between them every party will likely stand by its own opinion and will hardly submit their judgments to the majority of the other side that out-votes them but by a few voices Those that were fierce for turning a Member out of Church fellowship because they are offended with him will likelier quit the Congregation and set up for themselves than endure the Communion of that which they cryed out upon as so great a scandal 2. The wisest and best men who are generally the fewest will be of no use for they will be overborn with number 3. It will make a constant trade of Faction and making of parties To conclude therefore If the Church hath been afflicted with Schisms and Heresies under Diocesan Bishops we have seen that it has suffered the same things under other sorts of Government but that which Mr. B. offers as a remedy of disorders has been the least able to preserve the Church from divisions nor were those infinite breaches accidental only as the best Government in the world cannot prevent all inconveniences but were the natural fruit of that constitution which would not be able to preserve peace between the Churches of one City how much less between the numerous Congregations of a Kingdom and is such a form as destroyes it self and pulls even particular Congregation in pieces by unavoidable feuds and factions first and then by formal Schism and Separation CHAP. II. Of the Rise and Progress of Diocesan Episcopacy Mr. Baxter in a Book published since his Church History Treatise of Episc Part 1. c. 3. gives us such an account of the Original of Bishops and Diocesans as would make one suspect he had had some late Revelation for he speaks so particularly of such things which no body else ever heard of and shews all the first causes of the rise of Episcopacy after so new a manner that it must be either new Revelation or some new Authors found out But because nothing of these appears in the Margin I am apt to believe it was rather a Dream For he tells us That in the beginning there were but few Scholars and Philosophers converted who were able to Preach and these men of parts Overtop'd the rest and where such as these were found they were highlier esteemed than the rest and these in some time became Bishops being made first Arbitratours and then as more learned Judges of true and false Doctrine nay being wiser than all the rest it was fit he should have a negative voice and Fourthly they understood their own value well enough and that made them proud and desire preheminence And Lastly one Bishop was set over some Churches for want of more able men and he having got the start of the others that came after made them truckle to him Mr. Blondel had a quite contrary dream and for my part I do not know a better way of Answering one Dream but with another he Dream'd I say for he had
said enough before Some time after when they quarrelled among themselves they called a Council of three hundred and ten Bagatense against Maximianus The Catholicks observing what advantage this reputation of having a great number of Bishops gave their adversaries Conc. Carth. 2. c. 5. Codex integ can Eccles Afr. c. 53.98 thought it necessary to make use of the same course themselves and to make as many Bishops as they could therefore they order that where part of a large Diocess should be willing to have a Bishop of its own if the Bishop under whom they were should consent a new Bishoprick might be erected But it was commonly at the cost of the Schismaticks that they multiplyed Dioceses for where there were two Bishops in a Diocess the one a Catholick and the other a Donatist and the Donatists would return to the unity of the Church Codex Can. 118. the Diocess was to be equally divided between them and that with so much exactness that if the number of the Towns happened to be odd the odd Town was adjudged who it should belong to nor was this all but where the Donatists had driven out or perverted all the Catholicks there they set up a Bishop as soon as ever they had any party and sometimes in the same Donatist Diocess there were three or four Catholick Bishops This is made out so clearly in the conference at Carthage that I need only cite some passages out of it and leave them to the Reader without farther inference or application Petilianus Episcopus dixit sapientissimè ac praescie ommá pravidisti vir nobilis Collatlo Carthag Cogn Primae gesta 65. nam in Plebe mea i.e. in Civitate Constantmensi adversarium habeo Fortunatum in medio autem Dioecesis meae nunc institutum habeo imo ipsi habent Delphinum pervidet jam hinc prastantiatua duos in unius plebe fuisse imaginarie constitutos ut numerum augeant tamen plebium numerus non sit qui sit illarum scilicet Personarum hoc Argumenti est maximi ut videantur nos hoc genere superare si duâ— contra unum constituti sunt vel tres Nam etÃam in plebe praesentis sanctissimi Collegae ac fratris mei Adeodati i. e. in Civitate Milevitana ita commissa res est ut unum ibidem habeat Adversarium alterum in Tuncensi Civitate qui ad hujus scilicet plebem antiquitus pertinet ante biennium esse videtur constitutus Tertius vero sit in loco qui dicitur Ceramussa Ergo cum unus sit Civitatis Milevitanae Episcopus à partibus nostris tres videntur ab his constituti fuisse ut illorum numerus augeretur aut fortasse excederet numerum veritatis Requirendum est igitur quando auctus est illorum numerus quam Originem haâ—â—eâ—it utrumhoc novitas fecerit an dederit Antiquitas utrum ut ita dixerim contra vetustatem canam vitium hâ—câ— fuerit novitatis Petilianus Donatist Bishop of Constantina said Noble Sir you have wisely foreseen all things for in my Diocess i. e. in the City of Constantina I have Fortunatus an opposite Bishop and in the middle of my Diocess I have nay they have Delphinus another Bishop Your excellence may perceive by this how they have set up two imaginary Bishops in the Diocess of one to increase their number and yet the number of Dioceses will not be so great as that of their Bishops and this is a great argument that they would seem to out do us in this kind if they do but set up two or three against ones for in the Diocess of my worthy câ—llegue Adeodatâ—s who is here pesent i. e. in the City of Milevis the matter is so ordered that he has one Anti Bishop there in the City another in the City of Tunca which has belonged of old to his Diocess and it is not above two years since he is set up there a third is in a place called Ceramussa Therefore whereas there is but one Bishop of Milâ—â—is of our party they have three that they may increase their number and perhaps exceed the number of the truth or of the True Church we ought therefore to ask them when their number increased thus what was the Original of it Whether this be an innovation or Reverend Antiquity or rather whether this novelty has not been irregularly introduced against reverend Antiquity And what Answer is there to all this No other than that it was impertinent it was nothing to the business of the conference which was to dispute the cause of the Church whether it were to be found among the Catholicks or only amongst the Donatists Fortunatianus Episcopus Ecclesia Catholica dixit Multiloquio Ecclesia causam agi non debere perspicit mecum tua dignationis sensus Cognitorum optime Fortunatianus Bishop of the Catholick Church said Best of Jndges you perceive as well as I that the cause of the Church ought not to be maintained by much impertinent talk Therefore the Catholicks could not deny the matter of fact but despised the argument and perhaps looked upon it as a credit to their cause to be so watchful and industrious in it and since Schism would needs divide the Church they thought it allowable to return them the same measure and devide Schism too by parcelling their Dioceses between several Catholick Bishops And that we may not think this instance singulaâ— Col. Carth. Cogn 1.117 I will proceed to cite some more passages to the same effect Petilianus Episcopâ—s dixit in una Plebâ— Janâ—â—riâ— Collegae nostuâ— praeferâ—is in una dicâ—cosi quâ—â—icor sunt constuenti contra ipsâ—â—n 〈◊〉 numerâ—â— stilicet augeretur Petilianus said In the single Diocess of my Brother Januarius there are no less than four Bishops set up against him that their number may be increased To this and some other little reffections the Answer of Marcellinus the President was Hac ad praesentem non pertinent actionem These things are not to the purpose And these checks were the cause why we have not many more particulars of the divisions of Dioceses in Africk yet for all this some could not forbear making their complaints when it came to their turn to speak Verissimus Episcopus dixit Agnosco illum Coll. Carth. Cog. 1.121 quatuor sunt in plebe mea Datianus Aspidius Fortunatus Octavianâ—s Verissimus said I know him for before the Conference the subscriptions were to be examined and the Donatist Bishops were to confront the Catholicks i. e. the Bishop of each City his opposite Bishop there there are four Bishops in my Diocess and names them Now that we may not think this way was taken up by the Catholicks only to increase their party In ipsa antem Ecclesia Mustitana apparuit ipsos Episcopâ—â— alium antiqua Cachedrae addidisse bot in allis locis se fuisse poâ—â—â—â— doclaratâ—m 25. Breâ— Col. they when it comes to their
A VINDICATION OF THE Primitive Church AND DIOCESAN EPISCOPACY In ANSWER to Mr. Baxter's Church History OF BISHOPS And their COUNCILS Abridged As also to some part of his Treatise of EPISCOPACY Ecclesiae salus in summi Sacerdotis dignitate pendet cui si non exors quaedam ab omnibus eminens detur potestas tot in Ecclesiis efficerentur schismata quot Sacerdotes Hieron adv Lucif Ab illo Deo Patre ab hac Ecclesia Matre nullius me Hominis Crimina nullius Calumnia separabunt Augustin Coll. Carth. 3. Ego illam Ecclesiam defendo hanc assero qualicunque voce in qua quisquid fuero illa Ecclesia est Aug. ibid. LONDON Printed for Moses Pitt at the Angel in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1682. PREFACE IT is a very just Censure that Polybius pass'd upon Phylarchus one that wrote the History of the Achaian War That he did not understand the principal Business of an Historian because he conceal'd all the vertuous and generous Actions of one Side Polyb. l. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and insisted only upon such as might render them odious to the Reader the Rigor and Seveverity of Execution which the Achaians were sometimes obliged to use are set out with all the miserable Circumstances that can be conceived on such Occasions but not a word of their Clemency and Humanity which they commonly us'd towards their Enemies when they fell into their Power As if says that Noble Writer It were the Office of an Historian to record only the Worst of Humane Actions to reckon up the Faults and Miscarriages of Men and not their great and commendable Actions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as if the Examples of Sin might be of greater Benefit and Edification to the Reader than those of Goodness and Vertue Mr. Baxter's History of Bishops and their Councils being writ after the same Model falls unavoidably under the same Reproof unless perhaps the Disingenuity that is condemn'd in a Heathen may become a Christian Writer and what the one must not do to his Enemy the other may offer to his Brethren and Fathers to the great Lights and Ornaments of the Christian Church Now this History of Bishops is nothing else but an Account of all the Faults that Bishops have committed in the several Ages of the Church without any mention of their good Actions of the piety and severity of their lives of their Zeal for the Faith of their Charity towards the Poor of their Contempt of the World of their Labor and Diligence in their Office These were things he thought perhaps not to belong to a Church-Historian to relate These were improper unedifying Examples at least wise they were not very agreeable to the Design of our Author which was to disgrace Diocesan Episcopacy This Weeding of Church-History for the Faults of Bishops is not to write or abridge History but to draw up an Indictment and because many things are falsly charg'd it is no better than a Libell But we need not look for a severer Censure of this Church-History than that we have in Mr. Baxter's own Critical Preface to it For as his Church History is design'd to disgrace Diocesan Bishops and their Councils so the Preface looks as it were intended to disgrace this History For the Qualifications of a Credible Historian which he reckons up there appear so little in our Abridger and the Character of Incredible Relators so nearly resemble him that one might suspect a Trick in it and that some of Tom Coryat's Ensurers had given their Testimony to the Work 1. It is supposed says Mr. B. that a Man should believe his Sences Surely our Author was asleep when he wrote this and thought he saw every thing he relates But how shall we believe our Sences since we are told in this History that they were not Presbyterians but Episcopal Men that began the late War against the King 2. The History of the Gospel is certainly credible This would mightily ensure the Credit of this Abridgement if all were Gospel that Mr. Baxter writes 3. Prophets who had Divine Inspiration and Vision had that Evidence that gave them a Certainty tho not to others It may be Mr. B. has heard a Bene scripsisti de me but because he confesses this to be no Evidence to others we may suspend our Faith and upon Examniation believe as much as we shall find reason to do 4. When History delivers a matter of Fact and Sence by the common Consent of all those that knew it tho' of contrary Minds Disposition and Interest The Superiority of Bishops over Presbyters is acknowledg'd by Catholicks and Schismaticks and Hereticks Men of very contrary Minds Disposition and Interest and yet this Church History would have us believe the contrary Here we are in a Streight For whether shall we belive in this Case the Preface or the Book 5. When the History of any Person or Action is prov'd by continued and visible Effects as that William of Normandy Conquer'd England while there are so many Effects of that Conquest in our Laws and Customs And what may be prov'd by more visible and continu'd Effects than the Superiority of Bishops over Presbyters The Laws and Customs of all Churches are full of this all the Christian World being govern'd by Diocesan Episcopacy till the last Age and yet notwithstanding these visible effects we must not believe this Government to be Apostolical when the Ancient History that delivers it as such is prov'd by such Continu'd visible Effects Here we are in a great Streight again which to trust the Critic or the Historian 6. That History is credible which speaketh consentingly against the known Interest of the Author Well but many of Mr. B's Characters of Ancient Bishops are taken from profess'd Enemies or persons manifestly prejudic'd as his Accounts of Athanasius Theophilus Cyril and divers others do manifestly shew But here he does endeavour to clear himself and says What I say of the Miscarriages of Bishops and Councils is most in their own Words Oftentimes they are not the Words of the Bishops or Councils but Mr. Baxter's Own when he mistakes in Translating them What I say against Popes is but the Recital of what is said by the Greatest Defenders and Flatterers of Popes And let those Flatterers and Defenders answer him if they think it worth their while but because upon this occasion he is pleas'd to give Account of his Authors let us consider his Authorities He tells us in the first place who he has not made use of I give you not a word says he out of Luther nor Illyricus nor the Magdeburgenses c. It is no great Matter For they were something disaffected to Popery and therefore they may be liable to Exceptions But it is something hard to reject those that follow No nor out of the Collections of Goldastus Marquardus Freherus Rubrus Pistorius c. So familiar to him that Marquardus Freherus makes two Authors by the
Ornament but the Number of Believers in that City did require many Churches for their Assemblies And the Passage of Theodoret above cited does not import the contrary Therefore to clear this point I will endeavor to shew the State of the Church of C. P. about the later end of Constantine's Reign and how it was impossible for them to meet All in one place 2. I will shew that the words before cited do not conclude that all the Believers of C. P. were assembled in one Congregation with Alexander their Bishop 1. As to the State of this Church it could not but be very numerous when we consider what care the Emperor took to bring Inhabitants to it from all Parts some from Rome some from other Provinces and it is more than probable that much the greatest part of those that came to inhabit the first Christian Emperor's Favorite City were Christians 2. His care for rendering this City great and suitable to the Magnificence of so mighty a Prince had that Success that it did not only equal Old Rome but excell'd it as well in Greatness of its Wealth as the Multitude of its Inhabitants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Sozom. L. 2. c. 3. And the same Author adds that the Piety of the Emperor and of the Citizens and their Charity towards the Poor was the reason of its mighty Increase from the whence may be judg'd what Religion the Generality of the City did profess 3. The Success of that Charity did not only add to the Number of the Citizens but very considerably to the number of Christians For the same Author writes that it had so good effect there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. That many of the Jews and almost all the Heathens were converted and became Christians 4. The same Author to make it altogether a Christian City writes farther that it was never polluted with any Heathen Temples or Sacrifices unless it were in the Time of Julian the Apostate 5. The Provision which Constantine made for the Burial of the Dead shews the number of the Church of C. P. to be far too great for one Congregation For he alloted to that charitable Vse no less than Nine Hundred and Fifty Shops or Work-houses whose Profits were to be employed in burying the Poor decently which Shops were to be free from all Tax and Duty to the Prince As you may see by comparing these several places in the Body of the Civil Law N. 59. with N. 43. and with N. L. 12. And Honorius in the Year 409. considering the Number of the Decani the small Officers that attended Funerals to have grown inordinate reduces them to Nine Hundred and Fifty probably the first Establishment of Constantine the Great See Justinian's Code l. 1 T. 2 4. And if after all this all the Christians in C. P. could meet together in one Church towards the latter end of Constantine's Reign we must conclude some wonderful Mortality to have happen'd and that these Decani had had extraordinary Employment and bury'd in a manner the whole City But let them believe that can comprehend For my part I can as soon imagine that Homer with all his Scholiasts can be put into a Nut shell or that a Witch can turn her self in a Key-hole as that all the Christians in C. P. made but one Congregation But notwithstanding the Number of Christians in C. P. might be much too great for one Congregation yet the major part might be Hereticks or Schismaticks such as came not to the Bishops Church and therefore all that adher'd to him might be no more than could meet in one Assembly To which I answer towards the latter end of Constantine's Reign it was so far from being the Case of the Church that the number of Hereticks and Schismaticks was inconsiderable and most of those were forc'd to come to Church and that there may be no Difficulty remaining in this point I will give some farther account of the number of the Catholick Christians in comparison with Hereticks and Schismaticks Constantine the Great having set his Heart upon Christian Religion to settle and adorn it he thought nothing more effectual than the Vnity and Concord of Christians to promote which he resolv'd to proceed against all Hereticks and Dissenters by a severe Law and to reduce them to the Vnity of the Church The Doctrine of Arrius tho it began to be favour'd in several places had not yet made a formal Seperation L. 2. c. 32. says Sozomen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. All came to Church and communicated together but the Novatians and some old Hereticks Against these the Emperour made an Edict whereby he took away their Churches and ordered them to be joyn'd to the Churches of the Catholicks He told them it was better for them to communicate with the Catholick Church and advis'd them to come over to it The Success of this Law we find in the very same place That by this means 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The memory of those Heresies was in a manner extinguish'd for they came all to Church for fear of that Law against their Conventicles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. And those that persisted in their Opinion having no opportunity to Conventicle nor to corrupt the minds of men died at last and left none to succeed them in their Opinions Only the Novatians remain'd who says the Author did not suffer much by this Edict being befriended by the Emperor who had an esteem for their Bishop of C. P. upon the account of his Holiness and therefore his Church there was not much endammag'd tho' the Historian speaks this very mincingly and says only that it was probable that so it was and likely had no other reason for it than the Opinion which the Novatians had of that Bishop and that their Church was not altogether extirpated then like those of other Hereticks But he confesses that every where else they suffer'd the same measure with others unless it were in Phrygia and some Bordering Provinces And now to allow the Novatians a Conventicle in Constantinople towards the later end of Constantine's Reign which is more than Sozomen durst affirm yet I hope the Catholicks will be still too numerous to meet all of them in one Congregation But Theodoret affirms they were no more than could meet in one Church and that they did actually do so I answer That Theodoret does not say so and that the Passage cited does not conclude it therefore to clear this difficulty let us examine it After the Death of Arrius says Theodoret those of Eusebius's Faction were much out of Countenance and bury'd him but on the other side L. 1. c. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Valesius renders thus B. autem Alexander cum gaudio totius Ecclesiae collectas celebravit piè orthodoxe simul cum Universis fratribus Deum orans impense glorificans Now he takes the Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a
general Sence which I suppose was spoken with respect to that particular Congregation in which Arrius was to have been reconciled if he had lived but one Night longer and that the Author intends only to say that that Service was performed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Joy of that Church which the Bishop apprehended would be the occasion of great Trouble to it and that with all the Brethren there present not all the Believers of Constantinople for that he does not say he pray'd to and prais'd God for what had happened unless you will say that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does not signifie their Personal Presence but only their Vnanimity * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aquila as that of David Ps 33.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To conclude this point then Theodoret could not think that all the Believers of C. P. could come together to the Bishop's Church for he cites a Letter of Constantine a little after this where he gives an Account of the great Increase of that Church c. 16. In the City that is call'd by my Name says he by the Providence of God an infinite Multitude of People have joyn'd themselves to the Church and all things there wonderfully increasing it seems very requisite that more Churches should be built understanding therefore hereby what I have resolv'd to do I thought fit to order you to provide Fifty Bibles fairly and legibly written c. which he signifies in the same place to be design'd for the Service of the Churches there Now where Christians were so multiplied that it was necessary to build more Churches and to make such Provisions for the Multitude of their Assemblies it could not be that they should all make but one Congregation It would swell this Preface to too great a Bulk if I should answer the rest so particularly Therefore I shall be more brief but as plain as I can p. 10 11 12. This Author gives several Instances of several Bishops being in one City at the same time in Answer to the Dean of Pauls who affirm'd That it was an inviolable Rule of the Church to have but one I have endeavored to shew that it was the Rule of the Church to have no more than one So Cornelius affirms that in a Catholick Church there ought to be no more and the Council of Nice finds Expedients even against the shew and appearance of two Bishops being together in one place Jerusalem is the first Instance which is said to have had several Bishops together in the time of Narcissus I wonder to find a man of Learning cite this Passage than which nothing can be more disadvantageous to his Cause For 1. Narcissus having retired and the People not knowing what had become of him the Neighboring Bishops ordain'd Dius in his place who dying in a short time was succeeded by Germanicio In his Time Narcissus returns and was desir'd by the Church to resume his Office What became of Germanicion is not said probably he resign'd or died presently For the next thing we find is that Narcissus being very old an Hundred and Sixteen Years of age took Alexander into a Participation of the Charge He was indeed the Bishop and Narcissus retain'd but the Title and Name only as we may gather out of Alexander's Letter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb l. 6. c. 11. i. e. Who was Bishop before me and who now joyns with me in Prayers The Administration was it seems wholly in the Hands of Alexander For the Historian says of Narcissus before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was not able to officiate by reason of his great Age And Valesius confirms this in his Notes upon the place Hoc enim sibi-vult Alexander Narcissum in Orationibus duntaxat non in reliquo Episcopali munere sibi collegam fuisse and then Ex quibus apparet Alexandrum non tam adjutorem quam Episcopum in locum Narcissi utpote jam decrepiti factum fuisse Narcissum verò nudum nomen Episcopi atque honorem retinuisse The next instance is of Theotecnus and Anatolius who were for some time Bishops of Caesarea together Anatolius was a person of extraordinary Learning and Abilities and Theotecnus designing to make him his Successor says the Historian ordained him Bishop in his Life time Euseb l. 7. c. 32. and as it were his Coadjutor or Episcopus designatus Afterwards Macarius and Maximus were Bishops at once in that Church He means that of Jerusalem tho' that of Caesarea was the last he mention'd and this Instance is of the same nature with the other For Sozomen writes that first of all he was secretly design'd by the People to succeed Macarius after his Death And to make sure of his Succession with the Consent and Concurrence of their Bishop they brought it about that he should stay at Jerusalem and assist Macarins in the Episcopal Office Soz. l. 2. c. 20. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. After his Death to govern that Church whereas before he did only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. assist in the Divine Service and Offices of the Church Epiphanius continues this Gent. alleadg'd by Grotius for this purpose signifies that other Cities had two Bishops and excepts but one Alexandaia had never two Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His meaning cannot be as a great Antiquary would have it that Alexandria was never so divided as that several parties in it should have their respective Bishops there for so it was divided in the time of Epiphanius when the Catholicks had Athanasius the Arrians had Gregorius and then Georgius and afterwards the one had Peter the other Lucius and the Novatians had their Bishops successively in that City Soc. l. 7. c. 7. till Cyril 's time To which I answer as briefly as I can 1. That Epiphanius cannot mean that all other Cities had had two Bishops at a time For the contrary is too notorious and the Cases above alleadg'd are extraordinary when the Bishop or People of a City had a mind to secure the next Succession to some Extraordinary Person He was made the Assistant and Coajutor of that Bishop he was to succeed If Alexandria had never done this and it might be the reason why Athanasius was not ordained then when he was design'd by Alexander I do not see what advantage can be made of this Passage the practice of those other Churches has been already considered However I do not see why that Learned Antiquary's Opinion may not be maintain'd against this Gent's Objections He says that Alexandria was divided before Epiphanius his Time between several Bishops It cannot be denied but that is not the thing Epiphanius speaks of but that before the Election of Theonas against Athanasius who was before appointed by Alexander with the Approbation of the Church there were never two opposite Bishops as in other Churches the Instances are all later than this Fact and therefore are insignificant Vnless it be that
these Bishops who are said to be in Regione Hipponensi were not the Bishops of that Region but some Bishops of the Province met together there as had been done before upon the like Occasion as may be seen in the same Epistle Facto Concilio placuit ut conveniremini 2 It appears from the Inscription and Stile of this Epistle Clerici Catholici Regionis Hipponensium and yet speaking of the Bishop of Hippo they call him their Bishop not one of their Bishops which they must have said if they had had more but Conventus ab Episcopo nostro Proculeianus non est Conquestus Episcopus noster c. So that notwithstanding these Bishops mention'd in the Region of Hippo the Body of that Clergy own but one who was properly their Diocesan And this is farther clear'd by comparing this passage with that of St. Austin mentioned a little before where he assumes to himself the Church belonging to the Regio Hipponensium From the Diocess of Hippo we pass to that of Alexandria of which I have spoke particularly enough before but here the same Author offers a great many things p. 32. which I cannot answer at this time very particularly yet something I shall say as briefly as I can The Instance of Maraeotis he says little to he insinuates as if Maraeotis might not have Number enough of Christians to have a Bishop But this Athanasius does sufficiently shew to be a Groundless Conjecture and even before Athanasius the Generality of the People there were Christians He farther finds one Dracontius made a Bishop in the Territory of Alexandria possibly a Chorepiscopus or at least-wise it is manifest from the Epistle to him that it was the extraordinary Favor of the People towards him that compell'd him to accept a Bishoprick And the Danger of their falling to Arrianism was the reason which Athanasius makes use of to press him to accept it This was an extraordinary Case and allowing this man a Country Bishoprick that of Alexandria would be a great deal to big for the Congregational Measure After this we have Instances of several Cities that had Bishops and lay very near one the other and what does this conclude Might not these Dioceses be yet much larger than one Congregation Suppose the Chief Cities of Holland had each a Bishop yet I conceive they would be Diocesans though those Cities lie very close together And now after all this though we have several Instances out of Egypt how near Cities were together in some parts yet upon the whole account 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ath. Ap. 2. the Dioceses do appear to be large enough from the Number of them For in Athanasius his Time there were not a Hundred Bishops in all Egypt Libia and Pentapolis The next thing I shall take notice of is the Defence of Mr. Baxter's Allegation out of Athanasius to shew that all the Christians of Alexandria could meet in one Church It is to be confess'd that the Expressions of that Father do seem to favor him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that the Church did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hold all c. Now suppose that all the Christians in Alexandria the Catholicks at least-wise could meet together in that Great Church yet all the Diocess could not there were some parts of it at a good Distance and they could not conveniently come so that the Diocess of Alexandria will exceed the measure of the Congregational Way 2. Suppose this Great Church could receive all the Multitude yet if that Multitude was too great for Personal Communion it is insignificant For if that be a Congregational Church that can possibly meet between the same Walls this Congregational Church will be as indefinite as a Diocess 3. Before this the Church of Alexandria met in distinct Congregations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But we are told that these places were very small short and streight places So I suppose they were in respect of the Multitude of Christians which they did scarcely receive But that they were such Chappels or Churches as some of our Parishes in England have as great a number as Alexandria is hardly credible because 1. The Church of Alexandria was very numerous from the beginning and if they met all in one place it must consequently be very large Nor is it likely they should divide till they were grown too numerous for the biggest Meeting-place they could conveniently have 2. Tho' before the Empire was converted they might be confin'd to little places and forc'd to meet severally yet after Constantine became Christian it is not likely that the Alexandrians would content themselves with small and streight Chappels when every ordinary City built very Great and Magnificent Cathedrals And 3. Some of these Churches had been built with a Design of receiving as many as well could have Personal Communion in Worship together as Theonas is said by Athanasius to have built a Church bigger than any of those they had before And yet this and all the rest were but few and streight in comparison of the great Multitude of Catholicks that were in Alexandria But I conceive after all this that the Expressions of Athanasius do not conclude that all the Christians in Alexandria were met in that Great Church All that came it may be found Room but that all did come is not easily imagin'd For the Tumultuous manner in which they come to their Bishop to demand a General Assembly makes it probable that not only Women and Children would be glad to absent themselves but many more either apprehensive of the Effect of this Tumultuous Proceeding or of the danger of such a Crowd would willingly stay away Mr. Baxter tho' he thought the main Body of the Catholicks might meet here yet he would not conclude that all did and even these that did assemble here were too many for one Congregation and was an Assembly more for solemnity and ostentation than for Personal Communion in Worship and the proper Ends of a Religious Assembly But that we may not wonder how the Catholicks should be so few in Athanasius his Time we are told farther that the Arrians and other Dissenters might make much the Major part Nay it may be the Arrians alone were more numerous How true this is we may learn from Athanasius who speaking of the Catholick Party makes them the Major part of the Alexandrians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All these were Catholicks and their business was to desire Sirianus and Maximus not to disturb their Churches till they might send to the Emperor And that they were the greatest part might be yet farther clear'd from several Circumstances of that time which I cannot insist upon in this place without being too tedious to the Reader To conclude this not only Alexandria and the other Cities of Egypt had several Congregations compriz'd in the same Diocess but the Meletians had some Bishops of several Titles who had more Cities than one in their Diocesses as may be seen
an extraordinary Zeal for Religion and that oftentimes made them take Alarme when it was not in any extream danger and if their Knowledge and Discretion were not always proportionable to their Zeal surely among Christians it might be allowed to the Frailty of Humane Nature and the Sincerity of a good meaning If they differ'd sometimes among themselves and were warmer than is fit in their Disputes consider that the Apostles themselves had their Misunderstandings and their Contentions sometimes Peter was to be blamed and Barnabas was carried away The Churches founded by the Apostles were immediately divided about Opinions which were presently determined in Council and yet we do not find that the Controversie was at an end Should any one therefore so abridge the History of the Apostles as to represent nothing of them but their unhappy Contention and leave them under the odious Characters of Disturbers of the World and Dividers of the Church would it not justly pass for a Libel against Christianity It were disingenious and base even in an Enemy in a Christian I know not how to call it Having paid this duty to the honour of Religion by a general Vindication of it from such Consequences as might be drawn from this Church History against the Intention of the Author I come now to his design which is laid down page 27. To shew the Ignorant so much of the matter of Fact as may tell them who have been the Cause of all Church-Corruption Heresies Schisms Seditions c. And whether such Diocesan Prelacies and Grandure be the Cure or ever was But surely this is not the way of cureing Church-divisions thus to exasperate These Reproaches cannot serve to heal but to fret and inflame the Wound I have some hopes that I shall be able to shew the Reader so much of the matter of Fact too as may let him see how much he has been imposed on by this History and that all Corruptions and Schisms are very injuriously and against all Truth of History charg'd upon the Bishops Yet suppose the Charge be true is it such a Wonder that men of great Talents and great Authority do sometimes abuse them and by that means become the Cause of Church-Corruptions Private men though neither better nor wiser than the Bishops have not the Opportunity of doing so much either Good or Hurt and their Mistakes or Vices do not draw after them so great Consequences This Accusation though it may serve to render Bishops odious is yet of use to prove their Authority and their ancient possession of the right of governing the Church like his who would prove that they have troubled the World ever since the Apostles time If the abuse of this Power be sufficient reason to take it away or to render it odious what will become of preaching and writing Books What will become of Scripture and Conscience Let him still exclaim the Bishops have been the Authors of all Corruption and Schism were they not Christians and Men as well as Bishops and if a Heathen or a Jew should not lay such a Stress upon the name of Bishop but put that of a Christian in it's place and then make a great Outery wicked Christians turbulent Christians would not this reasoning hold as well as Mr. B's or if some of the graver Beasts should recover the Conversation they had in Aesop's days and talk judicially might not they bray aloud Horrible men Abominable men that will never agree or understand one another and then conclude with the Ass in the Satyr Ma foy non plus que nous l'home n'est qu'une bête Be the Bishops whose History Mr. B. writes as bad as he will have them how will this concern the rest of that order unless they will follow their Examples and own their Corruptions Machiavel was of Opinion that the greatest part of men were Rogues and Knaves but what is that to You and I let every man bear his own Burden But Mr. B. is resolved to cut off this Retreat and to level his Charge not so much against the Persons as the office of Bishops and to this effect he explains himself p. 22. There is an Episcopacy whose very Constitution is a Crime and there is another that seems to me a thing convenient lawful and indifferent and there is a sort which I cannot deny to be of divine Right Here we have three sorts of Bishops and this is pretty reasonable and compendious but in another Book which he refers to in this he gives no less than twelve Disput of Ch. Government p. 14. dividing was much in Fashion at that time though commonly it was without a difference and as they could make a sort of Seekers that neither sought nor found so he gives several sorts of Bishops that were no more so than he or I nay in this Abridgment of the great Division I believe the Members will be concident and that it is but a little artificial Illusion of Mr. B. that makes them appear several take away the little corner'd glass and that great multitude of pieces we saw are in a moment reduced to one poor Six-pence well let us see then what this criminal sort of Episcopacy is and what Mr. B. has to lay to it's Charge That Episcopacy which I take in it self to be a Crime is such as is afore-mentioned p. 22. which in it's very Constitution overthrows the Office Church and Discipline which Christ by himself and his Spirit in his Apostles instituted this is criminal indeed and a thousand Pities it should stand one Moment But where shall we find this Abomination it is not far of if his Judgment may be taken for Such says he I take to be that Diocesan kind ibid. which has only one Bishop over many Score or Hundred fixt parochial Assemblies Is this then their Crime that they have many fixt parochial Assemblies under their Government Had not the Apostles Had not the Evangelists so too And was that Constitution criminal Had not the Bishops of St. Jerom's Notion several fixt Assemblies That Father did indeed maintain that the poor Bishop of Eugubium was as much a Bishop as he of Rome but he little thought that he was more so or that the Extent of the Roman Diocess had chang'd the very Species of it's Church Government Hieron Ep. ad Evagr. he thought they were both of the same sort and that the single and small Congregation of the one and the numerous Assembly under the Inspection of the other had made no difference at all in the nature or constitution of their Episcopacy he communicated with and submitted himself in Questions of the highest moment to the Bishop of Rome Vid Hier. Ep. ad Damas which considering the Temper of the man and his Contempt of the World he would hardly have done if he had judged him an Usurper but would rather have joyned himself to the poor Bishop of Eugubium and done all possible
their Elders do directly excommunicate and yet are lay-men It would be much to the Advantage as well as the Reputation of our Dissenters if they would first agree and correct those Abuses among themselves which they so sharply exclaim against in our Church 2. When they oblige the Magistrate to execute their Decrees by the Sword be they just or unjust § 55. and to lay men in Goals and ruine them because they are excommunicated by Bishops Chancellors c. This is the Law of the State and not of the Church and therefore is not to be charged upon Diocesan Episcopacy besides now there are few that have reason to complain of this there are those Evasions found that render that Law insignificant but the Threatning Princes and Magistrates with Excommunications if not Depositions p. 23. if they do communicate with those whom the Bishops have excommunicated belongs not at all to our Diocesan Episcopacy let the Papists who hold this Dostrine or the rigid Scotch Presbyterians who seem to have outdone the Popes in their Claim of Authority over Sovereign Princes answer it if they can 3. Or when they arrogate the Power of the Sword to themselves as Socrates says Cyril did § 55. How far Socrates is to be credited in his account of that Bishop we shall consider in due place in the mean time this does not concern Diocesan Episcopacy as it is with us for our Bishops do not arrogate that Power if the King confer upon them any Authority extrinsecal to their Office Mr. B. has declared himself p. 23. § 59. that shall make no difference and that he will submit to them notwithstanding The next Paragraph I am loth to meddle with it is little else but Biitterness and Railing and this I have neither Skill nor Inclination to answer yet because it is set down as the highest Aggravation of Diocesan Tyranny I must say something to it lest I should be thought to be ashamed of the Cause and to desert it It becomes much worse § 56. continues Mr. B. by tyrannical Abuse when being unable and unwilling to exercise true Discipline and so many hundred Parishes they have multitude of Atheists Infidels gross Ignorants and wicked Livers in Church Communion yea compel all in their Parishes to communicate upon pain of Imprisonment and Ruine and turn their Censures cruelly against godly persons that dare not obey them in all their Formalities Ceremonies and Impositions for fear of sinning against God I am afraid there are too many wicked men in all Communions and the Communion or as they call it the Religion of the State will have the most for Reasons I need not mention but it is oftentimes a hard thing to know them and until they are discovered it can be no Reproach to the Discipline of the Church that they are in outward Communion but all sorts of People and these with the rest are forced into our Communion They are indeed obliged to come to Church and to receive the Sacrament three times in the year but all this is upon the Supposition of their being Christians if they declare to the contrary they are immediately exempted from all Church-Jurisdiction and for the Civil let them deal with it as well as they can It is the duty of every Christian to come to Church and receive the Sacrament and because all that have been baptised and have not renounced the Faith are presum'd to be Christians it is doubtless lawful to quicken them to that which is their Duty by Penalties upon the neglect of it As for the Atheists and Infidels declared if they are admitted to Communion it is an unexcusable fault of Discipline yet such as is to be charged on the Minister of the Parish that receives them rather than the Bishop and for the being of any such men amongst us that is not so much to be imputed to the defect of present Discipline as to the licentiousness of the late unhappy times and the Offence that was given to light and unsteady minds by such pretended Saints as made Religion their Warrant for all their barbarous Villanies they committed But wicked Livers he adds are forced into Church-Communion by the Bishops § 56. This is a great Mistake for the Bishop forces no such into the Church but obliges the Minister and Church-wardens of every Parish to present such if any there be that they might be separated from Communion till they shall have given some Satisfaction to the Church by their Repentance and good Hopes of their future Amendment and lastly that gross Ignorants are admitted to the Communion can be charged upon no other than the Minister of that place whose Duty it is to instruct them in the Principles of their Religion and the Bishops are so far from obstructing the Exercise of this Duty that there is hardly any thing which they press with greater Earnesiness As to those godly persons who dare not obey the Orders of Bishops in point of Church-Communion and cannot bring their Conscience to comply with Ceremonies and Formalities Whether it be their Fault or Misfortune I pity them heartily but I believe this ought not to be charg'd upon the Constitution of our Episcopacy for if the King and the great Senate of the Nation after Experience of former Troubles should think fit to impose this as a Test upon such as they thought the Government not secure of what is all this to Diocesan Episcopacy The next Paragraph concludes the Arraignment of Diocesan Bishops § 57. not with any Argument but a great many hard Words which suppose the Proofs that have gone before to have amounted to full Evidence I am not willing to repeat them here let them stand or fall with those Arguments they depend upon Now least you should take Mr. B. for an Enemy to Bishops for one sort he rejects he receives two the first such as St. Jerom says Was brought into the Church for a Remedy against Schism the Bishop of this Constitution was it preside over Presbyters and without him nothing of Moment was to be done in the Church § 58. These Presbyters that were under the Bishop had they several Parishes or Congregations or the same with their President If several then this is the Diocesan Prelacy that is a Crime in it's Constitution if the same then what did they do there For by old Canons it appears and Mr. B. makes use of them to serve his own Turn that a Presbyter was not to preach in the Presence of the Bishop what then Shall they only read the Offices of the Church This is to fall into worse than Diocesan Episcopacy and to make Presbyters not Preaching but what sounds much meaner reading Curates only to the Bishops There is another sort of Bishops that he dares not deny to be of divine Institution § 60. And they are such as succeed the Apostles in the ordinary part of Church-Government while some senior Pastors have
all the Churches they lookt upon that as their peculiar Charge and govern'd not as ordinary Presbyters but by Apostolick Authority as a Metropolitan who although he has the supervising of all the Diocesses within his Province yet may have his proper Diocess which he governs as a particular Bishop And the Office of an Apostle does not essentially consist in the governing of more Churches than one else St. Paul would never have vindicated his Apostleship from the particular Right he had over the Corinthians 1 Cor. 9.2 If I be not an Apostle to others yet doubtless I am to you for the Seal of my Apostleship are ye in the Lord. So that though he had had no more Churches to govern yet his Apostolick Authority might have been still exercised over that particular one of Corinth The Provinces of the Evangelists were not yet so large as those of the Apostles for these were either sent to such Cities or Parts whither the Apostles themselves could not go or left where they could not stay The Church of Ephesus was the Diocese of Timothy from whence although the greater Occasions of other Churches might call him away and require his Assistance yet his Authority was not Temporal nor would it have expired if he had resided a longer while at Ephesus so that these Apostolick men were not so because they were unfixt but because they had that Eminence of Authority which they might exercise in one or more Churches according as their Necessities did require or as the Spirit signified and that they did not settle in one place is to be ascribed to the Condition of their Times and not to the nature of their Office for the Harvest was now great and such Labourers as these were but few and therefore their Presence was required in several Places And as this Unsetledness is not essential to Apostolick Authority no more is it essential to Episcopacy to be determined to a certain Church Every Bishop is Bishop of the Catholick Church and that his Authority is confined to a certain district is only the positive Law of the Church that forbids one Bishop any Exercise of his Office within the Diocess of another and St. Paul seems to have given them the occasion who would not build upon another mans Foundation However in any case of Necessity this Positure Law is superseeded and a Bishop may act in any place by virtue of a general Power he has received in his Ordination so that this first Exception of the Apostles and the Evangelists being unfixt and Bishops determined to a particular Church can make no essential Difference As to the Visitors of the Church of Scotland they make evidently against Mr. B's Notion of an essential Difference between Bishops and Evangelists for first of all the Residence was fixt to certain Cities and their Jurisdiction confin'd within certain Provinces as the Superintendent of the Country of Orkney was to keep his Residence in the Town of Keirkwall Spotswood Hist Scot. l. 3. p. 158. he of Rosse in the Channory of Rosse and so the rest in the Towns appointed for their Residence Their Office was to try the Life Diligence and Behaviour of the Ministers the Order of their Churches and the Manners of the People how the Poor were provided and how the Youth were instructed they must admonish where Admonition needed and dress all things that by good Counsel they were able to compose finally they must take note of all hainous Crimes that the same may be corrected by the Censures of the Church So far of their Constitution as we find it in Mr. Knox's first Project of Church-polity Spotswood p. 258. and their practice was altogether the same with that of Diocesan Episcopacy as Bishop Spotswood describes it The Superintendents held their Office during Life and their Power was Episcopal for they did elect and ordain Ministers they presided in Synods and directed all Church Censures neither was any Excommunication pronounced without their Warrant And now let the Reader judge how the Constitution of Diocesan Episcopacy becomes a Crime and yet these Visitors of the Church of Scotland conformable to divine Institution As to the second Exception that the Apostles and Evangelists were Episcopi Episcoporum and had Bishops under their Jurisdiction which our Diocesans who are the Bishops but of particular Churches do not pretend to This makes no Difference at leastwise no essential one for the same person may have the Charge of a particular Church or Diocess and yet have the supervising Power over several others But in this point Mr. B. does but equivocate and impose upon his Reader for by his Episcopus gregis he means only a Presbyter and a particular Bishop may have Jurisdiction over such without any Injury or Prejudice done to the Office which from it's first Institution has been under the Direction of a superiour Apostolical Power if therefore these Presbyters do retain all that Power which essentially belongs to them under a Diocesan Bishop how are they degraded In short either this Order of Congregational Episcopacy is different from Presbytery or the same with it if the same how is it abrogated by Diocesan Episcopacy since Presbyters are still in the full Possession and Exercise of their Office If they are distinct how then comes Mr. B. to confound them as he does § 16. where he says That the Apostles themselves set more than one of these Elders or Bishops in every Church So then those Apostolick men as Bishops of the particular Churches wherin as they resided had Authority over Presbyters within the Extent of their Diocess and a general Supervising Care of several other Churches and so they were Episcopi Episcoporum in the first they are succeeded by Diocesan Bishops in the latter by Metropolitans which yet were never lookt upon as two orders essentially distinct But after all this we shall never come to a right Understanding of Mr. B's Episcopacy unless we take along with it his Notion of a particular Church which he sets down p. 6. § 19. There is great Evidence of History p. 6. that a particular Church of the Apostles setling was essentially only a Company of Christians Pastors and People associated for personal holy Communion and mutual help in holy Doctrine Worship Conversation and Order therefore it never consisted of so few or so many or so distant as to be uncapable of such personal Help and Communion but was ever distinguished as from accidental Meetings so from the Communion of many Churches or distant Christians which was held but by Delegates Synods of Pastors or Letters and not by personal Help in Presence Not that all these must needs always meet in the same place but that usually they did so or at due times at least and were no more nor more distant than could so meet sometimes Persecution hindred them sometimes the Room might be too small even independent Churches among us sometimes meet in diverse Places
by Schism I thought my self obliged to consider Mr. B's Notion of a Church and Episcopacy as it lyes scatter'd in his first Chapter and explain'd more at large in his first Disputation of Church Government partly because he insists so much upon it and bends the whole course of his History to favour it as much as is possible partly because he makes it a plea to justifie his Railings against Bishops and Councils as if those he dishonoured in this History had departed from the ancient use of Church Government and Discipline and their Usurpation had drawn after it all those evil Consequences and Calamities which he relates throughout this Book It is time now to enter upon his History and to examine how truly and how fairly he has represented the Actions of Bishops and Councils I shall go along with him as far as the end of the Council of Chalcedon and endeavour to vindicate the Reputation of the four first general Councils which our Church receives from those injurious Representations which Mr. B. has made of them in his History In the next place I shall endeavour to shew how little Truth there is in that general Accusation which this History is intended to make out that Bishops have been the Authors of all Heresies Schisms and Corruptions Thirdly that the way to remedy this is not by multiplying Bishops and that this Expedient is so far from being the Cure of Church Divisions that nothing has contributed more to widen the Breach and to render Peace and Concord impossible within any considerable Compass Fourthly That though Bishops and Councils have been guilty of great Miscarriages they ought not to be imputed to the Order but the Men and if Bishops brought in several Corruptions as well in Doctrine as Discipline after the four general Councils Bishops have likewise reformed the Church from them and have maintained and do still maintain and justifie their Reformation Lastly that latter models of Church-Governments without Bishops have been subject to all the Miscarriages that are charg'd upon the Bishops and have not been able to prevent or remedy the Mischiefs of Heresies and Schisms and that the Independent model is of all other the most unlikely to remedy these Mischiefs and is justly charg'd by the Presbyterians to have given the occasion to all those Confusions in Religion those monstrous Doctrines and endless Separations under which we still labour and almost despair to see a Remedy for them CHAP. II. Of Heresies and the first Councils THE design of general Councils being chiefly to preserve the Unity of the Faith Ch. Hist c. 2. p. 28 29 30. and to reject and discredit all such dangerous doctrines as appear destructive of the fundamental Principles of Religion Mr. B. thought fit before he enter'd upon the History of these Councils to give us some account of Errors which they were designed to remedy his Discourse is very favourable to the Mistakes of men and considering the common Frailty it is but fit that we should forbear as far as is possible with each others Infirmities yet still there are such Errors as are not to be endured and corrupt the very Vitals of Christianity these when they were obstinately maintained were stigmatized by the Church with the name of Heresies a word which Mr. B. has no Fancy to and yet St. Paul and St. Peter made use of it to signifie the worst and most dangerous sort of Errors and such as are not to be tolerated within the Communion of the Church Tit. 3.10 It is Saint Paul's charge to his Son Titus an Heretick after the first and second Admonition reject Galat. 5.12 and reckoning up the works of the Flesh that excluded from Salvation he puts in Heresie and St. Peter 2 Pet. 1.1 to render it the more frightful joyns with it the Epithete of damnable saying that wicked men should come who should bring in damnable Heresies Now since we are warned before hand that Heresies there must be that wicked men will endeavour to introduce wicked Doctrines the Church would be left in an evil condition had it been provided with no Authority no means to remedy those Mischiefs that would certainly overthrow the very Foundations of that Faith upon which it was built Now what defence shall she make against these Assaults Arms she has none but Prayers and Tears and even those may return empty if the Heretick will be perverse and obstinately fortifie himself in his Errors must she then suffer this Cancer to eat up her very â—â—wels is there no way of stopping the Progress of this Plague or to interpose between the sound and the infective Surely it cannot be left so destitute so forlorn so helpless there is nothing of Nature or Society but has some means as well as Inclination to preserve it self and the Church being a Society united upon the Terms of a common Faith and Charity must be supposed to have so much Power within it self as to refuse the Use and Benefit of it's Communion to such as violate the Terms upon which they are associated corrupt the Doctrine destroy Holiness and indanger the Attainments of the ends and Benefits of Religion not only to themselves but to those that converse with them They had Power to reject a Heresie to put away from them wicked Persons and to refuse to receive into or shut out of their Communion such as would not submit to the Laws of their Society The great condition of their Admission into the Church was a Profession of the Christian Faith and they had no right to remain in it any longer than they kept up to that Profession if they brought in Doctrines that were inconsistent with it and did persevere in their mistakes using all endeavours to propagate them it is but just and equal it is but natural that such should be turn'd out of the Fellowship of the Church and it is but reasonable after a sad experience of the mischiefs that attend these Doctrines to endeavour to prevent the liâ—â— for the future by guarding diligently the Entrances of the Church and by taking Security of such as enter into it and if not of all such as enter into it yet at leastwise of those that are admitted to teach or govern the People that they will not revive those dangerous Doctrines 'T is this that Mr. B. finds so much fault with and ascribes all the mischiefs that have befallen the Church to an ignorant zeal against Heresie There is no doubt but this has been the occasion of great Calamities the greatest Hereticks persecuting the Truth under the name of Heresie p. 31. §. 15. p. 32. the Arrians were exceeding violent against the Orthodox Believers and used all manner of Cruelties to reduce them from the right way which they called Heresie they on the other side returned the infamous name though not the barbarous treatment upon their Enemies and what shall we infer from hence that there is no Heresie because
Facundo Editae à Sirmondo Though Mr. B. makes them 660. by comparing the Arrian Visitation of Africk where there were but four hundred sixty six Bishops in all and I believe the Schismaticks come into the number who might abhor Arrianism no less than the Catholicks and then Churches must be of greater Extent even in Africk than Mr. B. fancies them all these were call'd before King Hunnericus to give an account of their Faith of whom but eighty eight fell away and three hundred seventy eight persever'd It seems the majority of Bishops was not then so complying as they are injuriously represented in this History St. Basil in the Descriptions he makes of the lamentable Estate of the Eastern Churches does not complain of the Temporizing and Compliance of the Bishops but of the hard measure they receiv'd and how they were generally turn'd out by the Arrians Thus that excellent Bishop complains to his Brethren of the West Basil Ep. 70. The Shepherds are driven away that the Flocks might be dissipated And a little farther There is no Criminal condemn'd without some Evidence but Orthodox Bishops are punish'd without any proof at all some of them never saw their Accusers and were never brought to any Bar nor were ever indicted of any Misdemeanour but secretly in the Stilness of the Night were hurried away into Banishment and dy'd with the Hardships of the Wilderness and though we should be silent yet the World cannot be ignorant of the Banishment of the Priests and Deacons and of the Havock that is made of the whole Clergy And in another Place Ep. 220. Among all the Dioceses of the Bishops those that are the most eminent Assertors of the Faith are driven out of their Country by Calumnies and false Accusations and others brought in who lead Captive the Souls of the ignorant And if you would know what persons they were that made up the Arrian Councils the same Author tells you they were such as they put into the places of those good men that were turn'd out Men that would not fail to serve them Basil Ep. 69. the Arrians that put them in to the Destruction of the true Faith and were the Slaves and Instruments of those that promoted them in their Revenge upon the Orthodox Doctrine And now judge whether it was the Compliance of the Bishops or the Violence of the Hereticks that made so great and sudden Change in the Church and in the Doctrines of Councils In reckoning up the principal things done in the Council of Constantinople § 4. p. 66. he makes the Deposition of Gregory Naz. to be one against all History and against himself in the next page where he says That Gregory seeing the Resolutions and offended with the furious Carriage of the Bishops in the Council resigneth to the Emperour and departeth Let them be resolv'd upon casting him out as much as they will yet it was not done only they put another into his place which was made vacant by his voluntary Resignation Upon this account he represents this Council in a most odious manner p. 66. § 7. and for this end makes use of the words of Nazianz. speaking of the general Corruptions of the Times and the Divisions of the Church and what Age has been so happy as not to labour under these Evils But he has mangled and disjoynted the Words of that eloquent Father more barbarously than ever the Bishops or their Councils did the Church The Courtiers Gregor Orat. in Synod whether true to the Emperour I know not but for the most part perfidious to God This is in the Close of his Speech in the Council among those passionate Valedictions but Mr. B. joyns with it his sharp Reproof of the Bishops page 524. where we may observe his wonted Candour for Nazianz. speaking of the Factions of the Bishops under these Metaphors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mr. B. thought fit to render it Raging like furious Horses in Battel and leaves out the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Almost to make the Satyr more full writes and like Madmen casting Dust into the Air. And as he thought fit to leave out in one place so he adds in another to the Words and Sense of Nazianzen therefore he professes That it is unseemly for him to joyn with them in their Councils as it were to leave his Studies and Quietness to go play with the Lads in the Streets To joyn with them in their Councils is an addition of Mr. B. the words of Gregory are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In like manner it would not become me who know better things than the multitude whilst others bustle in a Crowd to choose rather to be one of them than to enjoy my Liberty with Obscurity There is nothing reflects upon this Council before which this Oration was spoken but only representing the great Trouble that would attend the Office of a Bishop and especially the Bishop of the Imperial City that he might obtain the Request he had made before and which all this lamentable Description of the Church is design'd to recommend he desires to be dismiss'd Give me says he The Reward of my Labour What p. 23. Not such as some envious men may think but such as I may safely ask give me Rest and Ease from my long Labours have Compassion on my gray Hairs have some Respect to a Stranger and put another into my place who may be vex'd and disturb'd in my Stead such as hath clean hands and an eloquent Tongue such as is able to gratifie you in all things and may be sufficient to joyn with you in an effectual Care for the Church But as for me you see how I am wasted with Time and Labour and Sickness The Verses cited out of Gregory Ch. Hist p. 67. do not concern this Council at all but represent the miserable Distractions of the Church at that time he accepted the Bishoprick of C. P. and his chief design in it 1 Carm. de vita sua was to reconcile if it were possible these Differences which were occasion'd by Hereticks who envy'd the Orthodox Bishops and had a violent Passion for their Chairs However Mr. B. will have it That he spake all this and a great deal more of this Council of C. P. one of the four which is equall'd to the four Evangelists He does indeed in several places find fault with this Council but is far from making such a Riot as this and it seems he had a great many Friends in it as appears by their Dissention concerning him which he put an end to by a voluntary Resignation of his Place and it is evident from his own Account that the Council had not agreed upon his Deposition till after his Resignation Carm. de vita sua for after his Speech he says That a confus'd Murmur follow'd and the younger men brought the old over I suppose to accept of this Offer that since his Case did
give some occasion of Dissention the prudentest way was to take him at his Word and so end the Quarrel But it seems Gregory did resent the Injury and did not bear the Deprivation of his Bishoprick with the same Generosity he propos'd which made him a little more sharp than was decent in his Representation of the Bishops but from hence to conclude against the Bishops as the Disturbers of all the World would argue as little Judgment as it would Charity for Orators draw something bigger than the Life and Satyrists love to aggravate The Age though wicked enough may not be as wicked as a zealous Preacher might represent it all men are Lyars says David in his Haste and St. Paul when he was neglected by his own Friends concluded generally All seek their own and not the things that are Christ's and what wonder if this holy man sharpen'd with Discontent should exclame with somewhat too great a Passion against the Administration of the Church which he had been forc'd to quit His Censure of Councils that he knew none of them have any happy End was not the fault of the Expedient for ending of Differences but of the men and particularly of the Hereticks that were uppermost most part of his time for he does frequently profess a great Veneration for the Council of Nice and was one of the greatest Champions for it in his time The Case of Meletius and Paulinus p. 69. § 9. both Orthodox Bishops of Antioch was something nice and determined very tenderly that both should be allow'd equally the Administration of that Church Socr. l. 5. c. 5. Sozom. l. 7. c. 3. but with a Provision that this Indulgence should never be drawn into a Precedent and that the Surviver should govern alone Flavianus and ambitious Socr. l. 5. c. 10.15 popular Presbyter after Meletius his Death is elected Bishop in opposition to Meletius which was the occasion of much Trouble in the Church The Expedient so extraordinary shew'd the Moderation that was us'd to end the first Schism but Flavianus can have no excuse who against the Canons and the Interest and Peace of the Church and against his own Oath set up himself against his lawful Bishop Mr. B's Observation is That even good Bishops cannot agree nor escape the Imputation of Heresie which refers to Lucifer Calaritanus It is much to be lamented that good men cannot rightly understand one another but so it has ever been and the Apostles themselves had misunderstandings but this is no more incident to Bishops than to any other good men it is the effect of Humane Frailty from which no Dignity no Title can ever free us The History of the Priscillianists is related by Mr. B. with his usual Ingenuity p. 70. § 13. for all along he observes this Rule to be very favourable to all Hereticks and Schismaticks be they never so much in the wrong and to fall upon the Orthodox Party and to improve every miscarriage of theirs into a mighty Crime Aug. de Haer. c. 70. These Priscillianists joyn'd the monstrous Opinions and Practices of the Gnosticks and Manichees into one Heresie and besides their blasphemous Conceits concerning this World's being created by the Devil and our Saviour's descending gradually through the several Spheres of Heaven they were monstrous in their lewdness and promiscuous Fornications men of no Faith whose Principle was this Jura perjura Secretum prodere noli These men after they had been condemn'd by some Councils and very justly I hope got by the means of some Mercenary Courtiers Sulp. Sev. l. 2. prope fin the Emperour's Protection and his Order to be restor'd after they had been banish'd Ithacius and some other Bishops the most zealous Opposers of this Sect applied themselves to Maximus the Tyrant desiring him to suppress these Hereticks by the Sword In short Priscillian and several others after they had been condemn'd by the Council of Bourdeaux were put to death at Treves by Maximus his Order and how justly let the Reader judge by this Relation of Sulpitius Severus l. 2. Priscillianum gemino judicio auditum convictumque maleficii nec diffitentem obscoenis se studuisse doctriuis Nocturnos etiam turpium foeminarum egisse Conventus nudumque orare solitum nocentem pronunciavit But notwithstanding the Sentence were most just and Severus confesses that these Hereticks were Luce indignissimi yet all good men were offended that Bishops should procure their death and concern themselves in Bloud Whereupon Theognostus excommunicates Ithacius in a Council at Treves as Baronius tells us Bar. An. 385.29 an 386.25 ubi supra though Severus brings in Maximus perswading St. Martin to joyn with Idacius who had been condemn'd by none but Theognostus and that upon a private Quarrel St. Martin Ch. Hist p. 71. sayes Mr. B. renounced the Communion of the Bishops and their Synods One would imagine that now Martin the Saint were become Martin Marr-Prelate and turn'd Presbyterian but no such matter he renounc'd only the Communion of Ithacius his Party and that others did as well as he Amb. Ep. 58.76 Conc. Taur c. 5. Theognostus Ambrose Studius and several others scrupled Communion with these men polluted with Blood how justly I will not pretend to determine but Mr. B. cannot complain if he calls to mind how often he reproaches and derides the Tenderness of the Bishops that are content to enjoyn Penance upon great Malefactors that had taken Sanctuary in the Church There he pleads with Idacius that it is pity they should live and that the Gallows should be deprived of its due However forgetting himself he makes this a Plea for Separation and which shews a Divine justification for Separation from the Bishops and Synods of such a way yea p. 72. § 19. though of the same Religion with us and not so corrupt as the Reformation found the Roman Papacy and Clergy This Divine Justification is the Angel's Reproof of Martin for having communicated with the Ithacians once Sulp. Sev. Vit. Mart. to save the Lives of some Eminent Persons How far the Historian is to be credited in these marvellous Relations of St. Martin I am as loth to determine as Mr. B. but sure it is that all things confider'd though St. Martin may pass for a great Saint yet several of his actions shew more Simplicity and Zeal than Knowledge or Discretion for though it were much to his credit to be sollicited to an Emperour's Table Sever. yet it was a great want of Duty to prefer his own Priest to the Emperour and Nobles in outward expressions of respect and though it was great Devotion in the Empress to condescend to be his Cook and Serving-maid yet it was no great sign of Humility in him to accept the service For my part I must confess I should be very loth to separate from the Communion of a Church whose Doctrines I could not except against merely upon this Divine
that as Mr. B. sayes a Bishop had the priviledge of a had Physician he might murder and not be hang'd c. This Decree is I believe hardly so ancient as the fore-mention'd Epistle for we have only the Authority of Gratian for it a man little to be depended upon unless he find Vouchers that are ancienter than himself but any thing will serve Mr. B's turn that will give him occasion to ease his Spleen against Bishops CHAP. V. Of the First Council of Ephesus c. OUr Author in the beginning of this Chapter p. 84. §. 3. to prejudice his Reader beforehand against the Acts of the Council of Ephesus gives the worst account of Cyril who was the President of it that he could patch up out of all the libels and accusations of his Enemies The first thing he is charged with is the oppression of the Novatians This was enough with Socrates or Sozomen to paint him as ugly as men do the Devil Socr. l. 7 or Antichrist and therefore there is no great credit to be given them in these relations as manifestly espousing the cause and quarrels of the Novatians But suppose he had us'd severity towards these Schismaticks it may be they deserved it and being Schismaticks and Alexandrians it is not unlikely that they were very troublesome and seditious Socrates makes it part of his charge that he took upon him the government of temporal affairs Socr. l. 7. c. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a little before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This was not the usurpation of the Bishop but the indulgence of the Emperour and the Truth is that the Church and State being now united and the Schisms of the one causing inevitable seditions in the other the Civil Magistrates for the greater security of their Government did think it expedient to invest the Bishop with a coercive power since their Spiritual authority was contemn'd to the dishonour of Religion and no less to the disturbance of the State And it was it seems a crime in Cyril to accept this Commission or to act in pursuance of it though our Author elsewhere professes that he shall not dishonour such p. 23. sect 59. nor disobey them But besides the suppressing of the Novatian Conventicles he is charged with executing some Jews and banishing others which Orestes took ill as an incroachment upon his office who was Governour of the Province Socr. l. 7. c. 13. But as to this he cannot be very much blamed for the Jews conspired against the Christians and resolved to destroy them all in one night they gave the alarm that one of their Churches was on fire and as the Christians ran out to quench the fire they were murdred by those Villains Perhaps Cyril did not think this a time to complement the Governour to the assistance of the Christians when the danger they were in was sufficient to call him away but animated the people to make their defence and to go in quest of these Murderers and it was a sign of his Moderation that there were but some executed and that all were not put to the Sword after so barbarous an attempt This or something else offended the governour Socr. l. 7. c. 14. so that he became irreconcileable to Cyril The Bishop like a good man endeavoured by all means to procure a reconciliation but without effect and why is a Bishop to be worse thought of if a man of quality become his implacable enemy without cause Five hundred Monks came from Mount Nitria in a fit of wild zeal to take the Bishops part and Socrates cannot say that he sent for them they light on the governour and assault him he is wounded and hardly escapes with life But how could Cyril help this or how can he be charg'd with the extravagance of those Monks that he had no knowledge of till they had committed it But one of those Mutineers says Socrates that wounded the governour being executed for his crime was honour'd by Cyrill as a Martyr I do very much suspect this story from the circumstance of changing the criminals name to Thaumasius and the most probable conjecture that I can make of it if there be any ground at all for the story is that the memory of a Martyr of that name might be honoured by him which his enemies interpreted to be the Criminal But this changing of name is a thing without precedent and without reason for either this disguise was put on that it might not be observ'd and he was ashamed of doing it openly and then it will not be easie to be certain that this Thaumasius was that Ammonius who was executed or if he was the same and Cyril confest it then it is impossible to imagine a reason why he should use that disguise But there are men in the world that honour such as Martyrs that were executed not for Wounding a Governour but Murdering a King after a most unexampled manner witness the worthy Martyrologies of Harrison Speeches and Prayers Printed A. D. 1660. Carew Cook Peters c. and of Barkstead Okey Corbett with this Motto in the Frontispiece these dyed all in Faith and innumerable other things that justifie their horrid crimes and make them Martyrs by the cause of their suffering Printed 1662. I hope they were neither Bishops nor Episcopal men that were so fond of Canonizing these Murderers for Martyrs Another thing which our Author cites from the professed enemies of Cyril to render him odious was the Murder of Hypatia the famous She-Philosopher She it seems was barbarously murder'd but by whom or upon what occasion is not certain Socrates makes the occasion to have been this Socr. l. 7. c. 15. That she being frequently with the Governour was suspected to do Cyril evil offices and to disswade the Governour from being reconciled to him therefore some Zealots watched her and barbarously Murder'd her among whom was one Peter a Reader of the Church and an admirer of Cyril And this continues the same Historian brought a great reproach upon Cyril and the Church of Alexandria But he cannot charge the Bishop of being by any means conscious to it and though it were done upon his account by violent heady Zealots yet he could be no further guilty than he contributed to it by his countenance or consent Suidas in Damascius Damascius in the life of Isidore the Husband of this Hypatia charges Cyril directly with this Murder but his credit signifies very little as being in the first place a Heathen and a violent enemy of the Christians and secondly being more remote from these times for he liv'd in the reign of Justinian Vales Annot in Socr. l. 7. c. 15. Valesius cites the passage at large out of him and promises to publish much more of him than we have had hitherto This is taken out of Suidas who I believe cites the whole out of this Author In the beginning he makes it dubious
only and not the divine nature but nothing can be plainer than this That there is a vast difference or distance between the divinity and humanity of Christ l. 2. contra Nestor I must needs confess for they are different things that are signify'd by these two names as to what regards their essence and have nothing the one like the other and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Vnion does admit a difference but excludes all division Ep. ad Nest and lastly he shews the absurdity of rejecting this Hypostatical Vnion as incomprehensible because it will unavoidably force us to allow two Sons the Son of Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by himself and the Son of God again by himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he plainly confutes If this does not sufficiently declare two natures subsisting in one person it is not in the power of words to do it Thus was he understood by all the world excepting only the Eastern Bishops who had a quarrel against him and therefore were resolv'd to cavil and even these at last were reconcil'd to his expressions Thus the Fathers in the Council of Chalcedon understood him and the Catholick Church ever since yet all this it seems could not prevail with Derodon who in opposition to almost all the world maintains his Paradox that Cyril taught the same doctrine with Eutyches and that Nestorius was in the right For this purpose he cites out of Cyril several passages that affirm Christ to have but one nature and this is that which was condemn'd in Eutyches It is true indeed that Cyril does frequently own but one nature but it is to be observ'd that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his sense is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by both he means nothing but a real Union in opposition to an imaginary notional one which Nestorius did maintain This may be easily observ'd by comparing all those places where he affirms but one nature with those already alledg'd that expresly affirm the contrary But besides this if he shall be allow'd to explain himself the matter will be soon decided 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Natural that is Confir Anath 3. a real Union When Acacius presses him with the Confessions of the Orthodox Ep. ad Acacium that own two natures in Christ and that those Divines do express this difference because there really is one between the Natures Cyril answers that he does by no means take away these terms of distinction but condemns the wrong application of them so as that one should be apply'd to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the other to the Son of the Virgin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is so as to divide the person and to make the Son of the Virgin different from the Son of God therefore says he there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one nature of the word but of the word incarnate i. e. one hypostasis For so he explains himself in the conclusion of that answer that those Orthodox that mention two natures and he are all of the same opinion for since there is but one Son one God and Lord so it is that we and they do confess one person only for that was his design by the expression of one nature and that those things that belong to the Divinity and those which belong to the Humanity must be all ascrib'd to one Christ and justifying himself against such as suspected him of confounding the two natures in Christ Ibid. he denies that ever he took away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And John Bishop of Antioch willing to express the same thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which though he disowns to be his own words but that John express'd himself after that manner yet he receives the sense of them that several things are to be understood of Christ as Man and others of him as God yet that the Godhead and the Manhood make but one Christ In what sense Cyril affirm'd one nature appears further from what he condemn'd in Nestorius and others Cyr. Ep. cum 12. Anath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not dividing and separating God from man as part from part nor yet joyning them together by an Vnity only of honour and authority this was it that he charg'd Nestorius with and from which he never did so much as endeavour to vindicate himself Whereupon Cyril urges that unity of dignity or honour does not imply personal union and parity of authority does not unite nature for Peter and John may be of the same authority and dignity and yet they are not one but two persons besides this he rejects another way of Union 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a participation of divine graces as holy men are said to be united to God upon which account he does reject frequently this expression that Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he no less rejects the way of artificial conjunction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as being very improper to express this hypostatical union of Christ But that which he thinks comes nearest to illustrate this Union is that conjunction of body and soul in man which is a concourse of two very different natures which yet make but one man this is one of the greatest arguments to prove him a Heretick but if this will serve to do it most of the Fathers that wrote upon this subject must be Hereticks as well as he since they all make use of this illustration Yet though he were singular in this instance it would by no means conclude him in the Heresie of Eutyches for those things that are brought to illustrate are not necessarily required to be like the things they are to illustrate in every point What Cyril concludes is only this that as the Body and Soul make one Man so God and Man makes one Christ and this is the composition that he means which will be easily understood by comparing this with other passages of Cyril If he judg'd that Christ had but one only nature resulting out of that Composition like that of Man then it must be either the divine nature which had taken the humane into it self or that the divinity should be chang'd into his humanity or some third nature that must result from both all which he equally abhorrs for notwithstanding the incarnation Ep. ad Nest ad Acac. ad Joh. 12. Anathim ad Success he affirms expresly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the humanity he affirms it still remains because there is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no mixture no changing of it into another nature 3. In the Composition of man there is one form joyn'd to matter which makes the unity of nature but in the hypostatical union the man retains his proper form according to Cyril who denys that the word informs the body of the man but that it is Corpus animatum a body endu'd with reason and understanding So that it appears plainly by the doctrine of
and dignity With respect to which opinion Cyril presses the unity of nature and makes use of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and hypostasis indiscriminately And lastly Nestorius denys Christ to be truly and properly God in his first Anathema in answer to those of Cyril saying Si quis Christum verum deum non Immanuel dixerit i. e. Whosoever shall call him True God let him be Anathema which shews that the Union he meant was not personal but that Christ was no more than what Cyril often charges Nestorius with holding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If those twelve Articles of Nestorius were extant in Greek they would likely discover more of his mind but as they are they have hardly any sense at all How far Nestorius dissembles his opinion by those plausible expressions of one person and two natures may be judg'd from what is already observ'd concerning him but our Author falls into a great passion against those that say Nestorius dissembled when he affirm'd two natures and one person I take them says he to be the Fire-brands of the World and unworthy the regard of sober men who pretend to know mens judgements better than themselves c. It cannot be unknown to any man that has read any thing in Ecclesiastical writings that Hereticks were us'd to take refuge in Equivocation and to shew a fair plausible doctrine to the first view but when this was narrowly examin'd and compar'd with other things that dropp'd from them either unawares or in greater confidence it was found to be nothing but deceit and illusion Thus the Arians frequently impos'd upon the Orthodox thus the Nestorians seem'd to own the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 changing only the accent which chang'd the signification of the Word from the Mother to the Child and off-spring of God and S. Paul who was not unacquainted with the arts of Hereticks gives this caution against them that they are not presently to be taken for what they appear Rom. 16.17 18. Now I beseech you Brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learn'd and avoid them for such serve not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple But let them be accounted Firebrands of the World that will not put the most charitable interpretation upon the expressions of men of suspected doctrines I am content and I believe the Bishops will not be so much concern'd in this accusation I could wish our Author would look home and observe those Fire-brands that will make men of what Religion they please in despite of all Protestations and Oaths to the contrary Is it not strange that men who subscribe the Articles of the Church of England so destructive of all the errours of Popery which were the occasion of the Reformation that renounce Transubstantiation Popes Supremacy Idolatry Rebellion for the cause of Religion Adoration of Images and Saints and Angels that notwithstanding all this these men must be Papists and Popishly affected and let them say or believe what they will they must be accounted so What shall a man do to these men who instead of pulling down Popery strengthen it by reckoning so many learned and godly persons of that side and whilest they endeavour to dishonour these persons by so odious a name do no small honour to the Papists by making the most eminent party of men both for learning and integrity that perhaps is now in the World to be favourers of their way hoc Ithacus velit The Jesuites indeed are apt to feign several death-bed Reconciliations to their Church to gain it credit by the accession of some eminent opposers of it but this they do sparingly as the easie people can swallow the cheat But these Papist-makers of ours will present them with thousands together and send them the Protestant Churches of three Kingdoms in one present If any be Fire brands of the World if any set up Popery under the disguise of Protestants they are surely these men that cry down all for Papists that they have any prejudice against and out of spight to their brethren assist that common enemy and become the most liberal Benefactors to the Church of Rome that ever it had since the Reformation nay not inferiour to the forgers of Constantine's Donation These men would deserve better of Rome than Francis or Dominick could they but make their words good Surely the Papists are not now to learn how to make the best use of a fictitious title they will not fail to boast of that strength which dissenters give them and have no reason to discover the falshood of a calumny that is so much to their credit and advantage I must beseech the Readers Pardon for this digression and Gods Pardon to these false accusers of their brethren that they may know in this their day the things that belong to their peace To return now to the business we left It will not suit the proportion of my design to dwell upon every particular expression of Cyril's that may be suspected and to detect the Heresie of Nestorius lurking under the disguise of Orthodox Expressions I hope that what has been already observ'd may be sufficient at least to suspend the Readers judgement from pronouncing Cyril a Heretick with Derodon or Nestorius who was condemn'd by almost all the world an Orthodox and sound believer until some abler hand undertake that matter and treat it more particularly Our Author though he make use of Derodon's citations to disparage the authority of these Councils yet he differs from him in conclusion and is loth to give in to that bold Paradox that Cyril so much celebrated in the Catholick Church for his defence of the faith should at last after twelve hundred years good credit prove down-right Heretick Therefore he endeavours to moderate the business and to make both parties Friends and Orthodox though they themselves were not sensible of it All this stir saith our Author proceeded only from misunderstanding and Cyril and Nestorius and the rest of the Bishops did not understand one anothers meaning It is not unpleasant to observe a man unacquainted with the language in which these disputes were pretend gravely to be Moderator and to perswade the World they did not understand the terms they quarrelled about though the language were vulgar to them all and by the strength of Hanmer's and other miserable translations to play the Critick but whether is most likely that these great and learned men should understand one anothers terms or persons remov'd from their times many hundreds of years and ignorant of the language in which they writ I leave the Reader to determine It is true that in this case there was great misunderstanding between Cyril and the Eastern Bishops yet we find that as soon as ever they came to debate the matter calmly they found they differ'd but in expression and yet both found
Dioscorus cry'd cum Patribus ejicior and his followers were afterwards call'd Eutychians though they did not own his doctrines as some of the Eastern Christians are call'd Nestorians though they do not really hold the doctrine of Nestorius but the very same with the Eastern Bishops that mistook Cyril and with Theodorus Tarsens and Mopsuest who were misunderstood on the other side by Cyril But of this we have said enough already CHAP. VII The Council of Chalcedon NOw comes the great Council of Chalcedon under the new Emperour Martian p. 99. §. 14. where all is chang'd for a time yet Pulcheria who married him and made him Emperour and whose power then was great was the same that before had been against Nestorius in her Brothers reign Thus far our Church Historian It is a marvellous observation that all should be chang'd for a time and yet Pulcheria be the same that condemn'd Nestorius in her Brothers reign She was the same person I suppose though I dare not maintain any identity against the splitting instruments which he borrows of Derodon those Metaphysical terms I mean which we have mentioned before and our Authors charms and imaginary remedies against Heresie those Notions that he bewails the ancient Bishops were so dull as not to be able to find out But if out of special grace he will allow Pulcheria to be the same Pulcheria in and after her brothers reign we must acknowledge his good nature in the concession But where is the wonder all this while that matters should change and yet she be still the same It may be that she might not have always the same credit and authority with her brother and if Nicephorus may be believ'd in a story that hangs very well together and is very probable l. 14. c. 47 c. her interest was very low when the Second Council of Ephesus was call'd for the end of it was to ruine her favourite Flavian who had given her notice of a Court-plot that was form'd against her to shave her and thrust her into a Monastery So that it is not much to be wondred at if Pulcheria when she had the power in her own hands should change some things that had been done against her will and perhaps design'd by the Court on purpose to affront her This then cannot be the wonder and it would vex a man to see one stare and stand agast and yet not be able to find out the subject of the admiration It may be for I will venture to guess once more that the wonder is that the same Pulcheria should condemn Eutyches that had condemn'd Nestorius before But why should we wonder at this in Pulcheria more than in Flavian in Eusebius Doryl and a great many others that did the same thing at that time Nay did not all the world in a manner all the Catholick Church condemn both these Will he say that these are contradictory Doctrines and therefore one must be true and the other false But Mr. B. has determined already that Cyril Nestorius Flavian Eutyches all of them meant the same thing and what wonder then is it if a devout Lady could not find this secret consent of doctrine under appearing contradictions when the learned Bishops could not do it nor after ages nor the subtile distinguishing School-men no nor Derodon himself However since we cannot discern the drift and shrewdness of the observation we ought thankfully to accept what we can understand though that be no great news That Pulcheria that was Empress after her Brothers death was the very same that condemn'd Nestorius in her Brothers reign This profound Remark is immediately follow'd by another of great acuteness p. 100. sect 14. That it was never truer than in the case of general Councils that the multitude of Physicians exasperateth the disease and kills the patient And yet our Author will have these Physicians multiply'd without end If every Congregation have its own Bishop what general agreement can we then expect what unity in a Nation when Bishops are grown so inordinately numerous Since it can be no otherwise than by a consultation of these Physicians that the publick Peace and Unity can be preserv'd Or if this Expedient should fail what other way is there left Our Author comes in here and relieves us in a great strait and offers a remedy more Soveraign than all the Hereticating Councils in the World In short it is this The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one nature after Vnion the words One Will and one Operation had never done half so much mischief in the Church if the erroneous had been confuted by neglect p 100. sect 14. and Councils had not exasperated enraged and engag'd them and set all the world on taking one side or another It is an admirable way to cure Heresie to neglect it and to preserve the Church by despising such small differences as may be reduced into a Word It was but a word that divided the Arians and the Orthodox It was but the Trinity Servetus said that divided all the World Despise the disputes about this and then Christians Jews and Mahumetans may be comprehended under the same Rule It is but the Import of the word Episcopus that our Dissenters stand so much upon why does not Mr. B. perswade them to despise this Verbal Controversie and study rather to be quiet than to write about it But we find he cannot perswade himself to this otherwise the Shops would have wanted divers books that he hath publisht this year Nay we find that he himself will not be answer'd with Neglect So that we are like to find little benefit of this rare project for confuting the disturbers of the Church For though six of his Books that came out in little more than six months were let pass without any Answer that I know of yet this Patience has been so far from mending his humour that he writes and writes on still runs us down with Repetitions proclaims his own victories and insults over our silence and in short he cannot be more violent and outragious more bitter and malicious under all the provocations imaginable than he is under that Neglect which himself is pleased to prescribe for the cure of them I wish our Author had taken his own advice before this Book was written practic'd this Mortification upon himself And not gone on as he does still to disturb the world with perpetual contentions to no purpose but to shew how much he wants of a Scholar and a Christian But however men may be confuted yet they are seldom convinc'd by neglect and therefore lest that expedient might fail our Projector slurs in another p. 100. ubi supra One skilful healing man that could have explicated ambiguous terms and perswaded men to love and peace until they understood themselves and one another had more befriended Truth Piety and the Church than all the Hereticating Councils did And why may not this skilful man
this p. 109 110 111. sect 32 c. What Concard did these late Councils procure to the Churches From that time most of the Christian World was distracted into Factions Hereticating and killing one another The Alexandrians murder'd Proterius their Bishop chosen by the Council of Chalcedon And to aggravate the cruelty Mr. B. says they spar'd not to tast his Entrails with their Teeth like Dogs Gustare more Canum The miracle of tasting with Teeth would be much greater than the cruelty and go a great way to justifie the barbarity of the Action if it were true But what shall we say to these lamentable consequences of these Councils Was it the misfortune or the fault of these only not to be able to heal the differences of the Church Or else was the defect in the Councils or the blame to be imputed to those obstinate men that oppos'd the Rule establish'd by them These were not the first Councils that have miscarried as to their design of Universal Reconciliation The Council of Jerusalem under the Apostles that determined the Controversie about Circumcision did not presently silence all Disputes about that Question For the Church of Galatia was presently after divided about it The Council of Nice though it quieted the Arian Controversie for a while yet it was not able to prevent those lamentable Contentions which the same question afterwards occasioned Or if Bishops and their Councils could provide no effectual Remedies for the violent distempers of the Church let us see what Presbyterian Synods have done The Synod of Dort condemn'd the Arminians and Subscrib'd certain Articles declaring their Doctrine in the points in Controversie yet the disease was so far from abâ—ting that it grew more violent and the Civil Magistrate was oblig'd to second the determinations of the Synod by inflicting Imprisonment and Exile upon such as would not subscribe and yet all this would not do for the same breach remains unclos'd unto this day Our Author in his meek Answer to the Dean of Pauls Sermon says very kind things of the Assembly of Divines and yet these with their Catechisms Directory and Annotations and Overthrowing of the Episcopal Church Government upon which they charg'd all the Miscarriages and Divisions of the Church were so far from Reconciling the people that after this they were distracted into innumerable Schisms Never was there so lamentable a face of things never such variety of Heresie and such wantonness and Extravagance in Blaspheming God under pretence of Religion and Conscience and this is the state whither the same manner of Men are driving again Experience they say is the Mistriss of Fools but they are Fools to be begg'd whom even experience so dearly purchas'd is not able to make wiser But to return to the success of these Councils Now since Councils whether of Bishops or Presbyters have oftentimes so bad success what is to be done What other remedies shall we find more effectual The Papists have left the use of General Councils of late He who had among them the chief authority of summoning such Councils being grown jealous of that way and the Condition of the Ecclesiastical Roman Empire has been for some ages not unlike that in which Livy represents the Heathen Roman Empire in his time nec vitia nostra ferre possumus nec remedia At last a great part of the Western Church weary of expecting relief by a General Council from that Tyranny and Corruption under which it labour'd was forc'd to use extraordinary means to reform themselves and what they could not do all together they did severally as they had Opportunity It was the good fortune of our Church to Reform it self with the countenance and assistance of the Civil Magistrate and therefore they could do it by degrees and with greater Moderation than other Churches who must contend with the Civil power about it and who had no other strength than the zealand Resolution of the People As soon as this Reformation began to take root deep enough here the Clergy Assembled in a National Synod establish'd a rule for Unity and peace and to prevent disputes as much as was possible This rule comprehended the Doctrine Worship and Discipline of this Church which was at first receiv'd with universal joy and approbation None but Papists opposing it But some time after some few discontented men under pretence of Zeal against Popery took the part of the Papists against this rule and it is observable that as one faction grew up and gather'd strength so did the other that one's right and left hand can hardly grow in evener proportion so that one would fancy that either they advanc'd by some secret consent or were nourish'd from the same Common Stomach It may be from him that Palavicini calls the Stomach as well as the Head of the Church the Pope And what shall be at last done for these Protestants as they call themselves Shall every one be left to himself without any rule The effect of this will be that in a little time we shall have no Religion at all Shall this rule be alter'd We can have no assuance that when it is alter'd we shall find any Conformity to it then more than now and this as it is has the advantage of any innovation if for nothing else yet for its standing and that it is an Antient Establishment In short these that Cry out against this rule seem to have a great respect for the Protestants of Queen Elizabeths time and that Reign is counted the Golden age of this Kingdom Let us consider then what was 〈…〉 their Rule whether 36 or 39 Articles and that Rule that made them so happy may if preserv'd entire keep us so still CHAP. VII Of the Authors of Heresies Schisms and Corruptions and whether they were all Bishops I Have hitherto gone along with Mr. B. step by step conceiving it necessary to make a more particular Vindication of the Church in these times as well because they were the best that the Christian World has had for true piety and zeal as also because our Church Professes to receive the four first General Councils and lastly because all sober moderate Christians have always had and still retain a great esteem and veneration for many of those persons that are represented so odiously in Mr. B. 's Church-History I do not pretend to justifie every thing that was done by all the Bishops and Councils of those times There have been wicked men and wicked Bishops in all times and the Church under the Apostles nay their own Order was not so happy as to have none but good men of it But I hope I have shewed sufficiently that things were not as Mr. B. represents them and that most of his particular Accusations are void of all truth and ingenuity I must deal with him hereafter more Summarily and Answer the drift and design of his Book which is to render Episcopacy Odious under the more invidious name of
Diocesan Prelacy a distinction without ground or foundation as I have already shew'd and will be yet more fully made out The main design or Mr. B.'s History is 1. To charge the Bishops with all Schisms Heresies Corruptions c. 2. To shew p. 27. §. 7.4 that Diocesan Prelacy and grandeur is not the Cure nor ever was And to this purpose are level'd all the particulars of his Church-History In this Chapter I will endeavour to take off the first general Charge That some Bishops have abus'd their Office and Authority and have been the cause of Heresie or Schism cannot be deny'd but Priests Deacons and Laymen have been so too and therefore if the miscarriage of any particular man becomes a prejudice to his Office and the Order must suffer for the personal faults of those that are of it we must have neither Priests nor Deacons in the Church since some of them have been Authours of Heresies c. But this is not all our Author tho' he speaks indefinitely that â—he will shew the ignorant and he must be very ignorant that knows no better who have been the cause of Church Corruptions Heresies Schisms Sedition yet he means they were the Authors of all these evils as he is pleas'd to explain himself p. 72. Next we have a strange thing a Heresie rais'd by one that was no Bishop and then as if that were impossible he shews that was no Heresie and so the Bishops remain under the whole charge of raising all Heresies I wish he had left Schism and Sedition out of this charge for if he can perswade the Ignorant Readers that the Bishops were the cause of all these too they will never be perswaded that any Presbyterians are to be found in Church-History For if they had been in the world they must have had their share with the Bishops in Schism and Sedition It is a heavy charge to accuse the Bishops of all the Heresies and Schisms that have afflicted the Church and if it were true would go near to stagger the Reverence that one might have for the Order For though Bishops as well as other men may be subject to Miscarriages they might be allowâ—d the frailty of Humane nature from which no dignity can exempt us But to be found the cause of All the Evils that have befallen the Church would argue such a malignity in the Constitution as would shew plainly that God never design'd them for good But I believe this can be no more prov'd against them by matter of fact than that Bishops invented Gun-powder or Hand-Granadoes or were the Authors of the Scotch Covenant or the late Rebellion of the Field Conventiclers in Scotland Let us then trace the Heresies and Schisms that have torn the Church in pieces in several ages of it to their first original and examine who were the Authors of them and if it appear out of Church-History that Bishops rais'd them All or the greatest part I will give up the Cause and believe every thing in Mr. B.'s History and for penance read over all the fourscore Books that he tells us he has written Where then shall we begin If the Bishops should be convicted by the first Instance it would be ominous However because it shall appear that I deal impartially I will begin with the first All Ecclesiastical Writers do agree that Simon Magus was the Author of the first Heresie in Christian Religion Simon Magus Epiphanius indeed reckons up about a score of Heresies before this Epiph. Haer. 21. but they are Heathen or Jewish Heresies and I hope Mr. B. will be so kind as to allow that the Bishops had nothing to do with these That Simon was a Heretick all are agreed in though the Scripture say no such thing and though Epiphanius confess that his Sect cannot truly be reckon'd among Christians Haer. 21. p. 55. Ed Pet. This man did teach very strange and if there be any such damnable doctrines But that he was a Bishop no man ever yet affirm'd Justin Martyr thought he had seen an Inscription at Rome to this Simon which own'd him a God though it is possible this might be a mistake But that ever any Writing or Tradition called him a Bishop I have not heard It is true indeed he had a great mind to be a Bishop that is to have power of Confirmation and that every one on whom he should lay his hands should receive the Holy Ghost And he bid fair for it For he offer'd Peter Money says the Text And the Repulse perhaps disgusted him so that he resolv'd to leave the Communion of the Church since he could not be a Bishop in it and it has been the disease of several other Hereticks to scorn to be any other Member of the body but the Head The next that Epiphanius mentions is Menander Menander Epiph. Har. 22. who as Irenaeus and out of him the rest says was Simon Magus his Disciple but neither Irenaeus nor Eusebius nor Epiphanius nor Philastrius nor Theodoret and in short no man that has given any account of Hereticks or any Historian whatsoever that has been yet heard of has given the least Intimation that he was a Bishop Saturnius Basilides Iren. l. 1. c. 22 23. Epiph. Her 23 24. Euseb l. 4. c. 7. August Ep. ad Quodlib Philastâ— Haer. 3 4. Theod Haer. Fab. l. 1. 〈…〉 Saturninus and Basilides follow next and neither of them were either Bishops or of any other Order in the Church that we can find The next is the Heresie of the Nicolaitans which is generally fathered upon Nicolas the Deacon Irenaeus l. 1. c. 27. seems to he positive in this Nicolaitâ— autem Magistrum quidem habent Nicolaum unum ex septem qui primi ad Diaconium ab Apostolis Ordinati sunt Nicolas one of the seven Deacons was the Master of the Nicolaitans or at leastwise they look'd upon him as their Master Epiph. Haer. 2â— Epiphanius follows Irenans and enlarges the story shewing how he was a good man at first and did contribute much to the futherance of the Gospel but that afterward the Devil enter'd into him Philastr Haer. 5. Bibl. Patr. M. de la Rigne T. 4. p. 10. Philastrius follows the Authority of Epiphanius But for all this I believe Nicolas the Deacon may be acquitted of this imputation for there are Witnesses of very good Antiquity that endeavour to Absolve him 1. Ignatius Interpolated in two several places warning those he writes to Ign. Ep. ad Trall Philadelph Interpol to have a care of the Nicolaitans calls 〈…〉 â—â—â—â—uns and 〈◊〉 i. e. those that falsâ—y call themselves by the name of Nicolas Sycophants and Impostors The old Latin Interpreter explains this farther and adds Non 〈◊〉 talis fuit Apostolorum Minister Nicolaus Clemens of Alexandria is more particular in the Vindication of Nicolas Clem. Alex. l. 2. Strom. c. 3. whose name these Gnosticks abus'd to countenance their lewdness
Incompetible there might have been an end of the Arian Heresie but the Church is never distracted more by any thing than projects of Moderation And because the calamities that enfu'd upon the Arian Controversie are to be dated from Constantine's recalling of Arius It is some Justification of the Bishops that their authority and credit with the Emperour did not effect it Socr. l. 1. c. 25. But it was an Arian Priest that insinuated himself into the favour of Constantia and by her Intercession prevail'd with the Emperour to admit of Arius his delusory Recantation Constantius succeeding his Father in the East and taking part with the Arians it is no wonder if in a little while they grew uppermost not so much by the compliance of the Bishops with the Inclinations of the Prince which Mr. B.'s charity does so often suggest as by the violence that was us'd by deposing and banishing and killing all those that durst be active in the defence of the Faith And what was worse than all this by condemning men for other things than their Faith and so taking away from them the reputation of Martyrdom Socr. l. 1. c. 28 29. Sozom. l. 2. c. 25. by accusing good Bishops of the most heinous crimes and suborning Villains and Strumpets to swear the charge by imposing upon the simpler sort by plausible pretences And so at last as Vincentius Lirinensis expresses it by force and fraud the whole World in a manner was turn'd Arian partim vi partim fraude factus est Arianus But of this I have said enough already to shew with what little reason or humanity the Bishops are charg'd with compliance in the case of the Arians The Sects that sprung out of Arianism were most of them begun by those that were no Bishops Sozom. l. 3.18 id l. 5.12 Socr. l. 2.29 Philost l. 3. Aetius who thought not Arius to blaspheme enough and added to his Heresie further disparagements and diminutions of the son of God was first a Physician and then began to teach Heresie afterwards was made Deacon by Leontius Bishop of Antioch an Arian which is the highest Degree we find him arrive to in the Church he was at last excommunicated by the Arians themselves as being too mad for their company Eunomius was his Scholar Socr. l. 4. c. 7. and his Clerk bred a Heretick and by that merit Hereticks prevailing he came to be Bishop It were well indeed if all Bishops had the priviledge the Pope pretends to to be Infallible as soon as he is set in his Chair It were well if that Order were a preservative against Heresie But since it is in vain to hope that it is no wonder to see a Bishop a Heretick that was so when he was a Lay-man and brought the same disease along with him into the Office Macedonius his case is the very same He was a Heretick long before he was Bishop and was for that reason chose by the Arians after the death of Eusebius Vid. Athan. Apol. 2. id Ep. ad Sol. Socr. l. 2.6 Sozom. l. 3. c. 3. and not after the death of Alexander as Socrates and Sozomen seem to say For at the Synod of Tyre this Macedonius who at the death of Alexander was but a Deacon is said by Athanasius to have been a Presbyter belonging to Paulus Bishop of C. P. and to have accused his Bishop which Sozomen likewise confirms Vid. Vales Observ Eccles ad Socr. Soz. He is said to have been recommended together with Paulus by Alexander on his death-bed to the people of Constantinople for their Bishop but the character is not great Socrates says only for a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an outward shew of gravity which Sandius takes for true piety and so amends the character But Sozomen says that Alexander recommended him only for a man of business and acquainted with the ways of the world This man it is likely turn'd Arian when he was Priest under Eusebius who remov'd from Nicomedia to Constantinople and by that means so ingratiated himself to the party Theod. Haer. Fab. l. 3. that after the death of that Arian Bishop that party set him up against Paul who was turn'd out by Eusebius Epiph. Haer. 77. Another improver of Arianism and leader of a new Sect was Aerius but he was No Bishop and for that reason turn'd Heretick For Eustathius and he having been fellow Students and Eustathius having the better fortune to be preferr'd to a Bishoprick This good man although oblig'd by all the promotion his friend could give him yet could not be contented and began to disparage that Order and Authority of Bishops since he had not the fortune to arrive at it This was the Cartwright of those times and the Father of the Presbyterian parity a Notion brought into the world by the ambitious discontents of one who when he could not be Bishop himself yet scorn'd to seem inferiour to any Bishop There is another Division of the Arians mention'd by Theodoret which were call'd Psatyriani or Tapsuriani who had no Bishop for their Leader but one that prepar'd a certain food well relish'd in those times the Criticks are not agreed whether it were Custard or Pudding-Pyes What this leading man was for a Scholar I cannot learn though I believe not inferiour to the Weavers and Plowmen of Kedderminster whom Mr. B. preferrs before the Ancient Fathers all that can be said for this man is that he had too much learning to follow his calling and nothing would serve his turn but mending of Religion But if I should joyn with him Theodotus the Tanner who liv'd indeed a good while before Mr. B.'s Weavers and Plow-men might be hard put to it and reconcil'd to their Trades again The Audians were a Sect sprung up much about the same time with the Arians Epiph. Haer. 70. headed by one Audius an Anthropomorphite but no Bishop till after he had made this division and then as the design of all Hereticks generally is he was made Bishop of his Party Epiphanius gives him and his followers a very fair Character which St. Austin seems to suspect Ep. ad Quodvult de Haeres and observes partiality and favour in the Relation But Theodoret who had most reason to know them represents this man as a heady fellow of extravagant conceits Theod. Haer. Fab. l. 4. and his followers as great Hypocrites These it is probable were the Anthropomorphites of Egypt that were so violent against the followers of Origen in Epiphanius his time who he says communicated with the Catholick Church and for that reason it may be he speaks so favourably of them The Errours of Origen as they were pertinaciously maintain'd by the Monks of Nitria became a Heresie but the Bishops had no hand but in condemuing those gross mistakes and when the Monks began to mutiny and raise tumults about them threaten to kill the Bishop and when they grew insupportably troublesome then
Prophet and such a one as spake immediately from God The Christian people of Thessalonica says Mr. B. rose and kill'd some of Theodosius his officers Theod. l. 5. c. 17. which provok'd him by his Souldiers to kill seven thousand of them for which Ambrose brought him to do open Penance The Christian people are much oblig'd to Mr. B. for giving them the honour of this Sedition But Theodoret whom he cites for this story says not one word of the mutineers being Christians Ruff. l. 1. c. 30. Ruffinus who is particular enough in relating it says nothing of their being Christians but has some circumstances that make for the contrary Niceph. Hist l. 32. c. 40. The occasion of this Sedition was about a Charioteer who had lewdly attempted one of the Governours Pages and was put in Prison for it but being expert at his calling the people interceded for his release to entertain them at the Publick races It is not likely the Christians would have concern'd themselves for such a villain or for his Performance at those publick spectacles It being forbidden by the Canons of the Church to be present at them and extremely declaim'd against by the Bishops of those times 2. It is not likely they were Christians if we consider the method Theodosius took to revenge this outrage for as these Chariot Races were the occasion of the Sedition so he made them the opportunity of his revenge for having got a great number together to that sight the Souldiers put his orders in execution and slew 7000. in Ludis Circensibus Ruffin l. 11. c. 30. says Ruffinus 3. That the Generality of those that came to these spectacles and consequently of those that were there slain were not Christians may be gather'd from the arguments us'd by St. Ambrose to aggravate the Cruelty where there is not a word of their being Christians and his brethren but only of their bearing the Image of God and being men 4. Zosimus Theod. ubi sup Niceph. l. 12. c. 41. who omits nothing that is to the reproach of the Christians does not mention this Sedition which if it had been theirs he would have hardly pass'd But the Christians it seems are more beholden to that Heathen and profess'd enemy than to Mr. B. Lastly since there are so many Authors Christian and Heathen that mention this Sedition and not one of them say the Christians were concern'd in it Mr. B. is inexcusable for charging such a Barbarous Sedition upon those of our Religion as if he affected without any authority to render Christianity odious And though all this had been the fault of the Christians it is but an accidental Tumult and the Bishops are no way concern'd in it Our Author adds that to mention all the Bloodshed in Rome as at Damasus Election and else and at Constantinople and Alexandria would be tedious even that which was shed on the account of Bishops It cannot be deny'd but there were great and bloody Tumults upon the account of Bishops but there were not many Bishops that encourag'd them but on the contrary they us'd all means possible to prevent and remedy them by withdrawing by quitting their right and going into voluntary Banishment But almost all these Tumults were occasion'd by the Popular elections of Bishops which Mr. B. out of his love to peace doubtless and to save effusion of Christian blood would restore by his Reformation of Episcopacy Lucius he would say Lucifer Calaritanus was a pious Bishop says Mr. B. but so hot for separation from those that had been Arians that he is numbr'd for it with the Hereticks though an Orthodox Bishop And what is all this to Sedition The Novatians were Episcopal and so were the Donatists says Mr. B. and yet how have they been judged of for their Schism I need not tell They are very much to blame that say the Presbyterians or Independents troubl'd the Primitive Church It was impossible for them to be troublesome before they were at all it seems all the Sects and Schisms of that time thought they had no right to pretend to be a Church unless they had Bishops But these Anti-Episcopal Separatists were reserved it seems for the last times as the severest curse and judgment that could befal the Church Those Episcopal Schismaticks indeed divided the Church but these quite dissolve it Besides these Episcopal Schismaticks Mr. B. gives a small list of Bishops that were Anti-Hereticks Apollinaris father and son Paulus Samosatenus Nestorius Dioscorus Eusebius of Nicomedia Theodorus of Mopsuestia have been Arch-Hereticks and the cause of Tumults and Dissension There is much of this that is not true and some of it that Mr. B. does not believe to be so For 1. Apollinaris the Father was no Bishop Hieron de Script Apoll. Laodic Syria Ep. Patre Presbytero l. 6. c. 25. Gregor Nyss Ephr. Syrus Philost l. 8.15 Gottoffred Dissert in Philost and this was he that was the Arch-Heretick as Zozomen informs us and as much may be gathered from Gregory Nyssen who makes Apollinaris a very old man when he should have disputed with Ephraim Syrus Apollinaris the younger is said to have been a Bishop by Philostorgius though Photius adds that he knows not whence he had it But Jerom is express and that is the Common opinion Yet whether he were the Author of this Heresie or his father he was a Heretick before he was a Bishop while he was yet reader of the Church of Laodicea Socrat. l. 2. c. 46. and from Socrates and Athanasius writing against his Heresie it is plain that it was long before the younger Apollinaris was made Bishop if ever he were so Nicephorus makes the repulse of Apollinaris at Antioch which seems to be after he may be presum'd to have been Bishop from some expressions of that Historian Niceph. l. 12. c. 4. to have been the occasion of his Heresie but this manifestly contradicts all ancienter Historians and indeed the very story contradicts it self for Flavian upon the place convicts him of having been a Heretick before Sandius thinks he was not Bishop of Laodicea till after the Council of C. P. because Pelagius is found Bishop of Laodicea in the subscriptions of that Council though I believe this reason of small moment and the Acts of that Council shew him to have been Bishop of that place before However manifest it is that whether the father nor the son were Author of that Heresie he was not a Bishop at that time Nestorius Mr. B. himself has taken great pains to prove Orthodox yet now it seems his mind is changed The same he does with Dioscorus He was on their side against the Councils that condemn'd them but now from Advocate he is turn'd Accuser Eusebius of Nicomedia was no Heretick in the judgment of Valesius but if he were he was not an Heretick because he did not begin the arch-Heresie but followed Arius Theodorus of Mopuestia was an Orthodox Bishop as
the newer Models of Church Polity have obtain'd but in a small part even of the Reform'd Churches and that in some places under Persecuting Princes who more effectually keep under the Tares in the field of the Church prevent excesses and Unite the suffering Church than any sort of Church Government or Discipline whatsoever yet the Histories even of these Churches can furnish too many instances of Tumult and disorder of Heresies Schisms and contentions of Wars and Desolations and if this cannot be drawn into any argument against the Presbyterian way there is less reason it should be urg'd against Episcopacy that for so long time obtain'd over the Universal Church which under this constitution had pass'd through fire and water and then was brought into a wealthy place through distresses and Persecutions through all the encouragements of wealth and power And in short through all the Tryals that can be made by all the differences of outward condition and Circumstances They who fancy a time when the Church had no Bishops do represent it as then full of discord and Distraction I am of Paul and I of Apollo and I of Cephas So that as they say it was necessary for the preservation of peace and Unity to appoint one person over the rest and if the Presbyterian parity had any place in the Primitive times as some do imagine it must needs have been an intolerable kind of Government since all on the sudden it was Universally abolish'd it must have given strange occasion of offence when all the Christian Churches in the world should conspire to Abrogate this Polity and to destroy all the memory and footsteps of it so that in the lamentable distractions which the Church fell into afterwards under Bishops none should so much as propose this way of relief by returning to their Ancient Government and the people that were so harrass'd with perpetual contentions about their Bishops must either think that there could be no Church where there was no Bishop or else that Presbyterian parity or a Popular Church Government would occasion yet greater mischiefs than those they suffer'd That the inconveniences are not less will appear from the experience of such Churches as have cast off Episcopacy some of which at leastwise a good number of very understanding men in them do at time this wish that they might be govern'd by Bishops and conceive it to be the only remedy for their divisions Beza in vitâ Calvini J. Lassitius de Discip Frat. Bohem. Calvin Ep. ad fratr Bohem. Eccles Bohem ad Ang. Paraenes In the beginning of the Reformation those Eminent Instruments whom God was pleas'd to employ in that work were so wholly taken up with preaching and writing against those gross errors and superstitions which had cover'd the face of Christianity that they had little or no leisure to look after Discipline or Government and did do the work of Evangelists rather than Governours of the Church But when they saw to what mischiefs the want of Government and discipline expos'd the Reform'd Churches and were thereby convinced that there must be building up as well as pulling down then they began seriously to consider of some Ecclesiastical Polity For many had joyn'd with them in pulling down Superstition and Papal Tyranny who when they began to discover their opinions more particularly became intolerable and advanc'd such doctrines as did not only destroy Christianity but all Government and society Muntzer Swenckfeld c. These by good providence were neither Bishops nor Episcopal men but against all sort of Church Government and order and while there is any of this leaven remaining let what sort of Government you please obtain there will never be an end of Schism and Sedition For if Episcopacy be Abolish'd what ever is establish'd in its Room will be accounted by such men every whit as Antichristian and Presbyterian Glasses and Synods or Congregational Episcopacy will have no fairer quarter for these will admit no Government no Law but that which will permit every one to do what he pleases and that will set up a State of Grace just like Hobbs his state of nature It is very much to be fear'd that this is the most prevailing principle among our Anti-Episcopal Dissenters And if out of such inconsiderable beginnings they increas'd so fast when the fences of our Church had been once taken away as not only to ruin all projects of unity and Establishment but to possess themselves of the Government what may we expect now when they are form'd into considerable parties and out-number those of the Classical and Parochial Presbyterians that is all that are for any sort of settlement that may be suited to the Circumstances of this Nation What may we not have Reason to fear if the Laws which give check to their Insolences were once taken away And if they should be taken in under the Notion of Protestants A dishonour from which it has pleas'd God hitherto to preserve that name according to the prayers of the first Reformers who dreaded the growth of Sects no less than the return of Popery it self But besides that Heresie may spring where there are no Bishops as there were none in the Reformation when those Monsters first appear'd There can be also bitter contentions about Religion where Bishops have nothing to do Luther and Carolostadius were no Bishops M. Adams in vit Carolost and yet they could quarrel and disturb the Reformation they had in hand with their Jarres Carolostadius in Luthers Absence Reform'd the Church of Wittenborg took away Images Auricular Confession c. Which Luther took offence at as being done without his Authority or advice which was the beginning of the Sacramentarian War and M. Adams blames them both in these words visus est uterque cupidior Gloria Luther was angry that any body should set up himself a new master in a place where he was so much concerned and could not indure Ordinationes suas in Populo pressâ mea authoritate erigi And this contention was so Exasperated that after a Conference Carolostadius was Banished from Turingia by the Elector of Saxonie's order and the instigation of Luther and some other Ministers were turn'd out of their places upon the same Account and the sufferer did not spare to render all this Treatment as Invidious as he could and therefore writes a Letter to the people of Orlamund Subscribed A. Bodenstein non Auditus non Convictus à Martino Luthero Ejectus If Bishops or their Councils had been concern'd in this what Bitter Reflections should we have upon the Prelatical persecuting Spirit But it seems other men as well as Bishops have passions and may disturb the Church Yet we are not to aggravate but to cover as much as we can the frailties of great persons and to retain still a Reverence for the Authority of their Offices and their Personal Excellences But whereever the Lutheran Reformation was received Diocesan Episcopacy soon
became the Church Government and I believe it will be found to have preserv'd those Churches in as great peace and Unity if not more than those had that were Governed without Bishops The Churches of Sweden and Denmark never knew what Schism or Heresie was but by reading or hear-say and those of Germany though something more disquieted yet it was seldom from within but by Projects of Union with other Churches under a different kind of Polity as well as of different opinions in some points of Religion It is to be wish'd that the Churches of the Ausburg Confession as they took care to preserve the Antient form of Church Governmet had been also a little more careful in the point of Ordination For their Bishops though they have the same authority with Diocesans yet were at first ordain'd but by Presbyters and the Principles of those Churches touching the right of ordination are so loose that I believe those of the Presbyterian Discipline will hardly allow them Hunnius defending their Ordinations says the power is in the Church diffusive and that it may be conveyed not only by Bishops or Presbyters but by Deacons or any body else if the Church think fit and I am afraid the Practice of some of those Churches is not otherwise to be justifi'd But before this Lutheran Reformation was that of the Bohemians not that of the Calixtins only but the Vnitas fratrum Bohemorum whose Churches were govern'd by Diocesan Bishops and where Discipline was so far from being Impossible Commenii Hist Eccles Slav. p. 32. notwithstanding the Dioceses were very large that they were perhaps the best Govern'd Churches in the world Bucer speaking of this Government says haec verò est Coelestis potius quam Ecclesiastica in Terris Hierarchia and Calvin was so taken with this Government as well as Discipline that he looks upon their Governing and ordaining Pastors as no inconsiderable blessing Ep. ad Pastor Bohem. Neque Vero parvo est estimandum quod tales habent Pastores a quibus Regantur Ordinentur and those were their Bishops as may be seen in that Account they gave of themselves in Ratio Disciplinae Ordinisque Ecclesiastici in Vnitate fratrum Bohemorum printed at Lesna 1632. and afterwards at the Hague by Commenius 1660. Whoever would know more of these Episcopal Diocesan Churches may consult Lasitius or the short Accout of Commenius the then only Remaining Bishop of those Churches And these had such Bishops as were not only invested with the full Authority of Diocesans over several Churches but such as had been ordain'd according to the Canons of the Ancient Church Stephanus accito Episcopo altero c. Commen Hist p. 24. by the Bishops of the Waldenses who derived themselves by an uninterrupted succession from the Apostles It is time now to Return to the Principal Design which was to shew how no other form of Government can secure the Church from Heresie Schism and Contention any more than Episcopacy and that those Churches which put themselvs under new Models of Government and discipline have been excercis'd with Schism Heresie and Sedition no less than those under Episcopacy The Churches which follow'd the Reformation of Zuinglius had at first no Government nor discipline that was properly Ecclesiastical All authority rested in the Civil Magistrate and the Ministers did only preach and administer the Sacraments without excluding any It was from this practice I suppose that the Divines of that way came to speak generally so loosely of the power of the Keys making it all to consist in preaching without any regard to Ecclesiastical discipline But the Licentiousness that followed this defect of Discipline and Government soon open'd the eyes of the Ministers who Complain'd passionately of the Increase of Libertinism under pretence of Reformation and endeavour'd to make the people sensible that there is more required to make a true Protestant than to Renounce the Pope and Transubstantiation and that the Notion of a Church did imply something more than a Company of sound believers met together to hear a Sermon Calvin a person of extraordinary Abilities was one of the first that observ'd and Complain'd of this defect in the Reformation and endeavour'd to Remedy it in the Church where he was Pastour by Establishing an Ecclesiastical Government Baza vit Calv. and that perhaps not such as he thought most perfect and absolute but such as the Circumstances of the place would bear The people of Geneva were sufficiently prejudic'd against Episcopacy having turn'd out their Bishop who had likewise a title to be their Prince and to have talk'd of Introducing a Bishop there would have sounded as harsh as the mention of a King would have done to the Romans after the expulsion of Tarquin But suppose they could have been Reconcil'd to the name and the office upon assurance it should not exceed its proper bounds it is possible Calvin might look upon it as too Invidious a proposal to his Church for fear of being understood to recommend himself and to affect dominion over his Brethren Episcopacy then seeming Impracticable in that place he devised a form of Government that should be more popular and consequently more acceptable the Ministers were to be all of equal Authority and were in the first place to govern the Church and with them a certain number out of the Laity under the Title of ruling Elders were to have a share in the Church Government and this mix'd Council without any Bishop was to exercise all Ecclesiastical Censures and Jurisdiction One would think this would be unexceptionable but it proved otherwise for this frame was no sooner begun but it was presently broken in pieces and the Author banish'd But his Reputation abroad made them reflect upon this Treatment with shame and desire him to return With him this Government was restor'd which was so far from remedying all disorders that it became the occasion of some very great ones and the State of that Church as it is discrib'd by Calvin in his letters to his friends and by Beza in his life was most lamentably distracted and this Government was made odious in the beginning of it by very harsh and rigorous proceedings The Expulsion of Castellio a man of Great and Polite Learning was too Invidious The opposing of the Senate in the Election of a Minister to such a point of heat and Contention Beza vit Calv. as to endanger the peace of the City wanted little of Sedition Calvins quarrels with Perinus came to that height that the Council of the City had almost cut one anothers throats about it Siquidem eousque semel in ipsâ curiâ deventum est coactis Diacosiis pene exertis jam Ensibus parum abfuerit quin mutuis caedibus ipsam Curiam cruentarent And what was the reason of so dangerous a Contention No Article of the Creed was in danger It was not for any part of the faith that they contended so
flattering but was compos'd again by the same Person to whose prudence the Unity of that Church is in great measure to be ascribed as the Instrument of the Divine goodness towards them for after his death the peace of those Churches was very much endangered by a new Controversie about Universal Redemption and the Nature of Original sin and the Dissention was not far from a Schism Cameron though he had clear'd himself of all suspition of Heterodoxy at his promotion to the Professourship of Saumur had the bad fortune after his death to fall into suspition of Heresie and his Scholars and followers were brought into no small troubles What had been allow'd by the Synod of Dort as sound Doctrine in the English Divines was now call'd in question in France and what was approv'd in Camero while he was alive Acts Authentiques per Blondel became dangerous and Heretical after his death It is hardly to be imagin'd what great contention this little and to some Imperceptible difference did create or how many Synods it employ'd Amyraldus Dallee Blondel and several others were look'd upon as little better than Hereticks and their Doctrine about Original sin condemn'd in a National Synod at Charenton and an Abjuration of it requir'd by all those that were to enter into holy orders and a stricct Injunction was layd on all Ministers upon pain of all the Censures of the Church not to preach any other wise of this point than according to the Common opinion And all this stir as Blondel deduces it p. 50. was rais'd from little private quarrels between some of the Profesours and from the discontents of the University of Montauban that they of Saumur should be favour'd too much in the distribution of such Pensions as the Churches furnish'd for the maintenance of their Universities and they thought themselves wrong'd and undervalued because their Salaries were less We see that lesser matters than a Bishoprick can sometimes disturb the Church and that others as well as Bishops shops can prosecute their private piques to the hazard of the Publick peace and that there will be contentions where there is no Episcopacy If we Consult the History of the Reform'd Churches in the Vnited Netherlands We shall be farther confirm'd that Heresie Schifm and contention may arise under other forms of Church Government as well as Episcopal and the parity of Ministers cannot remove all occasions of Strise and Disturbance and many eminent men of that Church are said to be very sensible of this truth and to look upon Episcopacy as the most effectual remedy in the world for their Divisions The Church Government of that Country was not establish'd without great trouble and difficulty and occasion'd no small disturbance the Ministers taking an authority to themselves of setling the Church as they thought fit without the consent and Concurrence of the Magistrates The first Synod they held was at Dort assembl'd without the permission of the Civil Authority Brandt Hist vande Reform l. xi where the Heidelberg Catechism was impos'd upon all Ministers and they were farther obliged to subscribe the Netherland Confession and to submit themselves to the Presbyterian Government It seems the Bishops are not the only Church Governours in the world that require subscriptions and Canonical obedience Nor were the Ministers only bound to subscribe but all the Lay Elders and Deacons were to declare Assent and Consent to the Articles of Discipline The Civil Magistrate was very much offended with these Proceedings and would by no means confirm no not so much as take into Consideration the acts of this Synod but said they would take care of Religion themselves and appoint Commissioners to put in and put out Preachers as they should think Expedient and as for their Consistories and Classes they declared they knew of no Power they had The Ministers on the other side Preach'd up their own authority and vilifi'd the States calling them in derision Stakes But the effect of this Contention about Presbyterian Government was very sad for while they were quarreling about Jurisdiction the Spaniards made great Advances and took several Towns in Holland The Synod of Middlebrough An. 1581. Bâ—and 13. was held likewife without the Magistrates leave and the Historian observes that the Eccleslasticks were thought by several to have extended their Jurisdiction here a little too far and to the prejudice of the Civil power Here they distributed their Churches throughout the Country digesting them into Classes and Classes into Synods Here likewise they excluded the Magistrates from any share in the Election of Church Officers and oblig'd all Ministers Elders Deacons Professors of Divinity and School-masters to subscribe the Netherland Confession which was little so known there that several members of this Synod had never seen it and began to enquire what Confession of 37 Articles it was that they talk'd of They order'd likewise that the form of Excommunication should be I deliver thee up to Satan something more harsh than the Anathema's of Bishops and their Councils Here also they condemn'd Kaspers Colhaes Minister of Leyden for unsound Doctrine But he would not stand to the judgment of this Synod that was Judge and Party both and this occasion'd strange disorders in the Church of Leyden which continu'd still a kindness for their Pastor notwithstanding this condemnation and the Excommunication of the Synod at Harlem However prevail'd they so far that he was turn'd out of his Ministry and forc'd to betake himself to a mean employment This caus'd great discontents among the Common people many of them fell off to other opinions and there was no Communion administred in that City for a year and a half and when there was a Communion in the year 82 there were not a hundred persons present at it If these Synods had been Episcopal what Clamour might we have expected What Animadversions But others can disturb the Church as well as Bishops The Synod held at Harlem did but encrease their confusion For by the Excommunication of Colhaes and other proceedings they brought all things to that confusion that the Prince of Orange told the States roundly that unless they took some care to settle the Church which was daily more and more distracted by the Presbyterial Synods they must expect that the Reform'd Religion and their Country would be unavoidably lost They according to his advice empower'd Commissioners to settle the affairs of Religion which establishment the North Holland Ministers in a Synod at Amsterdam publickly protested against At Dort Herman Herberts Minister of the place was accused of having caus'd a Book of D. George to be be printed which he absolutely deny'd and the proceedings were so extraordinary that one of the Commissiners that sate with the Classes upon that occasion said that he had read much of the Spanish Inquisition H. van Nespen but that he never was in any place where he saw so lively and effectual a representation of it as
here An. 1586. A National Synod was call'd to sit at the Hague by the order of the Earl of Leicester without the States and here they insisted upon their Ecclesiastical authority and excluded the Magistrate from any voyce in the chusing of Church Officers That a National Synod should meet every third year without the Magistrates leave and subscription was more strictly press'd upon the Ministers under pain of being turn'd out of their Churches But these were but slight differences in respect of that which follow'd that fatal Schism I mean occasion'd by the Arminian Controversie The seeds of it had lain in that Church from the beginning and Colhaes â—uyrhuis Herberts I'o â—hert and divers oâ—hers had declared themselves against the received confession and Catechism of those Churches long before Arminius But his authority and learning bore up against the Current of the contrary Doctrine that had overborn such as before that had oppos'd it See the preface to the Acts of the Synod of Dore. and now the condition of those Churches was most deplorable for several years together there was nothing but perpetual Dispute and Claâ—rour Conference after Conference and Synod after Synod Appeal upon Appeal At last it came to Tumult and Sedition to Confusion and blood-shed Ministers were turn'd out of their charges some Banish'd Vid. vit Episcopii others set upon by the Rabble and in danger to be torn in pieces Nothing can be imagined more distracted than the state of those Churches was for a long whâ—le together At last after all the interposing and good offices of other Reform'd Churches but without effect a general Synod was resolved upon where the Remonstrants were condemn'd and the Civil Magistrate seconded this sentence by another more severe whereby they Banish'd the Ministers that would not subscribe many of them were imprison'd and in short Bâ—shops could not have procur'd greater rigour and severity which here seem'd to be more grievous where every body else had liberty of Conscience and Jews were allow'd a publick exercise of their Religion And yet these very points in difference that not only rent these Churches in pieces but shook those of France who confirm'd the Decrees of the Synod of Dort and turn'd out such Ministers as favoured the condemn'd Doctrine and requir'd subscriptions to the contrary opinions of such as were to be admitted into the Clergy these points I say have not had the same unhappy influence upon some other Churches that were Episcopal Men in our Church have taught very differently of these matters and yet the Unity of the Church hath been still preserv'd notwithstanding this difference of opinions which shews that Episcopal government is not so subject to Schism as Mr. B. would make the world imagine and to say the truth ours has been troubled with no other such difference but what hath been made in opposition to the very form of Government it self and there is no wonder if it seems so difficult to heal it since the Church can no otherwise satisfie these men than by destroying the whole frame of its Government and order and it is strange any should expect it that did not believe all those under the rule of the Church to be Hypocrites These men talk much of Ceremonies and Liturgy but this is the least of the difference though it be most pretended because most useful to render the Governours of the Church odious for shutting men out of it for such Circumstances as these This makes most noise as a false Alarm commonly does but the real design is upon the Government Therefore those that fancy any Accomodation practicable upon any allowances in this part seem to my apprehension to mistake the disease for Alas It is not accomodation but Victory that these men aim at But to return to the Churches of Holland whose Schism gave occasion to this digression After the Synod of Dort though all means were us'd to suppress the Remonstrants yet they remain still in separate Assemblies and the unhappy breach continues to this day without any probability of being made up Vid. Spanbmite Ep. ad Amie When they had tir'd themselves and the world with this Controversie they were diverted with new matter of dispute the names of Voetius and Cocceius rather than any difference between their Doctrine disturb'd again the peace of those Churches And though the ground of the quarrel is scarce perceivable yet it is hardly to be imagin'd how great the Animosities are This indeed never came to a formal Schism yet it has divided those Churches into formal parties and in some occasions the quarrel seems of more than ordinary consequence and has great influence upon the Promotions of the Ministry and the Affections of several Cites are determin'd to this or that party And as these Presbyterian Churches have been afflicted with Schism and contentions so they have been sensible of the mischiefs of Heresie and labour more than any part of the Christian world under the Infamy of them Here the Ministers have no great Revenues nor dignities nor Power and here are no Patriarchs nor Bishops and yet Heresies makes a shift to thrive Arians Socinians Menonists Labadyists and diverse others they are neglected no general Councils disturb the enjoyment of their errors and yet they abound and are pertinacious Nor is it a wonder they take such deep root in Presbyterian Churches for of late like Storks they have affected a republican Church above all others and it is observable that in these last ages there have been no Hereticks that have not been likewise Anti-Episcopal and at the same time that they become enemies of the truth they declare war against the Bishops who are the Guardians of it If it be objected that our Country swarms with this Vermin too it ought to be considered from whence they came to be so rife among us It was the taking away of Episcopacy that opened such a door to errors and there were more Heresies started here in the space of four years after Bishops had been laid aside if Edwards reckons right than have been known in the Universal Church from the foundation of it to that time And those that fall into Herefie here do it commonly by degrees They begin with Schism and end in Enthusiasm and madness first they are Presbyterians and then if that dispensation be not spiritual enough they are improv'd in to Independents and from thence to the fifth Monarchy or Quakerism All the extravagant Heresies among us are but the spawns of the first Schism and the consequences of those Principles of Separation that draw them from the Communion of the Bishop The Church of Scotland has felt the Distractions occasion'd by this Parity of Ministers more than any of her Neighbours and though it has not been divided by a formal Schisin 'till of late yet from the first setting up of this Government it has been exercis'd with perpetual contentions and Tumults and Sedition about Church Discipline
Mr. B. tells us that Treatise of Episc p. 1. p. 164. The Church of Scotland is an Eminent instance that Churches which have no Bishops have incomparably less Heresie Schism wickedness and more concord than we have here For the concord of that Church it was much greater while it continu'd under Superintendents and Bishops than it has been since Andrew Melvil diiturli'd it with the Perfection of the Geneva Discipline and Government For a long time after all the Disputes about Religion were reduc'd into one point of Ecclesiastical sovereign jurisdiction which they disputed against the King and the Government with such perpetual Seditions and Treasons as at last engag'd three Kingdoms in most unnatural and bloody Wars which ended in the slavery of them all and particularly of those that were the first Incendiaries through the wise and just judgment of God What Schism there arose in the late times between the disciplinarians and the rest and what disturbances the same sort of men have given of late is too well known to need a relation and the field Conventieles still witness But because Mr. B. would perswade us that there is such great concord to be found in Anti-Episcopal Churches and particularly in this I will give one Instance that shall let the reader see how far this way is from establishing a lasting Concord and withal how this parity that is pretended is really no more than a pretence the leading men against Bishops commonly assuming greater authority and exercising it with greater Absoluteness and more Impatient of being oppos'd and contradicted than any Bishops who are legally Invested with power There happen'd a great division in the Presbytery of St. Spotswood H. of Scot. 1.6 Andrews about preferring a Minister to the Church of Luchars There were two pretenders and Melvil with a few more was for one and the rest who were three times as many in number were for the other Melvil looking upon himself as an Apostle and disdaining to be overrul'd by the Majority of the Presbytery left the place and with his six Presbyters that follow'd him made another Synod by himself and both these Presbyters like Anti. Popes Issu'd out their several pleasures The Gentlemen of the Parish upon this were divided into factions some holding with one and some with the other which occasioned great scandal and the heats grew to that height that the Presbytery was forc'd to be divided one part of it to sit at St. Andrews the other at Couper the one under the Influence of Melvil and the other under that of Th. Buchanan so hard it was for one Presbyterial Diocese to hold two Topping Presbyters The observation that follows the relation of this difference in Spotswood is very remarkable Thus was that great strife pacifi'd which many held to be Ominous p. 386. and that the Government which in the beginning did break forth into such Schisms could not long continue for this every man noted That of all men none could worse endure Parity and lov'd more to Command than they who had introduc'd it into the Church This sort of men did afterwards make not only a formal Schism and insurrection against those Bishops plac'd over them by authority but after that Episcopacy was abolish'd in Scotland could be as little at peace among themselves They were in the first place divided about the receiving the King and the Conditions to be Impos'd upon him and in this they proceeded even to the Excommunication of one another After his Majesties Restauration when Episcopacy was again establish'd in the Church the Presbyterians who separated from the Communion of the Bishops were divided yet among themselves some accepting the Kings Indulgence and Licence to Preach others renouncing it as derogatory to the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and upon this they parted Communion Nor could these resolute Renouncers of Indulgence agree yet among themselves about the measure of their Contempt of authority some were content to Conventicle and Preach against the Kings order and carry their Contempt no farther the others under Cameron were more fiercely Zealous and thought themselves oblig'd by the Covenant to attempt the deposing of the King as they manifested besides their several Writings to that effect by two formal Rebellions These are the fruits this the Peace and Unity that Presbytery and the Scotch Covenant produc'd the Covenant so much Idolz'd once by our Presbyterians of England and which notwithstanding all the Mischiefs that attended it here and do still issue from it in Scotland they are yet loth to renounce though required so to do by all the Authority in the Nation But what is all this to Congregational Episcopacy It is not Presbytery but this that Mr. B. Contends for He is for Bishops and would only pare off the superfluities of their Dioceses and reduce them to their first bounds To which I answer First That Mr. B.'s Congregational Bishop and Parish Presbyter is all one and he has taken so much pains to prove it in his Treatise of Episcopacy that it were an injury to his sincerity to question his opinion of it But Secondly That there was some necessity to say all this of Presbyterian Governments being subject to Heresies and Schisms as well as Episcopal because Mr. B. himself had made the comparison between them and charg'd all Schisms and Heresies upon Diocesan Episcopacy as the fault of the constitution it was therefore necessary to see how all sorts of Governments of the Church as well as of the State may be disturb'd by evil and factious men and are subject to great inconveniences when they fall into evil hands But then what Schisms can be imputed to this Congregational way This cannot well be answered without asking a question was this Congregational Episcopacy ever establish'd in any Churches If not it will be as hard a matter to shew what mischief it has occasion'd as it is to discover what Civil Wars happen'd in Plato's Common-wealth or to reckon the Differences of Sects of Philosophers in the College of Atlantis If this Government has been set up any where it is but naming the time and place and it may be that some account may be given of the Schisms and Heresies that molested it Mr. B. contends it was the first Apostolical and Scripture constitution and shews at large that a Church was but one Congregation and a Bishop could have but one Church Well but there were Schisms and Heresies then and St. Paul makes frequent complaints of them Or if this sort of Government continu'd for some Centuries after as Mr. B. would make it appear it must be likewise granted that there never were greater and more Blasphemous Heresies than in those times and for Schisms they could not be avoided it seems and though a Diocese were but one Congregation the Presbyters could not agree who should govern that but divided it into separate Assemblies But to this Mr. B. Answers 2 Dispute about Ordination p. 329. That
the Multitude of Sects and Heresies that sprung up in the first and second and third ages of the Church was no dishonour to the form of Government then us'd in the Church as should encourage any man to dislike or change it Why then does he endeavour to dishonour Diocesan Episcopacy upon this very reason and why does he reproach it with the Schisms and Heresies that happen'd under that government But no man can reason against Mr. B. better than himself does in the very same Paragraph it is but taking away the word Prelacy and putting in the stead of it Congregational Episcopacy and then nothing can be more full to our purpose If it was Congregational Episcopacy that was us'd then Swarms of Sects and Heresies may come in notwithstanding Congregational Episcopacy even in better hands than yours But if it was not Congregational Episcopacy that was then the Government but Diocesan Episcopacy Heresies are no more a shame to that Government now I wish Mr. B. had consider'd this place when he conceiv'd the first design of his Church History perhaps he might have seen the Inconsequence of his design to dishonour Bishops and their Councils from a long deduction of Schisms and Heresies which he lays at their door and have forborn giving this just offence to all that have any real concern for the Honour of Christian Religion which is no less concern'd in all these disgraces than Episcopacy Yet I shall willingly discharge Congregational Episcopacy from any Imputation of those evils that disturb'd the Church in the first times and be content Mr. B. should lay it all to the account of Diocesan Government which I shall shew at large in the next Chapter to have been the Constitution of the Primitive Churches in the mean time I must enquire a little farther after the Glorious fruit of this Congregational Episcopacy If the Ancient Church was quite a stranger to this kind of Episcopacy it will be a harder matter to find it in latter ages since Mr. B. tells us that Bishopricks were enlarged so enormously in process of time that several Cathedrals were turn'd into Chapels and instead of one Congregation every Bishop had several Scores and Hundreds And the Reformation where it retain'd Bishops made them all Diocesans and set them over several Congregational Churches thus the Bohemians Denmark Sweden and some parts of Germany besides these three Kingdoms Where they Abolish'd Episcopal Government they threw away the Titles too so that if Mr. B.'s kind of Episcopacy obtain'd any where it must be under another name therefore that we may discover it it will be necessary to give a short desoription of it and then we may possibly find it to have acted under the disguise of another name This Congregational Bishop then Treatise of Ep. which Mr. B. makes so much a do about is the same thing with an Elder as he tells us and takes great pains to prove it 2. This Elder has no necessity of any ordination by any Bishop or Elders but having abilities and inclination to exercise them in the service of the Church 2. Disp p. 164.165 he may Interpret it to be sufficient authority to preach Administer the Sacraments c. Nay is oblig'd to do the Office of a Bishop or Elder 1. Disp 〈◊〉 throughout Treatise of Ep. p. 33. 3. That this Elder can Govern but one Congregation and there may be more than one of such Bishops belonging to that one Congregation 4. That this Congregation is not to be so great as that of Israel that had 600000 men but is to be restrain'd to the compass of personal Communion in hearing praying and receiving the Sacraments 5. That this Church and Bishop is independent and is invested with all Ecclesiastical power within it self 3. Disp p. 347. So that no other Bishop or Synod has any power or Superiority over it but by its own consent and then consequently no particular Congregation is obli'd to enter into any association at all but may refuse to submit to any Synod nay if it be left in this liberty and Independence by Christ it ought not to engage with any associations as should be prejudicial to that original liberty and consequently set and determin'd Synods are to be avoided and since they are only prudential means of preserving good correspondence between neighbour Churches it is enough they should be occasional And what is all this but the Picture of Independency and the Congregational Episcopacy upon Examinations proves nothing else but Congregational Eldership What a Healing constitution this is I shall shew first by matter of fact Secondly I shall shew the natural tendence of such a Government to endless discord and division that the Schisms and Heresies that it has hatch'd were not accidental but proceeded from the nature of the Government it self 1. Some derive this Congregational way from Socinus Case of the Church of Engl. p. 249. who perhaps thought it the most suitable to his design of spreading the poyson of his Heresie and to prevent all dangers that might threaten it from the condemnation of Synods Especially considering the late Union that had been made between all the Reform'd Churches of the Greater and lesser Poland in the Synod of Sendomiria Others deduce it from Ramus and Morellus who plac'd all Ecclesiastical authority in the people and by making the Government of the Church to be a Democracy made way for Congregational Independence This put the French Churches to the trouble of several Synods Thorndykes right of the Ch. p. 67. which condemned this Doctrine as pernicious to the Unity of Christian Churches and derogating from the honour of Religion Mr. Thorndyke conjectures that it came over hither with Ramus his Philosophy And that his credit in our Vniversities was the first means to bring this conceit in Religion among us For about the time that he was most cryed up in them Brown and Barrow published it And R. Baly who indeavours to relieve the English Presbyterians from the imputation of having begot this ill-faced Child Disswasive p. 12.13 as he calls it would fain also Father it upon Morellius who as he thinks learned from the Disciples of Munster this Ecclesiastical Anarchy But whoever were the Authors of it and none of those yet named can give it any great reputation it is certain that the Fruits of it are to be found only amongst our selves where it happened to take root and grow up into something considerable The Brownists or those of the separation laid the first Foundations of Independency among us and though they had so few followers at first not exceeding one Congregation so as not to have any occasion of entering into any measures of a general Unity yet they declared for the independence of Congregations and that no Diocesan Prelacy or Presbytery had any Authority over Congregational Churches Rob. Brown who gave the name to the Brownists though Bolton had led that way to
of his Sister in Law and the contention grew so sharp that the Pastor Excommunicated his Brother notwithstanding all the mediation of the Presbytery and afterwards his father too upon the same quarrel I must confess I never saw any thing more extravagant than this contention as it is related by the sufferer with great particularity the Impertinence the Childishness of the whole Transaction is so extraordinary that a man cannot reflect upon it without compassion as men would the strange and extravagant humours of Bedlam After this breach follow'd another between F. Johnson the Pastor and Ainsworth the Doctor of the Church who divided it yet once more and excommunicated one the other Johnson and his party quit the place and go to Embden where this Church dissolv'd and the other part at Amsterdam after the death of Ainsworth remain'd a long while destitute of any Officers Smith who had transported a new Church to Leyden left it and turn'd Anabaptist and these Congregational Churches were every where just expiring when Robinson revived them with new and more Commodious principles though the Government were still the same And now part of Robinson's Church with his new amendments being carried over to New England in a short time over-spread the whole Country for the old Planters having almost lost all sence as well as neglected all exercise of Religion did easily give into this new Model and so the whole Country i. e. as many as were of any Communion submitted to this form though the greater part were of no Church at all by reason of the difficulty of admittance into this yet what were the fruits of this Congregational Episcopacy in this flourishing condition 1. The neglect of Converting the Pagans which their Minsters own without any shame or remorse which seems to have proceeded not so much out of their principle to make all Saints which should be admitted to their Communion though that was pretended by them for a reason against general Conversion as out of the nature of their constitution for the Pastor of a Congregation thought it not worth his while to go and gather Congregations over whom he was to have no authority and such as must be committed to he knows not whom Nor were these Soveraign Congregations Short story of the rise p. 32.13 2. much more useful for the preservation of truth and Unity than they were for the Propagation of the Gospel For they soon fell into horrid kinds of errours and blasphemies that the Holy Ghost personally dwelt in them That their own Revelations of particular events were as Infallible as the Scriptures That sin in a child of God should never trouble him That souls were mortal that the Resurrection of the dead was not to be understood literally with several such hideous doctrines Some extravagant women as Hutchinson and Dyer did affront these Churches and drew several of these Congregational Bishops and the leading men among them unto their party and to countenance their errors that were no less Monstrous than the births they are said to have had These began to affect purer ordinances and despis'd their setled Churches as legal Synagogues Williams and several others declar'd they could not conform and would have the benefit of Separate Congregations But after all these men had no better remedies against Schism and Heresie than those they rail'd at so much here the Sword and power of the Civil Magistrate Williams was banish'd and makes woful complaints of his hard usage Hutchinson and her company being also forc'd farther into the Country was with her followers slain by the Indians nay some have been so Barbarous as to destroy Quakers upon the account of their Religion and in short there is no place nor Trade nor dealing for those that oppose their Churches and their Excommunication is rendred terrible even to those who are not of their Churches upon the account of the Civil deprivation that attends it From New-England this Congregational way return'd back again to Holland where notwithstanding all the advantages it might have had by some farther experience in New-England and the late amendments yet had no better success than when it was planted there under the name of Brownism The first Independent Church there was at Rotterdam setled by H Peters an Apostle suitable to the constitution Bailies Diss Chap 4. to him succeeded Bridges and Ward but Simpson coming thither and renouncing his Ordination and reducing himself to the state of a private member was not long satisfi'd the Pastors not allowing the private members sufficient liberty of Prophesying Whereupon Simpson erects a new Congregation of his own and the contentions between these Congregations were extream fierce and Scandalous Ward is turn'd out for favouring Simpson in his pretensions to Liberty of Prophesying and at last with much ado the business is made up by the interposing of 4 Brethren of other Congregations which they call'd a Synod but that peace lasted not long for some time after they were all dissipated and at this time I do not know of any one Congregation of this way in all that Country At Arnheim where they setled a small Congregation they had no better success for they fell into strange Heresies and Extravagances setting up Chiliasm and Blasphemy That God is the author of sin and the like and now their remains not the least footstep of their Church or Doctrine in that place But no place can furnish a more Tragical History of this Congregational Episcopacy than England for this opinion taking new root here about the beginning of the late Wars produc'd such confusion as nothing but the miraculous hand of God could have ever reduc'd to any settlement or order He that would see the Influence it had on the Civil Government the growth and prevailing of it in the Army the Slavery of the Nation which immediately follow'd the Murder of the late King and the Abolition of Kingly Government the Shedding of so much Innocent blood under the formality of Justice though against all the Laws of this Land and those of God and man he that would see how they set up an Usurper and when he was remov'd by a happy providence how they oppos'd all the means of Union and settlement may find enough to entertain his wonder in Walkers History of Independency and the Histories of those times But for the Influence it had upon Religion there would be no end of relating the strange confusions the Heresies and Schisms that this way brought amongst â—s Vid Ed. Gangraena Tho. Edwards gives some account of them for about 4 years and reckons near two hundred several strange opinions with which they infected this Kingdom nor did they only beget Heresies but learn'd to Cherish them us Baylies Diss p. 93. for though this kind of Church Government did open the way to Anabaptism Antinomianism Familism and many more Heresies yet the Independents commonly disown'd and Excomunicated such as fell â—â—to them But
Apostles which were those Bishops he had given a Catalogue of before And Lastly speaking of the Bishops to whom the Apostles committed the government of those Churches they had planted he makes them much ancienter than those Hereticks that disturbed the Church and draws an argument from their Apostolick institution and their constant succession in that office against those that brought in new Doctrines Tertullian makes use of the same Argument Quapropter eis qui in Ecclesia sant Presbyteris obandire oportet his qui successionem habent ab Apostolis sicut oftendimus qui cum Episcopatus successione Charisma veritatis certum acceperunt l. 7. c. 42. and requires of the Hereticks a succession from the Apostles and Origen speaking of Bishops makes them likewise to succeed the Apostles in their office Omnes enim ii valde posterieres quam Episcopi quibus Episcope Ecclesias tradiderunt In short it was the opinion of all the Ancients And Aerius is looked upon by Epiphanius if not as a Heretick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Origen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 1. yet at least as an innovator for maintaining an equality between Bishops and Presbyters For if the Bishop were only the first Presbyter and the opinion of the Church was at that time that there was no Original difference between the Orders Haeres 75. Epiphanius could not have observed this as a singularity in Aerius therefore the common opinion then being contrary to this notion they must apprehend Episcopacy to be the Apostolical Order derived from the Apostles by a succession First to those Assistants we have been speaking of and from them to the Succeeding Bishops I shall conclude with the testimony of Theodoret whose judgment and knowledg of Ecclesiastical Antiquity was greater than ordinary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So also Clemens is said to be an Apostle by Clemens Alexand. Strom. l. 4. He makes Bishops at first to be called Apostles and Presbyters to be called Bishops and from such Apostles as Epaphroditus who was Bishop of Philippi Bishops are descended according to his opinion but that out of modesty the Succeeding Bishops changed the title of Apostles for that of Bishops and this for some time after was common to them with Presbyters though the offices then were manifestly distinct All this considered I cannot but wonder that the conjecture of St. Jerom concerning the Original of Episcopacy against all the sense of Antiquity and the traditions of particular Churches concerning the Succession of their Bishops gathered by Eusebius should obtain not only among the professed Adversaries of that Order but even among many that retain it therefore for a further Confirmation of what we have said concerning the Original of Bishops I shall indeavour to remove that prejudice which the Authority of Jerom has done it who has advanced a singular notion in this particular which I shall first set down as briefly as I can and afterwards examine the grounds of it St Jerom observing the name of Bishop and Presbyter used in Scripture promiscuously and without distinction concludes Idem est ergo Presbyter qui Episcopus antequam Diaboli instinctu studia in Religione fierent communi Presbyterorum Concilio Ecclesiae gubernahantur Postquam vero unisquisque eos quos Baptizaverat suos put a bat esse non Christi in toto Orbe decretum est ut unus de Presbyteris electus caeteris superponeretur ad quem omnis Ecclesiae cura pertineret Schismatum Semina tollerentur Hieron in Titum c. 1. that the Office was not not then distinct but that Bishop and Presbyter were but two names to signifie the same order but when divisions were occasioned in the Church by this parity between the Presbyters the Churches who were governed before by a Colledg of Presbyters for to remedy that evil consented that one should be chosen out of the rest who should be set over them and be called more peculiarly their Bishop to whom the care of the whole Church should appertain that all the seeds and occasions of Schism might be taken away But that St. Paul and the Ancients make Bishops and Presbyters to signifie the same thing This is in short the opinion of St. Jerom I will in the next place examine the ground of it Apud veteres idem Episcopi Presbyteri erant idem Ep. ad Ocean Cum Apostolus perspicue doctat cosdem esse Presbyteros quos Episcopos id Ep. ad Evagr. It is manifest by the allegations of Jerom in defence of his opinion that it was grounded chiefly upon those places of Scripture where Bishops are called Presbyters or Presbyters Bishops and then from the synonomy of the names concludes to an Identity of the Office and then he adds One may perhaps think this to be my sence and not that of the Scripture Phil. 1.1 let him read the Apostles words to the Philippians his salutation of that Church with the Bishops and Deacons which he confirms by Acts 20.27 28. Heb. 13.17 1 Pet. 5.1 And now suppose all this is granted that Presbyters are called Bishops and they again Presbyters yet I am afraid it will hardly follow that they are the same and some of those texts cited by St. Jerom are sufficient proofs to the contrary for that of Peter The Elders or Presbyters among you who am my self an Elder 1 Pet. 1.5 if the reasoning of St. Jerom hold will prove likewise that Apostles were no more than ordinary Presbyters and if Peter were but a Presbyter we shall be at a great loss to find any Bishops in Scripture that were superior to Presbyters and to the same purpose Jerom cites those texts of St. John The Elder to the elect Lady 2 John 1. 3 John 1. The Elder to his beloved Gaius which plainly overthrows his Argument for if an Apostle were of an office superior to a Presbyter properly so called and yet is called Presbyter in Scripture then Bishops might be of a superior degree to Presbyters though they might some time be so called or if it be replyed that these Presbyters again are called Bishops it does not alter the case at all for so some Messengers of Churches are called Apostles as Andronicus and Junia who were of note among the Apostles Rom. 16. Besides there were several of the Fathers that observed this Synonomy of Bishop and Presbyter as well as Jerom but could not observe the necessity of his inference that therefore there were then no Bishops but Presbyters Chrysost in Ep. ad Phil. c. 1. Chrysostom confesses the titles were confounded but he takes notice likewise that all other Ecclesiastical titles were so as well as these that Bishops were sometimes called Deacons and that Timothy being a Bishop was commanded to fulfil his ministry or his Deaconship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor did he wonder at this at all since in his own time the Bishops when they wrote to Presbyters or Deacons
owned them as Brethren and called them their fellow Presbyters or fellow Deacons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he did not take at all to derogate from the dignity of their Order no more than the modesty of the Apostles calling themselves Presbyters or Deacons could be a prejudice to the Preheminence of their Apostleship which they took care to vindicate when they were forced to it by the ambition of some teachers that entred into competition with them Theodor. ubi supra in Ep. ad Phil. ad Tim. Tit. Theodoret observ'd the same promiscuous use of Bishop and Presbyter but could yet see that there were Bishops then superior to Presbyters and in that time properly called Apostles The Greek Scholiast Theophylact and Oecumenus saw the same but were still of opinion that the Episcopal office was alwayes distinct from the Presbyters so that the ground upon which Jerom built his conjecture was rejected by the current of Ecclesiastical writers who could discern the preheminence of Bishops above Presbyters notwithstanding the names were confounded And yet this is the foundation upon which that conceit doth wholly stand all Jeroms allegations are to this effect all the additional confirmations of Salmasius and Blondel are no other than from the phrase of some of the Ancients who do not alwayes distinguish between Bishops and Presbyters but speak in the phrase of the Scriptures and yet there is nothing more evident than that at that time when these Authors writ Bishops and Presbyters were distinguished and excepting only Clemens Romanus Blondel and Salmasius do both acknowledg it But to return to Jerom Let us considet the account he gives of the Original of Episcopacy something more particularly Before there were factions in Religion the Church was governed by Presbyters of equal Authority But what factions were these that gave birth to Episcopacy What time was that when the Church was under Presbyterian government He informs us in the following words Before it was said I am of Paul and I of Apollos and I of Cephas If we understand this according to the letter we must conclude this to be very early For this Epistle to the Corinthians where that division is mentioned was written in the year of Christ 52 And then this notion will do little service against Episcopacy for this will make it of Apostolick institution Besides I do not see how it can be true for the Church was now Governed by Apostles and not by Presbyters and if in most Cities there were no particular Bishop ordained yet it was because the Apostles were their Bishops and visited them to establish good order to ordain officers to punish the disorderly as they had opportunity and when they were not able to be present they sent their orders in writing and exercised Episcopal Authority at a distance But Blondel contends earnestly against the literal understanding of that passage and shews that Jerom could not mean this of the Church of Corinth but of some following Schism that sprung up after the example of this of Corinth His reason is that the passages whereby Jerom confirms his opinion of Bishops and Presbyters being the same were written after that Epistle to the Corinthians I have shewed before how probable it is that Jerom spoke without a figure and I need not repeat it here But these things you will say cannot cannot consist It may be so and it is not certain that Jerom when he wrote this passage did consider in what order of time St. Paul's Epistles were written what if it was an oversight for want of stating the Chronelogy of the New Testament If it be replyed that Jerom a man of that great learning and diligence and particular knowledg also in Chronology as we may conclude from his translating of Eusebius his Chronicon could hardly commit such a mistake It is to be considered that according to Blondels computation who makes him to speak of the second Century he will be as inconsistent with himself for suppose w◠should say that Jerom pointed to the year 135 as the precise time when the Presbyterian Government was changed how shall we reconcile Jerom to himself For in his Catalogue of Ecclesiastical writers he reckons several Bishops long before that time he makes James to be Bishop of Jerusalem statim post Ascensionem presently after the Ascension of Christ He calls Timothy Bishop of Ephesus he makes Anianus to succeed Mark in Alexandria in the eighth year of Nero. How shall we make all these things to consist did he think James to be no more than a simple Presbyter or Timothy could he fansie him to have no superiority over the Elders he was to ordain or to govern it is not possible or shall we say that in these relations he only transcribes out of others and that he does not speak his own opinion Well suppose this Either he must have some Authority for his opinion greater than that of such Authors he follows in that Book or not if he had none why should we believe him against all Antiquity Nay why should we believe so uncharitably of him as that he would deliver those things he did not believe without the least warning to the reader or that he would believe any matter of fact against all the tradition and History of the Church and yet have no Authority for it Or if he had any Authority from Ecclesiastical writers to ground his opinion upon why are they not produc'd Nay we may be assured in this point that he had none from that Catalogue of writers we are speaking of since he had seen none but what Eusebius had seen before him and cites as we have shewed before for the contrary opinion to confirm Episcopacy to be Apostolical and to have begun long before this time which Blondel would have Jerom thought to assign for its Original So that what way soever Jerom be understood of the Original of Episcopacy he is either manifestly inconsistent with himself or with Scripture and Antiquity But his Scripture Authorities you will say do sufficiently prove that Episcopacy was not yet introduced into the Church Nothing less unless they can prove that those Presbyteries were not governed by the Apostle that established them or by some Assistant or Suffragan or unless they can make out that Timothy Titus and divers others of that rank were no more than simple Presbyters After this time whensoever it was St. Jerom adds It was decreed over all the world that one of the Presbyters who governed before in common should be set over the rest In what Church in the whole world was this Decree Registred Who ever heard of it before St. Jerom What general Council passed it What Authority made it Authentick Or by what means did all the Churches in the World agree to this change What was there no opposition made against this alteration of the Apostolical Government What did all the little Ecclesiastick Aristocracies submit without dispute to this innovation We
titles are mentioned Besides the mentioning but these two sorts of Church Officers may be done only according to the distinction of the several imployments in the Church some being Ministerial others Governing though the latter may have a difference in the measure of their power in the administration of the same Government An evident instance of this we have in Clemens of Alexandria who notwithstanding he distribute the Clergy sometimes into Presbyters and Deacons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. strom l. 6. p. 283. Ed. Silburgii in 1 Tim. 1. as the Governing or Teaching and the Ministring Parts yet he does elsewhere acknowledg three Orders where he comes to speak more distinctly To the same effect are the words of the Greek Scholia collected out of the ancient Fathers that Bishops sometime in Scripture comprehend Presbyters too Because their offices are much alike 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sch. Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in 1 ad Tim. c. 3. Secundum Presbyterorum immo paene unum corum esse gradum Episcoperum they both administer the Sacraments they both teach and guide the Church and exercise discipline and the difference between them is not very great and what is that since they are both qualified for the same Acts Besides Ordination there iâ— hardly any thing but that they act in subordination to the Bishops in whom the principal Authority of Teaching and governing is placed and the Presbyters are the Assistants and supreâ—â— Council of the Bishop and both making as it were one Bench the directive governing part of the Church Salmasius would understand Chrysostom when he sayes the distance between Bishops and Presbyters was not great to speak of his own time only which is so impudent a construction that one would wonder how any man could be guilty of it since every one that has the curiosity to consult the place will discern the imposture and there is none of the Ancients that does more expresly distinguish between Bishops and Presbyters from the beginning than this eloquent Father and nothing can be more plain than that he speaks there of the constitution of Episcopacy and Presbytery without any regard to time for it is evident from him that he thought there was no difference in this particular between these orders of the Church in his time and that of the Apostles as any man may see that will but look into his comments upon Phil. 1.1 1 Tim. c. 1 Tom. 4. Ed. Savil. and c. 3. There are several other passages in that Epistle of Clemens that make mention of Presbyters appointed by the Apostles to guide the Church of the Presbyters of the Church of Corinth who were turned out by a faction but nothing that affords any argument against Episcopacy but such as the same answer may be extended to which I have given already to the allegations made from thence But to clear this business of the Church of Corinth as far as possible I will shew the state of it as it may be gathered from this Epistle and then take liberty to offer a conjecture concerning the form of its Government at that time and the occasion of the Schism The Church of Corinth in the first place is said here to be an Ancient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sound Church that for a long while had enjoyed all the benefits of peace and order and was had in great esteem and veneration of all those that knew it until at last having eat and drank and being enlarged and growing fat it lifted up the heel From this prosperity sprung all the evils of emulation and discord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the meaner sort setting themselves up against the better and silly men growing conceited and pragmatical set themselves against men of wisdom and experience But because in all the insolencies of the people against their Rulers there are commonly some persons of note that first animate the sedition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it was no otherwise here a few ambitious discontented men and they too not very extraordinary Persons for knowledg or endowments instigated the common people against their Governours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having popular parts they knew how to insinuate themselves into the multitude and to manage the credulity and passions of the people to their own advantage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and prejudice of the publick Therefore Clemens aggravates this sedition by comparing it with that mentioned by St. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when they cryed some for him some for Cephas some for Apollos for they were two of them great Apostles and the other one highly esteemed by the Church But now sayes he consider by what manner of men you are perverted And now what could give occasion to all this disorder What would these troublesome men have this is not expresly set down but such hints are scattered as are sufficient to ground a probable conjecture 1. They are said to be great Zealots about things not material or requisite to salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and hot disputants about such matters 2. They were such as magnified the power of the people and perswaded them that they had a right to turn out their Pastors therefore Clemens shews what course Moses took to establish the Priesthood and how the Apostles foreseeing there would be contentions about the name and office of a Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appointed chosen men which the people cannot with any justice turn out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. These men were ambitious disobedient despisers of their superiors and yet such as would bear rule themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and lift themselves up above their brethren and their discontents arising from the ill success or opposition their ambitious pretensions met with were probably the occasion of this Schism and therefore Clemens advises them to be content with their statition and chuse rather to be inconsiderable in the Church than to be never so great out of it than to be the heads and Bishops of a Faction From which Circumstances one may conjecture 1. That the Church of Corinth at this time had no Bishop the See being vacant by the death of the last or otherwise 2. That this sedition was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a contention about this Bishoprick 3. That the Clergy and people were divided about it the people setting up some they had a favour for whom the Clergy did not approve and when they could not be prevail'd with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the people persisting in their kindness towards these persons broke out into extremities and turned out part of the Clergy that would not comply with their choice Which is yet further confirmed from the directions which Clemens gives upon this account that these men would go regularly to compass their design by just means that they would enter in at the right gate and
in order to establish a general consent about communicating with Cornelius which was to be done in a full Council of all the Provinces the same that we have set down here from the Libellus Synodicus Another African Council whose Epistle to Fidus about the Baptism of Infants is still extant Ap. Cypr. Ep. 59. Aug. â—â—â—tr duâ—â— Ep. â—th l. 4. c. â— had sixty six Bishops as St. Augustine reports and names the number as extraordinary to add greater Authority to their Testimony That concerning Basilides and Martialis had but a very small number and the first about the validity of Baptism by a Heretick had no great number as we may conclude from the Inscription of it which shews that the Bishops of Numidia were not there and that it consisted only of the Province of Africa properly so called Cyp. Ep. 68.70 Ep. ad Januarium caeteros Episcopos Numidas And Cyprian though he mentions this Council in several places yet he sayes nothing of the number nay though he mentions it in the very same period with that which followed upon the same account yet he does not say any thing of the multitude of Bishops there but expresses that of the other because he thought it remarkable considering the number of Bishops at that time when we had met together the Bishops of Africa and Numidia seventy one in number Quid in Concilio cum complures adessemus decreverimus Et nunc quoque cum in unum convenissemus tam Provinciae Africae quam Numidiae Episcopi septuaginta unus Ep. 73. And this Council as if it had not been full enough is confirmed by another of greater extent and number Cum in unum convenissent Episcopi plurimi ex Provincia Africa Numidia Mauritania Sententiae 87. Episâ—c ap Cypr. T. 2. c. 15 consisting of eighty seven Bishops assembled out of the Provinces of Africa Numidia Mauritania and of these eighty seven two left their suffrages with Proxies and this is the most numerous of all the Councils in Cyprians time and the last of that Country we have any account of in that age This was the state of the Church of Africk and the number of their Bishops which if we compare with the vast increase of Christians there described by Tertullian and the Accession we may probably conceive to have been made after by the care and ministry of those good Bishops that governed that Church we must conclude the African Dioceses to be very large and to contain each of them not only a very great number of Believers but those also dispersed throughout a great extent of Country But it may be objected that all the Bishops of Africk might not meet in these Councils and therefore there is no computation to be made of their number from this observation To which I answer first that it is possible every individual Bishop might not be present yet the greatest part was and none was to absent himself without absolute necessity as of sickness or the like and the number of such would be inconsiderable And the Canons of that Church are very strict in this point in after times Codex Canon Afric c. 53. vid. Conc. Carth. 3. c. 43. and give strange incouragements to such as have otherwise but ill titles to their Bishopricks to hold them to the prejudice of him who has the juster title if the one frequent their Councils and the other neglect them On the otherside neglect of duty in this particular is made liable to deprivation Carth. 4. c. 21. Episcopus ad Synodum irâ— non sine satis gravi necessitate inhibâ—atur fic tamen ut in sua persona â—egatum mittat 2. In Cyprians time when the African Bishops had no dependance one upon another and no subordination to Metropolitans and the Decrees of their Synods did and could oblige only such as were present and consented to them it was necessary that all should come together or send their Proxy in order to establish that Unity among them which was the design of these Councils and yet all the number even of their most solemn Councils is not great 3. The practice of the African Church within half an à ge after this time confirms this inference from the number of the Bishops at Councils to the number of Dioceses in that Country for we find presently as Bishopricks were multiplyed by the Schism of the Donatists so Councils became much more numerous and whereas ninety was the greatest number that ever met there before this Schism afterwards we find several hundreds But however this inference will hold it is some comfort to find some others of great knowledge and judgement in antiquity to hold the conclusion that the number of Bishopricks was not great in Cyprians time which is assigned as a reason why his Province was so large Aucto numero sedium Episcopalium adeo ut omnibus invigilare haud facile esset Carthagâ—nensi Episcâ—po Carol. à S. Paulo Geogr. sacr p. 84. But to make this point clear beyond all exception I will indeavour to shew from unquestionable testimonies how Bishopricks came to be multiplyed in Africk more than in any other part and then notwithstanding this I will make it evident that those Bishops were Diocesans and some of them after the crumbling of that Church into small pieces had yet very large Dioceses not inferiour to most of ours for extent of Territory The Schism of the Donatists though it broke not forth with any violence till after Caecilianus was made Bishop of Carthage yet it was hatching long before in the time of Mensurius Aug. Ep. 163. when the faction was kept up under hand and had its Agents in several places But being grown ripe it took occasion from the promotion of Caecilianus to declare it self Secundus Tisnigensis being called to Carthage with his Numidian Bishops to set up another He came accordingly with about seventy Bishops all the strength he could make and perhaps more than his own Province could afford him These declare they would not communicate with Caecilianus and therefore set up Majorinus against him and in like manner where ever they could make the least party imaginable they appointed a Schismatical Bishop and not content to equal the number of the Catholicks they divided the ancient Dioceses and erected several new Episcopal seats that by the number of their Bishops at least they might appear to be Catholicks as they afterwards laid claim to the title upon that account It was not long after this breach Aug. Ep. 48. but we hear of unusual numbers of Bishops met in Council and one of the Donatists of Carthage according to Tychonius his relation vid. Valesii Dissert de Schism Donat had no less than two hundred and seventy Bishops which if it be true shews this change to have been very sudden though it cannot be so soon as Balduinus and out of him Baronius would understand it to be but of this I have
turn charge the Donatists with the very same Arts. For Sumnius Episcopus Tiguallensis idem dixit praesto sum in Dioecesi mea duo sunt Gaianus Privatus Alypius Episcopus Ecclesiae Catholicae dixit animadvertat nobilitas tua etiam in nostrorum Dioecesi eos ordinasse Episcopos Sumnius Bishop of Tigualla said I am here there are two set up against me in my Diocess and names them Alypius Bishop of the Catholick Church said Your Honour may please to observe that they have set up several Bishops in single Dioceses of ours Marcellinus V. C. Tribunus Notarius dixit ibid. Talia ab utrisque partibus constat objecta si haec vultis diligenter inquiri ad hanc causam superflue venisse noscemur Marcellinus Tribune and Notary the moderator of this Conference said It is evident that these things are objected on both sides if this be the business you would examine I am come hither to little purpose for this is not the thing I came about This check had so much effect that we do not find any make this impertinent complaint for a long while together but the opposite Bishops own the knowledg one of another and so the subscriptions are read and passed with little interruption At last Alypius not being able to hold out longer would make his general remark upon a great number of Donatist Bishops Alypius Episcopus Ecclesiae Catholicae dixit Scriptum sit illos omnes in villis vel in fundis esse Episcopos ordinatos non in aliquibus Civitatibus Alypius said Let it be recorded that all these were made Bishops in Villages and Hamlets and not in any Cities Petilianus Ep. dixit Sic tu multos habes per omnes Agros dispersos immo crebros ubi habes sane sme populis habes Petilianus Answered And you have many dispersed in the Country and of those several without any people to govern And now the reader may perceive by wha methods the Dioceses of Africk came to be so numerous Subscribed 266 14 present that did not subscribe absent of the Catholicks 120. Brevic Col. It was not the example of the Bees that made Bishops swarm so much there but an unhappy Schism and the affectation of number to support the credit of it then a necessity that lay on the Catholicks to add number to their weight and to turn the ballance on their side no less in point of reputation than it inclined of it self as to the justice of their cause and yet after all this the Dioceses were not so little as our Parishes Câ—ll Carth. Cog. 1.212.215 for reckoning after the utmost computation there will be a great difference for the number of subscribers on the part of the Catholicks in this Conference was two hundred sixty six vacant Sees sixty four absent two hundred and twenty in all five hundred and fifity Dioceses The Donatists had two hundred seventy nine subscribers said they had more absent than the Catholicks Augustine writes but 120 which probably is the truth Brev. Coll. c. 12. besides vacant Sees but mention no number Augustine shews from the confession of the Donatists that they had not not so great a number absent as the Catholicks because they had confessed that all their Bishops young and old were there excepting only those that were hindred by sickness ibid. and since by this Conference it appears every Diocess had two Bishops at least one with another the Dioceses will not be found to be very small and perhaps if the absents and vacancies of the Catholicks were to be examined they would not all have proved effective or not far to exceed the number of the Dioceses of Africk as they were after reduction by the Emperours edict at the time of Hunnericus his conquest of that Country which I have mentioned before out of the Notitia Africa published by Syrmond And yet in all this division several Bishopricks in Africk had the fortune to remain intire Conc. Carthag 3. c. 39. and so large that they were not inferiour to our Dioceses in England for largeness of Territory For in the whole Province of Tripolis there were but five Dioceses Codex Can. 49. Aâ— 397. Tripolitaâ—a Provincia abortu habet aram Philenorum lineam ab ea ductam ad Lybicas gentes ab occasu Tritonem flavium quâ— dividitur a Bizacend à Septentrione terminatur mari Africo à meridie desertis Libycis Carol. à S. Paul p. 91. at the time of the third Council of Carthage and the Notitia Africae which was taken some years after sets down but one more for which reason the African Councils made several exceptions in their favour as that there should be required the presence but of one Bishop of that Province in any Council and that few Bishops might be allowed to ordain there in consideration of their number Besides there were several large Bishopricks in the other Provinces Codex Can. 56. for we find in the Canons of the African Councils that one Bishop had such extent of Territory as might be divided into several Dioceses and where it is permitted any part of a Diocess as a considerable Town and the Territory belonging to it to chuse a Bishop for themselves with the consent of him part of whose Diocess they were It is added ut â—adem Dioecesis permissa proprium tantum habeat Episcopum caeteras sibi non vindicet Dioeceses quia exempta de fasce multarum sola meruit honorem Episcopatus suscipere It is enough when a Bishop gives way that another Bishop should be set up in part of his Diocess that that part which he grants this to may have their own Bishop but this new Bishop is not to assume any right over the other parts of his Diocess Because his part being taken out of the bundle of several Dioceses i. e. such as would make several like his but belonging all to the same Cathedral was alone designed for this new Bishoprick And to the same effect he calls that ancient intire Diocess out of which another is to be taken Massa Dioecesium an aggregation of Dioceses or as we would now speak of Rural Deanries The same thing is supposed by the Canon that forbids a Bishop to leave his Cathedral and live in any other Church in his Diocess Con. Carth. 5. c. 5. Con. Carth. 4.36 And by another to this effect That the Presbyters who are Rectors of Churches in a diocess ought before Easter to repair to their proper Bishop for Chrism and not to take it of any other who perhaps may be nearer It would be endless to cite all the circumstances that imply the greatness of the African Dioceses even at this time I will select some Dioceses there whose extent is mentioned occasionally but without any remark of their being extraordinary in comparison of others The Diocess of Hippo Diaretorum Codex Caâ— 78. not Regia where St. Augustin was Bishop