began first with the lowermost Office of a Lector tho' by his extraordinary Merits he deserved those that were more sublime and honourable § 12. That this was their constant and unalterable Practice I dare not affirm I rather think the contrary as I might easily prove were it pertinent to my Design this that follows is more certain that whether they were gradually or presently Ordained Presbyters their Names were published or propounded to the People of that Church where they were to be Ordained that so if worthy of that Office they might have the Testimony and Attestation of the People or if unworthy and unfit they might be debarred and excluded from it by which course the Crimes of the Wicked were discovered the Vertues of the Good declared and the Ordination became Valid and Legitimate being examin'd by the Suffrage and Judgment of all § 13. If the People objected nothing against the Persons proposed but approved their fitness for that Office the next thing that followed was their Actual Ordination in that particular Church where they were so propounded not that they were only ordain'd for that particular Church but in it they were ordained Ministers of the Church Universal being at liberty either to serve that Church where they received their Orders or if they had a Legal Call to spend their Labours elsewhere in other Churches as Origen was a Presbyter of Alexandria tho' he was Ordained in Palestina by the Bishops of Caesarea and Jerusalem and Numidicus was a Presbyter of the Church of Carthage tho' he received his Orders elsewhere Hence the Presbyters of a Church were not confined to a set number as the Bishop and Deacons were but were sometimes more sometimes less as fit Persons for that Office presented themselves so were they Ordained some of whom still remained in the same Church where they received their Orders and others went and served other Churches every one going where the Providence of God did call him § 14. But now their formal Ordination was by Imposition of Hands usually of the Bishop and Presbyters of the Parish where they were Ordained For this there needs no other Proof than that Injunction of St. Paul to Timothy 〈◊〉 Tim. 4. 14. Neglect not the Gift that is in thee which was given thee by Prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery As for Imposition of hands it was a Ceremony that was variously used in the Old Testament from whence it was translated into the New and in the Primitive Church used on sundry occasions to no purpose here to enumerate One of those Actions was Ordination of Church-Officers wherein I think it was never omitted Thus Novatian was Ordained a Presbyter by Imposition of Hands And the Bishops of Cesarea and Jerusalem Imposed Hands on Origen to make him a Presbyter The Imposition of Hands being the Completion of Ordination or the Final Act thereof for whosoever had past through the forementioned Examination and Attestation and consequently to that had received the laying on of Hands he was esteemed by all as legally Ordained and was ever after deemed to have sufficient Power and Authority to exert and discharge the Duty and Office of the Presbytership to which by those Actions he was advanced and promoted § 15. Here now I shall conclude what I designed to write with respect to the first Particular concerning the Peculiar Acts of the Clergy under which I have discoursed distinctly of the Office and Order of Bishops Priests and Deacons as also of several other things relating to their Charge and Dignity As for those other Acts of theirs which remain to be inquired into I shall not meddle with them here for tho' they may have some Rapport or Connexion to this Head yet they more properly and immediately respect the third unto which place therefore I shall refer their Discussion and Examination CHAP. VI. § 1. The Peculiar Acts of the Laity proposed to be discoursed of What were the Qualifications of Church-Membership § 2. The People in some Cases had Power to depose their Bishops § 3. The Conjunct Acts of the Clergy and Laity proposed to be discoursed of All Ecclesiastical Affairs were managed by their joint Endeavours § 1. HAving in the former Chapters treated of the Peculiar Acts of the Clergy I come now in this to speak something to the Peculiar Acts of the Laity and to enquire into those Actions and Powers which they exerted distinctly by themselves And here it may not be amiss first of all to make an Enquiry into the Constitution of the Laity that is how and by what means they were first admitted to be Members of a Church by Vertue of which Membership they were made Partakers of all those Powers which we shall hereafter mention Now for Answer hereunto in general all those that were baptized were look'd upon as Members of the Church and had a right to all the Priviledges thereof except they had been guilty of grofs and scandalous Sins as Idolatry Murder Adultery and such like for then they were cast out of the Church and not admitted again till by a Penitent and holy Deportment they had testified their Grief and Sorrow for their unholy and irregular Actions for as Origen saith We do our utmost that our Assemblies be composed of good and wise Men. So that none who are admitted to our Congregations and Prayers are vitious and wicked except very rarely it may happen that a particular bad Man may be concealed in so great a number But since the greatest part of Christians were adult Persons at their Conversion to Christianity and admission into Church-Fellowship and Society therefore we must consider the Prerequisites of Baptism since that Sacrament gave them a Right and Title to that admission or reception Now those Persons who designed to leave Heathenism and Idolatry and desired to be Members of a Christian Church were not presently advanced to that degree but were first continued a certain space of Time in the rank of the Catechumens or the Catechised ones These were Candidates of Christianity who were to stay some time in that Order for these two Reasons The one was That they might be catechised and instructed in the Articles of the Christian Faith from whence they were called Catechumens And the other was that they might give demonstrations of the reality of their Intentions by the Change of their Lives and the Holiness of their Conversations Whilst they were in this Estate or rather in a Preparatory thereunto they were first privately instructed at home till they understood the more Intelligible Principles of Christianity and then they were admitted into the first Rank of Catechumens who are called by Tertullian Edocti or those that are taught These were permitted to come into the Church where they stood in a place by themselves and were present at the Sermons which were adapted to their Capacities being Discourses of
Church shall be the Subject of the following Chapter CHAP. VII § 1. The Necessity Quality and Excellency of Discipline Six things propounded to be handled 1. For what Faults Offenders were censured 2. Who were the Judges that censured 3. The manner of their Censures 4. What their Censures were 5. The Course that Offenders took to be absolved 6. The manner of their Absolution § 2. Censures were inflicted for all sorts of Crimes especially for Idolatry § 3. The whole Church were the Judges that composed the Ecclesiastical Consistory The Executive Power lodg'd in the Clergy and the Legistative both in Clergy and Laity In difficult Points some neighbouring Bishops assisted at the Decision of them § 4 The manner of their Censures § 5. Their Censures consisted in Excommunications and Suspensions the dreadfulness thereof § 6. The Course that Offenders took to be absolved They first lay groveling and weeping at the Church Doors § 7. Then admitted into the Rank of the Penitents Their Behaviour during their time of Penance § 8. How long their Penance was In some Cases the fixed Period anticipated when ended the Penitents were examined by the Court and if approved then Absolved § 9. The manner of their Absolution They came into the Church with all Expressions of Sorrow publickly confessed the Sin for which they had been censured The Church was tenderly affected with their Confession § 10. After Confession they were absolved by the Clergies Imposition of Hands § 11. Then admitted to the Churches Peace The Clergy generally restored only to Lay Communion § 1. AS all Governments are necessitated to make use of Laws and other Political Means to preserve their Constitution So the Church of Christ which has a certain Government annexed to it that it may preserve its self from Ruine and Confusion has certain Laws and Orders for the due Regulation of her Members and Penalties annexed to the Breaches thereof But herein lies the difference between the one and the other The Penalties and Executions of the former are like its Constitution purely Humane and Carnal but those of the other are Spiritual as Religion was at first received by Spiritual and Voluntary and not by Carnal and Involuntary means for as Tertullian says It is not Religion to force a Religion which ought to be willingly not forcibly received So by the same means it was continued and the Penalties of the Breach of it were of the same Nature also The Churches Arms were Spiritual consisting of Admonitions Excommunications Suspensions and such like by the weilding of which she Governed her Members and preserved her own Peace and Purity Now this is that which is called Discipline which is absolutely necessary to the Unity Peace and being of the Church for where there is no Law Government or Order that Society cannot possibly 〈◊〉 but must sink in its own Ruins and Confusions To recite the numerous Encomiums of Discipline that are interspers'd in the Writings of the Ancients would be an endless Task Let this one suffice out of Cyprian Discipline says he is the Keeper of Hope the Stay of Faith the Captain of Salvation the Fewel and Nutriment of a good Disposition the Mistress of Vertue that makes us perpetually abide in Christ and live to God and tend towards the Heavenly and Divine Promises This to follow is saving but to despise and neglect is deadly The Holy Ghost speaks in Psal. 2. 12. Keep Discipline lest the Lord be angry and ye perish from the right way when his wrath is kindled but a little against you And again in Psal. 50. 16. But unto the Sinner God said What hast thou to do to declare my Law and to take my Judgments into thy Mouth Thou hatest Discipline and castest my Words behind thee And again we read in Wisdom 3. 11. He that casteth off Discipline is unhappy And by Solomon we have received this command from Wisdom in Prov. 3. 11. My Son forget not the Discipline of the Lord nor faint when thou art corrected for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth But if God corrects whom he loves and corrects them that they may amend Christians also and especially Ministers do not hate but love those whom they correct that they may amend since God hath also soretold our Times in Jer. 3. 15. And I will give you Pastors after mine own Heart and they shall seed you in Discipline Now this is that Discipline viz. The Power and Authority of the Church exerted by her for her own Preservation in the censuring of her offending Members that I am now to Discourse of for the clearer apprehension whereof these six Queries must be examined into 1. For what Faults Offenders were censured 2. Who were the Judges that censured 3. The manner of their Censures 4. What their Censures were 5. The Course that Offenders took to be Absolved And 6. The manner of their Absolution § 2. As to the first of these For what Faults Offenders were censured I answer for Schism Heresie Covetousness Gluttony Fornication Adultery and for all other Sins whatsoever none excepted nay the holy and good Men of those days were so zealous against Sin that they used the strictest Severities against the least appearances of it not indulging or sparing the least Branch of its pestiferous Production but smartly punishing the least sprout of it it s lesser Acts as well as those that were more scandalous and notorious Cyprian writes that not only Gravissimae extrema delicta The greatest and most heinous Crimes but even Minora Delicta The Lesser Faults were punished by their Ecclesiastical Courts so cutting off Sin in its Bud and by the Excision of its lesser Acts and Ebullitions preventing its more gross and scandalous Eruptions That particular Sin which they most severely punished and through the frequency of Persecutions had numerous Objects of was Apostacy from the Truth or a lapsing into Idolatry which Crime was always 〈◊〉 with the extremest Rigour of which Ninus Clementianus and Florus were sad Instances who tho' they had for some time couragiously endured their Persecutions and Torments yet at last thro' the violence thereof and the weakness of their Flesh unwillingly consenting to the Heathen Idolatries were for that Fault forced to undergo three years Penance and had it not been for their ancient Merits must have underwent it much longer as may be seen at large in the 53d Epistle of Cyprian And thus by these and such like severe and rigorous Courses those primitive Virtuoso's endeavoured to prevent sin and to make all the Professors of the Christian Religion truly holy and pious for as Origen saith We use our utmost Endeavours that our Assemblies be composed of wise and honest Men. § 3. As for the Judges that composed the Consistory or Ecclesiastical Court before whom offending Criminals were convened and by whom censured they will appear to have been the whole Church both Clergy and Laity
They had no need again to be Baptized saith he having been baptized by 〈◊〉 but only what was 〈◊〉 or lacking was performed by Peter and John which was that by Prayer and Imposition of Hands the Holy Ghost should be conferred on them which Custom as he there adds is now observed by us that those who are Baptized in the Church are offered to the Governours thereof by whose Prayer and Imposition of Hands they receive the Holy Ghost and are compleated with the Lord's Seal To this Practice also Firmilian refers that action of St. Paul in Acts 19. 5. Where on those who had been only Baptized by John's Baptism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Holy Ghost by Imposition of Hands And Cyprian applies to Confirmation the Descent of the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 10. 44. in miraculous 〈◊〉 and Gifts of Tongues on Cornelius and his Friends though they were not then Baptized So much now for the Reasons of Confirmation all that I shall do more is to add two or three Observations concerning it § 7. The first whereof is That Confirmation was an immediate Consequent of Baptism it was not deferred till many Years after but was presently administred as Tertullian writes As soon as we come out of the Baptismal Laver we are anointed and then we are confirmed Else if they had not been so soon confirmed they must notwithstanding their Baptism according to their Opinions as it hath been before demonstrated have continued graceless without the Adorning Gifts of the Holy Spirit a long time even as long as their Confirmation was delayed which to imagine concerning them is unreasonable and uncharitable Indeed in case of Necessity when they had neither time nor 〈◊〉 it was waved 〈◊〉 Immersion was with respect to Baptism but yet if the sick Person happened to recover he was then to be confirmed as is evident from the Case of Novatian whom 〈◊〉 accuses because that when he was restored to his Health again he was not confirmed according to the Canon of the Church But otherwise 〈◊〉 immediately or 〈◊〉 the same time followed 〈◊〉 § 8. From the former Observation there follows this that not only the Bishop but also his Presbyters or Curates did by his 〈◊〉 and in his Absence confirm For if Confirmation always succeeded Baptism then whenever Baptism was there was also Confirmation Now 〈◊〉 for Baptism we may reasonably suppose that in a Church there were some fit to be 〈◊〉 at least once a year and sometimes it might happen that either the See was 〈◊〉 or the Bishop through Persecution might be 〈◊〉 from his Flock so long a time as Cyprian was double the space and if so must no Persons have been Baptized within that time by reason of the Bishop's unavoidable Absence That seems a little hard since as was said before they esteemed Baptism and Confirmation necessary to Salvation and to deprive 〈◊〉 Souls of Salvation that died within that 〈◊〉 because they had not been confirmed by 〈◊〉 Bishop which was impossible would be too severe and uncharitable Besides that Presbyters did Baptize we have proved already and since Confirmation was done at the same time with Baptism it is very reasonable to conclude that he that did the one performed the other also But that Presbyters did confirm will appear most evidently from this very Consideration viz. That the Imposition of Hands 〈◊〉 Persons just after Baptism which we call Confirmation and the Imposition of Hands at the 〈◊〉 of Offenders which we call 〈◊〉 was one and the self same thing Confirmation and Absolution being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we make use of to distinguish the 〈◊〉 times of the Performances of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Ceremony The Thing or 〈◊〉 was not different Imposition of Hands was used both at one and 〈◊〉 other 〈◊〉 the same Mystical Signification viz. The Conferring 〈◊〉 the Holy Ghost and his Graces on that 〈◊〉 on whom 〈◊〉 were imposed Only now to distinguish the time of this 〈◊〉 of Hands whether after Baptism or at the 〈◊〉 of Offenders these two Terms of Confirmation and 〈◊〉 are used by us the former to signifie that used just after Baptism and the latter that 〈◊〉 was employed at This now viz. That Confirmation and 〈◊〉 were one and the self same thing I 〈◊〉 presently prove And then in the next 〈◊〉 I shall shew that with the Bishop and sometimes without the Bishop Presbyters did Absolve by Imposition of Hands And if these 〈◊〉 Points can be clearly manifested it will 〈◊〉 follow that Presbyters did confirm for if there was no difference between Confirmation and Absolution but only with respect to time and 〈◊〉 Presbyters at one time viz. at Absolution conferred the Holy Ghost by Imposition of Hands it is very unreasonable to deprive them of the same Power at the other time which was at Confirmation If Presbyters could at one Season bestow the Holy Spirit it is very probable that they could do the same at the other also Now as to the first Point viz. That there was no difference between Confirmation and Absolution but that they were one and the self same thing This will appear most evidently from the consideration of that famous Controversie touching the Validity of Hereticks Baptism between Stephen Bishop of Rome and Cyprian Bishop of Carthage or rather between the Churches of Europe and Africa the Sum whereof was this Stephen Bishop of Rome 〈◊〉 That those who were baptized by Hereticks and came over to the Catholick Church should be received only by Imposition of Hands Cyprian Bishop of Carthage contended that besides Imposition of Hands they should also be baptized unless that they had been before baptiz'd by the Orthodox in which Case Imposition of Hands should be esteemed sufficient Now this Imposition of Hands they sometimes term that which we 〈◊〉 Confirmation and sometimes Absolution 〈◊〉 using either of those Expressions and indifferently applying them according 〈◊〉 they pleased in one place giving it the Title of Confirmation and in another that of Absolution which that they did I shall endeavour to evince by shewing First That they called this Imposition of Hands Confirmation Secondly That they called it Absolution First I shall prove that they called it Confirmation unto which end let us consider these following 〈◊〉 Those says Cyprian which are baptized without the Church when they come unto us and 〈◊〉 the Church which is 〈◊〉 one they are to be baptized because the Imposition of Hands by Confirmation is not sufficient without Baptism for then they are fully sanctified and become the Sons of God when they are born 〈◊〉 both Sacraments 〈◊〉 as it is written 〈◊〉 a Man be born again of the Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God To the same effect says 〈◊〉 Bishop of 〈◊〉 Those 〈◊〉 greatly 〈◊〉 who affirm that they ought only to be confirmed by Imposition of Hands and so to be received since it is manifest they must be 〈◊〉 with both Sacraments in
the Catholick Church And Secundinus Bishop of Carpis determined that on Hereticks who are the Seed of Antichrist the Holy Ghost cannot be conferred by Imposition of Hands alone in Confirmation Stephen pleaded on his side That 〈◊〉 very Name of Christ was so advantagious to Faith and the Sanctification 〈◊〉 Baptism that in what place soever any one was baptized in that Name he immediately obtained the Grace of Christ. But unto this Firmilian briefly replies That if the Baptism of Hereticks because done in the Name of Christ was sufficient to purge away Sins why was not Confirmation that was performed in the Name of the same Christ sufficient to bestow the Holy 〈◊〉 And therefore it is thus eagerly argued by Cyprian Why 〈◊〉 they saith he meaning Stephen and his Party who received Hereticks by Imposition of Hands only patronize Hereticks and Schismaticks let them answer us have they the Holy Ghost or have they not If they have why then do they lay Hands on those that are baptized by them when they ceme over to us to bestow on them the Holy Ghost when they had received him before for if he was there they could confer him But if Hereticks and 〈◊〉 have not the Spirit of God and therefore we lay Hands on them in Confirmation that they may here receive what Hereticks neither have nor can give it is manifest that since they have not the Holy Ghost they cannot give remission of Sins That is since they cannot Confirmtherefore they cannot Baptize So that from these and some other Passages which to avoid tediousness I omit it is clear that both Stephen and Cyprian understood by Imposition of Hands that which we now call 〈◊〉 Secondly I now come to shew that they also termed it Absolution as will appear from these following Instances They says Cyprian meaning Stephen and his Followers urge that in what they do they follow the old Custom that was used by the Ancients when Heresies and Schisms first began when those that went over to them first were in the Church and baptized therein who when they returned again to the Church and did Penance were not forced to be baptized But this says he makes nothing against us for we now observe the very same Those who were baptized here and from us went over to the Hereticks if afterwards being sensible of their Error they return to the Church we only absolve them by the Imposition of Hands because once they were Sheep and as wandring and straying Sheep the Shepherd receives them into his Flock but if those that come from Hereticks were not first baptized in the Church they are to be baptized that they may become Sheep for there is but one Holy Water in the Church that makes Sheep But that this Imposition of Hands was the same with Absolution will most evidently appear from the Opinion or Determination of Stephen and from Cyprian's Answer thereunto Stephen's Opinion or Determination was If any shall from any Heresie come unto us let nothing be innovated or introduced besides the old Tradition which is that Hands be imposed on him as a Penitent Now unto that part of this Decree which asserts the Reception of Hereticks only by Absolution or the Imposition of Hands in Penance to be a Tradition descended down from their Predecessors Cyprian replies That he would observe it as a Divine and Holy Tradition if it were either commanded in the Gospel and the Epistles of the Apostles or contained in the Acts that those who came from Hereticks should not be baptized but only Hands imposed on them for Penance or as Penitents but that for his part he never found it either commanded or written that on an Heretick Hands should be only imposed for Penance and so he should be admitted to Communion Wherefore he on his side concludes and determins Let it therefore be observ'd and held by us that all who from any Herefie are converted to the Church be baptized with the one lawful Baptism of the Church except those who were formerly baptized in the Church who when they return are to be received by the alone Imposition of Hands after Penance into the Flock from whence they have strayed So that these Instances do as clearly prove that they meant by their Imposition of Hands Absolution as the former Instances do that they meant Confirmation and both of them together plainly shew and evidence Confirmation and Absolution to be the very self-same thing for since they promiscuously used and indifferently applyed these Terms and that very thing which in some Places they express by Confirmation in others they call Absolution it necessarily follows that there can be no essential or specifical difference between them but that they are of a like numerical Identity or Sameness But Secondly I now come in the next place to demonstrate that together with the Bishop and sometimes without the Bishop Presbyters did absolve by Imposition of Hands That they did it together with the Bishop several places of Cyprian abundantly prove Offenders saith he Receive the right of Communion by the Imposition of Hands of the Bishop and of his Clergy And No Criminal can be admitted to Communion unless the Bishop and Clergy have imposed Hands on him And that some times they did it without the Bishop always understanding his leave and permission is apparent from the Example of Serapion who being out of the Churches Peace and approaching the hour of Dissolution sent for one of the Presbyters to Absolve him which the Presbyter did according to the Order of the Bishop who had before given his Permission unto the Presbyters to absolve those who were in danger of Death And as the Bishop of Alexandria gave his Presbyters this Power so likewise did Cyprian Bishop of Carthage who when he was in Exile order'd his Clergy to confess and absolve by Imposition of Hands those who were in danger of Death And If any were in such condition they should not expect his Presence but betake themselves to the first Presbyter they could find who should receive their Confession and absolve them by Imposition of Hands So that it is evident that Presbyters even without the Bishop did absolve Offenders and formally receive them into the Churches Peace by Imposition of Hands Now then If the Imposition of Hands on Persons just after Baptism and the Imposition of Hands at the Restitution of Offenders was one and the self-same thing and if Presbyters had Power and Authority to perform the latter I see no reason why we should abridge them of the former both the one and the other was Confirmation and if Presbyters could confirm at one time why should we doubt of their Right and Ability to perform it another time If it was lawful for them to impose Hands on one occasion it was as lawful for them to do it on another § 9. From the precedent Observation of the Identity
AN ENQUIRY INTO THE Constitution Discipline Unity Worship OF THE Primitive Church That Flourished within the First Three Hundred Years after CHRIST Faithfully Collected out of the Extant Writings of those Ages By an Impartial Hand LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion and John Wyat at the Rose in St. Paul's Church-yard 1691. THE PREFACE TO THE READER THE Design of the following Treatise is in general to represent the Constitution Discipline Vnity and Worship of the Primitive Church that flourish'd within the first Three Hundred Years after Christ but more particularly and especially to describe their Opinions and Practices with respect to those things that are now unhappily controverted between those of these Kingdoms who are commonly known by the Names of Church of England-men Presbyterians Independents and Anabaptists for which reason it comes to pass that to those Points concerning which there is no difference amongst us I have not spoken so largely as otherwise I might have done and some other Customs of theirs I have not mentioned at all because now neglected and disused by us What I have written as to this Subject I have wholly collected out of the Genuine and unquestionably Authentick Writings of those Ages that are now extant making use of no other Writings whatsoever except the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius which was writ in the beginning of the Fourth Age and relates only those Affairs that were transacted in the Three former beyond the Period of which time this Enquiry doth not reach but is wholly limited thereby and confined thereunto That which hath been thus collected has been done I hope with the greatest Impartiality and Fidelity without any prepossession of Mind or any fraudulent dealing whatsoever which the Reader may the sooner believe and the easier be convinced of since for the clearer Demonstration of my Faithfulness and Vnprejudicedness herein I have taken care to print in the Margent the Original Words of all the Passages that I have cited at least of all that are necessary together with the very Pages whence I fetch'd them that so the Reader turning to the Pages mentioned in those Editions that I use which Editions I shall set down at the end of this Preface and finding it according to my Quotations may the more readily be perswaded that throughout this whole Tract I have been every way honest and unbyass'd And as I have faithfully and impartially collected these Observations so I have as modestly and unconcernedly represented them avoiding all Words or Speeches that might seem to carry the least sharpness or Reflection in them and have as nakedly expressed them declining all affected or pompous Expressions contenting my self with those Terms that most naturally serve to render the Truth more perspicuous and evident according to the Observation of Clemens Alexandrinus He that would deliver the Truth ought not studiously to affect an Elegancy of Expression but only to use such Words whereby he may render what he means intelligible Whether all or some or none of the following Primitive Customs may be changed by the Civil Magistrate or by a Convocational Assembly I pretend not here to handle my Design at present is only to search into matter of Fact to find out what were the Vsages of the Ancient Church within the first Three Hundred Years after Christ for as was said before no lower do I intend to go which after the most impartial and serious Enquiry I find to be according to the ensuing Treatise in the penning whereof I have avoided all Prolixity and Tediousness and for that end omitting to answer several Objections that I know may be made against several things which I have here asserted mine Intention being briefly and perspicuously to prove what I judge to be the true Practice of the Primitive Church as to those Points now disputed by us As for the Occasion of my Publishing this Treatise it cannot be imagined to proceed from a Spirit of Vanity or Ambition since I so far conceal my Name as that even my Bookseller knows not who I am much less I hope will it be construed by any to proceed from a Spirit of Contention and Animosity from an ill Design to foment and increase our present Feuds and Divisions since I assure the whole World our unnatural Quarrels do so much afflict and trouble me as that I would sacrifice not only this Book but also all that I either am or have if thereby I might be an happy Instrument to compose and heal them But amongst other Reasons these two were the chiefest that swayed me hereunto To inform others and To inform my self To inform others what the Practices of the Primitive Apostolick Churches were if any shall be inquisitive and desirous to know them or if I am mistaken as who is without his Errors to be better informed my self which I must needs confess was that which I chiefly designed in the Publication hereof wherefore without any Ostentation or challenging but unfeignedly and sincerely to prevent Mistakes in my younger Years I humbly desire if the Request be not too bold and shall heartily thank any Learned Person that will be so kind as to inform me if he knows me to have erred in any one or more Particulars which he may do either Publickly or if he thinks fit Privately by Letter to my Bookseller who will convey it safely to my Hands and if any one that finds me deceived in any one or more Points will favour me so far as to undertake such a trouble I should desire these few things of him That he would be pleased as I have done to use only those Writings that were composed within my prescribed time and if possible the same Editions and not only to form Objections against what I have written but also to answer or rather to give me another Sense of those Passages which I have cited and then I promise if my Mistakes are fairly shewn I will not pertinaciously and obstinately defend them but most willingly and thankfully renounce them since my Design is not to defend a Party but to search out the Truth I have but one thing more to add in this Preface and that is that when I first resolved on the printing of this Treatise I designed to have published my Observations on the fourth general Head propounded in the Title Page to be enquired into viz. The Worship of the Primitive Church as well as now I have done those on the three former but for some Reasons I have reserved this for a particular Tract by its self which probably though I do not absolutely promise it may in a little time more be also published and that the rather because in this Part I have made two or three References thereunto which I thought good to acquaint the Reader with that so if he cannot find some things that I have referred to in this Treatise he may be assured they are to be met with in the ensuing one The Primitive
a Collection of many particular Churches who mentions in the Singular Number the Church of God in Africa and Numidia Else I do not remember that ever I met with it in this Sense in any Writings either of this or the rest of the Fathers but whenever they would speak of the Christians in any Kingdom or Province they always said in the Plural The Churches never in the Singular The Church of such a Kingdom or Province Thus Dyonisius Alexandrinus doth not say the Church but the Churches of Cilicia And so Irenaeus mentions The Churches that were in Germany Spain France the East Egypt and Lybia So also Tertullian speaks of the Churches of Asia and Phrygia and the Churches of Greece And so of every Country they always express the Churches thereof in the Plural Number V. The Word Church frequently occurs for that which we commonly call the Invisible Church that is for those who by a Sound Repentance and a Lively Faith are actually interested in the Lord Jesus Christ According to this signification of the Word must we understand Tertullian when he says that Christ had espoused the Church and that there was a Spiritual Marriage between Christ and the Church And that of Irenaeus That the Church was fitted according to the form of the Son of God And in this Sense is the Word oftentimes used in others of the Fathers as I might easily shew if any one did doubt it VI. The Word Church is frequently to be interpreted of the Faith and Doctrine of the Church In this Sense Irenaeus prays That the Hereticks might be reclaimed from their Heresies and be converted to the Church of God and exhorts all sincere Christians not to follow Hereticks but to fly to the Church Upon which account Hereticks are said to have left the Church as Tertullian told Marcion that when he became an Heretick he departed from the Church of Christ and their Heresies are said to be dissonant from the Church as Origen writes that the Opinion of the Transmigration of Souls was alien from the Church There are yet several other Significations of this Word though not so usual as some of the forementioned ones nor so pertinent to my Design so that I might justly pass them over without so much as mentioning them But lest any should be desirous to know them I will just name them and then proceed to what is more material Besides then those former Significations the Word according to its Original Import is also used for any Congregation in general sometimes it is applyed to any particular Sect of Hereticks as Tertullian calls the Marcionites the Church of Marcion At other times it is attributed to the Orthodox in opposition to the Hereticks as by the same Tertullian Sometimes it is appropriated to the Heathen Assemblies as by Origen at other times in Opposition to the Jews it is ascribed to the believing Gentiles as by Irenaeus In some places it is taken for the Deputies of a Particular Church as in Ignatius In other places it signifies the Assembly of the Spirits of just Men made perfect in Heaven which we commonly call the Church Triumphant as in Clemens Alexandriaeus Once I find it denoting the Laity only in opposition to the Clergy And once signifying only Christ as the Head of the Faithful § 2. But the usual and common Acceptation of the Word and of which we must chiefly treat is that of a Particular Church that is a Society of Christians meeting together in one place under their proper Pastours for the Performance of Religious Worship and the exercising of Christian Discipline Now the first thing that naturally presents its self to our Consideration is to enquire into the Constituent Parts of a Particular Church or who made up and composed such a Church In the general they were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Elect the Called and Sanctified by the Will of God And in innumerable places they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Brethren because of their Brotherly Love and Affection and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Faithful in opposition to the Pagan World who had no Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ nor in the Promises of the Gospel But more particularly we may divide them into two Parts into the People that composed the Body of the Church and those Persons who were set apart for Religious and Ecclesiastical Employments Or to conform to our ordinary Dialect into the Clergy and Laity which is an early distinction being mentioned by Clemens Romanus and after him by Origen and several others § 3. Each of these had their particular Offices and both together had their joynt Employments to all which I shall distinctly speak in the ensuing Tract as they naturally resolve themselves into these Three Particulars I. The Peculiar Acts of the Clergy II. The Peculiar Acts of the Laity III. The Joint Acts of them both By the Resolution of which three Questions some Discovery will be made of the Constitution and Discipline of the Primitive Church and of their Practice with respect to many Points unhappily controverted amongst us § 4. I begin with the first of these What were the Peculiar Acts of the Clergy Now here must be consider'd the Functions of every particular Order and Degree of the Clergy which we may say to be three viz. Bishops Priests and Deacons whose Employments we shall severally handle as also several other Points which under those Heads shall offer themselves unto us I shall begin first with the Bishop but for the better understanding both of him and the rest it will be necessary first of all to consider the condition of the whole World as it was before the Preaching of the Gospel in a state of Paganism and Darkness having their Understandings clouded with Ignorance and Error alienated from God and the true Worship of him applauding their own bruitish Inventions and adoring as God whatever their corrupted Reason and silly Fancies proposed to them as Objects of Adoration and Homage Into this miserable state all Mankind except the Jews had wilfully cast themselves and had not Christ the Son of Righteousness enlightned them they would have continued in that lost and blind condition to this very day But our Saviour having on his Cross Triumph'd over Principalities and Powers and perfectly conquered the Devil who before had rul'd effectually in the Heathen World and being ascended into Heaven and sat down at the Right Hand of the Father on the day of Pentecost he sent down the Holy Ghost on his Apostles and Disciples who were then assembled at Jerusalem enduing them thereby with the Gift of Tongues and working Miracles and both commissionating and fitting them for the Propagation of his Church and Kingdom who having received this Power and Authority from on high went forth Preaching the Gospel First to the Jews and then
to the Gentiles declaring those glad Tidings to all Kingdoms and Provinces so that as the Apostle Paul said Rom. 10. 18. Their sound went into all the Earth and their words unto the ends of the World every one taking a particular part of the World for his proper Province to make known the joyful News of Life and Salvation through Christ therein Thus St. Andrew principally preach'd the Gospel in Scythia St. Bartholomew in India St. Matthew in Parthia St. John in the Lesser Asia and all the rest of the Apostles had their particular Provinces allotted them wherein they went forth preaching the Gospel and as they came to any City Town or Village they published to the Inhabitants thereof the blessed news of Life and Immortality through Jesus Christ constituting the first Converts of every place through which they passed Bishops and Deacons of those Churches which they there gathered So saith Clemens Romanus The Apostles went forth preaching in City and Country appointing the First Fruits of their Ministry for Bishops and Deacons generally leaving those Bishops and Deacons to govern and enlarge those particular Churches over which they had placed them whilst they themselves passed forwards planted other Churches and placed Governors over them Thus saith Tertullian Clemens was ordained Bishop of Rome by St. Peter and Polycarp Bishop of Smirna by St. John § 5. Whether in the Apostolick and Primitive days there were more Bishops than one in a Church at first sight seems difficult to resolve That the Holy Scriptures and Clemens Romanus mention many in one Church is certain And on the other hand it is as certain that Ignatius Tertullian Cyprian and the following Fathers affirm that there was and ought to be but one in a Church These Contradictions may at the first view seem Inextricable but I hope the following Account will reconcile all these seeming Difficulties and withal afford us a fair and easy Conception of the difference between the Ancient Bishops and Presbyters I shall then lay down as sure that there was but one Supreme Bishop in a place that was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Bishop by way of Eminency and Propriety The proper Pastor and Minister of his Parish to whose Care and Trust the Souls of that Church or Parish over which he presided were principally and more immediately committed So saith Cyprian There is but one Bishop in a Church at a time And so Cornelius Objects to Novatian That he did not remember that there ought to be but one Bishop in a Church And throughout the whole Epistles of Ignatius and the generality of Writers succeeding him we find but one single Bishop in a Church whose Quotations to which purpose would be fruitless to recite here since the 〈◊〉 Practice of the Universal Church confirms it and a great part of the following Discourse will clearly illustrate it Only it may not be impertinent to remark this by the way that by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Succession of Bishops from those Bishops who were Ordained by the Apostles the Orthodox were wont to prove the Succession of their Faith and the Novelty of that of the Hereticks Let them demonstrate the Original of their Churches as Tertullian challenges the Marcionites and other Hereticks Let them turn over the Orders of their Bishops and see whether they have had a Succession of Bishops from any one who was Constituted by the Apostles or Apostolick Men Thus the truly Apostolick Churches have as the Church of Smirna has Polycarp there placed by St. John and the Church of Rome Clement ordained by Peter and other Churches can tell who were ordained Bishops over them by the Apostles and who have been their Successors to this very day So also says Irenaeus We challenge the Hereticks to that Tradition which was handed down from the Apostles by the Succession of Bishops And in the next Chapter of the same Book the said Father gives us a Catalogue of the Bishops of Rome till his days by whom the true Faith was successively transmitted down from the Apostles in which Catalogue we find but one Bishop at a time and as he died so another single Person succeeded him in the Charge of that Flock or Parish So that this Consideration evidences also that there was but one Bishop strictly so called in a Church at a time who was related to his Flock as a Pastor to his Sheep and a Parent to his Children The Titles of this Supreme Church-Officer are most of them reckoned up in one place by Cyprian which are Bishop Pastour President Governour Superintendent and Priest And this is he which in the Revelations is called the Angel of his Church as Origen thinks which Appellations denote both his Authority and Office his Power and Duty of both which we shall somewhat treat after we have discoursed of the Circuit and Extent of his Jurisdiction and Superintendency which shall be the Contents of the following Chapter CHAP. II. § 1. As but one Bishop to a Church so but one Church to a Bishop The Bishop's Cure never call'd a Diocess but usually a Parish no larger than our Parishes § 2. Demonstrated by several Arguments § 3. A Survey of the extent of several Bishopricks as they were in Ignatius's days as of Smirna § 4. Ephesus § 5. Magnesia § 6. Philadelphia And § 7. Trallium § 8. The Bigness of the Diocess of Antioch § 9. Of Rome § 10. Of Carthage § 11. A Reflection on the Diocess of Alexandria § 12. Bishops in Villages § 13. All the Christians of a Diocess met together in one place every Sunday to serve God § 1. HAving in the former Chapter shewn that there was but one Bishop to a Church we shall in this evidence that there was but one Church to a Bishop which will appear from this single Consideration viz. That the ancient Diocesses are never said to contain Churches in the Plural but only a Church in the Singular So they say the Church of the Corinthians the Church of Smirna the Church in Magnesia the Church in Philadelphia the Church in Antioch and so of any other place whatsoever the Church of or in such a place This was the common name whereby a Bishops Cure was denominated the Bishop himself being usually called The Bishop of this or that Church as Tertullian saith That Polycarp was ordained Bishop of the Church of Smirna As for the Word Diocess by which the Bishops Flock is now usually exprest I do not remember that ever I found it used in this Sense by any of the Ancients But there is another Word still retained by us by which they frequently denominated the Bishops Cure and that is Parish So in the Synodical Epistle of Irenaeus to Pope Victor the Bishopricks of Asia are twice called Parishes And in Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History the Word is so applied in several hundred places It is usual
removed them from Earth to Heaven where they were made Priests to the most High and were infinitely remunerated for all their Pains and Sorrows and so leaving their particular Flocks on Earth to be sed and govern'd by others who should succeed them in their places which brings me in the next place to enquire How a vacant Bishoprick was supplied or in what manner a Bishop or Minister was elected to a Diocess or Parish § 3. Now the manner of electing a Bishop I find to be thus When a Parish or Bishoprick was vacant through the Death of the Incumbent all the Members of that Parish both Clergy and Laity met together in the Church commonly to chuse a fit Person for his Successor to whom they might commit the Care and Government of their Church Thus when Alexander was chosen Bishop of Jerusalem it was by the Compulsion or Choice of the Members of that Church And as for the Bishoprick of Rome we have a memorable Instance of this kind in the Advancement of Fabianus to that See upon the Death of Bishop Anterus All the People met together in the Church to chuse a Successor proposing several illustrious and eminent Personages as fit for that Office whilst no one so much as thought upon Fabianus then present till a Dove miraculously came and sate upon his Head in the same manner as the Holy Ghost formerly descended on our Saviour and then all the People guided as it were with one Divine Spirit cryed out with one Mind and Soul That Fabianus was worthy of the Bishoprick and so straightways taking him they placed him on the Episcopal Throne And as Fabianus so likewise his Successor Cornelius was elected by the suffrage of the Clergy and Laity Thus also with respect to the Diocess of Carthage Cyprian was chosen Bishop thereof by its Inhabitants and Members as Pontius his Deacon writes That though he was a Novice yet by the Grace of God and the Favour of the People he was elevated to that sublime Dignity which is no more than what Cyprian himself acknowledges who frequently owns that he was promoted to that Honourable Charge by the Suffrage of the People § 4. When the People had thus elected a Bishop they presented him to the neighbouring Bishops for their Approbation and Consent because without their concurrent Assent there could be no Bishop legally instituted or confirmed Thus when the fore-mentioned Alexander was Chosen Bishop of Jerusalem by the Brethren of that place he had also the common Consent of the circumjacent Bishops Now the Reason of this I suppose was lest the People thro' Ignorance or Affection should chuse an unfit or an unable Man for that sacred Office it being supposed that a Synod of Bishops had more Wisdom Learning and Prudence than a Congregation of unlearned and ignorant Men and so were better able to judge of the Abilities and Qualifications of the Person elect than the People were Hence we find that sometimes the Election of a Bishop is attributed to the Choice of the Neighbouring Bishops with the Consent and Suffrage of the People This Custom generally prevail'd throughout Africa where upon the Vacancy of a See The Neighbouring Bishops of the Province met together at that Church and chose a Bishop in the presence of the People who knew his Life and Conversation before which Custom was observed in the Election of Sabinus Bishop of Emerita in Spain who was advanc'd to that Dignity by the Suffrage of all the Brethren and of all the Bishops there present But whether the Election of a Bishop be ascribed to the adjoining Ministers or to the People of that Parish it comes all to one and the same thing neither the Choice of the Bishops of the Voisinage without the Consent of the People nor the Election of the People without the Approbation of those Bishops was sufficient and valid of it self but both concurred to a legal and orderly Promotion which was according to the Example of the Apostles and Apostolick Preachers who in the first Plantation of Churches Ordained Bishops and Deacons with the Consent of the whole Church § 5. A Bishop being thus elected and confirmed the next thing that followed was his Ordination or 〈◊〉 which was done in his own Church by the neighbouring Bishops as Cyprian mentions some Bishops in his time who went to a City called Capse to install a Bishop whither when they were come they took the Bishop Elect and in the presence of his Flock Ordained or Installed him Bishop of that Church by Imposition of Hands as Sabinus was placed in his Bishoprick by Imposition of Hands Therefore Fortunatus the Schismatical Bishop of Carthage got five Bishops to come and Ordain him at Carthage And so Novatian when he Schismatically aspired to the Bishoprick of Rome that he might not seem to leap in Uncanonically wheedled three ignorant and simple Bishops to come to Rome and install him in that Bishoprick by Imposition of Hands How many Bishops were necessary to this installing of a Bishop Elect I find not Three were sufficient as is apparent from the forecited action of Novatian whether less would do I know not since I find not the least footsteps of it in my Antiquity unless that from Novatian's sending for and 〈◊〉 just three Bishops out of Italy we conclude that Number to be necessary But if there were more than Three it was not accounted unnecessary or needless for the more Bishops there were present at an Installment the more did its validity and unexceptionableness appear Whence Cyprian argues the undeniable Legality of Cornelius's Promotion to the See of Rome because he had sixteen Bishops present at his Ordination And for this Reason it was that Fortunatus the Schismatical Bishop of Carthage falsely boasted That there were Twenty-five Bishops present at his Installment And thus in short we have viewed the Method of the Ancients in their Election of Bishops we have shewn that they were elected by the People approved and installed by the Neighbouring Bishops on which Account it is that Cyprian calls them Chosen and ordained § 6. It may not now be amiss to mention this Custom that when a Bishop was thus presented and advanced to a See he immediately gave notice of it to other Bishops especially to the most renowned Bishops and Bishopricks as Cornelius writ to Cyprian Bishop of Carthage an Account of his being promoted to the See of Rome betwixt which two Churches there was such a peculiar Intercourse and Harmony as that this Custom was more particularly observed by them insomuch that it was observed by the Schismatical Bishops of each Church Novatian giving notice to Cyprian Bishop of Carthage of his Promotion to the Church of Rome And Fortunatus advising Cornelius Bishop of Rome of his Advancement to the Church of Carthage § 7. Let what hath been spoken now suffice for the peculiar Acts
of the Bishop We have proved that there was but one Bishop to a Church and one Church to a Bishop we have shewn the Bishop's Office and Function Election and Ordination what farther to add on this Head I know not For as for those other Acts which he performed jointly with his Flock we must refer them to another place till we have handled those other Matters which previously propose themselves unto us The first of which will be an Examination into the Office and Order of a Presbyter which because it will be somewhat long shall be the Subject of the following Chapter CHAP. IV. § 1. The Definition and Description of a Presbyter what he was § 2. Inferior to a Bishop in Degree § 3. But equal to a Bishop in Order § 4. The Reason why there were many Presbyters in a Church § 5. Presbyters not necessary to the Constitution of a Church § 6. When Presbyters began § 1. IT will be both needless and tedious to endeavour to prove that the Ancients generally mention Presbyters distinct from Bishops Every one I suppose will readily own and acknowledge it The great Question which hath most deplorably sharpned and sour'd the Minds of too many is what the Office and Order of a Presbyter was About this the World hath been and still is most uncharitably divided some equalize a Presbyter in every thing with a Bishop others as much debase him each according to their particular Opinions either advance or degrade him In many Controversies a middle way hath been the safest perhaps in this the Medium between the two Extremes may be the truest Whether what I am now going to say be the true 〈◊〉 of the Matter I leave to the Learned Reader to determin I may be deceived neither mine Years nor Abilities exempt me from Mistakes and Errors But this I must needs say That after the most diligent Researches and impartialest Enquiries The following Notion seems to me most plausible and most consentaneous to Truth and which with a great facility and clearness solves those Doubts and Objections which according to those other Hypotheses I know not how to answer But yet however I am not so wedded and bigotted to this Opinion but if any shall produce better and more convincing Arguments to the contrary I will not contentiously defend but readily relinquish it since I search after Truth not to promote a particular Party or Interest Now for the better Explication of this Point I shall first lay down a Definition and Description of a Presbyter and then prove the parts thereof Now the Definition of a Presbyter may be this A Person in Holy Orders having thereby an inherent Right to perform the whole Office of a Bishop but being possessed of no Place or Parish not actually discharging it without the Permission and Consent of the Bishop of a Place or Parish But lest this Definition should seem obscure I shall 〈◊〉 it by this following Instance As a Curate hath the same Mission and Power with the Minister whose Place he supplies yet being not the Minister of that place he cannot perform there any acts of his Ministerial Function without leave from the Minister thereof So a Presbyter had the same Order and Power with a Bishop whom he assisted in his Cure yet being not the Bishop or Minister of that Cure he could not there perform any parts of his Pastoral Office without the permission of the Bishop thereof So that what we generally render Bishops Priests and Deacons would be more intelligible in our Tongue if we did express it by Rectors Vicars and Deacons by Rectors understanding the Bishops and by Vicars the Presbyters the former being the actual Incumbents of a Place and the latter Curates or Assistants and so different in Degree but yet equal in Order Now this is what I understand by a Presbyter for the Confirmation of which these two things are to be proved I. That the Presbyters were the Bishops Curates and Assistants and so inferiour to them in the actual Exercise of their Ecclesiastical Commission II. That yet notwithstanding they had the same inherent Right with the Bishops and so were not of a distinct specifick Order from them Or more briefly thus 1. That the Presbyters were different from the Bishops in gradu or in degree but yet 2. They were equal to them in Ordine or in Order § 2. As to the first of these That Presbyters were but the Bishops Curates and Assistants inferiour to them in Degree or in the actual Discharge of their Ecclesiastical Commission This will appear to have been in effect already proved if we recollect what has been asserted touching the Bishop and his Office That there was but one Bishop in a Church That he usually performed all the parts of Divine Service That he was the general Disposer and Manager of all things within his Diocess there being nothing done there without his Consent and Approbation To which we may particularly add 1. That without the Bishop's leave a Presbyter could not baptize Thus saith Tertullian The Bishop hath the Right of Baptizing then the Presbyters and Deacons but yet for the Honour of the Church not without the Authority of the Bishop and to the same Effect saith Ignatius It is not lawful for any one to baptize except the Bishop permit him 2. Without the Bishop's permission a Presbyter could not administer the Lord's Supper That Eucharist says Ignatius is only valid which is performed by the Bishop or by whom he shall permit for it is not lawful for any one to celebrate the Eucharist without leave from the Bishop 3. Without the Bishops Consent a Presbyter could not preach and when he did preach he could not chuse his own Subject but discoursed on those Matters which were enjoyned him by the Bishop as the Bishop commanded Origen to preach about the Witch of Endor 4. Without the Bishop's Permission a Presbyter could not absolve Offenders therefore Cyprian severely chides some of his Presbyters because they dared in his absence without his Consent and Leave to give the Church's Peace to some offending Criminals But what need I reckon up particulars when in general there was no Ecclesiastical Office performed by the Presbyters without the Consent and Permission of the Bishop So says Ignatius Let nothing be done of Ecclesiastical Concerns without the Bishop for Whosoever doth any thing without the knowledge of the Bishop is a Worshipper of the Devil Now had the Presbyters had an equal Power in the Government of those Churches wherein they lived how could it have been impudent and usurping in them to have perform'd the particular acts of their Ecclesiastical Function without the Bishop's Leave and Consent No it was not fit or just that any one should preach or govern in a Parish without the permission of the Bishop or Pastor thereof for where Churches had been regularly formed under the Jurisdiction of their proper Bishops it
had been an unaccountable Impudence and a most detestable act of Schism for any one tho' never so legally Ordained to have entred those Parishes and there to have performed Ecclesiastical Administrations without the permission of or which is all one in Defiance to the Bishops or Ministers thereof for though a Presbyter by his Ordination had as ample an inherent Right and Power to discharge all Clerical Offices as any Bishop in the World had yet Peace Unity and Order oblig'd him not to invade that part of God's Church which was committed to another Man's Care without that Man's Approbation and Consent So then in this Sense a Presbyter was inferiour to a Bishop in Degree in that having no Parish of his own he could not actually discharge the particular Acts of his Ministerial Function without leave from the Bishop of a Parish or Diocess The Bishops were superiour to the Presbyters in that they were the presented 〈◊〉 and inducted Ministers of their respective Parishes and the Presbyters were inferiour to the Bishops in that they were but their Curates and Assistants § 3. But though the Presbyters were thus different from the Bishops in Degree yet they were of the very same specifick Order with them having the same inherent Right to perform those Ecclesiastical Offices which the Bishop did as will appear from these three Arguments 1. That by the Bishop's permission they discharged all those Offices which a Bishop did 2. That they were called by the same Titles and Appellations as the Bishops were And 3. That they are expresly said to be of the same Order with the Bishops As to the first of these That by the Bishop's permission they discharged all those Offices which a Bishop did this will appear from that 1. When the Bishop ordered them they preach'd Thus Origen in the beginning of some of his Sermons tells us That he was commanded thereunto by the Bishop as particularly when he preach'd about the Witch of Endor he says The Bishop commanded him to do it 2. By the permission of the Bishop Presbyters baptized Thus writes Tertullian The Bishop has the Right of Baptizing and then the Presbyters but not without his leave 3. By the leave of the Bishop Presbyters administred the Eucharist as must be supposed in that saying of Ignatius That that Eucharist only was valid which was celebrated by the Bishop or by one appointed by him and that the Eucharist could not be delivered but by the Bishop or by one whom he did approve 4. The Presbyters ruled in those Churches to which they belonged else this Exhortation of Polycarpus to the Presbyters of Philippi would have been in vain Let the Presbyters be tender and merciful compassionate towards all reducing those that are in Errors visiting all that are weak not negligent of the Widow and the Orphan and him that is poor but ever providing what is honest in the sight of God and Men abstaining from all Wrath Respect of Persons and unrighteous Judgment being far from Covetousness not hastily believing a Report against any Man not rigid in Judgment knowing that we are all faulty and obnoxious to Judgment Hence 5. They presided in Church-Consistories together with the Bishop and composed the executive part of the Ecclesiastical Court from whence it was called the Presbytery because in it as Tertullian says Approved Elders did preside 6. They had also the Power of Excommunication as Rogatianus and Numidicus Two Presbyters of Cyprian's Church by his Order join'd with some Bishops of his Nomination in the Excommunication of certain Schismaticks of his Diocess But of both these two Heads more will be spoken in another place 7. Presbyters restored returning Penitents to the Church's peace Thus we read in an Epistle of Dyonisius Bishop of Alexandria That a certain Offender called Serapion approaching to the time of his Dissolution Sent for one of the Presbyters to absolve him which the Presbyter did according to the Order of his Bishop who had before commanded That the Presbyters should absolve those who were in danger of Death 8. Presbyters Confirmed as we shall most evidently prove when we come to treat of Confirmation Only remark here by the way That in the days of Cyprian there was a hot Controversie Whether those that were baptized by Hereticks and came over to the Catholick Church should be received as Members thereof by Baptism and Confirmation or by Confirmation alone Now I would fain know Whether during the vacancy of a See or the Bishop's absence which sometimes might be very long as Cyprian was absent two years a Presbyter could not admit a returning Heretick to the Peace and Unity of the Church especially if we consider their positive Damnation of all those that died out of the Church If the Presbyters had not had this Power of Confirmation many penitent Souls must have been damn'd for the unavoidable Default of a Bishop which is too cruel and unjust to imagine 9. As for Ordination I find but little said of this in Antiquity yet as little as there is there are clearer Proofs of the Presbyters Ordaining than there are of their administring the Lord's Supper All Power and Grace saith Firmilian is constituted in the Church where Seniors preside who have the Power of Baptizing Confirming and Ordaining or as it may be rendred and perhaps more agreeable to the sense of the place Who had the Power as of Baptizing so also of Confirming and Ordaining What these Seniors were will be best understood by a parallel place in Tertullian for that place in Tertullian and this in Firmilian are usually cited to expound one another by most Learned Men as by the most Learned Dr. Cave and others Now the passage in Tertullian is this In the Ecclesiastical Courts approved Elders preside Now by these approved Elders Bishops and Presbyters must necessarily be understood because Tertullian speaks here of the Discipline exerted in one particular Church or Parish in which there was but one Bishop and if only he had presided then there could not have been Elders in the Plural Number but there being many Elders to make out their Number we must add the Presbyters to the Bishop who also presided with him as we shall more fully shew in another place Now the same that presided in Church-Consistories the same also ordained Presbyters as well as Bishops presided in Church-Consistories therefore Presbyters as well as Bishops Ordained And as in those Churches where there were Presbyters both they and the Bishop presided together so also they Ordained together both laying on their Hands in Ordination as St. Timothy was Ordained by the laying on of the Hands of the Presbytery that is by the Hands of the Bishop and Presbyters of that Parish where he was Ordained as is the constant signification of the word Presbytery in all the Writings of the Ancients But 10. Though as to every particular act of the Bishop's Office it
Ordained to their Office by Prayer and Imposition of Hands § 5. But as for the Ordination of Presbyters I shall more distinctly and largely treat of the Manner and Form thereof which seems to be as follows Whosoever desired to be admitted into this Sacred Office he first proposed himself to the Presbytery of the Parish where he dwelled and was to be Ordained desiring their Consent to his designed Intention praying them to confer upon him those Holy Orders which he craved Now we may suppose his Petition was to the whole Presbytery because a Bishop alone could not give those Holy Orders as is most evident from Cyprian who assures us that all Clerical Ordinations were performed by the Common Counsel of the whole Prebytery And therefore when upon a most urgent and necessary occasion he had been forced to ordain one but a Lector without the Advice and Consent of his Presbytery which one would be apt to think was no great Usurpation he takes great pains Ep. 24. p. 55. to justifie and excuse himself for so doing § 6. Upon this Application of the Candidate for the Ministry the Presbytery took it into their Consideration debated his Petition in their Common Council and proceeded to examine whether he had those Endowments and Qualifications which were requisite for that Sacred Office What those Gifts and Qualifications were touching which he was examined may be reduced to these Four Heads his Age his Condition in the World his Conversation and his Understanding As for his Age It was necessary for him to have lived some time in the World to have been of a ripe and mature Age for they ordained no Novices or young Striplings That was the Practice of the Hereticks whom Tertullian jeers and upbraids with Ordaining Raw and Vnexperienced Clerks But as for the Orthodox they took care to confer Orders on none but on such as were well stricken in years observing herein the Apostolick Canon in 1 Tim. 3. 6. Not a Novice lest being lifted up with Pride he fall into the Condemnation of the Devil But yet if any young Man was endued with extraordinary Grace and Ability the fewness of his Years was no Obstacle to his Promotion that being superseded by the Greatness of his Merit as we find in the case of Aurelius in Cyprian who tho' young in years yet for his eminent Courage and Excellency was graced with Ecclesiastical Orders And such an one I suppose was the Bishop of Magnesia in the times of Ignatius which gave occasion to that Exhortation to the People of that Diocese not to despise their Bishop's Age but to yield him all due Respect and Reverence § 7. As for his Condition in the World he was not to be entangled with any mundane Affairs but to be free from all secular Employments and at perfect Liberty to apply himself wholly to the Duties of his Office and Function This also was founded on that other Apostolick Canon in 2 Tim. 2. 4. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life that 〈◊〉 may please him who hath chosen him to be a Soldier Which Words saith Cyprian if spoken of all How much more ought not they to be entangled with Secular Troubles and Snares who being busied in Divine and Spiritual things cannot leave the Church to mind earthly and worldly actions Which Religious Ordination as he goes on to write was emblematiz'd by the Levites under the Law for when the Land was divided and possessions were given to eleven Tribes the Levites who waited upon the Temple and Altar and the Sacred Offices thereof had no share in that Division but the others till'd the ground whilst they only worshipped God and received Tenths of the others Encrease for their Food and Sustenance all which hapned by the Divine Authority and Dispensation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who waited on Divine Employments should not be withdrawn therefrom or be forced either to think of or to do any Secular Affairs Which fashion as he there continues to write is now observed by the Clergy that those who are promoted to Clerical Ordinations should not be impeded in their Divine Administrations or iucumbred with secular Concerns and Affairs but as Tenths receiving Subscriptions from the Brethren depart not from the Altar and Sacrifices but night and day attend on Spiritual and Heavenly Ministrations These words were spoken on the occasion of a certain Bishop called Geminius Victor who at his Death made a certain Presbyter called Geminius Faustinus Trustee of his last Will and Testament which Trust Cyprian condemns as void and null Because a Synod had before decreed that no Clergyman should be a Trustee for this Reason because those who were in Holy Orders ought only to attend upon the Altar and its Sacrifices and to give themselves wholly to Prayer and Supplication It was a Blot in the Hereticks Ordinations that they Ordained such as were involved in the World and embarass'd with Carnal and Secular Concerns § 8. As for the Conversation of the 〈◊〉 to be Ordained he was to be humble and meek of an unspotted and exemplary Life So says Cyprian In all Ordinations we ought to choose Men of an unspotted Integrity who worthily and holily offering up Sacrifices to God may be heard in those Prayers which they make for the safety of their Flock For it is written God heareth not a Sinner but if any one be a Worshipper of him and doth his Will him he heareth Wherefore before they were Ordained they were proposed to the People for their Testimony and Attestation of their holy Life and Conversation But of this we shall speak more in another place Only it may not be improper to remember here that this is also an Apostolick Canon in 〈◊〉 Tim. 3. 2 3 7. A Bishop then must be Blameless the Husband of one Wife vigilant sober of good Behaviour given to hospitality apt to teach not given to Wine no Striker not guilty of filthy Lucre but Patient not a Brawler not Covetous Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without lest he fall into Reproach and the snare of the Devil § 9. As for the understanding of the Person to be Ordained he was to be of a good Capacity fit and able duly to teach others This is also another of the Apostolick Canons in 2 Tim. 2. 15. Study to shew thy self approved unto God a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the Word of Truth And in 1 Tim. 3. 2. A Bishop must be apt to teach which implies an Ability of teaching and a 〈◊〉 of rightly understanding apprehending and applying the Word of God to which end Humane Learning was so conducive as that Origen pleads not only for its usefulness but also for its necessity especially for that part of it which we call Logick to find out the true Sense and Meaning of the Scripture as appears from this following Digression which
be absolved came into the Church mourning and weeping and expressing all external Indications of his Internal Sorrow As when Natalis a Roman Confessor was absolved for his joyning with the Theodotian Hereticks he came into the Church as it is related by an ancient 〈◊〉 Christian covered with Sackcloth and Ashes throwing himself at the Feet of the Clergy and Laity and with Tears in his Eyes begging their pardon and forgiveness It being looked upon as very proper that they should be admitted into the Church by Tears not by Threats by Prayers and not by Curses Hence at this time for the greater Demonstration of their Sorrow and Humility they were to make a publick Confession of their Sin styled by them Exomologesis which was as Cyprian saith A Confession of their great and heinous Crime and was a necessary Antecedent to Absolution inasmuch as it was the Source and Spring of all true Repentance For as Tertullian observes Out of Confession is born Repentance and by Confession comes Satisfaction And in many places of Cyprian the necessity of Confession is asserted for as Tertullian says Confession as much diminishes the Fault as Dissimulation aggravates it Confession is the Advice of Satisfaction Dissimulation of Contumacy And therefore he condemns those who thro' shame deferred from Day to Day the Publication of their Sin as more mindful of their shamefacedness than of their Salvation Like those who have a Disease in their Secret Parts through shame conceal it from the Chyrurgeons and so with their Modesty die and perish Confession therefore being so necessary the greatest Offenders were not exempted from it as when Philip the Emperor as Eusebius calls him or rather Philip a Prefect of Egypt would have joyned with the Faithful in the Churches Prayer Bishop Babylas denied him admission because of his enormous Crimes nor would he receive him till he had made a Publick Confession of his Faults And accordingly when one of those Bishops that Schismatically Ordained Novatian returned as a Penitent he came into the Church weeping and Confessing his Sin where we may observe that it is said in the singular Number his Sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which intimates that the Penitent's Confession was not only general or for all his Sins in the gross but it was particular for that special Sin for which he was censured consonant whereunto Cyprian as before quoted writes that the Penitent confessed his most great and heinous Sin that is that Sin for which he was so severely punished This Confession of the Penitents was made with all the outward Signs of Sorrow and Grief which usually so affected the Faithful as that they sympathized with them in mourning and weeping Whence Tertullian exhorts the Penitent not through shame to conceal but from a true Godly Disposition to confess his Fault before the whole Church and to weep and mourn for it since they being his Brethren would also weep with and over him And so from the same Consideration Cyprian exhorted the Lapsed to this Penitent Confession with our Tears saith he joyn your Tears with our Groans couple your Groans § 10. As soon as Confession was over then followed the formal Absolution which was thus The Person to be absolved kneeled down before the Bishop and the Clergy who put their Hands upon his Head and bless'd him by which external Ceremony the Penitent was declaratively and formally admitted to the Churches Peace Thus Cyprian writes that they received the Right of Communion by the Imposition of Hands of the Bishop and his Clergy And that no one can be admitted to Communion unless the Bishop and Clergy have imposed Hands on him This being accounted the third and last general Requisite for the reconciling of Offenders the two former being the undergoing a state of Penance and a publick Confession of their Sin all which three are frequently mentioned together as such by Cyprian as where he says Let Offenders do Penance a set space of time and according to the Order of Discipline let them come to Confession and by Imposition of Hands of the Bishop and Clergy let them receive the Right of Communion And in other places he complains of the irregular and unadvised Actions of some of his Presbyters that they admitted some of the Lapsed to Communion before they had undergone a duc Penance made a Publick Confession of their Sin and had Hands imposed on them by the Bishop and Clergy § 11. After the Penitents were absolved by imposition of Hands then they were received into the Communion of the Faithful and made Partakers again of all those Priviledges which by their Crimes they had for a while forfeited Only when an offending Clergy man was absolved he only was restored to Communion as a Lay-man but never re-admitted to his Ecclesiastical Dignity Thus when one of the Schismatical Bishops that Ordained Novatian returned to the Church he was deprived of his Ecclesiastical Office and admitted only to Lay-Communion So likewise Apostate or Lapsed Bishops were never restored again to their Office The Reasons whereof may be seen in the 64th Epistle of Cyprian And therefore Basilides a lapsed Bishop would have been extremely glad if the Church would but have permitted him to communicate as a Layman But yet I suppose that for every Fault Clergymen were not deprived of their Orders but only according to the Greatness of their Crimes and the Aggravation of them since I find that Maximus a Presbyter of the Church of Rome who had been deluded into the Schism of Novatian was upon his Submission restored by Cornelius to his former Office CHAP. VIII § 1. Of the Independency of Churches § 2. Of the Dependency of Churches § 3. Of Synods and the several kinds of them § 4. How often Synods were convened § 5. Who were the Members of Synods § 6. By whose Authority Synods were convened § 7. When convened the manner of their Proceedings a Moderator first chosen what the Moderator's Office was § 8. Then they entred upon Business which had relation either to Foreign Churches or their own with respect to Foreign Churches their Acts were only advising § 9. With respect to their own Churches obliging The End and Power of Synods enquired into § 1. TO that large Discourse of the Primitive Discipline which was the Subject of the preceding Chapter it will be necessary to add this Observation that all those judicial Acts were exerted in and by every single Parish every particular Church having Power to exercise Discipline on her own Members without the Concurrency of other Churches else in those places where there might be but one Church for several Miles round which we may reasonably suppose the Members of that Church must have travelled several if not Scores of Miles to have had the consent of other Churches for the Punishment of their Ofsenders But there is no need to make this Supposition
he will contradict all other Writers it being avouched by all that Synods did depose all those Bishops that were guilty of criminal and scandalous Enormities as Privatus Bishop of Lambese was deposed by a Synod of Ninety Bishops for his many and heinous Crimes § 7. But now excepting these three Causes of Apostacy Heresie and Immorality it was Schism in a Parish to leave their Minister or to set up another Bishop against him for tho' they at first chose their Bishop yet their Bishop being on their Choice approved and confirmed by the neighbouring Bishops they could not dethrone him without truly assigning one of those forementioned Causes for this was to gather a Church out of a Church to erect a new Altar and a new Bishop which could not be in one Church for as Cyprian writes God is one Christ is one the Church is one the Rock on which the Church is built is one wherefore to erect a new Altar and constitute a new Bishop besides the one Altar and the one Bishop is impracticable whosoever gathers here scatters so to do is adulterous impious sacrilegious mad and wicked From hence says Cyprian Schisms do arise that the Bishop is not obeyed and it is not considered that there ought to be but one Bishop and one Judge in a Church at a time And this is the Rise and Source of Schismaticks that through their swelling Pride they contemn their Bishop and so they go off from the Church so they erect a profane Altar and so they rebel against the Peace of Christ and the Ordination and Vnity of God And again From thence proceed Schisms that the Bishop who is but one and presides over the Church is contemned by the proud Presumption of Men and he that was thought worthy by God is esteemed unworthy by Men. And again The Church is the People united to their Bishop and the Sheep adhering to their Pastour the Bishop is in the Church and the Church in the Bishop whosoever are not with the Bishop are not in the Church and those do in vain flatter themselves who having not Peace with God's Priests creep about and privately communicate with some as they think when the Catholick Church is not divided but connexed and coupled together by the Vnity of its agreeing Bishops Whosoever therefore should causelesly desert his Bishop and solicit others so to do was a true Schismatick since in so doing he divided a Portion of the Flock with the Bishop separated the Sheep from their Pastour and dissipated the Members of Christ. From these Quotations then it is apparent that the Primitive Schism respected only a particular Church and consisted in a Person 's Separation from Communion with his lawful Bishop without a just and authentick Cause when any one should set up a particular Church in a particular Church in opposition to the lawful Bishop thereof and should draw away the Inhabitants of that Parish from the Communion of their legal Minister setting up distinct Meetings and Conventicles as Cyprian calls them This was true Schism for as Ignatius says whosoever so assembled were not congregated legally according to the Command And whosoever officiated without the Bishop sacrificed to the Devil § 8. This Notion now of Schism gives us a clear Reason why we find in Ignatius so frequent and Pathetick Injunctions of Obedience to and Unity with our respective Pastours of avoiding all Divisions and closely adhering to them because a deserting of them or a separating from them was a Commission of this horrid and detestable Sin of Schism as will appear from these following Exhortations and Instructions of his with which every Leaf almost of his Epistles are fraught and furnished All you of the Church of Smirna obey your Bishop as Jesus Christ did the Father and the Presbytery as the Apostles and honour the 〈◊〉 according to the Command of God Let nothing of Ecclesiastical Services be done without the Bishop let that Communion only be esteemed valid which is performed by the Bishop or by one permitted by him Wherever the Bishop is there let the People be as where Jesus Christ is there the Catholick Church is it is not lawful without the Bishop or one permitted by him to baptize or celebrate the 〈◊〉 this is pleasing unto God that so whatsoever is done may be firm and Legal Have respect unto your Bishop as God hath respect unto you My Soul for theirs that obey their Bishop Presbyters and Deacons and with them let my part in God be Let us not resist our Bishop lest we be found Resisters of God I exhort you to do every thing in the Vnity of God the Bishop presiding in the place of God and the Presbyters in the place of the Council of the Apostles and the Deacons persorming the intrusted Ministry of Jesus Christ let there nothing be in you that may divide you but be united to your Bishop and Presidents As therefore Christ did nothing without the Father being united to him neither by himself nor by his Apostles so do you nothing without the Bishop and Presbyters nor privately withdraw from them but assemble together having one Prayer one Supplication one Mind and one Hope Flee all Division where the Pastour is there as Sheep follow for there are many 〈◊〉 Wolves that seek to carry you away but let them have no place in your Vnity Whoever are God's and Jesus Christ's they are with the Bishop and whosoever repenting shall come to the Vnity of the Church those shall be God's that they may live according to Jesus Christ. Be not deceived my Brethren if any one follows a 〈◊〉 or one that causeth Division and Separation he shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Respect the Bishop Presbyters and Deacons do nothing without the Bishop Keep your Flesh as the Temple of God Love Vnity Avoid Schisms be followers of Jesus Christ as he was of his Father Where Division and Wrath is God dwells not God therefore pardons all Penitents if they penitentially return to the Vnity of God and the Presbytery of the Bishop And some other such like Expressions there are in the 〈◊〉 of this Father which evidently demonstrate Schism to be nothing else than a causeless Separation from our Parish Bishop or Minister and a wandring after or an Adhesion to another false and pretended Pastour § 9. But for the clearer Proof that this was what the Father 's meant by Schism it may not be altogether unnecessary to add unto these Quotations an Example or two for Examples more convincingly 〈◊〉 than bare Testimonies and Citations And here let us first view the Schism of Felicissimus in the hurch of Carthage as it is related in the 38th 40th and 55th Epistles of Cyprian and we shall find it respecting only that particular Church or Parish When Cyprian was elected Bishop of Carthage Felicissimus and others of his Faction opposed him but
whatsoever and therefore neither an African Synod nor Antonius an African Bishop would communicate with the Legates of Novatian Nor would Cornelius joyn in Communion with Felicissimus a Schismatick of Carthage when he came to Rome but as he was excluded from Communion in his own Church so likewise was he in that of Rome 2. It was the Custom when any Bishop was Elected to send News of his Promotion to other Bishops as Cornelius did to Cyprian that so he might have their Confirmation and their future Letters to the Bishop of that Church to which he was promoted might be directed unto him as Cyprian did unto Cornelius which Custom of sending Messengers to other Churches to acquaint them of their Advancement to the Episcopal Throne was also observed by the Schismaticks and in particular by Novatian who sent Maximus a Presbyter Augendus a Deacon Machaeus and Longinus unto Cyprian to inform him of his Promotion to the See of Rome Now if any Bishop or Church did knowingly approve the Pretensions of the Schismatical Bishop they broke the Concord of the Church and became guilty of Schism as may be gathered from the beginning of an Epistle of Cyprian's to Antonius an African Bishop wherein he writes him That he had received his Letter which firmly consented to the Concord of the Sacerdotal Colledge and adhered to the Catholick Church by which he had signified that he would not communicate with Novatian but hold an Agreement with Bishop Cornelius And therefore when Legates came to Cyprian both from Cornelius and Novatian he duly weighed who was legally Elected and finding Cornelius so to be he approved his Election Directed his Congratulatory Letters unto him refused to communicate with the Schismatical Messengers of Novatian and exhorted them to quit their Schism and to submit to their lawfully elected Bishop So that in these two respects the Schism of a particular Church might influence others also involving them in the same Crime creating Quarrels and Dissentions between their respective Bishops and so dividing the Dischargers of that Honourable Office whom God had made one for as Cyprian says As there is but one Church throughout the whole World divided into many Members so there is but one Bishoprick diffused through the agreeing Number of many Bishops § 11. But now that we may conclude this Chapter the Sum of all that hath been spoken concerning Schism is that Schism in its large Sense was a Breach of the Unity of the Church Universal but in its usual and restrained Sense of a Church Particular whosoever without any just reason through Faction Pride and Envy separated from his Bishop or his Parish Church he was a true Schismatick and whosoever was thus a Schismatick if we may believe Saint Cyprian He had no longer God for his Father nor the Church for his Mother but was out of the Number of the Faithful and though he should die for the Faith yet should he never be saved Thus much then shall serve for that Query concerning the Churches Unity The next and 〈◊〉 thing that is to be enquired into is the Worship of the Primitive Church that is the Form and Method of their Publick Services of Reading Singing Preaching Praying of Baptism Confirmation and the Lord's Supper of their Fasts and Feasts of their Rites and Ceremonies and such like which I thought to have annexed to this Treatise but this being larger than I expected and the Discourse relating to the Primitive Worship being like to be almost as large I have for this and 〈◊〉 other Reasons reserved it for a particular Tract by its self which if nothing prevents may be expos'd hereafter to publick View and Observation FINIS THE SECOND PART OF THE ENQUIRY INTO THE Constitution Discipline Unity Worship OF THE Primitive Church That Flourished within the First Three Hundred Years after CHRIST Faithfully Collected out of the Extant Writings of those Ages By an Impartial Hand LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lyon and John Wyat at the Rose in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1691. The Second Part of the Enquiry into the Constitution Discipline Unity and Worship of the Primitive Church CHAP. I. § 1. Of the Publick Worship of the Primitive Church § 2. In their Assemblies they began with Reading the Scriptures Other Writings Read besides the Scriptures § 3. Who Read the Scriptures from whence they were Read and how they were Read § 4. Whether there were appointed Lessons § 5. After the 〈◊〉 of the Scriptures there followed Singing of Psalms § 6. What Psalms they Sung § 7. The manner of their Singing § 8. Of Singing Men and of Church Musick § 9. To Singing of Psalms succeeded Preaching On what the Preacher discoursed How long his Sermon was § 10. The Method of their Sermons § 11. Who Preached usually the Bishop or by his Permission any other either Clergyman or Layman § 1. HAving in a former Treatise enquired into the Constitution Discipline and Unity of the Primitive Church I intend in this to enquire into the Worship thereof which naturally divides its self into these Two Parts Into the Worship its self and Into the necessary Circumstances thereof as Time and Place and such like both which I design to handle beginning first with the Worship its self wherein I shall not meddle with the Object thereof since all Protestants agree in the Adoring God alone through Jesus Christ but only speak of those Particular Acts and Services whereby in the Publick Congregations we honour and adore Almighty God such as Reading of the Scriptures Singing of Psalms Preaching Praying and the Two Sacraments every one of which I shall consider in their Order as they were performed in the Ancient Parish Churches And First § 2. When the Congregation was assembled the first Act of Divine Service which they performed was the Reading of the Holy Scriptures In our Publick Assemblies says Tertullian The Scriptures are Read Psalms Sung Sermons Preached and Prayers presented So also Just in Martyr writes that in their Religious Assemblies first of all The Writings of the Prophets and Apostles were read But besides the Sacred Scriptures there were other Writings read in several Churches viz. The Epistles and Tracts of Eminent and Pious Men such as the Book of Hermas called Pastor and the Epistle of Clemens Romanus to the Church of Corinth which were read in the publick Congregations of many Churches § 3. He that read the Scriptures was particularly destinated to this Office as a Preparative to Holy Orders as Aurelius whom Cyprian design'd for a Presbyter was first to begin with the Office of reading The Name by which this Officer was distinguished was in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Latin Lector both which signifie in English a Reader or as we now call him a Clark The Place from whence the Clark Read was an Eminency erected in the Church that so all
Title 〈◊〉 to Christ in the Old Testament for that Place in Zach. 6. 12. Behold the Man whose Name is the 〈◊〉 they Translated according to the Septuagint Behold the Man whose Name is the East which misapprehension of the Word Branch arose from the different Significations or Applications of the Greek Word by which the Septuagint expressed it In the Original Hebrew the Word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies an arising or sprouting out as doth a Branch from a Root The Word by which they rendred it in Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in a large Sense comprehends all sorts of arising and springing out but strictly and generally is applyed to the arising and first appearing of the Sun and by a Metonymy is appropriated to the East because the Sun arises in that Quarter The Fathers therefore not knowing the Original and finding Christ to be called in their Ordinary Version 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 presently concluded that according to the usual signification of the Word he was there termed by the Prophet The East whom they conceived to be so called because he was to arise like a Star And as the Sun that arises in the East penetrates thro' the World with its warm and illuminating Rays So Christ the Sun of Righteousness would arise with more Warmth and Light and pierce farther than the material Sun even into the Depths of Mens Hearts and Minds Hence the East is called by Tertullian A Type of Christ and for this Reason we may very well suppose that they prayed towards the East as well as built their Churches toward it which that they did we shall shew in its proper place II. Another Reason might be with respect to the Similitude of the Rising of the Sun with our Spiritual arising out of the Darkness of Sin and Corruption which I find thus expressed by Clemens Alexandrinus Let Prayers be made towards the East because the East is the Representation of our Spiritual Nativity As from thence Light first arose shining out of Darkness so according to that Rising of the Sun the Day of true Knowledge arose on those who lay buried in Ignorance whence the ancient Temples looked towards the West that so they who stood against the Images therein might be forced to look towards the East III. Origen advises to pray towards the Eastern Climate to denote our Diligence in the Service of God in being more forward to arise and set about it than the Sun is to run his daily Course for which he produces an Apocryphal Text Wisdom 16. 28. That it might be known that we must prevent the Sun to give thee thanks and at the Day-spring pray unto thee IV. Another Reason for their praying towards the East was their Opinion of the Excellency of this Quarter above others which Argument Origen thus delivers as well as I can Translate it Whereas there are four Climates the North and South the West and East who will not acknowledge that we bught to pray looking towards the East Symbolically representing thereby our Souls beholdthe arising of the true Light If a Man which way soever the Doors of his House are placed would rather make his Prayers towards the Windows saying That the sight of the Sky hath something more peculiar 〈◊〉 it to stir up his Affection than his looking against a Wall Or if it so happen that the Windows of his House do not look towards the East that happened from the Arbitrary Structure of the Builder but not from Nature which prefers the East before the other Quarters and Nature is to be preferred before that Building Or if any one will pray in the open Field will he not pray rather towards the East than towards the West And if in these things the 〈◊〉 is preferred before the West why is it not so also in every other thing besides For these four Reasons now but principally I suppose for the first they usually prayed towards the East inasmuch that for their Worshiping towards this Quarter and for their Religious Observation of the Lord's Day or Sunday so called because Dedicated to the Sun they were accused by the Heathens of Reverencing and Adoring the Sun § 3. The Congregation being thus turned towards the East they put themselves into a 〈◊〉 of Prayer stretching out their Hands and lifting up their Eyes towards Heaven as Clemens Alexandrinus writes We lift up our Head and stretch out our Hands towards Heaven And so Tertullian We pray looking upto Heaven 〈◊〉 expanded Hands by this devout 〈◊〉 imitating the lifting up of their Hearts to God in the 〈◊〉 Wherefore as now to quicken the Peoples Devotion the 〈◊〉 before Prayer excites them thereunto by saying Let us pray So in the African Churches in Cyprian's Days the Minister Prefac'd in his Prayer by saying to the People Lift up your Hearts To which the People to testifie their Consent answered We lift them up unto the Lord. § 4. After this the Minister began to Pray But before we handle his Prayer it may not be unnecessary to consider in what Habit he Officiated whether in a Surplice or no. His usual Garb was a Pallium which is the same with what we call a Cloak This as being the most simple and plain Garment was commonly worn by the Christians the usual Garb throughout the whole Roman Empire was the Toga which was more gay and splendid than the Pallium wherefore those who came over from Paganism to Christianity for the Indication of their Humility and Contempt of the World quitted the Toga as too pompous and mundane and assumed the Pallium or Cloak as more grave and modest from which change of Apparel and renouncing of a sumptuous Habit to embrace a poor and mean one the Heathens derided and exposed the Christians even to a Proverb a Toga ad Pallium which sarcastical Language engaged Tertullian to write a little Tract in Defence of the Cloak which is still extant in his Writings under the Title of De Pallio But Salmasius and Dr. Cave think this severe Habit was not worn by all 〈◊〉 but only by those of them that lead a more austere and mortified Life such as the Clergy and some self-denying Personages 〈◊〉 the Laity and that therefore it is called by Tertullian in the sorementioned Tract Sacerdotis Habitus or Priests Apparel as it is in all ancient Manuscripts and in the first Edition of Beatus Rhenanus and not Sacer Habitus The Holy Apparel as it is in the later Editions But whether it were so or no I shall not here debate This is sufficient for my purpose that the Clergy usually wore a Cloak But now that in times of Publick Prayer they should put a Surplice or any other kind of Linnen Garment over their Cloaks neither Tertullian nor any other speak the least Syllable of it Instead of putting another Vestment on their Gown or Cloak
this Chapter and his Gospel with saying that when the Apostles went 〈◊〉 and Preached the Lord 〈◊〉 with them and confirmed the Word with Signs following So that these were extraordinary Actions 〈◊〉 promised to the 〈◊〉 and first 〈◊〉 of the Faith of Christ. But now it is evident from the forementioned Determination of Vincentius Bishop of 〈◊〉 that in his Age they apprehended them to be like Baptism ordinary and standing Administrations in the Church and so 〈◊〉 in the Sense of the fore-cited Text introduced for an ordinary and constant Practice that which was promised by Christ for an extraordinary and miraculous Gift Christ promised his 〈◊〉 the miraculous Power of casting Devils out of Bodies possessed by them But these Fathers understood this Promise of the common Spiritual Effects of the Gospel which where it is believingly received delivers that Person from the Desusion and Dominion of the Devil under which we all naturally are being by Nature Children of Wrath and for the Declaration of this invisible Freedom and Deliverance which they all thought to be in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Baptism they made use of this external Sign of Exorcism just before Baptism to declare thereby that now the unclean Devil with all his Power and Tyranny was cast out of that Person who was now going in and by 〈◊〉 to be 〈◊〉 to the Service of a 〈◊〉 Master viz. of the Blessed Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost God blessed for evermore § 3. When 〈◊〉 was 〈◊〉 then came Baptism its self and the Person being ready to be Baptized the Minister by Prayer 〈◊〉 the Water for that use because it was not any Water but only that Water as Sedatus Bishop of Turbo writes which is sanctified in the Church by the Prayers of the Minister that 〈◊〉 away Sin It is true indeed as Tertullian writes That any Waters 〈◊〉 Sacramentum sanctificationis consequuntur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supervenit 〈◊〉 statim 〈◊〉 de Coelis Baptism p. 598. may be applyed to that use but then God must be first Invocated and then the Holy Ghost presently comes down from Heaven moves upon them and 〈◊〉 them 〈◊〉 saith Cyprian The Water must be first 〈◊〉 and sanctified by the Priest that by its washing it may wash away the Sins of Man that is Baptized § 4. The Water being Consecrated the Person was then Baptized in the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost So writes Justin 〈◊〉 They are baptized in the Name of God the Father Lord of all and of our Saviour Jesus Christ and of the Holy Ghost For as Clemens 〈◊〉 says The baptized Person by this Dedication to the Blessed Trinity is delivered from the corrupt Trinity viz. The Devil the World and the Flesh and is now Sealed by the Father Son and Holy Ghost This Baptizing in the Name of Trinity Origen terms The Invocation of the Adorable Trinity § 5. As for the 〈◊〉 of Water employed in Baptism that is whether they 〈◊〉 or dipped to me it seems evident that their 〈◊〉 Custom was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or dip the whole Body When St. Barnabas describes a baptized Person by his going down into the Water We go down saith he into the Water full of Sin and Filth but we ascend with Fruit and Benefit in our Hearts And so Tertullian represents baptized Persons as entred into the Water And as let down into the Water And Justin Martyr describes the same by being washed in Water and calls the place where they are baptized 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a washing-place or a Bath whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the Baptism of Hereticks condemns it as carnal and as being upon that account no 〈◊〉 different from the Baptism or washing of the Jews which they used as a common and ordinary Bath to wash away the 〈◊〉 of their Bodies § 6. But though Immersion was their usual Custom yet Perfusion or Sprinkling was not accounted unlawful but in cases of necessity that was used as in Clinic Baptism which was when sick Persons whose Deaths they apprehended were Baptized in their Beds as 〈◊〉 being sick and 〈◊〉 Death as was 〈◊〉 was Baptized in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perfusion or Pouring on of Water It is true indeed this Baptism was not generally esteemed as perfect as the more solemn Baptism for which Reason it was a Custom in some Churches not to advance any to Clerical Orders who had been 〈◊〉 Baptized an Instance whereof we have in the Church of Rome where the Ordination of Novatian to be a Presbyter was opposed by all the Clergy and by many of the 〈◊〉 as unlawful because of his Clinic Perfusion But yet that they held it not altogether or absolutely unlawful to be done appears from that on the Intreaties of the Bishop they consented that he should be ordained as he accordingly was And Cyprian in a set Discourse on this Subject declares that he thought this Baptism to be as perfect and 〈◊〉 as that done more solemnly by Immersion for when one Magnus writ to him 〈◊〉 his Opinion whether those were 〈◊〉 baptized who through their 〈◊〉 were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but only perfused or aspers'd he 〈◊〉 Nos quantum concipit mediocritas nostra 〈◊〉 in nullo mutilari 〈◊〉 posse divina beneficia nec minus aliquid illic posse contingere ubi plena tota 〈◊〉 dantis sumentis accipitur quod de divinis muneribus hauritur Neque enim sic in Sacramento Salutari delictorum contagia ut in lavacro carnali seculari 〈◊〉 cutis corporis 〈◊〉 ut aphronitris 〈◊〉 quoque adjumentis Solio Piscina opus fit quibus ablui mundari corpusculum 〈◊〉 Aliter pectus credentis abluitur aliter mens hominis per fidei merita mundatur In Sacramentis 〈◊〉 necessitate cogente Deo indulgentiam suam 〈◊〉 totum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divina compendia Nec quemquam movere debet quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 persundi videantur aegri cum gratiam dominicam 〈◊〉 quando 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per Ezechielem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aspergam super vos aquam 〈◊〉 mundabi mini ab omnibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab omnibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vos dabo vobis cor novum Spiritum novum dabo in vobis Item in Numeris homo qui 〈◊〉 immundus usque ad 〈◊〉 hic 〈◊〉 dietertio die septimo mundus erit si 〈◊〉 non suerit purificatus die tertio die septimo non erit mundus exterminabitur anima illa de Israel quoniam aqua aspersionis non est super eum sparsa Et iterum locutus est Dominus ad Moysen dicens accipe 〈◊〉 de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Israel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ita 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 purificationem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aqua purificationis iterum aqua aspersionis purificatio est Unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quoque aquae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lavacri obtinere quando haec in ecclesia 〈◊〉 ubi sit dantis accipientis 〈◊〉 integra stare omnia
of that which we now distinguish by the Names of Confirmation and Absolution it necessarily results that Confirmation was not like Baptism only once performed but on many Persons frequently reiterated All Persons after Baptism were confirmed that is by the Imposition of Hands and Prayer the Holy Ghost was beseeched to descend upon them and so to fortifie them by his Heavenly Grace as that they might couragiously persevere in their Christian Warfare to their Lives end but if it should so happen as oftentimes it did that any so confirmed should fall from the Christian Faith and be for a time excluded the Churches Peace when they were again admitted Hands were again imposed on them and the Holy Spirit again Invocated to strengthen them with his Almighty Grace by which they might be upheld to the Day of Salvation and so as often as any Man fell and was restored to the Churches Communion so often was he confirmed and the Holy Ghost entreated more firmly to establish and settle him CHAP. VI. § 1. Of the Lord's Supper The Time when administred § 2. Persons that received it none present at the Celebration thereof besides the Communicants § 3. The manner of its Celebration In some places the Communicants first made their Offerings § 4. The Minister began with a Sacramental Discourse or Exhortation Then followed a Prayer consisting of Petitions and Praises which consecrated both the Elements at once § 5. After that the Words of the Institution were read § 6. Then the Bread was broken and the Wine poured out and both distributed Diversity of Customs in the manner of the Distribution § 7. The Posture of Receiving § 8. After they had communicated they sung a Psalm and then concluded with Prayer and a Collection for the Poor § 1 THE first of the Christian Sacraments having been so largely discussed I now come to treat of the other viz. The Lords Supper in the handling of which I shall enquire into these three things 1. The Time 2. The Person And 3. The manner thereof First As for the time of its Celebration In general it was at the conclusion of their Solemn Services as Justin Martyr writes that after they had read sung preached and prayed then they proceeded to the Administration of the Eucharist But as for the particular part of the Day that seems to have been according to the Circumstances and Customs of every Church In Tertullian's Age and Country they received it at Supper-time from which late Assembling it is probable that the Heathens took occasion to accuse them of putting out the Lights and promiscuously mingling one with another Which Accusation may be read at large in Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Tryphon in Minutius Felix and the Apologies of Tertullian and Athenagoras But whether this was then their constant Season in times of Peace I know not this is certain that in times of Persecution they laid hold on any Season or Opportunity for the enjoying of this Sacred Ordinance whence Tertullian tells us of their receiving the Eucharist in their Antelucan Assemblies or in their Assemblies before day And Pliny reports that in his time the Christians were wont to meet together before it was light and to bind themselves by a Sacrament Cyprian writes that in his Days they administer'd this Sacrament both Morning and Evening And That as Christ administer'd the Sacrament in the Evening to signifie the Evening and end of the World So they celebrated it in the Morning to denote the Resurrection of their Lord and Master All that can be gathered from hence is That they did not deem any particular part of the Day necessary to the Essence of the Sacrament but every Church regulated its self herein according to the Diversity of its Customs and Circumstances § 2. As for the 〈◊〉 communicating they were not indifferently all that professed the Christian Faith as Origen writes It doth not belong to every one to eat of this Bread and to drink of this Cup. But they were only such as were in the number of the faithful such as were baptized and received both the Credentials and Practicals of Christianity That is who believed the Articles of the Christian Faith and lead an holy and a pious Life Such as these and none else were permitted to Communicate Now since none but the Faithful were admitted it follows that the Catechumens and the Penitents were excluded the Catechumens because they were not yet baptized for Baptism always preceded the Lords Supper as Justin Martyr says It is not lawful for any one to partake of the Sacramental Food except he be baptized The Penitents because for their Sins they were cast out of the Church and whilst excluded from the Peace thereof they could not participate of the Marks and Tokens of that Peace but were to be driven therefrom and not admitted thereto till they had fully satisfied for their Faults lest otherwise they should profane the Body of the Lord and drink his Cup unworthily and so be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord. Hence when the other parts of Divine Worship were ended and the Celebration of the Eucharist was to begin the Catechumens Penitents and all except the Communicants were to depart as Tertullian says hereof Pious Initiations drive away the Profane These being Mysteries which were to be kept secret and concealed from all except the Faithful inasmuch as to others the very method and manner of their Actions herein were unknown which was observed by the Pagans who objected to the Christians the Secrecy of their Mysteries which Charge Tertullian does not deny but confessing it answers That that was the very Nature of Mysteries to be concealed as Ceres's were in Samothracia § 3. The Catechumens with others being gone out and none remaining but the Faithful the Celebration of the Eucharist next followed which brings me to the Inquiry of the Third thing viz. The manner of the Celebration thereof But before I meddle therewith I shall briefly premise this Observation viz. That in some places as in France and Africa the Communicants first made their Offerings presenting according to their Ability Bread or Wine or the like as the first Fruits of their Encrease It being our Duty as Irenaeus writes to offer unto God the first Fruits of his Creatures as Moses saith Thou shalt not appear empty before the Lord. Not as if God wanted these things but to shew our fruitfulness and gratitude unto him Wherefore Cyprian thus severely blam'd the Rich Matrons for their scanty Oblations Thou art rich and wealthy saith he and dost thou think duly to celebrate the Lord's Supper when thou refusest to give Thou who comest to the Sacrament without a Sacrifice what part canst thou have from the Sacrifice which the Poor offer up These Offerings were employed to the Relief of the Poor and other Uses of the Church and it seems probable that a
Resurrection during which time they thought themselves by the forementioned Command obliged to fast Secondly From hence we may observe the Duration of this Fast or how long it was continued and that was from the time that Christ the Bridegroom was taken away to the time that he was restored again that is from his Passion to his Resurrection Now according to their Various Computations of the beginning and end of Christ's being taken away so was the Duration of their Fast some might reckon from Christ's Agony in the 〈◊〉 others from his being betrayed by Judas 〈◊〉 again from his being fastned to the Cross and others from his being actually dead and so according to these Diversities of Computations were their Fasts either lengthened or shortned This we may probably suppose to be the occasion of the different Observations of this Fast with respect to its Duration as we find it in Irenaeus Some says he esteem that they must fast but one Day others two others more and some allow to this Fast forty Hours Which last space of Time seems to have been their general and common Allowance Whence this Fast was afterwards called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Quadragesima that is not a Fast of Forty Days in imitation of Christ's Fasting in the Wilderness but a Fast of Forty Hours beginning at Friday Twelve a Clock about which time Christ was dying and ending Sunday Morning when Christ arose So that from Twelve a Clock Good Friday as we call it when Christ the Bridegroom was taken away they fasted in obedience to his Command as they imagined till Sunday Morning when he was found again by his Resurrection at which time they forgot their Sorrow and Mourning concluded their Fast and began the joyful Festival of Easter or of Christs Resurrection § 4. As for the manner of their Fasts we may observe them to be of three sorts viz. Statio Jejunium and Superpositio Station Fasts and Superposition all which three are at once mentioned by Victorinus Petavionensis We fast says he till the ninth hour or till evening or their is a Superposition till the next morning I. There was the Fast of Stations which ended at Three a Clock in the Afternoon or at the Ninth Hour as it is called in the forecited Passage of Victorinus Petavionensis This sort of Fasting was used on 〈◊〉 and Fridays which Days as we have shewn before were called Stationary Days and on them Divine Services were ended at Three a Clock in the Afternoon for which Reason Montanising Tertullian terms them The Half Fasts of Stations II. The next sort was strictly called Jejunium or a Fast which according to the 〈◊〉 place of Victorinus Petavionensis lasted till Evening Of this sort it is probable their Occasional Fasts were as Tertullian writes In times of necessity and danger we dry up our selves with Fasting abstain from all Meat roll our selves in Dust and Ashes and by these means cause God to have mercy upon us Though it is also likely that in times of more eminent Danger they extended these Fasts unto that of Superposition The Second sort of Fasts was observed by some on Fridays who turned the Station into a Fast as Victorinus Petavionensis writes On Friday in Commemoration of the Lord's Passion I either keep a Station or observe a Fast. III. The last sort of Fasts was called Superposition or as by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which lasted till the Morning of the next Day according to that of Victorinus Petavionensis Let Superposition be done till the next Day As for the times when this Fast was observed I find that in some of the Western Churches they so kept every Saturday throughout the Year fasting thereon till Midnight or till the beginning of Sunday Morning as Victorinus Petavioniensis says Let Superposition be done on Saturday lest we should seem to observe the Jewish Sabbath But not only in these but in other Churches also they so fasted on Easter Eve or on the Saturday preceeding that Sunday which being Lent was so necessary and usual that Tertullian enumerating those particular Acts of Divine Worship that a Christian Woman could not freely perform if married to a Pagan Husband reckons this as one That on Easter Eve she could not stay up and watch that Night But to please her Husband must be diverted from this necessary Fast that usher'd in the Glorious Festival of Easter which brings me in the next place to enquire into this and their other Feasts of which in the ensuing Chapter CHAP. IX § 1. Of the Primitive Feasts two-fold Occasional and Fix'd § 2. Of Easter § 3. Of Whitsunday § 4. Of Christmas On what Day of the Year Christ was born § 5. Of Epiphany § 6. Besides these no other Feasts in Commemoration of Christ the Virgin Mary or the Apostles The Apostles not called Saints in the Primitive Writings § 7. Festivals in Commemoration of the Martyrs Observed on the Annual Day of their Martyrdom Persons appointed to take an exact Account of the Day of their Decease § 8. Why those Festivals were observed The Day of the Martyrs Death termed their Birth days § 9. The Place where these Festivals were Solemnized Of the Buryingplace of the Ancients § 10. The manner of the Observation of these Festivals § 1. AS the Primitive Fasts were two-fold so likewise were their Feasts either Occasional or Fixed As for those that were Occasional I shall pass them over because not controverted and come immediately to enquire into their Fixed Feasts which as their Fasts were also two-fold either Weekly or Annual Of their Weekly Feasts which were Sundays and in the Oriental Churches Saturdays I have already discoursed so that there only remains an Enquiry into their Annual Feasts which befides the Martyrs Festivals were two viz. Easter and Whitsunday or at most Three viz Easter Whitsunday and Christmass of each of which in their Order § 2. I begin with Easter as being the antientest Feast of all concerning which Tertullian writes We Celebrate Easter in the first Month every Year Cyprian mentions their Easter Solemnities And Origen reckons Easter as one of the four Festivals observed in his time But that they Solemnized Easter is a thing so well known that it will be unnecessary to prove it especially since every one knows or at least might easily know those sharp Contests and Debates that were in the Church about the time when it should be kept the whole Affair hath been at large related by several Hands in our own Tongue amongst others by the most learned Dr. Cave in his Apostolici in the Life of Irenaeus to which I refer the Curious contenting my self with giving a very brief Account of the Controversie which was this The Churches of the Lesser Asia kept their Easter the same day that the Jews kept their Passover on what day of the Week soever it happen'd The Church of Rome with
decent place where say they if possible we will meet to celebrate with Joy and Gladness the Birth-day of his Martyrdom Hence that they might be certain of the very day of the Martyrs Sufferings there were some appointed to take an exact Account of them and faithfully to register them that so there might be no mistake Thus Cyprian writ from his Exile to the Clergy of his Church That they should take special care exactly to note down the very day of the Martyrdom of the Faithful that so they might be commemorated amongst the Memories of the Martyrs and to signifie to him the precise time of their departure to a glorious Immortality that so he might also celebrate it § 8. The Reasons for which they observed these Festivals we find in the forementioned Letter of the Church of Smirna wherein they write That they would meet to celebrate with Joy and Gladness the Martyrdom of Polycarp for the Commemoration of those who had already gloriously striven and for the Confirmation and Preparation of others by their Examples So that their Design was two-fold to animate and encourage others to follow the glorious Examples of those Heroick Martyrs who were commemorated before their Eyes and to declare the Honour and Veneration that they had for those invincible Champions of Jesus Christ who by their Martyrdoms were now freed from all their Miseries and Torments and Translated to a blessed and glorious Immortality in an happy manner experiencing the Truth of that Scripture in Ecclesiastes 7. 1. That the day of a Man's Death is better than the day of his Birth Whence the Time of the Martyrs Deaths was usually termed their Birth-Day because then was a Period of all their Grief and Trouble and a beginning of their everlasting Bliss and 〈◊〉 Thus in the forementioned Letter of the Church of Smirna concerning the Death of Polycarp they write That they would meet to celebrate with joy and gladness the Birth-day of his Martyrdom And so Tertullian says that 3 they annually commemorated the Birth-days of the Martyrs that is their Deathdays as he writes in another place concerning St. Paul That he was born at Rome when he suffered Martyrdom there § 9. As for the Place where these Anniversary Solemnities were performed it was at the Tombs of the Martyrs who were usually buried with the rest of the Faithful in a distinct place from the Heathens it being their Custom to interr the Christians by themselves seperate from the Pagans accounting it an hainous Crime if possibly it could be prevented to mingle their Sacred Ashes with the defiled ones of their Persecuting and Idolatrous Neighbours Wherefore in the Ratification of the Disposition of Martialis Bishop of Astorga by an African Synod held Anno 258 this was one of the Articles alledg'd against him That he had buried his Sons after the Pagan manner in Gentile Sepulchres amongst Men of another Faith And for this Reason it was that the surviving Christians would run upon ten thousand Hazards to collect the scattered Members of the Dead Martyrs and decently to inter them in the common Repository of the Faithful As when Emilian the barbarous Prefect of Egypt forbad any under Severe Penalties to entomb the Dead Bodies of the murdered Saints and seduously watched if any would durst to do it Yet 〈◊〉 a Deacon of Alexandria resolutely ventured upon it And it is applauded by the Historian as an Act of Religious Boldness and Freedom whereby Asturias a Roman Senator rendred himself renouned in that when he saw the Martyrdom of Marinus at Caesarea he took his martyred Body cloathed it with a precious Garment bore it away on his own Shoulders and magnificently and decently 〈◊〉 it And in a Letter from the Christians of Lyons and Vienna in France to the Churches of 〈◊〉 concerning their sore and grievous Persecutions we find them passionately complaining of the Inhumane Cruelty of their Persecutors that neither Prayers nor Tears neither Gold nor Silver could prevail with them to permit them to collect the dead Bodies of their murthered Brethren and decently to 〈◊〉 them As on the other hand the Faithful or the Church of Smirna rejoyced that they had gotten the most precious Bones of Polycarp which they buried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 decebat where they ought as Valesius renders it that is as seems most probable at the common Burying Place of the Christians Now it was at these Tombs and Sepulchres that the Memories of the Martyrs were solemnized Thus in the forecited Letter of the Church of Smirna to the Church of Philomilium they write that in that place where they had interr'd the Bones of Polycarp they would by the Blessing of God assemble together and celebrate his Martyrdom which was a Practice so usual and constant as that the Heathens observed it So that as on the one hand under the Persecution of Valerian AEmilian the Prefect of Egypt threatned Dionysius Alexandrinus and his Fellow-Sufferers that for their Obstinacy and 〈◊〉 as he termed it he would send them into Lybia to a desert place called Cephro where they should not meet together or go to those places called Cemeteries That is the places where the Martyrs and the rest of the Faithful were buried so on the other hand when Galienus Valerian's Son restored Peace to the Churches he published an express Edict for returning to the Christians the Cemeteries that were taken from them § 10. If in the next place it shall be enquired how they observed these Festival Days I answer that they did not according to the fashion of the Heathens spend them in Riot and Debauchery in Bacchanalian Revellings and Luxury but in Religious Exercises and Employments in Prayers and Devotions He saith Origen truly keeps a Festival who does what he ought to do always praying and by his Prayers offering up unbloody Sacrifices unto God The Solemnites of these Feast Days were not Drunkenness and Gluttony but Acts of Piety and Charity Now they publickly assembled as the Church of Smirna writes in her Letter concerning the Death of Polycarp to commemorate the Martyrs Courage and Triumphs and to exhort and prepare others to the same glorious and renowned Actions Or as Tertullian expresses it now they offered Oblations as Cyprian They offered Oblations and Sacrifices that is they offered Thanks and Praise to God that had given Grace to those Martyrs to Seal his Truths with their Blood and in evidence of their Gratitude distributed of their Substance to the Poor and 〈◊〉 CHAP. X. § 1. Of the Rights and Ceremonies The difference between them § 2. Of Ceremonies Many used by the Ancients which through various ways crept into the Church § 3. Of Rites Every Church followed its own Rites without imposing them on any other § 4. The Members of every Church obliged to observe the Rites of that Church where they lived § 5. The Conclusion of
this Enquiry with an earnest Perswasion to Peace Vnity and Moderation § 1. HAving in the precedent Chapters enquired into the several Parts of Divine Worship and the Circumstances thereof I now come to close up all with a brief Appendix concerning Rites and Ceremonies by which I mean two different things By Rites I understand such Actions as have an 〈◊〉 Relation to the Circumstances or manner of Worship As for Instance The Sacrament was to be received in one manner or other but whether from the Bishop or Deacon that was the Rite Lent was to be observed a certain space of Time but whether One Day or Two Days or Three Days that was the Rite thereof So that Rites 〈◊〉 necessary Concomitants of the Circumstances of Divine Worship Appendages to them or if you rather please you may call them Circumstances themselves By Ceremonies I mean such Actions as have no regard either to the Manner or Circumstances of Divine Worship but the Acts thereof may be performed without them as for instance In some Churches they gave to Persons when they were baptized Milk and Hony And Before they prayed they washed their Hands Now both these Actions I call Ceremonies because they were not necessary to the Discharge of those Acts of Divine Worship unto which they were affixed but those Acts might be performed without them as Baptism might be entirely administred without the Ceremony of giving Milk and Hony and Prayers might be presented without washing of Hands Now having explained what I intend by those two Terms of Rites and Ceremonies let us in the next place consider the Practice of the Primitive Church with reference thereunto And first for Ceremonies § 2. It is apparent that there were many of that kind crept into the Church of whom we may say that from the beginning they were not so For when the Quire of the Apostles was dead till which time as Hegesippus writes the Church remained a pure and unspotted Virgin then the Church was gradually 〈◊〉 and corrupted as in her Doctrin so also in her Worship an Infinity of Ceremonies by degrees insensibly sliding in very many of which were introduced within my limited time as the eating of Milk Hony after Baptism the abstaining from Baths the Week after the washing of their Hands before Prayer their sitting after Prayer and many other such like which through various ways and means winded themselves into the Church as some came in through Custom and Tradition one eminent Man perhaps invented and practised a certain Action which he used himself as Judging it fit and proper to stir up his Devotion and Affection others being led by his Example performed the same and others again imitated them and so one followed another till at length the Action became a Tradition and Custom after which manner those Ceremonies were introduced of tasting Milk and Hony after Baptism of abstaining from the Baths the whole ensuing Week of not kneeling on the Lords Day and the space between Easter and Whitsuntide of the Signing of themselves with the Sign of the Cross in all their Actions and Conversations concerning which and the like Tertullian writes That there was no Law in Scripture for them but that Tradition was their Author and Custom their Confirmer Of which Custom we may say what Tertullian says of Custom in general that commonly Custom takes its rise from Ignorance and Simplicity which by Succession is corroborated into use and so vindicated against the Truth But our Lord Christ hath called himself Truth and not Custom wherefore if Christ was always and before all then Truth was first and ancientest it is not so much Novelty as Verity that confutes Hereticks Whatsoever is against the Truth is Heresie although it be an old Custom Others again were introduced through a wrong Exposition or Misunderstanding of the Scripture so were their Exorcisms before Baptism and their Unctions after Baptism as in their proper places hath been already shewn Finally Others crept in through their Dwelling amongst the Pagans who in their ordinary Conversations used an Infinity of Superstitions and many of those Pagans when they were converted to the Saving Faith Christianiz'd some of their innocent former Ceremonies as they esteemed them to be either 〈◊〉 them deceut and proper to stir up their Devotion or likely to gain over more Heathens who were offended at the plainness and nakedness of the Christian Worship of which sort were their washing of Honds before Prayer their sitting after Prayer and such like Concerning which Tertullian affirms that they were practised by the Heathens So that by these and such like Methods it was that so many Ceremonies imperceptibly slid into the Ancient Church of some of which Tertullian gives this severe Censure That they are deservedly to be condemned as vain because they are done without the Authority of any Precept either of our Lord or of his Apostles that they are not Religious but Superstitius affected and constrained curious rather than reasonable and to be abstained from because Heathenish § 3. As for the Rites and Customs of the Primitive Church these were indifferent and arbitrary all Churches being left to their own Freedom and Liberty to follow their peculiar Customs and Usages or to embrace those of others if they pleased from whence it is that we find such a variety of Methods in their Divine Services many of which 〈◊〉 be observed in the precedent part of this Discourse as some received the Lords Supper at one time others at another Some Churches received the Elements from the Hands of the Bishop others from the Hands of the Deacons some made a Collection before the Sacrament others after some kept Lent one Day some two days and others exactly forty Hours some celebrated Easter on the same Day with the Jewish Passover others the Lords Day after and so in many other things one Church differed from another as Firmilian writes that at Rome they did not observe the same Day of Easter nor many other Customs which were practised at Jerusalem and so in most Provinces many Rites were varied according to the Diversities of Names and Places So that every Church followed its own particular Customs although different from those of its Neighbours it being nothing necessary to the Unity of the Church to have an Uniformity of Rites for according to Firmilian the Unity of the Church consisted in an unanimity of Faith and Truth not in an Uniformity of Modes and Customs for on the contrary the Diversity of them as Irenaeus speaks with reference to the Fast of Lent did commend and set forth the Vnity of the Faith Hence every Church peaceably followed her own Customs without obliging any other Churches to observe the same or being obliged by them to observe the Rites that they used yet still maintaining a loving Correspondence and mutual Concord each with other as Firmilian writes that in most Provinces
we have Love one to another We may talk what we please of Religion and profess what we list the Word of God is plain that whosoever hath not Love and Charity is no Christian but to allude to that of Christ John 10. 1. He is a Thief and a Robber he hath not the Spirit of God abiding and dwelling in him for The Fruit of the Spirit is Love Joy Peace Long suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance And The Wisdom from above is peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated full of mercy and good Fruit. So that the very Soul and Spirit of Christianity consists in Unity Love and Amity Wherefore let my Intreaties be prevalent with you to endeavour for a mutual Compliance and Comprehension as you have any Regard to the Honour of God and the Credit of Religion as you would hinder the Growth of Damnable Errors and abominable Debaucheries and do what in you lies to prevent the Ruin and Damnation of Multitudes of poor Souls nay as you would secure your own Salvation and be able with Confidence to appear at the dreadful and impartial day of Judgment let me conjure you in the Name of God to love one another with a pure Heart forvently to follow after Righteousness Godliness Faith Love Patience Meekness to forget and pardon all former Injuries and Affronts doing nothing for the time to come through Strife or Vain-Glory but in lowliness of Mind each esteeming others better than themselves doing all things without Murmurings or Disputings avoiding all foolish and unlearned Questions knowing that they do but gender Strifes behaving your selves like the Servants of the Lord who must not strive but be gentle unto all Men apt to teach patient mutually complying with each other doing all things unto Edification labouring after Peace and Unity that so we may at length with one mind and one mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And for the Accomplishment of this blessed and glorious Design let us above all things avoid Pride and Vain-glory which as it is to be feared hath had no small share both in the causing and increasing of our Divisions We have been so stiff and self-conceited and stood so much upon the pitiful Punctilio's of Honour that we have refused to condescend to one another or to join in a way of Comprehension or mutual Relaxation which seems to be the only way left for Union and Agreement if ever we hope or intend to have it Wherefore let me address my self unto you in the Words of the Reverend and Moderate Bishop Hall Men Brethren and Fathers help for Gods sake put to your Hands to the Quenching of this common Flame the one side by Humility and Obedience the other by Compassion both by Prayers and Tears And as he so let me beg for Peace as for Life by your Filial Piety to the Church of God whose Ruins follow upon our Divisions by your Love of God's Truth by the Graces of that one blessed Spirit whereby we are all informed and quickened by the precious Blood of that Son of God which was shed for our Redemption be inclined to Peace and Love and though our Brains be different yet let our Hearts be one Let us all endeavonr by a Compliance and a Comprehension to promote Love and Charity Peace and Unity that so being Children of Peace and obedient Subjects of the Prince of Peace the God of Peace may Bless us with Peace Quiet and Serenity here and at the end of our Days receive us into his Eternal Peace and everlasting Rest which God of his infinite Mercy grant may be the Portion of us all through the Merits of his only Son our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen and Amen POSTCRIPT BEcause some Practises and Customs mentioned in the precedent Treatise were not from the first Plantation of Christianity but were afterwards introduced and others might not be universal but only followed in some particular Churches it will not be unnecessary to add a Table of the Names Age and Country of those Fathers and of their Contemporaries who have been cited by us that so we may guess at the time when such Customs were brought in and know the Places where they were chiefly practised Names Countries Age. Several Synods held in Africa between Anno Christi 250 260. Alexander Bishop of Jerusalem Anno 228 Anonymus apud Euseb. lib. 5. cap. 16. p. 182. Lesser Asia 170 Anicetus Bishop of Rome 154 The Synodical Letter of the Council of Antioch held Anno 265 Apollinaris Bishop of 〈◊〉 in Lesser Asia 170 Apollonius  200 Asturius Palastina 260 Aurelius Carthage 〈◊〉 Artemon  196 Babylas Bishop of Antioch 246 Saint Barnabas  50 Basilides the Heretick Alexandria 134 Basilides a Bishop in Spain 258 Celerinus Carthage 253 Letters of the Clergy of Rome to the Clergy of Carthage writ between Anno 250 〈◊〉 Clemens Bishop of Rome 70 Clemens of Alexandria 204 Cornelius Bishop of Rome 252 Crescens Bishop of Certa in Africa 258 Cyprian Bishop of Carthage 250 Dionysius Bishop of Corinth 172 Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria 260 Eusebius a Deacon of Alexandria 259 Fabianus Bishop of Rome Anno 236 Firmilian Bishop of Caesarea in Cap padoeia 250 Fortunatus a Schismatic in Africa 255 Fortunatus Bishop of Thucabori in Africa 258 Gregory Bishop of Neoearsarea 250 Ignatius Bishop of Antioch 109 Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons 184 Justin Martyr Samaria 155 Lucius Bishop of Thebeste in Africa 258 Names Countries Age. A Letter of the Churches of Lyons and Vienne to the Churches of Asia Anno 177 Minucius Felix Rome 230 Martialis a Bishop in Spain 258 Natalis Rome 210 Nemesianus Bishop of Thubunic in Africa 258 Novatian Rome 252 Origen a Presbyter of Alexandria 230 Palmas Bishop of Amastris in Pontus 196 Paulus Samosatenus Bp. of Antioch 265 Plinius an Heathen  110 Polycarpus Bishop of Smirna 140 Polycrates Bishop of Ephesus 196 Pontius a Deacon of Carthage 260 Privatus Bishop of Lambese in Africa 254 Sabinus Bishop of Emerita in Spain 258 Sedatus Bishop of Turbo in Africa 258 Secundinus Bishop of Carpis in Africa 258 An Epistle of the Church of Smirna to the Church of Philomilium 168 Stephen Bishop of Rome 258 Tatianus Syria 180 Tertullian a Presbyter of Carthage 200 Theoctistus Bishop of Caesarea in Palaestina 228 Theophilus Bishop of Caesarea in Palaestina 196 Victor Bishop of Rome 196 Victorinus Petavionensis Hungary 290 Vincentius Bishop of 〈◊〉 in Africa 258 Zoticus Bishop of Comane in Lesser Asia 168 * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stromat lib. 2. p. 263. 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 1. cap. 2. p. 34. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lib. 1. cap. 3. p. 36. 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apud Euseb lib. 6. c. 25. p. 226. 4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apud Eus. l. 4. c. 15. p. 131. 5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epistad Herm. apud Euseb.
the Minister 〈◊〉 his Hands on the Head of the Party Baptized Anointed and Signed and prayed that the Holy Ghost would be pleased to descend and 〈◊〉 upon him This immediately followed Signation as that did Unction So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Flesh is 〈◊〉 that the Soul may be 〈◊〉 the Flesh is Signed that the 〈◊〉 The Flesh is 〈◊〉 with the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 that the Soul may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit And when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is finished 〈◊〉 Hands are imposed with Prayers invocating and inviting the Holy 〈◊〉 § 〈◊〉 Having thus briefly shewn what their Additional Acts to Baptism were it will in the 〈◊〉 place be necessary to enquire into the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Reasons of their usage of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Unction This was taken from the 〈◊〉 Rites 〈◊〉 it was employed in the Instalment of 〈◊〉 High Priest to denote his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Service of God as Tertullian writes This Vnction is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Jewish Dispensation wherein the High Priest was anointed with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of an Horn as Aaron was by Moses So now in the times of the Gospel all Christians being as Tertullian says 〈◊〉 to God and the 〈◊〉 They were in 〈◊〉 thereunto 〈◊〉 by the a 〈◊〉 of Oyl to their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 os the 〈◊〉 Father expresses it The Flesh is anointed 〈◊〉 Soul may be consecrated From the Spiritual Unction also of God the Son by God the Father for which reason he was called Christ or Anointed they pleaded for their 〈◊〉 and external Unction as 〈◊〉 saith Jesus is called Christ from being anointed which Vnction was Spiritual because whilst only a Spirit he was anointed by the Father as in the Acts. They are gathered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this City against thy Holy Son whom thou hast 〈◊〉 but our 〈◊〉 is Carnal though it spiritually profits Cyprian adds this further Reason for this Custom of 〈◊〉 viz. He that is Baptized must of necessity receive the 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 that so he may be the 〈◊〉 of God and 〈◊〉 in him the Gract of Christ. § 5. As for Signation or the Signing with the Sign of the Cross By this was 〈◊〉 That they were to be 〈◊〉 and valiant in the Cause of Christ having their Hearts 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 observes The 〈◊〉 is Sign'd 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 may be 〈◊〉 Hence this Sign was made on an open visible place on their 〈◊〉 which is the Seat of 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 implying thereby that they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and constantly to fight like good Soldiers under the Cross of Christ whence 〈◊〉 says that as the Christians so the 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 Sign'd the Foreheads of their Soldiers § 6. As for the very Act of Confirmation or Imposition of Hands that was practised from an Opinion of the Imperfection of 〈◊〉 that that did not convey the Graces of the Holy Spirit but only prepared Persons for the reception of them when they should be actually bestown in the Confirmation for as 〈◊〉 says We do not receive the Holy Ghostin Baptism but-being 〈◊〉 therein by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Angel that mov'd upon the 〈◊〉 at 〈◊〉 we are 〈◊〉 prepared for the Holy Ghost And When our Bodies are 〈◊〉 and blessed then that most Holy Spirit willingly descends from the Father And at the Imposition of Hands the Soul is illuminated by the Spirit Cyprian in his 74th Epistle § 6 7 8 〈◊〉 somewhat largely of this Custom of Confirmation from whence I have observed this following 〈◊〉 of it Every one in a state of Heathenism and Idolatry was considered as dead wherefore when any one came from that state to the Christian Faith he was said to live which Life may be compared to a natural Life As to compleat a Natural Life there must be a Body 〈◊〉 a Soul so must the same be imagin'd in a 〈◊〉 Life As in the first Creation God first 〈◊〉 the Body of Man and then breathed 〈◊〉 him the Breath of Life first made a fit 〈◊〉 to receive the Soul before the Soul its self 〈◊〉 framed So in the second Creation God first prepares the Man before he gives his Spirit 〈◊〉 first makes the Man a fit Temple for the Holy Ghost before he gives the Holy Ghost Now the 〈◊〉 by which a Man is prepared and 〈◊〉 is by Baptism by which he is cleansed and purged from Sin and fitted for the Reception of the Spirit of God in which respect he is to be regarded as a Body The way by which the Holy Ghost is infused which as a living Soul must actuate and direct that prepared Body is by Prayer and Imposition of Hands or by Confirmation For as Cyprian writes in the same place Baptism alone cannot purge away Sins or sanctifie a Man unless he has also the Holy Ghost That is has received Confirmation as it is frequently styl'd in Cyprian's Epistles In the Decrees of the Council of Carthage and in the Letter of Cornelius to Fabius Bishop of Antioch extant in Eusebius Lib. 6. cap. 43. p. 244. This being the Regeneration of the Spirit and Baptism the Regeneration of Water both which our Saviour affirmed to be necessary when he said unto 〈◊〉 John 3. 5. Except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God As Nemesianus Bishop of Thubunis saith one is not sufficient without the other the Spirit cannot 〈◊〉 without Water nor the Water without the Spirit Therefore it was necessary to be regenerated by both Sacraments viz. By Baptism and by Confirmation Wherefore as Cyprian exhorts we must pray That those who are yet Earthly may become Heavenly and be born of the Water and the Spirit That is be Baptized and Confirmed which were the external Signs of 〈◊〉 from Sin 〈◊〉 bestowing Grace both 〈◊〉 necessary to make a compleat 〈◊〉 for as the same Father writes Then are 〈◊〉 truly sanctified and fully become the Sons of God when they are regenerated with both Sacraments Baptism and 〈◊〉 according as it is written Except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God So that though a 〈◊〉 was Baptized yet they accounted his Christianity incomplete and imperfect till he was also confirmed For which reason 〈◊〉 objects against 〈◊〉 that he could scarcely acknowledge him a complete Christian because being baptized in his Bed he 〈◊〉 not received Confirmation or the Additionary Rituals to Baptism nor did he ever 〈◊〉 receive them Thus you see the Reasons they produced for this Usage to fortifie which they added some Examples of the Holy Writ 〈◊〉 Tertullian 〈◊〉 to this purpose the Example of Jacob 〈◊〉 Genesis who put his Hands on the Heads of Ephraim and Manaffes and blessed them And Cyprian urges that instance of the Apostles Acts 8. 15. 17. where after several of the 〈◊〉 had been baptized by Philip Peter and James conferred the Holy Ghost on them by Imposition of Hands