offering themselves to death he sends them back again desiring them if they had such a passion to dye that they would hang themselves because he had not Executioners enough And at Carthage the number of Christians was so great that they could not have been destroyed without making the City desolate as Tertullian tells Stapula the Governour of the Province If thou shouldest go about to destroy the Christians here what wouldst thou do with so many thousands of people when men and women of all degrees of all ages should offer themselves to the Executioners how many Swords Tertull. l. ad Scap. c. 5. Hoc si placuerit hic furi quid facies de tantis millibus hominum tot viris ac foeminis omnis Sexus omnis â—tatis omnis dignitatis offerentibus se tibi quantis ignibus quantis gladiis opus erit paree tibi si non nobis parce Carthagini si non tibi what fires would be necessary for the Execution of so great a multitude Spare the City by sparing us Nor are we to imagin Carthage to abound more with Christians than the rest of the Empire for the same Author tells us that the whole world was oversprend with Believers and that the Heathen cryed that they had ever run the City and the Country Obsessm vociserantur Civitatem in agris in Castellis in Insulis Christianos omnem sexum 〈◊〉 aâ—â—m dignitatem transgredi ad hoc nomen quasi detrmento moerent Apol. c. 1. and every place was full of Christians that persons of all conditions sexes and age was over to this name Nay so great were their numbers that it was not want of strength but want of will that hindred them from becoming masters of the Empire Loyalty was part of their Religion and that was the reason why they did not force the Government to a Toleration of or a submission to it The barbarous Nations that over-ran the Empire were not near so numerous Plares nimirum Mauri Marcomanni ipsique Parthi omnia vestra implevimus urbes insulas castella municipia contillabula castra ipsa Tribus Decarias Palaâ—ium Senatum forum The Christians had filled all Places their Cities their Towns their Councils their Tribes the Court the Senate and what not and though they had been yet inferiour in number and force yet their contempt of death would render them a very formidable Enemy Nay without Rebellion we might easily ruine our Persecutors should we but withdraw Potuimus inermes nec Rebelles sed tantummodo discordes solius divortii invidia adversus vos dimicasse si enim tanta vis hominum in aliquem orbis remoti sinum abrupissemus à nobis suffudisset vestram dominationem tot qualiumcunque Civium amissio imo etiam ipsa destitutione punisset proculdubio expavissetis ad solitudinem vestram ad silentium rerum stuporem quendam quasi mortuae urbis quaesissâ—tis quibus in ea imperassetis plures bosles quam Civis remansissent nunc autem pauciores hostes habetis prae multitudine Christianorum pene Omnium Civium peâ—e Omnes Cives Christianos habeâ—do Apol. c. 37. and retire to any corner of the World the loss of so many subjects of any kind would unavoidably ruin the Government How you would be astonished at the strange solitude our departure should cause at the silence and stilness of your City as if it had expired by our departure you would be to seek for Subjects to govern and wore enemies than Citizens would remain with you but now your enemies are more inconsiderable by reason of the great multitude of Christians who are your Citizens and almost all your Citizns are Christians And because the Heathens complained that Christian Religion was an enemy to trade and that it would destroy the commerce of the East which depended upon the consumption of Frankincense and Spices in the Temples the Apologist answers that the Arabians sell more for the Christian funerals than they do to the Heathen Temples and the Christian Charity spent more in a street than the Heathen superstition did in a Temple Sciant Sabaei pluris charioris suas merces Christianis sepeliendis profligari quam diis fumigardis Interim plus misericordia nostra insumit vicatim quam vestra Religio Timplatim c. 42. Now the largeness of the Dioceses of those times will appear by comparing the vast multitude of Christians and the small number of Bishops and first no City how great soever had more than one Bishop this is so well known that it would be great impertinence to go about to prove it by instances and I have shewed already how the Fathers were of opinion that there ought to be no more Besides the Bishops of most Cities if not all had a considerable Territory belonging to their jurisdiction which was commonly the Country lying round about their City So Alexandria besides the Ager Alexandrinus which was of very large extent had likewise all the Region called Mareotes containing above an hundred and fifty Villages as Athanasius rightly understood computes them For every Presbyter had ten or more Villages under him Athan. Apol. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Singuli autem Presbyteri pâ—â—prios habent pages â—osque maxemos denos interdum aut plâ—res ex bis apparet singulâ—s Mareotice pages non habuisse snum Presbyterum sed unicum Presbyterum denos pages rexisse atque interdum plures Valesius and probably some Assistants or Curates to take care of some of them This Region alwayes belonged to the Diocess of Alexandria and never had as much as a Chorepiscopus But I have before given a particular account of Rome and Alexandria and therefore I shall say no more here than that there being but one Bishop in each of those Cities his Diocess must be very large and contain several distinct Congregations The African Dioceses which Mr. B. fansies to be no bigger than our Parishes were at first very large till the Schism of the Donatists had divided that Church into small pieces the manner and the reason of this change I shall shew in due place and even then it will appear that there were some very large Bishopricks in Africk Carthage in Tertullians time had an infinite multitude of Christians as we have shewed already and Cyprian who was made Bishop there not long after gives us hints enough of the greatness of his Diocess Tempestas maxima ex parts plebem nostram prostravit ita ut cleri portionem sua strage perstringeret Ep. 6. Multi adbuc de Clero absentes 28. Presbyteri qui illic apud confessores offerunt singuli cum singulis Diaconis per vices alternent quia mutatioâ—ersonarum vicissitudo convenientium minuit invidian Ep. 5. The number of the Clergy there even in time of persecution when he confesses several of them to have fallen away yet even then there were so many Presbyters left in the City that he advises them to
the number of Christians at his first Entrance was hardly enough to make a Congregation towards his latter end it was surely too great for one for the multitude of people in the City and the Country that belong'd to it Ubi supra it is said by Gregory Nysser to be infinite The Testimony of Tertullian Apolog. chap. 39. is as little to his purpose his words are these p. 93. Where a Body compacted by the Knowledge of the same Religion the Vnity of Discipline and the League of Hope do come together into one Congregation Conus ad deum Ed. Rigalty and not in caeum Congregationem to offer up Prayers to God we meet for the hearing of the holy Scriptures we feed our Faith with those holy words we raise up our hope we fix our Confidence 〈◊〉 confirm Discipline by the inculcating of 〈◊〉 â—ours Precepts there are likewise there Exhortations as being done in the presence of God that is lookt upon as an Anticipation of future Judgment if any one has so offended as to be banish'd from the Communion of Prayer and the Assembly and of all holy Commerce most approv'd Elders do preside Now let the Reader judge whether Mr. B. has Reason to be so confident of this Passage as to say pag. 94. If I be able to understand Tertullian it is here plain that each Church consisted of one Congregation and yet out of the words there can be nothing brought to favour it unless it be this that Christians used in those days to assemble for Prayer and reading of the Scriptures but whether one or more such Assemblies were under the Discipline of the Bishop and Presbytery is not signified in the least That Elders are said to preside does not at all prejudice the Right of the Bishop for either those are Bishops that are said to preside and so every particular Church will have many which if it be not against Mr B's Notion of Episcopacy is confessedly against the practice of the Church in those times when one Church had no more than one Bishop if they were Presbyters then 't is probable there was more than one Congregation But it appears by what follows that these Presidents were all the Officers of the Church where they are distinguish'd from the people and said to live out of the common Stock and the Deacons as well as Priests did assist at the Sacrament and the Bread and Wine was distributed by their hands aâ—â— shall endeavour to prove in due place 〈◊〉 cites out of the same Author De Corona Militis to put his meaning out of all doubt concludes nothing less than what he would have him to say his words are to this effect Presidentium c. 3. That we must receive the Eucharist at all times but from no other hand but those that preside That those were not Bishops appears from the next passage which he cites out of the same place This Mr. B. mistakes Ch. Hist p. 7. when he says that they took not the Lord's Supper but only Antistitis manu I suppose his Memory deceiv'd him 〈◊〉 where Tertullian speaking of Baptism mentions the form of renouncing the World and the Devil Sub manu Antistitis where we may observe that he uses another Word as well as another Number yet since it is said that Christians ought not to receive the Sacrament but from the hands of those Presidents we must not conceive the Bishop to be excluded but by that general Name to be comprehended together with his Bench of Presbyters but will not this Circumstance of Baptism serve to evince that a Bishop had then but one Congregation and every one to be baptized was to make his Renunciation under the Bishops Hand nothing less for many more might be baptized by a Bishop in the compass of few years than there are in the greatest Diocese in the World Paulinus could not well wish a greater number in his Diocess than he baptized in seven and thirty days Bed l. 2. chap. 14. Pamelius did labour to prove that Antistes is the same with Seniores Presidentes and that Presbyters might baptize as well as Bishops but that is not the thing in Question nor does this Passage suppose every baptism performed by the Bishop but the Renunciation of the Devil c. which was preparatory to it to have been made in his presence he might have a very large Diocess and be at Leisure for this especially when we consider that the generality of Christians in those times had such an awe of that Sacrament and the strict Obligation it lay upon them of more than ordinary Sanctity that they deferr'd it till the last and were baptized on their Death-bed and that not by the Bishop but by any other Presbyter or Deacon nor can we find in all the History of the times we now speak of that Children had any part in the solemn and publick Baptism but they might be privately baptized in case of Necessity and eminent danger of Death without the assistance of the Bishop And long after these times we find in the largest Dioceses where a great many Congregations are affirmed to be under the same Bishop One Baptistry to a Church sufficient for several Congregations there were but three days in the year appointed for solemn Baptism and the Bishops were so far from being unequal to the Multitude that they complain of the general Neglect of the Sacrament and of their not being fully employed at those times so that supposing this Antistes to be the Bishop and every one that was solemnly baptized past under his hand it is far from making out Mr. B's Notion that there was but one Congregation under him The next thing he makes use of to confirm his Conception of Congregational Church is the Consent of the people Disp 95. in the Margin Ch. Hist p. 7. as well in the Election of their Bishops as in several other Ecclesiastical Acts but this â—e rather hints by the Bye than insists upon and I suppose did not value much since he takes no care to improve it whoever will take the pains to examine those passages will find that the people never polled at the Election of their Bishops which was principally the act of the Clergy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but approved it commonly by a general and confused Voice of the Multitude that was present and the Phrase Vniversa Plebs does not denote every particular Christian of the Church but onely a general Assembly and Congregation of as many as could come together or of the most considerable Persons of the Diocese or rather as it is usually express'd all the People that were present at the Action Cornelius elected plebis quae tunc adfuit Suffragio Cypr. l. 4. c. 2. I shall not forget to answer this Argument more particularly hereafter when we shall meet with it confirmed by any Canon of Councils or other passages in his History Basil Ep.
before Arrius's time Epiphan Haeres Melet Arrian who was the fixt Minister of one of them call'd Buchalis are to be supposed to have been instituted before for Epiphanius though he observe this as singular in the Alexandrian Church at that time yet says nothing at all of its Novelty which he would not probably have omitted and Sozomen seems to imply Soz. l. 1. c. 15. that it was an ancient Custom Petavius mistakes Epiphanius's his words and imagines in Epiph. that these Divisions of Alexandria are therefore said by him to be singular and different from the Usage of other Churches because says he those which Epiphanius had seen were but small and might have but one Congregation but it is plain from Epiphanius his words that what he look'd upon as singular was not their having several distinct Assemblies but because they had certain and fix'd Presbyters and therefore he adds as an Effect of that Custom that every one would be denominated from his Pastor as the Corinthians did when one cry'd I am of Paul I am of Apollos and this indeed was so singular that perhaps no other Church in the World had it besides Vales Annot in Sâ—zom l. 11. c. 15. not that of Rome and Valesius infers from the same Passage of Pope Innocent's Epistle to Decentius which Petavius brings to prove the contrary that although there were several Titles or Churches in Rome then and had been long before yet none of them was as yet appropriated to any Presbyter but they were served in common as greater Cities in Holland and some other Reformed Countries that have several Churches and Ministers who preach in them all by their turns Lastly and to conclude this account of the Church of Alexandria it is evident out of Athanasius how the Bishop of that City had from the Beginning several fix'd Congregations under him Athan. T. 1. p. 802. particularly those of Mareotes who though they must be suppos'd to receive the Faith almost as early as Alexandria yet never had a Bishop before Ischyrias if he were to be reckon'd one Mareotes says Athanasius is a Countrey belonging to Alexandria wherein there never was a Bishop not so much as a Chorepiscopus but all the Churches of that place were subject to the Bishop of Alexandria And now let the Reader judge whether the Bishop of Alexandria had more Congregations than one under him or no more than could conveniently meet in one place I have hitherto examin'd Mr. B's Evidence of History for his Congregational Churches let us now see whether there be not as good Evidence to the contrary The growth of the Church of Jerusalem was so sudden and so great as to exceed the measure of one or two Congregations St. Peter's first Sermon brought over three thousand another five thousand Acts 2.41 then the Sacred Historian as if the Multitude had grown too great to be numbred mentions the other Accessions in gross and indefinitely but with such Expressions as imply they much exceed the numbers aforementioned Multitudes both of Men and Women were added to the Church and the number of the Disciples multiplyed in Jerusalem greatly and a great number of the Priests were obedient to the Faith Act. 6.7 Now let us seriously consider whether all these Converts could meet together in one place for personal Communion Doctrine and Worship or whether they could find a room spacious enough to meet in all together we find but two sorts of places they met in the Temple and from House to House the Temple cannot be supposed the ordinary place of their Assembly since the generality of the Priests and People did oppose them and though the Apostles preacht there it was no otherwise than they did in the Synagogues acd Market-places and other places of concourse to gain new Proselytes and not to instruct those they had converted when they preacht from House to House the fifth or tenth part of them can hardly be supposed to have convenience for personal Communion and it is certain they did break Bread no otherwise than from House to House from whence it is plain that it was not possible for them all to hold personal Communion in the principal part of Christian Worship i. c. the holy Eucharist which is made by Mr. B. as necessary to the Individuation of a Church as Communion in Doctrine The Presbyterians prest this Instance very unmercifully upon those of the congregational way who made use of all Shifts and most of them very poor ones To elude the force of the Argument sometimes they turn the Temple into a Church another while they send the greatest part of them home to the country and whatsoever other means they could find to diminish their number they laid hold of them and this way not succeeding in their own Opinion they found a Secret in the Ayr Grand Debate Answer of the Assembly to the Reasons of the dissenting Br. p. 27. ibid. which they fancied to be much more pure and shine in Jerusalem than our Northern Climates and so more proper to convey a Voice to a greater Distance whereas our dull unyielding Fog arrests the Voice in every point as it passes However the Assembly of Divines resolved they would not be paid with this piece of Philosophy and undertook to shew the Argument to be as thin as the Ayr they talkt of and the Lord Bacon relieves them in this Distress who was of Opinion that a Voice could be heard much farther in a gross than a pure Ayr the Resistance perhaps preserving it longer as Opposition serves to lengthen a Discourse and to make Disputes endless p. 81.82 but in the second part of Ch. Hist takes it up again but Mr. B. in his first Disputation of Church-Government summing up the Exceptions of the Independents against the Presbyterian Argument drawn from the Church of Jerusalem prudently leaves out this of the Ayr but finds another Expedient as proper for his purpose and that is that men had much stronger Voices in those times and places which they may believe that can fancy Nature to decay and that our Fore-fathers were Giants For my part the next thing I expect is that they should believe with Kirker that the Ancients knew the use of Sir Samuel Morland's speaking-trumpet for Kirker had a Vision of some old Manuscript that no body else ever saw which revealed to him that Alexander the Great could speak to his whole Army together by the help of a Trumpet and who can tell but in this vast Congregation of Jerusalem such an Engine might be made use of However since Dioceses are to be no larger than the Sphear of a man's Voice it will be an useful Instrument to a Preacher of weak Lungs to stretch out the Bounds of his Diocess and be as serviceable to the Church as it is to the Camp Disp of Ch. Gov. p. 81. But Mr. B. tells us one thing more which a Friend told
may as well believe that there was a time when all the Republicks in the world upon the consideration of their being obnoxious to Factions became Monarchies by mutual consent Nay this might with greater reason be believed for it is not impossible but that men who are satisfied of their power to set up what form of Government they please might agree to shake off together a form that they find very incommodious but that so many Societies as there were Churches in the World appointed by divine direction should so universally change what the Apostles had instituted without any noise or resistance and that by one common decree is altogether incredible and one may say with the same reason that they conspired at the same time to change their Creed Having examined St. Jeroms singular opinion concerning the rise of Episcopal Government I should now conclude that point if Clemens Romanus in his excellent Epistle to the Corinthians did not seem to favour this opinion therefore I think it necessary to consider such passages in it as are alledged against Episcopacy and from the whole to make a conjecture of the state of that Church when that Epistle was written The Inscription of it affords Blondel an argument against Episcopacy for it is not in the name of the Bishop or Clergy but of the whole Church that it is written The Church of God at Rome to the Church of God at Corinth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 From whence Blondel infers that since there is no mention of the Clergy it follows that the Church was governed then not by the pleasure of one man but by the common Counsel of those that were set over it This way of reasoning I must confess to be very extraordinary Because there is no mention of the prerogative of the Roman Clergy Ubi cum nulla peculiaris vel scribentis mentio vel cleri Romani Praerogativa vel Corinthiaci Presbyterii a plebe discretio appareat sed omnes ad omnes confertim scripsisse compertum sit luce meridiana clarius clucescit tune temporis Ecclesias communi Praepositorum Consilio gubernatas non unius regi mini à cujus â—utu penderent omnes subjacuisse or of that of Corinth as distinguished from the Laity it 's clear nay clearer than the day that there was no Bishop It would be a very strange thing to see two men with their eyes open dispute fiercely whether it were noon-day or midnight and yet this is our case that consequence which to him is as clear as the Sun does not at all appear to others If he had said because there is no mention of the Clergy in the Inscription as the Governing part therefore there was no Clergy or the Clergy did not govern the inference would have appeared but what truth there would be in it I need not say Others inscribe Epistles in the same style to the Church of such a Place where notwithstanding there is a Bishop and a Clergy Dionys Corinth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And yet in the body of these Letters he mentions the Bishops of those Churches Irenaeus ubi supra Euseb l. 4. c. 23. And this Argument of Blondel may be justly suspected when we consider that the Ancients though they were well acquainted with this Epistle of Clemens and its Inscription yet they could by no means see this consequence that is now drawn from it Irenaeus had doubtless seen that Epistle for it was in his time commonly read in Churches and yet he thought Clemens who wrote it to be Bishop of Rome notwithstanding his name be not mentioned in it Dionysius Bishop of Corinth sayes it was read in his Church and yet he could not find any thing in it to perswade him that at that time there were no Bishops but on the contrary he was of opinion that Bishops were instituted by the Apostles and that Dionysius Areopagita was ordained by St. Paul the first Bishop of Athens so that these ancient writers it seems were as blind as we and could not observe either in the Inscription or body of this Epistle what Blondel at such a distance of time could perceive as clear as the noon day and yet those writers if they had suspected any such thing might have been easily satisfied by their Fathers who might have seen the state of the Church about which the difficulty was and so told them upon their own knowledge whether the Government was Episcopal or Presbyterian And therefore this is our comfort that if we cannot discern this light which Blondel talks of that those who lived nearer the East the rising of it could see no more than we But some men surely have glasses for distance of time as well as place and can see farther in the Apostolick times than the next Generation that followed them But to proceed Clemens owned but two orders in the Church of Apostolick Institution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bishops and Deacons which he sayes the Apostles ordained out of the first-fruits of the Gospel over those that should afterwards believe And these were appointed in Cities and the Country or Regions round about from whence Blondel draws many observations and out of him Mr. B. as 1. That in those days no body thought of what the Council of Sardica did afterwards decree that no Bishop should be made in any Village or small City lest the dignity of that office should be undervalued and grow cheap This is grounded as most of the rest of Blondels and Mr. B.'s Arguments from this Epistle upon a mistake and I fear a wilful one concerning the name of Bishop For if the Bishops of Clemens who he sayes were apponited 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were only Presbyters then the Council of Sardica did not do any extraordinary thing by that prohibition of Bishops in little Dioceses for Presbyters were still allowed in the Country Villages by that Council and therefore if Episcopacy was an institution later than Clemens this Council has done nothing so contrary to this by forbidding Bishops properly so called and allowing Presbyters to reside in Country Villages Some there are that interpret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Provinces but there is no necessity at all for this though the phrase will very well bear it for these Bishops I believe with Blondel and Mr. B. were no other than Presbyters such as were first appointed to govern the Church but in subordination to the Apostles who were the proper Bishops of those Churches they founded and as they found occasion appointed others to succeed them in that eminence of Authority over such districts of the Apostolical Provinces as they judged most convenient for the edification and unity of the Church And this distribution of Church Officers by Clemens into Bishops and Deacons is the less to be depended upon as exact 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Esay 60.17 because it seems to be made only with allusion to a place in the Old Testament where those
happy are those that enter that way behaving themselves peaceably For let a man be faithful let him be never so powerful a Preacher let him be never so wise and discerning holy in his life yet by how much he seems to excel others by so much ought he to behave himself more humbly and seek the common good of all and not his own particular Besides this the passionate expostulation of Clemens with the Ringleaders of this sedition makes this conjecture yet more probable Who is there among you generous and charitable Let him say if this Schism and Sedition has been raised upon my account I will withdraw I will be gone withersoever ye please only let the Fold of Christ live in unity and peace with the Presbyters that are over it and to incourage them to this generous resignation he tells them of many Kings that have offered themselves a Sacrifice for the safety of their Countrys How many to put an end to sedition have left their own Cities Apud Euseb Hist l. 6. c. 45. with more to that effect which Dionysius of Alexandria borrows out of this Epistle and sends it as an exhortation to Novatus to put an end to that Schism he had caused and what is there so proper against a Schismatick Bishop we may judge not without reason to have been applyed by the first Author upon the same occasion And thus much of the state of the Church of Corinth at the writing of this Epistle The last thing I shall observe out of Clemens is a passage that seems to favour the distribution of the Clergy into three Orders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bishop Priests and Deacons The High-Priest sayes he hath his proper office the Priests have a proper place appointed for them and the Levites have their peculiar Ministry and the Lay-man is obliged to keep himself within the bounds of his own station Brethren let every one of you glorifie God in his own place and keep himself within his own line not breaking over the bounds of his own Office and Ministry Having now given an account of the Original of Diocesan Episcopacy out of Scripture and Antiquity and examined the singular opinion of St. Jerom concerning it I come now to give a short view of the progress and advancement of it The first Bishops after the Apostles according to the opinion of Rabanus Maurus In 1 Tim. 4. had very large Dioceses Primis temporibâ—â— Episcopi Provincias integras regebant Apostâ—lorum nomine nuncupati i. e. In those first times Bishops governed whole Provinces being called then Apostles and this conformable to Theodoret who affirms not only the same thing of the first Bishops being called Apostles Is Argumento Ep. ad Tit. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theod. in 1 Tim. 3. but also that they had large Dioceses too for speaking of Titus he calls him Bishop of Crete though it were a very great Island and in another place he sayes that Epaphroditus was the Apostle of the Philippians Titus of the Cretians and Timothy of the Asians i. e. In his language their Bishops and the Canons of the Apostles signifie as much where they order every Bishop to medale only with his own Diocess and the Regions that belong to it Can. Ap. 33. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But as Christians were multiplyed in the World so the number of Bishops increased every considerable City with the Country about becoming Dioceses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil 1. Chrysost in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecum Theoph. nor â—â—iâ— una in urbe plures Episcopi esse potuissent Hieron It could not be It was against the design of the institution Loci ipsius Episcâ—â—o scribendum esset non duobus aut tribus Ambr. in Loc. so Asia towards the latter end of St. John had seven Bishops and by proportion we may conjecture of other Countries and the first advances of Christianity being very wonderful and the success of our Religion giving occasion to envy and persecution the condition of those times seems to have proportioned the distribution of the Church and to multiply Dioceses For in those troublesome times it being very difficult to maintain such a communication as ought to be between a Bishop and all the parts of his Diocese it was found necessary to multiply Churches and that every City with some Portion of Countrey belonging to it should have its own Bishop who though his flock might at first be but small and not exceed a Congregation yet was he properly the Bishop of the place i. e. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of those that afterwards should believe Whatever accessions were made to this Church though the whole City and Country should be converted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cornel. ap Eâ—seb l. 6. c. 43. Episcope cedunt they accrue to the Bishop of the place into how many Congregations soever they might after be distributed and therefore the Church of a Bishop retained still the singular number though distributed into several Congregations and in such a Church they contended there ought to be but one Bishop though it had never so many Presbyters as that of Rome had when Cornelius pretended there ought to be but one Bishop and Novatus did not contradict him but the dispute was about this which of them were the rightful Bishop Episcopacy being setled upon these foundations with a regard to the future increase as well as the first condition and small beginnings of the Church we do not find that for the first three Centeries the number of Bishops was near so great as it became afterwards although in a little while the multitude of believers was so great that there was no Country no City no village in several Provinces of the Roman Empire where there was not a good number of Christians Before the persecution of Trajan they were so increased that in the Province of Bithynia as Pliny complains the Heathen Temples were become desolate Prope jam desolata Templa coepisse celebrari Sacra Solemnia diu intermissa repetl paffimque venire victimas quarum ad huâ— rarissimus emptor inveniebatur ex quo facile est opinari quae turba hominum emendati possit Yet after the Apostasy of so many the numbers are still great Visa est mihi res consultations digna maxime proper periclitantiam numerum multi enim omnis aetatis omnis or diâ—is utriusque sexus neque enim Civitates tantum sed vicos agros superstitionis istius contagio pervagata est Plin. Ep. l. 10. Ep. 100. the Sacrifices neglected and laid aside and notwithstanding the severity of that persecution made great numbers fall off yet those that remained unshaken and resolved to dye Martyrs for their Religion were exceeding numerous Not long after Arrius Antoninus found so many of them in Asia that it was an endless thing to put them to death though they made no resistance and when they thronged so much about his Tribunal
him and that being in his particular Diocess only it follows that this great Province was no other than his own Diocess or Parochia as he calls it also in the same passage Nor were the Dioceses of the West generally any thing inferior to those we have been speaking of Italy indeed had the smallest not only by reason of the great multitude of Cities there but by the policy of the Bishops of Rome who having alwayes had some Authority over the greatest part of the Country strengthened themselves by making as many Bishops as they could within the dependance of their City and by that means secured themselves from all such dangers as might threaten them from general Councils having a strong party of Bishops at hand to send whither the Popes occasions should require their service What effect this policy of multiplying Bishops in Italy had we see in the History of the Council of Trent whither several Bishops came from France Spain and Germany with design of reforming most of the grossest abuses in the Church and to moderate if not wholly to remove that insupportable Yoke of the Papacy But the Italian Pensioners being too many for the well-meaning Bishops that Yoke was setled more grievous than before and weight added to the oppression No remedy being left but vain complaints and Dudithius makes a very lamentable one to the Emperor and then submission Yet after all this the Italian Dioceses were never reduced to a single Congregation and some of them remain still of a very considerable extent The Bishopricks of Spain were at first very large as may be observed from the small numbers of Bishops that met in the Councils of that Country The Council of Eliberis had but nineteen Bishops and the first of Toledo had the same number Hinc colligo Nationale fuisse Concilium cum to tempore sedeâ— Toletana tot Suffraganeos non haberet Episcopos Similiter de Eliberitano statuo cum eodem Episcoporum numero fuisset celebratum adde etiam quod in subscriptionibus Marcellus subscribit qui suit Episcopus Hispalensis Gar. Loyasa from whence Garsias Loyasa infers that these were general Councils of all Spain because the Province of Toledo sayes he had not so many Suffragans at that time and that Marcellus Bishop of Sevil who was a Metropolitan of another Province was there But the extent of the Spanish Dioceses does appear not only from the number of Bishops in their Councils but also from the Canons made in them As that of the Council of Toledo is very express about the making of Chrism that it belonged only to the Bishop Quamvis paene ubique custodiatur ut absque Episcopo Chrisma nemo conficicat tamen quia in aliquibus locis vel Provinciis Presbyteri dicuntur Chrisma conficere placuit ex hac die nullum alium nisi Episcopum Chrisma facere per Dioecesin destinare ita ut de singulis Ecclesiis ad Episcopum ante Diem Paschae Diaconi destinentur ut confectum Chrisma ab Episcopo destinatum ad diem Paschae possit occurrere Conc. Tolet. 1. Can. 20. Fratri autem Ortygie Ecclesias de quibus pulsus fuerat pronunciavimus esse reddendas Exemplar Defin. sent and that all the Churches of his Diocess should send before Easter every year for it to the Bishop who was to be put in mind of it by the Arch Deacon And in the same Council there is a definitive sentence whereby Ortygius is restored to his Bishoprick out of which he had been unjustly ejected that shews that his Diocess consisted of several Churches for so the Sentence runs That he be restored to his Churches Nor can any one think it strange that these should be general Councils of all Spain when he considers the numbers that usually met in Provincial Synods of that Country For the Council of Saragossa had but twelve and that number is extraordinary compared with some following Councils Concilium Gerundense had but seven Bishops that of Ilerda eight whereof one was present but by Proxy that of Valentia seven And lest we may imagine the Bishops of Spain neglected their Synods the sixth Canon of the Council of Arragon which consisted of ten Bishops Orders That if any Bishop having received Summons from his Metropolitan Si quis Episcoporum commonitus à Metropolitano ad Synodum nulla gravi intercedente necessitate Corporali venire contempserit sicut statuta Patrum sanxierunt usque ad futurum Concilium cunctorum Episcoporum Charitatis Communione privetur Conc. Tarracon c. 6. shall neglect to come to Council being not hindred by sickness shall according to the Decrees of the Ancient Fathers be excluded the communion of the other Bishops untill the next Council following And the same Council by another Canon signifies the extent of the Dioceses in Spain Multorum casuum experientia magistrante reperimus non nullas Dioecesanas Ecclesias esse destitutas ob quam rem hac constitutione decrevimus ut Antiquae consuetudinis Ordo servetur annis vicibus ab Episcopo Dioeceses visitentur siqua Basilica reperta fuerit destituta Ordiâ—atione ipsius reparari praecipiatur c. Can. 8. where it Orders every Bishop once in a year to visit his Dioceses according to the ancient usage of that Church and see what Churches there were out of repair and ordered them to be repaired out of the Revenues of those Churches there being a third part reserved for that purpose by ancient custom and tradition and the thirteenth Canon of the same Council makes a distinction between the Presbyters of the Cathedral and those of the Diocess Non solum è Cathedralis Ecclesiae Presbyteris verum etiam de Dioecesanis ad Concilium trabant Can. 13. and that the Metropolitan take care to summon some of both sorts to the Council of the Province And this was the state of the Dioceses in Spain from the time of the first Council of Nice to the latter end of the fifth and the beginning of the sixth Century The Churches of France as they had a near correspondence with those of Spain in several other things Bona de Reb. Litur l. 1. c. 12. and as Bona conjectures had anciently the same Liturgy before Pipin's time so they were not unlike in the extent of their Dioceses For Gallia before the time of the Council of Nice seems to have had but very few Bishopricks although it is to be supposed the number of Christians there was much greater than in any other part of the Empire Constantius the Father of Constantine the Great having favoured the Christians in the Provinces under his Government Euseb de vit Const l. 1. c. 13. while his Collegues used all manner of Violence and Arts to root them out every where else vid. Conc. Arelat 1. apud Sirmond Conc. Gall. Yet when Constantine the Great called a Council at Arles to resume the cause of the Donatists the Gallican
all the Churches they lookt upon that as their peculiar Charge and govern'd not as ordinary Presbyters but by Apostolick Authority as a Metropolitan who although he has the supervising of all the Diocesses within his Province yet may have his proper Diocess which he governs as a particular Bishop And the Office of an Apostle does not essentially consist in the governing of more Churches than one else St. Paul would never have vindicated his Apostleship from the particular Right he had over the Corinthians 1 Cor. 9.2 If I be not an Apostle to others yet doubtless I am to you for the Seal of my Apostleship are ye in the Lord. So that though he had had no more Churches to govern yet his Apostolick Authority might have been still exercised over that particular one of Corinth The Provinces of the Evangelists were not yet so large as those of the Apostles for these were either sent to such Cities or Parts whither the Apostles themselves could not go or left where they could not stay The Church of Ephesus was the Diocese of Timothy from whence although the greater Occasions of other Churches might call him away and require his Assistance yet his Authority was not Temporal nor would it have expired if he had resided a longer while at Ephesus so that these Apostolick men were not so because they were unfixt but because they had that Eminence of Authority which they might exercise in one or more Churches according as their Necessities did require or as the Spirit signified and that they did not settle in one place is to be ascribed to the Condition of their Times and not to the nature of their Office for the Harvest was now great and such Labourers as these were but few and therefore their Presence was required in several Places And as this Unsetledness is not essential to Apostolick Authority no more is it essential to Episcopacy to be determined to a certain Church Every Bishop is Bishop of the Catholick Church and that his Authority is confined to a certain district is only the positive Law of the Church that forbids one Bishop any Exercise of his Office within the Diocess of another and St. Paul seems to have given them the occasion who would not build upon another mans Foundation However in any case of Necessity this Positure Law is superseeded and a Bishop may act in any place by virtue of a general Power he has received in his Ordination so that this first Exception of the Apostles and the Evangelists being unfixt and Bishops determined to a particular Church can make no essential Difference As to the Visitors of the Church of Scotland they make evidently against Mr. B's Notion of an essential Difference between Bishops and Evangelists for first of all the Residence was fixt to certain Cities and their Jurisdiction confin'd within certain Provinces as the Superintendent of the Country of Orkney was to keep his Residence in the Town of Keirkwall Spotswood Hist Scot. l. 3. p. 158. he of Rosse in the Channory of Rosse and so the rest in the Towns appointed for their Residence Their Office was to try the Life Diligence and Behaviour of the Ministers the Order of their Churches and the Manners of the People how the Poor were provided and how the Youth were instructed they must admonish where Admonition needed and dress all things that by good Counsel they were able to compose finally they must take note of all hainous Crimes that the same may be corrected by the Censures of the Church So far of their Constitution as we find it in Mr. Knox's first Project of Church-polity Spotswood p. 258. and their practice was altogether the same with that of Diocesan Episcopacy as Bishop Spotswood describes it The Superintendents held their Office during Life and their Power was Episcopal for they did elect and ordain Ministers they presided in Synods and directed all Church Censures neither was any Excommunication pronounced without their Warrant And now let the Reader judge how the Constitution of Diocesan Episcopacy becomes a Crime and yet these Visitors of the Church of Scotland conformable to divine Institution As to the second Exception that the Apostles and Evangelists were Episcopi Episcoporum and had Bishops under their Jurisdiction which our Diocesans who are the Bishops but of particular Churches do not pretend to This makes no Difference at leastwise no essential one for the same person may have the Charge of a particular Church or Diocess and yet have the supervising Power over several others But in this point Mr. B. does but equivocate and impose upon his Reader for by his Episcopus gregis he means only a Presbyter and a particular Bishop may have Jurisdiction over such without any Injury or Prejudice done to the Office which from it's first Institution has been under the Direction of a superiour Apostolical Power if therefore these Presbyters do retain all that Power which essentially belongs to them under a Diocesan Bishop how are they degraded In short either this Order of Congregational Episcopacy is different from Presbytery or the same with it if the same how is it abrogated by Diocesan Episcopacy since Presbyters are still in the full Possession and Exercise of their Office If they are distinct how then comes Mr. B. to confound them as he does § 16. where he says That the Apostles themselves set more than one of these Elders or Bishops in every Church So then those Apostolick men as Bishops of the particular Churches wherin as they resided had Authority over Presbyters within the Extent of their Diocess and a general Supervising Care of several other Churches and so they were Episcopi Episcoporum in the first they are succeeded by Diocesan Bishops in the latter by Metropolitans which yet were never lookt upon as two orders essentially distinct But after all this we shall never come to a right Understanding of Mr. B's Episcopacy unless we take along with it his Notion of a particular Church which he sets down p. 6. § 19. There is great Evidence of History p. 6. that a particular Church of the Apostles setling was essentially only a Company of Christians Pastors and People associated for personal holy Communion and mutual help in holy Doctrine Worship Conversation and Order therefore it never consisted of so few or so many or so distant as to be uncapable of such personal Help and Communion but was ever distinguished as from accidental Meetings so from the Communion of many Churches or distant Christians which was held but by Delegates Synods of Pastors or Letters and not by personal Help in Presence Not that all these must needs always meet in the same place but that usually they did so or at due times at least and were no more nor more distant than could so meet sometimes Persecution hindred them sometimes the Room might be too small even independent Churches among us sometimes meet in diverse Places
govern'd by a Bishop Presbyters and Deacons was but one Congregation for every such Church had but one Altar This Observation of one Altar in one Episcopal Church he confirms by Mr. Mede who propounds it with great Modesty and onely as a Conjecture and M. B. has added nothing to his Reason more than his own Confidence If he had but taken leisure to consider and not have run away with that onely which seems to make for his purpose he might have found enough in those very Passages cited by Mr. Mede to have undeceived him The Matter in short is thus The Principal Church or Meeting-place in every City belong'd to the Bishop where his Chair was set up with a Bench of Presbyters on every side circling the Communion Table this whole place was called Altare Sacrarium and within the Jurisdiction of a single Bishop it is probable there was no more than one the Bishop with his Presbyters and Deacons represented the Unity of the Church although it might be divided into several Congregations and every Congregation might have a Communion Table so that one Bishop one Altar signifies indeed the Unity of the Church as being the place of its common Councel and solemn Tribunal and to set up an Altar is not to have two Communion Tables in a City but to have distinct Governments Mr. B's Dispute of Church Government p. 90. The Ancients ordinarily call the Lords Table and the place where it stood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I say the Table and the Sacrarium or place of it's standing And so says Bishop usher in his Notes upon the passage before cited Altare apud patres mensam Dominio eam passim denot at apud Ignatium Polycarpum Sacrarium quoque and opposite Bishops and Presbyters this is confirmed by a Passage of Ignatius in his Epistle to the Magnesians cited by Mr. B. Omnes adunati ad templum Dei concurrite sicut ad unum Altare If this reading which he uses were right it would distinguish between Christian Temples and imply that some of them had not Altars which is not likely to be true if Altar and Communion-table were the same But to speak ingeniously neither Temple nor Altar here does signifie what Mr. B. would have it for the Florentine Copy has 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which refers only to the Jewish Temple and Altar wherein consisted the Unity of the Jewish Church notwithstanding they were divided into many Synagogues and Congregations But that one Altar for every Church so frequently mention'd by Ignatius does not signifie every Communion-table but that eminent one together with the Bishops Chair and the bench of the Presbyters appears from diverse Passages in his Epistles In that to the Magnesians he alledges to this Ecclesiastical Consistory about the Altar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That well-platted Crown of our Presbyters alledging to the Figure in which they sate and then follows 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Counsel of the Altar or Sacrifices And in his Epistle to the Ephesians he speaks to this Effect Unless a man be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 within the verge of the Altar he is no partaker of the bread of God and this Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he explains in his Epistle ad Trallenses he that is within the Altar is clean wherefore he obeys the Bishops and the Presbyters he that is without is such a one that does any thing without the Bishop and the Presbyters so that Obedience to the Bishop or Presbyter is an Explication of that Phrase of being within the Altar and this might consist with the Division of the Church into several distinct Congregations But St. Cyprian in his fifty fifth Epist makes this yet clearer where speaking of the Insolence of such as having sacrificed to Idols thrust themselves into Church-Communion without doing any Pennance he breaks out at last into this passionate Aggravation what then remains but that the Church should yield to the Capital and that the Priests withdrawing themselves and taking away the Altar of our Lord Images and Idol-Gods together with their Altars should succeed and take Possession of the place proper to the sacred and venerable bench of our Clergy the bench of the Clergy then belongs to the Altar that is the Communion-table of the Principal and Episcopal Church to which all other Congregations did belong in as much as the Presbyters they joyn'd with appertain'd to that Altar and so there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet several Assemblies under his Direction and within the Communion of that Altar This Usage of one Altar and several Communion-tables depending upon it continu'd a long while after in the Church Innocent I. in his Letter to Decentius mentions the sending of the consecrated Symbols from the Episcopal Church Altar to the depending Parishes upon solemn times and long after that all the Parishes of a Diocese paid Homage to the Episcopal Church by sending some of their principal Members to communicate there upon Solemn Festivals as appears by several Canons that are cited and examined more particularly hereafter and here in England there have been Footsteps of the same Custom till of late in Comparison though from the first beginning of the Gospel we have not the least hint of Congregational Episcopacy in this place The next thing he alledges is a passage out of Justin Martyr Just Martyr Ap. 2. p. 97. Ed. Paris 98.99 where he describes the manner of the Christian Assemblies in his time where the Eucharist is said to be celebrated by the Bishop 1 Dispute p. 92. and that on Sunday all the Christians that liv'd either in Cities or in the Country came together prayed with and received the Sacraments at the hand of the Bishop and those that were absent had it sent to them by the Hand of the Deacons but what shall we conclude from hence That all that came together could come to one place or because the Congregation of the Bishop as being the most eminent is here only described must we conclude that there was no more than one in any City This account is only General and serves only to shew what they did when they came together and the Principal Assembly was surely the most proper instance and not in how many places they might be Assembled Disp p 33. The Story of Gregory Thaumaturgus makes the next Proof who being made against his will Bishop of Ne-Caesarea found but seventeen Christians in the whole City this was indeed a small Congregation and hardly numerous enough to make a Church but if Mr. B. had been so ingenious 〈…〉 as to have mentioned the Success of that Bishop's Ministry he might have spared any one else the Labour of answering this Instance for the same Bishop out of those contemptible Beginnings did so far enlarge the Church of that place that when he dyed he left but seventeen in the whole City that were not Christians if
as if it were to prevent such a Mistake as this Ad Fahiâ—â—n Anti. expresly tells us that these Officers were not useless and unnecessary but calls the Clergy To 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Necessity of them appears by what immediately follows because they had the Direction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a great and innumerable People and now with what Reason Mr. B. has retracted his Exception of the Roman Church let the Reader judge But the Church of Rome had long before outgrown the Stature of a Congregation for Euaristus the sixth from St. Peter is said to have divided Rome into Titles or Parishes the multitude being grown too numerous for one Assembly Ep. Pii ad Baron or if the Authority of the Pseudo Damasus be not to be depended upon we have the two Epistles of Pius to confirm it in the first we have mention of Euprepia that had given to the Poor Titulum Domus suae ubi nunc cum Pauperibus nostris commorantes missas agimus Several learned men do except against the Word Missa as not being yet in use in the Church Hospin de Temp. but it is a very hard matter to shew when it was first taken up certain it is that way of speaking was made use of not long after Remissa for Remissio being found in Tertullian and Cyprian in the second Epist we have these words Presbyter pastor titulum condidit dignè in Domino obiit I must needs say Blondel does not deal very ingeniously and equally with these Epistles for in his Pseudo Isidocus he endeavours to prove them suppositious tho they are not in Isidorus's Collection yet in his Apology for St. Jerom's Opinion concerning Bishops he vouchsafes to make use of one of them to prove that Bishop and Presbyter signified the same thing in Pius's days 't is a sad case that the Ancients shall have no farther Credit with us than they serve our Turn when they speak what men will not have them then they are false and Impostours let them give the same men but some little Countenance and then they are true men again The great Liberality of the Church of Rome is no small Argument of its Greatness for besides the maintenance of their own Clergy and Poor they were able to relieve most other Churches Euseb l. 14. c. 23. and it was their practice from the beginning to oblige all the Brethren by all manner of kindness and to send to a great many Churches that were establisht in every City the Necessaries of Life relieving the Necessity of those that were in want and sending necessary relief to those who were condemned to the Mines This was the ancient Liberality of the Roman Church and Soter is said not only to have continued but improv'd it Now if according to Mr. B's Notion of those Times not many Rich not many Noble were call'd the number of Believers must be by so much the Greater Euseb l. 7. c. 5. to be able to supply the Necessity almost of the Universal Church and Dionysius of Alexandria speaks of the Roman Church's Charity in his time in these words All the Provinces of Syria together with Arabia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which you relieve every one The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is there Emphatical and implies an admiration of as it were the All-sufficiency of the Roman Church how it should be able to supply the wants of so many Churches and to furnish so Expensive a Charity Under the Reign of Commodus the Church is said to have enjoyed peaceable and happy Times and to have thriv'd so well that the whole World in a manner was reduc'd the words of Eusebius express a wonderful increase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that every Soul in a manner of every sort came over to the Christian Religion and at Rome particularly the increase was so great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that abundance of considerable Persons for their Nobility and Wealth came over with their whole Families and Relations Euseb l. 15. c. 21. Certain it is that the number of Christians at Rome was proportionably greater than in any part of the Empire for thither they fled for Refuge in times of Persecution and shelter'd themselves in a crowd and if Tertullian's account of the state of the Christians in his time makes it very probable that they made the better half of the Roman Empire if he boasts of multitudes and say that they had possessed themselves of the City and Countrey and every place was full of them but the Temples if they did in a manner besiege the Heathen in every part and were more beneficial to the Publick by the consumption of all sorts of Commodities and made Use of more Frankincense in One Street than the Heathen did in any one Temple it is evident that they were the major part every where but in Rome more eminently so See this urg'd farther by Mr. Dodwel in his Letter to Mr. B. Towards the middle of the Third Century they received a considerable Increase from the Countenance of Alexander Severus the greatest part of whose Family and that alone would make a good Congregation were Christians Euseb l. 6. c. 21.28 and this Favourer of Christianity reigned thirteen years Towards the latter end of that Age their condition was most flourishing and all the World in a manner had receiv'd the Faith let us observe in what glorious Expressions Eusebius represents the Church before the Persecution of Dioclesian Euseb l. 8. c. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who sayes he can describe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their full and innumerable Assemblies and the multitude of their Meetings in every City So that by this time not onely in Rome but almost in every City the Christians had several Congregations Valesius tho he corrects the old Translator yet it seems did not fully comprehend the meaning of this place nor see the Elegancy of Eusebius's Gradation for first he represents the many thousands that came together to make a Congregation then the number of such Assemblies that there were several of them and at last mentions the Places that receiv'd them that there was no Church no Chappel no Oratory but was full in those dayes About this time or not long after Rome had above forty Churches which we must not imagine to be built all at the same time but by degrees according as the number of Believers did require and in all probability there must be more than one or two even in the first and second Century And now I have mention'd this it will not be amiss to clear that Passage of Optatus about these forty Churches Optat. Mii. l. 2. contra Parmen from the Exceptions of Blondel whom Mr. B. follows in his mistake Optatus in that place traces the Donatists of Rome to their first Original If Macrobius says he were demanded whom he succeeds he must needs confess it is to Eucolpius if Eucolpius
turn charge the Donatists with the very same Arts. For Sumnius Episcopus Tiguallensis idem dixit praesto sum in Dioecesi mea duo sunt Gaianus Privatus Alypius Episcopus Ecclesiae Catholicae dixit animadvertat nobilitas tua etiam in nostrorum Dioecesi eos ordinasse Episcopos Sumnius Bishop of Tigualla said I am here there are two set up against me in my Diocess and names them Alypius Bishop of the Catholick Church said Your Honour may please to observe that they have set up several Bishops in single Dioceses of ours Marcellinus V. C. Tribunus Notarius dixit ibid. Talia ab utrisque partibus constat objecta si haec vultis diligenter inquiri ad hanc causam superflue venisse noscemur Marcellinus Tribune and Notary the moderator of this Conference said It is evident that these things are objected on both sides if this be the business you would examine I am come hither to little purpose for this is not the thing I came about This check had so much effect that we do not find any make this impertinent complaint for a long while together but the opposite Bishops own the knowledg one of another and so the subscriptions are read and passed with little interruption At last Alypius not being able to hold out longer would make his general remark upon a great number of Donatist Bishops Alypius Episcopus Ecclesiae Catholicae dixit Scriptum sit illos omnes in villis vel in fundis esse Episcopos ordinatos non in aliquibus Civitatibus Alypius said Let it be recorded that all these were made Bishops in Villages and Hamlets and not in any Cities Petilianus Ep. dixit Sic tu multos habes per omnes Agros dispersos immo crebros ubi habes sane sme populis habes Petilianus Answered And you have many dispersed in the Country and of those several without any people to govern And now the reader may perceive by wha methods the Dioceses of Africk came to be so numerous Subscribed 266 14 present that did not subscribe absent of the Catholicks 120. Brevic Col. It was not the example of the Bees that made Bishops swarm so much there but an unhappy Schism and the affectation of number to support the credit of it then a necessity that lay on the Catholicks to add number to their weight and to turn the ballance on their side no less in point of reputation than it inclined of it self as to the justice of their cause and yet after all this the Dioceses were not so little as our Parishes Câ—ll Carth. Cog. 1.212.215 for reckoning after the utmost computation there will be a great difference for the number of subscribers on the part of the Catholicks in this Conference was two hundred sixty six vacant Sees sixty four absent two hundred and twenty in all five hundred and fifity Dioceses The Donatists had two hundred seventy nine subscribers said they had more absent than the Catholicks Augustine writes but 120 which probably is the truth Brev. Coll. c. 12. besides vacant Sees but mention no number Augustine shews from the confession of the Donatists that they had not not so great a number absent as the Catholicks because they had confessed that all their Bishops young and old were there excepting only those that were hindred by sickness ibid. and since by this Conference it appears every Diocess had two Bishops at least one with another the Dioceses will not be found to be very small and perhaps if the absents and vacancies of the Catholicks were to be examined they would not all have proved effective or not far to exceed the number of the Dioceses of Africk as they were after reduction by the Emperours edict at the time of Hunnericus his conquest of that Country which I have mentioned before out of the Notitia Africa published by Syrmond And yet in all this division several Bishopricks in Africk had the fortune to remain intire Conc. Carthag 3. c. 39. and so large that they were not inferiour to our Dioceses in England for largeness of Territory For in the whole Province of Tripolis there were but five Dioceses Codex Can. 49. Aâ— 397. Tripolitaâ—a Provincia abortu habet aram Philenorum lineam ab ea ductam ad Lybicas gentes ab occasu Tritonem flavium quâ— dividitur a Bizacend à Septentrione terminatur mari Africo à meridie desertis Libycis Carol. à S. Paul p. 91. at the time of the third Council of Carthage and the Notitia Africae which was taken some years after sets down but one more for which reason the African Councils made several exceptions in their favour as that there should be required the presence but of one Bishop of that Province in any Council and that few Bishops might be allowed to ordain there in consideration of their number Besides there were several large Bishopricks in the other Provinces Codex Can. 56. for we find in the Canons of the African Councils that one Bishop had such extent of Territory as might be divided into several Dioceses and where it is permitted any part of a Diocess as a considerable Town and the Territory belonging to it to chuse a Bishop for themselves with the consent of him part of whose Diocess they were It is added ut â—adem Dioecesis permissa proprium tantum habeat Episcopum caeteras sibi non vindicet Dioeceses quia exempta de fasce multarum sola meruit honorem Episcopatus suscipere It is enough when a Bishop gives way that another Bishop should be set up in part of his Diocess that that part which he grants this to may have their own Bishop but this new Bishop is not to assume any right over the other parts of his Diocess Because his part being taken out of the bundle of several Dioceses i. e. such as would make several like his but belonging all to the same Cathedral was alone designed for this new Bishoprick And to the same effect he calls that ancient intire Diocess out of which another is to be taken Massa Dioecesium an aggregation of Dioceses or as we would now speak of Rural Deanries The same thing is supposed by the Canon that forbids a Bishop to leave his Cathedral and live in any other Church in his Diocess Con. Carth. 5. c. 5. Con. Carth. 4.36 And by another to this effect That the Presbyters who are Rectors of Churches in a diocess ought before Easter to repair to their proper Bishop for Chrism and not to take it of any other who perhaps may be nearer It would be endless to cite all the circumstances that imply the greatness of the African Dioceses even at this time I will select some Dioceses there whose extent is mentioned occasionally but without any remark of their being extraordinary in comparison of others The Diocess of Hippo Diaretorum Codex Caâ— 78. not Regia where St. Augustin was Bishop
in the Funeral Oratition of his friend where besides this new Bishoprick he shews that seâ—â—â—al others were erected upon that contention and that the Church had this advantage that By the increase of Bishops there would be a more exact and particular care taken of Souls and every City should be governed in all Ecclesiastical affairs within it self which before in that Country it seems they were not used to And Lastly That by this means the strife endeds After what manner he does not say perhaps this increase of Bishops carried the cause for Basil against Anthimus and so the controversy ended However Nazianzen commends Basil here for multiplying Dioceses yet in the Verses before cited he makes it a very unnecessary innovation for him to set up a Bishop at Sasima having no less than fifty Suffragan Bishops in his Province already 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet if we consider how far Sasima was probably from Caesarea we must conclude the Diocess of Basil out of which this is expresly said to be taken to have been very large for that this place was at some good distance from Basil we may perceive from Nazianzen's complaint as if he had been banished by this promotion into some remote place 2. If any guess may be made by comparing the itinerary from Constantinople to Jerusalem Printed â—â—th that of Antonius with the Tabulae Peuterigeranae Apud Itinerarium Antonini Sasus in finibus Ciliciae But this cannot be the same with Sasime in the other Itinerary the distance must be as great at least as between Hippo and Fussala for in that Itinerary there is reckoned sixteen miles from Sasima to Andavalis which in Peutingers tables is a great way from Caesarea 3. Sasima in the Ancient Greek Notitiae Printed with others by Carolus â S. Paulo Ordo Metropolitarum prout descriptus est in Chartophylacio is set down in the second Cappadocia which was under the Metropolis of Thyana and therefore it is not likely to be very near Caesarea the Metropolis of the other Cappadocia And one may observe that the Dioceses of Cappadocia notwithstanding this division were yet very considerable and far from being reduced into Congregational Churches It is plain from Nazianzen that Cappadocia had but fifty Bishops for so many he sayes Basil had under him and no doubt he owned him as Metropolitan of the whole Province and considering the extent of that Country the Dioceses must needs be large for the Country as Strabo computes Strab. l. 12. is near four hundred miles in length and little less in breadth as Causabon restores the reading of one thousand eight hundred furlongs in the twelfth book by a passage in the second where the breadth is made two thousand eight hundred And in this compass Bishops may contrive fifty Dioceses of very competent extent and not inferior to many of ours Basil writing to the Presbyteâ—â— of Nicopolis Salutes the Clergy of the City and the Clergy of the Diocess And in a Letter to the Citizens of the same place Bas Ep. 592. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 desires them to shew a good example of affection towards their new Bishop to the rest of the Diocess Ep. 94. And in another to the Brethren of Colonia whence Euphronius was chosen to Nicopolis he tells them that he who was their Chorepiscopus before may take care of them still and continue to be their Bishop The same Father in another Epistle Ep. 72. Evasenis shews that Ancyra was a Diocess of good extent for Eustathius passing through the Territory of that City is said to have overthrown the Altars of Basilides the Bishop of it and to set up his own Tables which supposes several Country Churches under the jurisdiction of that Diocesan Bas Ep. 406. Amphilochio sub nomine Hâ—racleidae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. And Lastly when Basil directs Amphilochius Bishop of Iconium to constitute Bishops in the Province of Isauria which at that time was it seems distitute upon what occasion I know not he enters upon a comparison between the convenience of large and small Dioceses and debates for sometime whether it were best to Ordain one Bishop of the Metropolis Seleucia I suppose who shall take care of the whole Province and Ordain more Bishops as he shall find expedient or else appoint a number of lesser Bishops first And here he confesses that if he could find one that would answer the character of St. Paul that were a workman who needed not to be ashamed such a one would go a great way and be worth many little Bishops would be of greater use to the Church and by that means we might with less hazard undertake the care of the Souls of the Province But if this cannot be done then let there be made Bishops in the lesser Cities and Villages where there were Bishops before and the matter be so ordered that the Bishop of the Principal City may not disturb us hereafter in point of Ordinations By which it appears that Isauria was then part of Basils Province and we may perceive the reason why he chose rather to Ordain the Country Bishops first to form an interest in the first place and to diminish the strength and power and to prevent the usurpations of the Bishop of the chief City Nor were these Chorepiscopi Country Bishops other than Diocesan as to the extent of their Church which consisted of many Congregations and those at a good distance one from the other for these were not as Rectors of a single Parish but Visitors of several Churches to the proportion it may be of our Rural Deaneries though like them they were more immediately related to a certain Parish or Town But their Episcopacy was in relation to the association of several Churches So Basil sayes he sent to the Chorepiscopus of those places not of one Country Town 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bas Ep. 355. and therefore the Council of Laodicia calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Visitors and where Cities were not very thick some of them had the inspection of a large Territory But yet these were but the Deputies or Surrogates of the City Bishops in point of jurisdiction for they were to do nothing of moment without their Bishop and several Councils provide against their Usurpations Basil whose Diocess and Province we come from giving an account of is so resolute upon his prerogative that he will not endure they should ordain as much as the inferior Clergy as Deacons Subdeacons Readers and several others which the Church of that time reckon'd among the Clergy without his consent Bas 181. and if they do let them know sayes he that whosoever is admitted without our consent shall be reputed but a Layman What would he have said if they had pretended to ordain Presbyters or Bishops in opposition to them The Bishops of the Church of England desire no more than S. Basil assumed That none should be reputed Priests
or Deacons that were ordained in their Dioceses without their consent and that by simple Presbyters who were never Chorepiscopi or had any character to distinguish them from other Presbyters Therefore the case ought not to be reckoned so hard as it is commonly represented by the more moderate Nonconformists who pretend this point of Reordination the only bar that keeps them out of the Church since there was never any other Church not any in Ancient times would have received them upon any other terms and they must have remained Nonconformists under Basil Athanasius and all the ancient Bishops whose names are and alwayes have been had in veneration with all Christians not one of these would have ever been perswaded to own a Pastor that his Presbyters had ordained in opposition to him nay hardly could they have been prevailed with to admit such as any other Bishop should Ordain within their Diocess so extream punctilious they were in this matter and there is hardly any one thing that caused so frequent and dangerous contentions between them as the point of Ordination Nor was this Province singular in the extent of its Bishopricks or the manner of their Administration but all the parts of the Christian World went by the same Rule as to Diocesan Episcopacy and most of them had much larger Dioceses than these we have been speaking of The Frontier Provinces of the Empire towards the East being more remote from the contentions that afflicted the Church were not cantoned into so small Dioceses as other Countries and being likewise less divided in their Civil Condition because it might render them less defensible against Invasion the Ecclesiastical Dioceses likewise remained intire in the the measure of their first Constitution The Diocess of Edessa seems to be of extraordinary extent Conc. Chal. Act. 10. even at the time of the Council of Chalcedon when the ambition of some Metropolitans and the contentions of Hereticks and Schismaticks had reduced Bishopricks to be very small For 1. some of the misdemeanors charged upon Ibas Bishop of this place shew that Diocess to be extreamly rich 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Collection for redemption of Captives amounted to fifteen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and tho' it is not easy to reduce that summ to our money yet we must conclude it to be a considerable sum when we reflect upon another accusation of Daniel Brother to Ibas as if he had bestowed on Calloa the money of the Church for she had let out to use two or three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which must be a considerable summ since it 's taken notice of as an argument of her wealth Besides the Church of Edessa had six thousand more of these Numismata besides its ordinary Revenues and one of its Mannors called Lafargaritha is mentioned there and two hundred pound weight of Church Plate 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The City of Battina was in the Diocess of Edessa for Ibas is accused of having endeavoured to make one John Bishop of it who was suspected of Magick But Ibas his Arch-Deacon of that place opposed it 3. Maras who was one of Ibas his accusers was Excommunicated by another Arch-Deacon of his 4. The Clergy of the City of Edessa was above two hundred persons not reckoning that of the Country within his Diocess and this was a Diocesan Bishop to purpose who besides a large Diocess had Excommunicating Arch-Deacons and a great Revenue And if Mr. B. or his Brethren had been of that Diocess we might have found them among his accusers The Diocess of Cyrus whereof Theodoret was Bishop was yet larger Theodor. Ep. 113. containing eight hundred Churches as he writes to Leo Bishop of Rome The exceptions which Mr. B. makes against this Epistle are so fully answered by the incomparable Dean of Pauls that nothing can be added But if Mr. B. should quarrel with any writings of this time for mentioning great Dioceses we must have a new Critick and disgrace a great deal of the Fathers that have hitherto been received by a general consent It is a very hard matter to convince men that imagine all that time for them whereof we have little or no account and reckon silence of Antiquity for consent and then if any thing shall appear against what they have once fanfi'd though it be never of so good credit it is spurious it is all Imposture because it makes against them who would ever be convicted if it shall be Defence enough to say the Evidence is a Lye Petavius mistaking a passage in Epiphanius Not. in Epiph Haeres Arr. Epiph. Ep. ad Joh. Hieros ap Hieron thought the Dioceses of Cyprus to be very small but from Epiphanius his Letter to John Bishop of Jerusalem it appears that his Diocess was of good extent John had a quarrel with him for having Ordained a Presbyter in his Diocess though it was only for the use of a Monastery and he excuses himself by shewing how common a thing this was and how frequently it was done in his own Diocess and he was so far from taking offence at it that he thought himself obliged to some of his neighbouring Bishops for using that liberty and therefore commends the good nature and meekness of the Cyprian Bishops who never quarrelled with one another upon this account and then adds That many Bishops of our Communion have Ordained Presbyters in our Province that we could not take because they fled from us on purpose to avoid that honour which was the modesty of those times Nay I my self desired Philo of blessed memory and Theophorbus that they would Ordain Presbyters in those Churches of Cyprus which were near them O vere benedicta Episcoporum Cypri mansuetudo bonitas multi Episcopi communionis nostrae Presbyteros in nostra ordinaverunt Provincia quos nos comprehendere non poteramus ipse cohortatus slim b. m. Philonem sanctum Theophorbum ut in Ecclesiis Cypri quae juxta se grant ad meae autem Parochiae videbantur Ecclesiam pertinere to quod grandis esset late patens Provincia ordinarent Presbyteros and belonged to my Diocess because my Province i.e. my Docess was very large Now that this Province which is here said to be of so large extent was no other than his Diocess appears from the nature of the thing For if we shall imagine that it was his Province as Metropolitan the words will have no sense for then are not there Bishops enough dispersed through this great Province who may Ordain within their respecture Dioceses and to them belonged the Ordination of Presbyters and not to the Metropolitan If we shall take this Province for a Civil division there will be yet greater absurdity for there may be other Metropolitans as well as he and by what Authority could he dispose of their Dioceses or Provinces In short there he gives leave to Ordain Presbyters where the right of Ordaining them belonged to
Bishops it seems were so few that we find but eight of them subscribe in that Council The Council of Valence had twenty one Bishops and this is very extraordinary for the Province of one Metropolitan in these times and therefore it is more probable that it was a general one of several Provinces or of all Gallia For there is an Epistle of this Synod directed to all the Bishops and Churches of Gallia by way of Preface to the Canons of it a thing never assumed by the particular Synods of a Province and this will appear yet more probable by comparing this with other Councils that followed The Council of Regium or Riez consisted but of thirteen Bishops personally present and one Presbyter who was Proxy for a Bishop The first Council of Orange had but sixteen personally present and one Proxy And that we may not imagine the Gallican Bishops to be so negligent as not to attend these Provincial Synods let us but consider the eighteenth and nineteenth Canons of the second Council of Arles which provide against this neglect There it s ordered That if any Bishop be hindred by sickness he shall not fail to send his Proxy But if any Bishop shall neglect to come or depart before the conclusion of the Assembly let him know that he is shut out of his brethrens communion and so to continue until the next Synod shall restore him Yet for all this injunction the Synod of Anger 's assembled the year following had but eight Bishops and the third Council of Arles within three years after had but thirteen Bishops The Synod of Tours ten whereof one subscribed by Proxy and another subscribed being absent the Canons being sent to him The Council of Vennes Venetum had but six Bishops and there were but two more in the whole Province as appears by the Epistle of that Synod to those two that were absent desiring their confirmation of such Canons as they had made And Lastly another Council at Arles about Predestination had but twelve subscriptions From whence it appears how large the Dioceses of Gallia were at that time The Ancient Notitia Galliae published by Sirmond and written as is conjectured in the time of Honorius and Arcadius reckons in all the seventeen Provinces of Gallia one hundred and fifteen Cities taking in all the Country between the Rhine and the Brittish Sea Carolus à Sancto Paulo will by no means allow this to be an Ecclesiastical Notitia Geogr. sacra Galliae p. 124. because there are several Cities mentioned in it that never were Episcopal seats and several Episcopal Sees are omitted indeed the Ancient Notitia of the Gallican Bishopricks published by that Author reckons about one hundred twenty and six in all that vast tract of Country nor are they so few at this day taking in Savoy Suitzerland Alsace and all the Countries bordering upon the Rhiâ—â— to Cologn and the Country of Cleaves besides all the Spanish Netherlands all reckoned within the Ancient Gallia which will afford very fair Dioceses But the Acts of the ancient Gallick Councils do make yet clearer proof of the largeness of the Dioceses there Proculus Bishop of Marseilles layes claim to several Churches as having been anciently Parishes of his Dioceses Con. Taurin c. 1. Easdem Ecclesias vel Parochias suas fuisse vel Episcopos à se in ilsdem Ecclesiis ordinatos and left that the ambiguity of the word Parochia may make the sense doubtful he layes claim in the same place to others as depending upon his Metropolis and where he had Ordained Bishops The Council of Regium Orders That if one be Ordained against his will Bishop of any City by fewer than three Bishops Liceat ei unam Parochiarum Ecclesiam cedere nec uâ—quam duarum Ecclesiarum gubernationem obtineat or without the consent of the Metropolitan that he may be made Rector of one Parish in the Diocess if the Bishop thinks fit but is to have the government of no more than one Parish and the City Bishop to Ordain all his Assistants The First Council of Orange appoints That if a Bishop shall build a Church in another Bishops Territory Gon. Arans 1. Can. 10. the Ordination of Minister to serve it shall belong to the Bishop in whose Territory it is but the right of Presentation and Patronage shall be in the Founder of that Church which supposes a Diocess of more Congregations than one The Council of Vaison Vasense enjoyns all the Ministers of Parishes within every Diocess to repair to their Proper Bishop for Chrism every year before Easter Per singula Territoria Presbyâ—eri vel Ministri ab Episcopis non prout libitum fuerit vicinioribus sed à suis propriis per annos singulos chrisma petant appropinquante solemnitate Paschali Con. vas c. 3. and not to go to other Bishops that may be nearer to them There would be no end of instances of this kind within the space of five hundred years after Christ but this is sufficient for our present design which is only to give a view of Diocesan Episcopacy of the Rise and Propress of it in several parts of the Christian World As to our own Country of Brittain for whose use Mr. B.'s Church History is more especially calculated and against whose Bishops all the Venom is directed it is certain indeed that we had Bishops betimes for we find some of their Subscriptions to the great Council of Arles A. D. 314. Sulp. Sever. l. 2. And there were some of them present about forty years after in the Council of Ariminum But how large their Bishops were then will be a very hard matter to demonstrate Hist Brittan l. 2. c. 1. ed Ascens Jeffrey of Monmouth reckons twenty eight Bishops and three Arch-Bishops in Lucius his time set up in the place of so many Flamins and Arch-Flamins who were the directours of the Heathen Religion here Vid. usser de Primord Eccl. Brit. p. 57. Gild. bis denis bisque quaternis Civt tibus munita Bede Hist l. 1. c. 1. Bede l 2. c. 2 and this it seems he had from Gildas de Victoria Aurelii Ambrosii But all this I suppose has no other foundation than a passage out of Gildas de exidio Britanniae where he mentions twenty eight Cities in Brittian and another out of Bede who follows Gildas The Flamins I suppose were added for ornament afterwards by some imposture under the name of Gildas But all the account that I know of the number of Bishops here is in Bede who sayes That in a Synod assembled in Worcestershire about the receiving Augustine the Monk there were seven Brittish Bishops present and probably all the Bishops in the Country were there this being the second Synod assembled upon that subject and that wherein the matter in controversy was to be finally decided the Bishops that were present in the first Conference pretending they had not sufficient Authority to make an