Correspondent to which the Canons called Apostolical and the Council of Antioch ordain that if any Presbyter setting light by his own Bishop shall withdraw and set up separate meetings and erect another Altar i. e. says Zonaras keep unlawful Conventicles preach privately and administer the Sacrament that in such a case he shall be deposed as ambitious and tyrannical and the people communicating with him be excommunicate as being factious and schismatical only this not to be done till after the third admonition After all that has been said I might further show what esteem and value the first Christians had of the Lords day by those great and honourable things they have spoken concerning it of which I 'll produce but two passages the one is that in the Epistle ad Magnesios which if not Ignatius must yet be acknowledged an ancient Authour Let every one says he that loves Christ keep the Lords day Festival the resurrection day the Queen and Empress of all days in which our life was raised again and death conquered by our Lord and Saviour The other that of Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria who speaks thus that both custom and reason challenge from us that we should honour the Lords day and keep it Festival seeing on that day it was that our Lord Jesus Christ compleated his resurrection from the dead Next to the Lords day the Sabbath or Saturday for so the word Sabbatum is constantly used in the Writings of the Fathers when speaking of it as it relates to Christians was held by them in great veneration and especially in the Eastern parts honoured with all the publick Solemnities of Religion For which we are to know that the Gospel in those parts mainly prevailing amongst the Jews they being generally the first Converts to the Christian Faith they still retained a mighty reverence for the Mosaick Institutions and especially for the Sabbath as that which had been appointed by God himself as the memorial of his rest from the work of Creation setled by their great Master Moses and celebrated by their Ancestors for so many Ages as the solemn day of their publick Worship and were therefore very loth that it should be wholly antiquated and laid aside For this reason it seemed good to the prudence of those times as in others of the Jewish Rites so in this to indulge the humour of that people and to keep the Sabbath as a day for religious offices Hence they usually had most parts of Divine Service performed upon that day they met together for publick Prayers for reading the Scriptures celebration of the Sacraments and such like duties This is plain not only from some passages in Ignatius and Clemens his Constitutions but from Writers of more unquestionable credit and authority Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria tells us that they assembled on Saturdays not that they were infected with Judaism but only to worship Jesus Christ the Lord of the Sabbath and Socrates speaking of the usual times of their publick meeting calls the Sabbath and the Lords day the weekly Festivals on which the Congregation was wont to meet in the Church for the performance of Divine Services Therefore the Council of Laodicea amongst other things decreed that upon Saturdays the Gospels and other Scriptures should be read that in Lent the Eucharist should not be celebrated but upon Saturday and the Lords day and upon those days only in the time of Lent it should be lawful to commemorate and rehearse the names of Martyrs Upon this day also aswel as upon Sunday all Fasts were severely prohibited an infallible argument they counted it a Festival day one Saturday in the year only excepted viz. that before Easter-day which was always observed as a solemn Fast Things so commonly known as to need no proof But though the Church thought fit thus far to correspond with Jewish Converts as solemnly to observe the Sabbath yet to take away all offence and to vindicate themselves from compliance with Judaism they openly declared that they did it only in a Christian way and kept it not as a Jewish Sabbath as is expresly affirmed by Athanasius Nazianzen and others and the forementioned Laodicean Synod has a Canon to this purpose that Christians should not judaize and rest from all labour on the Sabbath but follow their ordinary works i. e. so far as consisted with their attendance upon the publick Assemblies and should not entertain such thoughts of it but that still they should prefer the Lords day before it and on that day rest as Christians but if any were found to judaize they should be accursed Thus stood the case in the Eastern Church in those of the West we find it somewhat different amongst them it was not observed as a religious Festival but kept as a constant Fast the reason whereof as 't is given by Pope Innonocent in an Epistle to the Bishop of Eugubium where he treats of this very case seems most probable if says he we commemorate Christs resurrection not only at Easter but every Lords day and fast upon Friday because 't was the day of his passion we ought not to pass by Saturday which is the middle-time between the days of grief and joy the Apostles themselves spending those two days viz. Friday and the Sabbath in great sorrow and heaviness and he thinks no doubt ought to be made but that the Apostles fasted upon those two days whence the Church had a Tradition that the Sacraments were not to be administred on those days and therefore concludes that every Saturday or Sabbath ought to be kept a Fast To the same purpose the Council of Illiberis ordained that a Saturday Festival was an errour that ought to be reformed and that men ought to fast upon every Sabbath But though this seems to have been the general practice yet it did not obtain in all places of the West alike In Italy it self 't was otherwise at Milain where Saturday was a Festival and 't is said in the life of S. Ambrose who was Bishop of that See that he constantly dined as well upon Saturday as the Lords day it being his custom to dine upon no other days but those and the memorials of the Martyrs and used also upon that day to preach to the people though so great was the prudence and moderation of that good man that he bound not up himself in these indifferent things but when he was at Millain he dined upon Saturdays and when he was at Rome he fasted as they did upon those days This S. Augustine assures us he had from his own mouth for when his Mother Monica came after him to Millain where he then resided she was greatly troubled to find the Saturday Fast not kept there as she had found it in other places for her satisfaction he immediately went to consult S. Ambrose then Bishop of that place who told him he could give him no better
necessary to be deferred so long and that it was their universal judgment and resolution that the mercy and grace of God was not to be denied to any though as soon as he was born concluding that it was the sentence of the Council that none ought to be forbidden baptism and the grace of God which as it was to be observed and reteined towards all men so much more towards Infants and new-born Children and that this sentence of theirs was no novel doctrine S. Augustine assures us where speaking concerning this Synodical determination he tells us that in this Cyprian did not make any new decree but kept the Faith of the Church most firm and sure I shall only taken notice of one place more out of Cyprian which methinks evidently makes for this purpose where describing the great wickedness and miserable condition of the lapsed such as to avoid persecution had done sacrifice to the Idols he urges this as one of the last and highest aggravations that by their apostasie their Infants and Children were exposed to ruine and had lost that which they had obtained at their first coming into the world which whether he means it of their right to Baptism or their having been actually baptized and losing the fruit and benefit of their Baptism is all one to my purpose and therefore he brings them in thus elegantly pleading against their Parents at the great day ' T was no fault of ours we did not of our selves forsake the Sacraments of our Lord and run over to join with prophane impieties the unfaithfulness of others has undone us we have found our Parents to be murderers they denied us God for our Father and the Church for our Mother for while we alas were little unable to take any care of our selves and ignorant of so great a wickedness we were ensnared by the treachery of others and by them betrayed into a partnership of their impieties This was the case of Infants but those who made up the main body of the baptized in those days were adult persons who flocking over daily in great numbers to the faith of Christ were received in at this door usually they were for some considerable time catechized and trained up in the principles of the Christian Faith till having given testimony of their proficiency in knowledge to the Bishop or Presbyter who were appointed to take their examination and to whom they were to give an account once a week of what they had learnt and of a sober and regular conversation they then became Candidates for Baptism and were accordingly taken in which brings me to the next circumstance considerable concerning The Time when Baptism was wont to be administred at first all times were alike and persons were baptized as opportunity and occasion served but the discipline of the Church being a little setled it began to be restrained to two solemn and stated times of the year viz. Easter and Whitsontide At Easter in memory of Christs death and resurrection correspondent unto which are the two parts of the Christian life represented and shadowed out in Baptism dying unto sin and rising again unto newness of life in order to which the parties to be baptized were to prepare themselves by a strict observation of Lent disposing and fitring themselves for Baptism by fasting and prayer In some places particularly the Churches of Thessaly Easter was the only time for Baptism as Socrates tells us which was the reason why many amongst them died unbaptized but this was an usage peculiar to them alone The ancient custom of the Church as Zonaras tells us was for persons to be baptized especially upon the Saturday before easter-Easter-day the reason whereof was that this being the great or holy Sabbath and the mid-time between the day whereon Christ was buried and that whereon he rose again did fitliest correspond with the mystery of Baptism as it is the type and representation both of our Lords burial and resurrection At Whitsontide in memory of the Holy Ghosts being shed upon the Apostles the same being in some measure represented and conveyed in Baptism When I say that these were the two fixed times of Baptism I do not strictly mean it of the precise days of Easter and Whitsontide but also of the whole intermediate space of fifty days that is between them which was in a manner accounted Festival and Baptism administred during the whole time as I have formerly noted Besides these Nazianzen reckons the Feasts of Epiphany as an annual time of Baptism probably in memory either of the Birth or Baptism of our Saviour both which anciently went under that title this might be the custom in some places but I question whether it was universal besides that afterwards it was prohibited and laid aside But though persons in health and the space that was requisite for the instruction of the Catechumens might well enough comport with these annual returns yet if there was a necessity as in case of sickness and danger of death they might be baptized at any other time for finding themselves at any time surprized with a dangerous or a mortal sickness and not daring to pass into another world without this Badge of their initiation into Christ they presently signified their earnest desire to be baptized which was accordingly done as well as the circumstances of a sick Bed would permit These were called Clinici of whom there is frequent mention in the ancient Writers of the Church because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 baptized as they lay along in their beds This was accounted a less solemn and perfect kind of Baptism partly because 't was done not by immersion but by sprinkling partly because persons were supposed at such a time to desire it chiefly out of a fear of death and many times when not throughly Masters of their understandings For which reason persons so baptized if they recovered are by the Fathers of the Neocaesarean Council rendred ordinarily incapable of being admitted to the degree of Presbyters in the Church Indeed 't was very usual in those times notwithstanding that the Fathers did solemnly and smartly declaim against it for persons to defer their being baptized till they were near their death out of a kind of Novation principle that if they fell into sin after Baptism there would be no place for repentance mistaking that place of the Apostle where 't is said that if they who have been once enlightened 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Ancients generally understand of Baptism fall away 't is impossible to renew them again unto repentance For some such reason we may suppose it was that Constantine the Great deferred his Baptism till he lay a dying the same which Socrates relates of his Son Constantius baptized a little before his death and the like he reports of the Emperour Theodosius who apprehending himself to be arrested with a mortal sickness presently caused himself to be baptized
of persecution for so we find in a Law of Constantine and Licinius where giving liberty of Religion to Christians and restoring them freely to the Churches which had been taken from them and disposed of by former Emperours they further add and because say they the same Christians had not only places wherein they were wont to assemble but are also known to have had other possessions which were not the propriety of any single person but belonged to the whole body and community all these by this Law we command to be immediately restored to those Christians to every Society and Community of them what belonged to them And in a rescript to Anulinus the Proconsul about the same matter they particularly specifie whether they be Gardens or Houses or whatever else belonged to the right and propriety of those Churches that with all speed they be universally restored to them the same which Maximinus also though no good friend to Christians yet either out of fear of Constantine or from the conviction of his conscience awakened by a terrible sickness had ordained for his parts of the Empire Afterwards Constantine set himself by all ways to advance the honour and interests of the Church out of the Tributes of every City which were yearly paid into his Exchequer he assigned a portion to the Church and Clergy of that place and setled it by a Law which excepting the short Reign of Julian who revoked it was as the Historian assures us in force in his time Where any of the Martyrs or Confessors had died without kindred or been banished their native Country and left no heirs behind them he ordained that their Estates and Inheritance should be given to the Church of that place and that whoever had seized upon them or had bought them of the Exchequer should restore them and refer themselves to him for what recompence should be made them He took away the restraint which former Emperours had laid upon the bounty of pious and charitable men and gave every man liberty to leave what he would to the Church he gave salaries out of the publick Corn which though taken away by Julian was restored by his Successor Jovianus and ratified as a perpetual donation by the Law of Valentinian and Marcianus After his time the Revenues of Churches encreased every day pious and devout persons thinking they could never enough testifie their piety to God by expressing their bounty and liberality to the Church I shall conclude this discourse by observing what respect and reverence they were wont in those days to shew in the Church as the solemn place of Worship and where God did more peculiarly manifest his presence and this certainly was very great They came into the Church as into the Palace of the great King as Chrysostom calls it with fear and trembling upon which account he there presses the highest modesty and gravity upon them before their going into the Church they used to wash at least their hands as Tertullian probably intimates and Chrysostom expresly tells us carrying themselves while there with the most profound silence and devotion nay so great was the reverence which they bore to the Church that the Emperours themselves who otherwise never went without their Guard about them yet when they came to go into the Church used to lay down their Arms to leave their Guard behind them and to put off their Crowns reckoning that the less ostentation they made of power and greatness there the more firmly the imperial Majesty would be entailed upon them as we find it in the Law of Theodosius and Valentinian inserted at large into the last edition of the Theodosian Code But of this we may probably speak more when we come to treat of the manner of their publick adoration CHAP. VII Of the Lords-Day and the Fasts and Festivals of the ancient Church Time as necessary to religious actions as Place Fixed times of Publick Worship observed by all Nations The Lords Day chiefly observed by Christians Stiled Sunday and why Peculiarly consecrated to the memory of Christs Resurrection All kneeling at prayer on this day forbidden and why Their publick Assemblies constantly held upon this day Forced to assemble before day in times of persecution thence jeered by the Heathens as Latebrosa Lucifugax Natio The Lords day ever kept as a day of rejoycing all fasting upon it forbidden The great care of Constantine and the first Christian Emperours for the honour and observance of this Day Their Laws to that purpose Their constant and conscientious attendance upon publick Worship on the Lords Day Canons of ancient Councils about absenting from publick Worship Sabbatum or Saturday kept in the East as a religious day with all the publick Solemnities of Divine Worship how it came to be so Otherwise in the Western Churches observed by them as a Fast and why This not universal S. Ambrose his practice at Milain and counsel to S. Augustine in the case Their solemn Fasts either Weekly or Annual Weekly on Wednesdays and Fridays held till three in the Afternoon Annual Fast that of Lent how ancient Vpon what account called Quadragesima Observed with great strictness The Hebdomada Magna or the Holy Week kept with singular austerity and the reason of it Festivals observed by the Primitive Christians That of Easter as ancient as the times of the Apostles An account of the famous Controversie between the eastern and Western Churches about the keeping of Easter The intemperate spirit of Pope Victor Irenaeus his moderate interposal The case sinally determined by the Council of Nice The Vigils of this Feast observed with great expressions of rejoycing The bounty of Christian Emperours upon Easter-day The Feast of Pentecost how ancient Why stiled Whitsunday Dominica in Albis why so called The whole space between Easter and Whitsuntide kept Festival The Acts of the Apostles why publickly read during that time The Feast of Epiphany anciently what Christmas-day the ancient observation of it Epiphany in a strict sense what and why so called The Memoriae Martyrum what When probably first begun The great reverence they had for Martyrs Their passions stiled their Birth-day and why These anniversary Solemnities kept at the Tombs of Martyrs Over these magnificent Churches erected afterwards What religious exercises performed at those meetings The first rise of Martyrologies Oblations for Martyrs how understood in the ancient Writers of the Church These Festivals kept with great rejoycing mutual love and charity their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or common Feasts Markets held for that purpose in those places The ill use which after-times made of these memorials TIme is a circumstance no less inseparable from religious actions than Place for man consisting of a soul and body cannot always be actually engaged in the service of God that 's the priviledge of Angels and souls freed from the fetters of mortality so long as
the Emperours themselves to shew what veneration they have for this time commanding all Suits and Processes at Law to cease Tribunal-doors to be shut up and Prisoners to be set free imitating herein their great Lord and Master who by his death at this time delivered us from the prison and the chains of sin meaning herein those Laws of Theodosius Gratian and Valentinian which we lately mentioned We proceed now to enquire what other Festivals there were in those first Ages of the Church which I find to be chiefly these Easter Whitsuntide and Epiphany which comprehended two Christmass and Epiphany properly so called I reckon them not in their proper order but as I suppose them to have taken place in the Church Of these Easter challenges the precedence both for its antiquity and the great stir about it that in and from the very times of the Apostles besides the weekly returns of the Lords day there has been always observed an Anniversary Festival in memory of Christs Resurrection no man can doubt that has any insight into the affairs of the ancient Church all the dispute was about the particular time when it was to be kept which became a matter of as famous a Controversie as any that in those Ages exercised the Christian world The state of the case was briefly this the Churches of Asia the less kept their Easter upon the same day whereon the Jews celebrated their Passover viz. upon the 14. day of the first Month which always began with the appearance of the Moon mostly answering to our March and this they did upon what day of the week soever it fell and hence were stiled Quartodecimans because keeping Easter quarta decima Luna upon the 14. day after the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or appearance of the Moon The other Churches and especially those of the West did not follow this custom but kept Easter upon the Lords day following the day of the Jewish Passover partly the more to honour the day and partly to distinguish between Jews and Christians the Asiaticks pleaded for themselves the practice of the Apostles Polycarpus Bishop of Smyrna who had lived and conversed with them having kept it upon that day together with S. John and the rest of the Apostles as Irenaeus who himself knew Polycarpus and doubtless had it from his own mouth speaks in a Letter about this very thing though himself was of the other side And Polycrates in a Letter to the same purpose instances not only in S. John but S. Philip the Apostle who himself and his whole Family used so to keep it from whom it had been conveyed down in a constant and uninterrupted observance through all the Bishops of those places some whereof he there enumerates and tells us that seven Bishops of that place in a constant succession had been his Kinsmen and himself the eighth and that it had never been kept by them upon any other day this we are not so to understand as if S. John and the Apostles had instituted this Festival and commanded it to be observed upon that day but rather that they did it by way of condescension accommodating their practice in a matter indifferent to the humour of the Jewish Converts whose number in those parts was very great as they had done before in several other cases and particularly in observing the Sabbath or Saturday The other Churches also says Eusebius had for their patronage an Apostolical Tradition or at least pretended it and were the much more numerous party This difference was the spring of great bustles in the Church for the Bishops of Rome stickled hard to impose their custom upon the Eastern Churches whereupon Polycarpus comes over to Rome to confer with Anicetus who was then Bishop about it and though they could not agree the matter yet they parted fairly After this Pope Victor renewed the quarrel and was so fierce and peremptory in the case that he either actually did or as a learned man inclines rather to think probably to mollifie the odium of the Fact severely threatned to excommunicate those Eastern Churches for standing out against it this rash and bold attempt was ill resented by the sober and moderate men of his own party who writ to him about it and particularly Irenaeus a man as Eusebius notes truly answering his name both in his temper and his life quiet and peaceable who gravely reproved him for renting the peace of the Church and troubling so many famous Churches for observing the customs derived to them from their Ancestors with much more to the same purpose But the Asian Bishops little regarded what was either said or done at Rome and still went on in their old course though by the diligent practices of the other party they lost ground but yet still made shift to keep the cause on foot till the time of Constantine who finding this controversie amongst others much to disquiet the peace of the Church did for this and some other reasons summon the great Council of Nice by whom this question was solemnly determined Easter ordained to be kept upon one and the same day throughout the world not according to the custom of the Jews but upon the Lords day and this Decree ratified and published by the imperial Letters to all the Churches The Eve of Vigils or this Festival were wont to be celebrated with more than ordinary pomp with solemn watchings with multitudes of lighted Torches both in the Churches and their own private houses so as to turn the night it self into day and with the general resort and confluence of all ranks of men both Magistrates and people This custom of lights at that time was if not begun at least much augmented by Constantine who set up Lamps and Torches in all places as well within the Churches as without that through the whole City the night seemed to outvye the Sun at Noonday And this they did as Nazianzen intimates as a Prodromus or forerunner of that great light even the Sun of righteousness which the next day arose upon the world For the Feast it self the same Father calls it the holy and famous Passover a day which is the Queen of days the Festival of Festivals and which as far excels all other even of those which are instituted to the honour of Christ as the Sun goes beyond the other Stars A time it was famous for works of mercy and charity every one both of Clergy and Laity striving to contribute liberally to the poor a duty as one of the Ancients observes very congruous and sutable to that happy season for what more fit than that such as beg relief should be enabled to rejoice at that time when we remember the common fountain of our mercies Therefore no sooner did the morning of this day appear but Constantine used to arise and in imitation of the love and kindness of our blessed Saviour to bestow
signified his entring upon a new course of life differing from that which he lived before that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life But though by reason of the more eminent significancy of these things immersion was the common practice in those days and therefore they earnestly urged it and pleaded for it yet did they not hold sprinkling to be unlawful especially in cases of necessity as of weakness danger of death or where conveniency of immerging could not be had in these and such like cases Cyprian does not only allow but plead for it and that in a discourse on purpose when the question concerning it was put to him Upon this account it is that immersion is now generally disused in these parts of the world and sprinkling succeeded in its room because the tender bodies of most Infants the only persons now baptized could not be put under water in these cold Northern Climates without apparent prejudice to their health if not their lives and therefore in this as in other cases God requires mercy rather than sacrifice especially considering that the main ends of Baptism are attained this way and the mystical effects of it as truly though not so plainly and significantly represented by sprinkling as by putting the body under water This immersion was performed thrice the person baptized being three several times put under water a custom which Basil and Sozomon will have derived from the Apostles 't is certain that it was very early in the Church being twice mentioned by Tertullian as the common practice By this trine immersion they signified say some their distinct adoring the three persons in the blessed Trinity and therefore the custom was in repeating the words of institution at the naming of every person the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost to plunge the party under water as Tertullian tells us and S. Ambrose more expresly 'T was done say others to represent the death burial and resurrection of our Saviour together with his three days continuance in the Grave S. Augustine joins both these together as the double mystery of this ancient rite as he is cited by Gratian to this purpose It cannot be denied but that the Ceremony is very significant and expressive and accordingly the Ancients laid great weight upon it insomuch that the Canons that go under the name of Apostolical command him whether Bishop or Presbyter that baptizes any without the trine immersion to be deposed from his Ministry But though this custom was in a manner universal yet in some places in after times especially it was otherwise particularly in Spain where they used it but once lest they should gratifie the Arrians who made use of the trine immersion to denote the persons in the Trinity to be three distinct substances and gloried that the Catholicks did and held the same with them Upon this account they were content to immerge but once and when differences and controversies did still remain about it the fourth Council of Toledo out of a Letter of Gregory the great thus determined the case that they should still use their single immersion and that this would sufficiently express the mysteries of Baptism the diving under water would denote Christs death and descending into Hell the coming out his resurrection the single immersion would express the unity of the Godhead while the Trinity of persons would be sufficiently denoted by the persons being baptized in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost The person baptized being come out of the water was anointed a second time as S. Cyril tells us and indeed whatever becomes of the unction that was before 't is certain that that which Tertullian speaks of as a part of the ancient discipline was after the person was baptized which being done he had a white Garment put upon him to denote his having put off the lusts of the flesh his being washed from the filth and defilement of his former sins and his resolution to maintain a life of unspotted innocence and purity according to that solemn and strict engagement which in Baptism he had taken upon him In this they alluded to that of the Apostle that as many as are baptized into Christ have put on Christ i. e. have engaged in that strict and holy course of life which he both by his doctrine and example has left to the world accordingly persons baptized are both by the Apostle and by the Greek Fathers frequently called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the enlightned because they now professed that they were become the children of the light and of the day and would not return to works of darkness any more and this as they expected mercy from Christ at the great day therefore the white Garment was wont to be delivered to them with such a charge as this Receive the white and immaculate garment and bring it forth without spot before the tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ that thou mayst have eternal life Amen From the wearing of these white Vestments as we have observed before Pentecost which was one of the two annual times for Baptism came to be called Whitesunday as also the Sunday after Easter which was the other time Dominica in Albis because then they laid this white Robe aside for it was the custom for persons baptized to wear this Garment for a whole week after they were baptized and then to put it off and lay it up in the Church that it might be kept as an evidence against them if they violated or denied that Faith which they had owned in Baptism whereof we have a memorable instance under the Arrian persecution in Africk Elpidophorus a Citizen of Carthage had lived a long time in the communion of the Church but apostatizing afterwards to the Arrians became a most bitter and implacable persecutor of the Orthodox party amongst others whom he summoned to be put to the Rack was one Miritas a venerable old Deacon who had been the Vndertaker for him at his Baptism who being ready to be put upon the Rack plucked out the white Vestment wherewith Elpidophorus had been clothed at his Baptism and with tears in his eyes thus openly bespake him before all the people These Elpidophorus thou minister of error these are the Garments that shall accuse thee when thou shalt appear before the majesty of the great Judge these I will diligently keep as a testimony of that ruine that shall depress thee down into the lake the burns with fire and brimstone these are they that were girt upon thee when thou camest pure out of the holy Font and these are they that shall bitterly pursue thee when thou shalt be cast into the place of flames because thou hast clothed thy self with cursing as with a Garment and hast cast
IMPRIMATUR Sam. Parker Reverendissimo in Christo Patri ac Domino Domino Gilberto Archiep. Cantuar. à sac dom Ex Aedibus Lambeth Septemb. 12. 1672. Primitive Christianity in 3 parts Learn of me Math. 11. 29. London Printed for R. Chiswell at the Rose Crown in St Pauls Churchyard Primitive Christianity OR THE RELIGION Of the Ancient Christians In the first Ages OF THE GOSPEL In Three Parts By WILLIAM CAVE D D. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just Mart. Paraenes ad Graec. p. 33. Nos non habitu Sapientiam sed mente praeferimus Non eloquimur magna sed vivimus Minuc Foel dial pag. 31. The Second Edition LONDON Printed by J. M. for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in S. Paul's Church-yard 1675. TO THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER in GOD NATHANAEL Lord Bishop of OXFORD And Clerk of the Closet to his MAJESTY My Lord WHen I first designed that these Papers should take sanctuary at your Lordships Patronage the Hebrew Proverb presently came into my mind Keep close to a great man and men will reverence thee I knew no better way next to the innocency and if it may be usefulness of the subject I have undertaken to secure my self from the censures of envy and ill nature than by putting my self under your protection whose known 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sweetness and obligingness of whose temper is able to render malice it self candid and favourable Encouraged also by this consideration I hardned my self into the confidence of this Address which I had not otherwise attempted but that your Lordships kindness and generous compassion and the mighty condescention wherewith you were always pleased to treat me while I had the happiness of your Lordships neighbourhood did at once invite and oblige me to it I say no more lest I should affront that modesty that is so innate to your temper or come within the least suspicion of flattery so repugnant to my own One thing only there is which I cannot but remark the great honour which your Lordship has done not to the Episcopal only but to the whole ministerial order that a person of your Rank and Education would stoop to an employment so little valued and regarded in this unthankful and degenerate Age. And herein your Lordship has been a happy Precedent your example being already followed by some and will shortly by more persons of Noble Descent and Pedigree a thing for which the Church of England was never more renowned since the Reformation than it is at this day My Lord There was a time within the compass of our memmory when the Bishops amongst other things were accused by one of the House of Peers though one that had not the most reason to bring in a charge of that nature to be in respect of their Parentage de faece populi of the very dregs and refuse of the people malice will play at small games rather than not at all A charge as false as it was spiteful though had it been true it had been impertinent seeing the very order is enough to derive honour upon the person even when he cannot as your Lordship bring it along with him And indeed so honourable an Order has Episcopacy ever been accounted even when there have been no visible advantages either of riches or grandeur to attend it as there were not in the more early Ages of Christianity that persons of the greatest Birth and Fortunes have not thought it below them to exchange the Civil Tribunal for the Bishops Throne and to lay down the publick Rods and Axes to take up the Crosier and the Pedum Pastorale If we may credit that Catalogue of the Bishops of Constantinople recorded by Nicephorus we find Dometius Brother to the Emperour Probus and after him his two Sons Probus and Metrophanes successively sitting in that Chair As afterwards Nectarius S. Chrysostoms Predecessor was of a Senator made Bishop of that See Thalassius became Bishop of Caesarea when he was a Senator the Praefectus Praetorio or the Emperours Lieutenant one of the highest places both of trust and honour in the Roman Empire of Illyricum and rising to greater dignities being designed by the Emperour for the Government of the East S. Ambrose whose Father was an illustrious person the Praefect of France was made Governour of Liguria and Aemilia and sent thither with Consular power and dignity during which employment he was made Bishop of Milain Petronius Bishop of Bononia is said to have been first a Praefectus Praetorio and to descend of the Family of Constantine the Great Sidonius Apollinaris descended for many Generations of noble and illustrious Parents his Father the Praefectus Praetorio of Gaul himself Son-in-Law to Avitus a person of extraordinary honour and employment and afterwards Consul and Emperour and yet in the midst of this disdained not to become Bishop of Clermont in France More such instances I could give not to speak of multitudes that were in the middle and later Ages of the Church especially in our own Nation But I return My Lord I beheld Religion generally laid waste and Christianity ready to draw its last breath stifled and oppressed with the vices and impieties of a debauched and profligate Age. To contribute towards the recovery whereof and the reducing things if possible to the ancient Standard is the design of the Book that is here offered to you The subject I assure my self is not unsuitable either to your Lordships Order temper or course of life if my ill managery of it has not rendred it unworthy of your Patronage However such as it is it 's humbly presented by him who is Your Lordships faithfully devoted Servant WILLIAM CAVE THE PREFACE TO THE READER I Know not whether it may be any satisfaction to the curiosity of the Reader to understand the birth and original of these Papers if it be let him take this account No sooner did I arrive at years capable of discerning but I began to enquire into the grounds of that Religion into which I had been baptized which I soon found to be so noble and excellent in all its laws so just and rational in all its designs so divine and heavenly so perfective of the Principles so conducive to the happiness of humane nature a Religion so worthy of God so advantageous to man built upon such firm and uncontroulable evidence back'd with such proper and powerful arguments that I was presently convinc'd of the Divinity that resided in it and concluded with my self and I thought I had reason so to do that surely the Disciples of this Religion must needs be the most excellent persons in the world But alas a few years experience of the world let me see that this was the conclusion of one that had convers'd only with Books and the reasonings of his own mind I had not been long an observer of the manners of men but I found them generally so debauched and vitious so corrupt and contrary
we are here we must worship God with respect to our present state and consequently of necessity have some definite and particular time to do it in Now that man might not be left to a floating uncertainty in a matter of so great importance in all Ages and Nations men have been guided by the very dictates of Nature to pitch upon some certain seasons wherein to assemble and meet together to perform the publick offices of Religion What and how many were the publick Festivals instituted and observed either amongst Jews or Gentiles I am not concerned to take notice of For the ancient Christians they ever had their peculiar seasons their solemn and stated times of meeting together to perform the common duties of Divine Worship of which because the Lords-Day challenges the precedency of all the rest we shall begin first with that And being unconcern'd in all the controversies which in the late times were raised about it I shall only note some instances of the piety of Christians in reference to this day which I have observed in passing through the Writers of those times For the name of this day of Publick Worship it is sometimes especially by Justin Martyr and Tertullian called Sunday because it hapned upon that day of the week which by the Heathens was dedicated to the Sun and therefore as being best known to them the Fathers commonly made use of it in their Apologies to the Heathen Governours This title continued after the world became Christian and seldom it is that it passes under any other name in the Imperial Edicts of the first Christian Emperours But the more proper and prevailing name was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Dies Dominica the Lords-day as 't is called by S. John himself as being that day of the Week whereon our Lord made his triumphant return from the dead this Justin Martyr assures us was the true original of the title upon Sunday says he we all assemble and meet together as being the first day wherein God parting the darkness from the rude chaos created the world and the same day whereon Jesus Christ our Saviour rose again from the dead for he was crucified the day before Saturday and the day after which is Sunday he appeared to his Apostles and Disciples by this means observing a kind of analogy and proportion with the Jewish Sabbath which had been instituted by God himself For as that day was kept as a commemoration of Gods Sabbath or resting from the work of Creation so was this set apart to religious uses as the solemn memorial of Christs resting from the work of our redemption in this world compleated upon the day of his resurrection Which brings into my mind that custom of theirs so universally common in those days that whereas at other times they kneeled at prayers on the Lords day they always prayed standing as is expresly affirmed both by Justin Martyr and Tertullian the reason of which we find in the Authour of the Questions and Answers in J. Martyr it is says he that by this means we may be put in mind both of our fall by sin our resurrection or restitution by the grace of Christ that for six days we pray upon our knees is in token of our fall by sin but that on the Lords day we do not bow the knee does symbolically represent our resurrection by which through the grace of Christ we are delivered from our sins and the powers of death this he there tells us was a custom deriv'd from the very times of the Apostles for which he cites Irenaeus in his Book concerning Easter And this custom was maintained with so much vigour that when some began to neglect it the great Council of Nice took notice of it and ordained that there should be a constant uniformity in this case and that on the Lords day and at such other times as were usual men should stand when they made their prayers to God So fit and reasonable did they think it to do all possible honour to that day on which Christ rose from the dead Therefore we may observe all along in the sacred story that after Christs resurrection the Apostles and primitive Christians did especially assemble upon the first day of the week and whatever they might do at other times yet there are many passages that intimate that the first day of the week was their more solemn time of meeting on this day it was that they were met together when our Saviour first appeared to them and so again the next week after on this day they were assembled when the Holy Ghost so visibly came down upon them when Peter preached that excellent Sermon converted and baptized three thousand souls Thus when S. Paul was taking his leave at Troas upon the first day of the week when the Disciples came together to break Bread i.e. as almost all agree to celebrate the holy Sacrament he preached to them sufficiently intimating that upon that day 't was their usual custom to meet in that manner and elsewhere giving directions to the Church of Corinth as he had done in the like case to other Churches concerning their contributions to the poor suffering Brethren he bids them lay it aside upon the first day of the week which seems plainly to respect their religious assemblies upon that day for then it was that every one according to his ability deposited something for the relief of the poor and the uses of the Church After the Apostles the Christians constantly observed this day meeting together for prayer expounding and hearing of the Scriptures celebration of the Sacraments and other publick duties of Religion Vpon the day called Sunday says J. Martyr all of us that live either in City or Country meet together in one place and what they then did he there describes of which afterwards This doubtless Pliny meant when giving Trajan an account of the Christians he tells him that they were wont to meet together to worship Christ stato die upon a set certain day by which he can be reasonably understood to design no other but the Lords day for though they probably met at other times yet he takes notice of this only either because the Christians whom he had examin'd had not told him of their meeting at other times or because this was their most publick and solemn convention and which in a manner swallowed up the rest By the violent persecutions of those times the Christians were forced to meet together before day so Pliny in the same place tells the Emperour that they assembled before day-light to sing their morning hymns to Christ Whence it is that Tertullian so often mentions their nocturnal convocations for putting the case that his Wife after his decease should marry with a Gentile-Husband amongst other inconveniencies he asks her whether she thought he would be willing to let her rise from his Bed to go to their night-meetings
love of Christ 't is more than probable they communicated every day or as oft as they came together for publick Worship insomuch that the Canons Apostolical and the Synod of Antioch threaten every one of the Faithful with Excommunication who came to Church to hear the holy Scriptures but stay not to participate of the Lords Supper the eye of their minds was then almost wholly fixed upon the memory of their crucified Saviour and the oftner they fed at his table the stronger and healthier they found themselves and the more able to encounter with those fierce oppositions that were made against them This custom of receiving the Sacrament every day continued some considerable time in the Church though in some places longer than in others especially in the Western Churches from Cyprian we are fully assured 't was so in his time We receive the Eucharist every day says he as the food that nourishes us to Salvation The like S. Ambrose seems to intimate of Milan whereof he was Bishop nay and after him S. Hierom tells us 't was the custom of the Church of Rome and S. Augustine seems pretty clearly to intimate that it was not unusual in his time In the Churches of the East this custom wore off sooner though more or less according as the primitive zeal did abate and decay S. Basil telling us that in his time they communicated four times a week on the Lords-day Wednesday Friday and Saturday yea and upon other days too if the memory or festival of any Martyr fell upon them Afterwards as the power of Religion began more sensibly to decline and the commonness of the thing begat some contempt Manna it self was slighted after once it was rained down every day this Sacrament was more rarely frequented and from once a day it came to once or twice a week and then fell to once a month and after for the most part to thrice a year at the three great Solemnities of Christmas Easter and Whitsontide to so great a coldness and indifferency did the piety and devotion of Christians grow after once the true primitive temper and spirit of the Gospel had left the World Concerning the third circumstance the Place where this holy Supper was kept much need not be said it being a main part of their publick Worship always performed in the place of their religious Assemblies 'T was instituted by our Saviour in a private house because of its Analogie to the Jewish Passover and because the necessity of that time would not otherwise admit by the Apostles and Christians with them 't was celebrated in the houses of Believers generally in an upper room set apart by the bounty of some Christian for the uses of the Church and which as I have formerly proved was the constant separate place of religious Worship for all the Christians that dwelt thereabouts Under the severities of great persecutions they were forced to fly to the mountains or to their Cryptae or Vaults under ground and to celebrate this Sacrament at the Tombs of Martyrs and over the Ashes of the dead Churches growing up into some beauty and regularity several parts of the divine offices began to have several places assigned to them the Communion-service being removed to the upper or East end of the Church and there performed upon a table of wood which afterwards was changed into one of stone and both of them not uncommonly though metaphorically by the Fathers styled Altars and the Eucharist it self in later times especially the Sacrament of the Altar This place was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and was fenced in with Rails within which the Clergie received the Sacrament as the Laity did without Here it was that they all used to meet at this heavenly Banquet for out of this place they allowed not the celebration of the Sacrament a thing expresly forbidden by the Laodicean Council unless in cases of great necessity and therefore 't was one of the principal Articles for which the Synod of Gangra deposed Eustathius from his Bishoprick that he kept private Meetings perswading some that were averse to the publick Assemblies of the Church that they might communicate and receive the Sacrament at home We come last of all to consider the Manner how the Eucharist was celebrated in the ancient Church but before we describe that we are to take notice that after the Service of the Catechumens and before the beginning of that of the Faithful at which the Eucharist was administred the custom was to present their offerings every one according to his ability bringing some gift as the first-fruits of his increase which was by the Minister laid upon the Altar or Communion-table none of them then thinking it fit to appear before the Lord empty and therefore S. Cyprian severely chides a rich Widow of his time who came without giving any thing to the poor mans Box and did partake of their offerings without bringing any offering of her own These Obleations were designed to the uses of the Church for the maintenance of the Ministry and the relief of the Poor especially out of them were taken the Bread and the Wine for the Sacramental Elements the bread being no other than common bread such as served for their ordinary uses there being then no notice taken of what has for so many hundred years and still is to this day fiercely disputed between the Greek and the Latine Church whether it ought to be leavened or unleavened bread Out of these oblations also 't is probable they took at least sent provisions extraordinary to furnish the common Feast which in those days they constantly had at the celebration of the Sacrament where the rich and the poor feasted together at the same Table These were called Agapae or Love-feasts mentioned by S. Jude and plainly enough intimated by S. Paul because hereat they testified and confirmed their mutual love and kindness a thing never more proper than at the celebration of the Lords Supper which is not only a Seal of our peace with God but a sign and a pledge of our Communion and fellowship with one another Whether this Banquet was before or after the celebration of the Eucharist is not easie to determine 't is probable that in the Apostles time and the Age after them it was before it in imitation of our Saviours institution who celebrated the Sacrament after supper and S. Paul taxing the abuses of the Church of Corinth reproves them That when they came together for the Lords Supper they did not one tarry for another but every one took his own supper i. e. that provision which he had brought from home for the common feast which was devoured with great irregularity and excess some eating and drinking all they brought others the poor especially that came late having nothing left one being hungry and another drunken all this 't is plain was done
Father Constantine the Great a peculiar honour when he obtained to have him buried in the Porch of the Church which he had built at Constantinople to the memory of the Apostles and wherein he had earnestly desired to be buried as Eusebius tells us and in the same many of his Successors were interred it not being in use then nor some hundreds of years after for persons to be buried in the body of the Church as appears from the Capitula of Charles the Great where burying in the Church which then it seems had crept into some places is strictly forbidden During the first ages of Christianity while the malice of their enemies persecuted them both alive and dead their Coemeteria were ordinarily under ground imitating herein the custome of the Jews whose Sepulchres were in Caverns and holes of rocks though doubtless the Christians did it to avoid the rage and fury of their enemies not so much upon the account of secrecy for their frequent retiring to those places was so notorious as could not escape the observation of their enemies and therefore we sometimes find the Emperours Officers readily coming thither but it was upon the account of that Sacredness and Religion that was reckon'd to be due to places of this nature it being accounted by all Nations a piece of great impiety Manes temerare Sepultos to disturb and violate the ashes of the dead They were large vaults dug in dry sandy places and arched over and separated into many little apartments wherein on either side the bodies of the Martyrs lay in distinct Cells each having an Inscription upon Marble whereon his Name Quality and probably the time and manner of his death were engraven Though in the heats of Persecution they were forced to bury great numbers together in one common grave LX Prudentius tells us he observ'd and then not the names but only the number of the interred was written upon the Tomb. Indeed the multitudes of Martyrs that then suffered required very large conveniencies of interrment And so they had insomuch that the last publisher of the Roma Subterranea assures us that though those Coemeteria were under-ground yet were they many times double and sometimes treble two or three stories one still under another By reason hereof they must needs be very dark having no light from without but what peep'd in from a few little cranies which filled the place with a kind of sacred horror as S. Hierom informs us who while a youth when he went to School at Rome us'd upon the Lords day to visit these solemn places Built they were by pious and charitable persons thence called after their names for the interrment of Martyrs and other uses of the Church for in these places Christians in times of persecution were wont to hide themselves and to hold their Religious Assemblies when banished from their publick Churches as I have formerly noted Of these about Rome only Baronius out of the Records in the Vatican reckons up XLIII and others to the number of threescore We may take an estimate of the rest by the account which Baronius gives of one called the Cemeterie of Priscilla discovered in his time An. 1578 in the Via Salaria about three miles from Rome which he often viewed and searched It is says he strange to report the place by reason of its vastness and variety of apartments appearing like a City under ground At the entrance into it there was a principal way or street much larger than the rest which on either hand opened into diverse other wayes and those again divided into many lesser ways and turnings like lanes and allies within one another And as in Cities there are void open places for the Markets so here there were some larger spaces for the holding as occasion was of their Religious Meetings wherein were placed the Effigies and Representations of Martyrs with places in the top to let in light long since stopt up The discovery of this place caused great wonder in Rome being the most exact and perfect Cemeterie that had been yet found out Thus much I thought good to add upon occasion of that singular care which Christians then took about the bodies of their dead If any desire to know more of these venerable Antiquities they may consult onuphrius de Coemeteriis and especially the Latin Edition of the Roma Subterranea where their largest curiosity may be fully satisfied in these things Many other instances of their Charity might be mentioned their ready entertaining strangers providing for those that laboured in the Mines marrying poor Virgins and the like of which to treat particularly would be too vast and tedious To enable them to do these charitable offices they had not only the extraordinary contributions of particular persons but a common stock and treasury of the Church At the first going abroad of the Gospel into the world so great was the Piety and Charity of the Christians That the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own but they had all things common neither was there any among them that lacked for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold and laid them down at the Apostles feet and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need But this community of goods lasted not long in the Church we find S. Paul giving order to the Churches of Galatia and Corinth for weekly offerings for the Saints that upon the first day of week when they never fail'd to receive the Sacrament they should every one of them lay by him in store according as God had prospered him This custome Justin Martyr assures us still continued in his time for describing the manner of their assemblies on the Lords day he tells us that those who were able and willing contributed what they saw good and the collection was lodg'd in the hands of the Bishop or President and by him distributed for the relief of Widows and Orphans the sick or indigent the imprison'd or strangers or any that were in need In the next age they were reduced to monthly offerings as appears from Tertullian who gives us this account of them in his time That at their Religious Assemblies upon a monthly day or oftner if a man will and be able every one according to his ability laid by somewhat for charitable uses they put it into a kind of poor mans box call'd Arca that stood in the Church this they did freely no man being forced or compelled to it leaving it behind them as a stock to maintain piety and religion for 't is not spent says he upon feasts or drinking-bouts or to gratifie gluttony and intemperance but laid out in relieving the needy burying the dead providing for
were other Libelli granted by Heathen-Magistrates of which it may not be impertinent to speak a little whence the lapsed that had had them were commonly called Libellatici and they were of several sorts some writing their names in Libellis in Books and professing themselves to worship Jupiter Mars and the rest of the Heathen Gods presented them to the Magistrate and these did really sacrifice and pollute not their souls only but their hands and their lips with unlawful sacrifices as the Clergy of Rome expresses it in a letter to S. Cyprian these were called Thurificati and Sacrificati from their having offered incense and sacrifices Somewhat of this nature was that Libell that Pliny speaks of in his Epistle to the Emperour Trajan presented to him while he was Proconsul of Bithynia containing a Catalogue of the names of many some whereof had been accused to be Christians and denied it others confessed they had been so some years since but had renounc'd it all of them adoring the Images of the gods and the Emperours Statue offering sacrifice and blaspheming Christ and were accordingly dismissed and released by him Others there were who did not themselves sign or present any such Libells but some Heathen-friends for them and sometimes out of kindness they were encouraged to it by the Magistrates themselves and were hereupon released out of prison and had the favour not to be urged to sacrifice Nay Dionysius of Alexandria speaks of some Masters who to escape themselves compelled their servants to do sacrifice for them to whom he appoints a three years penance for that sinful compliance and dissimulation A third sort there was who finding the edge and keenness of their Judges was to be taken off with a sum of money freely confessed to them that they were Christians and could not sacrifice pray'd them to give them a Libell of dismission for which they would give them a suitable reward These were most properly called Libellatici and Libellati Cyprian acquaints us with the manner of their address to the Heathen Magistrate bringing in such a person thus speaking for himself I had both read and learnt from the Sermons of the Bishop that the servant of God is not to sacrifice to Idols nor to worship Images wherefore that I might not do what was unlawful having an opportunity of getting a Libell offered which yet I would not have accepted had it not offered it self I went to the Magistrate or caused another to go in my name and tell him that I was a Christian and that it was not lawful for me to sacrifice nor to approach the altars of the Devils that therefore I would give him a reward to excuse me that I might not be urged to what was unlawful These though not altogether so bad as the Sacrificati yet Cyprian charges as guilty of implicit Idolatry having defiled their consciences with the purchase of these Books and done that by consent which others had actually done I know Baronius will needs have it and boasts that all that had written before him were mistaken in the case that these Libellatici were not exempted from denying Christ nor gave mony to that end that they only requested of the Magistrate that they might not be compelled to offer sacrifice that they were ready to deny Christ and were willing to give him a reward to dispence with them only so far and to furnish them with a Libell of security and that they did really deny him before they obtained their Libell But nothing can be more plain both from this and several other passages in Cyprian than that they did not either publickly or privately sacrifice to Idols or actually deny Christ and therefore bribed the Magistrate that they might not be forced to do what was unlawful And hence Cyprian argues them as guilty by their wills and consent and that they had implicitly denied Christ how by actually doing it No but by pretending they had done what others were really guilty of Certainly the Cardinals mistake arose from a not right understanding the several sorts of the Libellatici the first whereof of as we have shewn did actually sacrifice and deny Christ And now having taken this view of the severity of discipline in the antient Church nothing remains but to admire and imitate their piety and integrity their infinite hatred of sin their care and zeal to keep up that strictness and purity of manners that had rendred their Religion so renowned and triumphant in the world A discipline which how happy were it for the Christian world were it again resetled in its due power and vigour which particularly is the Judgment and desire of our own Church concerning the solemn Quadragesimal Penances and Humiliations In the Primitive Church say the Preface to the Commination there was a godly Discipline that at the beginning of Lent such persons as stood convicted of notorious sin were put to open penance and punished in this world that their souls might be saved in the day of the Lord and that others admonished by their example might be the more afraid to offend Which said Discipline it is much to be wished might be restored again FINIS A Chronological Index OF THE AUTHOURS Cited in this BOOK According to the Vulgar Computation with an account of the Editions of their Works Christian or Ecclesiastical Writers Flourish'd An. Dom. Books Editions ApostoloruÌ„ Canones   Par. 1618 ApostoloruÌ„ Constitutiones    Clemens Romanus 70 Epist ad Cor. Oxon. 1633 Dionysius Areopagita  Opera Antw. 1634 Ignatius Antiochenus 101 Epistolae Amster 1646   Append. Usher Lond. 1647 Polycarpus 130 Epistol apud Euseb Abdias Babylonius  Histor Apostol Par. 1566 Justinus Martyr 155 Opera Par. 1636 Smyrnensi Ecclesia 168 Epistol apud Euseb Melito Sardensis 170 Orat. Apolog. apud Euseb Athenagoras 170 Legat. pro Christ Par. 1636 Dionysius Corinth Episc 172 Epistolae apud Euseb Theophilus Antioch 180 Lib. 3. ad Autolyc Par. 1636 Tatianus 180 Orat. ad Graecos Ibid. Hegesippus 180 Commentar apud Euseb Irenaeus 184 adv Haereses Par. 1639 Polycrates Ephes Episc 197 Epistol apud Euseb Tertullianus 198 Opera Par. 1664 Clemens Alexandrinus 204 Opera Par. 1641 Minutius Foelix 230 Octavius Par. 1668 Origenes 230 Opera Lat. Par. 1522   Contr. Cels Cantab. 1658 Gregorius Neocaesar 250 Opera Mogun 1604 Cyprianus 250 Opera Par. 1668 Cornelius Papa 250 Epist apud Cypri 〈◊〉 250 Epist apud Cypri 〈◊〉 Diaconus 258 Vit. Cyprian apud Cypri Dionysius Alexandrinus 260 Epist apud Euseb Arnobius 297 adv Gentes Par. 1668 Lactantius 3â—0 Opera L. Bat. 1660 Commodianus 320 Instructiones Par. 1668 Constantinus M. 325 Orat. ad SS apud Euseb Eusebius Caesariensis 329 de praep Evang. Par. 1628 Eusebius Caesariensis 329 Histor Eccles Par. 1659 Eusebius Caesariensis 329 de locis Hebrai Par. 1631 Eusebius Caesariensis 329 Chronic. Amster 1658 Athanasius 350 Opera Heidel 1601 Julius Firmicus 350 de
Province who enjoyed nothing but that name and title his Episcopal See being by the Emperours Pragmatic erected into the dignity of a Metropolis He was only an Honorary Metropolitan without any real power and jurisdiction and had no other priviledge but that he took place above other ordinary Bishops in all things else equally subject with them to the Metropolitan of the Province as the Council of Chalcedon determines in this case When this Office of Metropolitan first began I find not only this we are sure of that the Council of Nice setling the just rights and priviledges of Metropolitan Bishops speaks of them as a thing of ancient date ushering in the Canon with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let ancient customs still take place The original of the institution seems to have been partly to comply with peoples occasions who oft resorted to the Metropolis for dispatch of their affairs and so might fitly discharge their Civil and Ecclesiastical concerns both at once and partly because of the great confluence of people to that City that the Bishop of it might have preheminence above the rest and the honour of the Church bear some proportion to that of the State After this sprang up another branch of the Episcopal Office as much superiour to that of Metropolitans as theirs was to ordinary Bishops these were called Primates and Patriarchs and had jurisdiction over many Provinces For the understanding of this it 's necessary to know that when Christianity came to be fully setled in the world they contrived to model the external Government of the Church as near as might be to the Civil Government of the Roman Empire the parallel most exactly drawn by an ingenious person of our own Nation the sum of it is this The whole Empire of Rome was divided into Thirteen Dioceces so they called those divisions these contained about one hundred and twenty Provinses and every Province several Cities Now as in every City there was a temporal Magistrate for the executing of justice and keeping peace both for that City and the Towns round about it so was there also a Bishop for spiritual order and Government whose jurisdiction was of like extent and latitude In every Province there was a Proconsul or President whose seat was usually at the Metropolis or chief City of the Province and hither all inferiour Cities came for judgment in matters of importance And in proportion to this there was in the same City an Archbishop or Metropolitan for matters of Ecclesiastical concernment Lastly in every Diocess the Emperours had their Vicarii or Lieutenants who dwelt in the principal City of the Diocess where all imperial Edicts were published and from whence they were sent abroad into the several Provinces and where was the chief Tribunal where all Causes not determinable elsewhere were decided And to answer this there was in the same City a Primate to whom the last determination of all appeals from all the Provinces in differences of the Clergie and the Soveraign care of all the Diocess for sundry points of spiritual Government did belong This in short is the sum of the account which that learned man gives of this matter So that the Patriarch as superiour to Metropolitans was to have under his jurisdiction not any one single Province but a whole Diocess in the old Roman notion of that word consisting of many Provinces To him belonged the ordination of all the Metropolitans that were under him as also the summoning them to Councils the correcting and reforming the misdemeanours they were guilty of and from his judgment and sentence in things properly within his cognizance there lay no appeal To this I shall only add what Salmasius has noted that as the Diocess that was governed by the Vicarius had many Provinces under it so the Praefectus Praetorio had several Diocesses under him and in proportion to this probably it was that Patriarchs were first brought in who if not superiour to Primates in jurisdiction and power were yet in honour by reason of the dignity of those Cities where their Sees were fixed as at Rome Constantinople Alexandria Antioch and Jerusalem a title and dignity which they retain to this day The next Office to Bishops was that of Presbyters to whom it belonged to preach to the people to administer Baptism consecrate the Eucharist and to be assistent to the Bishop both in publick ministrations and in dispatching the affairs of the Church The truth is the Presbyters of every great City were a kind of Ecclesiastical Senate under the care and presidency of the Bishop whose counsel and assistance he made use of in ruling those Societies of Christians that were under his charge and government and were accordingly reckoned next in place and power to him thus described by S. Gregory in his Iambics 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The venerable Senate of Presbyters that preside over the people and possess the second Throne i. e. the place next to the Bishop they are called Clerici superioris loci and otherwhiles unless we understand it of the Chorepiscopi Antistites in secundo ordine and accordingly in Churches had seats of eminency placed for them next to the Bishops Throne Whereby was implied says Zonaras that they ought to use a proportionable care and providence towards the people to inform and teach them to direct and guide them being appointed as Fellow-labourers with and Assistants to the Bishop But though Presbyters by their ordination had a power conferred upon them to administer holy things yet after that the Church was setled upon foundations of order and regularity they did not usually exercise this power within any Diocess without leave and authority from the Bishop much less take upon them to preach in his presence This custom however it might be otherwise in the Eastern Church we are sure was constantly observed in the Churches of Afric till the time of Valerius S. Augustine's Predecessor in the See of Hippo. Who being a Greek and by reason of his little skill in the Latine tongue unable to preach to the edification of the people admitted S. Augustine whom he had lately ordained Presbyter to preach before him Which though at first 't was ill resented by some Bishops in those parts yet quickly became a president for other Churches to follow after After these came Deacons What the duty of their place was appears from their primitive election the Apostles setting them apart to serve or minister to the Tables i.e. to attend upon and take charge of those daily provisions that were made for poor indigent Christians but certainly it implies also their being destinated to a peculiar attendance at the service of the Lords Table And both these may be very well meant in that place it being the custom of Christians then to meet every day at the
Lords Table where they made their offerings for the poor and when poor and rich had their meales together And hence it was ever accounted part of the Deacons Office as to take care of the poor and to distribute the monies given for their relief and maintenance so to wait upon the celebration of the Eucharist which being consecrated by the Bishop or Presbyter the Deacon delivered the Sacramental elements to the people Besides this they were wont also to preach and to baptize and were employed in many parts of the publick Service especially in guiding and directing of the people The number of them in any one place was usually restrained to seven this being the number originally instituted by the Apostles and which might not be altered although the City was never so great and numerous as 't is in the last Canon of the Neocaesarean Council As the Presbyters were to the Bishop so the Deacons were to the Presbyters to be assistent to them and to give them all due respect and reverence And therefore when some of them began to take too much upon them to distribute the Sacrament before the Bishop or Presbyter and to take place amongst the Presbyters the Council of Nice took notice of it as a piece of bold and saucy usurpation severely commanded them to know their place and to contain themselves within their own bounds and measures and neither to meddle with the Sacrament but in their order nor to sit down before the Presbyters unless it be by their leave and command as 't is expressed by the Laodicean Synod Accordingly the first Council of Arles forbids the Deacons to do any thing of themselves but to reserve the honour to the Presbyters Out of the body of these Deacons there was usually one chosen to overlook the rest the Arch-Deacon an Office supposed to have been of good antiquity in the Church and of great authority especially in after times being generally styled the Eye of the Bishop to inspect all parts and places of his Diocess This was he that in the Church of Rome was called the Cardinal Deacon who as Onuphrius tell us was at first but one though the number encreased afterwards While Churches were little and the services not many the Deacons themselves were able to discharge them but as these encreased so did their labours and therefore 't was thought fit to take in some inferiour Officers under them This gave being to Subdeacons who were to be assistent to the Deacon as the Deacon to the Presbyter and he to the Bishop One great part of his work was to wait at the Church-doors in the time of publick Worship to usher in and to bring out the several Orders of the Catechumens and Penitents that none might mistake their proper stations and that no confusion or disorder might arise to the disturbance of the Congregation When he was first taken in I cannot find but he is mentioned in an Epistle of the Roman Clergie to them of Carthage about S. Cyprians retirement and elsewhere very often in Cyprian's Epistles Where he also speaks of the Acolythus what his proper business was is not so certain by some his Office is said to have been this to Follow as the world implies or to go along with the Bishop in the quality of an honourable attendant to be ready at hand to minister to him and to be a companion and witness of his honest and unblameable conversation in case any evil fame should arise that might endeavour to blast his reputation But by others he is said to have been a Taper-bearer to carry the Lights which were set up at the reading of the Gospel And this seems to be clear from the fourth Council of Carthage where at his ordination he is appointed to receive at the Archdeacons hand a Candlestick with a Taper that he may know 't is the duty of his place to light up the Lights in the Church This might very well be in those times but 't is certain the Office of Acolythus was in use long before that custom of setting up Lights at the reading of the Gospel was brought into the Church By Cyprian also is mentioned the Office of the Exorcist whose business was to attend the Catechumens and the Energumeni or such as were possessed of the Devil For after the miraculous power of casting out Devils began to cease or at least not to be so common as it was these possessed persons used to come to the out-parts of the Church where a person was appointed to exorcise them i.e. to pray over them in such prayers as were peculiarly composed for those occasions and this he did in the publick name of the whole Church the people also at the same time praying within by which means the possessed person was delivered from the tyranny of the evil spirit without any such charms and conjurations and other unchristian forms and rites which by degrees crept into this Office and are at this day in use in the Church of Rome Besides to the Exorcists Office it belonged to instruct the Catechumens and to train them up in the first principles of the Christian Faith in which sense the Exorcist is by Harmenopulus explained by Catechist and to exorcise says Balsamon is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to instruct unbelievers Next to the Exorcist was the Lector or Reader mentioned frequently by S. Cyprian whose business was to stand near the Ambo or Pulpit and to read those portions of holy Scripture which were appointed to be read as principal parts of the Divine Service This Office Julian who was afterwards Emperour when a young Student at Nicomedia took upon him and became a Reader in that Church which he did only to blind his Cousin Constantius who began to suspect him as inclining to Paganism to which he openly revolted afterwards and became a bitter and virulent enemy to Christians making an ill use of those Scriptures which he had once privately studied and publickly read to the people I know not whether it may be worth the while to take notice of the Ostiarii or Door-keepers answerable to the Nethinims in the Jewish Church who were to attend the Church Doors at times of publick meetings to keep out notorious Hereticks Jewes and Gentiles from entring into the Christian Assemblies it doubtless took its rise in the times of persecutions Christians then being forc'd to keep their meetings as private and clancular as they could and to guard their Assemblies with all possible diligence lest some Jew or Infidel stealing in should have gone and accused them before the Magistrate What other Officers there were or whether any at all in those times in and about the Church will not be worth our labour to enquire To these Offices they were set apart by solemn rites of prayer and imposition of hands a ceremony so far as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is