must be understood of what was afterwards distinctly called Bishops and Presbyters So likewise we read in St. Timothy 1 Tim. 4. 14. of a Presbytery which in all the Writings of the Fathers for any thing I can find to the contrary perpetually signifies the Bishop and Presbyters of a particular Church or Parish And to this 〈◊〉 may add what Clemens Alexandrinus Reports of St. John that he went into the neighbouring Provinces of Ephesus Partly that he might constitute Bishops partly that he might plant new Churches and partly that he might appoint such in the number of the Clergy as should be commanded him by the Holy Ghost Where by the Word Clergy being oppos'd to Bishops and so consequently different from them must be understood either Deacons alone or which is far more probable Presbyters and Deacons CHAP. V. § 1. The Order and Office of the Deacons § 2. Subdeacons what § 3. Of Acolyths Exorcists and Lectors thro' those Offices the Bishops gradually ascended to their Episcopal Dignity § 4. Of Ordination First of Deacons § 5. Next of Presbyters 〈◊〉 Candidates for that Office presented themselves to the Presbytery of the Parish where they were Ordained § 6. By them examined about 〈◊〉 Qualifications viz. Their Age. § 7. Their Condition in the World § 8. Their Conversation § 9. And their Vnderstanding Humane Learning needful § 10. Some Inveighed against Humane Learning but condemned by Clemens Alexandrinus § 11. Those that were to be Ordain'd Presbyters generally pass'd thro' the Inferiour Offices § 12. When to be ordained propounded to the People for their Attestation § 13. Ordain'd in but not to a particular Church § 14. Ordain'd by the Imposition of Hands of the Presbytery § 15. The Conclusion of the first Particular concerning the Peculiar Acts of the Clergy § 1. NExt to the Presbyters were the Deacons concerning whose Office and Order I shall say very little since there is no great Controversie about it and had it not been to have rendred this Discourse compleat and entire I should in silence have pass'd it over Briefly therefore their original Institution as in 〈◊〉 6. 2. was to serve Tables which included these two things A looking after the Poor and an attendance at the Lord's Table As for the Care of the Poor Origen tells us that the Deacons dispensed to them the Churches Money being employed under the Bishop to inspect and relieve all the Indigent within their Diocese As for their Attendance at the Lord's Table their Office with respect to that consisted in preparing the Bread and Wine in cleansing the Sacramental Cups and other such like necessary things whence they are called by Ignatius Deacons of Meats and Cups assisting also in some places at least the Bishop or Presbyters in the Celebration of the Eucharist delivering the Elements to the Communioants They also preached of which more in another place and in the Absence of the Bishop and Presbyters baptized In a word according to the signification of their Name they were as Ignatius calls them the Churches Servants set apart on purpose to serve God and attend on their Business being constituted as Eusebius terms it for the Service of the Publick § 2. Next to the Deacons were the Subdencons who are mentioned both by Cyprian and Cornelius As the Office of the Presbyters was to assist and help the Bishops so theirs was to assist and help the Deacons And as the Presbyters were of the same Order with the Bishop so probably the Subdeacons were of the same Order with the Deacons which may be gathered from what we may suppose to have been the Origin and Rise of these Subdeacons which might be this That in no Church whatsoever was it usual to have more than Seven Deacons because that was the original Number instituted by the Apostles wherefore when any Church grew so great and numerous that this stinted Number of Deacons was not sufficient to discharge their necessary Ministrations that they might not seem to swerve from the Apostolical Example they added Assistants to the Deacons whom they called Subdeacons or Under Deacons who were employed by the Head or Chief Deacons to do those Services in their stead and room to which by their Office they were obliged But whether this be a sufficient Argument to prove the Subdeacons to be of the same Order with the Deacons I shall not determine because this Office being now antiquated it is not very pertinent to my Design I only offer it to the Consideration of the Learned who have Will and Ability to search into it § 3. Besides those forementioned Orders who were immediately consecrated to the Service of God and by him commission'd thereunto there were another sort of Ecclesiasticks who were employed about the meaner Offices of the Church such as Acolyths Exorcists and Lectors whose Offices because they are now disused except that of the Lector I shall pass over in silence reserving a Discourse of the Lector for another place only in general these were Candidates for the Ministry who by the due discharge of these meaner Employs were to give Proof of their Ability and Integrity the Bishops in those days not usually arriving per Saltum to that Dignity and Honour but commonly beginning with the most inferiour Office and so gradually proceeding thro' the others till they came to the supreme Office of all as Cornelius Bishop of Rome Did not presently leap into the Episcopal Throne but first passed thro' all the Ecclesiastical Offices gradually ascending to that Sublime Dignity The Church in those happy days by such a long Tryal and Experience using all possible Precaution and Exactness that none but fit and qualify'd Men should be admitted into those Sacred Functions and Orders which were attended with 〈◊〉 dreadful and tremendous a Charge And this now brings me in the next place to enquire into the Manner and Form of the Primitive Ordinations which I chuse to discourse of in this place since I shall find none more proper for it throughout this whole Treatise § 4. As for the various Senses and Acceptations which may be put on the Word Ordination I shall not at all meddle with them that Ordination that I shall speak of is this the Grant of a Peculiar Commission and Power which remains indelible in the Person to whom it is committed and can never be obliterated or rased out except the Person himself cause it by his Heresie Apostacy or most extremely gross and scandalous Impiety Now this sort of Ordination was conferred only upon Deacons and Presbyters or on Deacons and Bishops Presbyters and Bishops being here to be consider'd as all one as Ministers of the Church-Universal As for the Ordination of Deacons there is no great Dispute about that so I shall say no more concerning it than that we have the manner thereof at their first Institution in Acts 6. 6. which was that they were
Ordained to their Office by Prayer and Imposition of Hands § 5. But as for the Ordination of Presbyters I shall more distinctly and largely treat of the Manner and Form thereof which seems to be as follows Whosoever desired to be admitted into this Sacred Office he first proposed himself to the Presbytery of the Parish where he dwelled and was to be Ordained desiring their Consent to his designed Intention praying them to confer upon him those Holy Orders which he craved Now we may suppose his Petition was to the whole Presbytery because a Bishop alone could not give those Holy Orders as is most evident from Cyprian who assures us that all Clerical Ordinations were performed by the Common Counsel of the whole Prebytery And therefore when upon a most urgent and necessary occasion he had been forced to ordain one but a Lector without the Advice and Consent of his Presbytery which one would be apt to think was no great Usurpation he takes great pains Ep. 24. p. 55. to justifie and excuse himself for so doing § 6. Upon this Application of the Candidate for the Ministry the Presbytery took it into their Consideration debated his Petition in their Common Council and proceeded to examine whether he had those Endowments and Qualifications which were requisite for that Sacred Office What those Gifts and Qualifications were touching which he was examined may be reduced to these Four Heads his Age his Condition in the World his Conversation and his Understanding As for his Age It was necessary for him to have lived some time in the World to have been of a ripe and mature Age for they ordained no Novices or young Striplings That was the Practice of the Hereticks whom Tertullian jeers and upbraids with Ordaining Raw and Vnexperienced Clerks But as for the Orthodox they took care to confer Orders on none but on such as were well stricken in years observing herein the Apostolick Canon in 1 Tim. 3. 6. Not a Novice lest being lifted up with Pride he fall into the Condemnation of the Devil But yet if any young Man was endued with extraordinary Grace and Ability the fewness of his Years was no Obstacle to his Promotion that being superseded by the Greatness of his Merit as we find in the case of Aurelius in Cyprian who tho' young in years yet for his eminent Courage and Excellency was graced with Ecclesiastical Orders And such an one I suppose was the Bishop of Magnesia in the times of Ignatius which gave occasion to that Exhortation to the People of that Diocese not to despise their Bishop's Age but to yield him all due Respect and Reverence § 7. As for his Condition in the World he was not to be entangled with any mundane Affairs but to be free from all secular Employments and at perfect Liberty to apply himself wholly to the Duties of his Office and Function This also was founded on that other Apostolick Canon in 2 Tim. 2. 4. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life that 〈◊〉 may please him who hath chosen him to be a Soldier Which Words saith Cyprian if spoken of all How much more ought not they to be entangled with Secular Troubles and Snares who being busied in Divine and Spiritual things cannot leave the Church to mind earthly and worldly actions Which Religious Ordination as he goes on to write was emblematiz'd by the Levites under the Law for when the Land was divided and possessions were given to eleven Tribes the Levites who waited upon the Temple and Altar and the Sacred Offices thereof had no share in that Division but the others till'd the ground whilst they only worshipped God and received Tenths of the others Encrease for their Food and Sustenance all which hapned by the Divine Authority and Dispensation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who waited on Divine Employments should not be withdrawn therefrom or be forced either to think of or to do any Secular Affairs Which fashion as he there continues to write is now observed by the Clergy that those who are promoted to Clerical Ordinations should not be impeded in their Divine Administrations or iucumbred with secular Concerns and Affairs but as Tenths receiving Subscriptions from the Brethren depart not from the Altar and Sacrifices but night and day attend on Spiritual and Heavenly Ministrations These words were spoken on the occasion of a certain Bishop called Geminius Victor who at his Death made a certain Presbyter called Geminius Faustinus Trustee of his last Will and Testament which Trust Cyprian condemns as void and null Because a Synod had before decreed that no Clergyman should be a Trustee for this Reason because those who were in Holy Orders ought only to attend upon the Altar and its Sacrifices and to give themselves wholly to Prayer and Supplication It was a Blot in the Hereticks Ordinations that they Ordained such as were involved in the World and embarass'd with Carnal and Secular Concerns § 8. As for the Conversation of the 〈◊〉 to be Ordained he was to be humble and meek of an unspotted and exemplary Life So says Cyprian In all Ordinations we ought to choose Men of an unspotted Integrity who worthily and holily offering up Sacrifices to God may be heard in those Prayers which they make for the safety of their Flock For it is written God heareth not a Sinner but if any one be a Worshipper of him and doth his Will him he heareth Wherefore before they were Ordained they were proposed to the People for their Testimony and Attestation of their holy Life and Conversation But of this we shall speak more in another place Only it may not be improper to remember here that this is also an Apostolick Canon in 〈◊〉 Tim. 3. 2 3 7. A Bishop then must be Blameless the Husband of one Wife vigilant sober of good Behaviour given to hospitality apt to teach not given to Wine no Striker not guilty of filthy Lucre but Patient not a Brawler not Covetous Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without lest he fall into Reproach and the snare of the Devil § 9. As for the understanding of the Person to be Ordained he was to be of a good Capacity fit and able duly to teach others This is also another of the Apostolick Canons in 2 Tim. 2. 15. Study to shew thy self approved unto God a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the Word of Truth And in 1 Tim. 3. 2. A Bishop must be apt to teach which implies an Ability of teaching and a 〈◊〉 of rightly understanding apprehending and applying the Word of God to which end Humane Learning was so conducive as that Origen pleads not only for its usefulness but also for its necessity especially for that part of it which we call Logick to find out the true Sense and Meaning of the Scripture as appears from this following Digression which
to the Gentiles declaring those glad Tidings to all Kingdoms and Provinces so that as the Apostle Paul said Rom. 10. 18. Their sound went into all the Earth and their words unto the ends of the World every one taking a particular part of the World for his proper Province to make known the joyful News of Life and Salvation through Christ therein Thus St. Andrew principally preach'd the Gospel in Scythia St. Bartholomew in India St. Matthew in Parthia St. John in the Lesser Asia and all the rest of the Apostles had their particular Provinces allotted them wherein they went forth preaching the Gospel and as they came to any City Town or Village they published to the Inhabitants thereof the blessed news of Life and Immortality through Jesus Christ constituting the first Converts of every place through which they passed Bishops and Deacons of those Churches which they there gathered So saith Clemens Romanus The Apostles went forth preaching in City and Country appointing the First Fruits of their Ministry for Bishops and Deacons generally leaving those Bishops and Deacons to govern and enlarge those particular Churches over which they had placed them whilst they themselves passed forwards planted other Churches and placed Governors over them Thus saith Tertullian Clemens was ordained Bishop of Rome by St. Peter and Polycarp Bishop of Smirna by St. John § 5. Whether in the Apostolick and Primitive days there were more Bishops than one in a Church at first sight seems difficult to resolve That the Holy Scriptures and Clemens Romanus mention many in one Church is certain And on the other hand it is as certain that Ignatius Tertullian Cyprian and the following Fathers affirm that there was and ought to be but one in a Church These Contradictions may at the first view seem Inextricable but I hope the following Account will reconcile all these seeming Difficulties and withal afford us a fair and easy Conception of the difference between the Ancient Bishops and Presbyters I shall then lay down as sure that there was but one Supreme Bishop in a place that was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Bishop by way of Eminency and Propriety The proper Pastor and Minister of his Parish to whose Care and Trust the Souls of that Church or Parish over which he presided were principally and more immediately committed So saith Cyprian There is but one Bishop in a Church at a time And so Cornelius Objects to Novatian That he did not remember that there ought to be but one Bishop in a Church And throughout the whole Epistles of Ignatius and the generality of Writers succeeding him we find but one single Bishop in a Church whose Quotations to which purpose would be fruitless to recite here since the 〈◊〉 Practice of the Universal Church confirms it and a great part of the following Discourse will clearly illustrate it Only it may not be impertinent to remark this by the way that by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Succession of Bishops from those Bishops who were Ordained by the Apostles the Orthodox were wont to prove the Succession of their Faith and the Novelty of that of the Hereticks Let them demonstrate the Original of their Churches as Tertullian challenges the Marcionites and other Hereticks Let them turn over the Orders of their Bishops and see whether they have had a Succession of Bishops from any one who was Constituted by the Apostles or Apostolick Men Thus the truly Apostolick Churches have as the Church of Smirna has Polycarp there placed by St. John and the Church of Rome Clement ordained by Peter and other Churches can tell who were ordained Bishops over them by the Apostles and who have been their Successors to this very day So also says Irenaeus We challenge the Hereticks to that Tradition which was handed down from the Apostles by the Succession of Bishops And in the next Chapter of the same Book the said Father gives us a Catalogue of the Bishops of Rome till his days by whom the true Faith was successively transmitted down from the Apostles in which Catalogue we find but one Bishop at a time and as he died so another single Person succeeded him in the Charge of that Flock or Parish So that this Consideration evidences also that there was but one Bishop strictly so called in a Church at a time who was related to his Flock as a Pastor to his Sheep and a Parent to his Children The Titles of this Supreme Church-Officer are most of them reckoned up in one place by Cyprian which are Bishop Pastour President Governour Superintendent and Priest And this is he which in the Revelations is called the Angel of his Church as Origen thinks which Appellations denote both his Authority and Office his Power and Duty of both which we shall somewhat treat after we have discoursed of the Circuit and Extent of his Jurisdiction and Superintendency which shall be the Contents of the following Chapter CHAP. II. § 1. As but one Bishop to a Church so but one Church to a Bishop The Bishop's Cure never call'd a Diocess but usually a Parish no larger than our Parishes § 2. Demonstrated by several Arguments § 3. A Survey of the extent of several Bishopricks as they were in Ignatius's days as of Smirna § 4. Ephesus § 5. Magnesia § 6. Philadelphia And § 7. Trallium § 8. The Bigness of the Diocess of Antioch § 9. Of Rome § 10. Of Carthage § 11. A Reflection on the Diocess of Alexandria § 12. Bishops in Villages § 13. All the Christians of a Diocess met together in one place every Sunday to serve God § 1. HAving in the former Chapter shewn that there was but one Bishop to a Church we shall in this evidence that there was but one Church to a Bishop which will appear from this single Consideration viz. That the ancient Diocesses are never said to contain Churches in the Plural but only a Church in the Singular So they say the Church of the Corinthians the Church of Smirna the Church in Magnesia the Church in Philadelphia the Church in Antioch and so of any other place whatsoever the Church of or in such a place This was the common name whereby a Bishops Cure was denominated the Bishop himself being usually called The Bishop of this or that Church as Tertullian saith That Polycarp was ordained Bishop of the Church of Smirna As for the Word Diocess by which the Bishops Flock is now usually exprest I do not remember that ever I found it used in this Sense by any of the Ancients But there is another Word still retained by us by which they frequently denominated the Bishops Cure and that is Parish So in the Synodical Epistle of Irenaeus to Pope Victor the Bishopricks of Asia are twice called Parishes And in Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History the Word is so applied in several hundred places It is usual
there to read of the Bishops of the Parish of Alexandria of the Parish of Ephesus of the Parish of Corinth of the Parish of Athens of the Parish of Carthage and so of the Bishops of the Parishes of several other Churches by that Term denoting the very same that we now call a Parish viz. a competent number of Christians dwelling near together having one Bishop Pastor or Minister set over them with whom they all met at one time to worship and serve God This may be evinc'd from the intent of the Word it self which signifies a Dwelling one by another as Neighbours do or an Habitation in one and the same place as the Church of Smirna writ to the Church that Parished in Philomelium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the Epistle of Clemens Romanus is to the Church of God Parishing at Corinth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is dwelling or living in Philomilium and Corinth so that a Parish is the same with a Particular Church or a single Congregation which is yet more evident from a Passage in the Differtations of Apollonius against Alexander a Cataphrygian Heretick wherein it is said That because that Heretick had been a Robber therefore that Parish to which he belonged would not receive him that is that particular Church or Congregation to which he appertained excluded him from Communion because of his Depredations and Robberies so that a Parish and a Particular Church are Synonimous Terms signifying one and the same thing and consequently a Bishop having but one Parish under his Jurisdiction could extend his Government no farther than one single Congregation because a single Congregation and a Parish were all one of the same Bulk and Magnitude § 2. But that the Bishops Diocess exceeded not the Bounds of a modern Parish and was the same as in Name so also in Thing will appear from these following Observations as 1. All the People of a Diocess did every Sunday meet all together in one place to celebrate Divine Service Thus saith Justin Martyr On Sunday all Assemble together in one Place where the Bishop preaches and prays for as Ignatius writes Where the Bishop is there the People must be and there is a necessity that we do nothing without the Bishop since it is unlawful to do any thing without him for where the Pastour is there the 〈◊〉 ought to follow wherefore as Christ did nothing without the Father so do you nothing without the Bishop and Presbyters but assemble into the same place that you may have one Prayer one Supplication one Mind and one Hope for if the Prayer of one or two have so great a force how much more prevalent must that be which is made by the Bishop and the whole Church He then that doth not assemble together is proud and hath condemned himself For it is written God resisteth the proud Let us not therefore resist the Bishop that we may be subject to God So that these Passages clearly prove That all the Members of the Bishops Church assembled together in one place to send up their common Prayers to the Throne of Grace and to discharge those other Religious Duties which were incumbent on them which convincingly evidences the Bishops Church to be no bigger than our Parishes for if it had been bigger it would have been impossible that the Members thereof should have constantly assembled together in one place as we see here they did 2. The Bishop had but one Altar or Communion Table in his whole Diocess at which his whole Flock received the Sacrament from him There is but one Altar says Ignatius as there is but one Bishop At this Altar the Bishop administred the Sacrament to his whole Flock at one time So writes Cyprian We celebrate the Sacrament the whole Brotherhood being present And thus it was in Justin Martyr's Days The Bishop's whole Diocess met together on Sunday when the Bishop gave them the Eucharist and if any were absent he sent it to them by the Deacons Certainly that Diocess could not be large where all usually communicated at one time and the Deacons carried about the Consecrated Eucharist to those that were absent which would have been an endless and painful Task for the Deacons had their Bishoprick contained more Christians in it than one Congregation would have held Tertullian writes that in his Time and Country the Christians received the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper from the hands of the Bishop alone Now in those days and places they communicated at least three times a week viz. Wednesdays Fridays and Lord's Days which had been impossible to have been done if the Bishop had had Inspection over more than one Congregation as is obvious to every ones Reason for the Bishop being Finite and Corporeal as well as others could not be present in many places at once but must be confined to one determinated fixed place in which alone he could administer and dispense the Eucharist And for this Reason it is that Ignatius exhorts the Philadelphians to use the one 〈◊〉 that is not to leave the Bishop and communicate elsewhere but to partake of that single Eucharist which was administred by him For as he proceeds to say in the same place There is but one Body of our Lord Jesus Christ one Cup one Altar and one Bishop As there was but one Bishop in a Church so there was but one Altar a Bishop and an Altar being Correlates So that to set up another Altar was a Periphrasis of a Schismatick or of one that causelesly separated from his lawful Bishop and sat up another which was that they called Schism as we shall shew in its proper place Thus Cyprian describes a Schismatick as one that contemns his Bishop leaves the Ministers of God and dares to set up another Altar And particularly he brands Novatian as such an one because he erected a profane Altar that is an Altar in opposition to the Altar of Cornelius his lawful Bishop For as he saith in another place No man can regularly constitute a new Bishop or erect a new Altar besides the one Bishop and the one Altar For which Reason he calls the Altar that is erected by Schismaticks against the One Altar of their lawful Bishops A profane Altar Which agrees with that of Ignatius that He that is within the Altar is pure but he that does any thing without the Bishops Priests and Deacons is impure and as he says in another place Whosoever is without the Altar wants the Bread of God 3. The other Sacrament of Baptism was generally administred by the Bishops alone within their Respective Diocesses So saith Tertullian Before the Bishop we renounce the Devil and the World For as Cyprian says The Bishops ought only to baptize And to the same effect writes Fortunatus Bishop of Thucabori that our Lord Jesus Christ
could not be proved particularly that a Presbyter did discharge them yet it would be sufficient if we could prove that in the general a Presbyter could and did perform them all Now that a Presbyter could do so and consequently by the Bishop's permission did do so will appear from the Example of the great Saint Cyprian Bishop of Carthage who being exil'd from his Church writes a Letter to the Clergy thereof wherein he exhorts and begs them to discharge their own and his Office too that so nothing might be wanting either to Discipline or Diligence And much to the same Effect he thus writes them in another Letter Trusting therefore to your Kindness and Religion which I have abundantly experienced I exhort and command you by these Letters that in my stead you perform those Offices which the Ecclesiastical Dispensation requires And in a Letter written upon the same Occasion by the Clergy of the Church of Rome to the Clergy of the Church of Carthage we find these Words towards the beginning thereof And since it is incumbent upon us who are as it were Bishops to keep the Flock in the room of the Pastor If we shall be found negligent it shall be said unto us as it was said to our careless preceeding Bishops in Ezekiel 34. 3 4. That we looked not after that which was lost we did not correct him that wandered nor bound up him that was lame but we did eat their Milk and were covered with their Wooll So that the Presbyters were as it were Bishops that in the Bishop's Absence kept his Flock and in his stead performed all those Ecclesiastical Offices which were incumbent on him Now then if the Presbyters could supply the place of an Absent Bishop and in general discharge all those Offices to which a Bishop had been obliged if he had been present it naturally follows that the Presbyters could discharge every particular Act and Part thereof If I should say such an one has all the Senses of a Man and yet also assert that he cannot see I should be judged a Self-contradictor in that Assertion for in affirming that he had all the Human Senses I also affirmed that he saw because Seeing is one of those Senses For whatsoever is affirmed of an Universal is affirmed of every one of its Particulars So when the Fathers say that the Presbyters performed the whole Office of the Bishop it naturally ensues that they Confirmed Ordained Baptized c. because those are Particulars of that Universal But now from the whole we may collect a solid Argument for the Equality of Presbyters with Bishops as to Order for if a Presbyter did all a Bishop did what difference was there between them A Bishop preached baptized and confirmed so did a Presbyter A Bishop excommunicated absolved and ordained so did a Presbyter Whatever a Bishop did the same did a Presbyter the particular Acts of their Office was the same the only difference that was between them was in Degree but this proves there was none at all in Order 2. That Bishops and Presbyters were of the same Order appears also from that originally they had one and the same Name each of them being indifferently called Bishops or Presbyters Hence we read in the Sacred Writ of several Bishops in one particular Church as the Bishops of Ephesus and Philippi that is the Bishops and Presbyters of those Churches as they were afterwards distinctly called And Clemens Romanus sometimes mentions many Bishops in the Church of Corinth whom at other times he calls by the Name of Presbyters using those two Terms as Synonimous Titles and Appellations You have obeyed saith he those that were set over you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Let us revere those that are set over us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are the usual Titles of the Bishops and yet these in another place he calls Presbyters describing their Office by their sitting or presiding over us Wherefore he commands the Corinthians to be subject to their Presbyters and whom in one Line he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Bishops The second Line after he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Presbyters So Polycarp exhorts the Philippians to be subject to their Presbyters and Deacons under the name of Presbyters including both Bishops and Priests as we now call them The first that expressed these Church-Officers by the distinct Terms of Bishops and Presbyters was Ignatius who lived in the beginning of the Second Century appropriating the Title of Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Overseer to that Minister who was the more immediate Overseer and Governour of his Parish and that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elder or Presbyter to him who had no particular Care and Inspection of a Parish but was only an Assistant or Curate to a Bishop that had the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Bishop denoting a Relation to a Flock or Cure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Presbyter signifying only a Power or an ability to take the Charge of such a Flock or Cure the former implying an actual discharge of the Office the latter a power so to do This Distinction of Titles arising from the difference of their Circumstances which we find first mentioned in Ignatius was generally followed by the succeeding Fathers who for the most part distinguish between Bishops and Presbyters though sometimes according to the primitive Usage they indifferently apply those Terms to each of those persons Thus on the one hand the Titles of Presbyters are given unto Bishops as Irenaeus in his Synodical Epistle twice calis Anicetus Pius Higynus Telesphorus and Xistus Bishops of Rome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Presbyters And those Bishops who derived their Succession immediately from the Apostles he calls the Presbyters in the Church and whom Clemens Alexandrinus in one Line calls the Bishop of a certain City not far from Ephesus a few Lines after he calls the Presbyter And on the other hand the Titles of Bishops are ascribed to Presbyters as one of the Discretive Appellations of a Bishop is Pastour Yet Cyprian also calls his Presbyters the Pastors of the Flock Another was that of President or one set over the People Yet Cyprian also calls his Presbyters Presidents or set over the People The Bishops were also called Rectors or Rulers So Origen calls the Presbyters the Governours of the People And we find both Bishops and Presbyters included under the common Name of Presidents or Prelates by St. Cyprian in this his Exhortation to Pomponius And if all must observe the Divine Discipline how much more must the Presidents and Deacons do it who by their Conversation and Manners must yield a good Example to others Now if the same Appellation of a thing be a good Proof for the Identity of its Nature then Bishops and Presbyters must be of the same Order because they had the same Names and Titles
Authors mentioned in this Treatise together with those Editions that I have made use of are as follow S. Ignatii Epistolae Graeco-Latin Quarto Edit Isaci Vossii Amstelodam 1646. S. Barnabae Epistola Catholica Edit ad Calcem S. Ignatii Quarto Amstelodam 1646. S. Clementis Romani Epistolae Graeco-Latin Quaerto Edit Patricii Junii Oxonii 1633. S. Irenaei Opera Folio Edit Nic. Galasii Genevae 1580. S. Justini Martyris Opera Graeco-Latin Folio Coloniae 1686. Epistola Plinii Secundi Trojano Imperatori de Christianis in fronte Operum Justin. Martyr Colon. 1686. Clementis Alexandrini Opera Folio Edit Heinsii Lugdun Batav 1616. Tertulliani Opera Folio Edit Paris 1580. Novatiani De Trinitate De Cibis Judaicis inter Opera Tertulliani Edit Paris 1580. Cypriani Opera Folio Edit Sim. Goulart apud Johan le Preux 1593. Vita Cypriani per Pontium ejus Diaconum In fronte Oper. Cyprian Edit Goulart 1593. Fragmentum Victorini Petavionensis De Fabrica Mundi pag. 103 104. Histor. literar Dr. S. Cave Edit Folio Londini 1688. Minucii Felices Octavius Edit ad Calcem Tertullian Apolog. per Desiderium Heraldum Quarto Paris 1613. Origenis Commentaria omnia quae Graece Reperiuntur Edit de Huetii 2 Vol. Folio Rothomagi 1668. Originis contra Celsum Libri Octo ejusdem Philocalia Graeco-Latin Edit Quarto per Gulielm Spencer Cantabrigiae 1677. Originis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seu De Oratione Graeco-Latin Octavo Oxonii 1685. As for those other Works of Origen which are extant only in Latin I have made no use at all of those of Ruffin's Translation except his Creed since in them we know not which we read whether Origen or Ruffin and as for those which were translated by more faithful Hands I have used the Editions of Merlin or Erasmus without nominating the Page Eusebii Pamphili Ecclesiastica Historia Graeco-Latin Folio Edit Henric. Vales. Paris 1659. I have read only the Seven first Books of Eusebius's History because the three others go beyond my limited Time As for the Writings of S. Gregory of Neocaesarea they are but few and from thence I have taken nothing but his Creed so that there is no need to mention any Edition of his Works The same I may say also of the short Epistle of Polycarp which I have cited but once and therein have used the Version of Dr. Cave extant in his Apostolici pag. 127. There are vet some other Fathers whose remaining Tracts I have read as Theophilus Antiochenus Athenagoras c. who are not cited in this 〈◊〉 because I have found nothing in them 〈◊〉 to my Design An Enquiry into the Constitution Discipline Unity and Worship of the Primitive Church CHAP. I. § 1. The various Significations of the word Church § 2. A particular Church the chief Subject of the ensuing Discourse The constituent parts thereof Two-fold viz. Clergy and Laity § 3. Each of these had their particular Functions and both their joint Offices Three things on which a great part of the following Discourse depends proposed to be handled viz. The Peculiar Acts of the Clergy The Peculiar Acts of the Laity and the Joint Acts of them both § 4. The Peculiar Acts of the Clergy propounded to be discussed according to their several Orders First of the Bishops A View of the World as it was in a state of Heathenism at the first Preaching of Christianity necessary to be consider'd Where the Apostles planted Churches they appointed the first Converts to be Bishops thereof § 5. But one Bishop in a Church The Orthodoxness of the Faith proved from the Succession of the Bishops The Titles and Relation of the Bishop to his Flock § 1. THAT we may give the more clear and distinct Answer to this Important Query it is necessary that we first examin the Primitive Notion of the Word Church upon the due apprehension of which depends the Right Understanding of a great Part of our following Discourse This word Church as in our modern acceptation so also in the Writings of the Fathers is equivocal having different Significations according to the different Subjects to which it is applyed I shall not here concern my self about the Derivation of the Word or its Original Use amongst the Heathens from whom it was translated into the Christian Church but only take notice of its various Uses amongst the ancient Christians which were many as 1. It is very often to be understood of the Church Vniversal that is of all those who throughout the face of the whole Earth professed Faith in Christ and acknowledged him to be the Saviour of Mankind This Irenaeus calls The Church dispersed thro' the whole World to the ends of the Earth and The Church scattered in the whole World And Origen calls it The Church of God under Heaven This is that which they called the Catholick Church for Catholick signifies the same as Vniversal Thus Polycarp when he was seized by his Murderers prayed for The Catholick Church throughout the World And in this Sense Dionysius Alexandrinus calls the persecuting Emperour Macrianus A Warrior against the Catholick Church of God II. The word Church is frequently to be understood of a particular Church that is of a Company of Believers who at one time in one and the same place did associate themselves together and concur in the Participation of all the Institutions and Ordinances of Jesus Christ with their proper Pastors and Ministers Thus Irenaeus mentions that Church which is in any place And so Dionysius Alexandrinus writes that when he was banished to Cephro in Lybia there came so many Christians unto him that even there he had a Church Tertullian thinks that Three were sufficient to make a Church In this sense we must understand the Church of Rome the Church of Smyrna the Church of Antioch the Church of Athens the Church of Alexandria or the Church in any other such place whatsoever that is a Congregation of Christians assembling all together for Religious Exercises at Rome Antioch Smirna Athens Alexandria or such like places III. The word Church is sometimes used for the Place where a particular Church or Congregation met for the Celebration of Divine Service Thus Paulus Samosatenus the Heretical Bishop of Antioch ordered certain Women to stand in the middle of the Church and fing Psalms in his Praise So Clemens Alexandrinui adviseth that Men and Women should with all Modesty and Humility enter into the Church So the Clergy of the Church of Rome in their Letter to Cyprian concerning the Restitution of the Lapsed give as their advice That they should only come to the Threshold of the Church-door but not go over it And in this Sense is the Word frequently to be understood in Tertullian Origen and others to recite whose Testimonies at large would be both tedious and needless IV. I find the Word Church once used by Cyprian for
gave unto the Bishops the power of Baptizing So that the Bishops did ordinarily baptize all the Persons that were baptized in their Diocesses and if so it is not probable I may say possible that their Diocesses were extended beyond the bulk of single Congregations 4. The Churches Charity was Deposited with the Bishop who as Justin Martyr reports was the common Curator and Overseer of all the Orphans Widows Diseased Strangers Imprisoned and in a word of all those that were needy and indigent To this charitable Office Ignatius adviseth Polycarpus but of that Advice more shall be spoken in another place only let us here observe That that Diocess could not be very large where the Bishop personally relieved and succoured all the Poor and Indigent therein 5. All the People of a Diocess were present at Church Censures as Origen describes an Offender as appearing before the whole Church So Clemens Romanus calls the Censures of the Church the things commanded by the multitude And so the two offending Subdeacons and Acolyth at Carthage were to be tried before the whole 6. No Offenders were restored again to the Churches Peace without the knowledge and consent of the whole Diocess So Cyprian writes that before they were re-admitted to Communion they were to plead their Cause before all the People And it was ordained by an African Synod that except in danger of Death or an instantaneous Persecution none should be received into the Churches Peace without the knowledge and consent of the People 7. When the Bishop of a Church was dead all the People of that Church met together in one Place to chuse a new Bishop So Sabinus was elected Bishop of Emerita by the 〈◊〉 of all the Brotherhood which was also the custom throughout all Africa for the Bishop to be chosen in the Presence of the People And so Fabianus was chosen to be Bishop of Rome by all the Brethren who were met together in one place for that very end 8. At the Ordinations of the Clergy the whole Body of the People were present So an African Synod held Anno 258 determined That the Ordination of Ministers ought to be done with the knowledge and in the Presence of the People that the People being present either the Crimes of the wicked may be detected or the Merits of the good declared and so the Ordination may be Just and Lawful being approved by the Suffrage and Judgment of all And Bishop Cyprian writes from his Exile to all the People of his Diocess that it had been his constant Practice in all Ordinations to consult their Opinions and by their common Counsels to weigh the manners and merits of every one Therein imitating the Example of the Apostles and Apostolick Men who Ordained none but with the Approbation of the whole Church 9. Publick Letters from one Church to another were read before the whole Diocess Thus Cornelius Bishop of Rome whatever Letters he received from Foreign Churches he always read them to his most holy and numerous People And without doubt when Firmilian writ to all the Parish of Antioch they could all assemble together to read his Letter and return an Answer to it since we find that in those days one whole Church writ to another whole Church as the Church of Rome writ to the Church of Corinth And Cyprian and his whole Flock sent gratulatory Letters to Pope Lucius upon his return from Exile Lastly The whole Diocess of the Bishop did meet all together to manage Church-Affairs Thus when the Schism of Felicissimus in the Bishoprick of Carthage was to be debated It was to be done according to the will of the People and by the consent of the Laity And when there were some hot Disputes about the Restitution of the Lapsed the said Cyprian promised his whole Diocess that all those things should be examined before them and be judged by them And so also when they were to send a Messenger to any Foreign Church all the People could meet together to chuse that Messenger as they could in the Church of Philadelphia Now put all these Observations together and duly consider whether they do not prove the Primitive Parishes to be no larger than our modern ones are that is that they had no more Believers or Christians in them than there are now in ours I do not say that the Ancient Bishopricks had no larger Territories or no greater space of Ground than our Parishes have On the contrary it is very probable that many of them had much more since in those early days of Christianity in many places the Faithful might be so few as that for twenty or thirty Miles round they might associate together under one Bishop and make up but one Church and that a small one too But this I fay that how large soever their Local Extent was their Members made but one single Congregation and had no more Christians in it than our Parishes now have for that Diocess cannot possibly be more than one single Congregation where all the People met together at one time Prayed together Received the Sacrament together assisted at Church Censures together and dispatched Church Affairs together and yet the Members of the Primitive Diocesses did all this together as the preceding Observations evidently declare so that I might stop here and add no 〈◊〉 Proofs to that which hath been already so clearly proved § 3. But yet that we may more clearly illustrate this Point we shall demonstrate it by another method viz. By shewing the real Bulk and Size of those Bishopricks concerning whom we have any Notices remaining on ancient Records and manifest that the very largest of them were no greater than our particular Congregations are And for the Proof of this we shall quote the Writings of St. Ignatius in whose genuine Epistles there is such an account of the Bishopricks of Smirna Ephesus Magnesia Philadelphia and Trallium as manifestly evidences them to be but so many single Congregations As for the Diocess of Smirna its extent could not be very large since nothing of Church-Affairs was done there without the Bishop he baptized and administred the Eucharist and none else could do it within his Cure without his permission wherever he was his whole Flock followed him which they might without any Inconveniency do since they frequently assembled together as Ignatius advised Polycarp the Bishop of this Church To convene his Diocess to chuse a faithful honest Man to send a Messenger into Syria So that the Bishop of this Church could know his whole Flock personally by their Names carrying himself respectfully and charitably to all with all meekness and humility towards Serving-men and Serving-maids and charitably taking care of the Widows within his Diocess permitting nothing to be done there without his Privity Insomuch that none were married without his previous advice
had been an unaccountable Impudence and a most detestable act of Schism for any one tho' never so legally Ordained to have entred those Parishes and there to have performed Ecclesiastical Administrations without the permission of or which is all one in Defiance to the Bishops or Ministers thereof for though a Presbyter by his Ordination had as ample an inherent Right and Power to discharge all Clerical Offices as any Bishop in the World had yet Peace Unity and Order oblig'd him not to invade that part of God's Church which was committed to another Man's Care without that Man's Approbation and Consent So then in this Sense a Presbyter was inferiour to a Bishop in Degree in that having no Parish of his own he could not actually discharge the particular Acts of his Ministerial Function without leave from the Bishop of a Parish or Diocess The Bishops were superiour to the Presbyters in that they were the presented 〈◊〉 and inducted Ministers of their respective Parishes and the Presbyters were inferiour to the Bishops in that they were but their Curates and Assistants § 3. But though the Presbyters were thus different from the Bishops in Degree yet they were of the very same specifick Order with them having the same inherent Right to perform those Ecclesiastical Offices which the Bishop did as will appear from these three Arguments 1. That by the Bishop's permission they discharged all those Offices which a Bishop did 2. That they were called by the same Titles and Appellations as the Bishops were And 3. That they are expresly said to be of the same Order with the Bishops As to the first of these That by the Bishop's permission they discharged all those Offices which a Bishop did this will appear from that 1. When the Bishop ordered them they preach'd Thus Origen in the beginning of some of his Sermons tells us That he was commanded thereunto by the Bishop as particularly when he preach'd about the Witch of Endor he says The Bishop commanded him to do it 2. By the permission of the Bishop Presbyters baptized Thus writes Tertullian The Bishop has the Right of Baptizing and then the Presbyters but not without his leave 3. By the leave of the Bishop Presbyters administred the Eucharist as must be supposed in that saying of Ignatius That that Eucharist only was valid which was celebrated by the Bishop or by one appointed by him and that the Eucharist could not be delivered but by the Bishop or by one whom he did approve 4. The Presbyters ruled in those Churches to which they belonged else this Exhortation of Polycarpus to the Presbyters of Philippi would have been in vain Let the Presbyters be tender and merciful compassionate towards all reducing those that are in Errors visiting all that are weak not negligent of the Widow and the Orphan and him that is poor but ever providing what is honest in the sight of God and Men abstaining from all Wrath Respect of Persons and unrighteous Judgment being far from Covetousness not hastily believing a Report against any Man not rigid in Judgment knowing that we are all faulty and obnoxious to Judgment Hence 5. They presided in Church-Consistories together with the Bishop and composed the executive part of the Ecclesiastical Court from whence it was called the Presbytery because in it as Tertullian says Approved Elders did preside 6. They had also the Power of Excommunication as Rogatianus and Numidicus Two Presbyters of Cyprian's Church by his Order join'd with some Bishops of his Nomination in the Excommunication of certain Schismaticks of his Diocess But of both these two Heads more will be spoken in another place 7. Presbyters restored returning Penitents to the Church's peace Thus we read in an Epistle of Dyonisius Bishop of Alexandria That a certain Offender called Serapion approaching to the time of his Dissolution Sent for one of the Presbyters to absolve him which the Presbyter did according to the Order of his Bishop who had before commanded That the Presbyters should absolve those who were in danger of Death 8. Presbyters Confirmed as we shall most evidently prove when we come to treat of Confirmation Only remark here by the way That in the days of Cyprian there was a hot Controversie Whether those that were baptized by Hereticks and came over to the Catholick Church should be received as Members thereof by Baptism and Confirmation or by Confirmation alone Now I would fain know Whether during the vacancy of a See or the Bishop's absence which sometimes might be very long as Cyprian was absent two years a Presbyter could not admit a returning Heretick to the Peace and Unity of the Church especially if we consider their positive Damnation of all those that died out of the Church If the Presbyters had not had this Power of Confirmation many penitent Souls must have been damn'd for the unavoidable Default of a Bishop which is too cruel and unjust to imagine 9. As for Ordination I find but little said of this in Antiquity yet as little as there is there are clearer Proofs of the Presbyters Ordaining than there are of their administring the Lord's Supper All Power and Grace saith Firmilian is constituted in the Church where Seniors preside who have the Power of Baptizing Confirming and Ordaining or as it may be rendred and perhaps more agreeable to the sense of the place Who had the Power as of Baptizing so also of Confirming and Ordaining What these Seniors were will be best understood by a parallel place in Tertullian for that place in Tertullian and this in Firmilian are usually cited to expound one another by most Learned Men as by the most Learned Dr. Cave and others Now the passage in Tertullian is this In the Ecclesiastical Courts approved Elders preside Now by these approved Elders Bishops and Presbyters must necessarily be understood because Tertullian speaks here of the Discipline exerted in one particular Church or Parish in which there was but one Bishop and if only he had presided then there could not have been Elders in the Plural Number but there being many Elders to make out their Number we must add the Presbyters to the Bishop who also presided with him as we shall more fully shew in another place Now the same that presided in Church-Consistories the same also ordained Presbyters as well as Bishops presided in Church-Consistories therefore Presbyters as well as Bishops Ordained And as in those Churches where there were Presbyters both they and the Bishop presided together so also they Ordained together both laying on their Hands in Ordination as St. Timothy was Ordained by the laying on of the Hands of the Presbytery that is by the Hands of the Bishop and Presbyters of that Parish where he was Ordained as is the constant signification of the word Presbytery in all the Writings of the Ancients But 10. Though as to every particular act of the Bishop's Office it
Suppose it was disputed whether a Parson and Lecturer were of the same Order would not this sufficiently prove the Affirmative That though for some Accidental Respects they might be distinguished in their Appellations yet originally and frequently they were called by one and the same Name The same it is in this Case though for some contingent and adventitious Reasons Bishops and Presbyters were discriminated in their Titles yet originally they were always and afterwards sometimes called by one and the same Appellation and therefore we may justly deem them to be one and the same Order But if this Reason be not thought cogent enough the Third and last will unquestionably put all out of doubt and most clearly evince the Identity or Sameness of Bishops and Presbyters as to Order and that is that it is expresly said by the Ancients That there were but two distinct Ecclesiastical Orders viz. Bishops and Deacons or Presbyters and Deacons and if there were but these two Presbyters cannot be distinct from Bishops for then there would be three Now that there were but two Orders viz. Bishops and Deacons is plain from that Golden Ancient Remain of Clemens Romanus wherein he thus writes In the Country and 〈◊〉 where the Apostles preached they ordained their first Converts for Bishops and Deacons over those who should believe Nor were these Orders new for for many Ages past it was thus prophesied concerning Bishops and Deacons I will appoint their Bishops in Righteousness and their Deacons in Faith This place of Scripture which is here quoted is in Isa. 60. 17. I will make thine Officers peace and thine Exactors righteousness Whether it is rightly applyed is not my business to determin That that I observe from hence is that there were but two Orders instituted by the Apostles viz. Bishops and Deacons which Clemens supposes were prophetically promised long before And this is yet more evidently asserted in another passage of the said Clemens a little after where he says that the Apostles foreknew through our Lord Jesus Christ that Contention would arise about the Name of Episcopacy and therefore being endued with a perfect foreknowledge appointed the aforesaid Officers viz. Bishops and Deacons and left the manner of their Succession described that so when they died other approved Men might succeed them and reform their Office So that there were only the Two Orders of Bishops and Deacons instituted by the Apostles And if they ordained but those Two I think no one had ever a Commission to add a Third or to split One into Two as must be done if we separate the Order of Presbyters from the Order of Bishops But that when the Apostles appointed the Order of Bishops Presbyters were included therein will manifestly appear from the Induction of those fore-cited Passages in Clemens's Epistle and his drift and design thereby which was to appease and calm the Schisms and Factions of some unruly Members in the Church of Corinth who designed to depose their Presbyters and that he might dissuade them from this violent and irregular Action amongst other Arguments he proposes to them that this was to thwart the Design and Will of God who would that all should live orderly in their respective places doing the Duties of their own Stations not invading the Offices and Functions of others and that for this end that all occasions of disorderliness and confusion might be prevented he had Instituted Diversities of Offices in his Church appointing every Man to his particular Work to which he was to apply himself without violently leaping into other Mens places and that particularly the Apostles foreseeing through the Holy Spirit that contentious and unruly Men would irregularly aspire to the Episcopal Office by the Deposition of their lawful Presbyters therefore that such turbulent Spirits might be repressed or left inexcusable they ordained Bishops and Deacons where they preached and described the manner and qualifications of their Successors who should come after them when they were dead and gone and be rever'd and obeyed with the same Respect and Obedience as they before were and that therefore they were to be condemned as Perverters of the Divine Institution and Contemners of the Apostolick Authority who dared to degrade their Presbyters who had received their Episcopal Authority in an immediate Succession from those who 〈◊〉 advanced to that Dignity by the Apostles themselves This was the true Reason for which the fore-quoted Passages were spoken which clearly evinces that Presbyters were included under the Title of Bishops or rather that they were Bishops For to what end should Clemens exhort the Schismatical Corinthians to obey their Presbyters from the consideration of the Apostles Ordination of Bishops if their Presbyters had not been Bishops But that the Order of Presbyters was the same with the Order of Bishops will appear also from that place of Irenaeus where he exhorts us to withdraw from those Presbyters who serve their Lusts and having not the fear of God in their hearts contemn others and are lifted up with the Dignity of their first Session but to adhere to those who keep the Doctrine of the Apostles and with their Presbyterial Order are inoffensive and exemplary in sound Doctrine and an holy Conversation to the Information and Correction of others for such Presbyters the Church educates and of whom the Prophet saith I will 〈◊〉 thee Princes in Peace and Bishops in Righteousness Now that by these Presbyters Bishops are meant I need not take much pains to prove the precedent Chapter positively asserts it the Description of them in this Quotation by their enjoying the Dignity of the first Session and the application of that Text of Isaiah unto them clearly evinces it No one can deny but that there were Bishops that is that they were superiour in degree to other Presbyters or as Irenaeus styles it honoured with the first Session but yet he also says that they were not different in Order being of the Presbyterial Order which includes both Bishops and Presbyters To this Testimony of Irenaeus I shall subjoin that of Clemens Alexandrinus who tho' he mentions the Processes of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons from which some conclude the Bishops Superiority of Order yet the subsequent Words evidently declare that it must be meant only of Degree and that as to Order they were one and the same for he immediately adds That those Offices are an imitation of the Angelick Glory and of that Dispensation which as the Scriptures say they wait for who treading in the steps of the Apostles live in the perfection of Evangelick Righteousness for these the Apostle writes shall be took up into the Clouds Here he alludes to the manner of the Saints Glorification in 1 Thess. 4. 17. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and so shall we ever be with the Lord and there first as Deacons attend and then
the Ordinary and less mysterious Truths of the Gospel If they behaved themselves well in this Rank then they were advanced to the Superior Rank of the Perfecti or Perfect as Tertullian calls them who stayed not only at the Lessons and Sermons but also at the Prayers which were the conclusion of the first Service and in a little time were baptized and tarried with the Faithful at the Celebration of the Eueharist or the Second Service This was the manner of 〈◊〉 amongst the Ancients none in those days were hastily advanced to the higher Forms of Christianity but according to their Knowledge and Merit gradually arrived thereunto being first instructed at home then admitted to the Didactick part of the Publick and then to the Supplicative part thereof It was the wicked Policy of the Hereticks Indifferently to pray and hear with all making no difference between the Faithful or the Catechumens But the True Church distinguished and permitted not the Catechumens to enjoy the Priviledges of the Faithful till they had in a Sense merited them which was when thro' a considerable time of Trial they had evidenced the sineerity of their Hearts by the Sanctity and Purity of their Lives and then as Origen saith we initiate them in our Mysteries when they have made a Proficiency in Holiness and according to the utmost of their power have reformed their Conversations When they had changed their Manners and rectified their Irregular Carriages then they were washed with the Water of Baptism and not before for as Tertullian saith We are not baptized that we may ceafe to sin but because we have already ceased As soon as they were baptized they commenced Members of the Church Universal and of that Particular Church wherein they were so baptized and became actual Sharers and Exerters of all the Priviledges and Powers of the Faithful § 2. Now what the distinct and separate Powers of the Faithful were must be next considered several of them to make the Discourse under the former Head complete we 〈◊〉 there as their Election and choice of their Bishops their Attestation to those that were Ordained and such like which will be unnecessary and tedious to repeat here and others of them cannot be well separated from their Conjunct Acts with the Clergy but must with them be discoursed of in the next Head so that there will be little or nothing to say here of their Discretive and Particular Acts save that as they had Power to elect their Bishops so if their Bishops proved afterwards scandalous and grosly wicked in Life or at least Heretical in Doctrine and Apostates from the Faith they had Power to depose them and to chuse others in their rooms This I must be forced also to mention in another place so that for the Proof of it I shall urge only the Case of Martialis and Basilides two Spanish Bishops who for Apostacy and Idolatry were deserted by their Parishes who Elected Felix and Sabinus Bishops in their steads After this Deposition Martialis and Basilides claim'd the Exercise of their Episcopal Authority but their Parishes denied it to them and that they might not seem to act by a Power which belonged not unto them they sent to several Bishops in Africa to know their Judgment thereupon who being convened in a Synod Anno 258 whereof Cyprian was President approved and commended their Proceedings assuring them That it was according to the Divine Law which was express that none but those that were holy and blameless should approach God's Altar That if they had continued to have communicated with their Profane Bishops they would have been Accessaries to their Guilt and Villany and would have contradicted those Examples and Commands in Scripture which oblige a People to separate from their wicked and ungodly Ministers That they had not acted irregularly in what they had done since as the People had the chief Power of choosing worthy Bishops so also of refusing those that were unworthy And many other such like Passages are to be found in that Synodical Epistle which 〈◊〉 assert the Peoples Power to depose a wicked and Scandalous Bishop But however tho' the People had such a Power appertaining to them yet being subject to be guided by Giddiness Envy or Pride where Churches were regularly associated and their Circumstances did permit it they did not by vertue of their power alone upon their own single Judgment depose their Bishop but that their Actions might be the more Authentick and Unquestionable they had their Complaints heard and the whole Affair examined by the Synod to which they belonged or by some other Bishops who if their Accusations were just and valid might concur with them in the Deposition of their Bishop and in the Election of a new one And from hence it is that we find the Power of Deposing Bishops ascribed to Synods as Paulus Samosatenus Bishop of Antioch was deprived by a Synod held in that place and Privatus Bishop of Lambese was deposed by a Synod of ninety Bishops The same Method being observed in the Deposition of a Bishop as in his Election As a Bishop was elected by the People over whom he was to preside and by the neighbouring Bishops so was he deposed by the same both which things seem to be intimated in that Passage of the forementioned Synodical 〈◊〉 wherein it is said That the People chiefly has Power either to chuse worthy Bishops or to refuse unworthy ones The word chiefly implying that besides the People some others were necessary to concur with them either in the Election or Deprivation of a Bishop and those were the neighbouring Bishops or to speak more properly that Synod to which they appertained of which Synods of their Power and Authority I shall discourse more largely elsewhere § 3. Having thus briefly dispatched the Second Head I now proceed to handle the Third which respects the Conjunct Acts of the 〈◊〉 and Laity In answer whereunto I find that in general all things relating to the Government and Policy of the Church were performed by their joint Consent and Administrations the People were to do nothing without the Bishop And on the contrary he did nothing without the knowledge and consent of his People When any Letters came from Foreign Churches they were received and read before the whole Church and the whole Church agreed 〈◊〉 common Letters to be sent to other Churches And so for all other matters relating to the Policy of the Church they were managed by the common advice and Counsel of the Clergy and Laity both concurred to the Discharge of those Actions to recite every particular Act whereof would be extremely tedious and fruitless Wherefore in speaking hereunto I shall confine my self to those of their Complex Acts that regarded the Discipline of the Church which being an Answer to the Second Part of our Enquiry viz. An Enquiry into the Discipline of the Primitive
Sin to worship kneeling which custom we also observe from Easter to Whitsontide § 8. The Elements being thus blessed distributed and received they afterwards sung an Hymn or Psalm to the Praise and Glory of God as Tertullian writes Then every one sings an Hymn to God either of his own Composition or out of the Holy Scriptures Then followed for a Conclusion a Prayer of Thanksgiving to God Almighty for his inestimable Grace and Mercy as the same Tertullian saith Prayer concludes this Feast To which was subjoined a Collection for the Poor When as Justin Martyr reports Every one that was able and willing gave according to his Ability and that that was gathered was committed to the care of the Bishop who relieved therewith the Orphans and Widows the Sick and Distressed Prisoners Travellers Strangers and in a Word all that had need thereof CHAP. VII § 1. Of the Circumstances of Publick Worship § 2. Of the Place thereof In Times of Peace fixed Places for that end metonymically called Churches § 3. How those Churches were built § 4. No Holiness in those Places § 5. Of the Time of Publick Worship § 6. The First Day of the Week an usual Time § 7. Celebrated with Joyfulness esteemed holy and spent in an holy manner § 8. Their Reasons for the Observation of this Day § 9. The usual Title of this Day The Lord's Day § 10. Sometimes called Sunday but never the Sabbath-Day § 11. Saturday another Time of Publick Worship § 1. HItherto I have spoken of the several particular Acts of the Publick Worship of the Ancients I now come according to my propounded Order to enquire into the necessary Circumstances thereof By which I mean such things as are inseparable from all humane Actions as Place and Time Habit and Gesture As for Habit as much of that as is Controverted I have spoken to already in that Chapter where I discoursed of the Ministers Habit in Prayer And as for Gesture I have already treated of Worshipping towards the East And of their Posture at the Reception of the Lord's Supper There is nothing more disputed with reference thereunto besides the bowing at the Name of Jesus and the worshipping towards the Communion Table but both these being introduced after my prescribed time viz. above three hundred years after Christ I shall say nothing to them but pass on to the Discussing of the two remaining Circumstances of Publick Worship viz. Place and Time § 2. First As for Place This all will readily grant to be a necessary Circumstance of Divine Worship for if we serve God it is impossible but that it must be in one place or other Now one Query with respect hereunto may be Whether the Primitive Christians had determined fixed Places for their Publick Worship Unto which I answer That usually they had though it is true indeed that in times of Persecution or when their Circumstances would not permit them to have one usual sixed Place they met where-ever they could in Fields Deserts Ships or Inns Yet in times of Peace and Serenity they chose the most setled convenient Place that they could get for the Performance of their Solemn Services which place by a Metonymy they called the Church Thus at Rome the place where the Christians met and chose Fabian for their Bishop was the Church At Antioch Paulus Samosasatenus Bishop thereof ordered certain Women to sing Psalms to his Praise in the midst of the Church At Carthage the Baptized Persons renounced the Devil and all his Works in the Church And thus Fertullian very frequently calls their definite places for Divine Worship Churches § 3. As for the Form of these Churches or the Fashion of their Building I find this Description of them in Tertullian The House of our Dove like Religion is simple built on high and in open View respecting the Light as the Figure of the Holy Spirit and the East as the representation of Christ. The meaning whereofis that their Churches were erected on high and open places and made very light and shining in imitation of the Holy Ghost's Descent upon the Apostles at the Day of Pentecost who came down with Fire or Light upon them and that they were built towards the East in resemblance of Christ whom they apprehended in Scripture to be called the East concerning which Title and the reason thereof I have already discoursed in that Head concerning praying towards the East unto which place to avoid repetition I refer the Reader § 4. But tho' they had these fixed Places or Churches for Conveniency and Decency yet they did not imagin any such Sanctity or Holiness to be in them as to recommend or make more acceptable those Services that were discharged therein than if they had been performed elsewhere for as Clemens Alexandrinus writes Every place is in Truth holy where we receive any knowledge of God And as Justin Martyr saith Through Jesus Christ we are now all become Priests to God who hath promised to accept our Sacrifices in every or in any part of the World And therefore in times of Persecution or such like Emergencies they scrupled not to meet in other places but where-ever they could securely joyn together in their Religious Services there they met though it were in Fields Deserts Ships Inns or Prisons as was the Case and Practice of Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria So that the Primitive practice and Opinion with respect to this Circumstance of Place was That if the State of their Affairs would permit them they had fixed Places for their Publick Worship call'd Churches which they set apart to that use for Conveniency and Decencies sake but not attributing unto them any such Holiness as thereby to sanctifie those Services that were performed in them I know nothing more with respect to Place that requires our Consideration I shall therefore now proceed to enquire into the Time of Publick Worship under which will be comprehended the Primitive Fasts and Feasts § 5. Time is as necessary a Circumstance to Religious Worship as Place for whilst we are in this World we cannot serve God at all times but must have some determinate time to serve him in That God's People therefore under the Law might not be left at an uncertainty when to serve him it pleased the Almighty to institute the Sabbath the Passover and other Feasts at which times they were to congregate and assemble together to give unto God the Glory due unto his Name And for the same end under the Evangelical Administration there are particular Days and Seasons appointed for the Publick and Solemn Worship of the Glorious and Eternal Lord according to the Sayings of Clemens Romanus God hath required us to serve him in the appointed times and seasons For which Reason we ought to serve him at those determinated times That so worshipping him at those Commanded Seasons we may be blessed and accepted by