-LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA! 
 
A N 
 
 ORIGINAL 
 D R^^&^JH T 
 
 In Answer to a 
 
 DISCOURSE 
 
 ENT1TULED, 
 
 An Enquiry into the CONSTITUTION, DI- 
 SCIPLINE, UNITY, and WORSHIP, of the 
 Primitive Church^ that flourished within 
 the first Three Hundred Years after 
 CHRIST. 
 
 By a Presbyter of the Church of England. 
 
 London: Printed for Geo. Strahan, at the 
 Golden Ball against the Royal Exchange, 
 and J. Boivyer at the Rose in Ludg ate- street, 
 1717. 
 
THE PREFACE. 
 
 HHHE following sheets will need the less 
 -*- apology for them, since all, who call them- 
 selves Christians, are so nearly interested in 
 the subject of them ; and the ( particular Au- 
 thor' of that learned tract they more imme- 
 diately refer to, will find them little more than 
 a friendly compliance with a modest request 
 of his own. His collections from the vener- 
 able records of the primitive Church, entituled, 
 "An Enquiry into the Constitution, Discipline, 
 Unity, and Worship of it," were many years 
 since made public, as I am now assured, though 
 my little acquaintance with the modern busi- 
 ness of the press made me a stranger to it, 
 till some considerable time after the second 
 
 a 
 
vi THE PREFACE. 
 
 edition came abroad. In his preface to them 
 (calculated, I presume, for the first impression) 
 he shews an humble diffidence of his youthful 
 performance; and desires another sense might 
 be given of his several quotations, if need re- 
 quired, for better information of himself and 
 others. I confess I saw need enough of that, 
 at my first perusal of his book, and not a little 
 wondered that no friendly hand had done that 
 kindness for him long before. As to my own 
 part, I had never walked in the unpleasant 
 paths of controversy to that day ; and, besides 
 the consciousness of my unfitness for it, had 
 aversion enough ever to set a foot in them; 
 but seeing none had answered, or was answer- 
 ing, as I could hear of, so reasonable a desire, 
 though men of letters in both kingdoms of our 
 united island, had declared an earnest expecta- 
 tion of it, and the holy Church of England in 
 particular has reproached the silence of her 
 children in an argument that so plainly struck 
 at her foundation ; filial obedience, I may say, 
 to so ' faithful' a parent, moved me to use the 
 best endeavours I could, to vindicate her 6 truly 
 Apostolical' constitution, and to plead the cause 
 
THE PREFACE. Vll 
 
 of ' injured antiquity/ as well as hers; for 
 that 'both' are truly 'one, 5 in this case, the 
 impartial reader will easily observe, when he 
 sees the palpable mistakes corrected, and the 
 unfair representations of the venerable Fathers 
 of the Church (so obvious in almost every page 
 of those plausible collections) restored to their 
 genuine sense again. 
 
 This is what may be expected here: and 
 I am not conscious I have strained any one 
 passage in antiquity, beyond the true meaning 
 of the venerable Authors themselves, to form 
 a different construction of it from that of the 
 ingenious Enquirer. I should count it the 
 worst of sacrilege to do so; the 'goods' of the 
 Church are not so sacred as 'her sense' is. 
 What each quotation appeared to me, from the 
 best authority, and closest attention I could 
 use, I have fairly represented here; if defec- 
 tive in apprehending the true sense, or injudi- 
 cious in the inferences from them, I heartily 
 submit, in my turn, to the charity of better 
 information. For as I write with a conscien- 
 tious regard to undeceive some, so I am infi- 
 nitely more concerned not to be deceived my- 
 
Vlll THE PREFACE. 
 
 self; and I wish no greater freedom, from pre- 
 judice or party, in any who read or censure 
 these papers, than I am conscious of in the 
 composing of them. 
 
 Every one too well knows, of what a large 
 and extensive nature this unhappy subject is, 
 and that the controversial books about it are 
 sadly numerous, and full of different schemes 
 and arguments, according to the genius of sects, 
 and times, and persons; many of which might 
 have fallen in with several parts of this dis- 
 course, had I been inclined to ' dispute,' as I 
 bless God I am not, but I have kept close to the 
 single treatise before me, and that for two rea- 
 sons especially. 
 
 First, Because I heard from many hands, that 
 the less learned, and more prejudiced, adversa- 
 ries of the f truly primitive Church of England,' 
 have made their boasts of it, and from its not 
 being answered yet, have proclaimed it an c un- 
 answerable' vindication of their separation from 
 her. 
 
 Secondly, Because I think, that all the scat- 
 tered arguments and pleas, for their < unwar- 
 rantable' schism, are reducible to some one or 
 
THE PREFACE. IX 
 
 other of the great variety of quotations cited in 
 it. For a good part of those mistaken brethren, 
 we know, with great zeal plead, the authority 
 of Holy Scriptures to be clear on their side, and 
 f these' sit down contentedly, and triumph in 
 their own comments, and constructions of those 
 holy oracles ; others pay some deference also to 
 venerable antiquity; and these two great wit- 
 nesses seem to be agreed upon by ' all,' not only 
 to give in their evidence, but even to be um- 
 pires for them, to determine all the fundamen- 
 tal points in difference between them. The 
 reader will find the testimony both of one and 
 the other fairly summed up here ; and I only 
 pray he may bring a prepared mind with him, 
 to sit down by the peaceful e award,' which those 
 authentic arbitrators make for the blessed union 
 of all Christians, in one and the same holy 
 Catholic Church together; which individual 
 Church of Christ, they visibly enough distin- 
 guish for us all, from every counterfeit image of 
 it, by the truly primitive, single, and Apostoli- 
 cal constitution of it. And as for those who 
 regard little, either one or the other, of these 
 two great authorities, but overrule all ' outward ' 
 
X THE PREFACE. 
 
 testimony, of God or man, by an ' inward' wit- 
 ness of their own (subject to no trial of the 
 Holy Scriptures themselves, and impatient to 
 hear of a visible Church, and the teachings of 
 men), I dispute not with them ; they supersede 
 all that trouble for me. I only recommend 
 them to the divine compassion for their better 
 instruction, with affectionate grief and prayer 
 for them. 
 
 To the reader I have this only to observe 
 further, that since these papers were nigh 
 wrought off the press, an ingenious treatise 
 came to my hands, entituled, " The Invalidity 
 of the Dissenting Ministry, &c." wherein some 
 particular quotations in the Enquiry, relating 
 to the e presbyter's power of ordination,' are ju- 
 diciously explained, and with clear reasoning 
 answered to the full ; which might have short- 
 ened my work, and the Author's trouble in that 
 single point, had I been so fortunate as to have 
 known it in time. However, it is but one link 
 of the chain of mistakes in that whole perform- 
 ance (to use that learned Author's phrase) which 
 fell under his consideration ; and therefore less 
 offence will be taken, I hope, if something like 
 
THE PREFACE. XI 
 
 it, though in a more imperfect manner, should 
 be met with here again. 
 
 I must add for the ingenious Enquirer's satis- 
 faction too, that I have all along been mindful 
 of his strict charge not to wander out of the 
 straight bounds he set me, of the three first cen- 
 turies of the Church ; I think he will have little 
 reason to complain of that. But as to the par- 
 ticular editions of the several authors he quotes, 
 I cannot say I have been so happy as to have it 
 in my power to make use of none but them, 
 though I gladly would have done it, in answer 
 to so reasonable a desire ; but choice of impres- 
 sions has not always fallen in my way. To make 
 the best amends I could, I think I have seldom 
 failed to mention the edition I use, which I hope 
 will be accepted, where I could do no more. 
 
CONTENT& 
 
 AN Introduction, p. 1. CHAP. I. The primitive notion 
 of a particular church considered, p. 4. The Enquirer 
 asserts a congregational form of it, p. 5. His first authority 
 from Irenaeus for it, proves nothing to his purpose, p. 5. 
 His second is a precarious construction of Dionysius Alex- 
 andrinus's words, and inconsistent with that Father's ac- 
 count of his own Church of Alexandria, p. 7, sqq. His 
 third and last authority from Tertullian is rather a mere 
 oversight than an argument, p. 14. His observation of the 
 word ' church, 7 (rarely used for a collection of churches) 
 shewn to be neither material nor just, p. 15. He divides 
 church members and ministers aright ; but in the respective 
 offices he assigns them, he vastly differs from the ancients, 
 p. 17. His misapprehension of the different powers con- 
 ferred by the apostles on the several elders they ordained, a 
 main ground for his mistake; yet easy to be rectified by 
 some observations of his own, if applied to it, p, 18, sqq. 
 But to carry on that mistake, he styles the single bishop of 
 any church the ' supreme ' bishop of it, contrary to the lan- 
 guage of all antiquity, p. 23. And thereby defeats that 
 catholic test of distinction between truth and heresy of old, 
 viz., the apostolical bishop in every true church of Christ, 
 p. 25. The artful use he makes of the several titles of his 
 supreme bishop, p. 26. 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. II. p. 29. 
 
 A PRIMITIVE dioccso called a church, i.-i Jn singu- 
 lar number, is no proof of the congregational form of 
 it; it was apparently so in latter ages, when a plu- 
 rality of congregations was notorious : nay, churches, 
 in the plural, were often attributed to a single diocese 
 by the ancients, though the Enquirer overlooked it, 
 p. 29. His popular argument from a primitive diocese, 
 and a modern English parish, called by the common name 
 of Hapoucla considered at large, and refuted, p. 31. The 
 congregational notion inconsistent with the numbers of be- 
 lievers in Jerusalem, which church (though the original 
 platform of Christian churches) the Enquirer passes over, 
 whilst he particularly considered other churches, p. 37. 
 Tertullian, Eusebius, and Optatus's testimonies in this 
 case, p. 39, sqq. St. Gregory's church in Neocsesarea a preg- 
 nant instance against the Enquiry, p. 42. Justin Martyr 
 misrepresented in the Enquiry, p. 43. His true meaning 
 cleared, p. 45. The like of several passages in St. Ignatius, 
 p. 46. A primitive bishop could assign distinct places, and 
 presbyters to officiate in them, within his own diocese, con- 
 fessed by the Enquirer, p. 48. St. Ignatius's Udvruv M rb 
 avrb <rw\cvsis and his Mia ticriffis are severally accounted 
 for, p. 51 , sqq. And also his one altar in a diocese, p. 57. 
 The Enquirer's mistake about St. Cyprian's diocese com- 
 municating with him all at once, p. 61. And that all re- 
 received at the bishop's hands only in Tertullian's time, 
 p. 64. And that the bishop alone baptized all, p. 66. 
 And that he alone took a personal care for all in want or 
 distress, p. 67. And that those common phrases 'before the 
 church/ 'in presence of the people' and the like, implied the 
 presence of every individual at once, p. 69. Bishops might 
 write letters in the name of their people and not have all 
 present, p. 74. A mistake again, about the bishop of 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 Smyrna's personal knowledge of all his diocese, p. 77.- 
 And the diocese of Magnesia having but one church in it, 
 p. 80. The great absurdity of affirming the see of Antioch 
 to have but one congregation in it, p. 84. The like of the 
 see of Rome, p. 89. And of the see of Carthage, p. 93. 
 And of that of Alexandria, p. 99. Some short remarks on 
 bishops placed in villages, p. 104. 
 
 CHAP. III. p. 107. 
 
 THE sense of antiquity about several parts of the episcopal 
 charge, compared with that of the Enquirer's, p. 107. 
 The primitive manner of placing a bishop in a vacant see, 
 misrepresented in the Enquiry; original right not dis- 
 tinguished from some particular practice in that matter, 
 p. 1 11. Holy Scripture places the entire power of ordination 
 in the persons of the governors of the church, p. 116. The 
 apostles used that power accordingly (ibid.) and so did 
 those secondary apostles St. Paul and St. Barnabas, p. 118. 
 The true construction of Acts xiv. 23, can mean nothing 
 else, p. 119. The like authority was personally invested in 
 Timothy and Titus, p. 122. Those texts, 1 Tim. iii. 2, 10. 
 and Tit. i. 16, that bishops and deacons must be first 
 proved and found blameless, imply no popular election in 
 them ; St. Paul's instructions about it shew his meaning to 
 be otherwise, nor does the nature of the qualifications for 
 the ministry agree with it, or the Enquirer's impartial opi- 
 nion in the case, p. 125. Primitive antiquity shews the 
 like practice after the Apostles' times, p. 133 Where the 
 people were present at the consecration of their bishop, the 
 synod chose the person, and all the people's part in it was to 
 give their testimony of his life and conversation, p. 135. 
 St. Cyprian's account of the African synod's practice in 
 that case, proves quite the contrary to what the Enquiry quotes 
 it for, p. 136. And that chiefly by the misconstruction of 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 the word 6 suffrage ' in making it equal to a judicial or au- 
 thoritative act, p. 133. St. Cyprian's notion of the word 
 suffrage cleared at large, 140. St. Clement's phrase 2weu- 
 SoKrjffdcrys TTJS 3 EKK\7jffia5 irdo-ys directly answers to it, and 
 neither one nor the other imply any power or authority in 
 them, p. 143. The example of Alexander's promotion to 
 the see of Jerusalem, and that of Fabianus to the see of 
 Rome, urged by the Enquirer for proof of popular elections, 
 and both of them shown to be of a very different nature, 
 p. 144. The other two of Cornelius and St. Cyprian have 
 only the mistake of the word suffrage to support them, 
 p. 146. Some provinces may have obliged themselves to 
 join the people's approbation to the episcopal authority in 
 ordinations, and there it became a duty for the time, but 
 was repealable, because prudential only, and obliged no 
 farther, as the Enquirer owns, than amongst themselves, 
 p. 148. To ordain in presence and cognizance of the peo- 
 ple, for better knowledge of the candidates, was wise in the 
 ancients, and is continued in the Church of England still, 
 p. 150. The case of St. Matthias and the seven deacons 
 considered ; and neither one nor the other countenance a 
 popular election of pastors in the church, p. 151, sqq. 
 
 CHAP. IV. p. 163. 
 
 THE Enquirer's impartiality a little doubtful in this cause, 
 p. 163. He asserts equality of order in bishop and presby- 
 ter. A ruling power in the presbyter given for one instance 
 of that equality, and yet a palpable inequality of it included 
 in his definition of a presbyter, p. 165. That a presbyter 
 had not an inherent right in his orders to perform the whole 
 office of a bishop, proved from the judgment of antiquity, 
 concerning the holy rite of advancing a presbyter to the 
 station of a bishop, p. 166. That judgment of theirs speci- 
 fied in six or seven instances of it, all of which denote a 
 
CONTENTS. XV11 
 
 difference of order, p. 170. The Enquirer's argument for 
 equality by a supposed equality of judicial or executive 
 power, shewn to be unfounded, p. 172. Argument from the 
 part taken by presbyters in ordination refuted, p. 180. 
 Presbyters had not the power inherent of excommunicating, 
 p. 182. Assertion that presbyters exercised episcopal powers 
 in general, proves too much, the same being applicable to 
 deacons as well, p. 185. That presbyters could administer 
 the rite of confirmation erroneously inferred, from a misap- 
 prehension of the nature of confirmation, p. 191. General 
 conclusion as to the relative powers of the two orders as to 
 ministerial functions, p. 202. Enquirer's second general 
 proof, founded upon identity of titles and appellations be- 
 stowed, p. 204. Account of the appointment and title of the 
 successors of the Apostles, p. 206. Argument that there were 
 but two orders in the Church refuted, as derived from the 
 statement of Clemens Romanus, p. 210; Irenaeus, p. 213; 
 and of Clemens Alexandrinus, p. 218. Distinctions in 
 the orders of angels no guide here, without a cleare^ know- 
 ledge than has been given us on this subject, p. 222.- 
 Rather the threefold order of the ministry countenanced by 
 parable of the sower, p. 226. Passage from St. Cyprian 
 considered, p. 228. General conclusion of argument, p. 229. 
 
 CHAP. V. p. 233. 
 
 THE offices of deacon and subdeacon not the same; as 
 attempted by Enquirer to be shewn, in order to be a parallel 
 to the supposed instance of equality of bishops and pres- 
 byters' order, p. 236. His statement of the manner of or- 
 daining presbyters, from St. Cyprian, p. 238. The example 
 of a particular bishop no proof of the catholic practice, 
 unless expressly stated to be so, p. 240. That St. Cyprian's 
 act was a voluntaay matter of grace, proved by three consi- 
 derations, p. 248. Our own Church's manner of ordination 
 
xviii CONTENTS. 
 
 like in all points to the primitive use as practised by 
 St. Cyprian, p. 252. Practice of the Church as to the 
 payment of tithes, vindicated from a misrepresentation. 
 
 CHAP. VI. p. 257. 
 
 ENQUIRER'S argument upon the assumed popular power of 
 deposing a bishop, shewn to be groundless, p. 262. The 
 constitution and educational system of the Church of 
 England harmonises with the example of the Primitive. 
 
 CHAP. VII. p. 268. 
 
 DISCIPLINE of the Church considered, in distinction from 
 its constitution. Joint administration of clergy, people, and 
 bishop, in church government, set aside by Origen and 
 St. Cyprian's interpretation of the promise to St. Peter, 
 p. 272. In what sense the promise of the keys is common 
 to all Christians, p. 274. Firmilian's interpretation of this 
 promise, p. 278. Further arguments of Enquirer to shew 
 that the people were united with the clergy in ecclesiastical 
 power, considered, p. 279. From the epistle of Clemens 
 Romanus, p. 282. From St. Cyprian, no ' authoritative 
 consent 7 of the laity needed to confirm his decisions, p. 285. 
 No good argument adduced to shew the people's ' judi- 
 cial power' in the censures of the Primitive Church, p. 289. 
 St. Cyprian's authority misapplied as sufficient to prove 
 the power of the laity of absolution. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. p. 294. 
 
 ENQUIRER'S assertion that all these acts were exerted in 
 each parish, stands or falls with his own notion of the nature 
 of a parish, 295. Further argument to disprove his idea on 
 this head, 297. Enquirer's notion of the constitution of 
 primitive synods, p. 298. Presence of laymen at such 
 
CONTENTS. XIX 
 
 synods explained, p. 304. The instance of the council 
 proposed to be called by Cyprian, and consisting of clergy 
 and laity together, explained : the bi-hops only had the 
 power in all cases, p. 309. Presb}ters not necessarily 
 present in such councils, though accidentally they might be, 
 p. 310. Xo such thing as lay representatives in them, 
 p. 311. Of the extent of ecclesiastical provinces, p. 313. 
 Of the power of convening councils, and the seasons of 
 doing so. 
 
 CHAP. TX. p. 316. 
 
 OF the unity of the Church, and the different senses of 
 unity, p. 317. The unity of the Church Universal ; in what 
 it did not consist, 320. What inference may be drawn 
 from the first negative definition, 321 What from the se- 
 cond, p. 324. Enquirer's positive definition of Catholic 
 Unity, true as far as it goes, but not the whole truth, p. 329- 
 Schismatics from a particular church, schismatics from 
 the Catholic Church, 332. Enquirer's distinction between 
 particular and general schism, p. 334. His definition of 
 schism ; ' causeless separation from a lawful pastor/ p. 336. 
 What the people's part in any such separation ought to 
 be, p. 337. Shewn in the first case of lawful schism, viz 
 apostacy, p. 338 In the second case, heresy, p. 339. And 
 what in the third case, scandalous and wicked living, p. 339. 
 Origen's testimony, p. 341. That of Irenaeus, 343. Au- 
 thority of Origen farther quoted, 345. In all cases the 
 people had not the power of depriving or setting up a pastor 
 for themselves, p. 346. Of the right of debating non-essen- 
 tial points in ecclesiastical councils, p. 347. Enquirer's 
 application of Irenaeus's censure of schismatics partial, 
 p. 348. Irenseus's censure general; how applied by En- 
 quirer, p. 351. St. Cyprian's judgment of schism, p. 352. 
 
 And that of Irenseus, ib. 
 
PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 
 
 IT is a melancholy thing to see, that after so 
 long a settlement of the Christian Church in I- 
 the world, and that by the greatest evidence 
 and demonstration of divine wisdom and power, 
 that ever any work of God was wrought 
 amongst men, still the constitution of this 
 Church should want enquiring after that tins 
 city of God, set on purpose, by the divine 
 Founder of it, on a holy and conspicuous hill, 
 to the end that every simple one who passeth 
 by might readily see it, and comfortably enter 
 in to be saved, should be hid from multitudes, 
 even of serious enquirers after it, in these later 
 times. I have little inclination to examine, 
 what occasion has been given, in the last &r 
 present age, for such a wild variety of opinions 
 about it, as has filled the minds of too many 
 men with dangerous amusements only, and af- 
 forded little or no comfortable and solid assur- 
 ance of the thing ; for this, I fear, would 
 
2 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 rather aggravate, than heal; and might teach 
 our enemies to reproach us, instead of instruct- 
 ing mistaken friends. But wheresoever the 
 blame of all must lie, in respect of men, I am 
 sure it is a sorrowful instance to us all, of the too 
 successful wiles of that noted adversary in the 
 Oracles of Truth, who, throughout every age, 
 has counterfeited the works of God that he 
 might deceive the children of men; and because 
 he can never extinguish the light of truth, has 
 either raised mists to make it shine dim, or 
 formed meteors of his own that might be mis- 
 taken for it. Things are come to such a height 
 and warmth amongst us now, that nothing less, 
 I fear, than the interposing hand of Heaven, 
 in a more than ordinary way, will ever un- 
 deceive the multitudes of prejudiced brethren 
 in the nearer and remoter parts of Christendom, 
 and so entirely repair the breaches of this Holy 
 city of God, as to make it what it ought to be, 
 in perfect unity within itself. 
 
 Yet, when I meet with any promising ap- 
 pearance of a virtuous design to clear up all 
 these difficulties for us, and help us to a better 
 understanding with one another, the subject 
 affects me ; and I cannot but have some secret 
 inclination to look into the management of it ; 
 not so much to satisfy myself in the knowledge 
 of a true church, which I bless God I have 
 long been satisfied in, as that I cannot be 
 wholly unconcerned for others; and would 
 gladly see why and how we came to differ in 
 so great and plain a matter, who so generally 
 agree in other fundamentals of the Christian 
 truth. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, 
 
 This is the main motive which induced me 
 to look into the treatise before me: the title- 
 page alone offering me a subject which I had a 
 veneration for; and the short preface fairly 
 intimating to me, that the learned author had a 
 proper sense of the weightiness of the argument 
 he undertook, and as fairly promised a suitable 
 integrity in the performance of it: how far 
 these encouraging hints and solemn promises 
 are made good in the work itself, I shall leave 
 to be determined by the reader, when I have 
 particularly considered the several parts of this 
 elaborate enquiry, which I now propose to do, 
 in order as they lie. 
 
AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HP O begin with his first chapter then ; wherein 
 JL his main business is to examine the primi- 
 tive notion of the word Church; upon a due ap- 
 prehension whereof, he truly and ingenuously 
 tells us, that a right understanding of a great part 
 of his discourse does depend. Nothing can be 
 more proper and material therefore in the whole 
 enquiry before us, than to settle this first; 
 wherein, if we can happily agree, the whole 
 work will considerably be shortened to our 
 hands, and we shall make a great advance at 
 once towards a friendly accommodation in 
 several ensuing particulars, which have so near 
 a relation to this. 
 
 He mentions many notions of a church in 
 those early times, but fixes upon one only as 
 "the usual and common acceptation of the 
 word," and which, he says (p. 7. sect. 2.) " he 
 chiefly treats of;" and, therefore, since I mean to 
 differ or dispute as little as I can, I shall pass 
 over most of the other less material notions of 
 it, at present, how little soever I can consent to 
 some particulars in them, and apply myself to 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 5 
 
 consider that main and principal one, which is 
 indeed the great hinge upon which most of his 
 other speculations turn. 
 
 "The word church," says he, (p. 3. sect. 2,) 
 " is frequently to be understood of a particular 
 church, L e. of a company of believers, who at 
 one time, in one and the same place, did asso- 
 ciate themselves together, and concur in the 
 participation of all the institutions and ordi- 
 nances of Jesus Christ, with their proper pastors 
 and ministers : " and, " in this sense," says he, 
 " 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 what- 
 soever, when we meet them in the earliest 
 writers of the Christian church." 
 
 This is then his positive definition of a pri- 
 mitive particular church: and to represent all 
 fairly, let us hear his instances or authorities 
 for it from the venerable Fathers themselves. 
 He begins with Irenaeus; for "thus," says he, 
 that is, in the sense which I have given you 
 of a primitive church, Irenaeus mentions that 
 church which is in any place (ea. quae est in quo- 
 que loco ecclesia, or rather, in quoquo loco y as 
 I find it in Irenaeus. a )" Now this, I must confess, 
 is a very dark authority to me, to prove what kind 
 
 a Iren. 1.2. c- 56. [cap. xxxii. Benedict. Venet. 1734. Graca 
 haec Irenaei verba conservavit nobis Euseb. H. E. v. 7. ex quo 
 ea etiam allegavit Niceph. H. E. iv. 13. Toffovrov 5e diroSeovo-i 
 T^V veKpbv ye?jpcu, Kad&s 6 Kvpios tfyeipe, Kal ol airoffToKoi tiia 
 Trpotrei^r/s, Kal iv rrj a5eA.<^TT7Ti iroAAa/as 8ia rb avcuyKuiov^ 
 TT)S Kara TOTTOV KK\7i(rias Trdffirjs amjcrayuei'T/s /uera VT^fffias 
 Kal \iraveias iroAATjs, TTffrp(j) rb Tr^eO/xc rov TTeA.eirn7/coT09, 
 Kal exO'pio'B'rj 6 avBpwiros rats evxais ruv dyiwv.'] 
 
6 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 of church that holy Father meant by it. If 
 there be any consequence in it, to the purpose 
 it is here brought for, it must needs lie in these 
 two plain words, quoquo loco, ( in anyplace;' and 
 from them, as far as I am able to imagine, it 
 can no otherwise be inferred than one of these 
 two ways ; either first, That there was no other 
 particular church at that time to be in any 
 place whatsoever, but just such a one as this 
 learned author here quotes this place to prove 
 for him, which would be such a singular fallacy 
 in reasoning, if he should apply it in that sense, 
 as I cannot suppose our ingenious enquirer can 
 be guilty of: or else, secondly, it must be, that 
 the word place has such a scanty notion neces- 
 sarily tied to it, that it would have been no sense 
 in that learned Father to have meant a larger cir- 
 cuit by it, than that of an ordinary Meeting- 
 House in our modern phrase : for if place be 
 such an affection of bodies as conforms itself to 
 every dimension of the thing that is applied to 
 it, as I think both naturalists. and logicians will 
 warrant us to say, then to be said to be in any 
 place, unless the particular measure of that 
 place were expressed too, adds nothing in the 
 least to prove of what extent that thing is. So 
 that Irenaeus's church in any place, was such a 
 sort of church, to be sure, as they then under- 
 stood a Christian church to be ; but whether 
 parochial, diocesan, provincial, or any other 
 kind whatsoever, as to the extent or circuit of 
 it, is not one jot the clearer to me, by his 
 calling it a Church in any place, though our 
 more discerning enquirer, it seems, saw his own 
 scheme so visibly lie in it* 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 7 
 
 His second instance of such a primitive 
 church, as he has denned for us, is taken from 
 an expression of Dionysius Alexandrinus, when 
 he was banished to Cephro in Lybia. I will 
 give it in his own translation; " There came so 
 many Christians to him," says he, "that even 
 there he had a churchV Here was a Christian 
 Church, it seems, and that in a straight place 
 of banishment too ; though had it been trans- 
 lated a e Christian assembly' only, I am sure no 
 wrong had been done to the original word ; but 
 I shall not insist on that. It is concluded, by 
 applying it in this place, that it needs must be 
 such a church as could meet together for religi- 
 ous worship in one place only, and no other- 
 wise. I confess it may be so; and that will 
 prove but little, that this ancient Father had no 
 other notion of a particular Christian church, 
 than such a one as this ; or, even that he meant 
 it so, in this very quotation itself; for, by look- 
 ing a little farther on in this continued relation 
 of his, I think it will evidently appear, that he 
 makes 'his own particular church' a quite dif- 
 ferent thing from it. This I shall consider by 
 and by; only let me first leave one short 
 remark or two upon this little church at 
 Cephro. 
 
 v Dionysius himself calls it, in our author's own 
 quotation, 7ro\\rj 6K/c\r]cria, that is, in true 
 English, I think, a pretty ' numerous church' at 
 least : Valesius, in his translation, calls it, mag- 
 na multitudo jfidelium, ' a great multitude of be- 
 lievers.' Dionysius farther says, it consisted of 
 
 b Dionys. Alex, apud Euseb. 1. 7. c. 11. p. 259. [vol. 2. p. 
 485. ed. Burton.] IloAA.^ trwm^/ATjjtrej' [rj/xti'] 'EKKA.7?<n'a. 
 
8 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 a threefold concourse of christians ; first, of all 
 the brethren that came from Alexandria to him; 
 secondly, of others that came out of Egypt 
 thither ; and, thirdly, which I think is worth 
 considering, he tells us, that before he left the 
 place, ov/c 6\i<yot, 7&V eOv&v, not a few of 
 the heathens left their idols, and came over to 
 his church. Not a feiv, indeed, we have reason 
 to believe, since the humble confessor himself 
 ventures to speak, as the holy apostle did upon 
 the like occasion, that God had opened a door 
 to him there, to propagate the gospel amongst 
 them, and he thought he had sent him thither 
 for that very purpose to convert them. All this 
 amounts not, I own, to an unquestionable 
 certainty of more than a single congregation at 
 Cephro, and I have no occasion to desire it 
 should ; but I think it bids so fair for it, that it 
 looks like little choice of authorities in the case, 
 when we search for such a one as this, to prove 
 that a particular church in that age consisted 
 of no more. 
 
 But the truth is, and I desire it may be 
 noted all along in this discourse, that the point 
 in question does not lie here; whether there 
 was a church in that place, or indeed in any 
 other, that de facto had but one congregation to 
 denominate it so; for who doubts but at the 
 first conversion of the heathen world, the num- 
 ber of believers, in some particular places, might 
 not for some time amount to more than that; 
 and records of many particular churches after- 
 wards might be wanting (as our learned en- 
 quirer argues upon a like occasion in the 148th 
 page of this treatise) to set forth the entire state 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 
 
 and condition of such primitive Churclies to 
 us? But the true question is, whether if more 
 congregations than one had been actually* 
 thered or converted in any place whatsoever^ 
 and exercised their offices of divine worship in 
 distinct and separate places from one another, 
 so that their first, proper, and chief pastor could 
 not be able personally to attend the service of 
 them all; whether the property, I say, must 
 in such case be altered, and they could no 
 longer be one church, or be subject to one and 
 the same supreme ecclesiastical governor, call 
 him what we please, but must of necessity be 
 formed then into more particular independent 
 churches, and a supreme pastor, unaccountable 
 to the other, or to any one else, must have 
 presided over each of them, and denominated 
 them as many particular churches, as there were 
 single assemblies that met together to celebrate 
 the ordinances of the Christian Church. This, 
 I humbly conceive, our learned enquirer should 
 have proved from this, or any other authorities 
 he produces hereafter in defence of his own 
 opinion, if he meant effectually to support his 
 fundamental scheme by them. And since it 
 nowhere does appear from one end of his elabo- 
 rate enquiry to the other, that he has done so, 
 I must needs say this is such a fundamental de- 
 fect, as renders the whole performance of very 
 little use to that pious design he professes in it, 
 of reconciling differences about the constitution 
 of the primitive church. 
 
 But it is time I make my promise good, and 
 shew that Dionysius himself meant no such 
 church, even in this very narrative of his, as he 
 
10 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 is here quoted for: and this will require that 
 a short account be first given of the present 
 condition that holy confessor was then in. The 
 case was thus; The persecuting governor of the 
 province, breathing out greater threatenings still 
 against the banished Christians, ordered them 
 all to be removed into the inhospitable region 
 of Marceotis, and particularly assigned the quar- 
 ters of Dionysius himself at a place called Col- 
 luthio; the holy bishop was troubled at the 
 thoughts of this change ; for though he knew 
 that region better than he did the other, yet 
 they talked of it as if there were small hopes of 
 many Christian brethren, or indeed of any sort of 
 good men to be found there. "But some of the 
 faithful about me," says he, "comforted me in this 
 distress:" and what were the arguments of com- 
 fort that they offered to him? Why, "they put me 
 in mind," says he, "of this ; that Colluthio was a 
 place nearer to the city (of Alexandria) still; and 
 though I had such concourse of brethren at 
 Cephro," says he, "that I could TrXarvrepov e'/c- 
 K\ir]o-id^iv, that is, have a church of a very large 
 compass, even in that remote and desolate 
 country, yet they told me I should enjoy more 
 constantly, at Colluthio, the company of them I 
 loved most, and counted dearest to me in the 
 world;" for "such as those ," they said, "would 
 come and make their abode there, insomuch that 
 there would be congregations of them in sundry 
 places up and down, as in so many suburbs re- 
 
 vrai yap Kal avairavcrovTai, Kal &s ev irpoaff 
 Kifj.4vois Kara. (j.cpos tffovTo.1 (rvvayaryai KOI 
 Euseb. ibid. [sect. 15. ed. Burton.] 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 11 
 
 motely situated from the city; and this," says he, 
 " I found to be very true ; " that is, such a con- 
 course of Christians did resort to him there, and 
 such distinct assemblies there were of them, 
 during his abode in that place. And now, if these 
 distinct congregations of believers were under the 
 spiritual jurisdiction and government of Diony- 
 sius alone, and were peculiarly his Church and 
 his people, as the only bishop or supreme eccle- 
 siastical pastor over them, by whose order and 
 direction alone ministerial offices could be per- 
 formed to each of them ; as the historian's ac- 
 count of that place and time does evidently prove 
 him to be, and none but presbyters and dea- 
 cons/ as they are subordinately now taken, are 
 mentioned in the whole narration besides, some 
 accompanying him in his troubles, some wan- 
 dering to and fro in banishment, and some par- 
 ticularly named with marks of honour, for at- 
 tending their charge and ministry in the city, 
 in the heat of all the persecution ; besides what 
 Dionysius might himself ordain, if the necessity 
 of his church required it \ then I think it 
 needs no farther proof, that this holy confessor, 
 and Father of the church, could have no such 
 notion of a particular church in his time, as 
 our learned author's quotation, out of this very 
 narrative of his, has imputed to him. 
 
 And yet there is one remarkable passage 
 more in the sufferings of this holy confessor, 
 that makes it much clearer still, if need should 
 t>e. Take it in his own account of himself, as 
 
 d 'I^KoXovdrjffav Se fj.ot (rvfjurpefffivrcpSs re /xov Mc^t^os, Ktol 
 SiaKovoi 4>av<7Tos, Kal 'Ewe/8ios, /cat XcupTj/uwj/. Euseb. 1. 7. 
 c. 11. p. 210. [sect. 2. ed. Burton.] 
 
12 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 Eusebius has transcribed it from him, in the 
 same chapter with all that we have heard 
 already. Germanus, an invidious Christian 
 bishop, had, it seems, reproached Dionysius, as 
 if he had fled and deserted his church of Alex- 
 andria, without holding any religious assemblies 
 before he went off; which was indeed the pious 
 custom of the churches then, as often as any 
 persecution was visibly nigh at hand; to the 
 end that catechumens might be baptized, the eu- 
 charist administered to the faithful, and solemn 
 exhortations to constancy and perseverance left 
 with them all to prepare and fortify them 
 against the trials which were immediately 
 coming upon them. Now, how does the holy 
 bishop answer this charge ? He first shews that 
 this early apprehension and sudden condemna- 
 tion left no time or means for him to perform 
 any one of those ministerial offices by himself 
 in person: but then immediately subjoins and 
 says, that "by God's asistance he was not want- 
 ing in a visible assembly neither 6 ; but with all 
 diligence," says he, "I ordered those in the city 
 to assemble, as if I had been personally present 
 with them, being absent indeed in the body as 
 it is said, but present in the spirit with them:" 
 using the apostle's phrase, who so governed and 
 presided over churches at a distance. Here is a 
 solemn assembly then of the Christians in Alex- 
 andria, called together at the command of their 
 
 e 'AAA' ou5e rrjs at(7077T7}s 7]fjLis fjLra rov Kvpiov 
 aTreffTTj/jLCV' d\\a ffTrvovfta.i6Tpov rovs /ue*/ ev rfj Tr6\t <rvvK- 
 p6rovv 9 us ffvv<av cnruv /U.GV T< (rco/uan, us ef-7jw, [or, us eiTreiV, 
 as some copies have it] irapuv 5e T< Tn/eu/ucm. Euseb. ib. 
 p. 21 1. [sect. 10. ed. Burton.] 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 13 
 
 absent bishop: and I presume none will think 
 they met on this occasion without celebrating 
 some ordinances at least of religious worship. 
 Nay, I cannot but say, that unless most or all of 
 those holy offices were performed there, which 
 I just now mentioned as customary and neces- 
 sary to be done in such a juncture of time 
 as this was, the holy confessor had but slightly 
 answered the charge and accusation it was his 
 business there to clear. But least of all could 
 he have comforted himself, that by God's as- 
 sistance he had caused such a considerable 
 part of his cure to assemble there, if the offices 
 which should minister all the spiritual help they 
 then assembled for, were not dispensed to them 
 too. To apply this therefore to the case in 
 hand. 
 
 What manner of Church was this of Alexan- 
 dria at this time ? The bishop in exile had se- 
 veral congregations of his flock in and about the 
 place where his miserable banishment had con- 
 fined him ; the presbyters in his absence, and 
 by his order and authority, hold a religious as- 
 sembly in the city itself: one only bishop all 
 this while issues out precepts, and acts as chief 
 pastor and governor of these distinct and so far 
 distant congregations, and is by the general 
 language of the catholic church, and of the 
 authentic historians of that time, entitled bishop, 
 without partner or competitor, of the particular 
 church of Alexandria. 
 
 If this be consistent with the definition of 
 such a particular church, as this primitive Fa- 
 ther was produced to bear witness to, and that 
 in this very narrative of his, where all that 
 
14 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 I have here offered is recorded by his own 
 hand, I am afraid such enquiries into antiquity 
 will help but little to settle a wavering mind 
 about the true constitution of the church. 
 
 There is one instance more brought by our 
 learned author, to shew that the word church 
 was anciently taken in his sense ; and because it 
 is a short one, I shall not pass it by, though it is 
 more surprising to me than both the others. It 
 is from Tertullian's Exhortat. ad Castit., where 
 that Father says, Ubi tres, ecclesia est; 6 Where 
 three are together, there we have a Church : now 
 to stop at a comma, after four single words in any 
 quotation, where two words more would bring 
 him to a full period, and explain the author's 
 meaning too, is a little strange to me ; for Ter- 
 tullian's whole sentence is only this, Ubi tres, 
 ecclesia est, licet laid f , that is, ' Where three are 
 there a church is, though they be all but laymen:' 
 and is it not strange to any man, as weh 1 as me, 
 that such an extraordinary church as this, with 
 but three laymen in it, should be brought to 
 explain the primitive notion of a particular 
 church associating together with their pastors 
 and ministers for participation of the ordinances 
 and institutions of Christ? And yet to this 
 very quotation our ingenious enquirer immedi- 
 ately subjoins; "in this sense," says he, "we must 
 understand the church of Rome, of Smyrna, of 
 Antioch, and in short, in any other such place 
 whatsoever. 
 
 There is an observation in our inquisitive 
 
 f [Tertull. De Exhort. Cast. vii. p. 522. ed. Riealt. Venet, 
 1744.] 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 15 
 
 author's fourth notation of a church, particularly 
 calculated for the use of his own scheme, and 
 therefore must briefly be considered: he ob- 
 serves there, (p. 4.) that "he never met with the 
 word church, used in the singular number by 
 any of the Fathers for a collection of many parti- 
 cular churches, except once only in Cyprian 8 , 
 who mentions "the church of God in Africa, and 
 Numidia, Now there is something in Irenaeus, 
 quoted by himself too in the very next leaf, which 
 looks very like it ; for all the Christian churches 
 which were gathered from among the Gentiles, 
 that learned Father expresses by c a church,' in 
 the singular number, (the expression you have 
 in the margin, 11 as quoted to my hand in the 
 seventh page of the Enquiry,) and that implies c a 
 collection of churches sure beyond all exception. 
 But the truth is, I am not aware in the least 
 what advantage this can be to the point in 
 question, to observe that a particular church is 
 ordinarily expressed in the singular number; 
 since it is a natural expression for it, and no 
 otherwise explains the constituent parts of it, 
 than to say, it is a church somewhere, in some 
 place or another, which how much it clears up 
 the notion of it, we have seen before. Nor is 
 it of better use to observe, that national or pro- 
 vincial churches are usually expressed in the 
 plural number, since it affords no evidence at 
 all to prove what manner of churches they 
 
 Gyp. Ep. 71. sect. 4. [qui illo tempore in provincia Africa 
 et Numidia ecclesiam Domini gubernabant.] 
 
 h Ea qua ex Gentibus est Ecclesia. Iren. 1. iv. c. 37. [20. 
 sub fine. Benedict. Venet. The Greek recovered from a Catena 
 on the Pentateuch.] 
 
16 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 were that were comprehended under them, 
 which is the only point in question. 
 
 I make 110 doubt but our author's suggestion 
 in it is this, that if a particular church had 
 more congregations than one in it, it would 
 surely be expressed in the plural number ; and 
 why? Because a single congregation and a 
 particular church, he would have us take for 
 granted, were one and the same thing in the 
 sense and language of the ancients, which 
 though he has not proved, (and I think by the 
 little already said he will find it hard to do,) 
 yet this is an early preparation for it, and some- 
 thing like begging the question beforehand; 
 therefore I thought it not improper to take 
 a little notice of it, especially since in matter of 
 fact it is a mere oversight of the enquirer ; for 
 I shall shew instances to the contrary in the 
 beginning of the next chapter. 
 
 The notion of a primitive church thus cleared, 
 as we have seen, he proceeds in a regular and 
 proper method, to enquire into the constituent 
 parts of it, and to consider the particular offices, 
 together with the joint and several acts of the 
 respective members of the church he has before 
 defined for us. 
 
 I am willing to set out and go along with 
 him as far as truth and primitive authorities 
 (fairly represented) will give me leave to do. 
 His first division of the members of a church 
 is just and unexceptionable ; he distinguishes 
 them both as primitive and modern Christians 
 do, into ' clergy,' and ' laity,' shutting out Ter- 
 tullian's wild conceit now, though offered un- 
 awares before as a notion of a church wholly 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 17 
 
 unaccountable. His division (p. 9.) of the clergy, 
 afterwards, into their particular orders and de- 
 grees, as far as names and titles go, is as ortho- 
 dox and primitive as the other; for bishops, 
 priests, and deacons (so called, at least by him) 
 are as approved ecclesiastical officers in his sin- 
 gular scheme, as, in a genuine and more pro- 
 per distinction of them, we are sure they always 
 were in every true church of Christ since the 
 apostles' times. But I am sorry to say here, 
 that this close adhering to a primitive form of 
 words, without retaining faithfully the primi- 
 tive and genuine signification of them, is only a 
 more plausible and dangerous way of setting off 
 mistakes, and makes men lose the truth, with- 
 out being sensible how it steals away. And 
 this, I am afraid, will prove the case of our in- 
 genious enquirer himself, and has caused his 
 performance to pass so insensibly with others; 
 because there are some shades of antiquity in 
 the draught, though, nearly examined, but very 
 few natural and original lines are to be found. 
 And when you have seen what bishops and 
 priests he has settled in his church, what of- 
 fices, acts, and powers he has assigned to the 
 several members of it, you will need no other 
 light to discover this by, or to discern the dif- 
 ference between f things' and c names.' 
 
 To proceed then ; he seems fairly to derive 
 all power and authority in the church from the 
 true fountain of it, our blessed Lord Himself, 
 and His inspired apostles, commissioned and em- 
 powered by Him to plant and govern churches : 
 but the manner of their conveying this power 
 to others, either for assistance or succession to 
 
 c 
 
18 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 themselves in their great charge, which is a 
 main part of this Enquiry, I am afraid will not 
 appear so plain. Let us see his thoughts of it. 
 He begins with quoting two authorities from 
 antiquity, to shew the apostles' method of con- 
 stituting pastors and governors in the churches 
 they gathered. The first is from Clemens 
 Romanus, (Ep. 1 Cor. p. 54.), where that Father 
 says, " The apostles went forth preaching in 
 city and country," as our enquirer is pleased 
 to translate and place the words, but in ' coun- 
 tries and cities 1 , [as it is in Clemens himself; 
 and perhaps that slight variation has some use 
 in it afterwards, and therefore the Greek words 
 are omitted in his quotation] appointing the 
 first-fruits of their ministry for bishops and dea- 
 cons.' Thus far Clemens. To which our en- 
 quirer adds, that ' the apostles generally left 
 those bishops and deacons to govern those par- 
 ticular churches over which they had placed 
 them, whilst they themselves passed forward,' 
 etc. Now, if he means that they left them al- 
 ways as supreme church-governors there, I con- 
 ceive the Holy Scriptures will be clear against 
 him ; for that supremacy of power over all the 
 apostolical churches, for the greatest part, at 
 least, of the apostles' lives, was reserved in their 
 own hands, by which St. Paul so justly imputed 
 to himself ' the care of all the churches k ;' and 
 his commands, censures, and peremptory pre- 
 cepts, so visible in most of his epistles to them, 
 
 1 Kara xP a s vv Kal TTO\IS KTjpvffffovres KaQiffravov ras airap- 
 Xs O.VT&V ets tiria-KOTTovs Koi StcwcoVoi/s, K. T. A. Clem. Rom. 
 Ep. i. [42. Jacobson.] 
 
 k 2 Cor. xi. 28. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 19 
 
 do evidently prove the same ; and therefore, 
 whatsoever assistants they were to the apostles 
 by their ministry and regulation of the churches 
 under them, they could not be ecclesiastical 
 officers invested with a plenitude of church- 
 power. I only note this here (which must be 
 more at large considered afterwards) for the sake 
 of his second authority immediately quoted from 
 Tertullian, to the same intent with this : " For 
 thus," says he, ff Tertullian saith, Clemens was 
 ordained bishop of Rome by St. Peter, and Po- 
 ly carp bishop of Smyrna by St. John." 
 
 Now, see here, how the fundamental mistake 
 insinuates itself, as it were, at unawares. Here 
 are two quotations brought to prove that the 
 apostles themselves ordained pastors and spi- 
 ritual officers in the several churches they 
 planted; and because the name of ( bishop' is 
 attributed to them in both places, therefore they 
 are to pass for church-officers, not only equal 
 in their apostolical institution, but in the fulness 
 of their commission, powers, and order too. 
 Here lies the secret spring, indeed, that governs 
 the motions of the whole discourse ; and if it 
 were set right by an even and unbiassed hand, 
 the controversy would move in a regular and 
 uniform manner on both sides, till the adver- 
 saries met, I verily believe, in a blessed har- 
 mony and consent with one another. For if 
 these apost9lical church- officers, expressed only 
 by a common name with one another, were but 
 understood to be of a ' different order' and de- 
 gree by the very tenor of their first commission, 
 as to the extent of powers, prerogatives, and ju- 
 risdiction, conveyed and assigned to each of 
 
 c 2 
 
20 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 them, (as I think the epistles to Timothy and 
 Titus alone would satisfy a sober Christian that 
 such a difference there really was,) the most en- 
 tangled knot of the dispute would then be un- 
 tied, and probably whole churches and nations 
 of divided Christians now, would, to the un- 
 speakable joy of all good men, go hand in hand 
 to the house of God together, upon the settling 
 of that single point alone. 
 
 What unexceptionable authorities there are 
 in the venerable records of antiquity for it, be- 
 sides the Holy Scriptures themselves, and the 
 uninterrupted harmony of the catholic church 
 in it, before the modern innovation at Geneva 
 against it, I shall have occasion enough to ob- 
 serve in the sequel of this discourse ; and I shall 
 only shew here, what considerable reasons our 
 ingenious enquirer has given ' in this very trea- 
 tise of his to persuade himself,' and all other 
 sons of peace, like him, to consent to this dis- 
 tinction. 
 
 "The first reason I observe from him is this ; 
 that for want of thus acknowledging this dif- 
 ference of order and prerogative in the church- 
 officers ordained by the apostles' hands, he has 
 brought a perplexing difficulty upon himself, 
 and set the Holy Scriptures and primitive Fa- 
 thers of the church at 'a seeming' variance, at 
 least, and well-nigh palpable contradiction with 
 one another. For thus he tells us, in the very 
 next paragraph after the two quotations above- 
 mentioned, (p. 11. sect. 5.): "Whether," says 
 he, " in the apostolical and primitive days there 
 were more bishops than one in a church, at first 
 sight seems difficult to resolve that the Holy 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 21 
 
 Scriptures, and Clemens Romanus, mention 
 many in one church/' says he, " 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." 
 These contradictions and seeming difficulties, 
 as he calls them, he takes the pains of writing 
 his elaborate Enquiry in hopes to reconcile. 
 Surely, he had some extraordinary inclination 
 to solve them in a peculiar and different way 
 from others. For, 
 
 The second reason I observe from him for 
 reconciling all at once, is, because he shews us 
 a more plain, natural, and truly primitive way 
 than that, in one single passage of his book be- 
 fore us. You may find it in his fourth chapter, 
 p. 65, of this Enquiry ; where his assertion is, 
 that " the first who expressed these church- 
 officers by the distinct terms of bishops and 
 presbyters, was Ignatius," who lived in the 
 beginning of the second century. And from 
 hence I crave leave to observe these three 
 things, 
 
 1st. That as often as we meet with the word 
 bishop or presbyter in the Holy Scriptures, we 
 cannot, by the term itself, determine which of 
 the two, according to the more distinct language 
 of the ages immediately following, we must ne- 
 cessarily understand by it; unless the context, 
 or some peculiar circumstance besides, does 
 more clearly explain it to us. And, 
 
 2ndly. That the same latitude of signification 
 must for the same reason be allowed to Clemens 
 Romanus's bishops and presbyters too, because 
 
22 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 that holy bishop 1 suffered martyrdom before 
 Ignatius's Epistles were written ; wherein the 
 different and determinate sense of those words, 
 as our learned enquirer affirms, were first esta- 
 blished in the church. And therefore, 
 
 3rdly. It is but doing justice to Tertullian in 
 his quotation, and allowing him and all the Fa- 
 thers after him to mean by ' their bishops' such 
 as the whole church did then understand, when 
 the pre-eminence of that name above the name 
 of presbyters was fully settled ; and to interpret 
 St. Clemens's bishops by that unwarrantable 
 latitude of signification which is acknowledged 
 to have been in general use in his time; and 
 consequently no violence or injustice is done to 
 his quotations, if we take them to be meant of 
 such bishops as were afterwards determinately 
 named and allowed to be no others than com- 
 mon presbyters, in subordination to a higher 
 church-officer, (as to be sure they were at their 
 first ordination in the apostles' times;) and then 
 the great perplexity and doubtful contradiction 
 of the Holy Scriptures and venerable Fathers, 
 about one or more bishops in one and the same 
 church at a time, does naturally, and in perfect 
 analogy to the sense and language of the pri- 
 mitive church, resolve and reconcile itself. For, 
 that many such bishops, indifferently called 
 presbyters in the Holy Scriptures and first age 
 of the church, were placed by the apostles in 
 
 1 Clem. Rom. martyred A. D. 100 ; St. Ignatius sent to 
 Rome, and in his way writing his epistles, A. D. 107. See 
 Dr. Cave's Chron. of the three first centuries. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 23 
 
 particular churches, is agreed, I think, by all. 
 But that more presbyters than one of that de- 
 terminate order or degree, which were pecu- 
 liarly called bishops afterwards, such as Clemens 
 placed by St. Peter at Rome, or St. Polycarp 
 by St. John at Smyrna, were ever ordained or 
 settled by an apostle in any particular church 
 of theirs, I think I may freely say, is nowhere 
 to be read in all primitive antiquity ; and our 
 author's own quotation from Tertullian here is 
 one very pregnant instance of the thing. 
 
 Thus have I shewn what a peaceable and au- 
 thentic way, agreeable to the sense and writings 
 of the early ages our enquirer appeals to, he 
 himself has pointed out for us to compromise 
 that difference ; and his labouring to do it in a 
 more intricate and unprecedented way, I am 
 afraid, will never attain his pious ends of peace 
 and unity so well. 
 
 However, in the very next breath, he fixes 
 upon this for a sure truth, that there was but 
 one ' supreme' bishop in a place. This 6 seems' 
 a very orthodox and primitive assertion; but 
 why such singular difference, in the expression 
 itself, from the common language of the Holy 
 Fathers within his own three centuries ? They 
 speak often enough of but one bishop in a 
 church; but of one ' supreme bishop' in a church, 
 I do not remember I have ever read in their 
 writings. Nay, his own quotations in this very 
 place, (as you may see them in the margin 111 
 here,) bear witness for me, that the venerable St 
 
 m " Unus in ecclesia ad tempus sacerdos." Cyp. Ep. [59. 
 Fell.] OVK ijTriffraro eVa siriffKOTrov fieiv clvai sv KaQoXiKrj e/c- 
 Ad Fabium Antioch. apud Euseb. 1. 6. 43. [ii. Burton.] 
 
24 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 Cyprian and Cornelius did not express them- 
 selves so. And besides, the former of these, in 
 the name of eighty-seven African bishops then 
 in council with him, declared, that " none of 
 them were bishops over bishops n ." What are 
 we to understand then by this ( supreme bishop,' 
 who is to be but bishop of a single church 
 too? The answer is plain: The common lan- 
 guage of the primitive Fathers would not do 
 here ; it would not suit with the following 
 scheme of this Enquiry. For when those Fa- 
 thers named a bishop of a church, they needed 
 no epithet of a superlative degree to distinguish 
 him from any other ecclesiastical officer wdthin 
 the church, but concluded the original 'order' 
 he was of, did that of course for them. But our 
 learned author, who discerns what primitive an- 
 tiquity never saw, viz. That every presbyter 
 who ministered in any church, had received 
 episcopal authority by apostolical institution or 
 succession, as properly and truly as any bishop 
 in the Catholic church whatsoever, (which he 
 positively affirms to be so, p. 70. of this En- 
 quiry), stood in need of such a distinguishing 
 epithet for his single bishop indeed ; and as his 
 phrase appears to be thus plainly singular and 
 new, so we may w^ell expect, that the notion 
 itself, upon which it is grounded, which I shall 
 not here prevent myself from considering in its 
 place, will appear to be so too. 
 
 In the mean time, that orthodox observation 
 he makes immediately after this, seems some- 
 
 n " Neque enim quisquam nostrum episcopum se episcopo- 
 rum constituit." Concil. Carthag. in preefat. apud Cypr. p. 229. 
 [Fell.] [Anno 256.] 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 25 
 
 what extraordinary, if it were but only for the 
 timing it. He had just said, there was but one 
 ' supreme ' bishop in a church ; though, as I 
 shewed just now, there might be many more 
 bishops there of apostolical institution by their 
 order, in his sense of them, as well as that one; 
 and yet forthwith he observes to us, that " by 
 the St,a$o%al, or succession of bishops, ordained 
 by the apostles, the orthodox were wont to 
 prove the succession of their faith, and the no- 
 velty of that of heretics;" and quotes two war- 
 rantable authorities from Irenseus and Tertul- 
 lian (here noted in the margin ) for it. 
 
 Here was an early occasion given indeed for 
 his singular distinction, if he could have war- 
 ranted it, of a ' supreme bishop,' amongst many 
 other apostolical bishops in the same church 
 together. For without that, this great Catholic 
 test to try the true faith by, would have proved 
 no ' test ' at all : for if more bishops than one, of 
 equal original order and apostolical institution 
 too, were ordinarily in the same particular church 
 
 " Edant ergo origines ecclesiarum suarum, evolvant ordi- 
 nem episcoporum suorum, ita per successiones ab initio decur- 
 rentem, ut primus ille episcopus aliquem ex apostolis vel 
 apostolicis viris, qui tamen cum apostolis perseveraverit, habue- 
 rit autorem et antecessorem : hoc enim modo ecclesiae aposto- 
 licee census suos deferunt ; sicut Smyrnseorum ecclesia Poly- 
 carpum ab Johanne conlocatum refert, sicut Romanorum Cle- 
 mentem a Petro ordinatum itidem ; proinde utique et cseterse 
 exhibent, quos ab apostolis in episcopatum constitutes aposto- 
 lici seminis traduces habeant." De Prescript, advers. Haeret. 
 [xxxii. Rigalt.] " Ad earn traditionem quse est ab apostolis, 
 quae per successiones presbyterorum [or successiones episcopo- 
 rum, as it is in the next chapter] in ecclesiis custoditur, pro- 
 vocamus eos." [" Adversantur traditioni, dicentes se non so- 
 lum presbyteris, sed etiam apostolis existentes sapientiores, 
 sinceram invenisse veritatem." St. Irsen. iii. 2.] 
 
26 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 together, as our learned author does affirm, 
 then to prove the orthodoxy of a church's faith, 
 by the succession of one particular apostolical 
 bishop in a church, had no consequence in it 
 at all ; because some other of those apostolically 
 ordained bishops might possibly be at the head 
 of an heretical congregation too, and then the 
 original order and succession of c these' might 
 have been as warrantable an argument for 
 'them,' as the like could be for the other; and 
 by that means, heresy and the true faith would 
 have stood upon an equal bottom with one an- 
 other. This surely must have been the case, ac- 
 cording to our learned author's modern scheme, 
 unless this cautious epithet of ' supreme' had 
 been expressly annexed to that particular bishop, 
 upon whom this rule of orthodox succession did 
 depend. And how Tertullian and Irenaeus 
 could so indefinitely appeal to such an episcopal 
 succession as this, and fix no mark of distinction 
 at all upon the bishops they peculiarly meant, 
 is not otherwise to be accounted for, but that no 
 such distinction of supreme and subordinate or 
 assisting bishops was ever known in their time ; 
 and so the test in general terms was evident and 
 plain enough to all the Christian world then. 
 
 This chapter closes with one remark more, 
 which seems of so indifferent a nature, that one 
 would be apt to pass it over ; but because, like 
 all the rest before, it is calculated for some 
 greater uses which will be made of it afterwards, 
 it must not be overlooked. The remark is only 
 this (p. 14.); "The titles," says he, "of this su- 
 preme church-officer are most of them reckoned 
 up in one place by Cyprian, which are, bishop, 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 27 
 
 Eastor, president, governor, superintendent, [so 
 e translates Antistes], and priest p ;" and fur- 
 ther, says he, " This is he which in the Revela- 
 tions is called the angel of his church, as Origen 
 thinks, which appellations denote both his au- 
 thority and office, his power and duty," etc. 
 Now would not any common reader be apt to 
 think that these are the appropriated titles of 
 his 'supreme' church-officer? and that when- 
 ever he met with them in St. Cyprian's writings, 
 or any other of such primitive antiquity as his, 
 he must always understand that supreme church- 
 officer by them? else why so carefully noted 
 here ? But no such thing, it is quite the con- 
 trary; for in his fourth chapter, from p. 64 
 68, he labours with much reading and great zeal 
 to prove, that most of all these supreme titles 
 were equally given, and did of right belong, 
 to any presbyter whatsoever in the Christian 
 church. And what is the meaning, would one 
 think, of this extraordinary way of arguing? why 
 the case is plain. All the presbyters in any 
 church whatsoever are in that place to be owned 
 for primitive bishops, without any further au- 
 thority or ordination for it than they had be- 
 fore ; and amongst other great reasons for that 
 extraordinary assertion, this is to be a consider- 
 able one, that the same name is very familiarly 
 used by the ancients to express them both by. 
 So that having first possessed his reader here, 
 that these before-mentioned titles are peculiarly 
 bishops' titles, and then shewing him there, that 
 
 P " Episcopus, praepositus, pastor, gubernator, antistes, sacer- 
 dos." Gyp. Ep. [Ixvi. Fell.] 
 
28 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 many of them are often attributed to presbyters, 
 the inference will go smoothly down, that they 
 are unquestionable bishops too ; and I will only 
 add, that by this argument they must every one 
 of them be supreme bishops also. For his chief 
 or supreme bishop was first set apart by him to 
 preside over the whole church he had assigned 
 for him, before he attributed these several titles 
 to him ; and then if they are common to others 
 afterwards, those others must be chief too, so 
 far as those titles can make them bishops at all. 
 And this is more, I think, than our enquirer's 
 own scheme can allow them to be ; and conse- 
 quently, this remark will not conclude the thing 
 for which it was designed. 
 
 By what has been said, I hope it may appear 
 with what caution this first chapter of the learned 
 Enquiry should be read. If I have been thought 
 long in it, it is because I found it true, that the 
 whole discourse would very much depend upon 
 it. A right notion of a primitive church is the 
 very groundwork that all is to be built upon ; 
 this was undertaken to be settled here ; how 
 well it is performed, I leave now to others to 
 determine. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 29 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE great point to be cleared in the se- 
 cond chapter is this ; that " as there was 
 but one bishop in a church," says he, " so there 
 was but one church to a bishop." This is pri- 
 mitive language indeed, and would be primitive 
 truth too, if the singular notion of a particular 
 church before had not turned a Catholic maxim 
 into an equivocal proposition ; for by ( his 
 bishop's church' we know he means a single 
 congregation. And from one observation of 
 his, which he here remarks to us, he would have 
 us assured that the primitive Fathers meant so 
 too. His observation is this ; " that the ancient 
 dioceses are never said to contain churches, in 
 the plural, but only a church, in the singular." 
 Now what they contained in them, whether 
 one or more of such churches as his, his quo- 
 tations a say nothing of; but they shew, indeed, 
 that a bishop's church was usually expressed ' 
 and named then in the singular number; and 
 I will only add this observation to it, that they 
 
 * See his quotations in p. 15 of the Enquiry. 
 
30 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 were just so expressed and named too in after 
 ages of the church, as well as in the first and 
 earliest of them all. In the fourth century, 
 under Constantine the Great, it is notorious 
 how the churches multiplied in the number of 
 their people and their oratories too, yet the 
 celebrated diocese of Antioch is called no more 
 than ( the single church of Antioch 5 ' still ; for so 
 that emperor himself styles it in his letter to Euse- 
 bius, where he applauds his humility for not ex- 
 changing his lesser diocese of Caesarea for it. 
 Eusebius c calls the mother diocese of Jerusalem 
 no otherwise than so, in the same century, and 
 about the same time. In later ages you will 
 find the language of the church holds the same 
 still ; for the council of Carthage, under Theo- 
 dosius and Honorius, in the fifth century, calls 
 the extensive diocese of St. Augustin d , the 
 church of Hippo only, in the singular number. 
 And, to come nearer home, and be short in so 
 clear a point as this is, which I have spoken to 
 in the former chapter, the venerable Bede e in 
 his church history of our native country, ordi- 
 narily calls both larger and lesser dioceses in 
 the land, whether of Canterbury, York, Ro- 
 chester, or the like, by this primitive name of 
 the single church of each of those places ; and 
 that there were more than barely one congre- 
 
 b TTJS Kara rbv 'Aj/Ttoxet'cw KK\7jffias. Euseb. in Vit. Con- 
 stant. 1. 3. c. 61. 
 
 c T$ TTJS eKKXrjffias rrjs eV 'ItpoffoXv/uLOis brurKJiry. Ibid. cap. 
 29. 
 
 d Avyovo-rwos eTriffKoiros TTJS KK\7)ffias 'iTnrdovifjS. 
 
 e Doruvernensis ecclesise antistes. Bede's Eccl. Hist. 1. 2. 
 c. 18.] Tobias Hroffensis ecclesise praesul, Wilfridus in Ebora- 
 censi ecclesia. Ibid. 1. 5. c. 24. [Ed. Stevenson.] 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 31 
 
 gation of believers in each or any of these be- 
 fore-mentioned churches, I believe will not be 
 made a question ; and therefore what argument 
 can be grounded on this remarkable observation, 
 I confess I do not see. Yet, after all, the ob- 
 servation is not just or true ; for Eusebius f 
 names the church of Alexandria, Gaza, Emesa, 
 etc. in the plural number, and their bishop in 
 the singular. (See the quotations in the 
 margin.) 
 
 A more popular one, but of no more force or 
 evidence in it, is that which follows, drawn from 
 the sound alone, and not the sense, of a single 
 word. "The ancients," says he, (p. 15,) "fre- 
 quently denominated their bishop's cure by the 
 Greek word Trapoiicla." The modern English 
 use that word now to express a ' parish' by, ap- 
 proaching very near in sound indeed to one 
 another. And hence he concludes it very pro- 
 bable, at least, that a bishop's cure then, and an 
 English parish now, were both the same thing ; 
 nay he positively (p. 16, 17) affirms, that our 
 present sense of the word is the very same that 
 the ancient Christians took it in, and lays a 
 great stress upon the genuine signification of 
 the word itself for it. 
 
 Now, before I give any account of the use or 
 meaning of this primitive word Trapoi/cia for a 
 Christian church, I hope I need not say, that 
 whatever gave occasion for the use of it, it could 
 have no respect to any language then or now in 
 use amongst us of this nation ; it would be too 
 
 f Of Alexand. See Euseb. 1. 5. c. 9. Of Emesa and Gaza. 
 See Euseb. 1. 8. c. 13. 
 
32 'AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 absurd so much as to imagine such a thing; 
 and therefore to suggest the modern affinity of 
 the words by way of argument in the case, is 
 directly to amuse only where we undertake to 
 instruct. 
 
 The truest method I know, to learn the idiom 
 or propriety of a primitive ecclesiastical word, is 
 by one or all of these three ways. Either, 
 
 1st. By the sense it bears in the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, if we find it there. Or, 
 
 2ndly. By the continued use of it in the 
 Christian church for some time afterwards. Or, 
 
 Srdly. By the common signification of it in the 
 original language from whence it is taken. And 
 by these three tests I shall try at present what 
 the word Trapoifcla anciently might mean. 
 
 In Holy Scripture, I find it used by St. Luke 
 to denote a temporary residence of a stranger in 
 a place remote from home. For in the question 
 of Cleopas to our blessed Lord after his resur- 
 rection, "Art thou only a stranger in Jeru- 
 salem?" etc.s the original words are, ^u JJLOVO? 
 irapoiKel? 'lepovcrahq/j, ; which evidently in- 
 cludes this TrapoiKia in it, as the immediate 
 theme from whence it comes ; and should it be 
 rendered with any analogy to the member of a 
 parish, or such like society in the city, the holy 
 penman's sense would be very singular and un- 
 intelligible indeed. Again ; St. Paul uses it in 
 the very same sense and signification after- 
 wards (Ephes. ii. 19); "You are no longer 
 strangers and foreigners," says he, calling his 
 foreigners there by the name of Trdpoi/coi' which 
 
 e Luke xxiv. 18. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 33 
 
 if we should take it in our learned enquirer's 
 sense, must be rendered 6 very near neighbours,' 
 at least, or ( fellow members of one and the 
 same society together,' which I think directly 
 inverts the meaning of the holy apostle ; and 
 other such-like instances there are. 
 
 So that the Holy Scriptures, you see, sug- 
 gested a very different notion of the word 
 Trapoifcia to the primitive Christians ; and such 
 a one as should sufficiently warrant, and, one 
 would think, give fair occasion to those hea- 
 venly-minded saints to denominate their first 
 societies and churches from it, since they ordi- 
 narily looked upon themselves as mere sojourners 
 and foreigners in the world, and were no other- 
 wise accounted by the heathen round about 
 them. But, 
 
 2dly. We often meet with the word ?ra- 
 poifcla both in the Greek and Latin writers for 
 several ages afterwards, denoting the same thing 
 with a diocese of many parishes and congrega- 
 tions in it ; which further proves that the eccle- 
 siastical sense of the word had not so narrow a 
 notion in it, till particular places determinately 
 made it so. 
 
 In the code of the African church, published 
 both in Greek and Latin by Justellus, we 
 ' meet with dicecesis in one language, rendered 
 by Trapoi/cla in the other. Thus it is in the 
 title of the fifty-sixth canon h , and again and 
 again in the body of the canon itself. So St. 
 
 h Vide Christ. Justell. Can. Ecclesise Africanae, in Can. 56. 
 edit. Paris. 1615. [Trepi rovs ez/ rats irapouciais xeiporoj'ouyueVous 
 eiriffKoirovs yur; viva, kawrots e/c5f/celi> dioiKycriv. Can. Tit. Greec.] 
 
 D 
 
34 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 Jerome, translating an epistle of St. Epiphanius 1 
 to John, bishop of Jerusalem,, expresses both 
 their large dioceses, as they surely were then, 
 by the word parochia only. St. Augustin k , in 
 his epistle to pope Caelestin, tells him, that the 
 town of Fussala was forty miles distant from 
 Hippo ; yet both the place itself, and the country 
 round about it, did before his time belong to 
 the paroechia of his church of Hippo. And to 
 come home to ourselves, the venerable Bede 1 
 calls the diocese of Winchester by the same 
 name, even when the whole province of the 
 South Saxons did belong to it. And then 
 whether the word ' diocese,' so customarily 
 used for secular districts and provinces in the 
 empire, were immediately adopted into the 
 church or no, I think it argues little ; since 
 when it was received, church writers themselves 
 made no scruple to use both dicecesis and paro- 
 chia oftentimes as terms synonymous in sundry 
 ages and nations where diocesan districts were 
 established, which makes it plain enough that 
 it was not with reference to circuit or extent of 
 churches that they used either, till later settle- 
 
 1 Vide Epiphan. Ep. ad Johan. Hierosol. inter opera 
 Hieron. [Ep. li. inter Epis. S. Hieron. edit. Vallars.] Item 
 in Epiphanii torn. 2. p. 312, Latini edit. Petav. Colon. 1682. 
 
 k Vide August. [Ep. cccix. secund. ord. Bened.] "Fussala 
 simul contigua sibi regione ad paroeciam Hipponensis ecclesiae 
 pertinebat." Et infra, "ab Hippone millibus quadraginta 
 sejungitur." 
 
 i " Provincia Australium Saxonum ad civitatis Ventanae 
 parochiam pertinebat." Bede, Eccl. Hist. 1. 5. c. 19. [The 
 words are " Statutum est synodali decreto, ut provincia 
 Australium Saxonum, quse eatenus ad civitatis Ventanae, cui 
 tune Danitrel prseerat, parochiam pertinebat." 1. v. c. 18. 
 Stevenson.] 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. V%^ 3 
 
 VvV* 
 
 ments gave more appropriated senses to 
 in sundry other ecclesiastical terms it is 
 enough to be observed and seen. But then, 
 
 3dly. The very signification of the word 
 TrapoiKia, our learned author will assure us, 
 does make all clear : for " it signifies," says he 
 (p. 16), "a dwelling one by another, as neigh- 
 bours do, or an habitation in one and the same 
 place." But here I must take leave to say, and 
 I hope shall prove it too, that it is taken in a 
 very different sense by writers of unquestionable 
 authority, and by glossaries and critics in the 
 Greek language is sufficiently warranted to be so. 
 
 The inquisitive Suicer m , in his first observa- 
 tion on the word Trapoi/ceco, renders it by the 
 Latin, advena, or peregrinus sum; that is, (as the 
 inspired penmen I shewed you before always 
 use it in the Holy Scriptures,) 'I am a stranger 
 or foreigner in any place.' But this is not all ; 
 he adds immediately, that this very word is put 
 in direct opposition to KaroL/ceiv, which, accord- 
 ing to ancient glosses, says he, signifies ' to 
 dwell,' or 'have an habitation' in any place. 
 And is this anything more or less than down- 
 right opposition to our learned enquirer's pe- 
 remptory interpretation of it? And what this 
 judicious glossary does thus affirm, he makes 
 
 ?3od by the unexceptionable authorities of 
 hilo Judaeus n , St. Basil the Great , Theo- 
 
 m Suicer in vocib. -n-apot/cew and TrapoiKia. irapotKcca sig-^ 
 nificat advena peregrinus sum, et opponitur T /caTOi/ceiV, 
 quod, juxta veteres glossas, habito, incolo. 
 
 n Philo Judseus de Sacrif. Abel et Cain. 'O [yap] ro?s 
 
 yKVK\ioiS fJ.6vOLS 7T(W%CJJ> TTapOlKl (TO^itt, OV KaTOlK?. [Cap. X, 
 
 Lips. 1828.] 
 
 Basil, m. in Ps. 14. 'H irapoiKia eVri titaywyi] irp6(TKaipos. 
 
 D2 
 
36 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 doretP, and others, whose particular quotations 
 you have here noted in the margin, which make 
 it clearer still. 
 
 I am sensible it may be alleged, that the 
 Greek preposition nrapa, when joined in com- 
 position with another word, as it is here, does 
 often signify the same as juxta with the Latins, 
 that is, 'nigh,' or 'near to any place.' And 
 this I take to be the sole motive, indeed, that 
 induced our learned author to make this positive 
 construction of the word. But let Devariusi, 
 that accurate critic in the particles of the 
 Greek tongue, be heard in this case, and he 
 will teach us that we cannot, with any authority, 
 attribute such a determinate sense to it : for his 
 note upon it is this ; fj Trapa, says he, non solum 
 TO e<y<yv$, sed etiam TO jrepa /cat eo> significat ; 
 that is, the preposition Trapa does not only sig- 
 nify ( nigh,' or ' near to,' but also ' beyond,' or 
 from ' abroad,' and ' without,' according to the 
 different phrase or authors we may meet it in ; 
 which sufficiently justifies the above-mentioned 
 ancient writer's using it, even in this very word 
 before us, in direct opposition to that of dwell- 
 ing nigh one another in one and the same 
 place. 
 
 But too much of this ; for I ever took criticism 
 to be a slender way of arguing in so great a sub- 
 ject as this is, only I found no help for it here, 
 the determination was so positive in the case 
 
 P Theodoret. in Ps. 119. Uapoudar /caAeT, T^V fv rfj a\\o- 
 rpiq, Siaytoyrjv. 
 
 1 Vide Matth. Devarii, lib. de Graec. ^Enig. particul. Edit, 
 du Gard. p. 206. A. D. 1657. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 37 
 
 and such smooth insinuations advanced upon 
 the plausibility of a single word. 
 
 To pass, then, from words to things ; that if 
 the bare name does not satisfy, we may, at least, 
 by some following observations of matter of 
 fact, consent to his main assertion (p. 17), 
 " That a bishop's diocese and a modern parish 
 were the same, as in name, so in thing ;" that is, 
 let Scripture, Fathers, and history say what they 
 will of the numerous conversions wrought by 
 the blessed apostles themselves, by their in- 
 spired fellow-labourers and successors in the 
 ministry of the Gospel, either in Jerusalem, 
 Judaea, or throughout the heathen world; yet 
 the utmost result of all their labours amounted 
 to no more, for three hundred years together, 
 than just to such a competent society of be- 
 lievers, as could be enclosed within the walls of 
 a single oratory in any of the largest cities upon 
 earth, including the adjacent territories too. 
 
 I wish our learned author had begun his 
 proof of this where the church itself began, and 
 had thought Jerusalem, the mother-church of 
 all, as worthy of his notice as any of the rest, 
 and scripture evidence as fit to be considered as 
 other authorities he is pleased to use. But he 
 has cautiously declined both one and the other ; 
 for in his three first chapters, wherein the whole 
 parochial scheme is finished, we find but one 
 slight reference (c. i. p. 11) to holy writ, and 
 that of no importance to the case, nor any text 
 so much as named at all ; and amongst all the 
 particular churches he chose to treat of, which 
 are pretty many, that of Jerusalem (which the 
 whole college of apostles jointly founded, as it 
 
38 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 were a model for the rest) is not so much as 
 named. Was this for want of matter, can we 
 think, suitable to the subject of his Enquiry 
 there? or rather, that the stream of evidence 
 ran too strong against his whole hypothesis in 
 them both ? Is it so obvious to common sense 
 as not to deserve a little notice, and plainer ex- 
 plication of it, in his way, how the many thou- 
 sands from time to time converted in Jerusalem 
 alone, and the daily increase of them, (as it is 
 specified in the texts here noted in the margin 1 ",) 
 should commodiously, or indeed possibly worship 
 God in one and the same place together, since 
 they neither had the capacious temple, to be 
 sure, or any other place, that should be too 
 much taken notice of, to hold such a numerous 
 and indeed inconceivable assembly in? And 
 yet St. James 8 , (the bishop of this church him- 
 self,) in a few years after, calls those thousands 
 of converted Jews by the multiplied number 
 of ( myriads of them.' Acts xxi. 20. 
 
 The inspired penmen who relate all this had 
 little reason to record in sacred writ, or to 
 amuse posterity with the number, method, or 
 
 r Acts i. 15. " The number of the names together were 
 about one hundred and twenty." Acts ii. 41. " There were 
 added to them about three thousand souls." Ver. 47. " The 
 Lord added daily to the church such as should be saved." 
 Acts iv. 4. (Peter and John preaching afterwards upon healing 
 of the cripple.) " Many of them which heard, believed ; and 
 the number of men was about five thousand." Acts v. 14. " Be- 
 lievers were the more added to the Lord both of men and 
 women." Acts vi. 7. " Still the word of God increased, and 
 the number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly ; and 
 a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith." 
 
 8 ewpets, a5eA<e, TroVcu MupraSes elfflv 'louScuW TWJ/ TreTnareu- 
 KOTW Acts xxi. 20. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 39 
 
 nature of the churches, oratories, or meeting- 
 houses (call them what we please) wherein those 
 multitudes of blessed converts held assemblies 
 for the offices and mysteries of their new re- 
 ligion, though c their breaking bread from house 
 to house,' the churches mentioned in ( private 
 and particular houses' there, are no imperfect 
 intimations of it, whatever other interpretations 
 may be forced upon them. But, be that as it 
 will, the matter of fact which they tell us com- 
 mands our faith ; and if common sense and 
 reason can contract such numbers into a single 
 congregation, all their other writings, I am 
 afraid, will feel the dangerous effect of such an 
 extraordinary sort of commenting upon them. 
 
 Tertullian says more than all this still, and 
 that of every place in general too. The num- 
 bers of Christians* in his early age were well ) 
 nigh the f greater part' of ' every' city; for so j 
 he frankly tells the persecuting Scapula, who 
 was not to be jested with. And again ; to all 
 the Roman magistrates, in his Apology, he 
 glories in the multitudes of his profession thus r 
 "We are of yesterday 11 ," says he, "yet every 
 place is filled with us, your cities, the islands, the ? 
 forts, your corporations, the councils, the armies, i 
 the tribes and companies ; yea, the palace, 
 
 1 " Tanta hominum multitude, pars poene major cuj usque 
 civitatis." Tertul. ad Scap. c. 2. 
 
 u " Hesterni sumus, et vestra omnia implevimus ; urbes, in- 
 sulas, castella, municipia, conciliabula, castra ipsa, tribus, 
 decurias, palatium, senatum, forum ; sola vobis reliquimus 
 templa." Tertul. Apol. cap. 37. " Si tanta vis hominum in 
 aliquem orbis remoti sinum abrupissemus a vobis .... procul- 
 dubio expavissetis ad solitudinem vestram, ad silentium rerum, 
 et stuporem quendam quasi mortui orbis." Id. ib. 
 
40 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 senate, and courts of justice; your temples only 
 have we left you free. Should we go off and 
 separate from you, you would stand amazed at 
 your own desolation, be affrighted at the stop 
 and deadness of affairs amongst you ; and you 
 would have more enemies than subjects left you." 
 An incomprehensible account, sure, if the biggest 
 city in the empire had no more than a single 
 congregation in it. 
 
 Let me add a hint or two from the excellent 
 Eusebius to the same purpose here. That ac- 
 curate historian, when he speaks in general of 
 the primitive Christian churches in every city 
 and country, about the close of the apostolic 
 age, uses such singular terms to express the 
 multitudes and numbers of them*, as any im- 
 partial reader must needs confess, do rather 
 denote them to be hosts and legions, than any 
 such thing as mere parochial assemblies. His 
 words are hardly to be rendered in our own 
 tongue ; for " the greatest number of thronged 
 and crowded societies of them " are an imperfect 
 translation of his original, (as you may see it in 
 the margin,) and his comparison for them is this,, 
 that " they were like heaped grain upon a barn 
 floor." It is strange if so exact an author as 
 this should strain for such superlative words as 
 these are to describe only a common congrega- 
 tion by. Yet thus he represents, we see, the 
 state of Christian churches at the entrance, as it 
 were, of that period of time to which our learned 
 author all along appeals ; and before he comes 
 
 x Kal STJTO, di/a Trdcras Tr6\eis re Kal /echoes, ir\r]dvov(rr)s aXuvos 
 SiKrjv, pvpiavSpoi Kal Tra/j.TrXyOe'ts adpovs fKK\rj(Tiai aweor^/cecrav. 
 Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. 2. c. 3. [s. 3. Burton.] 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 41 
 
 to the end of his third century, he confutes, I 
 think, even to a demonstration, the whole hypo- 
 thesis at once; for, speaking of the peaceful 
 and blessed times that Christians enjoyed after 
 the Valerian persecution ended, and before the 
 Dioclesian began, which was the last forty years 
 of the third century ; " Who can describe y ," says 
 he, " the innumerable increase and concourse of 
 them? the numbers of assemblies in each city? 
 and the extraordinary meetings in their houses 
 of prayer ? So that not content with the build- 
 ings they had of old, they founded new and 
 larger churches throughout every city ;" which 
 agrees directly with what Optatus 2 , the holy 
 bishop of Milevis, tells us, that when Dioclesian 
 destroyed the Christian churches, which was 
 but five years after the third century at the 
 most, there were above forty basilica, that is, 
 public places for Christian worship in the 
 single city of Rome. When were these forty 
 churches built or dedicated to this holy use? 
 None of them, can we imagine, so much as five 
 or six years before? Had the Christians en- 
 joyed forty years of peace and favour with the 
 emperors just at that time, and not provided so 
 much as two or three such houses of God for 
 their solemn assemblies, and yet had occasion 
 for forty of them, and actually had them too, 
 
 y IIcDs 5' kv ns 8iaypd'fyi ras /jLvpLavfipovs eKtivas sir iff way cay as ; 
 Kal ra irX^Qif] ruv Kara iraffav Tr6\iv aQpoiffp.dr(av^ ras re eiriff^^ovs 
 i> TO?S Trpo(rVKrTf]piois (rvvSpo/uias ; wv 8^7 eVe/ca /xTjSa^tcDs en rois 
 Tra\aiois oiKodo/j.'fi/jiaa'i apKov/nVOi 9 evpeias els ir\dros ava Trdffas 
 ras Tr6\*is e/c flr^eAico*/ aviffrow eKK\rjfftas. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 
 1. 8. c. 1. [s. 4. Burton.] 
 
 z Optat. de Schism. Donat. 1. 2. [iv. Duperi quadra- 
 ginta et quod excurrit.] 
 
42 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 before the fatal edict was issued out, that levelled 
 them all to the ground ? I leave the reader to 
 decide the probability of this ; and that the city 
 of Rome was not singular in this case, I believe 
 any reasonable man would easily agree. 
 
 Neocaesarea, we know, the famed metropolis 
 of Cappadocia, was long before this as happily 
 stored as Rome itself proportionably could be, 
 with such Christian oratories for the exercise 
 of their religion. For when their apostolical 
 bishop St. Gregory had converted that whole 
 city, save only seventeen persons, by the mighty 
 hand of God upon him, the zealous citizens 
 pulled down their altars, temples, and idols, 
 and in every place built 'houses of prayer in 
 the name of Christ' in the room of them. The 
 venerable father of the church, who relates this, 
 lived in the fourth century indeed, which our 
 strict enquirer, I know 5 , would in no case have 
 concerned himself with in this matter ; but since 
 it is only a historical matter of fact, and that 
 within his own period of time too, I hope so 
 unexceptionable an author as St. Gregory Nys- 
 sen c may be allowed to bear witness to it. 
 Though I can scarce forbear taking notice upon 
 this occasion, that all the glorious lights of the 
 Christian church in the fourth and fifth cen- 
 turies, whose names can scarcely be mentioned 
 without deference and veneration by any true 
 sons of the church of Christ, must be wholly 
 set aside, and (implicitly at least) stigmatized 
 
 b BW/XWJ/ re Kal '\pS)v Kal EtSwAcov tv avTO?s avaTGTpafj.iJ.tJ'W 
 Tldvruv Se Kara rSirov iravra. 
 
 c EvKrrjpiovs evri ry bv6(j.an Xpiffrov vaovs aveytipovrwv. Greg. 
 Nyssen. in Vit. Thaumat. torn. iii. p. 567. Paris edit. 1638. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 43 
 
 with innovation, and prevaricating from the 
 evangelical institution and apostolical establish- 
 ment of the Christian church, to make way for 
 this 6 congregational scheme ;' which makes the 
 sagacious author of the Enquiry before us, lay 
 such strict injunctions, as in his preface he 
 does, upon any that should consider his elabo- 
 rate work, not to stir a hair's breadth from the 
 third century of the church ; for to the glo- 
 rious Basils, Gregories, Chrysostom, Austin, or 
 any of their contemporaries, he dares not appeal; 
 knowing how notoriously the Catholic church 
 of God (then acknowledged in the world, and 
 ever since) had dioceses and churches of a very 
 different constitution from his. This considera- 
 tion, I verily believe, would a little affect some 
 sort of modest men, but I leave it to themselves. 
 And having briefly shewn you in what manner 
 Scripture, church-history, and ancient Fathers, 
 applaud the honour of God, and do justice to 
 the blessed labours of the holy apostles, in 
 setting forth the innumerable souls they gained 
 to God and his church, in so little a compass of 
 time ; I shall now, without further interruption, 
 consider the important observations which our 
 learned enquirer has made upon sundry pas- 
 sages in the writings of the primitive Fathers, 
 which have prevailed upon him to affirm, that 
 there was no more than one single congrega- 
 tional church of Christians for three hundred 
 years together in the greatest city in the 
 world. 
 
 He begins with Justin Martyr, and renders 
 a passage in his first Apology thus : " On Sun- 
 
44 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 day," says he d , " all assemble together in one 
 place." Now Justin's words are these : " On 
 Sunday all throughout cities or countries meet 
 together ;" and why do we think he left out 
 these words, c throughout cities or countries/ 
 which were in the very middle of the sentence? 
 Why? because those words of the holy martyr 
 would undeniably shew it to be a general ac- 
 count of Christian practice in all places of the 
 Christian world; whereas our enquirer's busi- 
 ness was to make it a particular instance of a 
 single bishop's diocese, and that all the mem- 
 bers of it, both in city and country, met in one 
 and the same place together at once ; and if it 
 were so, then c cities and countries' in the plural 
 number, would be too much for him ; for if they 
 proved anything in that sense, they would prove 
 that ' cities and countries,' indefinitely taken, 
 wherever there were any Christians in them, 
 met 'all' together every Sunday, and made but 
 one congregation ; and therefore the [cruz/eXei;- 
 <7*9 ylverai, eirl TO avro~\, which properly sig- 
 nifies 6 assembling together,' though it is ex- 
 pressed in the singular number, yet being spoken 
 with reference to a complex body, as it evi- 
 dently is here in relation to cities and countries 
 at large, does severally refer to each distinct 
 member and part, whereof that complex body 
 does consist; and plainly denotes, that every 
 part, as well one as the other, did hold an as- 
 
 d Enquiry, p. 17. Tlavrui/ eVl TO avrb oiWAcvcns ylverai. 
 Just. Martyr. Apol. i. p. 98. Justin's words are these ; Tlav- 
 TWV Kara ir6\is 3) aypovs p.^6vr<av e?rl rb avrb (Tvvetevffis yi- 
 verai. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 45 
 
 sembly on that day, or else the same absurdity 
 would unavoidably follow as before, that all 
 made but one assembly in the whole. So un- 
 warily, at least, are this holy martyr's words 
 misrepresented here, to prove what they nowise 
 do prove, or never intended to do. 
 
 For the plain case was this ; the pious Apolo- 
 gist writes to the heathen emperor, senate, and 
 people, in vindication of the persecuted Chris- 
 tians throughout the Roman empire, and to- 
 wards the close of his Apology sets forth the 
 general method of them all in the exercise of 
 their religion ; I say, ' the general method of 
 them all,' for otherwise his charitable plea for 
 that profession had been very lame and imper- 
 fect indeed, and contrary to the tenor of his 
 whole Apology, as is obvious to them that read 
 it. So that his Sundays'-assemblies here, were a 
 specification of the Catholic practice, whether 
 in cities or countries throughout the empire, as 
 the plural words, observed above, do unques- 
 tionably imply ; and forasmuch as they were 
 aliens to the Christian dispensation, to whom 
 he wrote, he neither used the peculiar, word 
 bishop or presbyter, to express the president of 
 their respective assemblies by, though our en- 
 quirer frankly translates it by the former of 
 these, but only such a general term 6 as might 
 instruct the heathens he addressed, that a 
 person in peculiar authority did preside over 
 each of them, and principally discharge the du- 
 ties of the assembly, and the day; and what 
 
 e 'O Trpo(TT<as' Just. Apol. ib. 
 
46 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 does this prove as to the certainty of but one 
 congregation only in any city or diocese ? 
 
 His next appeal is to sundry passages in the 
 epistles of St. Ignatius. The quotations are 
 pretty many in number ; but the force and im- 
 portance of them all, I conceive, when you hear 
 them, will appear to be much the same. 
 
 To the church of Smyrna f he writes thus : 
 " Where the bishop is, there the people must 
 be." And again ; " It is unlawful to do any- 
 thing without the bishop." To the Trallians, 
 thus : " There is a necessity that we do nothing 
 without the bishop 8 ." And to the Philadel- 
 phians: "Where the pastor is, there the sheep 
 ought to follow 11 ." And to the Magnesians: 
 " As Christ V' says he, " did nothing without the 
 Father, so do you nothing without the bishop 
 and presbyters, but assemble into the same place 
 (so he renders ejrl TO avTo, without any other 
 word joined to it ;) that you may have one 
 prayer, one supplication, one mind, and one 
 hope." 
 
 Now can any man see more in all this, than 
 that the bishop must be in all the ministrations 
 of the church, and none can rightly partake of 
 
 f "Oirov av (pavy 6 eVtV/coTros, eVce? rb 7r\r)6os effrw. OVK 
 
 Q6v SffTlV XVpls eTTHTKOTTOV OVT ^UTTrl^lV, OVT ctyaTTTJJ/ 7TOI6?V. 
 
 Ep. ad Smyr. [8 Jacobson.] 
 
 S * KvaryKcuov ovv fcrnv avev Tri(TK6irov firj^ey irpaLfffftiv vfj.as. 
 Ep. ad Tralles. [2. Jacobson.] 
 
 h "Oirov 8e 6 iroifj^v eVrfi/, e'/ce? ws Trpofiara aKO\ov6e7r. Ep. 
 ad Philad. [2. Jacobson.] 
 
 1 "Avev TOV eTrtcr/c^TTou ical r<av Trpefffivrepuv ^Sev TrpAffffyrf, 
 a\\a eirl rb avrb juia Trpoffvx^ 9 pia Seriffis, els yovs, pia. f\iris. 
 Ep. ad Magnes. [7. Jacobson.] 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 47 
 
 any of them, but by him ? But how ? By his 
 personal ministry alone? Yes; or else all our 
 learned enquirer's use and inference from them, 
 will come to little indeed. But are we sure the 
 holy martyr himself meant so too? Nothing 
 plainer, I think, than that he did not ; else how 
 could he say immediately before his charge to 
 the church of Smyrna, c of doing nothing with- 
 out the bishop,' "Let that eucharist be counted 
 valid with you," says he, " which is celebrated 
 by your bishop, or by such a one as he shall 
 authorize to do it k ." And immediately after it 
 again, as soon as he had told them that without 
 the bishop it was not lawful to baptize or so- 
 lemnize their love-feast, (which implies commu- 
 nion too,) he adds, as it were by way of excep- 
 tion : " But what he (that is, the bishop) does 
 approve, that is acceptable unto God 1 ." The 
 bishop's permission and approbation, it seems 
 then, were, in the holy martyr's sense, as good 
 as his very act and deed. And no less is plainly 
 to be seen in that great argument, by which he 
 enjoins this dutiful regard to the bishop, in his 
 charge to the Magnesians : " As the Lord," 
 says he, " did nothing of himself, or by his apo- 
 stles, without the Father; so neither do you 
 without the bishops and the presbyters m ." In 
 the relative part of this comparison, we see, 
 what our Lord did either tf by himself, or his 
 apostles,' commissioned by him, are implied to 
 
 jSe/Jata "Evxapiffrla T^yefrr&o T] vrrb T^V eTriffKOTrov ovffa, 
 fy f Uv avrbs firirpfyr). Ad Smyrn. [8. Jacobson.] 
 
 1 S AAA J 'o &*/ KWos tioKifjuifri, rovro Kal T<$ e Mpwrov. Ib. 
 
 10 O#re 5i' eauToiJ, oftre 5ta T&V a,iroffr6\wv. Ep. ad Magnes. 
 [7. Jacobson.] 
 
48 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 be the same thing; and therefore in the cor- 
 relate which answers to it, what the church 
 should do by the ministry of the bishop himself, 
 or of the presbyters commissioned by him, by a 
 just analogy of sense should be the same too ; 
 and for this reason, perhaps, our cautious en- 
 quirer, in quoting this passage in this place, left 
 out the whole former part of this comparison in 
 his original in the margin, and these words 
 [ c By himself, or by his apostles '], in his trans- 
 lation of it in the text. I need not add, sure, 
 how natural and undisputed a maxim it is, in 
 all acts of government whatsoever, that the su- 
 preme magistrate is said and owned to do what 
 is warrantably done by his commissioned mi- 
 nisters and authority; so little does St. Igna- 
 tius's language, in this sense, and in his own in- 
 terpretation of it, differ from the ordinary dia- 
 lect and notion of all mankind. 
 
 That a bishop, then, might and did so act by 
 deputed presbyters, I think is very clear in St. 
 Ignatius's own sense of it ; and this sort of de- 
 putation so very nearly resembles even what we 
 call ' institution ' in an episcopal church at this 
 day, at least as to the exercising of ministerial 
 offices in it, that if the place, as well as office, 
 were assigned, I should scarce know what we 
 did dispute about. And that those primitive 
 bishops could and did assign to presbyters, as 
 well a separate place or places to minister in, as 
 depute them to the ministry itself, I can bring 
 this very learned enquirer himself to bear wit- 
 ness for me ; for in the 38th and 39th pages of 
 this very treatise of his, where he gives account 
 of the populous church of Alexandria, he con- 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 49 
 
 fesses, that "because it was incommodious for 
 all the people to assemble in their own usual 
 meeting-place, which was very far from their 
 own homes, and withal to avoid schism from 
 their bishop, the people asked leave, and the 
 good bishop Dionysius granted it, that they 
 should erect a chapel of ease." He might have 
 said 6 chapels' in the plural, if he pleased; for 
 in the historian himself there is the n same au- 
 thority for it ; " and this, about the suburbs of 
 the city, and to be under the bishop's jurisdic- 
 tion, and guided by a presbyter of his commis- 
 sion and appointment ." This passage from 
 Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. vii. c. 11. is represented 
 in a very nice and arbitrary figure here, to suit 
 the scheme it was produced for, as much as it 
 could handsomely do ; and yet how little it 
 does so, nay, how directly it contradicts the 
 whole, is obvious to any reader by the bare re- 
 citing of it. Here are several assemblies of 
 Christians under the jurisdiction of one bishop; 
 subordinate and accountable presbyters, by per- 
 mission and commission of that one bishop, 
 officiating separately in them; and distinct places 
 assigned for their doing so. Judge if this be 
 like our Enquirer's congregational diocese, or 
 can be reasonably opposed to a genuine epis- 
 copal one, even in after ages of the church, and 
 down to these days of ours, if we will not still 
 insist on bare names, and overlook things. 
 
 His only salvo is, that "on solemn occasions, 
 they were all to assemble still in one church, 
 
 n Kara /mepos 3,vvay<ayai. Dionys. apud Euseb. 1. vii. c. 11. 
 See my remarks on this passage at large, from p. 9. to p. 13. 
 in the former chapter. 
 
 E 
 
50 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 and with their one bishop together," which 
 neither Dionysius himself, nor the historian 
 from whence he quotes it, say anything of; and 
 yet we know indeed, that it was a customary 
 form, by which parochial churches, for many 
 ages together, used to testify their union and 
 dependence upon their several cathedrals ^ 
 namely, to offer and communicate with them 
 by proper representatives on the greater festi- 
 vals of the year ; and how much more than 
 that the church of Alexandria ever did, espe- 
 cially in St. Athanasius's time, from whence, 
 our author tells us, he could bring his proof, 
 any man may pretty easily conceive ; since 
 that venerable Father affirms p , that the whole 
 region of Mareotis and all the churches in it, 
 belonged to the bishop of Alexandria alone ; 
 that the presbyters had their several portions of 
 it, and each of them ten or more large villages 
 under their particular care. What sort of con- 
 gregation this whole region, with all the Chris- 
 tians in the great city of Alexandria, would 
 make, I leave to any reasonable man to con- 
 sider. 
 
 Having thus explained this familiar phrase, 
 then, of that primitive martyr Ignatius, " That 
 without the bishop nothing should be done," in 
 a sense which no ways warrants the hypothesis 
 it was quoted for ; and that by the unex- 
 ceptionable authority of the holy Martyr himself, 
 and the very learned author's own concessions, 
 
 P 'O Map(*)T7]s X^P " T ^ y 'A/Ve^ai'Spetas effri' Tip s AAe|az/5peias 
 'ETricr/c^mp at J E/c/cA7](rmi Tra.a"r]S TT)S %wpas vTroKeivrai. "E/cafrros 
 5s TU>V Trpecr/SuTepwj/ !%ei ras IfSias /ccoyuas, peyiffTas, Kal apiB^ 
 e/ca TTOV Kal TrAefovas. St. Athanas. Apol. 2. in Oper. vol. I. p 
 802. edit. Colon. 1686. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 51 
 
 who was here applying it to quite another end ; 
 I think there is no tittle in the before-mentioned 
 citations, that does not in course fall in with 
 the same interpretation ; unless perhaps he will 
 say, that the particular phrases, Em TO avrb, 
 and fjiia 6770^9, will not consist with this; by 
 the former of which, he concludes for certain, 
 that the whole diocese or bishop's church as- 
 sembled ' in one place' together; by the latter, 
 that all public prayer, and religious duties, were 
 *so jointly' performed too. 
 
 But what necessity for this ? Do these words 
 so evidently imply it, that the holy Father him- 
 self could have no other meaning in them? 
 Let the context direct us in the case ; which, 
 together with the sense, which approved com- 
 mentators, and other ecclesiastical writers, give 
 us of the words themselves, will help us to a 
 fair construction of them. 
 
 In the words immediately before these, the 
 holy martyr warns the Magnesians q " to account 
 nothing for a reasonable service, that is done 
 privately," or in their own private way. Agree- 
 able, no doubt, to the apostolical charge (Heb. x. 
 25) that "they should not forsake the assem- 
 bling of themselves together," but meet for pub- 
 lic worship under the proper minister of their 
 church ; to avoid schism and heterodox opi- 
 nions, as he proceeds to explain himself pre- 
 sently after. Now, if it had been undeniably 
 proved by any expressions before, that there 
 neither was, nor ought to be, any more than 
 
 iripd(T7)r v\oy6v n QaiveffOai iSia. vjjuv. Ad Magnes. 
 [7. Jacobson.] 
 
 E2 
 
52 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 one single house of prayer, or of public worship, 
 within a bishop's diocese,, and that his personal 
 ministry was absolutely necessary in all divine 
 offices; it might have been fairly inferred in- 
 deed, that they were 'all' obliged to assemble 
 with him, in that one individual place alone : 
 but since the holy Martyr himself had informed 
 us elsewhere, that the most solemn offices of 
 public worship "were valid in themselves, and 
 acceptable to God too," when performed by any 
 person whom the bishop should authorise and 
 approve of for it, as we have seen before he 
 did ; sure, if any particular number or society of 
 members in that diocese had assembled for pub- 
 lic worship, under any presbyter so allowed and 
 commissioned by him to officiate for them, they 
 had answered the full import of the holy Mar- 
 tyr's charge here given them, against private 
 arid clandestine ways of worshipping ; or else I 
 cannot see how the bishop's approbation and 
 permission of such a person could be to any 
 purpose at all. Nay, if the same presbyter, by 
 virtue of such permission, could not minister in 
 places different from their bishop's church, or 
 cathedral of his diocese too; our learned au 
 thor's chapel of ease, as he calls it, in the Alex- 
 andrian church had been no better than a schis- 
 matical conventicle, at the least. So little can 
 it be inferred from St. Ignatius's phrase in this 
 place, that he confined a diocese to a single 
 congregation. 
 
 But let us see what construction impartial 
 commentators, and other ecclesiastical writers, 
 have made of this phrase, 'ETTL TO avro* to 
 whose observations I shall only premise this 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 53 
 
 short and general key to them all ; that as the 
 phrase itself does, by no grammatical construc- 
 tion whatsoever, so much denote a * place,' as it 
 does a ( thing in general,' according to the known 
 rule of all such neutral words as this is ; so in 
 the instances I shall mention, you will find it is 
 accordingly taken and understood by them all. 
 Thus the learned Grotius, explaining this 
 Eirl TO avTOy in Acts iii. 1, he only translates 
 it in these words, Circa idem tempus, that is, 
 6 about the same time.' And in Beza's transla-. 
 tion of the New Testament, the note and para- 
 phrase upon it (Acts ii. 44), is this; that "the 
 common assemblies of the church, with their 
 mutual agreement in the same doctrine, and the 
 great unanimity of their hearts, were signified 
 by it r ." Agreeable to which construction of it, 
 is what we meet with in the Greek translations 
 of Psal. xxxiv. 3, where that which the Septua- 
 gint render 'Ejrl TO CLVTO, by Aquila is trans- 
 lated, c OfJbo6vjjua^oVy that is, 'with one mind,' 
 and 'one heart:' and I need not remind the 
 reader of what we just now observed, that in 
 Justin Martyr's use of the phrase, it could not 
 be understood in the sense that our learned 
 Enquirer here puts upon it, without the gross 
 absurdity of bringing the Christians of whole 
 cities and countries together into one and the 
 same individual place at once (Acts iv, 26, 27). 
 Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles, and people of Is- 
 rael were gathered against Christ tirl TO CLVTO, 
 
 r " Ita communes ecclesise ccetus significantur cum mutua in 
 eandem doctrinam consensione, et summa animorum concor- 
 dia." Not. ad Bez. in Act. ii. 44. Vid. etiam Poli Synops. in 
 Act. ii. 44. 
 
54 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 were they all in one place, and at one time to- 
 gether ? 
 
 How concluding that argument must then be, 
 which proceeds upon a positive interpretation 
 of a single phrase, that is indefinite in its own 
 nature, and determined to signify otherwise by 
 authors of no mean character in the learned 
 world, and is not suitable to the author's own 
 notions, from whence it is taken, neither ; I 
 shall not need to observe. 
 
 But is it possible, you will say, that fiia 
 Trpoo-evxfj and fjuia Severn, that is, one prayer 
 and one supplication for a whole church, should 
 be consistent with this plurality of congrega- 
 tions ? 
 
 Let us see what we mean by it ; and then, it 
 is likely, we shall argue clearer about it. For 
 if it should appear by the nature of the thing 
 itself, and by the use and application which St. 
 Ignatius makes of it, that it can consist so ; that 
 is all, I think, can be required in it. 
 
 Now, from the nature of the thing itself, it 
 is clear, that prayer must be 'one,' either in re- 
 spect of the phrase and words it is uttered or 
 delivered in ; or in respect of the sense and 
 substance, the heads or subject matter of which 
 it is composed : that is, it must be one, either 
 in respect of the ' matter,' or in respect of the 
 'form' of it; for to say it must be 'one' here, 
 upon the account of admitting but one place or 
 one person in a diocese to offer it up, is to 'beg 
 the question,' which it is brought to prove; and 
 therefore unity in either of the other senses, if 
 it agrees with the holy Martyr's sense too, is the 
 fair account of it. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 55 
 
 Now, that it is not meant to be ( one,' in the 
 former sense, relating to the words or phrase of 
 it, I suppose will readily be granted ; for that 
 would make the holy Father plainly to 'prescribe 
 a stinted form, or mere common liturgy in the 
 church; which our gifted congregational bishops, 
 I conceive, would scarce allow. And therefore, 
 2ndly, it must be understood to be f one,' in re- 
 spect of the sense and substance of it; or in 
 plainer terms, it must be ' prayer' made with 
 strict analogy to the one common faith, and 
 sound doctrine of the one catholic Church 
 throughout the Christian world, as every true 
 Christian prayer necessarily ought to be. And 
 in no other sense than this, is it conceivable, I 
 think, how even a single bishop in a congrega- 
 tional church, could be said to offer up this /mia 
 Serjcns, or ' one prayer ' with his people, which 
 is here enjoined, who affects, as often as they 
 meet together, to alter the phrase and language 
 of his devotion for them. 
 
 And that this was St. Ignatius's meaning in 
 it, we may reasonably infer, 1st, from the words 
 he immediately joins with it, "one prayer, 
 one supplication," says he, " one mind, and one 
 hope ;" the two latter words imply a plain unity 
 in them, and yet have so diffusive a sense, as to 
 extend to all the congregations of the catholic 
 Church ; and therefore why not the two former 
 too? And, 2ndly, we may infer it also from 
 the use he was then making of it; which, as I 
 hinted before, was directly to secure them from 
 schismatical conventicles, and heretical notions; 
 and since the bishop himself was to approve, as 
 we have seen St. Ignatius himself allowed* him 
 
56 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 to do, of any minister whatsoever that should 
 officiate for them, and thereby reserve to him- 
 self the inspection, visitation, and censure of 
 them, which is a natural consequence of it, 
 whatsoever prayer the people of his diocese 
 should join in, with such a commissioned and 
 approved presbyter as this, could never bring 
 them into that danger of schism the holy Mar- 
 tyr here warned them against ; but being ortho- 
 dox, and as conformable to Christian faith and 
 doctrine, as the bishop's own could be, would, 
 in the true sense of the primitive Father, and to 
 the great end for which he intended it, be that 
 fjiia Sevens, that one prayer, which the bishop 
 and all his diocese w^ere to offer up to God. 
 
 And that this was a true notion of the unity 
 of prayer in the primitive churches, Tertullian 
 would satisfy us, if we would allow him to speak 
 only what he could justify and make good in 
 his Apology for all the Christians in the Roman 
 empire ; for though we have no reason to be- 
 lieve that he frequented many more congrega- 
 tions than that single one to which he belonged, 
 as other Christians did, yet he takes the freedom 
 to declare to the Roman magistrates what kind 
 of prayer the Christian churches used in general, 
 how innocent their petitions were, and frankly 
 mentions several particulars of them, by way of 
 upbraiding them all for persecuting subjects 
 that lived and prayed so loyally and harmlessly 
 as they did 8 . If he could do tnis without some 
 common liturgies, then at least, in use amongst 
 them, or some known canon of the ministerial 
 offices, surely it could be upon no other grounds 
 
 6 " Oramus pro imperatoribus, pro ministris eorum, ac poles- 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 
 
 than this, that he was sure the Christian^ hurch's 
 prayers were one and the same in all pi! 
 the sense we are now speaking; that is, 
 were bound to bear a strict analogy to that one 
 creed, that one and the same system of Christian 
 doctrine, and that one divine model of all prayer 
 which our blessed Lord delivered to them, and 
 every one of them were known to be guided by. 
 Other Fathers, as ancient or ancienter than Ter- 
 tullian, speak in the same manner with him. 
 But on this head, I think, there needs no more. 
 To proceed then : " The bishop," says our 
 learned author (p. 18, 19), "had but one altar, 
 or communion table, in his whole diocese, at 
 which his whole flock received the sacrament 
 from him, and that at one time." For proof of 
 this, he oifers those words of St. Ignatius to the 
 Philadelphians ; " there is but one altar, as 
 but one bishop V To explain which phrase, I 
 shall use our Enquirer's own method (p. 21), by 
 joining to it a parallel expression of the ad- 
 mirable St. Cyprian, which is so near akin to it, 
 that it seems almost a mere translation of it; 
 at least it is a most direct and immediate 
 illustration of it. St. Cyprian's words are here 
 in the margin ; our Enquirer renders them thus : 
 " No man can regularly constitute a new bishop, 
 or erect a new altar, besides the one bishop and 
 the one altarV And here I am sorry I must 
 
 tatibus, pro statu seculi, pro rerum quiete, pro mora finis." 
 Tert. Apol. c. 39. 
 
 1 "Ev 6v(TiacrT7]piOj/ 9 us efs eiriffKoiros, etc. Ep. ad Philadelp. 
 [4. Jacobson.] 
 
 " " Aliud altare constitui, aut sacerdotium novum fieri, 
 prseter unum altar e^ et unum sacerdotium^ non potest." Cypr. 
 Ep. 43. [Fell.] 
 
58 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 remark a fatal oversight, for I am loth to give 
 even this unjust translation another name; but 
 it is evident, what St. Cyprian here calls c a new 
 priesthood/ and 'one priesthood/ our learned 
 author renders by a ( new bishop,' and ' one 
 bishop ;' which proves, indeed, that he believed 
 it a directly parallel place to that of St. Ignatius, 
 as it really is, because he translates both in the 
 very same words. But, in the mean time, he 
 so disguises this holy Father's text, that he hides 
 from the English reader's sight the main key 
 which would open the genuine sense and 
 meaning of this, and all such expressions as 
 these are ; not only in these two venerable 
 Fathers alone, but in all the writings of primi- 
 tive antiquity besides : for the unity of the 
 altar, the unity of the bishop, the unity of the 
 eucharist, the unity of Christian prayer, and 
 the very unity of the whole Church itself, are all 
 founded upon the common bottom that the unity 
 of the Christian 'priesthood' is; and no man 
 ever so unlocked the evangelical secret of this 
 catholic and Christian unity as the inimitable St. 
 Cyprian has done. So that if his short and plain , 
 but admirable account of it, were but duly weighed 
 and credited, as it ought to be, we should hear 
 but few enquiries after the constitution of the 
 primitive Church, few amusements about the 
 fundamental unity of it, drawn only from a 
 scattered sentence, here and there, in the most 
 uniform records of the best and ancientest 
 writers in it. 
 
 St. Cyprian's brief account of it lies in that 
 noted passage, so familiar to all who ever read 
 his works, or almost ever heard his name : 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 59 
 
 " Episcopacy x ," says he, in his small tract of the 
 Unity of the Church, " is but one ; a part 
 whereof each (bishop) holds, so as to be inter- 
 ested for the whole. The Church is also one, 
 which by its fruitful increase improves into a 
 multitude, as the beams of the sun are many, as 
 branches from trees, and streams from a fountain, 
 whose number, though it seems dispersed by the 
 abundant plenty of them, yet their unity is pre- 
 served by the common original of them all." 
 Apply this plain rule to all sorts of unities 
 mentioned here ; and see first, if the primitive 
 expressions of 'one church,' 'one altar,' and 
 * one bishop,' do not evidently consist with as 
 many churches, altars, and bishops, as can be 
 proved to be undeniably derived from one and 
 the same original institutor ; the unity of whose 
 divine power and Spirit, diffused at first amongst 
 the chosen twelve, stamps a character of unity 
 upon all who regularly descend from them, and 
 upon every individual who only claims under, 
 and owns his authority from, and his depend- 
 ence upon such as them; nay, the unity of 
 'sundry' prayers too, as I have shewn before, by 
 the same analogy of reason, may be owned to 
 be such, if they all centre, as to the substance 
 of them, in that original model which the divine 
 author of Christian prayer first delivered in to 
 us ; those common articles of faith and doctrine 
 
 * " Episcopatus est unus, cujus a singulis in solidum pars 
 tenetur. Ecclesia quoque una est, quse in multitudinem latius 
 incremento fcecimditatis extenditur ; quo modo solis multi 
 radii, sed lumen unum, etc. Numerositas licet diffusa vide- 
 atur exundantis copiee largitate, unitas tamen servatur in 
 origine." Cypr. de Unit. Eccl. p. 108. [Fell.] 
 
60 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 which he obliged us all to ; provided they be 
 offered up by a person duly authorised for such 
 ministerial offices in the church. Nor will the 
 ministration of the blessed eucharist by divers 
 hands, or at sundry tables, though within the 
 same particular diocese still, differ anything 
 from the rest, if duly warranted by, and kept 
 accountable to, the first and principal minister 
 of that holy ordinance, who is the rightful 
 bishop of the whole flock. The plurality of 
 eucharists is thus made one throughout all the 
 united provinces and dioceses of the catholic 
 Church ; because in the gradual progress of the 
 Church from the beginning, both bishops and 
 presbyters do all claim a power of commission 
 to consecrate from one another, till they rise up 
 to the blessed Apostles themselves, and they 
 from Christ alone. 
 
 And thus St. Ignatius's catholic phrase, of 
 'one altar, one bishop,' and the like, does no 
 more prove the necessity of but one communion- 
 table in a primitive bishop's diocese, than it 
 would do in the most extensive one of this or 
 any former ages, or in the largest patriarchal 
 province that was ever settled in the Church, 
 provided every one who ministered at each of 
 them had a just commission from their orthodox 
 superiors for doing so : but what is otherwise 
 than so, is altar against altar indeed, and no 
 less than formal schism. Let us take care then, 
 not to " draw up forces," as St. Ignatius's words 
 import y , "against the bishop, if we mean not to 
 withdraw our subjection from God." 
 
 ei/ /J.TJ avTLrd(r(re(rdai TV eTncrK^Try, tva &ILZV Qeov 
 Ad. Eph. [5. Jacobson.] 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 61 
 
 By this account the reader will see what the 
 ancients truly meant, when they called a schis- 
 matical usurpation of the episcopal power, by 
 the name of c a profane altar;' which yet our 
 learned Enquirer urges again and again, as a 
 fair argument to prove, that there could be no 
 more than one single congregation in a whole 
 diocese, though the ministers of a second, or 
 third, or more, should never so much agree 
 with the bishop himself in all his principles and 
 ministrations, and be even authorised and ap- 
 proved of by him; as St. Ignatius expressly 
 tells us z , a bishop might so authorise and ap- 
 prove him ; in which case they were so far from 
 being thought ( a profane altar,' that they were 
 truly owned to be but one and the same. 
 
 Next to the one only communion-table, our 
 author proceeds to prove the second part of 
 his main proposition, " that all the people of 
 the diocese received together at once." His 
 authorities for that are only two : first, from St. 
 Cyprian, whose words he quotes and represents 
 in the form of a direct and positive proposition, 
 thus: "we celebrate the sacrament, the whole 
 brotherhood being present. a " This is pretty near 
 the author's words, I confess ; but his applica- 
 tion of them to the whole flock of a diocese, 
 either of St. Cyprian himself, or of any other 
 bishop, is very hard to be gathered from them 
 in the place where I find them lie. The case 
 was this : St. Cyprian b was complaining to 
 
 z T n &*/ avrbs evirpe^. Ad Smyrn. [8. Jacobson.] 
 a " Ut sacrament! veritatem fraternitate omni praesente cele- 
 bremus." Gyp. Ep. 63. [Fell.] 
 
 b "Quoniam quidam vel x ignoranter, vel simplieiter in 
 
62 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 Csecilius of some persons in some places, who 
 either out of ignorance, or simplicity of heart, 
 celebrated the holy eucharist with water only 
 in the chalice, without wine ; the zealous 
 bishop is full of argument and resentment 
 against them : "What !" says he, "are they afraid 
 the heathen should discover them in their 
 morning sacrifices by the smell of wine ? What 
 will they do in time of persecution, if they are 
 so ashamed of the blood of Christ in the very 
 offerings themselves? Or do many of them 
 excuse themselves thus, that though water only 
 was offered in the morning, yet when they come 
 to supper, they offer a mixed cup then?" I 
 shall not amuse my reader with what the 
 learned may say about their taking the eucha- 
 rist thus in the morning, and completing it in 
 the evening, or about any other sense that may 
 be given of it, it is foreign to our case ; but the 
 words are plain : to which St. Cyprian replies, 
 "but when we sup," says he, "we cannot call the 
 people to our feast, 'that we might celebrate 
 the truth of the sacrament,' namely, in a mixed 
 cup, as it ought to be, 'with all the brotherhood 
 about us.' * This is the occasion then of the 
 words. In which it is easy to observe : 
 
 Istly, That they refer not at all to St. Cy- 
 prian in person, or possibly to any in his 
 diocese, though in the name of Christians in 
 general, he says, that ' we might celebrate' the 
 sacrament aright, etc.; or if they did refer to 
 
 calice dominico sanctificando et plebi ministrando, non hoc 
 faciunt, quod Jesus Christus sacrificii hujusauctor fecit, etc." 
 Cyp. ib. sub init. 
 * c See the same, 63. Ep. . 7. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 63 
 
 him, they would demonstrate that he had more 
 congregations than one in his church ; for in 
 his own cathedral, to be sure, he did not mi- 
 nister so, or else he reasoned very strangely in- 
 deed. 
 
 2ndly, It is plain that ' all the brotherhood' 
 here is put in opposition to the Christians in 
 their private families, which I think with suf- 
 ficient propriety of speech might be said, if he 
 meant only all the Christian brethren that used 
 to meet in ' their own particular oratory' to- 
 gether for public worship, though there were 
 twenty other suchlike oratories as those, united 
 together with them under one common bishop, 
 to make up a diocesan church; for certainly, 
 what any private men should do in their own 
 houses now-a-days, which ought to be done in 
 their parish church, might very properly be re- 
 proved, by saying, they ought to have done it 
 when ( all the brotherhood ' came together. 
 
 3rdly, I might observe what an useful turn 
 our ingenious author gave to this quotation, by 
 translating it with that insensible variation, 
 "we do celebrate," instead of, "that we might 
 celebrate ;" which made it directly St. Cy- 
 prian's act and deed in his own diocese, and 
 gave no occasion to imagine, that there could 
 be any other possible meaning in it, than very 
 plainly so. 
 
 Lay these few things together, and judge 
 what an irrefragable argument this must be, to 
 prove that no primitive bishop whatsoever, and 
 particularly St. Cyprian himself, did ever mi- 
 nister the blessed sacrament; but that every soul 
 under his respective episcopal care, who commu- 
 
64 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 nicated at all, were always present 'with him, 
 which was the thing it was brought to prove ; 
 nor has our learned author any one authority 
 more here, to prove this grand point of his 
 general proposition, but barely the repetition of 
 6 Justin Martyr's Sundays' assemblies' again, 
 "where all in cities and countries," he says, "met 
 in one place," which I conceive I have shewn 
 already, to contain an irreconcileable incon- 
 sistency in it, and that it proves no such thing. 
 But to make all sure, he tells us (p. 19.) 
 " the Christians, in Tertullian's time and 
 country, received the sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper from the hands of the bishop alone d ." 
 But how do we know that Tertullian's 6 presi- 
 dents' in this place (for that is his word, as you 
 see in the margin), were the 'bishops' only? 
 Now, as far as our Enquirer can assure us of it, 
 you may find in p. 67 of this tract of his, where 
 we read, that " president was one discretive ap- 
 pellation of a bishop ; and yet St. Cyprian," 
 says he, " calls his presbyters presidents too :" 
 may not we be very well assured then, do you 
 think, that Tertullian, whom St. Cyprian fami- 
 liarly called his master, could mean nothing 
 else by his ' presidents,' but bishops of a diocese 
 alone, since his great disciple, St. Cyprian, 
 thought no such thing of it ? At least, would 
 not one think, that our ingenious author should 
 satisfy his reader a little with some certain note 
 here, that in this passage of Tertullian, it could 
 be meant no otherwise, since he himself had 
 
 d " Ncc de aliorum manu quam prcesidentium sumimus." 
 Tert. de Coron. Mil. p. 121. Edit. Rigalt. Lutetise, 1641. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. . 65 
 
 made that observation for us ? But to be short, 
 and to give a fair account of the scope of that 
 passage in Tertullian ; it was thus : Tertulliari 
 was contending for the authority of tradition for 
 many common rites then used in the Christian 
 Church, without a scripture warrant for them '. 
 Amongst these customs, he instances a general 
 practice in the Church then, to communicate in 
 the morning, different from the time of the insti- 
 tution itself; and together with that, this which 
 we are now speaking of, " that they received the 
 communion from the president's hands alone ;" 
 both equally common in his days in the Chris- 
 tian Church ; which, to make as clear an inter- 
 pretation of it as we can, I think implies neither 
 more nor less than this, that as the sacrament 
 was then generally administered in the morn- 
 ing, so wherever it was administered, the conse- 
 crated elements were usually delivered to the 
 communicants, as it is indeed most in use now, 
 by the hands of them only, who presided in the 
 several assemblies where those holy exercises 
 were performed ; that is, I humbly conceive, 
 by the officiating' ministers themselves f . And 
 what appearance of proof there is in all this, for 
 a bishop's personally distributing the blessed 
 elements to every communicant in his whole 
 diocese, at one time, and in one place ; I desire 
 the words and context may be sifted, and I 
 
 e Eucharistise sacramentum, et in tempore victus, et om- 
 nibus mandatum a domino, etiam antelucanis cretibus, nee de 
 aliorum manu, quam prcesidentium sumimus. Tertul. ib. 
 
 f " Whereas in many places," as Justin Martyr tells us, 
 " the deacons used to do it," 
 
 F 
 
66 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 should willingly set down by the reader's judg- 
 ment of it. 
 
 Well ! " But the bishop alone, generally 8 ," 
 says he, "baptized all in his diocese." How 
 much the word c generally' implies, I need not 
 overnicely enquire : he himself, again gives me 
 an easier solution of it ; for (p. 55.) he tells us 
 from the same Tertullian, "that the bishop 
 hath the right of baptism, and then the presby- 
 ters and deacons; but for the honour of the 
 Church, not without the bishop's authority." 
 
 I shall observe no more at present from this 
 quotation, than this ; that the presbyters and 
 deacons might baptize in the diocese, if the 
 bishop allowed them to do it ; as St. Ignatius, 
 we know before, admitted that baptism to be 
 acceptable to God, which the bishop should ap- 
 prove ; so that the whole of the matter, it 
 seems, is this, that the bishop, with his presby- 
 ters and deacons, must baptize all in the dio- 
 cese ; and this is offered as a reason, that a 
 diocese must be no more than a congregational 
 church, because the bishop could not otherwise 
 do all ; for as for his * generally ' doing it, that 
 is our Enquirer's own ; neither quotation has a 
 tittle of it. 
 
 I confess, that contestation mentioned here, 
 which was the renunciation form, which all adult 
 catechumens used in their own persons, to tes- 
 tify their forsaking the devil, the pomp, etc., be- 
 fore they actually were baptized ; it is probable, 
 
 o Enquiry, p. 21. Sub antistite contestamur nos re- 
 mmciare diabolo et pompee. Tertul. de Coron. Mil. c. 3. p. 
 121. ut supr. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 67 
 
 and possible enough too, it might be in the 
 presence of the bishop himself, and the diocese 
 have a sufficient plurality of congregations in it 
 too h ; since " it was a very large space of time," 
 as Tertullian expresses it, " which was set apart 
 for this very ordering of baptism every year, 
 even the fifty days, from Easter to Whitsuntide," 
 including the festivals, as you will see his ac- 
 count of it, in the margin, shews. 
 
 It is a hard task to attend such minute parti- 
 culars, when I have produced before such gene- 
 ral rules as might answer all at once : but I am 
 willing to please. He tells us further then, that 
 Justin Martyr assures us 1 , "the bishop was 
 common curator, and overseer, of all the or- 
 phans, widows, diseased ; in a word, of all that 
 were needy and indigent ;" and thence infers, 
 " that the diocese could not be very large, 
 where the bishop personally relieved them all." 
 Now, the seeming force of this argument does 
 not lie in Justin Martyr's words, but in the dis- 
 creet manner of wording the inference from 
 them, with a little help in the translation : 
 the holy Martyr said just before, that the collec- 
 tion of the people's alms was deposited in their 
 president's hands, and immediately subjoins, 
 that he took care to relieve all kind of distressed 
 
 11 Diem baptismo solennem pascha preestat exinde Pente- 
 coste, ordinances lavacris latissimum gpatium est, quo et domini 
 resurrectio inter discipulos frequentata est. Tertul. de Bapt. 
 c. 19. Edit. Rigal. Lutet. 1641 
 
 ' Tb (Tv\\ey6fJLVov Trapa TW UpoeffTun aTroTiflercw, /cat avrbs 
 
 ZTTlKOVpe'i Opfy&VOlS T KO.I ^7ty>CUS, /COt TOIS 8(tt VQffOV ^ 1 a.\\T]V 
 
 c&Ttav \nrofj.evois 9 Kql rots eV 8ea>o?s oScrt, Kai rots ir&peniSrifjLois 
 ovcri leVots, Kal a-rrXws TOLS V XP 6 ^ v ffl Ktj^efJLwv ylvercu. Just. 
 Mart. Apol. ii. p. 99. Edit. Colon. 1686. 
 
 F2 
 
68 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 persons, there mentioned, and out of the offer- 
 ings, to be sure, that were so intrusted with 
 him. Our Enquirer infers that he ' personally' 
 did this; by which he would have us under- 
 stand that all whom the church's charity re- 
 lieved, the bishop ( personally' visited, inspected 
 every individual case from first to last, himself 
 alone, and distributed relief to the poor sufferers 
 with his own hand; for here the stress of all 
 lies, which must necessarily prove them to be so 
 few; and to give a better colour to his interpre- 
 tation, he finds out a noted parish term for this 
 episcopal almoner, and translates him an ' over- 
 seer.' Now let the common sense of all man- 
 kind judge for us, if any public trust of this na- 
 ture was ever understood to be necessarily exe- 
 cuted so in any sort of society whatsoever. I 
 believe Justin Martyr himself, or any other 
 Christian writer besides him, would have 
 ventured to say as much, or more, than all we 
 have here, of St. Paul's care in treasuring up 
 and distributing the alms of many Christian 
 congregations, for the relief of all his churches ; 
 and yet in the sense w T e here contend for, he 
 had succoured but a poor number of the whole, 
 and been but a small sub-almoner in the matter, 
 if what he obtained of the several churches to 
 collect, what the presbyters and elders did by 
 his order in it, and the messengers of their own 
 too, which he allowed to distribute it for him, 
 had not been imputed to his own person, as 
 common governor and guardian for them all. 
 And why should it then be so impracticable a 
 thing, as is here pretended, for any single person 
 to take care of distressed Christians in more 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 69 
 
 than a single congregation ? Besides, the 
 charity of the Church in those days, was, among 
 other uses, to be employed for relief of banished 
 and captive brethren, in mines, in islands, in 
 remotest barbarous countries : in what sense did 
 the bishop personally do all this? But I am 
 weary of serious reasoning, in so slight an ob- 
 jection as this is. 
 
 And yet what follows, (pp. 22, 23, 24.) I 
 should less expect to meet with from so judicious 
 a hand. For he observes, in no less than 
 seventeen or eighteen instances here produced 
 together, that when the ancient church-writers 
 give an account of sundry public and solemn 
 acts of discipline in a diocese, (as censures, ex- 
 communications, absolutions, elections, ordina- 
 tions, or the like,) they tell us, they were done 
 " before the whole church, before the multitude, 
 before all the people, by the suffrage of all the 
 brotherhood, with the knowledge, and in the 
 presence of the people ;" and from hence con- 
 cludes, that all the whole diocese personally 
 met together in one place upon these occasions, 
 and consequently were no more than could 
 make one single congregation. 
 
 And here I cannot but observe these three 
 things : 
 
 1st, That this singular construction of such 
 obvious and familiar forms of speech as these 
 are, bears very hard upon the common sense 
 and language of all mankind. Can no public 
 act of civil justice, or solemn ministration in 
 the church amongst us, be said to pass in "the 
 face of the country, before all the people, 
 openly, and in the sight of all men ; nay, in 
 
70 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 the face of the whole world," as some will think 
 it no absurdity to say, unless the matter of fact 
 will answer to the very letter of the phrase ? Are 
 not all public or solemn acts of Church or state, 
 as to discipline and government, familiarly dis- 
 tinguished from any others by such a latitude 
 of expression as this, and no otherwise taken by 
 any man, that ever I heard of, than that a ge- 
 neral liberty is given to all who either can, or 
 will, or are concerned to be present at them, to 
 come and offer what they think material; to 
 judge, or bear witness of the regularity and 
 justice of what is done ? And if every indivi- 
 dual member of each respective society were 
 expected to be personally present at such so- 
 lemnities as these, neither courts, nor halls, nor 
 cathedrals, were ever yet erected, that could 
 answer the occasions which the Church or state 
 would have for them ; and yet no English au- 
 thor, I am persuaded, would think it an impro- 
 priety to say, that such public acts of law or 
 discipline as these were done in the presence, 
 sight, and cognizance of the whole country, 
 church, or people ; and if no exceptions, but 
 rather apparent acclamations were made, as is 
 not unusual upon sundry such occasions, they 
 would say they were done with the general 
 consent, suffrage, and approbation of them all. 
 But, 
 
 2ndly, That other way of arguing bears no 
 less hard upon the very language of the Holy 
 Scriptures themselves; and therefore there is 
 little reason to fasten it on the writings of the 
 primitive Fathers, who were the true guardians 
 and assertors of them. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 71 
 
 What more familiar phrase in the whole his- 
 tory of the law delivered by Moses, and during 
 all the time of his government, than that 
 "Moses himself spake to all the congregation 
 of Israel whatsoever the Lord commanded him ; 
 nay, even in the ears of all the congregation of 
 Israel k ," he is said to "speak the words of that 
 song 1 ," which he left for a testimony amongst 
 them. LA what sense do we conceive he him- 
 self could be said to speak in the hearing of so 
 numerous a host as the children of Israel then 
 were ? At different times, do we think ? or tribe 
 by tribe, and by piecemeals, in his own per- 
 son ? No, he himself gives us a better key for 
 the understanding of such phrases as these : for 
 at the twenty-eighth verse immediately fore- 
 going, " gather unto me," says he, " the elders 
 of the tribes, and the officers, that I may speak 
 these words in their ears, and call heaven and 
 earth to record against them." So that it 
 plainly appears, that whatsoever Moses spake 
 in such a manner, and in such an audience, as 
 was sufficient to convey his words and precepts 
 to all the tribes of Israel, though not imme- 
 diately from his own lips, that the holy prophet 
 himself thought not improperly expressed, when 
 he said afterwards that he spoke them " to the 
 whole congregation of Israel." And if we can 
 conceive any literal way of interpreting these, 
 and many such-like expressions in the Holy 
 Bible m , so that six hundred thousand men 
 
 k Exod. xxxv. 1. 4. Dent. v. 1. xxix. 2, etc. 
 1 Deut. xxxi. 30. 
 
 m Of like phrases in the New Testament, see Matt. iii. 5 ; 
 Job xii. 9 ; Acts xvii. 5, etc. 
 
/ Z AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 should at once be instructed by the ministry of 
 one man, we need dispute no more about the 
 greater or lesser numbers in the diocese of a 
 primitive church, since one such extraordinary 
 comment as that would answer all for us. But, 
 3rdly, To argue more directly ad hominem in 
 this case : if that way of reasoning be right, 
 then it will prove the dioceses of latter ages, as 
 well as the ancientest of them all, to be but 
 mere congregational churches too: compare 
 the times and phrases, and you will find it to 
 be so. Our Enquirer tells us from St. Cyprian, 
 " that Sabinus was elected bishop of Emerita by 
 the suffrage of all the brotherhood"." This was 
 in the third age. 
 
 Now Theodoret tells us that Nectarius was 
 made bishop of Constantinople " by the suffrage 
 of the whole city too ; and Flavianus made 
 bishop of Antioch, "the whole church, as it 
 were with one voice, giving their suffrage for 
 him P." And this was towards the latter end of 
 the fourth age. The like says Platina of Gre- 
 gory the Great, that he was made bishop of 
 Rome "by the unanimous consent of all q ." And 
 again, "all the people chose him r ," says Gre- 
 gory of Tours ; and this at the very close of the 
 sixth age. 
 
 n De universes fraternitatis suffragio. Cypr. Ep. 68. p. 6. 
 [Fell.] 
 
 P IldcrTjs a-vfj^ri^ov TTJS 'EK/cX^o-fas, faffirfp 8ta fj.ia.s 
 Theod. 1. v. c. 9. 
 
 i Uno omnium consensu creatur pontifex. Platina in Vit. 
 Greg. 
 
 r Gregorium plebs omnis elegit. Greg. Turon. Hist. Franc. 
 I. x. c. i. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 73 
 
 The learned Enquirer again tells us (p. 24), 
 from an African synod in 258, " that ordina- 
 tions should be done with the knowledge and 
 in the presence of the people, that so they 
 might be just and lawful, being approved by 
 the suffrage and judgment of all ; and that ac- 
 cordingly St. Cyprian consulted his people so." 
 And from hence he infers that his diocese could 
 be no more than one congregation. Now the 
 Roman presbyters, in their letter to Honorius 
 the emperor, which was in the fifth century, 
 speak just the same thing in relation to Boni- 
 face their bishop, whom they chose and conse- 
 crated in that very manner. " On a set day," 
 say they, " calling all to an assembly, we went 
 to a church we had all agreed upon, and there 
 consulting with the Christian people, we chose 
 him whom God had ordered; for by the ap- 
 plause of all the people, and the consent of the 
 best in the city, we pitched upon the venerable 
 Boniface, a man ordained and consecrated by 
 divine institution 5 ." Here is an election and 
 ordination in one certain place, in a general 
 assembly of the church, consultation with, and 
 applause of all the people in it; and yet our 
 learned Enquirer is very well assured, I doubt 
 not, that there were many congregations in the 
 church of Rome at that time; and therefore 
 what proof such arguments can be, that there 
 
 8 Altero die ad Ecclesiam ubi prius ab omnibus turn erat 
 constitutum, habita omnium collatione, prop era vimus, ibique 
 participate cum Christiana plebe consilio, quern Deus jussit 
 clegimus ; nam venerabilem virum Bonifacium acclamatione 
 totius populi ac consensu meliorum civitatis asseruimus, di- 
 vinae institutionis ordine consecratum. Baron. An. 419. N. 8. 
 Mag. 1601. p. 442. 
 
74 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 were no more than one in St. Cyprian's time, I 
 shall leave to himself to judge. 
 
 But can a bishop write a public gratulatory 
 letter in his own name, and in the name of ' all 
 his fraternity/ as our Enquirer observes 1 St. 
 Cyprian did to Lucius, bishop of Rome, and 
 not have all ( the fraternity,' i. e. all the people 
 of his diocese present with him ? Yes surely, in 
 the sense St. Cyprian meant, he may ; for if all 
 the people of his own diocese were met together 
 at the sending that letter, then all the people of 
 many other dioceses, and probably of his whole 
 province, were assembled together for it too: 
 for his words are, " I and my colleagues, and all 
 the fraternity, send this letter to you u ." Now 
 colleagues, in St. Cyprian's language, I think is 
 unquestionably understood of fellow bishops, 
 and given by him to no other order of eccle- 
 siastics whatsoever; so that all the fraternity, 
 subjoined to them, does most properly mean 
 that they and their churches, as the occasion 
 did require, sent unanimous congratulations to 
 the blessed confessor Lucius, so lately returned 
 from banishment. 
 
 If this be thought no clear construction of 
 the place, let us compare it with the synodical 
 epistle of the council of Antioch, from whence 
 our Enquirer himself here quotes another au- 
 thority to the like purpose. The bishops in 
 that council, writing to Dionysius bishop of 
 Rome, and Maximus bishop of Alexandria, first 
 
 1 Enquiry, p. 25. Fraternitas omnis. Cypr. Ep. 61. [Fell.] 
 u Ego et collegee, et fraternitas omnis, has ad vos literas 
 mittimus. Cypr. ib. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 75 
 
 prefixed their* own names to the epistle, and 
 then join with them ' the churches of God 
 also ;' that is, unquestionably, the churches 
 they presided over, who jointly with them sent 
 greeting, and concurred in the account they 
 there give of Paulus Samosatenus's case ; and 
 do we think the whole dioceses of those several 
 bishops were personally present with them in 
 that council ? That would mak^ it such a synod 
 as is surely without example, and I think beyond 
 imagination. Certainly bishops, or the chief 
 magistrates of any society or corporation, may, 
 in consistory or council, write letters of a pub- 
 lic importance in the name of the society or body 
 they relate to, without convening or polling all 
 the individual members of it : and their reading 
 of letters of such public concern 'to their nu- 
 merous people,' which is another argument our 
 learned Enquirer insists upon y , is better ac- 
 counted for in such un obvious sense as this is, 
 than he will ever account for king Josiah's 
 " reading the book of the covenant in the ears 
 of all the men of Judah, and all the inhabitants 
 of Jerusalem 2 ," in his own literal and strained 
 sense of such expressions. So that the triumph 
 in the close of this head, might as well have 
 been in softer words at least; for it is pretty 
 much to say, for no better reasons than these,, 
 
 x "EAez/os, Kal "fyteVcuos, Kal @(tyuAos. Kal ol \onrol 
 ol ffvv Jifjuv irapoiKovvTs ras eyyvs ir6\is Kal 0vrj 
 Kal UpefffivTtpoi Kal AiaKovot, Kal a! 'E/c/cATjo-i'cu tov 
 etc. %afy)e/. 
 
 y Enq. p. 24. Sanctissimee atque amplissimse plebi legere. 
 Cypr. Ep. 59. [Fell.] 
 
 z 2 Kings xxiii. 2. 
 
76 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 that a primitive diocese could not 6 possibly' be 
 more than one single congregation. 
 
 There are some few quotations amongst the 
 rest in this place, which urge the necessity of 
 all the people's presence indeed, upon account 
 of the part and right they 'all' had to judge of 
 any offence that was brought before the consis- 
 tory of the church; but those will be more 
 properly considered in the following chapters, 
 where they are repeated to us again, and offered 
 as undeniable proofs of such a right and prac- 
 tice in the primitive Church. In the mean 
 time, I cannot but say, it is surprising to see 
 how often the same quotations are brought over 
 and over again in this short Enquiry to serve 
 the different ends of it, and make it appear a 
 work of great variety of reading, and strongly 
 supported by primitive authority for it. 
 
 We have a pregnant instance of this in the 
 four next pages before us, which are from p. 27 
 to p. 31. Our author had gleaned, as we have 
 seen already, all the short phrases in St. Igna- 
 tius's epistles that he thought gave any counte- 
 nance to his hypothesis, and offered them at 
 once to prove his general proposition: these 
 we had at p. 17 to p. 21. And now he gives 
 us them all again by retail, and applies the 
 self-same quotations by piecemeals to prove 
 that each of those churches St. Ignatius wrote 
 to were mere congregational churches, and no 
 more. This makes the bulk of authority look 
 great indeed, but adds not one grain of weight 
 to it ; and therefore the reader will excuse me, 
 I know, if I take no more notice of his repeated 
 arguments here about " one altar, one eucharist, 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 77 
 
 one prayer for the whole Church; that the 
 bishop took one common care of them all ; that 
 nothing must be done without the bishop ; that 
 all must assemble together in one place," and 
 the like. By which repetitions he here labours 
 separately to prove that the dioceses of Smyrna, 
 Ephesus, Magnesia, Philadelphia, and Tral- 
 lium, were such sort of churches as he con- 
 tends for. 
 
 The strength of all those arguments, I con- 
 ceive, I have fairly tried already; and it is much 
 there should scarcely be one new one found to 
 make any of those five eminent churches bear 
 a clear testimony for him, when he took the 
 pains to consider each of them singly, and one 
 by one. 
 
 It is true, to make the diocese of Smyrna 
 appear such, he adds a short clause or two, 
 omitted before: 1st, "That the bishop of that 
 church could know his whole flock personally 
 by their names a ." So he translates the place, 
 though St. Ignatius's words have no such affir- 
 mation in them, but are only a plain advice to 
 St. Polycarp to do what the primitive bishops 
 always did, that is, to keep the names of every 
 member of his church enrolled in what the 
 ancients called the Matricula of their church ; 
 the occasion of the words imply it to be so. He 
 just before besought St. Polycarp " not to ne- 
 glect the widows of the church 5 ;" and imme- 
 diately after desires him "not to overlook so 
 
 a Enq. p. 27. 5 E ovofjiaros iravras ffyret. Ep. ad Polycarp. 
 [4. Jacobson.] 
 
 b Xripai jj.)) a/ueAetVflaxrco'. Ep. ad Polyc, [4. Jacobson.] 
 
78 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 much as the men-servants and maid-servants in 
 it c ;" and in the midst of this, as a means so to 
 know the quality, number, and condition of his 
 diocese, advises him "to enquire out all by 
 name," that is, to get such a register of their 
 names that upon occasion of any object of 
 charity proposed to him, of any complaint or 
 application made to him about any within his 
 cure or jurisdiction, or in case of apostacy, or 
 perseverance in time of persecution, or the like, 
 by means of this general Matricula, he, as the 
 other bishops did, might more directly know 
 how the case stood with them. And which 
 was more than all this, the names thus entered 
 in this sacred record were personally entitled 
 'then' to all the public intercessions and spiri- 
 tual blessings obtained by the eucharistical 
 prayers, oblations, and sacraments of the whole 
 Church; and to have their names blotted out 
 of this, was a constant effect of excommunica- 
 tion, and was dreaded by all that had true ve- 
 neration, as those primitive Christians had, for 
 the holy ordinances of the Church. Those who 
 know the right nature of the orthodox comme- 
 morations, and eucharistical offerings for the 
 saints, before the Roman corruptions so wretch- 
 edly infected them, as they now do, cannot be 
 unacquainted with this. And these were suffi- 
 cient reasons for that apostolical Father to mind 
 a bishop of the Church to be careful of keeping 
 such a necessary Matricula as this, and an effec- 
 tual way for St. Polycarp to take care of the 
 meanest and poorest members of his diocese, 
 
 [4.] 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 79 
 
 which, the context tells us, was the occasion of 
 St. Ignatius's using these words. But as to the 
 matter of but one single congregation being 
 then under his cure, and that "he must person- 
 ally know them all by name," as one neighbour 
 knows another, which our Enquirer's transla- 
 tion affirms of them, I think they no more im- 
 ply it, than that Augustus Csesar had but one 
 town to, command, and could know every sub- 
 ject he had, when, for many political occasions, 
 he caused them all to be enrolled, and required 
 the state of his empire to be brought in to him. 
 For the censor's work, in such a case as that, 
 was to give in an estimate of the age, children, 
 family, and estates of all the people under him, 
 as Tully gives us an account of it d . 
 
 But still, says our Enquirer, Smyrna could 
 not have more than one congregation in it, be- 
 cause, as St. Ignatius says again, "it was not 
 fitting that any should marry there without the 
 bishop's consent 6 ." Now I confess it seems to 
 me no unpracticable matter for the same thing 
 to be done in the very city of London or York 
 at this day, if either bans or licences were 
 managed with that proper care which the 
 Church designed they should; nay, I think it 
 may be said, even as matters stand now, that 
 either the bishop in person, or such as are com- 
 missioned by him, which is much the same 
 thing, have a necessary cognizance of all such 
 
 d Censores populi sevitates, soboles, familias, pecuniasque 
 censento. Cic. de leg. 1. iii. 
 
 e Upiri 8e rots yafMOvffi, KOI rats yapov/Aevais ^uera yvwws 
 rov 'ETTKT/COTTOV rty %v<offiv 7rote?<r0cu. Ep. ad Polyc. p. 13. [5. 
 ed. Jacobson.] 
 
80 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 solemn contracts, before the consummation of 
 them, in the largest dioceses amongst us. And 
 this gives opportunity, at least, to consent or 
 disallow of them, without reducing their dio- 
 ceses to fewer congregations than they have all 
 along had. 
 
 Once more the holy Martyr is summoned to 
 bear witness to this congregational cause ; and 
 if he fails them there, our learned Enquirer, for 
 a very great while at least, gives him quite over. 
 This last is a pretty close evidence indeed, as 
 (p. 29) he manages it f , for he makes the holy 
 Martyr expressly say, that the diocese of Mag- 
 nesia had but barely ' one church' in it ; and I 
 will shew you how he says it. In his zeal for 
 the unity of all the Christians there, he fcids 
 "them all run one way together, as to the tem- 
 ple of God" (or " as to the one temple of God," 
 as the old Latin translation has it, and the 
 learned editor from the Florentine MSS. says 
 it should be), and "as to the one altar 5 *;" 
 plainly exhorting them, by 'way of similitude,' 
 to Christian unity and communion, after the 
 pattern of the ancient Church of God amongst 
 the Jews ; who, though they had never so many 
 synagogues, yet they all centered and were 
 united in that one temple and one altar which 
 God had fixed for them at Jerusalem. But 
 that this comparative way of the holy Martyr's 
 arguing might the less be perceived, our care- 
 ful Enquirer takes no notice of the little parti- 
 
 f Ets vojbv &eov. Ignat. Ep. ad Mag. p. 34. [7. ed. Jacob- 
 son,] 
 
 ? ncWes, us fis vabv crvyrpX r eoG* u>s errl ev dvo'iao'T'fipiov 
 etc. Ignat. ib. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 81 
 
 cle, G)$ or as, but quotes the temple of God in 
 the singular number by itself, as clear to his 
 purpose, and gives it the name of a Christian 
 church; though, besides this unfair dealing in 
 the case, it may justly be a question whether 
 St. Ignatius himself, or any contemporary writer, 
 ever used that word, Nao?, for a place of Chris- 
 tian worship at all, it being generally a term in 
 primitive writers applied to Jewish or heathen 
 temples, and then judge what a proof this must 
 be, for but one congregation in the whole dio- 
 cese of Magnesia. 
 
 And now, though all the churches St. Igna- 
 tius wrote to, were eminent cities of the Ly- 
 dian, or proconsular Asia; most of them the 
 seats of public justice for the province where 
 the Roman governor kept his residence, and, 
 which is infinitely more, were dignified with a 
 singular visitation by our blessed Lord in his 
 great revelation to St. John; and therefore 
 scarcely to be imagined such inconsiderable 
 churches, as our learned Enquirer labours to 
 represent them to us : yet, for fuller satisfaction 
 in the case, he frankly appeals to Antioch, 
 Rome, Carthage, and Alexandria, the un- 
 doubted metropolitan cities of the empire, to 
 bear witness to the certainty of his congrega- 
 tional scheme; and therefore, not to neglect 
 him, W T C must briefly survey them all. 
 
 Antioch was early blessed with the glad tid- 
 ings of the gospel ; the blood of the ' first Mar- 
 tyr' became the seeds of a Christian church 
 there, as the Fathers took a pleasure to speak ; 
 for many Christians, dispersed upon that occa- 
 sion, resorted thither ; and the first account we 
 
 G 
 
82 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 have of their labours is, that the hand of the 
 Lord was ivith them, and a great number be- 
 lieved and turned unto the Lord*. Tidings 
 of this came to the church of Jerusalem, where 
 the whole college of Apostles were in readiness 
 to consult for them. They send Barnabas, a 
 good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of 
 faith, to improve this happy opportunity, and 
 the success answered their expectation ; for by 
 his powerful exhortations, much people, says 
 the holy text, urns added to the Lord. But 
 to forward this work of the Lord still more, 
 Barnabas travels to Tarsus, and joins Saul, the 
 great Apostle of the gentiles now, and return- 
 ing with him to Antioch, they continue a 
 whole year together, in that populous city, 
 teaching much people. What a harvest of 
 Christian converts those Apostolical labourers 
 made in that compass of time, assisted by all 
 that fled thither from Jerusalem besides, by the 
 men of Cyprus and Gyrene 1 , fellow-labourers 
 with them, to convert the Greeks as well as Jews 
 to the faith ; and by the several inspired prophets, 
 so peculiarly noted to be amongst them k , I refer 
 to the sober judgment of all who know the 
 fruits of many single sermons preached by an 
 Apostle, at the first promulgation of the gospel. 
 Two things are sure, 1st, That the reputation 
 and honour of the converts there was such, that 
 they laid aside the derided name of Nazarenes 
 or Galileans now, and openly assumed the 
 
 h Acts xl 19. Ver. 21. to ver. 27. 
 
 1 Acts xi. 20. 
 
 k Acts xi. 27, and chap. xiii. 1. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 83 
 
 name of their Lord and master, and were first 
 called Christians there 1 . 
 
 2ndly, That there were two distinct sects or 
 parties of them m ; Judaizing Christians, zealous 
 of the law; and gentile converts, as earnestly 
 insisting on their freedom and exemption from 
 it : each party so considerable, as to call for an 
 Apostolical council to decide the controversy 
 between them. 
 
 Such was the very infant state of this church 
 of Antioch; the oversight whereof, antiquity 
 tells us, the great Apostle St. Peter, in a pecu- 
 liar manner took upon himself, and for six or 
 seven years, at least, made it his first and spe- 
 cial Apostolic see. After him, Church-his- 
 tory acquaints us with fourteen bishops succes- 
 sively there, before the heretic Paulus of Samo- 
 sata was promoted to that see : in the number of 
 these were those mirrors of learning, zeal, forti- 
 tude, and piety, Ignatius, Theophilus, and Ba- 
 bylas, scarce to be equalled in all the monu- 
 ments of the Church after the Apostles' time ; 
 whereof the first sat forty years, and each of 
 the other two thirteen years together, were the 
 watchful and laborious bishops of that " exceed- 
 ing vast and numerous flock," as the words of 
 the learned doctor Cave n are, where he speaks 
 of St. Ignatius's charge at Antioch. 
 
 Yet notwithstanding all the united labours of 
 so many Apostles, Prophets, holy Martyrs, and 
 Confessors, to plant and improve a Christian 
 
 1 Acts xi. 26. 
 
 m Chap. xv. 1, 2. 
 
 " Cave in the Life of Ignat. p. 108. 
 
 G2 
 
84 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 church in this renowned city of the east, in this 
 QeoTToXis, or 'city of God/ as the ancients 
 thought fit to name it; we are borne down, 
 that there never were more believers in it for 
 two hundred and seventy years after Christ, 
 than what could meet together in one single 
 house of prayer, and barely make a single con- 
 gregation. 
 
 One would reasonably look for very unan- 
 swerable evidence, to prove so extraordinary an 
 assertion; especially , since this city of An- 
 tioch, according to St. Chrysos tome's calcula- 
 tion of it for St. Ignatius's times, contained no 
 less than two hundred thousand souls in it; 
 and Tertulliaii p , as we have seen before, durst 
 tell the persecuting Scapula, that the Christians 
 then " were well nigh the greater part of every 
 city." Yet all that is offered us to the contrary 
 is only this, that Paulus of Samosata, the here- 
 tical bishop of Antioch, after the middle of the 
 third century, "refused to resign the church's 
 house," when he was synodically deposed by a 
 council held there ; and this c church's house,' 
 as our learned author will have it q , must needs 
 be the only house of prayer or public worship 
 for all that diocese, and consequently they could 
 make but one congregation. 
 
 Now that the bishop of Antioch had a pecu- 
 liar church, or house of prayer, for himself, as 
 
 See Dr. Cave, ubi supra, p. 101. 
 
 P Tanta hominum multitude, pars paene major cujusque ci- 
 vitatis. Ad Scap. c. ii. p. 86. [ii. p. 69. ed. Rigalt. Venet. 
 1744.] 
 
 9 MrjSa/iws GKffTrjvai rrjs 'E/CKA/rjcrias o/f/cov. Euseb. 1. vii. c. 30. 
 [s. 17. ed. Burton.] 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 85 
 
 bishop, more immediately to worship or offi- 
 ciate in, need not be disputed ; and this so pe- 
 culiarly the church's house, that so long as he 
 was rightly possessed of that, he was possessed 
 of the church or diocese whereof he was bishop ; 
 and to be legally and canonically ejected out of 
 that, was to be ejected out of the church, be the 
 diocese great or small, of more or fewer congre- 
 gations belonging to it : for so, when Constan- 
 tius the emperor was resolved to eject Paulus 
 of Constantinople 1 " out of that bishopric, he or- 
 dered Philip the prefect to turn him only out 
 of one church, in the singular number, and 
 place Macedonius in ; that is, out of that single 
 church where the bishops of Constantinople 
 used to reside and officiate, though there were 
 sundry other churches, long before that, built 
 by Constantine 5 in that city, and an undoubted 
 part of that bishop's diocese. But this single 
 church, or house of prayer, was so peculiarly 
 the ' church's house,' that, by being dispossessed 
 of that, he was entirely thrown out of the whole 
 church or diocese of Constantinople: and in- 
 stances enow of this kind might be given, if 
 need required ; but I think the case is known 
 to be the very same in respect of any modern 
 bishop's cathedral at this day. Yet, to come 
 more directly to the case before us, I think the 
 synod of Antioch's account of Paulus Samosa- 
 tenus, from whence this very objection is taken, 
 does pretty fairly prove to us, that that heretical 
 
 r Tbv fjLsv IlaGAov rrjs 'E/cfcX^trtas e/c/SaAA??, aveiffdyr) 5e fls 
 aurV Ma.K$6inov. Socrat. E. H. 1. ii. c. 16. ' [p. 92. ed. Va- 
 les. 1677.] 
 
 * Euseb. de Vit. Const. 1. iii. c. 48. 
 
86 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 bishop had more churches under him besides 
 that ' house of the church' which he kept pos- 
 session of; which it is questioned, indeed, whe- 
 ther it w r as a house of worship or no, because, 
 amongst the many accusations of him, they tell 
 us "he sent presbyters out to preach up his 
 own praises in their sermons to the people*;" 
 and who should these be, but presbyters, that 
 officiated under him within his own jurisdic- 
 tion ; for the phrase imports no entreaty, as if 
 it were to aliens not subject to him, but an act 
 of authority rather, for " he sent them out to do 
 so :" nay, should they have been presbyters re- 
 lated to another see, they are, at least, an in- 
 stance of religious assemblies held by such, in 
 contradistinction to the bishops to whom they 
 did belong, which overthrows the Enquirer's 
 congregational scheme, take it in what sense 
 you please. I will not conceal what is further 
 said here, that he sent out "bisohps of adjacent 
 villages and cities" to do the same thing for 
 him, which our learned Enquirer makes further 
 use of in another place, and shall be considered 
 there ; I shall only say here, that the judicious 
 Valesius understands those bishops to be no 
 other than flattering chorepiscopi, which makes 
 them a further part of his own diocese still. 
 But this alters not the present case ; and so the 
 bishopric of Antioch, I hope, will lose but little 
 of its glory and extent by one such unconclud- 
 ing argument as this. 
 
 Rome, the metropolis of the empire, is ap- 
 
 vs ej> TCUS irpbs "Tov \oijbv 6/ziAicus, Ka6ir)(ri 5/aA.e- 
 7<r0a:. Euseb. lib. vii. c. 30. p. 229. [s. 9. ed. Burt.J 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 87 
 
 pealed to next, and allowed no greater honour 
 than the rest: their faith was early spoken of 
 throughout the whole world: their church, 
 founded by the two great Apostles both of 
 Jews and Gentiles, and Martyrs and Confes- 
 sors, were zealous pastors over them for many 
 generations after: yet, for above two hundred 
 years after Christ, our learned Enquirer will 
 assure us they were not improved to more than 
 a single congregation. His demonstration is 
 this (p. 32), that Natalis u , a penitent Confessor 
 in that church, returning from the heresy of 
 Theodotus, " fell down at the feet of the bishop, 
 clergy, and people, to bewail his fault before 
 them; and at length the church was touched 
 with compassion towards him." I shall take 
 no advantage of his transposing the historian's 
 words here, so as to make neither sense nor 
 grammar in his quotation of them, but only set 
 them right in the margin, and allow the full 
 importance of them. The penitent Natalis x , it 
 appears, went early to the place where the 
 bishop paid his devotions, falls down before 
 bishop, clergy, and people there; and with 
 prayers and tears, besought the merciful church 
 of Christ to admit him to communion again; 
 which, with great difficulty, was granted to 
 
 KK\Tifftay rrj Se^crei ^t]ff^^vQV. Euseb. 1. v. c. 28. [s. 8. ed. 
 Burton.] 
 
 x Mera 7roAA?)s (T7rot>5r}s Kal Scutpvuv irpoffirto'siv Ze^vpivy T< 
 67rto-/co7r^, KvXio^vov vnb TOVS ?ro5as ou povov rS>v eV T /cA7?pa>, 
 aAAa Kal T&V AaV/cco*/, avyxeai re rots Sa/cpua"; rrjv evo"ir\ayyvov 
 'EKK\r}<riav rov e'Ae^o^os Xpurrov iro\\fj re rfj Se^o-ei XP 7 !/**- 
 vov - (j.6\is Koiv(avt)QrivaLi. Euseb. 1. v. c. 28. p. 160. Edit. 
 Pariss. 1678. [s. 8. ed. Burton.] 
 
88 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 him. Now this could not be done, it seems, 
 in this particular manner ; but that the whole 
 diocese, under the bishop Zephyrinus's juris- 
 diction and care, must needs be then with him, 
 and consequently make but one congregation ; 
 and if we would argue so, we might affirm as 
 well, that Christ had no part of a church in the 
 world but what was there ; for it was the mer- 
 ciful church of the merciful Christ that he 
 begged to be admitted into, and which he 
 moved with his tears; and if that particular 
 assembly was no otherwise so, than as it was in 
 unity with the one only Church of Christ upon 
 earth, then it would be as much so, if there 
 were twenty other congregations belonging to 
 it, in the same union and communion with it. 
 as if it were the only one that the whole diocese 
 had. But, to be plainer in the case, and bring 
 it home to our own times, should such a case as 
 Natal is's was, happen in any Christian church at 
 this day, and the bishop be found at his devo- 
 tions with any of his clergy about him, as in his 
 own cathedral it is scarcely to be known when 
 he can be found without them, and in the pri- 
 mitive Church, where the orders of ' them' they 
 called the clergy were many more than now, to 
 be sure they never were, and should the peni- 
 tent supplicant kneel before them all, and, in a 
 full congregation of the people, ask the pardon 
 of the church, might not an English historian, 
 do we think, say that this humble penitent fell 
 down "at the feet of the bishop, clergy, and 
 people," and yet the bishop have considerably 
 more of both kinds within his diocese and juris-, 
 diction, than were personally present at this 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, 
 
 particular solemnity ? Surely one would think 
 he might. And yet not a tittle more than this, 
 is said in the penitent Natalis's case ; for there^ 
 is not so much as the useful phrase of ' all the 
 clergy,' or ' all the people,' offered us to help us 
 out here, which in many of our Enquirer's fore- 
 going quotations he laid so great a stress upon, 
 though the construction was far from being just 
 and reasonable there. 
 
 To strengthen this instance of Natalis's case, 
 there are five reasons more offered us, but every 
 one of them repetitions of what had been said 
 before. For here (p. 32, 33) we are twice told 
 again, that "all the brethren met together in 
 the church to choose a bishop when the see was 
 vacant," which I have expressly shewn to be 
 affirmed of elections in the fourth, fifth, and 
 sixth centuries, when all the world knows the 
 dioceses had congregations enow in each of 
 them. Two other reasons are, that " all met to 
 concur in sending salutations and letters to 
 other churches, and to hear such read." And 
 lastly, that " the church of Rome had so pecu- 
 liarly but one altar, that the second, which No- 
 vatian erected, was called a profane altar." 
 For each of which reasons I only refer the 
 reader to what has been said of them before, 
 who, I believe, will be sorry with me to see 
 such arguments relied upon in so important 
 a cause ; and so often repeated, to appear 
 many. 
 
 In the mean time the church of Rome is far 
 better represented to us by Cornelius, the truly 
 Apostolical bishop of it, in the third century; 
 who tells us, there were then no less than forty- 
 
90 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 six presbyters in it, which, if compared with 
 "the number of assemblies in each city, the 
 erecting new and larger Christian churches in 
 them all," mentioned by Eusebius within the 
 same century (Eccl. Hist. 1. viii. c. 1.), fairly 
 implying that they had c old' and ( smaller' ones 
 even ' before ' them ; we need not be at a loss 
 to conceive what sort of services those nume- 
 rous presbyters were engaged in : for it was to 
 minister, no doubt of it, in many of those par- 
 ticular oratories they were then possessed of; 
 as you will the easier agree to, if you consider 
 what Cornelius further says of it, that besides 
 those "forty-six presbyters," they had "seven 
 deacons, seven sub-deacons, forty-two acolyths ; 
 exorcists, readers, and door-keepers fifty-two ; 
 all necessary," says he, "to the service of the 
 church," besides " widows, impotent, and poor 
 above fifteen hundred y ," living on the alms of 
 the church ; and answerable to all this, " a vast 
 innumerable multitude of people in it," as the 
 holy bishop's words expressly are. 
 
 This is so authentic an account of that pri- 
 mitive church of Rome, as I believe the most 
 zealous advocates for the congregational w r ay 
 will not pretend to call in question ; but how 
 they can reconcile it to their own scheme I 
 leave to themselves. 
 
 y HpearfivTcpovs rsffffapaKOvra e, SICLKOVOVS ITTTK, VTroSiaKovovs 
 eTrra, a.KO\v6ovs Suo Kal reffffapaKovra, e|op/a(rras 8e Kal avayvw- 
 crras apa ?rvAcopo?s 8uo Kal Trevr^KOvra' %7?pas ffvv 6\L/3o^.^ois 
 vTrep ras x i ^' ias TrevraKOffias, ovs irdvras r] rov 5e<77roTou %a/>JS 
 KOI cf)i\av6poTria Starpe^ei" rocrovro ir\r)6os Kal avayKcuov ev rrj 
 i EKK\T)O'iq Tr\r)6v()v apiOjubs /JLCTO. ^yiffrov Kal avapid/j.'fjrov \aov. 
 Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. vi. c. 43. [s. 12. ed. Burton.] 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 91 
 
 I enlarge not here on the transcendant libe- 
 rality of this single church, by which "they 
 supported many other churches in every city/' 
 as Dionysius of Corinth bears witness for them, 
 "relieving their poor, and maintaining their 
 Christian slaves that were condemned to the 
 mines z ." Nay, the other Dionysius of Alexan- 
 dria affirms, that " the whole country of Arabia 
 and all the provinces of Syria were abundantly 
 relieved by the church of Rome alone a ." Com- 
 pute then the c numerous clergy,' the list of 
 6 widows,' of the c afflicted' and ( poor,' which 
 we have just now seen this single church con- 
 tinually maintained at home ; and if not many 
 rich, not many noble were called, one would 
 be even forced to think that legions, at least, 
 of a middle fortune must be in it, to raise such 
 extraordinary contributions as these. 
 
 Nor will I insist on the positive account the 
 judicious Mr. Mede b gives us of particular 
 churches or ' titles,' as they w T ere then called, 
 that were founded in this church of Rome in 
 the second century, though he quotes the very 
 names and qualities of them that founded them. 
 Enough has been said, I hope, to vindicate this 
 imperial city from the hard imputation of yield- 
 ing no better fruits of the ' great Apostles,' 
 Saints, and Martyrs' blood, that was shed in it, 
 than what amounted to a single congrega- 
 
 iro\\cus rats Kara iraffav ir6\iv e^oSta Trefjureiv, 
 tV /uercfoAots Se d8eA4>ots virdpxovffit cTrixopiiyovi/ras. Euseb. 
 Eccl. Hist. 1. iv. c. 23. [s. 7. ed. Burt.] 
 
 a At fj.i/ TOI ^vpiai o\ai, /cat rj 5 Apa/3ia o!V eTrap/cetre eKaoTore. 
 Ib. 1. vii. c. 5. [s. 2. ed. Burt.] 
 
 b See Mede's Works, book ii. p. 327. edit. 4. in 1677. 
 
92 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 tional church for three hundred years toge- 
 ther. 
 
 Carthage shares with Rome in this; and as 
 she was rival once in glory, she must be as little 
 in her Christian converts now : the great Ter- 
 tullian c magnified indeed that native city of his, 
 and well nigh defied the persecuting governors, 
 with glorying in the numerous multitudes of 
 believers there ; but all, it seems, were a mere 
 parochial congregation. This is somewhat 
 strange, especially to those who know the glo- 
 rious figure the church of Carthage made, and 
 the mighty influence it had in all affairs of the 
 Christian world, in the Cyprianic age. Yet let 
 us hear the evidence that is given for it, for 
 that is but just and reasonable. 
 
 The first reason offered is this (p. 34), because 
 " the bishop of that diocese could know every 
 one therein d ." Now I will but state the case 
 of this quotation, and you will quickly see the 
 determination in it. St. Cyprian was now in 
 banishment ; he writes to two African bishops, 
 Caldonius and Herculanus, and with them to 
 Rogatian and Numidicus, two of his own pres- 
 byters 6 , that they should take care to relieve 
 the necessities of the poor, out of the contribu- 
 
 c Tertull. ad Scapul. c. 2. p. 86. edit. Bigalt. 2. Lutet. 1641- 
 [Vid. supra p. 84.] 
 
 11 Ut omnes optime nossem. Cypr. Ep. 38. 1. [41. Fell.] 
 e Cumque ego vos pro me vicarios miserim, ut expungeretis 
 necessitates fratrum nostrorum sumptibus, si qui etiam vellent 
 suas artes exercere, additamento, quantum satis esset, deside- 
 ria eorum juvaretis; simul etiam et aetates eorum, et condi- 
 tiones, et merita discerneretis ; ut jam nunc ego, cui cura in- 
 eumbit, omnes optime nossem, et dignos quoque et humiles et 
 mites ad Ecclesiastics administrationis officia permoverem. 
 Cyp. Ep. 41. ut supra. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 93 
 
 tion of the brethren ; and if any of them would 
 work at their own trades, and yet could not 
 fully provide for their families, they should 
 allow them something towards it ; and in doing 
 this, he directs them to imform themselves care- 
 fully of the different ages, condition, and merits 
 of the men, to the end that " I myself," says he, 
 " upon whom this care lies, may forthwith tho- 
 roughly know them all, and if any of them be 
 humble, meek, and worthy of it, I may put 
 them into some office of the church." I appeal 
 to the words, context, and learned annotations 
 upon the place, if this be not the genuine sense 
 of it; wherein, therefore, these two things are 
 plain : 
 
 1st, That the c all' here spoken of, were only 
 the list or matricula of the necessitous and poor 
 ones in the diocese. And, 
 
 2ndly, That St. Cyprian had so little personal 
 knowledge of them and their condition, that he 
 employed the bishops and presbyters he wrote 
 to, to send him the best information they could 
 get of that matter; and this is brought as a 
 proof that "the bishop of that diocese could 
 know every one in it," which, I think, is as 
 clear a proof of the contrary as one could ex- 
 pect to meet with. 
 
 And yet, the second argument upon this 
 head, is drawn from this very passage again; 
 for from this direction to the bishops and pres- 
 byters, to relieve all that wanted "out of the 
 contributions of the brethren," by making a 
 wrong stop in the construction of it, he posses- 
 ses his reader " that the debts and necessities 
 of all the brethren were defrayed at the single 
 
94 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 expense of the bishop f ;" and then breaks out 
 into admiration at the many thousand pounds 
 he must needs have expended, if his diocese 
 had some 6 scores' of parishes in it! which is a 
 mere chimera of his own forming ; for St. Cy- 
 prian's words import no more, than that he was 
 common almoner or curator for the poor of his 
 diocese, and therefore gave order to his agents, 
 in trust for him, to take what care they could 
 in it ; which how far it is from proving any dio- 
 cese to be a mere congregational church, I have 
 shewn at large already. 
 
 A third argument is the very same which he 
 gave us before at p. 19, viz. "that the bishop 
 celebrated the sacrament, the whole brother- 
 hood being present (p. 35);" and I have shewn 
 here above, at p. 61, the unfair representation 
 of that passage, and that the inference was not 
 true. 
 
 4thly, But it is further urged (p. 35), that 
 "all the people could hear and see the reader 
 Celerinus, when he read from the pulpit g ;" and 
 I doubt not but ' when,' and c where ' he read, it 
 was so. But these general expressions, through- 
 out this whole cause, without regard to the 
 common acceptation of all mankind, admit of 
 no limitations; but if 'all' the ' people' heard 
 him, it must not be understood of c all' that 
 6 were present,' but of all the diocese to a man ; 
 though St. Cyprian h , not above six lines lower, 
 
 f Rigaltius's note, approved by bishop Fell, upon the place, 
 is this, " cujus necessitas beneficientia fratrum sublevebatur, 
 ejus et nomen expungebatur.' 1 '' 
 
 s Plebi universffi. Cypr. Ep. 34. [39. Fell.] 
 h Lectoris fidem qulsquis audierit imitetur. Ib. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, 95 
 
 speaking of him again, says only, tf whosoever 
 hears him' should imitate his faith: and Balsa- 
 mon, I find, describing the office of a reader in 
 general, at a time when every church that had 
 any reader at all had many congregations in it, 
 expresses himself in much the same terms ; and, 
 as the translator renders it, makes him read so, 
 that "everyone heard him 1 ," as Suicer observes 
 from him. Besides, that there were several 
 readers in this church of Carthage is very sure : 
 this Celerinus, with Aurelius, were two new 
 ones just ordained by St. Cyprian in his exile, 
 and added to them that served the church in 
 his absence : and he tells them, " he is sure 
 they would wish to have many more suchV 
 
 The number of his presbyters is as visible in 
 all his writings too ; and though men may form 
 imaginary offices and employments for so many 
 chargeable ministers in one congregation, when 
 Christians had reason enough to be as frugal as 
 they possibly could; yet a more natural and 
 reasonable account of them, I believe, will never 
 be given, than that they had several oratories to 
 attend, especially in that state of dispersion they 
 were then in, when it is scarcely conceivable 
 they should hold so formidable an assembly 
 together, even if they could; and it is not a 
 little remarkable how often St. Cyprian com- 
 plains of such and such presbyters admitting 
 the lapsed to communion, whilst others were 
 
 i 'ETT! Kowfj aKpooLffci ava.yiv<affKiv' Omnibus audientibus. 
 See Suicer ad vocera 'Aj/cryycocrTrjs. 
 
 k Scio VOB optare tales in Kcclesia nostra quamplurimos or- 
 dinari. Ep. 38. [Fell.] 
 
96 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 commended for not doing so ; which, if they all 
 united in one assembly together, I think is not 
 to be conceived. 
 
 It is plain the barbarous proconsul Paternus, 
 who condemned St. Cyprian himself, understood 
 they had more places for religious assemblies 
 than one, when he told him the emperors Vale- 
 rian and Gallienus 1 commanded there should 
 be no " meetings in any places," and that they 
 should not enter into their 'cemeteries' (in 
 the plural number), as the words in the margin 
 shew. 
 
 If I could attend repetitions, with more pa- 
 tience than I have already done, here was a 
 great deal more work for me still ; for here we 
 have the current arguments again, of " all the 
 people being present, consulted, and approving 
 ordinations, elections, church-censures, absolu- 
 tions," and the like. Now so far as this manner 
 of their being present at these acts of discipline 
 prove the diocese to be a bare single congrega- 
 tion, I have fully considered them before, and 
 therefore may justly supersede them here. And 
 so far as they refer to a pretended right or ju- 
 risdiction of the people in the government of 
 the church, we shall find them pressed upon us 
 again and again still, and under that considera- 
 tion I shall examine them further as they lie in 
 my way. In the mean time I shall leave the 
 church of Carthage with this authentic testi- 
 mony for her ; that as little as she was in her 
 
 1 Praecipiunt ne in aliquibus locis conciliabula fiant, nee coe- 
 meteria ingrediantur. Cypr. in Pontii Vit. Cyp. [Fell. p. 12.] 
 "' quod qui facere deprehensus fuerit, capite plectatur." 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 97 
 
 flourishing times of peace and safety the num- 
 ber of her ( lapsed members only,' was such in 
 the Decian persecution m , that thousands of 
 tickets were daily granted by the Martyrs and 
 Confessors on their behalf, to procure their re- 
 conciliation to the Church ; and many of those 
 tickets, not for single persons, but for them- 
 selves and friends together ; for so their holy 
 bishop expressly tells the Roman presbyters 
 and deacons, and reproved the over-forward 
 Martyrs and Confessors themselves for it ; and 
 what manner of single congregation such a 
 church should make, before the fatal fall of so 
 vast a number of her members, and after their 
 blessed union again, I leave to any impartial 
 man to judge. 
 
 The last diocese considered by our learned 
 Enquirer is that of Alexandria; and had he 
 happily begun, instead of ending, with this, one 
 would be apt to think it might have prevented 
 the trouble of all the rest ; for if ever any au- 
 thor gave up his whole cause at once, I think it 
 may be seen here. His main point all along 
 contended for was this; that every primitive 
 diocese for three hundred years together, con- 
 sisted only of a single congregation ; but now 
 the force of truth constrains him to confess (p. 
 
 m Sine ullo discrimine atque examine singulorum darentur 
 quotidie libellorum millia. Cypr. Ep. 20. [Fell.] In a note 
 Fell adds " Quantus lapsorum in Deciana persecutione nu- 
 merus vel hinc constare poterit ; prsesertim cum uno libello 
 totas familias Martyres passim includerent." 
 
 n Quibusdam sic libellos fieri, ut dicatur, communicet cum 
 &uis et possunt nobis viceni, et triceni et amplius offerri, qui 
 propinqui et affines, et liberti ac domestici esse asseverentur 
 ejus qui accipit libellum. Cypr. Ep. 15. [Fell.] 
 
 H 
 
98 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 38), that "the Christians of Alexandria, within 
 the third century, divided themselves into seve- 
 ral distinct and separate congregations, and all 
 subjected to one bishop." These are his own 
 words, and what need have we then, you will 
 say, of any further controversy? I confess I 
 should think no need at all ; only it is not amiss 
 we should see what management is used with 
 this dangerous evidence, who extorted this 
 candid confession from him, that he might not 
 hurt the congregational cause after all. 
 
 It was a passage in Dionysius, the holy bishop 
 of Alexandria himself, that inclined our zealous 
 Enquirer to this gentle temper ; for " this," says 
 he (p. 39), "is clearly enough asserted by Dio- 
 nysius, who mentions the distinct congregations 
 in the extremest suburbs of the city." 
 
 To make this hard testimony a little more 
 pliant to this purpose, we have this ingenious 
 comment upon it; that these congregations 
 were only a " chapel of ease within the suburbs 
 of Alexandria ," for the conveniency of some 
 members who lived too far off to come to their 
 'one' usual meeting-house, so often as they 
 held assemblies there, being every Lord's- day, 
 Saturday, Wednesday, and Friday; and there- 
 fore it was concerted between the bishop and 
 his people, that they should " erect this chapel, 
 or these chapels for themselves ; and, upon so- 
 lemn occasions, should all meet in the one 
 mother-church, and so continue but one con- 
 gregational church still." 
 
 'Ez/ Trpoaareiois irofifarepca KfifJ-evois KctTcfc pepos effovTat ffvv- 
 ayuyai. Advers. Gennanum apud Euseb. 1. vii. c. 11. [!* 
 ed. Burton.] 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 99 
 
 In which comment we have a great example 
 of what zeal will do for a bad cause. For, 
 
 1st, This single chapel, or these distinct con- 
 gregations, for they are named in both capaci- 
 ties, are positively said to be within the 6 ex- 
 tremest' suburbs, at least, of the city of Alex- 
 andria, though Dionysius himself says only, " as 
 it were within such suburbs p ;" and thus you 
 may remember this wary author did, in another 
 quotation, leave out this little particle 9 [o>?, or 
 as it were] to very good purpose : and so it is 
 here ; for a chapel within the suburbs, though 
 it were in the remotest of them all, in the vul- 
 gar acceptation of them amongst us, would suit 
 pretty well with an English parish still ; which 
 more congregations, a little further off, would 
 scarce do so welL And, 
 
 2ndly, All this matter must be represented 
 as a singular case, concerted between the bishop 
 and his people, that they should not only erect 
 this chapel, or chapels for their own ease, but 
 engage themselves upon solemn occasions to 
 assemble in one and the same church with him 
 still, and so be a mere congregational diocese, 
 notwithstanding these multiplied congregations 
 in it. For all which there is not one tittle of 
 warrant or authority in Dionysius's own nar- 
 rative of it, but enough to shew a very different 
 case from it. 
 
 I have had occasion given to consider this 
 whole case of the church of Alexandria before r , 
 
 P 'Hs eV TTpoaffreiois 7ro/3/3cwTepto KCijjJvois /caret pepos ffvva.yu~ 
 yat. Euseb. ib. 
 
 ^ Vide p. 80, supra. 
 
 r Vide supra, p. 6, and p. 49. 
 
100 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 to which I refer the reader, for fuller informa- 
 tion in it ; and only remind him here, as a help 
 to understand this short comment, that the 
 place where these distinct congregations were 
 held was in and about Colluthio, in the region 
 of Marseotis, which was a different ' nomos,' or 
 district, of ^Egypt from that of Alexandria, 
 both in the Macedonian and Roman division of 
 it. Ptolemy distinguishes each of them as se- 
 parate regions by themselves, as our learned 
 Dr. Heylin 3 also does, who tells us that Plin- 
 thine and Hierax were the chief towns in the 
 region called Maraeotica; and how large a 
 country it was, and distinct from Alexandria, 
 the contrivance of the Arians shews, who set 
 up Ischyras, the pretended presbyter, for an- 
 other bishop there ; knowing, doubtless, there 
 was scope and district enough for another dio- 
 cese, (even in the notion and practice of the 
 fourth century,) for they never presumed so far 
 as to make him bishop of Alexandria itself. 
 But we need no other evidence, sure, in our 
 present case, than that the holy bishop of Alex- 
 andria we are now speaking of, was, at this time, 
 confined in this very place in the condition of 
 a banished man, and where, he tells us 1 , Chris- 
 tians never had resided before, till his name and 
 sufferings had brought these several congrega- 
 tions of them into the country round about ; it 
 being a place infested with vagrants and robbers 
 to that very day, and where he was much 
 
 s See Heylin's Cosmog. p. 929. edit. 2. Lond. 1657. 
 "' fjLev afieXfyutv rb x w p' lov ' ra ^ s ^ r <*> v oSonropovitrcw 
 Kal XyffTtov Karadpofjidis yKi/*vov' T/xfleo'flr;*' KOL 
 Euseb. ib. 1. vii. c. 11. [14. ed. Burton.] 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 101 
 
 afflicted, as he says himself, to hear that he 
 must go. Judge what a kind of suburb this 
 must be to his own city of Alexandria then ; I 
 mean, in our modern and English notion of c a 
 suburb,' for whose sake this comment is made, 
 and in which sense only the plausible contriv- 
 ance of a ' chapel of ease ' could have any show 
 of reason in it. For if he would allow it to be 
 understood in the ancient acceptation of the 
 word, wherein suburbs u comprehended large 
 adjacent countries, whose towns and villages 
 were the peculiar cures of presbyters under the 
 bishop of the diocese wherein they lay, we 
 should not need to dispute about it. But such 
 a primitive construction as this could no ways 
 clear his point here, but would give his citizens' 
 ' chapel of ease' a most unwarrantable situation ; 
 and yet it is plain that Dionysius himself did 
 not then take the place here mentioned for a 
 suburb of this city, even in his extensive notion 
 of it neither; else he had never said, "as it 
 were in remoter suburbs," had it actually been 
 there. ^Jot to mention how unprecedented a 
 thing it is, to affix the more modern term of a 
 tf chapel of ease' to any place of public worship 
 in those primitive times, where, I conceive, 
 neither name nor thing is in any author to be 
 found. 
 
 To speak the least we can then in this pre- 
 sent case, it is very plain that some fair symp- 
 toms of a modern episcopal church did appear 
 in this primitive one of Alexandria; and no 
 
 See Valesius's Annot. on these very words, KO.T& 
 <rvvaywyai. In Euseb. ib. 
 
102 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 wonder it should be so, since the great evange- 
 list St. Mark had, in his own time, converted 
 and settled many congregations of Christians in 
 the very city itself, as Eusebius tells us x , who 
 calls them churches (in the plural number), 
 without any cautious distinction of chapels of 
 ease, or anything in name or nature like it, to 
 make them a parochial diocese still, but took 
 care to leave upon record that one single bishop 
 successively presided over all. And one cannot 
 but think it strange to see an English pen so 
 very industrious to deface the genuine charac- 
 ters of this primitive church, when they do no 
 more than bear witness to the venerable Apo- 
 stolical constitution, which the providence of 
 God, and our own spiritual superiors, have pro- 
 vided for ourselves at home. 
 
 But, once more, though great imperial cities 
 may make a show of being more than congrega- 
 tional churches, yet what can we say of bishops 
 placed in villages? Does not that prove that 
 their diocese could be no greater ? If it proves 
 anything, it must prove their jurisdiction to 
 reach no further than their village too, which I 
 never yet could hear of. To be a bishop 6 in a 
 village,' and 'of a village,' are very different 
 things; and should an Englishman read no 
 more than the history of his native country 
 only, he would find a bishop's see, ever and 
 anon, fixed in a village, as properly so called as 
 any episcopal village in ancient or modern 
 history whatsoever, and yet his territories and 
 
 * y EKK\rj(rias eV ai>7% 3 A\av$peias ownfjtrcwrflai. Euseb. 
 Hist. EC. 1. ii. c. 16. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 103 
 
 dominions as fruitful in parishes and churches 
 under him, as any city diocese in the land be- 
 sides. 
 
 But this argument is exhausted by the excel- 
 lent Dr. Maurice long ago ; and episcopal vil- 
 lages surveyed with such patience, and the ob- 
 jections from them confuted with such learning 
 and reason, in his admirable defence of diocesan 
 episcopacy, that one would little think it should 
 appear in public again. Yet I will not wholly 
 pass by. the authorities that are offered for it 
 here. 
 
 I shall join the two first of them together, 
 because in the application here made of them, 
 they really are an answer to one another. Cle- 
 mens Romanus tells us, that "the Apostles 
 preaching both in country and city, constituted 
 bishops and deacons there y ." Thus he trans- 
 lates the words of Clemens in the margin, 
 though c through regions and cities' are at least 
 as genuine a translation, as that; and by the 
 precedency of f regions' in the text, they may 
 more naturally be understood of ' provinces' or 
 countries in the largest sense of them, than of 
 mere countr^ villages. But let us hear what 
 St. Cyprian adds to this: "bishops," says he, 
 "were ordained throughout all provinces and 
 all cities." 
 
 Now by our author's quoting these two Fa- 
 thers to the same purpose, as he tells us he did, 
 he has all the reason in the world to understand 
 St. Clemens's ' countries,' and the ' provinces' 
 
 y Kara x^P as ^ v Ka * iro\is K7}pvffffovres KaQiffravov -- els 
 eiruTKOTrovs Kal 8iaK6vovs. Ep. 1. ad Corinth. [ 42. ed. Jacob- 
 son.] 
 
104 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 mentioned by St. Cyprian, to be the same 
 thing. And since the latter never understood 
 'provinces' in any other sense than as ' large 
 tracts of countries,' containing cities, towns, and 
 villages in them; so by parity of reason, he 
 ought to allow, that St. Clemens meant such 
 sort of ' countries' too; and then both ' cities' 
 and ' countries' might originally have bishops 
 set over them, and not a village have a bishop 
 in it still; which I have only taken notice of, 
 to shew how little these two quotations prove 
 the thing they were intended for ; since, if they 
 were equivalent, or ' much to the same purpose,' 
 as our author says they are, they make no proo 
 I think, of village-bishoprics at all. But I have 35 
 elsewhere otherwise accounted for the doubtful 
 and undetermined sense of St. Clemens's bi- 
 shops, in the age he wrote in; to which I 
 may refer the reader for further satisfaction in 
 the case. 
 
 Another argument there is from an instance 
 of a bishop in Comane a , which, I am free to 
 own, the historian calls a village, and dispute 
 not but it really was so; for I have shewn 
 above, that villages may have a bishop's see in 
 them, though examples in antiquity are rarely 
 to be found indeed, and yet their jurisdiction 
 be large enough too ; and that Comane was of 
 that kind, may the rather be presumed, since it 
 appears 5 , that that particular place had a bi- 
 
 z Vide supra, Ch. I. p. 22, 24. 
 
 a ZuriKbv curb Kop.dvrjs K(afjLT)s. Euseb. H. E. 1. v. c. 16. [ 16. 
 ed. Burton.] 
 
 b Episcopus Comanenus memoratur in Epistola Episcopo- 
 rum Pamphyliae ad Leonem Aug. See Vales, in Euseb. ubi 
 supra, et Concil, Chalced. part III. p. 391. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 105 
 
 shop's seat in it, even in the fifth century, and 
 at the time of the council of Chalcedon ; when, 
 I believe, no man thinks there was any one 
 bishop in the Christian Church that had no 
 more than a single village for his diocese. In 
 a word, it is strange to see what narrow search 
 is made, to find here and there an instance of 
 this kind, amongst so many thousand bishoprics 
 as the history of the Church affords ; whereas, 
 had villages been bishops' sees by Apostolical 
 institution, wherever any congregation could be 
 gathered in them, the advantage in number, one 
 would think, should soon have * been on their 
 side, in the general account of episcopal churches 
 in the Christian world. 
 
 But it is surmised still, that there must have 
 been many bishops of villages, and very ob- 
 scure villages too, amongst those seventy-eight 
 bishops that sat in council with St. Cyprian, in 
 the year 258, because we do not meet with 
 the names of many of their sees in Ptolemy, or 
 the old geographers. Now whatever may. be 
 msising in the ancient geography here referred 
 to, it is plain that every diocese named in 
 that council, is wery learnedly accounted for by 
 the venerable editor of the Oxford edition of 
 St. Cyprian's works, in his notes upon it ; partly 
 from those ancient geographers themselves, and 
 partly from other authors of unquestionable 
 credit in the case ; such as Antoninus, Optatus, 
 St. Austin, Victor Vitensis, the Notitia Africa^ 
 Collatio Carthaginensis, and the like. And as 
 they are generally styled ( cities' in direct terms, 
 so, if one in twenty of them should be suspected 
 to be otherwise, it neither proves their dioceses 
 
106 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 to be single congregations, as we have seen be- 
 fore, nor should be thought strange in the con- 
 fines of those inhospitable countries, where the 
 natives rarely multiplied their cities, yet were 
 numerous in their lesser dispersed corporations, 
 and becoming Christians must have their bi- 
 shops seated in the most convenient mansion 
 for them all. Such instances in the more un- 
 civilised and desert parts of the world are un- 
 questionably to be found : but to take a model 
 of the Christian Church from them, is peculiar 
 only to a few authors in our own times. 
 
 To close this cause and the second chapter 
 together, we have Justin Martyr's Sunday's-as- 
 semblies once more recommended to our better 
 consideration, and St. Ignatius's strict charge to 
 the Magnesians to keep in close union with their 
 bishop; which, without going all to his single 
 house of prayer, our Enquirer seems to think 
 impracticable. But how different the sense of 
 those holy Fathers is from what is here put upon 
 them, I have shewn at large before ; and hope 
 so genuine a construction of them, being plainly 
 conformable also to the principles and practice 
 of the Catholic Church of Christ, will find no 
 hard admittance with any peaceful friend of the 
 like primitive constitution in our own native 
 country and times. 
 
 c Vide supra, p. 43, and p. 45. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, 107 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Enquiry into the Constitution, fyc. of the Pri- 
 mitive Church^ fyc. 
 
 THE bishop's flock, we have seen in the 
 former chapters, is moderate and small 
 enough; his duty is now represented to the 
 full: the particulars are many, and yet but 
 little controverted, as this learned author ob- 
 serves, on either side ; they are with great ex- 
 actness summed up in this place, to introduce 
 the absolute necessity of his 'residing con- 
 stantly' upon his cure; which in the next pa- 
 ragraph is so earnestly insisted upon. And in 
 that view of tlgiem, I cannot but take notice, 
 that the several acts of the episcopal function, 
 here mentioned, are many of them so repre- 
 sented by the authors he quotes about them, as 
 to imply an inherent right in the bishop of or- 
 dering and disposing the discharge of them, as 
 much as a personal obligation upon him to dis- 
 charge them all himself. Thus, for instance, in 
 the act of ' preaching ;' Origen, here quoted to 
 prove it was the 6 bishop's duty,' elsewhere in- 
 
108 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 forms us a , that the "bishop commanded him to 
 preach/' and enjoined him the very subject he 
 should preach upon (Enquiry, p. 58) ; which 
 shews the bishop to be as much, at least, a spi- 
 ritual guardian of the holy ordinance, obliged 
 by his function to provide effectually for the 
 doing of it, as that he was personally bound to 
 do it himself; and allowing but one congrega- 
 tion in a diocese, it was a temporary dispensa- 
 tion to him, from performing that duty; and 
 what could any one say, should that bishop 
 have oftener done such an innocent thing again? 
 Sozomen b goes further indeed, and tells us, " it 
 was a custom in the church of Rome, for nei- 
 ther bishop nor any one else to preach there ;" 
 upon which the learned Valesius notes, that 110 
 sermon of a bishop of that church was ever ex- 
 tant before those of Leo the Great, which was 
 in the fifth century, and quotes Cassiodorus to 
 confirm what Sozomen said; (an authentic 
 witness, who was both senator and historian, 
 in the city of Rome itself). I infer no more 
 from this, that what barely relates to the case 
 before me, namely, that the "bishop's conti- 
 nual preaching to their people," which our En- 
 quirer here (p. 44. 2) asserts, was not univer- 
 sal, at least, in the primitive churches them- 
 selves. 
 
 Again, as to the administration of the holy 
 sacrament of baptism, Tertullian is here brought 
 
 a Origen. in Ezek. Horn. 3. Origen. Horn, de Engastrim. 
 p. 28. vol. i. 
 
 b O$T 5e 6 eVtV/coTros, otfre &\\os rls eV0o5e sir* 'E/c/cA^cn'as 
 S&dffKei. Sozom. Hist. Eccl. 1. vii. c. 19. et Vales. Annot. ib. 
 [ D. ed. Vales. 1677.] 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 109 
 
 to prove it an 'act' of the bishop's function, and 
 undoubtedly it is included in it : but let us take 
 it in the ancient Father's own words, which are 
 these ; " the right of giving baptism is in the 
 bishop, and from thence in the presbyters and 
 deacons, if he authorise them for it c ." I only 
 note this language of the ancients, and this 
 practice in the primitive times, to shew that the 
 flock of Christ might be fed, and the ordinary 
 saving ordinances of the Church administered 
 in a diocese, though the bishop should not 
 6 constantly' act in his own person; and that 
 he was not wanting to his function, where he 
 effectually provided that every act of it was 
 performed to the edification and occasions of 
 his people. Personal presence is undoubtedly 
 the truest and most faithful means of discharg- 
 ing any trust in the world, and much more of 
 this high and heavenly one ; but it is more ex- 
 traordinary to hear it pressed so hard from a 
 congregational hand, who makes a diocese but 
 a single auditory, and though there should be 
 forty or fifty presbyters, which, in his account 
 of them, are as truly Apostolical bishops in 
 their order, as the very ' supreme one' himself, 
 yet cannot allow c that single pastor,' upon the 
 most important affair, to be absent for a while, 
 though he should depute them all to watch over 
 his little flock, which could make but one con- 
 gregation for them. But, 
 
 He urges St. Cyprian's awful opinion in the 
 
 c " Dandi quidem (baptismum) habet jus summus sacerdos 
 dehinc presbyteri, et diaconi, non tamen sine episcopi auctori- 
 tate." Tertull de Baptismo. 17. p. 230. [ed. Rigalt. Ve- 
 net. 1744.] 
 
110 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 case, who reckons this sin of ' non-residency/ as 
 one occasion of God's wrath upon the Church, 
 in the Decian persecution: and I believe in- 
 deed, it would be thought no better of, 'even 
 in this,' or in any other age besides, if we 
 should take in all the other aggravations that 
 holy Martyr there charges it withal. He com- 
 plains, " that bishops left their dioceses to follow 
 sordid merchandise abroad, to purchase farms 
 by fraud and extortion, to enrich themselves by 
 use upon use, neglecting to relieve the brethren 
 that were starving in the church d ." Such ( non- 
 residency' might draw down judgments upon a 
 church indeed, but will hardly prove, that no 
 occasions, how just, innocent, or important so- 
 ever, can excuse the temporary absence of a 
 bishop from his see, where every district in his 
 diocese has subordinate pastors provided for it, 
 to administer every necessary ordinance of the 
 Church to all his people in it. That holy bi- 
 shop and Martyr, we know, was a considerable 
 time absent himself; the occasion was extraor- 
 dinary it is true, and I mention it for no other 
 end than this, that matter of fact may inform 
 us a diocese is capable to be provided for in 
 such a case as that; and the example of that 
 blessed bishop will shew us how : for " though 
 absent in body," says he, " I was neither want- 
 ing in spirit, in act, or admonitions to them; 
 
 d Episcopi plurimi derelicta cathedra, plebe deserta, per 
 alienas provincias oberrantes, negotiationis qusestuosae nundi- 
 nas aucupari ; esurientibus in ecclesia fratribus non subvenire, 
 habere argentum largiter velle, fundos insidiosis fraudibus ra- 
 pere, usuris multiplicantibus foenus augere. Cypr. de Lapsis, 
 4. edit. Oxon. p. 123. A. D. 251. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. Ill 
 
 but by my episcopal authority, I still restrained 
 such presbyters and deacons, as were remiss and 
 negligent in the discipline of the church 6 ." In 
 a word therefore, those spiritual stewards of the 
 Lord's household will have a hard account to 
 give, they may be sure of it, if whensoever their 
 Lord cometh, he finds them not watching : but 
 by what rules of equity, that watchfulness he 
 enjoins them, shall be judged acceptable at the 
 last day, is reserved to himself alone, who knows 
 the heart, and knows the occasions of man, and 
 judge th not by appearance, but judge th accord- 
 ing to truth. This is matter of awe enough to 
 every servant in his family ; and, at the same 
 time, proves how unwarrantable it is too, for 
 any but their Lord and Master alone, to judge 
 of their service: as the excellent St. Cyprian 
 elsewhere speaks, even in respect of one bishop 
 censuring another. 
 
 The next enquiry is, how a bishop was an- 
 ciently elected into a vacant see ; which is thus 
 determined for us: 1st, (p.,46, 47, and 49,) "That 
 all the members of the 6 parish or bishopric,' (for 
 we must admit them for equivalent terms still,) 
 both clergy and laity, commonly met, to choose 
 a fit person for his successor, to whom 'they 
 might commit the v care and government of their 
 church. 5 2ndly, Whomsoever the people had 
 thus elected a bishop, they presented to their 
 neighbouring bishops for their approbation and 
 consent, c lest the people, through ignorance or 
 
 e Absens corpore, nee spiritu, nee actu, nee monitis meis 
 defui presbyteris et diaconibus non defuit sacerdotii vigor ut 
 quidam minus disciplines memores comprimerentur, interce- 
 dentibus nobis. Ep. 20. [p. 42. Fell.] 
 
112 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 affection, should choose an unfit or unable man 
 for that sacred office,' (as our learned author 
 modestly surmises for them;) 'it being sup- 
 posed,' says he, 6 that a synod of bishops might 
 be wiser judges in the case.' 3rdly, A bishop 
 thus elected and confirmed, is to have his 
 ' ordination' or 6 instalment,' (for these must 
 pass for equivocal words too,) in his own 
 church, by the neighbouring bishops, and that 
 by imposition of their hands." 
 
 These were the three necessary requisites, it 
 seems, for the filling of any vacant bishopric in 
 the primitive times; and the two former so 
 equally necessary, that it is concluded (p. 49), 
 ff neither the choice of the bishops of the voisi- 
 nage, without the consent of the people, nor 
 the election of the people, without the approba- 
 tion of those bishops, was sufficient and valid of 
 itself:" and after both, the ceremony of ' ordi- 
 nation' or ' instalment' was to finish all. 
 
 Here is an excellent primitive practice, with 
 variety of reading, and not a little art, I fear, 
 represented to us. And, because it has some- 
 what more than ordinary relation to some un- 
 fortunate controversies in our own times, which 
 our ingenious author so affectionately desired 
 to compose and heal for us, I must take leave 
 to observe, that it is not the ancient practice of 
 the Church which has so much occasioned un- 
 happy controversies in the case, as the repre- 
 sentation of it in such a singular manner as we 
 have it here. By examining the particulars 
 apart, we shall see more of it. 
 
 " In the vacancy of a see," says he, " all the 
 members of it, clergy and laity, met together, 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 113 
 
 to choose a fit person for a successor;" and it 
 need not be disputed between us, but that in 
 many dioceses, though not in all, they com- 
 monly did so; provided that by ( choosing' here, 
 we may be allowed to understand, what our 
 Enquirer himself fairly intimates to us, that it 
 was no more than to pitch upon a person ac- 
 ceptable to themselves, whom they might pro- 
 pose and recommend to the neighbouring bi- 
 shops, for their consent and approbation ; for 
 his own scheme runs so; that is, for those 
 bishops to accept or refuse him, as they should 
 think fit; for where we sue for approbation 
 or consent, we must allow a right and power to 
 disapprove and dissent too. 
 
 But then the next words in the Enquiry run 
 higher than so, and may mislead the reader, if 
 he be not well aware of it : " they met," says 
 he, t to choose a successor, to whom they might 
 commit the care and government of their 
 church." This is somewhat more, sure, than 
 preparing to recommend to others ; it is plainly 
 attributing to them a considerable share, at 
 least, of original right and power invested in 
 them, to dispose of their bishopric to the per- 
 son they should please to choose. And we 
 need not doubt, but that our learned author in- 
 tended they should be understood so ; since in 
 another place (p. 103), where he treats directly 
 of the acts and powers of the lay-members of a 
 church, he affirms, in plain terms, that 'they 
 had a power,' not only to * elect' the person of 
 their bishop, but to ' depose him too,' in case he 
 proved scandalous, heretical, or the like. 
 
114 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 Now what this lay-power was, in constituting 
 bishops of old, and from whence it came, is the 
 point in question; and for the easier solution 
 of it, we need only carefully observe these two 
 things: 1st, What the Holy Scriptures them- 
 selves teach us concerning the divine institu- 
 tion of this sacred office and power of constitut- 
 ing and ordaining bishops and pastors in the 
 Church, together with the manner it was first 
 executed and put in practice in the very Apo- 
 stolical age itself. And, 2ndly, what account 
 we meet with of the same thing, in the follow- 
 ing ecclesiastical records of Fathers, councils, 
 or historians, in the ages very near approaching 
 to the first. 
 
 These two great authorities, impartially com- 
 pared together, will teach us to distinguish 
 fairly between a divine right, authority, and 
 power, of ordaining elders in the Church, com- 
 pletely and absolutely conveyed, by the foun- 
 tain of all power, to the single persons of the 
 first spiritual rulers of it, without the concur- 
 rence of any popular election, on the one hand ; 
 and the wise and prudent rules and methods 
 which the succeeding governors in many parts 
 of the Church laid down for themselves in the 
 use and practice of that ordaining power, so 
 entirely conveyed down to them, on the other. 
 And if this short and clear distinction were but 
 duly attended to, and without prejudice applied 
 to the present dispute before us, the adversaries 
 on both sides might happily find their account 
 in it, and come nearer to compromise their 
 fatal, though unnecessary, difference about it. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH* 115 
 
 For, if the former part or member of this dis- 
 tinction appear true, which I shall particularly 
 consider by and by, then such as disallow the 
 necessity of popular elections in the case, call 
 them by what name we please, must, at least, 
 have a fair appearance of a very important plea, 
 even from the Holy Scriptures themselves, for 
 their opinion of it; and on the other side, if 
 very primitive bishops, succeeding in' the places, 
 character, and power of those earlier predeces- 
 sors of theirs in the Christian Church, did form 
 rules or canons by mutual consent amongst 
 themselves, not to exercise that ordaining power 
 and office, so invested in them, any otherwise 
 than in the presence, and with the general ap- 
 probation of the church or people, over which 
 the person so ordained was intended to pre- 
 side ; then the advocates for this popular claim, 
 interest, or right, call it what you will, of bear- 
 ing some part also in electing and constituting 
 a bishop over them, may have plausible prece- 
 dents of ecclesiastical antiquity to recommend 
 their plea for it too. Which two points, I hum- 
 bly conceive, contain the main substance of 
 what is generally offered on one side or the 
 other ; at least, they seem to me^ more imme- 
 diately and directly to answer all the reason- 
 ings of our learned Enquirer about it; who, 
 through all his management of this argument, 
 grounds his whole scheme upon such ancient 
 ecclesiastical authorities alone ; and as for texts 
 of Holy Scripture, or any authentic charter of 
 popular election contained in them, at the first 
 divine or Apostolical institution of it, has 
 thought fit not to mention one ; [as the reader 
 
 i2 
 
116 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 may see, by consulting the references noted in 
 the margin here f .] 
 
 To begin then with the former part, or mem- 
 ber of the distinction itself; which is this, that 
 the Holy Scriptures set forth to us a divine 
 right, authority, and power of ordaining elders 
 in the Church, completely and absolutely con- 
 veyed, from the fountain of all power in it, to 
 the single persons of the first spiritual rulers of 
 it, without any previous or concurrent election 
 of the people in it ; and further, that the Apo- 
 stles themselves, or Apostolical men, eminently 
 so called, and adopted into the number of them, 
 did accordingly both execute and convey the 
 same ordaining power, in the same manner, 
 unto others at their first planting of Christian 
 churches in the world. This evidence of fact, 
 I shall briefly shew the Holy Scriptures do set 
 forth to us. 
 
 And first, as to the pecular Apostolic college 
 itself, which we know was first consecrated and 
 ordained to this holy function, as the spring and 
 fountain from whence all the rest is undoubtedly 
 derived, I presume it will not be disputed, but 
 that they received a fulness of power for ordi- 
 nations, as well as every other part of their mi- 
 nisterial office, from the blessed Jesus himself, 
 whether before or after his resurrection, without 
 any imaginary appearance of such a popular 
 choice or approbation in the case : and there- 
 fore I do but barely name the thing ; though I 
 must make this short remark upon it, that it is 
 no inconsiderable circumstance to the point in 
 
 f See Enq. p. 23, 24, and p. 46, to p. 49. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 117 
 
 hand, that the Catholic Church was thus 
 founded upon governors arid pastors ordained 
 to rule over every part of it, before there was 
 any formed church or settled congregation in 
 the world to have any hand in it. This comes 
 as near the root, I am sure, of all divine right 
 or power in ordinations, as it is possible to do ; 
 and in what other sense can we reasonably con- 
 ceive those first plenipotentiaries of Church- 
 power could understand their blessed Lord's 
 express commission to them, as my Father hath 
 sent Me, even so send I you s , than as a personal 
 power to ordain others in the same manner 
 likewise, according as the occasion of convert- 
 ing all nations, and gathering churches in them 
 where there were none before, did most natu- 
 rally require. 
 
 That they did so understand, and execute 
 their commission so too, if a very short digres- 
 sion may be allowed me here, that one venera- 
 ble record of antiquity, which our Enquirer 
 himself (p. 49) singled out to prove f the con- 
 trary' by, will manifestly shew; I mean St. Cle- 
 ment's first epistle to the Corinthians, where 
 the holy Father's words are these : " The Apo- 
 stles," says he, "constituted [or ordained] bi- 
 shops and deacons for such as "[were not yet 
 converted, but] should, in some time to come, 
 be brought over to the faith h ." There needs 
 no comment upon this testimony; for sure, 
 whatever imaginary people may be suggested 
 
 ? John xx. 21. 
 
 h Oi f 'ATrJo-ToAot Ka.Qiara.vov ras airapxas avTW els 
 
 eTTHTKOTTovs Kal ia.K.6vovs r&v fj.\\6fT<t)i/ TTiffTtveiv. Clem, ad Co- 
 Ep. 1. [. 42. ed. Jacobson.J 
 
118 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 to have bore a part in the election or ordina- 
 tion of such bishops and deacons as those, it is 
 plain enough the people they were afterwards 
 to preside over, or minister amongst them, could 
 have none at all ; which is the only thing con- 
 tended for, and should be proved, in the case 
 before us. 
 
 But to return to Scripture evidence again: 
 as the principal Apostles themselves, according 
 to the testimony of that truly primitive Father 
 indeed, for he was contemporary with many of 
 them, did unquestionably constitute and ordain 
 pastors in the Church, without any suffrage or 
 election of the people in it ; so the Holy Scrip- 
 tures affirm no less of such as were adopted into 
 that sacred college, dignified with that title by 
 the Holy Ghost, and called of God himself to 
 the holy function, as well as the blessed twelve 
 were ; I mean St. Paul and St. Barnabas, whose 
 ordinations are particularly recorded for us in 
 holy writ itself. The text which mentions them 
 is obvious enough, and has seldom escaped the 
 observation of any who have wrote on this ar- 
 gument, on one side or the other. It is Acts 
 xiv. 23, where, in our translation, we read 
 thus : And ivhe?i they had ordained them elders in 
 every church, and had prayed with fasting, they 
 commended them to the Lord, on Whom they be~ 
 lieved 1 . I know the original word, here used 
 for this Apostolical ordination, is with great as- 
 surance insisted upon by the advocates for po- 
 pular election, as including in it the votes or 
 
 1 Act. xiv. 23. Kal x l P OTOJ/ 'n o ' ai/TS $* avro^s 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, 119 
 
 suffrages of the people, because it signifies " the 
 stretching out, or holding up, of the hand;" 
 which ceremony was commonly used by the 
 ancient Greeks, to express such an action of 
 the people in giving their voice or suffrage 
 either in courts of judicature, or at the choice 
 of magistrates amongst them. This is the main 
 stress of all the glosses I meet with, to evade 
 the clear evidence of this text for the Apostles 
 ordaining those elders by their own free ' choice' 
 and authority alone. " The clear evidence of 
 the text," I call it ; for if there be any regular 
 and grammatical construction of the holy pen- 
 men's words to be allowed at all, it must neces- 
 sarily be this ; that the same persons who held 
 forth their hands for the act of ordination here, 
 did, in the words immediately following, " com- 
 mend the people, then present, to the Lord, in 
 Whom they believed." The word ' commended' 
 in the latter clause, and the persons who or- 
 dained, or stretched out their hands for orders, 
 if we had rather translate it so, in the former, 
 having as direct a reference to, and connection 
 with one another, and appropriating the action 
 of the one to the persons of the other, as en- 
 tirely as it is possible for true syntax to do in 
 any sentence whatsoever; and therefore, unless 
 the people " commended themselves to the 
 Lord" in the latter clause, they could not be 
 included amongst the persons that stretched 
 out their hands for ordination in the former; 
 for they that did one, as clearly as language 
 can make it, did the other also. Besides, 
 though it might signify either, yet it must sig- 
 nify both here, if it imply the people's votes, 
 
120 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 else no imposition of hands in this ordination ; 
 and how absurd is that ? 
 
 I might balance, at least, all the proofs that 
 could be given for a popular election necessa- 
 rily implied in this original word, by a cloud 
 of witnesses both of Greek and Jewish writers, 
 in and about the time that the New Testament 
 was wrote, who familiarly apply the same word, 
 not to the votes or suffrages of a multitude only, 
 but to the bare authoritative act of a single per- 
 son, nay, even of God himself k , in constituting 
 or ordaining officers to the respective places or 
 purposes that they treated of. I might add 
 also the venerable and received authorities of 
 Christian Fathers, historians, critics, and gram- 
 marians, eminent both in ancient and modern 
 ages of the Church, who affirm the word to be 
 so taken in the 'ancient ecclesiastical' notion of 
 it: insomuch that the inquisitive Suicer, who 
 was friend enough to popular elections, amongst 
 other significations of the word, undertakes to 
 prove by many testimonies and examples, that 
 "the stretching out of the hand 1 " included in 
 it, imports no more than barely ' creating, con- 
 stituting,' and ' designing' persons to the place 
 or office intended for them, as distinct from 
 suffrage and election ; and, which is not a little 
 
 k So the Holy Scripture attributes it to God's choice of wit- 
 nesses, Acts x. 41. Not to all the people, but unto witnesses 
 chosen before of God, even to us who did eat and drink with 
 Him after He rose from the dead. 
 
 1 Exemplis et testimoniis prsebemus x l P OTOJ/ ^ J/ nihil aliud 
 declarare quam constituere, creare, designare : patet hoc ex 
 Acts xiv. 23, ubi de Paulo et Barnaba, x l P OTOt/ ^ (rai/rS O-VTOLS 
 Trpeff&vTepovs /car 3 eKK\7j(rlav. Suicer. Thesaur. Ecclus. in verbo 
 XejpoTovew, et in voce x^poTowa, Num. 2. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 121 
 
 to the purpose, produces this very text, at the 
 head of many other authorities, for a clear testi- 
 mony and example of it. [But they who would 
 see a plain and compendious account of the au- 
 thorities I here appeal to, need only read the 
 excellent doctor Hammond's annotations on 
 this single text, and those of the late bishop 
 Beveridge on the first Apost. Can.] But, 
 
 I have chosen rather to leave the sacred text 
 to its own naked evidence, than amuse the 
 reader with numerous quotations of that kind, 
 which are so readily to be found elsewhere ; 
 especially, since authorities of that nature, 
 though justly thought to have a considerable 
 weight in them by unprejudiced men, yet, I 
 know not for what reasons, are very often 
 slightly passed over by some of the greatest 
 patrons of popular election and the congrega- 
 tional cause. Witness that remarkable passage 
 in the celebrated J. Owen's Plea for Scripture 
 Ordination ; who, speaking of valid ordinations, 
 thus explains himself: by "valid," says he, "I 
 mean, not what old canons make so," (and yet it 
 is remarkable by the by that our learned En- 
 quirer urges such authorities in the case,) "but 
 what the Scriptures determine to be so. Those 
 sacred oracles, which are of divine inspiration, 
 and not arbitrary canons which are of weak 
 men's devising, are the foundation of our faith, 
 and the infallible standard, by which truth and 
 error must be tried;" which though it be an 
 unaccountable contempt of those venerable re- 
 cords of the Church, and of all other humane 
 authority besides, yet so far as any original 
 
122 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 right or power in that solemn act of ordination 
 can be claimed as f divine/ he may be owned to 
 speak a very important truth in it; for after 
 that sacred code was once complete and sealed, 
 I know of no such authentic power as that 
 granted to any, either in part, or in whole. 
 
 I shall therefore pursue the evidence of those 
 holy oracles a little further still, and prove from 
 thence, that as the Apostles received and exer- 
 cised such an ordaining power, independent of 
 any popular election in it; so they conveyed 
 the same, without any such condition annexed 
 to it, to the individual persons of some of the 
 chief pastors of the churches which were planted 
 by them. The two noted instances of this kind, 
 within the sacred canon itself, are Timothy and 
 Titus; in whose commission and ( instructions ' 
 together, which are very particular, we know, in 
 the point of ordinations above all things, we 
 might reasonably expect to hear of this * mate- 
 rial' right and privilege of the people, if such a 
 right there was, and not without some solemn 
 directions, one would think, for a due regard to 
 it ; lest their ordinations should prove defective 
 and ' invalid,' after all the authority the Apostle 
 had given them, for want of this popular elec- 
 tion in them. But that neither their commis- 
 sions or instructions for ordaining bishops and 
 deacons in the church, do either require, or im- 
 ply any such elections in them, will appear evi- 
 dent, I think, from a very few texts which im- 
 mediately relate to them. 
 
 The commission to Timothy is directly re- 
 ferred to in 2 Tim. ii. 2. The things that 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 123 
 
 thou hast heard of me amony many witnesses, 
 says the great Apostle, the same commit thou to 
 faithful men, who shall he able to teach others 
 also. 
 
 The substance of Titus's commission is at 
 Titus i. 5. For this cause left I thee in Crete, 
 says the same Apostle, that thou shouldst set in 
 order the things that are wanting, and ordain 
 elders in every city, as I had appointed thee. 
 
 Nothing can be plainer, I think, than these 
 three things are here : 1st, That there was a 
 full right and power of ordaining elders in the 
 Church unquestionably invested in these primi- 
 tive pastors of the Apostolical churches. 2ndly, 
 That each of them in their single persons are 
 expressly specified, addressed, and pointed to, 
 for the discharge and execution of it, commit 
 thou to faithful men, fyc., and that thou shouldst 
 or dam elders, fyc., as I had appointed thee. And, 
 3rdly, That there is not the least direction, or 
 so much as hint or intimation, given to either of 
 them to call in the assistance, or wait the appro- 
 bation of the ' people' in the case; neither 
 texts, nor contexts, if we please to look into 
 them, will suggest the least imagination of any 
 such thing: and therefore, without further re- 
 mark upon them, 
 
 I proceed, in the next place, to consider the 
 larger instructions given to them by the great 
 Apostle, for the due execution of their import- 
 ant charge. These lie dispersed in the several 
 epistles directed to them: and here, if any- 
 where, we might hope to find the secret of a 
 popular election enjoined in all their ordina- 
 tions. But, on the contrary, instead of clear 
 
124 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 instructions for it, we find they had the strong- 
 est cautions given them 6 against it,' that a holy 
 prophet and Apostle together, whose commis- 
 sion alone they acted by, could well have left 
 with them. For St. Paul, instructing Timothy 
 in the genius of the people of the province he 
 had placed him in, in plain terms foretells him 
 what they would one day do, if they were left 
 to their own elections, and might choose pas- 
 tors for themselves. The time will come, says 
 he, when they ivill not endure sound doctrine, 
 but after their own lusts shall they heap to them- 
 selves teachers, having itching ears [2 Tim. iv. 3]. 
 This was a pretty fair warning, one would 
 think, both to Timothy himself, and to his suc- 
 cessors too, for it was an indefinite prophecy, in 
 point of time, to them all, that they should be- 
 ware of trusting too much to the votes and suf- 
 frages of the people, in that particular affair 
 especially of providing pastors for themselves. 
 And that Titus had a caution to this purpose 
 much of the same kind with this, is visible 
 enough in St. Paul's confirming the Cretian 
 poet's hard testimony of his own countrymen, 
 that they were always liars, evil beasts, and slow 
 bellies [Tit. i. 12]. For that the Apostle meant 
 it not of such as were unconverted only, but 
 chiefly of such as were then become members 
 of the Church, and indeed of them alone, in 
 respect of the use he made of it, is manifest 
 from the words immediately following, wherein 
 he enjoins Titus to rebuke them sharply, that 
 they might be sound in the faith ; which, surely, 
 was to judge and censure them for it ; and that 
 had been contrary to his own doctrine in an- 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 125 
 
 other place, if they were not members of the 
 Church: for (1 Cor. v. 12) he disowns his right 
 of judging them that are without; what have I 
 to do, says he, to judge them that are without? 
 If the lay-members of the Cretian church there- 
 fore had such a character as this fastened upon 
 them by the very Apostle himself, which, at 
 least, must affect a considerable part of them, 
 let any man judge what probability there is, 
 that Titus should have it given him in his in- 
 structions to let the people choose their pastors 
 for themselves, or that he should take up that 
 method himself in conferring holy orders on 
 any in that island. 
 
 It is true, indeed, they have this excellent 
 instruction amongst the rest, that bishops and 
 deacons must be proved jirst, and found to be 
 blameless [1 Tim. iii. 2. 10, and Tit. i. 6]; 
 which does undoubtedly suppose a careful in- 
 quisition and wise trial to be made of the per- 
 sonal qualifications of every candidate for holy 
 orders. And upon this indefinite advice, and 
 single intimation, which, when we have said the 
 most of it that we can, leaves the whole matter 
 to the discretional judgment of the ordainers 
 themselves, do many advocates for popular elec- 
 tion ground their plea, for a necessary appeal 
 to the votes and suffrages of the people in all 
 ordinations : nay, our learned Enquirer himself, 
 though he offered no Scripture authority for it, 
 when he was directly treating of the point, yet 
 when he comes to the method of his consistory, 
 in examining into the life and conversation of 
 such candidates for holy orders, he first tells us 
 (p. 88), u they were proposed to the people for 
 
126 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 their testimony," and then immediately subjoins 
 the former of these texts as an Apostolical canon, 
 to countenance, at least, if not to enjoin the 
 practice of it. 
 
 In answer to which, I offer these few consi- 
 derations : 
 
 1st, That the holy Apostle's meaning in it 
 appears not to be so, by the cautions given 
 to Timothy and Titus, which I mentioned but 
 now. 
 
 2ndly, That the nature of the thing itself, 
 namely, the qualifications required in this case, 
 seem very unsuitable to such a popular or con- 
 gregational inquest as this. And, 
 
 Lastly, That our judicious Enquirer himself, 
 where he most explains his sense upon this sub- 
 ject, does not a little countenance the contrary 
 opinion of it. 
 
 The first of these particulars, of the Apostle's 
 sense of it, is cleared already, and needs no re- 
 petition. 
 
 The second, which is the nature of the thing 
 itself, or the qualifications required in the per- 
 sons to be ordained, (and note, episcopal orders 
 in the sense of the Enquiry are included here,) 
 I shall take from the Enquirer's own pen. " The 
 gifts, or qualifications," says he (p. 84, &c.), 
 " touching which a candidate for the ministry 
 was examined, may be reduced to these four 
 heads." 
 
 1st, His age, to prevent admitting a novice 
 or a stripling, as he explains the thing. 
 
 2ndly, His condition in the world, in respect 
 of being free from all secular employments, or 
 mundane affairs. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 127 
 
 3rdly, His conversation, that he might be 
 known to be meek and humble, and of an un- 
 spotted and exemplary life. 
 
 4thly, His understanding, that he might be 
 of a good capacity, and fit to teach others; 
 under which head he falls in clearly with Ori- 
 gen and Clemens Alexandrinus, that all sorts 
 of humane learning, and logic, and philosophy 
 in particular, were "not only useful, but neces- 
 sary for a presbyter ;" they were " amiable, and 
 profitable for him," as his own words are [p. 
 94]. 
 
 The ingenious author, who drew up these 
 particulars, wa^s very sensible, I doubt not, that 
 three in four of them needed no appealing to 
 any congregation of men to be satisfied in them. 
 Little need of bringing whole multitudes to a 
 poll, to know what, or whereabouts, the age of 
 any candidate should be ; or whether involved 
 in secular or worldly affairs, or no ; and more 
 absurd still, to enquire there of his skill or abili- 
 ties in those depths of humane learning, which 
 are thought proper for him. 
 
 The only qualification then which could fall 
 under the cognizance of such judges as those, 
 must be that of his moral virtues, or of his life 
 and conversation ; and why should the bishops 
 of different provinces be called in to judge of 
 that? No man ever questioned, I think, but 
 that neighbourhood or societies, friends or fami- 
 liars, whether laity or clergy, which any man 
 whatsoever has been more familiarly conversant 
 with, are the properest evidence, before all 
 others, to give a just and satisfactory informa- 
 tion of this kind of qualification. But how, and 
 
128 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 in what manner, would a reasonable man con- 
 ceive such information should be had ? By an 
 universal suffrage and critical majority of voices, 
 in so mixed a multitude ? Sure, if natural rea- 
 son, and common sense and experience does 
 not startle at that, yet our blessed master would 
 teach us to be very cautious, at least, in such 
 hazardous trials as these ; when he plainly tells 
 us, there will be tares as well as wheat, and it is 
 well, if we must not understand it in more than 
 equal proportion too, in that very field which is 
 a symbol of the kingdom of heaven, or of the 
 visible Church of God upon earth ; and to mea- 
 sure out one and the other without distinction, 
 as this case supposes, could have little good 
 come of it. Not this man, but Barabbas, is a 
 tremendous instance of this kind, in the most 
 eminent congregation of the only Church of 
 God then amongst men: and whosoever shall 
 seriously consider how expressly the Spirit has 
 foretold us what degeneracy of faith, what cor- 
 ruption of manners, what perilous times should 
 come in the latter days, when men should be 
 false accusers, and haters of those that are good, 
 and the like; yet still retaining the form of god- 
 liness, though without the power of it ; whosoever, 
 I say, should impartially consider this, must be 
 inclined to think, that the wisdom of God, who 
 both foresaw and foretold it all, should scarcely 
 ever grant such an unchangeable charter to 
 every individual member of a church, to ap- 
 prove his bishops and pastors for him, in all 
 generations to come ; as we see, indeed, there 
 appears no footsteps of it in the holy code of 
 His laws, by the view we have already had of 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 129 
 
 them. The wise heathen speaks a natural 
 truth, not very foreign to this purpose, which I 
 am afraid the Christians in our age would find 
 hard to contradict : " things do not go so well 
 with mankind," said the excellent Seneca, " that 
 the best please the most where number and 
 multitude is, it is an argument rather of the 
 worst" 1 ." The inference from all I have said 
 here is this; that notwithstanding the whole 
 corporation, or society, whether sacred or civil, 
 which any person is an immediate member of, 
 and the whole region or district he ordinary 
 lives and converses in, be the most suitable 
 places and persons from whence we should seek 
 a moral character of him ; yet a few select ones 
 out of all the rest, if judiciously chosen, and 
 with an upright mind applied to, are as likely, 
 at least, to give a just and sober account in the 
 case, as the promiscuous votes of the mixed 
 multitude together can reasonably be thought 
 to do ; and if what I have said seem too little 
 for it, I shall further add, what I learn from the 
 judicious Enquirer himself, namely, that f igno- 
 rance ' and ' affection,' that is, weakness in un- 
 derstanding, arid bias upon the will, are gene- 
 rally to be found amongst the vulgar people of 
 any Christian church or congregation whatso- 
 ever. 
 
 And this will clear, I hope, the third parti- 
 cular I promised to make out, that the Enquirer 
 himself, where he most impartially explains his 
 sense upon this subject, does not a little coun- 
 
 m Non tarn bene cum rebus humanis agitur, ut meliora plu- 
 ribus placeant, argumentum pessimi, turba est. Seneca de Vit. 
 Beat. c. 2. 
 
 K 
 
130 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 tenance our opinion of it : for these are the two 
 qualities he fastens upon the common people 
 (p. 48.), even of primitive churches and congre- 
 gations in general [as I just mentioned once 
 before]. They served his turn then indeed in 
 another view of the case : he was representing 
 to us the primitive custom of neighbouring bi- 
 shops being called in, as necessary to consent 
 to the people's election of a bishop ; and because 
 it would eclipse the popular power, to speak out 
 the whole of their business, office, and authority, 
 in constituting a bishop over them, he smooths 
 it over with this gloss, and one or two more not 
 much unlike it, which I may consider after- 
 wards; "I suppose," says he, "the reason of 
 their presenting him to those bishops for their 
 consent was this, lest the people, through igno- 
 rance or affection, should choose an unfit, or an 
 unable man for that office." What manner of 
 representation this is of an episcopal part and 
 office in primitive ordinations, I shall not stay 
 to observe now ; I only make good the observa- 
 tion I raised from it to the present purpose, viz. 
 that he charges the congregation with suspicion 
 of such ' ignorance ' and ( affection ' in the choice 
 of their bishop, that they needed better judges 
 to be called in ; as in another place he makes 
 them , subject to ' giddiness, envy,' or ' pride' 
 (p. 105). He may apply, it is likely, the ' weak- 
 ness of their understanding' to the point of 
 judging of the candidates' 'humane learning' 
 only; but the bias of their affection, which 
 with equal justice perhaps he supposes to be 
 in them, together with the other qualities of 
 giddiness, envy, or pride, can never pass for 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 131 
 
 a tolerable disposition in them, to give their 
 suffrage in any other qualification whatsoever. 
 And therefore I think it can be no injury to 
 say, that where his sense is most impartially 
 explained, he countenances, at least, our present 
 opinion in the case. 
 
 Now, to sum up all that has been offered 
 from Scripture evidence relating to the argu- 
 ment before us, the particulars are briefly 
 these. 
 
 1st, That the principal Apostles themselves 
 were unquestionably chosen and ordained su- 
 preme governors and pastors of all that did, or 
 should believe in their time, without the con- 
 currence or consent of any. And this was the 
 root and fountain of all Church power granted 
 from above. 
 
 2ndly, That the same Apostles must have 
 had the like ordaining power personally and 
 entirely invested in themselves alone, upon 
 these two accounts; 1st, because their commis- 
 sion, in this respect, was, in express w r ords, 
 the very transcript of the Fathers to their Lord 
 and Master, who sent them [as My Father hath 
 sent Me, even so send I you, John xx. 21], And 
 2ndly, because their pastoral work in convert- 
 ing unconverted nations, and constituting or 
 ordaining spiritual governors for them, being, 
 in that respect, the same also, did naturally re- 
 quire the same authority and power for it. 
 [And that those holy Apostles did actually ex- 
 ercise such a power, I proved by the collateral 
 authority of Clem. Romanus, who, in so many 
 words, assures us, that they ordained both bi- 
 shops and deacons so.] 
 
 K 2 
 
132 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 Srdly, I shewed, from the evidence of the sa- 
 cred text itself, that those adopted Apostles, 
 St. Paul and St. Barnabas, did ordain elders for 
 the churches, in the same manner, as to their 
 sole and personal act in it ; referring the reader 
 to many unexceptionable authorities, for that ex- 
 position of the holy penmen's words. 
 
 4thly, That the same St. Paul conveyed the 
 like power to Timothy and Titus, requiring no 
 concurrence of a popular election with them, 
 either in his commission or instructions given 
 to them; but, on the contrary, left cautions 
 with them to beware of trusting too much to 
 any such elections. 
 
 And, lastly, I considered at large that single 
 instruction so often strained to prove a popular 
 election by, viz. " that bishops or deacons must 
 be first proved, and found to be blameless;" 
 and shewed, that neither in the sense of the 
 Apostle himself, nor from the nature of the 
 thing, or in the more impartial sense and judg- 
 ment of the learned Enquirer himself, any 
 such popular claim or title could be implied 
 in it. 
 
 From these particulars, I conceive the first 
 part, or member, of the general distinction I 
 proposed, to be made good, viz. that the Holy 
 Scriptures set forth to us a divine right, au- 
 thority, and power, of ordaining elders in the 
 Church, absolutely and entirely conveyed, from 
 the fountain of all power in it, to the single 
 persons of the first spiritual rulers of it, without 
 any previous or concurrent election of the peo- 
 ple in the case ; and that it was so executed and 
 conveyed down to others also. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 133 
 
 To proceed to the other part of that distinc- 
 tion then : what account do we find of this mat- 
 ter in the records of primitive antiquity nearest 
 approaching to the first age of the Church? 
 And here I might produce variety of instances, 
 wherein neither election, nor so much as a con- 
 vention of the people, was to be found, or heard 
 of, at the consecration of many of those primitive 
 bishops within that period of time. Clemens 
 Romanus constitutes Euaristus his successor by 
 his own assignment, and a kind of surrender, as 
 it were, before his death; for so Eusebius's 
 words 11 , here noted in the margin, do plainly 
 imply: Phsedimus, bishop of Amasea, had no 
 other hand but that of heaven and his own, in 
 making the renowned Gregory bishop of Neo- 
 eaesarea, as the whole circumstances of that 
 affair, related by the learned Dr. Cave , from 
 Greg. Nyssen, do sufficiently shew. But, not 
 to amuse ourselves with enquiring after parti- 
 cular cases, what sense can we make of that 
 very primitive canon of the Church, "which 
 taxes the people of a diocese with great in- 
 iquity, who would not receive a bishop or- 
 dained for them, and sent to preside over them?" 
 Nay, "suspended the clergy of that city, for not 
 instructing such an insolent people any better ; " 
 which are the express words of the thirty-sixth 
 Apostolical canon p ? What sense, I say, can 
 
 } irapadovs tty \iTovpyiav ava\6ei TOV ftlov. 
 Euseb. Eccl. Hist. 1. iii. c. 34. 
 
 See Dr. Cave's Life of Greg. Thaumat. 6. p. 271. 
 
 P Ei xeipOTOvqQeis eTnV/coTros /*% 8e%0?7, ov napa TT/J/ eavrov 
 7>a>/i77J/, aAAa irapa. T^V TOV Aaou ^ox^piav^ avrbs /zeVrjTW firl- 
 ffKOTros, 6 Se /cAf/pos rrjs TToAews a(j)opi^ffd<t} STL roLovrov AaoO 
 avviroTaKTov TraiSevral OVK z^ivovro. Can. Apostol. 36. 
 
134 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 we make of so ancient a canon as this, if it were 
 not familiarly in use in those primitive times, 
 to ordain a bishop for a vacant see without the 
 people having any concern in it? And they 
 who can believe that canon to be of later date 
 than the third century, at the most, after all the 
 evidence which learned antiquaries have given 
 to the contrary, will hardly be brought to rea- 
 son I am afraid. And yet we need not insist 
 on this neither; for the constant and settled 
 custom of the church of Alexandria is so preg- 
 nant an instance in this case, as supersedes all 
 further enquiry in the matter. 
 
 That the twelve presbyters alone chose their 
 bishop there to the middle of the third century, 
 at least, is evident enough from St. Jerome's 
 account of it, though in other respects, the same 
 passage is too often misapplied. But his ac- 
 count is this : " At Alexandria," says he, " from 
 Mark the Evangelist to Heraclas and Diony- 
 sius's time," who were the thirteenth and four- 
 teenth bishops in succession there, " the presby- 
 ters always nominated one their bishop, chosen 
 from among themselves, and placed in a higher 
 station V Add to this evidence the same ac- 
 count given us, only more fully and particularly 
 still, by Severus, who wrote the lives of the 
 Alexandrian patriarchs, and by the Arabian 
 and ^Egyptian Annalists of that church, as Abra- 
 
 1 Nam et Alexandria a Marco Evangelista usque ad Hera- 
 clam et Dionysium episcopos, presbyter! semper unum ex se 
 electum, in excelsiori gradu collocatum, episcopum nomina- 
 hant. Hieron. Ep. ad Euagr. edit. Erasm. Basil. 1516. torn. 3. 
 fol. 150. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 135 
 
 ham Ecchellensis r has recorded them for us ; 
 and we shall find it was not only a stated cus- 
 tom in that primitive church for the presbyters 
 alone thus to choose their bishop, but that it 
 was a fundamental constitution there, and of 
 St. Mark's own appointment. What must we 
 think then? Could the people have a general 
 right, or charter of election granted them, either 
 from Christ or his Apostles, and this holy evan- 
 gelist know nothing of it ? Or, if he had known 
 it, would he have established a standing rule, in 
 that eminent church of his own founding, so 
 directly contrary to it ? 
 
 But, not to insist on these approved records 
 of the Church neither, though the testimony 
 they bear is strong and plain enough, I shall 
 willingly go along with the Enquiry before 
 me, as far as fact and truth will give me leave. 
 
 I dispute not, therefore, that very early cus- 
 tom of provincial bishops repairing to a vacant 
 see, and in the ' presence of the people ' settling 
 the election of the intended bishop, and ordain- 
 ing him there, in most provinces I mean, though 
 not in all ; which is as far as his quotations re- 
 quire s . 
 
 But, to bring the question to a short issue ; 
 what was the part or office of the people in 
 those public ordinations? The Enquiry, treat- 
 ing of the presbyter's examination for his holy 
 orders, which, in his sense, is the making of 
 him bishop too, as to the orders that he takes, 
 allows of "testimony and attestation' (p. 88) 
 
 r See Abrah. Ecchellens. de Eccl. Alex, originib. Romas 
 1661. 4to. c. 6. p. 82, 83, 84, et p. 103 to 107. 
 s Fere provincias imiversas. Enq. p. 48. 
 
136 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 only of the people in the case ; but when he 
 comes to be made a ' bishop indeed/ in the true 
 and universal sense of the Catholic Church, 
 then the people's testimony improves itself into 
 c a claim of power sufficient to elect him bi- 
 shop/ if they please, or ' to depose him after- 
 wards/ if they think he proves unfit for it. 
 
 Now, there are two short questions to be ob- 
 served in this case. 
 
 1st, Whether the primitive Church itself, who 
 so commonly ordained ' in the presence of the 
 people,' acknowledged any such power in them, 
 or no? 
 
 2ndly, From whence was this power given, if 
 such an one there was, and by what authority 
 was it claimed? 
 
 To prove that the primitive Church did ac- 
 knowledge such a power, the Enquiry produces 
 two articles. 1st, That of an African synod, 
 related by St. Cyprian, [Ep. 68. 6, or in the 
 Oxon. edit. Ep. 67,] and translates it thus: 
 " The neighbouring bishops of the province," 
 says he, "met together at the church of a va- 
 cant see, and chose a bishop in the presence of 
 the people, who knew his life and conversation 
 before ; which custom was observed in the elec- 
 tion of Sabinus, bishop of Emerita in Spain, 
 who was ordained to that dignity by the suffrage 
 of all the brethren, and of all the bishops there 
 present*." [See Enquiry, p. 48.] 
 
 e Apud nos et fere per provincias universas tenetur, ut ad 
 ordinationes rite celebrandas, ad earn plebem, cui preepositus 
 ordinatur, episcopi ejusdem provincise proximi quique conve- 
 niant, et episcopus deligatur, plebe prsesente, quee singulorum 
 vitam plenissime novit, et uniuscuj usque actum de ejus con- 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 
 
 In this account of the case, herJ^fi?e 
 parts; 1st, what the general custom %s; and 
 2ndly, that the particular ordination of Sabinus 
 was in all points conformable to it. 
 general custom, it is affirmed, in our authors 
 own translation, that the neighbouring bishops 
 met together at the church of a vacant see, and 
 'chose' a bishop. Here is as plain a proof, I 
 think, of the neighbouring bishops 'choosing' 
 the person, as words can make it. What then 
 is said of the people ? Only this ; " That it was 
 in their presence, who knew his life and con- 
 versation before :" if any man can see a popular 
 election here, he must be quicker sighted than 
 I can ever hope to be. That their knowledge 
 of his life and conversation before, should 
 qualify them 'to give testimony' of his moral 
 conduct and behaviour amongst them, and so 
 encourage or discourage the bishops in making 
 or confirming their elections, is a natural and 
 genuine inference from that expression ; and if 
 we will allow St. Cyprian to make his references 
 and similitudes apposite and agreeable to the 
 subject he applies them to, we must conclude it 
 was his own meaning too : for upon this very 
 argument, and in the same page, he refers to 
 God's instructions to Moses, to bring forth 
 Aaron, with Eleazar his son, and place them 
 before his congregation, in order to consecrate 
 the son his father's successor; and I presume, 
 no man infers from hence, that the congrega- 
 
 versatione perspexit. Quod factum videmus in Sabini ordina- 
 tione, ut de universse fraternitatis suffragio, et de episcoporum 
 judicio episcopatus ei deferretur. Cypr. Ep. b'8, aut edit. Oxon. 
 67. [Fell.] 
 
138 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 tion of Israel chose or voted Eleazar to the 
 high-priesthood, because it was appointed to be 
 done in their presence ; and why this reference, 
 then, to illustrate Christian ordinations by, if 
 they were so very different in that particular 
 circumstance for which alone they were pro- 
 duced ? which was to shew that the judgment and 
 testimony about them both, should be as public 
 as it well could be ; for that is the very reason 
 given by St. Cyprian u for quoting the sacred 
 text, and applying it to the argument he had in 
 hand. 
 
 For anything that appears in this quotation, 
 the general custom of the Church made the 
 election of the person to be the bishop's part, 
 and left the ' presence' and ' testimony' of the 
 people only to be theirs ; and doubtless in Sabi- 
 nus's case it could be no otherwise,* for it is in- 
 troduced here with this attestation to it, "that 
 this custom of the Church was accordingly ob- 
 served in the ordination of Sabinus." Where lies 
 the evidence then, that the people chose there, 
 though the general custom is declared in this 
 quotation, not to be so ? Not in St. Cyprian's 
 affirming it, I am sure, in such plain terms, as 
 he affirmed before that the provincial bishops 
 met and ' chose' too; but it wholly lies in a 
 6 positive' construction of a dubious and mis- 
 taken word in this quotation, and the En- 
 quirer's ingenuity in joining two different terms, 
 in one and the same sense, in his translation, 
 
 11 Ut sacerdos, plebe praesente, sub omnium oculis deligatur, 
 et dignus atque idoneus publico judicio ac testimonio compro 
 betur, sicut in Numeris Dominus Moysi prsecepit. Cypr. Ep. 
 68, aut edit. Oxon. Ep, 67. [p. 172. Fell.] 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 
 
 which the accurate St. Cyprian had carefully 
 distinguished himself. For the holy Father's 
 words, to translate them right, are these ; " that 
 the bishopric was conferred upon Sabinus, by 
 the suffrage of all the brethren, and by the 
 judgment of the bishops there :" so that ' judg- 
 ment' and ' suffrage' are plainly distinguished, 
 we see, by St. Cyprian ; the former attributed 
 to the bishops alone, and the latter to all the 
 brethren ; whereas the Enquirer was pleased to 
 unite them in his translation, and says, " that 
 Sabinus was advanced to that dignity by the 
 suffrage of all the brethren, and of all the bi- 
 shops there present." So that ' suffrage' being 
 made the same with a ( judicial act,' by this in- 
 genious union of them, insensibly conveyed an 
 equal share at least, of right and power to the 
 people in this election, with that of the bishops 
 themselves ; and that purely, so far as any man 
 can see, because the word ' suffrage ' was taken 
 of course to signify no less ; which I desire the 
 reader more particularly to take notice of, be- 
 cause a very great stress of this ingenious au- 
 thor's arguments for popular election, and that 
 which innocently influenced, it is possible, his 
 own judgment in it too, seems to lie in a mis- 
 taken construction of this single word, in the 
 wTitings of St. Cyprian. 
 
 I must be forced, upon this occasion, there- 
 fore, to spend a little time in clearing up the 
 holy Martyr's notion of it, which I shall do as 
 briefly as I can. 
 
 And were there no other instance in all the 
 venerable monuments we have of his excellent 
 works, to prove that ' suffrage,' in his ordinary 
 
140 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 use of the word, implied no right or power at 
 all, in them that gave it ; or conveyed any title, 
 or part of title, to the person they gave their 
 suffrages for: this single passage before us 
 would go a great way to persuade an unpreju- 
 diced man that it was so. For to find it dis- 
 tinguished, as it is here, from the ( judicial part' 
 of the whole proceedings, and the decisive act 
 (which ' judgment' expressly is) attributed after- 
 wards unto others, who were fewer in number 
 too, does naturally enough imply, that there 
 was no actual power, but purely either prece- 
 dent testimony, or a subsequent approbation in 
 the suffrages of the people ; else their very 
 number would have made them judges, rather 
 than the bishops themselves ; and it makes not 
 a little to the same purpose, that those very 
 words were carefully distinguished also, in the 
 account of Eleazar's public consecration, (just 
 before,) where we are sure they must be taken 
 so. 
 
 But to shew how familiar this notion of the 
 word is, in the writings of that primitive Father, 
 let these further instances, out of many more 
 which might be produced, be added to the 
 former. In his tract, De Zelo et Livore, speak- 
 ing of the people's transport of joy and satisfac- 
 tion at David's slaying of Goliath, he expresses 
 it thus; "they broke forth," says he, "into 
 commendations of David, with suffrage of ap- 
 plause"." What can this ( suffrage of applause' 
 signify, but plainly a testimony of the people's 
 
 x Populus admirans in laudes David praedicationis suffragio 
 prosiliit. Cypr. de Zelo et Liv. p. 223. Oxon. edit. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 141 
 
 highest approbation of the thing done ; not ex- 
 pressed by way of votes, to be sure (it would be 
 absurd enough to imagine that), but by public 
 acclamations of them all, as infinitely pleased 
 with what the holy champion had done ; and 
 this St. Cyprian thought properly expressed, by 
 calling it the ' suffrage ' of the people. 
 
 Again, in his treatise, De Vanitate Idolorum, 
 speaking of the Jews earnestly urging Pilate to 
 crucify our blessed Lord, " they delivered him 
 up," says he, " to Pontius Pilate, requesting of 
 him by force, and importunate suffrages, that 
 he should be crucified y ;" and what meant these 
 ' importunate suffrages' more, than to shew their 
 wicked inclination, desire, and highest approba- 
 tion of the thing, if Pilate should pass such a 
 bloody sentence upon him? for they declared 
 themselves, they had no power, in the act of 
 putting any man to death [John xviii. 31]. Yet 
 this the accurate holy Father again, in his lan- 
 guage, calls the "suffrage of the Jews." 
 
 One instance more I shall name, because it 
 contains in it 'his own' explication of the word, 
 and plainly shews, that, by ( suffrage,' he meant 
 the same thing as he did by ( public testimony,' 
 and nothing more. In his sixty-eighth epistle, 
 he says of Cornelius's ordination, that it was 
 "by the suffrage of the clergy and the people 2 ;" 
 and of the same ordination, in another place, 
 he says, it was " by the testimony of almost all 
 the clergy, and by the suffrage of the people 
 
 y Magistri eorum Pontio Pilato tradiderunt crucem ejus, et 
 mortem suffragiis violentis et pertinacibus flagitantes. Cypr. 
 de Vanit. Idol. p. 16. edit. Oxon. 
 
 * De cleri et plebis suffragio. Cypr. Ep. 68. [Fell. p. 177.J 
 
142 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 that were there a ." Now if the ' testimony' of 
 the clergy in the latter clause be not the same 
 with their e suffrage ' in the former, then it was 
 something less than so ; and consequently the 
 clergy's personal part and interest in elections 
 falls short of the common people's, to whom a 
 suffrage is imputed in the same clause ; which I 
 presume is not intended neither. But if the 
 terms be allowed to be equivalent, the case is 
 
 Elain, the holy Father appears consistent with 
 imself ; and in no other sense, I apprehend, it 
 can be so. 
 
 These few instances, I think, may shew, that 
 to take the word ' suffrage ' in the sense of so- 
 lemn testimony, good-liking, approbation, or 
 the like, in the works of St. Cyprian, is an au- 
 thentic and warrantable interpretation of it, as 
 being directly suitable to his own manifest and 
 familiar notion of the word; and therefore I 
 leave the reader to judge, whether the En- 
 quirers promiscuous joining of it with the word 
 * judgment' in the quotation now before us, as 
 if they were synonymous terms, and laying the 
 whole stress of the quotation upon it, when 
 the holy Father himself had cautiously distin- 
 guished them in both places, where occasion 
 was offered him to do so, does not seem, at 
 least, a mistaken apprehension of that great 
 author's sense ; and by that means strains the 
 whole quotation, to prove a ' popular election/ 
 when, by what has been offered, we may clearly 
 see, there is no such evidence to be found in 
 either part of it. 
 
 * De clericomm poene omnium testimonio, et de plebis, qua 
 tune affuit, suffragio. Ep. 55, p. 104. edit. Oxon. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 143 
 
 The other authority brought to prove the 
 same thing (p. 49), is a passage in St. Clement's 
 first epistle to the Corinthians, where our 
 learned author observes, " that Apostles and 
 Apostolic preachers ordained bishops and dea- 
 cons with the consent of the whole church b ;" 
 that is, by their votes given for the candidate 
 to be ordained in the manner of a regular elec- 
 tion ; for so the subject he applies it to, obliges 
 us to understand it. Now this evidence so far 
 agrees with the former, that the whole force of 
 it lies in the signification of a single word again, 
 and will not want many, I hope, to shew the in- 
 validity of it. St. Clement's word for ' consent- 
 ing ' here, is [avvev^o/crjcrdcr'rjs'] and if any word 
 in the Greek tongue could aptly render St. Cy- 
 prian's sense of ' suffrages* in the notion I have 
 just now given of it, I should think it might be 
 this. But let the language of the inspired pen- 
 men determine it for us. Ev&otcea) is of near 
 affinity to it ; and this we often meet with in 
 holy writ. God's ' complacency ' in his own Son 
 is expressed by that word in three of the Evan- 
 gelists ; this is My beloved Son, in Whom 1 am 
 well pleased*. St. Paul uses it for taking plea- 
 sure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities* ; 
 and for the wicked's being pleased in unrighteous- 
 ness [2 Thess. ii. 12], And other places in holy 
 writ might be produced to the same purpose, 
 which the learned commentators expound by 
 
 b KaraffTaOei/Tas UTT' eKetv&v Kal /-cera^u v($> erepaty 
 avfipuV) a~vvv^oKficra.(T'i]s rrjs e/c/cA.Tja'tas Traces. Clem. Rom. Ep. 
 1. ad Corinth. [ 44. ed. Jacobson.] 
 
 c '// $ evUKT\<ra. Matt. iii. 17. Mark i. 2. Luc. iii. 22. 
 
 d EuSojcw eV ao-0/ecs, &c. 2 Cor. xii. 10. 
 
144 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 rejoicing, resting highly satisfied, and acquiescing 
 in them*. And how can the right of election 
 be grounded on such a term as this ? St. Luke f 
 expresses Saul's consent to the death of St. Ste- 
 phen, indeed, by the very same word which St. 
 Clement used here : but if that tragical act was 
 all over rage, and riot, and lawless violence of 
 a barbarous and incensed multitude, as the holy 
 penman's relation of it does sufficiently shew, 
 then Saul's consenting to such an act as that, 
 can have no other sense, I think, so fairly put 
 upon it, as that which we have found to be in 
 all the foregoing particulars upon this head; 
 that is, he highly approved the thing, had a 
 thorough satisfaction- in it, and his heart went 
 along with theirs, who were principal actors in 
 it : so that the sense of St. Clement's word, even 
 in the language of Holy Scripture itself, does in 
 nowise warrant such an inference from it as can 
 establish a popular election in the least. 
 
 To strengthen these two authorities, the En- 
 quiry offers three or four examples of matter of 
 fact, where bishops were actually chosen by the 
 people; and therefore the primitive Church 
 did own such a power in them. I will propose 
 them fairly as they are, and consider them as 
 briefly as I can. 
 
 His first example is that of Alexander, bishop 
 of Jerusalem (p. 46), "chosen there," says he, 
 "by the compulsion or choice of the members 
 of that church." So he translates the quotation 
 
 es V aSuc'ia TOVT eVrt X a 'P w ? evQpalvoiuu, /uer* 
 u. Theodor. in loc. Hf>oaer^Qr]ffOLv aa>ieVa>s rrj 
 a5iKia. Theophyl. in loc. 
 
 f 2auA.oy 5e i\v ffvvzvftoK&v rfj avatpeffsi aurot). Act. viii. 1. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 145 
 
 for us, which, in plain English, is thus : " that 
 the brethren would not suffer Alexander to re- 
 turn home g ." The matter of fact was this; 
 Alexander was a bishop in Cappadocia long 
 before that time, but came to Jerusalem out of 
 devotion, to pray there, and visit the country. 
 Here, by one divine vision to himself, and 
 another to the people of Jerusalem, God was 
 pleased to signify, that he should stay amongst 
 them, and be an assistant bishop to the super- 
 annuated Narcissus, who was now one hundred 
 and sixteen years old; upon which visions, 
 with an audible voice from heaven to confirm 
 them, " the people would not suffer him to re- 
 turn home again." This is the first example of 
 the people's choosing a bishop for themselves. 
 I shall join the second to it, because of the re- 
 semblance they have to one another : it is that 
 of Fabianus's promotion to the bishopric of 
 Rome h . This looks a little fairer to the purpose 
 indeed ; for the people were met in consultation 
 about nominating a person whom they liked, 
 and whilst they were thus together, a dove mira- 
 culously lights upon Fabianus's head, in the 
 same manner as the Holy Ghost formerly de- 
 scended on our blessed Saviour ; at which divine 
 vision, in so miraculous manner, the people 
 ('as it were by inspiration,' for so the historian's 
 express words are 1 ) cry out with one heart and 
 one mind, that Fabianus was worthy of the bi- 
 shopric ; and straightway they hastily set him 
 on the throne. 
 
 % 'A5eA.(/>oi ov/cer' of/caSc auTtp TraXusoffTeiv irirpe7rovcri. Euseb. 
 1. vi. c . 11. [ 2. ed. Burton.] 
 
 h See Euseb. 1. 6. c. 29. Hist. Eccl. [p. 434. ed. Burton.] 
 
 a. ib. 
 L 
 
146 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 These are the two leading instances or ex- 
 amples of a popular election in the primitive 
 Church; and to speak my thoughts freely of them, 
 they incline me much more to admire, than to 
 reply: to admire, I say, that so important a right 
 and privilege of all Christian congregations in 
 the world, as that of electing their own bishops 
 surely would be, should be supported in the 
 very foundation of it, by two such singular ex- 
 amples as these. 
 
 Yet, because St. Cyprian furnishes me with 
 a short answer to all extraordinary occasions of 
 this nature, I shall leave it with the reader, and 
 hope it may excuse a further reply. " We must 
 not wait for the testimony of men," says that 
 excellent Father, " where the testimony of God 
 is given in before k ." By this maxim that holy 
 martyr himself practised, when he ordained the 
 eminent confessor Aurelius, a deacon of his 
 church, without the people's ' character' or ( tes- 
 timony ' of him ; which, I freely own, he ordi- 
 narily used to inform himself by. And if the 
 constancy of Aurelius, under his several trials 
 and persecutions, deserved the name of God's 
 testimony for him (for that was all in the case), 
 surely the heavenly voice and visions, in each of 
 the foregoing instances, both of Alexander and 
 Fabianus too, may well be taken for no less ; 
 and consequently the humane suffrages, whether 
 of laity or clergy, in those elections, were but 
 very indifferent precedents to shew how far they 
 might go. 
 
 There are two examples more proposed to us; 
 
 k Non expectanda sunt testimonia humana, cum praecedimt 
 divina suffragia. Cypr. Ep. 38. Edit. Oxon. [p. 74. Fell.] 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 147 
 
 1st, that of Cornelius, the successor of Fabianus 
 at Rome ; and lastly, that of St. Cyprian him- 
 self at Carthage. But forasmuch as all the force 
 of both of them (p. 47) lies in that construction 
 of the word "suffrage" again, and in the lan- 
 guage of that holy Father too, which we have 
 seen already, can warrant no consequence from 
 it, I conceive the answer to them both to be 
 given there. It is true, indeed, Pontius the 
 deacon calls it " the favour of the people V in 
 St. Cyprian's case, if that would mend the mat- 
 ter ; and our Enquirer has not failed to quote it 
 here. But let Pontius be his own commentator, 
 who, in the same page, calls the people's part in 
 it, " their earnest spiritual desire" 1 " to have him 
 for their bishop ; which shews their favour and 
 inclination strong enough in it, but little of au- 
 thority in the case. 
 
 Having considered, then, both authorities and 
 examples here offered us, to clear the first ques- 
 tion by; viz. whether the primitive Church, 
 which so commonly ordained in the ' presence' 
 of the people, acknowledged any such f electing 
 power' in them, or no? I determine nothing for 
 others, any further than the evidence of fact and 
 reason I have laid before them, shall incline 
 them to ; though I confess I think it clear, Be- 
 yond all dispute, that the first and nearest ages 
 to that of the Apostles owned no such right or 
 power to belong to them, whatever the encroach- 
 ments of the people, upon account of their testi- 
 monies so prudently asked in the case, or the 
 
 1 Quod judicio Dei, et plebis favore ad officium sacerdotii, 
 &c. Pont, in Vit. Cypr. p. 3. Edit. Oxon. 
 
 m Plebs spiritual! desiderio concupiscens. Episcopum, &e. 
 
 L 2 
 
148 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 condescension of some provincial synods, might 
 bring it to at last. 
 
 Yet, to go as far with this hypothesis as I 
 can, I proceed to the second question, which 
 was this : from whence was this power given, 
 supposing such a power there was, and by what 
 authority was it claimed ? 
 
 The foregoing particulars will make the an- 
 swer short : we have found it neither practised 
 by our blessed Lord Himself, nor given in com- 
 mission to His principal Apostles: we have 
 found those principal Apostles manifestly or- 
 dained both bishops and deacons, in such a man- 
 ner as was inconsistent with it : we have seen 
 that the Apostles next in order to them, and 
 adopted into their college, ordained elders for 
 the churches by their own personal authority 
 and choice alone ; and further, that St. Paul 
 himself, being one of them, conveyed the like 
 ordaining power to other supreme pastors placed 
 by himself over the respective churches he com- 
 mitted to their care, neither in commission or 
 instructions enjoining or advising them to make 
 use of such a popular election, but rather indeed 
 cautioning them to be very wary in that matter: 
 and lastly, we have seen that many ordinations 
 in the ages following, and particularly in the 
 great church of Alexandria, at least for near 
 three hundred years together, were performed 
 without any such election at all; no one of 
 which particulars, had it been of Divine or 
 Apostolical institution, could tolerably be ac- 
 counted for. 
 
 Whence then, to speak the most of it, could 
 such a right or power arise, but from the free 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 149 
 
 consent and prudential laws or canons of ancient 
 bishops in some provincial synods amongst them- 
 selves ? For as for general councils in the three 
 first centuries, I am clearly of the Enquirer's 
 mind (p. 141), there was none such within that 
 period of time. And since we are agreed so 
 Far, that none but provincial synods were held 
 within those early ages of the Church,, I hope 
 I may affirm with him also (p. 146), that "their 
 decrees were binding and obligatory to those 
 particular churches only, whose representatives 
 they were:" and as a consequence of that, what- 
 ever they decreed for discipline or order within 
 their own precincts or jurisdiction, which had 
 not the stamp of divine institution or command 
 upon it, they had also power to disannul or re- 
 peal; and the power of all provinces in this 
 respect was the same. 
 
 From whence this plain truth, I think, may 
 naturally be inferred, that whatsoever province 
 in the Catholic; Church had never once con- 
 sented to such a canon of discipline amongst 
 themselves, as this of popular election is; or had 
 they once decreed it, yet directly or virtually 
 had, by their own canons or constitutions, re- 
 pealed or disannulled it again: the Christian 
 laity within the district or jurisdiction of any 
 such province, could have no warrantable right 
 or charter whatsoever, to claim such an ' elect- 
 ing power,' in any of the ordinations there. For 
 a claim of power, right, or privilege, within the 
 Christian Church, without a warrantable grant 
 from that head or fountain of power (whether it 
 be originally divine, or purely ecclesiastical, 
 from whence alone it can proceed), approaches 
 
150 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 near to the very definition of usurpation it- 
 self. 
 
 In the mean time, I freely own, that all which 
 the primitive Church declares to be their reason 
 for ordaining bishops in the presence and cogni- 
 zance of the people, was not only warrantable, 
 but wise, and worthy of the imitation of all suc- 
 ceeding ages of the Church ; for their reasons 
 were manifestly these : " that the crimes of ill 
 men might be brought to light, and the merits 
 of good men openly proclaimed 11 ." And thus 
 far, I believe, there could be little objection 
 made against the constitution or practice of al- 
 most any Christian churches in this very age, 
 and particularly against the established church 
 of England, where ordinations are enjoined to 
 be celebrated in a public manner , and the con- 
 gregation invited to make what objections they 
 can; and at every confirmation of a bishop 
 elect p , citations are appointed to be issued out, 
 proclamations six times made, to summon all 
 opposers before the consecration be allowed. 
 And in this sense only it is, that St. Cyprian so 
 solemnly declared the ancient custom, then in 
 use amongst them, of " repairing to a vacant see 
 for ordaining a new bishop there, to be of divine 
 
 n Ut plebe praesente, vel detegantur malorum crimina vel 
 bonorum merita prsedicentur. Cypr. Ep. 67. p. 172. edit. Oxon. 
 
 " In some Sunday or holiday, in the face of the Church." 
 See Rubr. before Priests' Orders, and Pref. to Eng. Ordinat. 
 ult., " The bishop shall say unto the people thus : ' Brethren, 
 if there be any of you who knoweth any impediment, or nota- 
 ble crime, &c., let him come forth in the name of God, and 
 shew what it is.' " See the office for ordaining deacons and 
 priests. 
 
 P See Godolph. Repertor. Canon, cap. 3. 26. and Clark's 
 Praxis in Cur. Eccles. Titul. 329. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 151 
 
 tradition, and Apostolical observation <i ;" (which 
 is so mightily insisted upon, to prove an indis- 
 pensable obligation to popular elections;) for 
 that he grounded all his ' divine tradition' upon 
 God's instructions to Moses only, for consecrat- 
 ing Eleazer before all the congregation, is mani- 
 festly clear from the whole context of the place ; 
 and the Apostles themselves, c observing' those 
 very " magisteria divina," as his words are, that 
 is, those very directions again given unto Moses, 
 when they ordained afterwards; he therefore 
 calls it also ' Apostolical observation q.' Thus the 
 direct connection of those two paragraphs in St. 
 Cyprian, obliges us to understand his words ; 
 and how little those directions countenance a 
 popular election, the example of the fact itself 
 does sufficiently teach us, as we observed before ; 
 and indeed St. Cyprian, closing up all with that 
 very application of it to the Christian practice 
 of his own times, namely, that a bishop should 
 be chosen c in the presence' of the people, 'who 
 knew their life and conversation 1 ,' and saying no 
 more, would convince any impartial man, that 
 he all along meant no more by it. 
 
 It is true, he instances the cases of St. Mat- 
 thias, and the seven deacons ; where the people 
 were not ' present' only, say the common advo- 
 cates for the congregational cause, but in all ap- 
 pearance absolutely chose the persons too. 
 
 1 shall consider these two plausible examples, 
 
 * Propter quod diligenter de traditione Divina et Apostolica 
 observatibne tenendum est, &c. Cypr. Ep. 67. Edit. Oxon. 
 p. 172. 
 
 r Ut episcopus deligatur, plebe prsesente, quee singulorum 
 vitam plenissime novit, &c. Ep. 67. 
 
152 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 so much triumphed in by many, with all the 
 fairness and brevity that I can, and hasten to 
 dismiss the argument. 
 
 As to that of St. Matthias, it seems a very un- 
 accountable precedent for a standing practice in 
 the Church, in whatsoever manner it was done; 
 since, properly speaking, the foundation of the 
 Christian Church, as it is a spiritual corporation 
 or society of believers, was not then laid, be- 
 cause the Holy Ghost was not yet given, Who 
 was to endue the very master-builders them- 
 selves with all that power and wisdom from 
 above, by which they were to found and govern 
 the Church of God upon earth. The eleven 
 there present were Apostles elect, by the infal- 
 lible nomination indeed of their Lord and Mas- 
 ter; but their commission was not yet sealed, 
 nor were they furnished with those credentials 
 and instructions, which the Spirit was to give 
 them afterwards; insomuch as they presumed 
 not to act in that extraordinary ordination by 
 their own personal judgment, as at other times, 
 but referred the determination to God alone, 
 casting lots, and appealing to God by prayer 
 for it. 
 
 Which makes it stranger still, as to the case 
 at present before us, that the votes and suffrages 
 of the people should be sought for, in a case 
 where the Apostles themselves dare so little in- 
 terpose, and where God himself made choice of 
 his own Apostle. 
 
 But it will be said, perhaps, that the brethren 
 then present nominated, at least, or proposed 
 the two candidates; if so, it must be granted 
 still, that their humane suffrages could have nei- 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 153 
 
 ther authority, direction, or any kind of influ- 
 ence upon a divine election, which gains but 
 little to the purpose it is chiefly urged for. But 
 after all, the very nomination of the persons in 
 this case of St. Matthias, will very hardly, if it 
 can at all, be proved to have been the brethren 
 or congregation's part, by anything we meet 
 with in St. Peter's whole discourse. There were 
 about a hundred and twenty persons present, 
 it is sure, and what St. Peter spake, was in the 
 audience of them all ; but ' to whom' he imme- 
 diately addressed his discourse, and upon 'them' 
 imposed the obligation of providing a successor 
 in the room of Judas, is another question, which 
 the sense and substance of the speech itself can 
 best resolve for us. 
 
 Now, two expressions in it afford no small 
 light to this purpose. 
 
 First, in speaking of Judas, who was fallen 
 from his Apostleship, St. Peter's words are 
 these : he was numbered with us, and had ob- 
 tained a part of ' this ministry;' that is of the 
 Apostolic ministry, no doubt. Was Judas thus 
 numbered then with all the brethren there pre- 
 sent, as partaker 'with them' of that Apostolic 
 function ? or with St. Peter only, and the other 
 ten Apostles, in the midst of whom he then 
 spake? Surely this latter sense alone is the 
 utmost the words can bear, when he says, ' he 
 was numbered with us ;' and consequently they 
 were his Apostolic brethren only, to whom he 
 addressed them. 
 
 2ndly, In the directions he gives, from whence 
 the successor of Judas should be chosen, his ex- 
 pression is this : " Wherefore, of these men," 
 
154 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 says he, " that have accompanied with us, &c." 
 6 Of these men ! ' Why not ' of some amongst 
 yourselves?' or some words equivalent to that? 
 if the persons to be elected were not only to be 
 chosen 'from among them/ but 'themselves' 
 to be the electors also. That seems the di- 
 rect expression for recommending the election 
 to the brethren, and enjoining them to elect one 
 from among themselves too: whereas the other, 
 which St. Peter uses, is as plainly an address to 
 some other electors there present, to choose out 
 of those very brethren before them, pointing at 
 them, as it were, by that natural expression; 
 Out of ' these' persons that have accompanied 
 with 'us,' &c. 
 
 We need no more, I think, though more re- 
 marks might be made, to prove, that the Apo- 
 stles there present were the peculiar persons 
 St. Peter addressed his speech to; and I pre- 
 sume it will not be disputed then, but that those 
 words (at ver. 23), " And they appointed two," 
 did refer to 'them' likewise, and to 'them only :' 
 so that the people had no part so much as in the 
 nomination of the persons to be proposed as 
 candidates for that divine election. 
 
 I am sensible 'the title' of St. Peter's address 
 in these words of our translation 'men and 
 brethren,' has not a little contributed to the con- 
 trary exposition of the whole discourse : but let 
 it be considered that the particle 'and' is not 
 in the original text, and owned by our trans- 
 lators not to be so, by the different letter it is 
 printed in; and therefore the holy penman's 
 language denotes no more than if St. Peter had 
 said, 'my brethren' only; and that the whole 
 

 THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 155 
 
 congregation were so in a general sense, is not 
 to be disputed ; but that the Apostles there pre- 
 sent were in a singular and more eminent sense 
 St. Peter's e brethren, 3 as united in the Apostolic 
 college with him, cannot be denied neither. And 
 therefore, since the subject of the discourse ap- 
 propriates the speech peculiarly to 'them,' there 
 is greater reason that that evidence should ex- 
 plain the meaning of an indefinite term in the 
 title, than that the equivocal sense alone, against 
 the tenor of the whole discourse, should deter- 
 mine for us otherwise. And perhaps the avSpe? 
 aSeX(/>o, on which the contrary is grounded, 
 does rather add an emphasis in the title, to de- 
 note the sense we take it in ; for I should think 
 it no exceptionable translation of it, were it ren- 
 dered thus : " Ye men that are peculiarly my bre- 
 thren ;" which shews a kind of emphatical dis- 
 tinction of some there present from all the rest. 
 Upon the whole matter, I think we might very 
 well subscribe to the learned Grotius's conclusion 
 in this case : " It is a wonder to me," says he, 
 " how some men have persuaded themselves, 
 that Matthias was chosen by the people to his 
 Apostolic charge; for in St. Luke I find no 
 footstep of it*." 
 
 As to the case of the seven deacons, they 
 were left to the enquiry, choice, and nomina- 
 tion of the brethren, there is no doubt of it ; 
 but in what particular respect, with what special 
 limitations, and how far it may be made a pre- 
 
 1 Matthiam a populo ad Apostoli munus electum, miror quo 
 argumento sibi quidam persuaserint, nam in Luca nullum ejus 
 rei invenio vestigium. Grot, de Imp. Sum. potest. circa sacra. 
 Cap. x. 5, 
 
156 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 cedent for the people's choosing their own 
 bishops and pastors in the church, a very short 
 view of the matter e of fact' may inform us. For, 
 
 First, Whatever offices in the Church the 
 Apostles' imposition of hands might entitle 
 those deacons to, it is plain their referring the 
 nomination of them to the brethren was upon 
 that single score of finding out persons they 
 could intrust with the contributions of the 
 Church, for the daily ministrations, and for the 
 serving of tables ; for that was the only thing 
 in open agitation, and the holy Apostles assigned 
 that special part to them ; " Look you out men," 
 &c. whom we may appoint over this s business.' 
 
 Secondly, The Apostles leave not the whole 
 matter to their arbitrary and unlimited inclina- 
 tions neither ; but, amongst other qualifications, 
 enjoin them to choose out persons ' full of faith 
 and of the Holy Ghost,' not of faith, surely, with 
 6 the ordinary, inward, and sanctify ing' graces of 
 the Holy Ghost only, for those were scarce dis- 
 cernible, with any certainty at least, by men ; 
 but they were to choose believers, as the event 
 also shewed in the persons of St. Stephen and 
 St. Philip, to be sure, who were endued with 
 those miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, which 
 our blessed Saviour promised u should follow 
 some that believed, able to cast out devils, 
 speak with new tongues, heal the sick, and the 
 like, after the manner that Cornelius's family and 
 the disciples at Ephesus were ' filled with the 
 Holy Ghost x ', as soon as they believed, or were 
 
 n Mark xvi. 17, 18. 
 
 * Acts x. 44, 46 ; and Acts xix 5, 6. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 157 
 
 baptized and confirmed upon it: and by this 
 limitation the holy Apostles both secured their 
 choice to be of God's approbation, by the power 
 he endued them withal, and also provided per- 
 sons fit for the greater offices in the Church, 
 which by their holy orders they designed them 
 for. 
 
 So that these deacons, so far as it was need- 
 ful they should be faithful and trusty stewards 
 of the contributions and treasure of the Church, 
 were ordered to be chosen and recommended 
 by the members of it, whose stock and treasure 
 they were to be intrusted withall ; and for the 
 like reason, no doubt of it, that another Apostle 
 gives us on the like occasion ; namely, " to 
 avoid this, that no man should blame us," says 
 St. Paul, " in the abundance which is adminis- 
 tered by usy:" for such sort of censures might 
 the Apostles have been liable to, had they as- 
 sumed the nomination of the persons to them- 
 selves; but by the course they took, 'they pro- 
 vided for honest things, not only in the sight of 
 the Lord, but in the sight of men.' And in the 
 mean time, as to the qualifications required for 
 those higher offices of evangelists or preachers of 
 the gospel, to which the holy Apostles ordained 
 those deacons also, they had the divine testi- 
 mony, as I observed but now, by the miraculous 
 gifts bestowed upon them; and where that testi- 
 mony was, St. Cyprian has taught us before, 
 there needed not the testimony of men ; and 
 accordingly we find them not so much as pro- 
 posed to the people under that capacity, when 
 
 y 2 Cor. viii. 20, 21. 
 
158 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 it was referred to the brethren to make choice 
 of them. 
 
 After these few observations upon the case, I 
 leave it to the reader to determine, how far this 
 singular and extraordinary precedent can go to- 
 wards establishing a standing right and autho- 
 rity in all Christian congregations, to choose 
 their own bishops and pastors for themselves : 
 leaving only the learned Beza's judgment with 
 him too, who naming these two instances of St. 
 Matthias and the deacons 2 , when he was treat- 
 ing of the people's right of suffrages in ecclesi- 
 astical affairs, pronounces of them, " That they 
 are nothing to the purpose ; and that the French 
 churches had sufficiently proved that against 
 Morell, and his party, in their public synods." 
 
 I have been long upon this argument ; but it 
 was chiefly, I may say, at the ingenious En- 
 quirer's request, who, in his preface (p. 7), de- 
 sired another sense might be given of the pas- 
 sages he had cited in his book. This I have en- 
 deavoured to do with as much sincerity, I think, 
 as he solemnly professes he collected them at 
 first : and, upon reflection on the whole, I am 
 sorry I must repeat what I observed at the be- 
 ginning ; that his singular manner of misrepre- 
 senting the primitive custom of electing and 
 constituting a bishop in a vacant see, appears to 
 me a greater occasion of the unhappy contro- 
 versies and divisions about it, than the primitive 
 
 1 Quod enim ex historia eleetionis Matthiae et Diaeononim 
 
 profertur, nihil ad rem facit. Sicut adversus Morellium et 
 
 alios deinceps ejus sectatores in synodis Gallicis est abunde 
 probatum. Beza Tract. Theol. Genev. 1582. vol. 3. Ep. 83. 
 p. 307. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 159 
 
 custom, truly stated, could ever have given to 
 the most exceptious adversaries of the Church. 
 
 I will mark out the particulars, though you 
 have heard the most of them already, that we 
 may view and judge at once. 
 
 First, He makes that to be a stated 6 right ' of 
 6 election ' in the people, which, by the genuine 
 sense of his own quotations, as well as the ap- 
 parent practice of the Church, we have seen 
 amounts to no more, within his period of time, 
 than their public testimony, information, or 
 cheerful approbation of the candidates which 
 the provincial bishops should think fit to ordain. 
 
 Secondly, He has asserted that right of the 
 people under such general terms of a ( primitive ' 
 practice, as to lead the reader into an easy per- 
 suasion, that it must have been of original insti- 
 tution, either from Christ or his Apostles : 
 whereas the Holy Scriptures declare no such 
 institution, nor set forth any such divine charter 
 for it ; but assure us of the contrary, that the 
 full power of ordaining elders in the Church, 
 was a personal charge intrusted wholly with the 
 first founders and governors of the Apostolical 
 churches, and conveyed down so accordingly, 
 without any such condition in it. 
 
 Thirdly, He has pronounced the ordaining, 
 or constituting a bishop, in a vacant see, to be 
 absolutely ' invalid,' without such a popular elec- 
 tion in it ; and by not defining wherein that ' va- 
 lidity', he means, does consist, has led the vulgar 
 reader again into a ready opinion, that at no 
 time, in no place, or province whatsoever, a 
 Christian bishop could be warrantably ordained, 
 
160 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 and set over any church without such an elec- 
 tion of the people to authorize and qualify him 
 for it. Whereas it may be seen, I think, by what 
 has been proved upon this subject before, that 
 the utmost validity any such sort of ordinations 
 in any age of the church has had, was grounded 
 only on the prudential consent, or canons of 
 such provincial bishops as had agreed to exer- 
 cise that ordaining power they were entirely 
 intrusted with from above, in that particular 
 manner, so long as times and persons should 
 encourage them to let those canons remain in 
 force ; and all this obliging no further than 
 within their own districts or jurisdictions, and 
 repealable at will, as having no divine command 
 for it. 
 
 Fourthly and lastly, To finish all, he has ad- 
 vanced a singular and unheard-of notion, as I 
 humbly conceive, of two noted ecclesiastical 
 terms in use amongst us, ' ordination' and 6 in- 
 stalment,' making them equivocal (p. 49) and con- 
 vertible terms, and offers it for current truth, that 
 6 ordaining' and 'installing'; of a bishop are one 
 and the same thing, frankly translating the word 
 ordinare, in the ancient writings of the Fathers, 
 by this English word, of ' installing ;' and, which 
 is stranger still, makes this installing act to be 
 performed by imposition of episcopal hands. 
 Now if ecclesiastical records, either ancient or 
 modern, could warrant this sort of language, I 
 wish he had, at least, pointed to them : and yet 
 suppose it could be so, which I confess is 
 unimaginable to me, yet to write to English 
 readers in their own tongue, where episcopal 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 161 
 
 imposition of hands, and instalment of a bishop, 
 are so apparently different things a , gives an un- 
 happy suspicion of some secret notion to be in- 
 sinuated into men, which was not to be spoken 
 out. And so, indeed, the present case in hand 
 did require ; for if the sacred act of ordination 
 by imposition of episcopal hands, imprinted any 
 other character upon the person so consecrated 
 or ordained, than the mere act of instalment 
 does, in the English notion and practice of it, 
 then these two unfortunate consequences, as our 
 learned Author thinks them, would ensue upon 
 it: 1st, That the provincial bishop's part in an- 
 cient ordinations was something more than their 
 bare consent and approbation of the peoples' 
 election, which is the chief part he allows them 
 in the case. And, 2ndly, That their imposition 
 of hands at this installing ordination might look 
 like advancing of the candidate to a new order, 
 which would lessen the peoples' part too much 
 in making bishops for themselves, and overturn 
 the whole scheme of his next chapter ; which is 
 to prove, that the orders of bishop and presby- 
 ter in the church are plainly one and the same. 
 This shall be considered further in its own 
 place : in the mean time, let any impartial man 
 seriously consider what probability there is, that 
 such representations of antiquity as these should 
 answer the pious ends of our ingenious En- 
 quirer, and contribute to heal the unhappy di- 
 
 a See Godolphin's Repert. Canon, p. 26 and 44. edit. 3. 
 Lond. 1687. Where he shews us, that a bishop is complete to 
 all intents and purposes, both as to temporalities and spiritu- 
 alities, after consecration : but instalment is performed after- 
 wards, in a manner different enough, by officers and ceremo- 
 nies, very little akin to those of consecration. 
 
 M 
 
162 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 visions of the Church in the case and contro- 
 versy now before us ; since, as far as I am able 
 to observe, these, and such-like misunderstand- 
 ings of the primitive practice, are the sad occa- 
 sions of their being so many, and so unhappy as 
 they are. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 163 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TO heal divisions in a church, and displease 
 none that make them, are two such works 
 of charity as can scarce consist together. Yet, 
 to carry this as far it would go, the good En- 
 quirer seems to aim at both ; the former he so- 
 lemnly professes in his preface, the latter as visi- 
 bly appears in the performance itself: but with 
 what success, and by what means he has done it, 
 in a great measure appears by what has gone 
 before, and in this fourth chapter will be much 
 clearer still. 
 
 There are three or four parties, as he tells us 
 himself (Pref. p. 54-57), which he aimed to re- 
 concile : he began with the 6 independents "cause, 
 and in order to make them and the rest agree, 
 he has strained antiquity, you see, to make it 
 speak ' their' sense in the ' points of congegra- 
 tional dioceses,' and the c popular right of 
 choosing their own bishops,' the main matters 
 they contend for, which, no doubt of it, will 
 offend none of them ; but as to clearing up the 
 truth in their case, and bringing them to a peace- 
 ful disposition for compromising matters with 
 such as differ from them ; we may justly fear, 
 
 M2 
 
164 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 by the palpable violence he has done to the holy 
 Fathers' writings for their sake, he has done little 
 or nothing that can tend to that happy end. 
 
 He now proceeds to bring the 6 presbyterian' 
 party to a temper, by much the same way; that 
 is, by allowing them fairly, as fast as he can, with- 
 out regard to -such as differ from them, the chief 
 and fundamental point they insist upon, ' the 
 equality of order in the bishop and the presbyter;' 
 and to clear his way for that, he defines his pres- 
 byter thus : " A person in holy orders, having 
 thereby an inherent right to perform the whole 
 office of a bishop ; but being possessed of no 
 place or parish, not actually discharging it with- 
 out the permission and consent of the bishop of 
 a place or parish." 
 
 The main difference in the argument before 
 us, lies in the former part of this definition; but 
 our learned Author chose to prove the latter 
 clause first, viz. that ' without the bishop's leave, 
 a presbyter could discharge no single part of his 
 function ;' and for plainer evidence in that case, 
 he reckoned up most of the particular acts re- 
 lating to it, and beyond exception proved, that 
 in every point it was so. Yet after all, he had 
 so wonderful and singular a notion of this evi- 
 dent subjection of the presbyters to their bi- 
 shops, in every ministerial act of theirs within their 
 bishop's jurisdiction, that he could affirm without 
 scruple, in another place, that 6 presbyters ruled 
 in those churches they belonged to,' and placed 
 this ( ruling' power of theirs amongst the several 
 other premises, from whence an equality of or- 
 der in bishop and presbyter was to be inferred 
 at last, notwithstanding the palpable inequality 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 165 
 
 he had so plainly owned, you see, in this parti- 
 cular before ; which, to speak the most of it, 
 might serve as well to prove, that kings and 
 viceroys, or any deputed officers of theirs, are 
 one and the same 'order' of men in any civil 
 state, because in some capacity, and in subordi- 
 nation to one another, they are all rulers within 
 the same jurisdiction, though it is sufficiently 
 known how vastly different their ( order' and 
 6 authority ' are, considered in themselves. But 
 to come closer to the point. 
 
 It is in the former part of our learned Au- 
 thor's definition, that the question in debate is 
 stated all at once, and with great assurance de- 
 termined by him too. " A presbyter," says he, 
 " is a person in holy orders, having thereby an 
 inherent right to perform the whole office of a 
 bishop." 
 
 Now, two things, directly contrary to the de- 
 clared sense, as w r ell as language and practice of 
 the primitive Church, are manifestly included 
 in this single proposition. 
 
 First, That the solemnest rites or holy offices 
 which the primitive Church ever used for pro- 
 moting any presbyter into the station of a bi- 
 shop, added nothing more to his former charac- 
 ter and order, than a right and title only to 
 exercise those powers, to the full, which were 
 inherent in him before. And, 
 
 Secondly, That all the clerical offices which 
 any bishop of the Church could perform, a pres- 
 byter also, by virtue of his orders alone, had a 
 right and power invested in him, by the bishop's 
 leave only, to perform the same. 
 
 Let this great controversy be tried then by 
 
166 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 the clear evidence of antiquity in these material 
 points; and if in both, or either of them, the 
 primitive Church be found notoriously to declare 
 a contrary judgment in the case, and their prac- 
 tice as direct a contradiction to them too, it 
 must follow of course that a presbyter in their 
 times, and in their opinion of him, had not an 
 inherent right by his orders to perform the 
 whole office of a bishop, as this learned Author 
 affirms. 
 
 To begin with the first of these, the sense 
 and judgment of antiquity, concerning that holy 
 rite or solemn office of promoting a presbyter to 
 the station of a bishop ; wherein I observe, after 
 the example, and by encouragement from the 
 Enquirer himself (p. 10), 
 
 First, That the same ' word,' which all anti- 
 quity uses for expressing the promotion of a 
 layman to a deacon, or a deacon to a presbyter, 
 they used also for the promotion of presbyters 
 into the station of a bishop : it is ( ordination, of 
 bishops, as well as of priests and deacons, in the 
 familiar language of the Fathers. This our En- 
 quirer owns, for he has quoted an authority 
 from St. Cyprian for it (p. 49), and it is too ob- 
 vious a matter to need any proofs. Hence I 
 argue then, in his own words (p. 67), " If the 
 same appellation of a thing be a good proof for 
 the identity of its nature," then the rite of con- 
 secrating a bishop must confer a new order upon 
 him, because the same name is familiarly used 
 for it, as for the rite of ordaining a presbyter, 
 who, undoubtedly, had a new order conferred 
 upon him by it. In this manner, our Enquirer 
 proves his bishops and presbyters to be one of and 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 167 
 
 the same order, from the identity of their names 
 (Enq. p. 67), and those names sufficiently liable 
 to distinct constructions of them ; as we shall see 
 in due time and place ; and though the argu- 
 ment would have had considerable weight in it, 
 if he had proved the main thing necessary there, 
 namely, that a presbyter was ordinarily, or in- 
 deed ever called a ( bishop,' after the Apostolical 
 age was a little over ; yet for want of that, which 
 he did not, and I am free to say he cannot, 
 prove, his argument, I think, cannot come up 
 to the application I make of it here ; since the 
 word ' ordination,' for making of bishops, has 
 been authentic in all ages of the Church, with- 
 out any mark of distinction put upon it; and 
 for Fathers, councils, and historians generally 
 to make use of it, where no 'order' is given at 
 all, not only puts a force upon the word itself, 
 but is little less than an imposition upon all pos- 
 terity also, by applying one and the same com- 
 mon term to solemn rites of the Church, of so 
 near a resemblance to one another in all visible 
 appearance, and yet so vastly different in the in- 
 tention of the Church, as our Enquirer's singu- 
 lar notion of it would make it to be ; though, I 
 believe, he is the first who ever ventured to tell 
 the world, that ordination in the making of a 
 bishop did, in our language, signify no more 
 than mere ' instalment,' as I observed before, 
 and now again will have the meaning of it to be 
 a presbyter's ' institution' and ' induction' into 
 a cure ; which to have proved as well as said, 
 had been no more than was necessary to his 
 cause. But, 
 
 Secondly, As the name, so the rite itself of 
 
168 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 constituting a primitive bishop, deserves to be 
 considered : a single bishop, by the ancient ca- 
 nons of the Church, and by sufficient evidence 
 besides, might ordain a presbyter or deacon ; 
 but to make a ' bishop,' a whole province of bi- 
 shops, our learned Enquirer knows, did most 
 commonly assemble, and with the like holy ce- 
 remony by which all orders of the Church were 
 conferred; that is, by imposition of hands, and 
 prayers, did collate that power and character 
 upon him, which ever after, and never before 
 (as far as fact and words together can prove it), 
 he was invested in; and if the former be the 
 giving of 'an order' by a single hand, and this 
 latter but a license, as it were, to use it ; or as 
 our learned Author chooses to express it, but a 
 formal 'instalment' into an episcopal chair; then 
 the greater sacred solemnity, this united applica- 
 tion of an Apostolical rite to it, and this joint 
 synodical invitation of the Holy Spirit for it, are 
 all of them to so singular and indifferent a pur- 
 pose as is not to be paralleled, we may safely 
 say, in any other ministerial solemnity in the 
 whole economy of the Christian Church. 
 
 Thirdly, By this 'ordination' the promoted 
 presbyter became a member of a distinct eccle- 
 siastical college from all other officers or minis- 
 ters in the Church, from whence St. Cyprian 
 so peculiarly calls the bishops his ' colleagues' in 
 that higher function with him, which, as hum- 
 ble as he was, he never once applied to presby- 
 ters or deacons a ; and we know one immediate 
 
 a The Enquiry affirms the contrary (p. 74). But no proof, 
 as I shall make appear in its proper place. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 
 
 effect of it was, that he gained a ' rulikg power' 
 over both of them, though he was but a eo-ordi- 
 nate brother to the highest of them before>xnd 
 such as are curious to see how such distinct cot< 
 leges implied distinct orders in them, in the na- 
 ture of the thing, may find it learnedly argued 
 by the late singularly learned and inquisitive 
 antiquary, Mr. Dodwell, in his tenth disserta- 
 tion upon St. Cyprian. But, 
 
 Fourthly, This promoted presbyter, from the 
 time he had passed under the provincial impo- 
 sition of hands, acquired a prerogative and ju- 
 risdiction parallel to that of God's high-priest 
 amongst the Jews. Thus St. Cyprian not only 
 makes the rebellion of his presbyters and others 
 against him of the same kind with that of Corah, 
 Dathan, and Abiram against Aaron, but affirms, 
 the same law which God gave for the high- 
 priest, or any the supremest ruler whatsoever, 
 to judge decisively in the great council of their 
 sanhedrim, and to punish the offender, did au- 
 thorize the Christian bishop to judge and cen- 
 sure rebellious schismatics within his jurisdic- 
 tion. So he assures Rogatian, a bishop of his 
 province b , and applies it to his own and Corne- 
 lius's case, in another epistle c ; where he gives 
 us a further character of his promoted presby- 
 ter's dignity too, viz. that he was then become 
 the c one judge, as well as the one high-priest, 
 
 b Cum pro episcopatus vigore et cathedrae autoritate haberes 
 potestatem, qua posses de illo statim vindicari, habens circa 
 hujusmodi homines praecepta divina, cum Dominus Deus in 
 Deuteronomio dicit, et homo quicunque fuerit in superbia ut 
 non exaudiat sacerdotem, &c. Cypr. Ep. 3. 1. edit. Oxon. 
 
 c Cypr. Ep. 59, 4. Unus inEcclesiae adtempus sacerdos, 
 et ad tempus judex vice Christi. 
 
170 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 and Christ's vicegerent in the Church.' Further, 
 he is from that time peculiarly ranked in the 
 number of the ( Apostles' successors/ to whom 
 they themselves ( committed their churches/ and 
 delivered up to them their place ' of mastership, 
 or magisterial authority' in them. So Iren3eus d 
 says in plain terms, and in that very place 
 where he was proving orthodoxy from the per- 
 sonal succession of them, which our Enquirer 
 (p. 12, 13) owns related to the supreme presby- 
 ter or bishop alone. Again, St. Cyprian minds 
 Cornelius, bishop of Rome, 6 to be zealous with 
 him of the unity of the Church, because it came 
 from the Lord, and by the Apostles,' says he, 
 c to us their successors e .' Firmilian styles bi- 
 shops c the Apostles' successors by a vicarious 
 ordination f .' And the confessor Clarus a Mas- 
 cula (a bishop in the Carthaginian council, un- 
 der St. Cyprian), gives this unanswerable suf- 
 frage for it : " The sentence," says he, " of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ is manifest, who sent his 
 Apostles, and granted to them alone the power 
 which was given to him of the Father, whom we 
 succeed, governing the Church of the Lord with 
 the same powers". Lastly, he presided in the 
 
 d Habemus annumerare eos qui ab Apostolis instituti sunt 
 episcopi in ecclesiis his vel maxime ea [sc. recondita myste- 
 ria] traderent, quibus etiam ipsas ecclesias committebant 
 successores relinquebant, suum ipsorum locum magisterii tra- 
 dentes. Iren. lib. 3. cap. 3. [p. 175. ed. Ven. 1734.] 
 
 e Ut unitatem a Domino et per Apostolos nobis successoribus 
 traditam, quantum possumus obtinere curemus. Cypr. Ep. 45. 
 ad Cornel, p. 88. edit. Oxon. 
 
 f Et episcopis, qui eis [sc. Apostolis] ordinatione vicaria 
 successerunt. Ep. Firmil. inter Ep. Cypr. 75. p. 225. 
 
 ? Manifesta est sententia Domini nostri Jesu Christi Aposto- 
 los suos mittentis, et ipsis solis potestatem a patre sibi datam 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 171 
 
 consistory, to use St. Ignatius's words, " in the 
 place of God, whilst the presbyters (in analogy 
 to that comparison) sat as a college of Apostles 
 under him, and then the deacons, as intrusted 
 with the ministerial service of Jesus Christ h ." 
 Very singular phrases ! for expressing officers, 
 whereof any two were of the 'same order.' 
 These, and many such characters of a common 
 presbyter, after ordination by provincial bishops, 
 which it would be tedious to set down, are fre- 
 quently to be met with in the writings of the 
 primitive Fathers, whereof not one of them was 
 attributed to him till then, or to any in that in- 
 ferior station wherein he stood before ; and if 
 these accessions of superlative titles, preroga- 
 tives, and jurisdiction, denote no other order 
 conferred upon him than he had before, it will 
 be very difficult to conceive in what sense the 
 Jewish high-priest, the Christian Apostles, the 
 supremest judges and rulers in societies, or the 
 peculiar vicegerents of God himself, are of a 
 higher order in church or state, than all other 
 men of whatsoever dignity or station in any of 
 them besides. Not to mention the unaccount- 
 able notion of an inherent character, fully and 
 completely stamped, and virtually resting in 
 every presbyter, from their first ordination, of 
 the same nature with this of a bishop ; which is 
 as much as to say, that the Holy Spirit, in the 
 
 permittentis, quibus nossuccessimus, eadem potestate Ecclesiam 
 domini gubernantes. Concil. Carthag. apud Cypr. Suffrag.79. 
 p. 242. 
 
 h TIpOKaOri/jiei'ov rov iri(TK6Trov els r6irov 0eou, Kal rcov irptcrfiv- 
 Tepuv ei'y TOTTOV ffvvedpiov TUV airo(Tr6\(ii)y 9 Kal ru>v SiaK6v<av TreTn- 
 ffTVfji.ev(0v SMKOV'ICU' 'Ir/tToO XpiffTov. Ignat. Ep. ad Magnes. 6. 
 
172 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 government of the Church, does, by sacred mi- 
 nisterial acts, confer such spiritual powers and 
 characters upon numbers of men beforehand, 
 which not one in twenty, by modest computa- 
 tion, shall, in the course of providence, ever 
 stand in need of; for in such proportion, it is 
 more than likely, I think, that every presbyter 
 shall not be made a bishop. It is time enough 
 to have all, when they are called to use them, 
 and the provincial ordinations were undoubtedly 
 instituted that they should not want them then. 
 
 But all this must be nothing ; let bishops be 
 never so sacredly ordained for their particular 
 function, and govern every order of men in their 
 churches with an Apostolical authority and ju- 
 risdiction, as peculiar to them alone, as it was 
 to the Apostles themselves; their order is no 
 whit advanced by it, though such sort of quali- 
 fications distinguish orders of men in every so- 
 ciety besides, so long as the presbyters also "' had 
 a right and power to discharge all clerical offices 
 (there the crisis lies) as fully, to all intents and 
 purposes, as any bishop in the world' (p. 57). 
 
 I'll join issue with our learned Author in this 
 enquiry also ; and doubt not but we shall meet 
 with great mistakes here : though we shall find 
 an ' equality of sovereignty' in the government 
 of the Church, as nicely contended for all along, 
 as that of clerical offices are, notwithstanding he 
 disavowed such an equal sovereignty as that, at 
 the first stating of his presbyter's case. This is 
 evident, I think, in the first instance of his pres- 
 byter's authority; which is this, "They pre- 
 sided," says he, "in Church consistories, and 
 composed the executive part of the ecclesiastical 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, 173 
 
 power ;" that is, they were joint commissioners 
 in the ' judicial power there,' and so far 6 upon 
 the level' with the bishop himself, in judging 
 causes that came before them; else they might be 
 as justices of the peace to judges in civil courts, 
 if they had not a judicial power as well as he ; 
 or as privy counsellors to a king, which would, 
 doubtless, lower their order below their bishops, 
 and not come up to his case : but by the choice 
 of his quotation for it, we may be sure he meant 
 no less ; for ' approved elders presided,' says 
 Tertullian, which our learned Author here 
 applies to his presbyters sitting in their 
 peculiar consistory 1 ; and to shew how great 
 stress is laid upon this short quotation, it is of- 
 fered us in the next leaf again ; to help a weak 
 authority out, which otherwise could not prove 
 what our Author was zealously contending for 
 there ; namely, that bishops and presbyters had 
 an equal power in them to 6 baptize, confirm, 
 and ordain.' 
 
 . These are pretty material points, you will say, 
 to depend so much, as really they do here, upon 
 this short disputed sentence at the best, and that 
 with this supposition in the case, that both this 
 and the other parallel quotation in the next 
 leaf, ' were spoken of the discipline exerted in 
 one particular church or parish, in which there 
 was but one bishop ; and if only he had pre- 
 sided, then there could not have been elders in 
 the plural number.' Thus he states the argu- 
 ment himself (p. 61). 
 
 1 Probati president seniores. Tertul. Apol. c. 39. [p. 31. 
 A. edit. Yen. 1744.] 
 
174 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 The reader will excuse me if I am a little 
 more particular than ordinary in examining 
 these authorities ; the case is of moment, though 
 the words are few ; and to lay the supposition 
 here insisted upon in a clear light, I shall be 
 obliged to consider these three things: 1st, the 
 occasion of the words ; 2ndly, the plain sense 
 and meaning of them ; and Srdly, compare the 
 parallel places, to shew how they illustrate one 
 another. 
 
 First, The occasion of Tertullian's words was 
 this ; the Christians were under a general per- 
 secution in the Roman empire k . Tertullian, de- 
 dicating an Apology for them to the several go- 
 vernors of the empire, vindicates them as they 
 lay jointly charged, under the general name of 
 a factious sect in the state 1 . Accordingly, 
 at the very entrance of that part of his Apology, 
 wherein he represents the innocent manner 
 both of the Christian discipline and worship, 
 and whereof the quotation now in question is a 
 part, he prefaces it in these words : " Now," says 
 he, " I'll shew you plainly what this Christian 
 faction is taken up about, or how they are em- 
 ployed m ;" surely this e Christian faction,' which 
 is not only a noun of multitude, but, in the sense 
 which the Roman governors understood it, com- 
 prehended the whole body of Christians in it, 
 must be meant in the same sense by the sagaci- 
 ous Apologist too, who professedly undertook 
 
 k Operata sectae hujus infestatio odii erga nomen Christi- 
 anorum. Apol. p. i. 
 
 1 Vobis, Romini imperil antistites. Apol. in Exord. 
 
 m Edam jam nunc ego ipse negotia Christianee factionis. 
 Cap. 39. [p k 30. ed. Venet. 1744.] 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 175 
 
 to vindicate them ' all ;' and not for any single 
 congregation of them in some private quarter of 
 the empire; else the Roman governors, to 
 whom he addresses in all parts, had but slender 
 motives offered them to cease their persecution 
 in every province ; and the good Apologist had 
 but little regard to the common cause of all his 
 brethren. 
 
 But, Secondly, To come to the plain sense 
 and meaning of the words themselves, ' approved 
 elders preside :' and here I am contented the 
 learned Enquirer himself should be his own in- 
 terpreter and commentator for me ; for at the 
 19th page of this Enquiry, he was zealously 
 proving from the testimony of antiquity, that a 
 bishop could have ' but one communion table in 
 his diocese ;' and amongst other authorities, in- 
 sisted earnestly upon these words of Tertullian, 
 " That Christians received the sacrament of the 
 Lord's supper from the hands of the bishop 
 alone";" so he translates the passage, which, as 
 you may see in the margin here, is s from the 
 hand of those who preside.' Now if those ' who 
 preside,' in Tertullian's language, must needs be 
 no other than the ' supreme bishops' themselves; 
 without which construction, all the argument in 
 it, which the Enquirer makes for a congrega- 
 tional diocese, is utterly lost there ; then his 
 6 approved presiding elders,' in the quotation 
 now before us, must necessarily be spoken also 
 of the bishops or heads of several churches 
 or congregations within the Roman empire, be- 
 
 Nee de aliorum manu, quam de praesidentium sumimus. 
 Tert. de Cor. Mil. c. 3. p. 102. 
 
176 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 cause a single one could have but one such elder 
 belonging to it, in the declared opinion of the 
 learned Enquirer himself; and then what will 
 become of the two important points built upon 
 this supposition alone, that Tertullian spake but 
 of one congregation ? I shall trust to this evi- 
 dence for the plain meaning of the words, and 
 proceed, 
 
 Thirdly, To consider that parallel place of 
 another primitive Father, which, in the opinion 
 of our judicious Author himself (p. 61), and, as 
 he tells us, of most learned men with him, is so 
 plainly of the same import and signification 
 with this, that they mutually explain one an- 
 other. The passage is in a noted epistle of 
 Firmilian to St. Cyprian ; and, in the Enquirer's 
 own translation, is rendered thus : " All power 
 and grace is constituted in the church where 
 seniors preside, who have the power of baptizing, 
 confirming, and ordaining ." Now I readily 
 agree, that this passage, and the former in Ter- 
 tullian, do help to explain one another; and 
 chiefly in these following particulars, upon 
 which the present application of them does 
 mainly depend. 
 
 First, That whereas there was some scruple 
 raised from the words of Tertullian, whether he 
 was speaking of the collective body of Christians, 
 or no ; there is no room for any such question 
 to be made here, since the immediate occasion 
 of Firmilian's words was to prove this, that out 
 
 Quando omnis potestas et gratia in ecclesia constituta sit, 
 ubi president majores natu, qui et baptizandi, et manum im- 
 ponendi, et ordinandi possident potestatem. Apud Cypr. Ep. 
 75. [p. 221. edit. Oxon.J 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 177 
 
 of the ( Catholic Church' there was no grace or 
 power given to ratify any one ministerial act 
 whatsoever. Every one knows, who ever read 
 that epistle, it was the invalidity of heretical 
 baptism which he was there contending for, 
 against the contrary decree of Stephen, bishop 
 of Rome, about it ; and that controversy, I pre- 
 sume all men will allow, was between the 
 Catholic Church, collectively considered, on 
 the one hand, and all manner of heresies and 
 schisms, of whatsoever kind, on the other; so 
 that the church, wherein Firmilian affirms, the 
 majores natu, or ( seniors,' did preside, invested 
 with such a fulness of power for effectually exe- 
 cuting every ecclesiastical office in it, was no 
 less than the universal Church of Christ upon 
 earth, as it stood distinguished from all sorts of 
 sects, who separated from her ; and in this ma- 
 terial particular, this parallel place of Firmilian 
 may help a doubting reader to understand what 
 sort of church Tertullian also meant, wherein 
 his ' approved elders' did preside. And then, 
 
 Secondly, as to the common word of 6 pre- 
 siding,' used by both the venerable Fathers 
 alike ; if Firmilian's sense of it should not be 
 clear enough for us, yet Tertullian's notion of a 
 ' president, 'or ' presiding elder' in a church, being 
 so plainly interpreted by our learned Enquirer 
 (as we have seen already) to be the single or 
 supreme bishop of the church he presided in, in 
 this particular Tertullian may be said to expound 
 Firmilian's meaning for us, and satisfy the reader 
 that his f presiding seniors' were no less than such 
 supreme bishops also ; in exact conformity to 
 St. Cyprian's language, too, who says of the 
 
178 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 Christian bishops in general 1, that they were 
 cetate antiqui, 6 ancient in years,' that is, se- 
 niores, as well as sound in faith. And yet, 
 
 Thirdly, let Firmilian be allowed to explain 
 himself more fully. In the next paragraph he 
 had a fair occasion to do it ; and accordingly he 
 did: he was arguing (as we observed before, 
 and the whole epistle shews it) against Stephen, 
 bishop of Rome, and his party, who maintained 
 imposition of hands sufficient for admitting a 
 baptized heretic into the Church, without any 
 further baptism than what they had in their 
 heresy ; and his argument against it runs thus : 
 " How is this," says he, " that when we see 
 Paul baptized his disciples again after John's 
 baptism, we should make any doubt of baptizing 
 them who return from heresy to the Church 
 after that unlawful and prophane baptism of 
 theirs, unless Paul was less than these bishops, 
 of whom we are speaking now, that these in- 
 deed might give the Holy Ghost by imposition 
 of hands alone, but Paul was insufficient for 
 it r ?" Here we plainly see what kind of 6 se- 
 niors', in the Church, Firmilian was speaking ofi 
 and to whom he attributed the right of baptism, 
 imposition of hands, and ordination, just before; 
 for those who were to lay their hands upon the 
 returning heretics, the immediate subject then 
 
 i Per omnes provincias et per urbes singulas, ordinati shit 
 episcopi in estate antiqui, in fide integri. Cypr. Ep. 55. p. 112. 
 Edit. Oxon. 
 
 r Quale est autem &c. nisi si his episcopis, de quibus 
 nunc, minor fuit Paulus, ut hi quidem possint per solam ma- 
 ims impositionem venientibus hsereticis dare Spiritum Sanc- 
 tum, Paulus autem idoneus non fuerit. Apud Cypr. Ep. 75. 
 6. p. 221. Edit. Oxon. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 179 
 
 in hand, he calls by the proper and express 
 name of bishops, an incommunicable term to 
 any inferior elders of the Church, if we may 
 believe approved antiquaries 5 , in that Cyprianic 
 age ; and, I make no doubt of it, could any in- 
 stance to the contrary be given, our learned 
 Author, who has a collection of honorary titles 
 for his presbyters, and argues zealously upon 
 them, would scarce have overlooked it, or failed 
 to have told us where it might be found. 
 
 Thus I have given the clear and genuine 
 sense both of Tertullian and Firmilian's expres- 
 sions together ; from whence it appears, 
 
 First, that the presbyters' ' ruling power' in 
 the consistory, as joint commissioners with their 
 bishop there, which was the first main point 
 they were brought to prove, cannot be grounded 
 upon either of them, since they have no rela- 
 tion to the private presbytery of a particular 
 church at all, but were manifestly spoken with 
 reference to the single supreme governors, or 
 bishops of all the several dioceses, either within 
 the Roman empire, or the whole Catholic 
 Church. And, indeed, I would gladly under- 
 stand how our ingenious Author disposes of the 
 IIpwTOKadeSpia, or right of the ' first chair' in 
 the primitive presbyteries, by which he and his 
 friends so nicely evade the bishop's ' higher 
 order' in the Church, if all his presbyters were 
 ' presidents' there, as the application of these 
 quotations to them does literally make them to 
 be. But, 
 
 * See bishop Pearson and Mr. Dodwell in Pearson's Dissert, 
 prima de Succes. prim. Rom. Episc. c. 9. p. 97. in 4to. Lond. 
 1688. 
 
 N2 
 
180 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 Secondly, by this apparent sense of the holy 
 Father's words, it appears also, that the only 
 passage in antiquity our f inquisitive ' Author 
 could present us with, to prove the presbyters' 
 right and power to ordain, contains no such 
 matter in it; but, on the contrary, places all 
 power of baptism, confirmation, and ordination, 
 in the bishops' possession, for such we find Fir- 
 milian's ' seniors' in the Church to be. 
 
 Yet, since a 'full' power to ordain could not 
 be found for his presbyters, our Enquirer claims 
 a share, at least, from that noted case of Timo- 
 thy's being ordained by, or rather with, the lay- 
 ing on of the hands of the presbytery*. Now this 
 is saying more for Calvin's cause, than Calvin 
 could say for himself; for he disowns it plainly, 
 that a college of presbyters was meant by the 
 presbytery there u , and maintains it, as his opi- 
 nion, that St. Paul ordained Timothy alone, 
 from 2 Tim. i. 6. And the assembly of Eng- 
 lish divines" go so far with him, as to own, that 
 all the gifts which Timothy received at his or- 
 dination, were from the Apostle's hands upon 
 him. It cannot be denied, therefore, that the 
 two different accounts, though not contrary 
 ones to be sure, of Timothy's ordination, 'with 
 the presbytery' in one text, and c by St. Paul's 
 own hands' in the other, has occasioned variety 
 of speculations upon them; and therefore it 
 
 1 1 Tim. iv. 
 
 u Paulus ipse, se, non alios complures, Timotheo manus 
 imposuisse commemorat Quod de impositione manuum pres- 
 byterii dicitur, non ita accipio, quasi Faulus de seniorum cotte- 
 ffio loquatur. Calv. Instil. 1. iv. c. 3. in fine. 
 
 x See Assemb. Annot. on 2 Tim. i. 6. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 181 
 
 must be a feeble argument, at the best, which 
 depends on a positive construction of either of 
 them. And yet, the utmost it can afford so, is 
 only a concomitant act of an inferior order with 
 an Apostle himself, and in a case of divine de- 
 signation by prophecy too : which, since it can 
 be no great ground of controversy amongst our- 
 selves, where the like kind of practice of pres- 
 byters joining in imposition of hands with their 
 superiors in every ordination of their own order, 
 is constantly in use, I need say the less; and 
 shall only observe here, that our learned En- 
 quirer grounds his sense of it upon this (p. 62 
 and 78), "that the constant signification of the 
 word presbytery, in all the writings of the an- 
 cients," is such as he here insists upon ; that is, 
 it "always denotes the bishops and presbyters 
 of a particular church or parish," as his terms 
 for a diocese are. 
 
 Yet, I am very sure, St. Ignatius calls the 
 6 Apostles alone' the ' presbytery of the Church:' 
 for he tells the Philadelphians y , in his way to 
 the crown of martyrdom, that he betook him- 
 self to the ' Apostles as the presbytery of the 
 Church.' And since Timothy was ordained 
 whilst these superlative presbyters were alive, 
 and by an eminent one of them, I know no 
 fairer comment upon the Apostolical phrase of 
 his being ordained "by the laying on of the 
 hands of the presbytery," than that he was or- 
 dained by a special member of this " Apostoli- 
 cal presbytery ;" and if by more than so, it was 
 
 y npoffQuywv rots a.iroffr6\ois^ us TrpecrpuTcpi'*) eK/cA7?<n'as. 
 Ignat. ad Philad. [ 5. ed. Jacobson.] 
 
182 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 neither impossible, nor unlikely, then, that some 
 other Apostle, or Apostles, might concur with 
 St. Paul in it ; especially, if we consider that 
 Timothy's first ordination may reasonably be 
 dated from the time that St. Paul would have 
 him go forth with him, Acts xvi. 3, w r hich surely 
 was for the work of the ministry, and that at 
 Derbe or Lystra, not much above four 2 years 
 after the gospel was first preached there, when 
 a settled consistory of inferior presbyters, and 
 a form of ecclesiastical discipline in it, could 
 scarcely be expected amongst them. 
 
 How far the presbyters' part in the ordination 
 is mentioned in this sacred text, together with 
 the testimonies of Tertullian and Firmilian be- 
 fore, which are all the authorities our inquisi- 
 tive Author offers us, has proved the power of 
 ordination to be ( fully' inherent in 'them,' I 
 must leave the reader to judge; and whether 
 they are of weight enough to balance the una- 
 nimous consent of the Catholic Church to the 
 contrary, for fifteen hundred years together; 
 whilst not so much as a single example can be 
 found of the presbyters practising such a power, 
 without public censure and protestation against 
 it, in all that time. 
 
 Two other instances of ' ruling power' in the 
 presbyters are these ; they " excommunicated," 
 says he, and "they restored penitents to the 
 Church." The proof of the first is thus: Feli- 
 cissimus, Augendus, and some others, had made 
 a schism in St. Cyprian's church; the holy 
 
 r See bishop Pearson's Annal. Paul, ab A. D. 46. ad A. D. 
 
 50. inclusive. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 183 
 
 bishop, in exile, is acquainted with it by two 
 of his presbyters, Rogatianus and Numidicus, 
 whom he had left in joint commission with two 
 bishops of the province, Caldonius and Hercu- 
 lanus, to inspect his diocese in his absence. To 
 these four St. Cyprian writes a letter, and hav- 
 ing told them what evidence he had had of Fe- 
 licissimus's notorious wickedness, sends this po- 
 sitive order to them ; " Let him receive the sen- 
 tence," says he, "which he has first passed 
 himself, that he may know he is excommuni- 
 cated by us a ;" (for he had threatened excommu- 
 nication to such as adhered to St. Cyprian;) 
 and " let any other who joins to that faction, 
 know also, that he shall not communicate in 
 the church with us b ." Little advice with pres- 
 byters here, and less left for them to do. In 
 answer to this letter, Caldonius, with the two 
 presbyters, and other bishops together, send 
 word to St. Cyprian, that " they had shut out 
 Felicissimus, Augendus, and others, from their 
 communion ." Now what Caldonius, and the 
 other bishops, here concerned, did, in conform- 
 ity to catholic practice, shutting out from their 
 churches also, such as St. Cyprian had thus ex- 
 communicated from his, is no great matter to 
 us; but that the two presbyters did no more 
 than execute St. Cyprian's censure in his 
 church, is as plain matter of fact, I think, as 
 
 a Accipiat sententiam, quam prior dixit ut abstentum se a 
 nobis sciat. Cypr. Ep. 41. Edit. Oxon. p. 80. 
 
 b Sed et quisquis se conspirationi et factioni ejus adjunxerit, 
 sciat se in Ecclesia non esse nobiscum communicaturum. Ib. 
 
 e Abstinuimus communicatione FeUcissimum, Augendum, 
 &c. Ep. 41. 
 
1 84 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 words can make it ; and accordingly the learned 
 bishop Fell's note d upon it, does in so many 
 words make it so. This excommunicating 
 power, then, of St. Cyprian's presbyters, is just 
 such an one as any vicar or curate in the 
 Church of England exercises, when, by virtue 
 of an order from their bishop's court, they deny 
 communion to a censured member, and make 
 their return of it ; and that it was no more than 
 so in respect of the presbyters' power of excom- 
 municating and absolving again in St. Cyprian's 
 church at that time, will need no more proof, I 
 hope, when we consider, that that holy bishop 
 authorized the "very deacons," as well as pres- 
 byters, in his absence, " to receive the penitents' 
 confession, and by the solemn ministerial act 
 of imposition of hands, to absolve them, if need 
 required 6 ;" that is, to bind or loose them as effec- 
 tually as if he had done it himself; and I be- 
 lieve our learned Enquirer will not infer from 
 hence, that those deacons had ( a power of the 
 keys' inherent in their orders, because they 
 could thus exercise it with their bishop's leave ; 
 and yet if he will argue after the same manner, 
 as he does from one end to the other of this 
 scheme, he must grant that ; for his fundamen- 
 tal hypothesis is nothing more than this, that 
 the presbyter's order was equal to the bishop's, 
 because they could, with his leave, exercise 
 
 d Abstinuimus sententiam a Cypriano latam execution! 
 mandando. Fel. in loc. 
 
 e Non expeotata praesentia nostra apud presbytemm quem- 
 cunque praesentem, vel si presbyter repertus non fuerit, et ur- 
 gere exitus cceperit, apud diaconum quoque exomologesin 
 facere delicti sui possit, ut manu eis in pcenitentiam imposita 
 \eniant ad Dominum cum pace. Cypr. Ep. 18. Edit. Oxon. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 185 
 
 every clerical office which the bishop himself 
 could do. Some of those acts I have already 
 shewn, and particularly that of ordination, they 
 never did, nor can it any ways be proved they 
 could do; and I shall prove it afterwards, I 
 think, in more ; and I hope our ingenious Au- 
 thor will think it worth his considering, what a 
 confused equality of all orders in the Church 
 will ensue, if every ecclesiastic be allowed to 
 have the same order with the supreme, who 
 can execute such ministerial offices as he shall 
 require him, in his stead, to do. The case of 
 St. Cyprian's deacons, just now mentioned, is a 
 sufficient instance of it ; and more of that kind 
 will appear in considering the next head, which 
 is this : 
 
 " Though, as to every particular act of the 
 bishop's office," says our learned Author (p. 62), 
 "it could not be proved that a presbyter did 
 discharge them; yet it would be sufficient, if 
 we could prove in general that he could, and 
 did do so." 
 
 To make this out, he quotes two letters of 
 St. Cyprian to his clergy, wherein he " exhorts, 
 begs, and commands them, to discharge their 
 own and his office also, that so nothing might 
 be wanting, either to discipline or diligence f ." 
 And again, " that they would, in his stead, per- 
 form those offices which the ecclesiastical dis- 
 pensation requires g ." This is partly answered, 
 
 f Fungamini illic et vestris partibus ac meis, ut nihil vel ad 
 disciplinam vel ad diligentiam desit. Cypr. Ep. 5. 1. 
 
 s His literis et hortor et mando ut vos vice mea fungamini 
 circa gerenda ea, quse administratio religiosa deposcit. Ep. 6. 
 2. alias Ep. 14. Edit. Oxon. 
 
186 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 by what we have heard of the presbyters' and 
 deacons' ministerial acts, by his leave and his 
 instructions above. Yet I may further ask this 
 plain question still : Why are these letters quoted 
 to prove the presbyters'' only' could do the bi- 
 shop's business for him? They are both h di- 
 rected to the deacons as well as presbyters ex- 
 pressly by name, and the command given to 
 both jointly without any distinction; which, 
 since the deacons, as we see before, had used the 
 keys for him, why were not they intrusted with 
 such an executive part of his episcopal power 
 as was intended here, being addressed to one 
 as well as the other? especially since St. Cy- 
 prian, in the close of the latter epistle, " grieved 
 to hear that his people would not be governed 
 by deacons or presbyters either 1 ;" implying 
 fairly enough, that he had intrusted his ' go- 
 verning power,' as far as it could be discharged 
 by a deputation, to ( both of them.' So little 
 does it prove an equality of order in St. Cy- 
 prian's sense and practice, for inferior eccle- 
 siastics to do those clerical offices by his bi- 
 shop's order and leave, which his character 
 otherwise did not allow him to do. 
 
 We have a form of words in our own church 
 discipline, which very much resembles this ; for 
 an English bishop instituting a parochial priest, 
 says thus : " Take my cure upon you, and your 
 own too k ;" and I believe no man ever imagined 
 
 h Cypr. presbyteris et diaconis fratribus. Tit. Ep. 5. et 14. 
 Edit. Oxon. 
 
 1 Doleo enim quando audio quosdam improbe, &c. nee a 
 diaconis aut presbyteris regi posse. Ep. 14. 
 
 k Accipe curam tuam et meam. Godolph. Repert. Canon, 
 c. 24. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 187 
 
 that the instituted clerk had a power in him to 
 visit, confirm, or ordain, in any one part of the 
 diocese ; though a trust of ' his bishop's cure,' in 
 our Author's way of reasoning, would infer so 
 much : but St. Cyprian's commission to his pres- 
 byters and deacons, had a clause in it sufficient 
 to explain this; which is likewise implied in 
 our institutions, and in all such general com- 
 missions as those ; " Perform such offices," says 
 he, " for yourselves and me, as the ecclesiastical 
 dispensation requires 1 ;" that is, as much of it as 
 your orders and station in the Church can allow 
 of. Could our Author have proved that the 
 presbyters or deacons had ' ordained,' for in- 
 stance, so much as one single clerk in the 
 church in St. Cyprian's absence, by virtue of 
 this great trust reposed in them, it had been 
 something to the purpose ; but since there is 
 no tittle of any such thing in all St. Cyprian's 
 works, or in any collateral history, to be found, 
 but on the contrary that St. Cyprian himself in 
 his retirement" 1 ordained such as the necessities 
 of the church required, I must confess I cannot 
 see that the argument proves anything that it 
 was brought for. 
 
 Upon the whole matter, I rather conceive 
 that ingenious Author, by unwarily offering to 
 public view this commission of St. Cyprian to 
 his presbyters and ' deacons together,' to dis- 
 charge his part for him, without any mark of 
 discrimination in either of the epistles, has dis- 
 covered that plain truth which overturns his 
 whole hypothesis at once : namely, that to be 
 
 1 See the quotation before. 
 
 m See Gyp. Ep. 29, 38, 39, &c. 
 
188 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 qualified to discharge a clerical office by the 
 bishop's leave for it, is no proof at all that the 
 person so discharging it, had a power to do it 
 before, inherent in his own orders; for some 
 share of government in the Church, at least, 
 and the power of the keys, in some signal in- 
 stances of it, might be proved inherent in the 
 deacons' orders from this very commission of 
 their bishop to them, and from what we have 
 seen them intrusted to do before ; if that way 
 of reasoning were true. And yet on this single 
 thread hangs all that our Enquirer has hitherto 
 offered, to make the orders of his presbyters 
 equal with the highest in the Church. 
 
 He strengthens the two authorities from St. 
 Cyprian's letters, with a third (p. 63) from the 
 presbyters at Rome to them at Carthage ; both 
 those churches were destitute of a bishop at that 
 time ; Fabianus of Rome newly martyred in the 
 Decian persecution, and St. Cyprian retired 
 upon the account of it. The Carthaginian 
 presbyters, on this occasion, write to their 
 brethren at Rome ; and those at Rome, in their 
 answer to them, write thus : " And since it is 
 incumbent on us, who seem to be governors, 
 and to keep the flock instead of a pastor ; if we 
 should be found negligent, it will be said to us, 
 
 o o " y 
 
 as it was to those careless governors (the shep- 
 herds of Israel) before us (Ezek. xxxiv. 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 wool n ." 
 
 n Et cum incumbat nobis, qui videmur prcepositi esse, et 
 vice pastoris custodire gregem, si negligentes inveniamur, dice- 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 189 
 
 Now the argument from this passage runs 
 thus: the presbyters in these churches, having 
 no bishop amongst them, ' seemed themselves 
 to be, as it were,' bishops of the churches, and 
 therefore they not only ( seemed so,' but 'in 
 power and order,' actually were such, even as 
 much as any before them ever were, or the 
 next in succession could be; for so the argu- 
 ment supposes. 
 
 And if that be so, I wonder what those 'very 
 presbyters' meant, to tell St. Cyprian in their 
 letter to him very soon afterwards, " that there 
 was a greater necessity lay upon them, to put 
 off the restitution of the lapsed in their church 
 for the present, because they had no bishop 
 amongst them, who should order all those 
 things, and could with authority and council 
 take a proper course with them ." It seems 
 those presbyters were conscious of a peculiar 
 6 authority' in a bishop, which was wanting in 
 themselves. And so just they were, indeed, in 
 the words of the quotation before us, as to say 
 no more of themselves than that they were 
 ' seemingly' the governors of the church, or, 
 'as it were,' bishops in it, as our Enquirer 
 chooses to translate it; very suitable phrases 
 for such 'guardians of the spiritualities' as dean 
 
 tur nobis quod et antecessoribus nostris dictum est, qui tarn 
 negligentes prsepositi erant ; quoniam perditum non requisivi- 
 mus, errantem non correximus, et claudum non colligavimus, 
 et lac eorum edebamus, et lanis eorum operiebamur. Cypr. 
 Ep. 8. 1. Edit. Oxon. 
 
 Quanquam nobis differendae hujus rei necessitas major in- 
 cumbat, quibus nondum est episcopus constitutus, qui omnia 
 ista moderetur, et eorum, qui lapsi sunt, possit cum auctoritate 
 et consilio habere rationem. Cypr. Ep. 30. 6. Edit. Oxon. 
 
190 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 and chapter usually have been (and in many 
 cases are at this day) for a vacant see ; and yet 
 their 'order' different enough from his, who in 
 a little time is to put an end to their trust. 
 Such trustees do all which for a time may be 
 necessary, not every act of clerical or ministe- 
 rial power which a proper officer, when invested 
 in it, can do. This would appear to be the 
 very sense of the Roman presbyters, to any who 
 perused their epistle, without prejudice in the 
 case ; for they specify, as well as speak in ge- 
 neral, of the care which was incumbent on 
 them ; but not a tittle, amongst all, of supply- 
 ing the Church (if need were) with new or- 
 dained ministers, or confirming after baptism, 
 or the like. What sort of care do they mention 
 then ? Why ! that of " exhortations to the flock, 
 not to fall away ; to administer to the wants of 
 all; to give Christian burial to the martyrs;" 
 and, to speak all freely, without reserve, one 
 material advice they give to the Carthaginian 
 presbyters, which may be a key to us to solve 
 a very nice difficulty in the present argument ; 
 and that is, they exhort them, after their exam- 
 ple, " to move the lapsed to repentance, if per- 
 adventure they might obtain their absolution 
 from him, who was able to give it?;" which 
 
 P Non minimum periculum incumbere, si non hortati fueri- 
 tis fratres vestros stare in fide immobiles separates a nobis 
 hortamur agere pcenitentiam, si quo modo indulgentiam pot- 
 erunt recipere ab eo qui potest pr&stare. Si qui coeperint ap- 
 prehendi infirmitate, et agant poenitentiam facti sui, et deside- 
 rent communionem, utique subveniri eis debet. Corpora mar- 
 tyrum si non sepeiiantur, grande periculum imminet eis quibus 
 incumbit hoc opus faciat Deus ut omnes nos in his operi- 
 bits inveniamur. Cypr. Ep. 8. Edit. Oxon. p. 17, 18. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 191 
 
 must either be meant of God alone, since abso- 
 lution of apostates to idolatry had not yet been 
 decreed in the Church, (as the excellent bishop 
 Fell observes upon the place,) or at least must 
 signify their own incapacity for it at Rome, for 
 want of that authority to do it, which they 
 owned to St. Cyprian belonged to the bishop 
 only; and yet forasmuch as the Catholic Church 
 had solemnly agreed q that c her' peace should be 
 given 'to all' in the dying hour, so far, by that 
 general authority from episcopal power, they 
 practised themselves, and advised the Carthagi- 
 nian presbyters to do. How far these three 
 authorities, then, do prove in general what the 
 particulars could not do, viz. that presbyters 
 could do all which a bishop did, I must also 
 leave with the reader to consider again. 
 
 One particular I have postponed indeed, be- 
 cause the former and that fell in so much with 
 one another ; I shall now consider it, to shew I 
 pay regard to all this learned Author offers; 
 " the presbyters," says he (p. 60), " confirmed." 
 He brings no proof for it here, but promises 
 * most evident' ones in another place ; he means, 
 I doubt not, in the second part of his Enquiry. 
 I will step out of my way a little, to bring his ar- 
 guments nearer into view. The sum of all his 
 thoughts there is this (part ii. p. 85, &c.); that 
 confirmation was a mere part or appendix only 
 of Christian baptism, and ' withal ' the very 
 same thing with (p. 92) ' absolution of peni- 
 
 i Additum est ut lapsis infirmis et in exitu constitutes pax 
 daretur ; qua literee per totum mundum missae sunt, et in no- 
 titiam Ecc'esiis omnibus et universis fratribus perlata sunt. 
 Cypr. ad Antonian. Ep. 55. p. 102. Edit. Oxon. 
 
192 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 tents,' in the sense of the primitive Church; 
 and then concludes (p. 91. part ii. and p. 101), 
 "since presbyters could baptize and absolve, 
 they could confirm also." 
 
 To prove it a mere appendix of baptism, he 
 tells us (p. 80), he meets with 6 unction, signa- 
 tion,' and e imposition of hands,' as it were im- 
 mediately applied to baptized persons, by some 
 of the primitive Fathers, at their coming out of 
 the water ; and I believe he may do so ; and he 
 might add, that they were forthwith introduced 
 into the sacred ( synaxis,' or solemn assembly of 
 the faithful, to join in all the service of the 
 Church, and receive the holy eucharist, before 
 they parted. Were all these, therefore, a mere 
 appendix of their baptism, because so immedi- 
 ately following upon it, as Justin Martyr 1 plainly 
 represents it to us ? As well one as the other, 
 for any force there is in this way of arguing. 
 When catechumens of old had been thoroughly 
 disciplined, and by baptism made complete dis- 
 ciples and members of the Church, there was 
 no holy rite or ordinance by which grace was 
 usually conveyed, but the zealous pastors piously 
 administered it to their new admitted members, 
 to call down all the blessings of heaven, as far 
 as in them lay, for strengthening their faith, 
 and carrying on that Christian warfare they 
 were just engaged in: insomuch as new bap- 
 tized infants, we know, had the blessed eucha- 
 rist itself then administered to them, and each 
 of these holy rites and administrations, we are 
 sensible enough, were very different in them- 
 selves. 
 
 r Justin. Apol. 2. p. 97. Colon. 1687. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 193 
 
 Not to dwell on words therefore, which, all 
 who know primitive discipline must own, are 
 6 common' to sundry rites and ministrations in 
 the Church, and therefore conclude nothing of 
 themselves; nor yet to gather scattered sen- 
 tences to prove a stated practice by them ; let 
 us take a fair view of ' confirmation,' in a short 
 and full scheme of it, as the excellent St. Cy- 
 prian has drawn it up for us at once. It is in a 
 noted passage of an epistle of his, to this pur- 
 pose ; which surely must displease some men 
 very much, else they would own something 
 more in it, than our learned Enquirer does, 
 who quotes it upon this very subject, and 
 thinks it proves confirmation to be a mere part 
 of baptism, and nothing more. Let the reader 
 judge from the holy Martyr's words, which are 
 these : " Those who believed in Samaria, had 
 believed with a true faith, and were baptized 
 within the pale of the Church (which is one, 
 and to which alone authority was given to con- 
 fer the grace of baptism, and to forgive sins), 
 and that by Philip the deacon, whom the same 
 Apostle had sent forth; and therefore since 
 they had a lawful and ecclesiastical baptism, 
 they ought not to be any further baptized. But 
 only that thing which was wanting," (plainly 
 after their lawful and ecclesiastical baptism) 
 " that was done by Peter and John, viz. that 
 by prayer offered up for them, and by imposi- 
 tion of hands, the Holy Spirit should be called 
 upon, and poured forth upon them. The same 
 which is in use also amongst us at this day, 
 where such as are baptized in the Church are 
 presented to the governors of the Church, that 
 
194 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 by our prayer and imposition of hands, they 
 may receive the Holy Spirit, and be consum- 
 mated by the seal of the Lord 5 ." 
 
 A few plain questions may help to clear this 
 passage. 
 
 First, Did St. Cyprian, do we think, believe 
 Philip's baptism to be imperfect, who was sent 
 forth by the Apostles themselves for that pur- 
 pose? 
 
 Secondly, Would he call a ' defective bap- 
 tism, a lawful and ecclesiastical baptism,' which 
 is no less than to say, in other words, that the 
 lawgiver himself, the blessed Jesus, and the 
 Church too, would own it for ' their' baptism? 
 
 Thirdly, Did St. Peter and St. John go to 
 Samaria to perform a ministerial office which 
 Philip could have done without them? 
 
 Fourthly, Could St. Cyprian say, ' they con- 
 tinued the same practice in his time,' and yet 
 the baptizing ministers 'then,' either did, or 
 could as effectually lay their hands on such as 
 they baptized for conveying the graces of the 
 Holy Spirit on them, as ' those very governors' 
 of the Church, to whom he affirms they were 
 
 * Illi qui in Samaria crediderant, fide vera crediderant, et 
 intus in Ecclesia, quse una est, et cui soli gratiam baptismi 
 dare, et peccata solvere, permissum est, a Philippe diacono, 
 quern iidem Apostoli miserant, baptizati erant. Et idcirco, 
 quia legitimum et ecclesiasticum baptisma consecuti fuerant, 
 baptizari eos ultra non oportebat. Sed tantummodo quod 
 deerat ; id a Petro et Johanne factum est, ut oratione pro eis 
 habita, et manu imposita, invocaretur et infunderetur super 
 eos Spiritus Sanctus. Quod nunc quoque apud nos geritur, 
 ut qui in Ecclesia baptizantur, prcepositis Ecclesiee offerantur, 
 et per nostram orationem ac manus impositionem Spiritum 
 Sanctum consequantur, et signaculo dominico consummentur. 
 Cypr. ad Jubaian. Ep. 73. p. 202. Edit. Oxon. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 195 
 
 presented to receive that solemn benediction, 
 after the manner it was done at Samaria? . 
 
 Fifthly, and lastly, Since presbyters, as well 
 as deacons, did unquestionably baptize in St. 
 Cyprian's time, and in his church ; what could 
 the Catholic Church itself, or the holy Martyr 
 mean, by such a general custom of offering bap- 
 tized persons to the ' governors' of the Church 
 upon this occasion? ( c such governors,' I mean, 
 as St. Cyprian himself was, for so he explains 
 his meaning, when he calls it, ' our prayer and 
 imposition of hands,' by which they were to 
 obtain such spiritual gifts, and be consummated 
 with the ' seal of the Lord.') What could they 
 mean, I say, if 'any' who had the power of 
 baptizing, by virtue of their orders, might have 
 done that as well ? Or how could the parallel 
 hold indeed in the whole comparison, if such 
 'prsepositi' or governors of the Church in St. 
 Cyprian's time bore no analogy of difference 
 from the baptizing ministers, to that which was 
 between St. Philip and the Apostles, from 
 whence the precedent, he assures us, was im- 
 mediately taken? 
 
 I can conceive no answer to these questions, 
 sufficient to remove the evident truth contained 
 in the holy Martyr's words ; namely, that there 
 was a sacred ministerial rite then practised in 
 the Church, ' after' baptism, and distinct from 
 it ; imposition of hands and prayers the princi- 
 pal and constant symbols of it; the rite and 
 power of administering it not inherent in the 
 powers or orders of any baptizing ministers, ' as 
 such,' but peculiar to the highest order in the 
 Church ; as the Apostles unquestionably were 
 
 o2 
 
196 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 in this original pattern at Samaria ; and conse- 
 quently, in our holy Martyr's sense of the 
 thing, who allowed the bishops only for pecu- 
 liar successors to the Apostles in the Church, 
 was appropriated to them alone. 
 
 The misapprehension of this testimony of St. 
 Cyprian, and of the primitive Church with him 
 (I perceive by our learned Enquirer, Daille, 
 and others) lies here; they ' distinguish' not 
 the operations and gifts of the Holy Ghost in 
 the two sacred rites of baptism, and f imposition 
 of hands after it,' as those primitive Fathers did. 
 The Fathers affirm, that the Holy Spirit was 
 present, operated, and effectually sanctified both 
 the elemental water, and the person baptized in 
 it, ' before' this imposition of hands upon him; 
 and therefore St. Cyprian himself calls a bap- 
 tized person, on whom hands had not yet been 
 laid, "a sanctified person, spiritually formed 
 into a new man ; one that has put on Christ, 
 and that Christ cannot be put on without the 
 Spirit*." And yet, in reference to the imposi- 
 tion of hands, which was to follow, he ac- 
 counted him only f fitted for receiving the Holy 
 Spirit,' which was further to be infused into 
 him. The reason was this, that forasmuch as 
 the Spirit was given 'by measure' to all men, 
 except the blessed Jesus alone, they under- 
 stood, that the sanctification of the Spirit in 
 the 'holy laver' did principally, if not wholly, 
 
 1 Q,ui peccatis in baptismo expositis sanctificatus est., et in 
 novum hominem spiritualiter formatus, ad accipiendum Spin- 
 turn Sanctum idoneus factus est. Quotquot in Christo 
 
 baptizati estis, Christum induistis quasi possit sine Spiritu 
 
 Christus indui, &c. Cypr. Ep. ad Pomp. n. 74. p. 213. Edit. 
 Oxon. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 197 
 
 consist in purging away all sin, in forming the 
 new creature, as the quotations above imply, 
 and making the baptized person a ( temple of 
 God V fit to receive all other gifts and graces of 
 the Holy Ghost, which Christ promised to his 
 Church ; but that these manifold gifts, and the 
 respective measure of them (according as every 
 Christian shguld stand in need of them), were 
 to be communicated to them by the several or- 
 dinances and ministrations of ( the Church ;' as 
 St. Paul says, that the ministry of reconciliation 
 with God was committed to them (2 Cor. v. 18). 
 And the first solemn ministerial act of the 
 Church, by which she dispensed such divine 
 grace to all her children, after they were 
 brought forth from her womb by their perfect 
 new-birth in the holy sacrament of baptism, 
 was this ' imposition of hands with prayer for 
 them,' as the holy eucharist, soon after, was an 
 addition to both. And accordingly, St. Cy- 
 prian, with above thirty more in council with 
 him, in their answer to the synodical epistle of 
 the bishops of Numidia about heretical baptism, 
 in a separate and distinct manner, tells those 
 prelates, that heretics could administer none of 
 those three holy rites or ordinances for want of 
 having the Spirit amongst them. And, 1st, not 
 baptism, because the Spirit was necessary there 
 " to sanctify the water for washing away of sin." 
 And having cleared that in three paragraphs, 
 then in the fourth they further add, "neither 
 can spiritual unction be amongst heretics, nor 
 yet the eucharist ;" because they cannot " sanc- 
 
 u Templum Dei fieri. Ib. 
 
198 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 tify the creature of oil, nor can an eucharist be 
 made by them*;" distinguishing plainly the 
 three holy ministrations, and ascribing the 
 grace of the Holy Spirit differently to each of 
 them ; insomuch as, in the close of that epistle, 
 they plainly intimate each of them to be dif- 
 ferent ( sacraments of the Church ' (as they used 
 that word then in a larger sense than we do 
 now). For, having proved that heretics could 
 administer none of them, they conclude in these 
 words: "we therefore who are with the Lord, 
 and hold the unity of the Lord, ought to give 
 the truth of unity and faith to as many as re- 
 turn by all the sacraments of divine grace y ;" 
 which looks very little like making any one of 
 the three a mere part, or appendix, of either of 
 the other, no more than Vincentius a Thibari's 
 suffrage does in the council under St. Cyprian ; 
 where, speaking of the manner of receiving 
 penitent heretics, he prescribes this threefold 
 means for it; 1st, "by imposition of hands in 
 exorcism ; 2ndly, by regeneration of baptism ; 
 and then," says he, "they may come to the 
 pollicitation of Christ 2 ," a noted phrase for this 
 conferring of the gifts of the Spirit by imposi- 
 
 x Cypr. Ep. 70. 1. Neminem foris extra Ecclesiam bap- 
 
 tizari posse. Oportet mundari et sanctificari aquam prius 
 
 a sacerdote, ut possit baptismo suo peccata hominis, qui bap- 
 tizatur, abluere. Ib. 4. Nee unctio spiritualis apud hsereti- 
 cos potest esse, quando constet oleum sanctificari et eucharis- 
 tiam fieri apud illos omnino non posse. 
 
 y Dare illis per omnia divina gratia? sacramenta unitatis et 
 fidei veritatem debemus. Ib. ult. 
 
 z Primo, per manus impositionern in exorcismo ; secundo, 
 per baptismi regenerationem ; et tune possunt ad Christi polli- 
 citationem venire, alias autem fieri censeo non debere. Cone. 
 Carthag. Suffr. 37. in Op. Cypr. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 199 
 
 tion of hands, because it was grounded upon 
 that faithful promise of our Lord, that such as 
 believed in him, should have rivers of living water, 
 meaning of the Spirit of God, flowing out of 
 them. Which accordingly was made good by 
 those ( miraculous and saving graces' together, 
 conferred Upon the first disciples by this holy 
 rite of the Apostolical imposition of hands ; the 
 miraculous ones temporary, the other believed 
 to be perpetual, in the judgment and practice of 
 the primitive Church, wherein we find the suc- 
 cessors of those Apostles (as the bishops were 
 owned to be in the government of the Church) 
 continuing that sacred rite amongst them for 
 infusing the Holy Spirit into every baptized 
 Christian, as St. Cyprian's express words are, 
 in the manifest account he gives us of this 
 whole matter, which I have cited to you but 
 now. 
 
 This is that which was e still wanting^ then, 
 after St. Stephen's perfect baptism, to the dis- 
 ciples at Samaria, according to the Apostles' 
 own practice, and that of the primitive Church 
 after them. And for want of this observation 
 of the gifts of the Spirit being gradually dis- 
 pensed by the ministrations of the Church, ac- 
 cording to the occasions and capacities of all 
 men (which I take to be the foundation of the 
 institution of any ordinances, or holy rites in 
 the Church), our learned Enquirer and his 
 friends, wherever they met with any such ex-* 
 pressions as these, " that the water without the 
 Spirit could not sanctify," and that, "by impo- 
 sition of hands the Spirit was given to baptized 
 persons," and the like, which are frequent in 
 
200 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 St. Cyprian and other Fathers too, they in- 
 ferred, that 'naked baptism' had nothing of 
 the Spirit in it, in those holy Fathers' sense of 
 it; and therefore ' imposition of hands' was 
 added to make that perfect; which is an abso- 
 lute mistake: and by that means, the thing 
 which St. Cyprian here mentioned, as 'yet 
 wanting,' is constantly perverted, and made to 
 signify what he never meant by it ; for they all 
 affirmed, and held for certain, that the blessed 
 Spirit was present, and operated powerfully in 
 both of them, in such proportion as was needful 
 to make each of them effectual to the great ends 
 for which they were first instituted ; the one to 
 perfect the new birth, the other to sustain the 
 future infirmities of the person who was so born. 
 This latter, in respect to the nature, effects, or 
 ceremonies used in it, they sometimes called 
 the 'seal of the Lord,' the ' pollicitation,' or 
 6 promise of the Lord,' the 'holy chrism, or 
 unction' (in a singular and eminent manner 
 distinct from any other), the ' invoking and in- 
 fusing of the Spirit' into persons fitted for it; 
 'imposition of hands by the governors of the 
 Church,' and the like. And this is what our 
 church declares she understands by the solemn 
 rite of ' confirmation,' both in her liturgy and 
 canons a . This the baptizing evangelist and 
 deacon at Samaria could not do. This, no less 
 officers in the Church than the blessed Apo- 
 stles, St. Peter and St. John, went on purpose 
 from Jerusalem to do. This St. Cyprian ex- 
 
 a See Order of Confirmation, and the Collects there. Also 
 Can. 60. Edit. A. D. 1603. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 201 
 
 pressly tells us, such 6 praepositi,' or rulers of the 
 Church, as he himself was, did constantly per- 
 form in his time, let the baptizing minister be 
 whom they would, provided they were not bi- 
 shops themselves; and therefore I can do no 
 less, than own my conviction from such evi- 
 dence as this, that presbyters (as distinguished 
 from bishops ever since that distinction made, 
 which is from the very close of the Apostolical 
 age) could not confirm. 
 
 It is true, our Enquirer strengthens this ar- 
 gument, taken from his notion of confirmation 
 being a mere part of baptism, with that paradox 
 in primitive discipline, that it was the very same 
 thing with ' absolution of penitents' also; which 
 is as much as to say, that the new baptized per- 
 son is even just now cleansed and purged from 
 all his sin; [for baptism before imposition of 
 hands, the Enquirer (part ii. p. 86) himself says, 
 does that, as indeed all antiquity says so with 
 him] and at the same instant, as it were, he 
 makes this cleansed and purified soul enter into 
 the forlorn class of ' penitents,' as one who wants 
 immediate ' absolution' to reconcile him to God 
 and the Church. Such harmony mistakes will 
 make, if we listen to them; but I am apt to 
 think they will sound so harsh to most Chris- 
 tians' ears, that I shall proceed no further on 
 this subject. 
 
 I have done then with the first general proof 
 offered for presbyters' equality with their bi- 
 shops, in respect to orders ; namely, that they 
 discharged all offices which their bishops did 5 
 by his leave and permission for it ; and there- 
 fore their e orders equal.' 
 
202 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 And, by what has been said, I conceive three 
 things may appear : 
 
 First, That they neither did, nor could dis- 
 charge all, even with such permission for it; 
 and particularly as to 6 ordination and confirma- 
 tion.' 
 
 Secondly, That several of the ministerial 
 offices, so discharged by them, did not imply 
 that their orders alone qualified them for it ; 
 and particularly as to ' excommunications and 
 absolutions;' else the deacons' orders might 
 claim the like character too. 
 
 Thirdly and lastly, That a bare capacity, if 
 it were inherent in them, to discharge such 
 offices by a lawful superior's permission, ' so 
 long' as they were not empowered actually to 
 do it of themselves, does imply an inferiority of 
 order in the very nature of the thing itself. 
 
 If every one of the clerical acts here specified 
 by the Enquirer, and which we have been con- 
 sidering so long, do still appear to be inherent 
 in his presbyters, by virtue of their orders alone, 
 then his ingenious and triumphant comparison 
 may pass, that, as a man who can truly be said 
 to have f all his senses,' must of necessity be 
 allowed ' to see ;' so presbyters, who can do all 
 that a bishop could do, may be owned, as to all 
 these clerical capacities, to have received an 
 episcopal character in their ordination. But if 
 there be any act or acts amongst them, which, 
 by the evidence we have here produced, they 
 neither did, nor could do, in the practice or 
 judgment of the primitive Church ; then, 
 though we own them to be as perfect in their 
 kind, as any order of reverend ministers which 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 203 
 
 the Church is happy in, yet they will as cer- 
 tainly want something to complete their ' epis- 
 copal character and order/ as a blind or deaf 
 man (pardon the comparison the Enquirer has 
 framed for me) does want something to per- 
 fect all his senses. I leave the evidence to clear 
 the case. 
 
 In the mean time, I think it is plain, that 
 presbyters were invested with important trusts 
 in the Church ; partly as the bishop's curates 
 (to use the Enquirer's proper phrase) in such 
 portions of his general ministerial charge, as he 
 should commit to them ; and this their orders 
 alone qualified them for ; and partly, as ' proper' 
 and 6 usual' delegates to execute some extraor- 
 dinary parts of the peculiar episcopal power, by 
 his authority and commission for it. These 
 things sufficiently required that they should be 
 " upright, merciful, sincere persons, impartial in 
 judgment of men and things, not hastily re- 
 ceiving reports, or rigid in judging of any b ," 
 which I take occasion to mention here, because 
 St. Polycarp giving such advice as this to pres- 
 byters, in his epistle to the church at Philippi, 
 our learned Author (p. 59) inferred from it, 
 that it must needs imply no less than a ' ruling 
 power' in them, of the like nature with that of 
 the bishops themselves, for so his argument re- 
 quired. Whereas their charge, I think, is great 
 enough to stand in need of such Apostolical 
 counsel to them, without setting them on the 
 level with their bishops, if we have no better 
 proof for it than so. 
 
 b See Polycarp's Ep. ad Philip. 5. ad finem vit, Polycarp. 
 in Dr. Cave, 
 
204 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 I come now to the second general proof, 
 which is this ; " That presbyters were originally 
 called by the same titles and appellations as the 
 bishops themselves, and therefore their order 
 equal" (p. 64). I must desire the reader to see 
 what has been said to this, at the close of the 
 first chapter, p. 21, &c. and in this chapter, p. 
 179. And yet because the promiscuous and 
 indifferent use of these titles in the New Tes- 
 tament, and to the end of the Apostolical age, 
 occasions some amusement to particular men, I 
 shall further offer such a short account of that 
 matter, as is visible in Holy Scripture, and the 
 earliest writers of the Church together. 
 
 The Scriptures teach us, that when the Apo- 
 stles had founded churches, they ordained elders 
 for each of them ; intrusted those elders to ad- 
 minister the word and sacraments amongst them, 
 or (to use St. Paul's words to the elders at Mi- 
 letus) to take care to themselves and all the 
 flock, over which the Holy Ghost, by orders 
 and commission from the Apostles' hands to be 
 sure, had made them ' overseers,' which in our 
 translation is rendered 'bishops' now; and to 
 feed the Church of God, as good shepherds 
 ought to do. The titles, doubtless, suited with 
 the charge and ministry they were intrusted 
 withal; and as they were ecclesiastical officers, 
 and commonly not novices in years besides, 
 they were as properly called, in the ancient 
 language of the synagogue, " presbyters of the 
 Church" too; and accordingly we find both 
 these titles indifferently applied to them then. 
 Yet all this while, nothing is plainer in Scrip- 
 ture, than that the Apostles reserved to them- 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, 205 
 
 selves the prerogative of a ruling power over 
 them, kept a rod of discipline in their own 
 hands; censured such as deserved it c ; deli- 
 vered unto Satan the disorderly amongst them, 
 that is, excommunicated their members d ; ex- 
 pected whole churches to be obedient to them 
 in all things 6 : in short, had the sovereign cure 
 of all the churches in their own hands f ; more- 
 over, all the elders we read of, 6 who were or- 
 dained' in any church, (before Timothy and 
 Titus's special commissions, which I shall take 
 notice of by and by,) had " the Apostles' hands 
 laid upon them ; and no confirmation, or giving 
 of the Spirit by imposition of hands " mentioned 
 throughout the New Testament, but by the 
 "Apostles alone g ." This great prerogative of 
 power, then, the Apostles retained still; and 
 no specious titles of ' presidents, governors, bi- 
 shops, pastors 11 ,' or the like, attributed to the 
 presbyters or elders under them in the New 
 Testament, lessened it in the least, or brought 
 it into question: their superior character amongst 
 them was owed by all. So that during their 
 lives or personal government over them, those 
 titles might safely and properly enough be pro- 
 miscuously used for any of their subordinate 
 ministers, whereof they ordained many, as 
 our Enquirer (p. 78) believes, in particular 
 churches. 
 
 But before the Apostles died, or when Pro- 
 
 c 1 Cor. iv. 21. d Ib. v. 3. e 1 Tim. i. 20. 
 
 f 2 Cor. ii. 9. ? 2 Cor. xi. 28. 
 
 h IoiVrTcfyzej/oi, 1 Thes. v. 12. 'Hyovfjiej/oi, Heb, xiii. 17. 
 ot, Act. xx. 28. 
 
206 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 vidence 1 removed them from a personal visita- 
 tion of their several churches in this or the 
 other province, we read in the earliest records 
 of the Church, that they ordained many single 
 persons (taken notice of without any fellow-pres- 
 byters besides) over large cities and churches; as 
 our Enquirer (p. 11) observes from Tertullian, 
 that " St. John placed Polycarp in the church 
 of Smyrna, and St. Peter ordained Clement for 
 the church of Rome ;" and Tertullian adds, that 
 " the rest of the churches could prove their bi- 
 shops to be derived from the Apostles in the 
 same manner k , and calls those episcopal sees, 
 "the Apostles' chairs" in the next leaf; as Ire- 
 naeus, you may remember, told us before, that 
 "the Apostles delivered the Church to those 
 single bishops, and their locus magisterii, or 
 place of government with them 1 ." And the 
 Scripture tells us plainly enough, that Timothy 
 was ordained such a singular ecclesiastical go- 
 vernor for Ephesus, where there were many 
 presbyters before m , and Titus for Crete ; for it 
 is plain, they had a special commission to ordain 
 elders (1 Tim. iii. 15; 2 Tim. ii. 2; Tit. L 5), 
 to rebuke and censure ' them' as well as others 
 
 1 Rom. xv. 23. 
 
 k Perinde utique et caeterae exhibent, quos ab Apostolis in 
 episcopatum constitutes Apostolici seminis traduces habeant. 
 Tertul. de prescript, p. 213. ed. Venet. 1744. 
 
 1 " Apostoli his quibus etiam ipsas ecclesias committe- 
 
 bant. Valde enim perfectos et irreprehensibiles in omnibus 
 eos volebant esse, quos et successores relinquebant suum ipso- 
 rum locum magisterii tradentes." Iren. 3. c. 3. p. 175. Ven. 
 1734. 
 
 111 See bishop Pearson's Proof of the Time when Timothy 
 was left at Ephesus. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 207 
 
 (1 Tim. v. 19), and that with all authority (Tit. 
 ii. 15) to judge of doctrine, and reject heretics; 
 in a word, to set in order the things which were 
 wanting (Tit. i. 5), the very claim of ' Aposto- 
 lical power' in St. Paul's express words for it 
 (1 Cor. xi. 34); and all this so personal a charge, 
 that the Apostle conjured Timothy, and no 
 others with him, before God, and the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, and the elect angels, that he observed these 
 things without partiality (1 Tim. v. 21); and as 
 a special reason for his investing him with all 
 this fulness of power now, and for enjoining 
 him so strictly to watch and make a full proof 
 of this his ministry, he concludes thus : for / 
 am ready to be offered, says he, and the time of 
 my departure is at hand (2 Tim. iv. 5) ; as if he 
 had further said, " And now this former care of 
 mine must be yours." 
 
 It is manifest, I think, from hence, that these 
 singular presidents of the several churches had 
 sundry parts of the Apostles' 6 reserved sovereign 
 power' conferred upon them; never imparted 
 to presbyters of any denomination before, as far 
 as Scripture and primitive antiquity can inform 
 us. These consecrated presidents then take 
 possession of the churches assigned to them 3 
 either by the Apostles' personal induction of 
 them, as the case of many of them was, or with 
 their full credentials to be sure. In all, or 
 most of those great churches which this Apo- 
 stolical institution had allotted for them, they 
 must find presbyters ministering at that time, in 
 such capacity as they all along had done with 
 entire subordination to the Apostles' supremacy 
 over them. These ministering presbyters then, 
 
208 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 together with the whole church, receiving such 
 new -commissioned presidents amongst them, 
 must manifestly see by those ' reserved' Apo- 
 stolical powers, of ' ruling, ordination, censure,' 
 and the like (expressed in Timothy and Titus's 
 commissions to the full, and, no doubt of it, 
 signified sufficiently to every church by the 
 Apostles themselves, who thus placed them 
 there), that they had an authentic and unques^ 
 tionable right of succeeding in the ordinary ju- 
 risdiction and prerogatives of their ' departing 
 Apostle' over them. 
 
 This is a plain and natural reason, why the 
 first order of ecclesiastics in the primitive 
 Church were so familiarly called the ' Apostles' 
 successors,' and perhaps it would be very hard 
 to assign any other. No wonder then, if such 
 apparent successors in that eminency of eccle- 
 siastical power as these were, should be thought 
 worthy of a distinct and singular title from all 
 others, as the Apostles had before them; and 
 that the Catholic Church did accordingly agree 
 it should be so. The title of ' Apostle,' indeed, 
 was not thought unsuitable to them by many of 
 the primitive writers . Tertullian, as we heard 
 just now, calls them, " the offspring of the Apo- 
 stolic seed." But in a holy reverence to the 
 blessed twelve, and of the miraculous gifts in 
 them, the primitive Church (though those very 
 persons themselves presided in it) declined 
 the venerable title of ' Apostles' for them; but 
 
 n 'O air6<TTo\os KA^UTJS, says Clemens Alex, speaking of 
 Clemens bishop of Rome. Stromat. 1. 4. p. 516. Cologn. 1688. 
 See BlondePs quotations of several such instances in his Apol. 
 p. 85. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 209 
 
 amongst the several appellations, common to 
 many ecclesiastical officers before, they so ap- 
 propriated that of ' bishop' to them, that St. 
 Ignatius declares, at the very close of the Apo- 
 stolic age, ' every Christian church, to the very 
 utmost bounds of all ,' had a supreme governor 
 of that singular and peculiar name, by which he 
 was then known. 
 
 Thus I have briefly shewn, how the names of 
 c presbyter' and ' bishop 'were indifferently used 
 at first; and no danger of misunderstanding 
 about it, so long as it continued so, that is, 
 throughout the Apostolic age; and yet, how 
 great occasion was given afterwards for appro- 
 priating ' one ' of them to the supreme governors 
 of the Church, whose peculiar character and 
 powers required no less? and accordingly we 
 find it has been so from that very time to this. 
 Had our learned Enquirer therefore proved his 
 presbyter to be indifferently styled a ' bishop ' 
 still, after this epoch of time we are here speak- 
 ing of, in the familiar language of the Church, 
 he had done more for him than all his collec- 
 tion of equivocal titles besides can amount to ; 
 for one incommunicable title to denote a supe- 
 rior 'order' by, is as much as the highest orders 
 of men in all humane society ordinarily have, 
 whilst they have variety of inferior ones besides, 
 common to others with themselves ; and here I 
 leave the argument so mightily triumphed in by 
 our ingenious Author (p. 67, 68) from this 
 * identity of names.' 
 
 'ETTIO-KOTTOI ot Kara ra Trepara bpiffQevTts / 'I^croO Xpurrov 
 vw/*fj e<VtV. Ep. ad. Ephes. 3. ed. Jacobson. 
 
 P 
 
210 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 But the reserved forces are still behind, and 
 are to do all at last ; for " if this second reason 
 be not thought cogent enough/' says our learned 
 Enquirer (p. 68), "yet the third and last will 
 unquestionably put all out of doubt, and clearly 
 evince the sameness of bishops and presbyters, 
 as to order." 
 
 The demonstration is this: "It is expressly 
 said by the ancients," says he, " that there were 
 but two distinct ecclesiastical orders, bishops 
 and deacons, or presbyters and deacons, there- 
 fore presbyters cannot be distinct from bishops, 
 for then there would be three.*' 
 
 The venerable Clemens Romanus is brought 
 to prove this, for he says, that "in countries 
 and cities where the Apostles preached, they 
 ordained their first converts for bishops and 
 deacons over those who should believe p ." The 
 Apostles it seems then, in their course of plant- 
 ing the churches, ordained but two orders to 
 take care of them. In the mean time, what 
 were the 'ordainers themselves?' Were they 
 of no order in the Church, or were they of the 
 same order with either of the two they or- 
 dained ? If neither one nor the other be so ; 
 then in their time there were three orders, it is 
 plain; and how they continued so, both 'from' 
 and after them, without 'splitting' any of the 
 two (which our Enquirer (p. 69) fears we do), 
 I think may appear from what I have said al- 
 ready. The Apostles had a reserved power, we 
 have seen from Holy Scripture itself, both of 
 
 P Kara x^P^ ^ v Ka ^ froAets K7}pvcra'ovTS KaOicrravov ras aTrap- 
 Xas avTcov fls tVicr/coTrouy Kal SiaKovovs TWV jueAAoVrwy Tricrrevfiv. 
 Clem. Ep. 1. ad Corinth. 42. ed. Jacobson. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 2 11 
 
 government in general, and in special ministe- 
 rial or clerical acts besides, which they did not 
 impart to all the presbyters or bishops they at 
 first ordained for the churches. If any time 
 could be assigned therefore, or any general 
 grant produced, when or whereby it might ap- 
 pear, that they conferred or bequeathed those 
 reserved powers (so necessary to the Church for 
 ever) to c all' the presbyters they ever ordained 
 in it; it is but a modest question to ask, in 
 what text of Scripture, or in what record of the 
 Church, is such an important grant to be found? 
 If no such evidence is to be, as I think the ablest 
 advocates for them have produced none, then 
 the grants I have mentioned and proved above 
 to particular presidents over many churches, by 
 their own ( act ' and c deed,' even where other 
 bishops or presbyters were before, as they were 
 indifferently called till then, does infer such an 
 evident translation of their own third order, with 
 the reserved acts all along peculiar to it, to 
 those particular presidents and the whole suc- 
 cession of them, as, I think, no ministers in the 
 Church besides have any shadow of a charter 
 like it to produce for themselves. For, to say, 
 the Apostles had no successors to any ordinary 
 and permanent prerogatives of theirs, is to con- 
 tradict all antiquity barefaced ; and it is plainly 
 no less, to say, the primitive Fathers owned any 
 ministers in the Church to be such, besides 
 those they peculiarly called bishops after them ; 
 and therefore their reserved ordinary powers of 
 government, ordination, confirmation, censure, 
 and the rest, did continue their third order in 
 the Church, in those episcopal successors of 
 
 p 2 
 
212 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 theirs. And what St. Clemens says is far from 
 being inconsistent with this ; for when he tells 
 us the Apostles ordained bishops and deacons, 
 or presbyters and deacons, to take care of the 
 respective flocks, which either were or should 
 be further provided for them; he very well 
 knew the Apostles who ordained them were a 
 superior order to them ; and therefore his 
 words have no respect to the number of orders 
 in the Church, for which they are here pro- 
 duced; nor indeed did the argument he was 
 upon require they should; his only business 
 was to awe the mutinous Corinthians from re- 
 belling against the presbyters of the Church, 
 because they were of Apostolical institution, 
 and upon that account as much of God's ap- 
 pointment, as the tribe of Levi were for the 
 sacred ministry of the Jewish Church, which is 
 therefore so particularly described in all the 
 orders and offices of it, and so closely applied 
 to the Christian dispensation immediately upon 
 it, that an impartial reader would rather infer % 
 that three orders might rationally be concluded, 
 as well in one as the other, than imagine that 
 Clemens had the least thought of no more than 
 two orders in either. 
 
 Especially, if two things be considered. First, 
 that Clemens himself, who wrote this, was un- 
 doubtedly such a single successor, as we have 
 
 ayctOfj <TWifi'f](rfi) /JLTJ TrapeK^aivuv TOV wpifffJitvov TT}S teiTOvpyias 
 avrov Ko.v6va. eV (re^or^Tt. Clem. Ep. ad Cor. 1. 40. ed. Ja- 
 cobson. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 213 
 
 been speaking of, set over all other ecclesiastics 
 in the church of Rome. And, secondly, that 
 the presbyters here insulted at Corinth, were 
 many in number in that single church alone, 
 who could not therefore be of the same kind 
 (or ( order,' as I have shewn) with Poly carp or 
 Clemens himself, whereof that there was but 
 one only in a church, is too noted a truth, to 
 need any proof of it. 
 
 One word to our Enquirer's closing c dilemma' 
 here, and I will proceed. " To what end," says 
 he, "should Clemens exhort the schismatical 
 Corinthians to obey their presbyters, from the 
 consideration of the Apostles' ordination of bi- 
 shops, if their presbyters had not been bishops ? " 
 I answer, to a very good end, because the two 
 names were indifferently used so long as Cle- 
 ment lived, and without any influence upon the 
 far different powers inherent in one of them, 
 when the name of f bishop' came to be appro- 
 priated to him, which our Enquirer (p. 65) im- 
 putes to St. Ignatius as the first author of it, 
 and places it in the beginning of the second 
 century ; and that was not before, but indeed 
 very soon after the martyrdom of Clemens, 
 which the Church chronology 1 " places in the last 
 year of century the first. 
 
 Irenaeus is quoted next (p. 71), to strengthen 
 this evidence of Clemens Romanus, for two 
 orders only in the Church. 
 
 The force of his authority, from one end to 
 the other, lies in this single point, that he calls 
 * bishops' by the name of ' presbyters,' and, 
 
 r See Cave's Chron. Tables of the Three First Centuries. 
 
214 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 which need not be wondered at after that, he 
 calls their orders, the 'orders of a presbyter 
 too.' 
 
 This language our learned Enquirer, I doubt 
 not, will readily own is very rare in Irenseus's 
 time, and in his own works too; but there is 
 little to be gathered from it, to the purpose it 
 is brought for here, if we consider these few 
 things. 
 
 First, The caution this venerable bishop used, 
 to let us know who he meant. In the entrance 
 of the discourse he describes them thus : " You 
 must obey the presbyters of the Church ; those, 
 I mean, who have a succession from the Apo- 
 stles, as I shewed you before, who with the suc- 
 cession of their episcopacy, have the sure gift of 
 truth according to the good pleasure of the Fa- 
 ther 5 ." 
 
 Now what Irenseus shewed us before, was 
 this: "We can reckon up to you," says he, I. iii. 
 c. 3, " those who were instituted bishops in the 
 churches by the Apostles themselves, to whom 
 they committed the very churches themselves 
 also ; left them their successors, delivering up 
 to them their own proper place of mastership or 
 prerogative in them." 
 
 The persons here meant, are clearly enough 
 described we see, and the Enquirer agrees with 
 us, that they were bishops in the sense of the 
 Church at that time; but he did not like to 
 
 * Eis qui in Ecclesia sint presbyteris obaudire oportet. His 
 qui successionem habent ab Apostolis, sicut ostendimus, qui 
 cum episcopatus successione charisma veritatis certum, secun- 
 dum placitum Patris acceperunt* Iren. 1. iv. c. 26. p. 262. 
 Edit. Venet. 1734. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 215 
 
 give us this special evidence, which Irenaeus 
 himself does, of their being so, because it con- 
 tains such broad marks of more than ordinary 
 prerogatives, conferred by the Apostles upon 
 this order of men, above the common presbyters 
 in the Church, by appointing them their pecu- 
 liar successors over it, and delivering up the 
 whole Church itself to their single care alone, 
 as, through the singularity of their commission 
 and powers, would look a little like another 
 order from the rest; and therefore he would 
 not begin his quotation here, but in general 
 tells us, that they were surely ' bishops,' which 
 Irenseus was speaking of, and then, from three 
 lesser circumstances in the account of them, 
 would assure us, they were of no higher 'an 
 order' than any common presbyters were. 
 
 The first circumstance was this, that 'they 
 were called by the name of presbyter,' as well 
 as the others. 
 
 To which I answer, that it very well might 
 be so, and not the least proof of an ' equal order' 
 in that. The argument from names, as I am 
 forced to observe again, does not lie here ; for 
 though the name of 'presbyter' did by degrees 
 become the peculiar title of the 'second' order 
 in the Church, upon occasion of the name of 
 'bishop' being solely appropriated to the 'first;' 
 yet that was not a necessary consequence of it, 
 nor the immediate business of the Church to 
 make it so ; it was but one ecclesiastical officer 
 only, and that the ' chief of all,' who came with 
 such extraordinary commission from the Apo- 
 stles to preside over them, as I have shewn you 
 before, which they wanted a pecular and dis- 
 
216 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 tinguishing title for ; and accordingly fixed that 
 of ' bishop' upon him. So that the name of 
 ( presbyter/ which had been common to all the 
 ministers of the Church before, even up to the 
 highest order of the Apostles themselves, and 
 had been a term of dignity and honour in the 
 Church of God among the Jews, by long pre- 
 scription there ; and in respect to the ( venera- 
 ble age,' which it naturally signified, might by 
 any Father of the Church be attributed to a 
 bishop still, especially if they fixed such a note 
 of discrimination upon it, as Irenseus does here; 
 and no fear of derogation to the bishop's charac- 
 ter in it, and much less of levelling him to the 
 lowest order that should be called by that 
 name. A bishop therefore might be called a 
 presbyter then, though it was rarely so, and 
 but for a short time ; but a presbyter, as distin- 
 guished from him, since the Apostolical age 
 expired, had the name of bishop no longer at- 
 tributed to him in the language of the Catholic 
 Church. 
 
 Since Irenaeus's bishops, then, were still the 
 same as their predecessors were, which the 
 Apostles constituted at the first, and such as 
 the Church then owned for ' bishops,' notwith- 
 standing the name of ' presbyter' was applied 
 to them ; what further lessening of them could 
 it be, to express 6 their order,' by an 'order' of 
 the same name too ? Which is the second cir- 
 cumstance in Irenaeus's words, that our learned 
 Author so mightily insists upon ? Such as the 
 persons were, such was their order, to be sure : 
 if these presbyters, then, ( by name,' were ge- 
 nuine bishops in the nature and character of 
 
<*r^ 
 
 THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. \W 217 'V^ 
 
 them ; it follows, that the order of presbyter, as 
 applied to them, was such a bishop's order also. 
 It is hard, I know, to allow of any other possi- 
 ble notion, either of words or things, where 
 time immemorial has fastened one before ; and 
 therefore the phrase of 'presbyter's order,' to 
 men in our age, can scarce ever be thought in 
 any author to signify more or less than just 
 what we understand by it now. But if things 
 may take place instead of words and sounds 
 with us, I think it is clear in this quotation, 
 that the 'orders of a presbyter' here spoken of, 
 are such as the Apostles' proper successors had 
 in the sense and practice of the primitive 
 Church. Irenaeus declares himself to speak of 
 such, and I have shewn what prerogatives such 
 presbyters originally had, not only of 'ruling 
 power,' but of several 'clerical acts' too, not 
 common to all the rest ; and our Enquirer him- 
 self assures us, that a presbyter promoted to 
 such a bishop's chair, was first to receive ' im- 
 position of hands' from all the provincial bi- 
 shops, in the age Irenaeus lived in. Now such 
 singular acts of ecclesiastical power conferred 
 upon a common presbyter, who had them not 
 before, and by such a solemn Apostolical rite 
 as that was, which the ancients called ' ordina- 
 tion,' in as plain and express terms, as they did 
 in the act of ordaining presbyters or deacons. 
 This, I own, is what I understand by the bi- 
 shop's supreme order in the Church ; and Ire- 
 naeus, as his language all along imports, meant 
 nothing less by it here, though the name of pres- 
 byter, which in several respects suited every 
 
218 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 order in the Church, was peculiarly affixed to 
 him. 
 
 And as to the text of Isaiah, Ix. 17, applied 
 here, as it was in Clemens Romanus before, I 
 shall remark only thus much; that Clemens's 
 old translation of the place 1 answered his own 
 language about the Apostles ordaining < bishops' 
 and ( deacons' in the Church; for so his Greek 
 Bible, it seems, had rendered it in the copies of 
 his time, and by that authority he made the 
 names to be awful and venerable to the Corin- 
 thians, as he was endeavouring to do. But 
 Irenaeus here, who was speaking of supreme 
 presbyters only, applied the text, as it is in our 
 present translation of the LXX U , whereby they 
 are rendered by the names of 'princes' and 
 ( bishops ;' so that both words answered the ar- 
 gument he was upon, which was to enjoin obe- 
 dience to the true supreme governors of any 
 one catholic church; and neither in one place 
 nor the other, does it any ways prove, that 
 either of the Fathers understood but two orders 
 only in the Church; as I conceive may now 
 appear by what I have observed from them. 
 
 Clemens Alexandrinus, as the last evidence, 
 is to clear all ; two passages to that purpose are 
 quoted from him. I will shew the occasion of 
 both, that we may judge the better what the 
 holy Father probably meant by them. 
 
 1 Clemens's copy rendered Isa. Ix. 17, thus: Karacrr^a-aj 
 
 TOVS CTTlffKOTTOVS G.VTUV CIS SlKCLlOffVVT}!/, KOl TOVS 
 
 u Irenaeus used the LXX. which renders it thus: Acccrw 
 TOVS &PXOVTO.S crov eV elpijvri, Kal TOVS eiriffK6trovs ffov eV 8t/ccuo- 
 ffvvg. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 219 
 
 Clemens was setting forth the utmost ad- 
 vancement of a perfect Christian under the title 
 of a complete and 'true Gnostic.' He repre- 
 sents him "a master of all his passions, and 
 then improving in good works till he becomes 
 equal to an angel here ; and being bright and 
 shining as the sun, hastens on through his 
 righteous knowledge, and the love of God, to 
 a holy mansion, as the Apostles did before 
 him*." And, on this occasion, tells us further, 
 that "every one who exercised himself in the 
 commandments of the Lord, and lived as a per- 
 fect Gnostic according to the Gospel, might be 
 admitted into the Apostolic roll y ;" that is, un- 
 doubtedly, in his seraphic sense of it, be as fair 
 a candidate for perfection of happiness here- 
 after, as an Apostle himself could be, if he was 
 equal to him in Gnostic wisdom and holiness 
 here ; characters and orders of men, from the 
 highest to the lowest of them in the Church, in 
 this view of them, making but little difference 
 in the case. And to explain himself further in 
 the point, he goes on in these words, which our 
 Enquirer quotes for his use ; " he is a presbyter 
 in the Church indeed," says he, "and a true 
 deacon of the will of God, if he does, and 
 teaches, the things of the Lord ; not ordained 
 of men, or therefore thought a righteous per- 
 
 x WlerpLoiraOTjcras ra irpwra KOI, els airdOeiav /ueAer^a'as, avffl- 
 cras re els evirouav TvcDffriKTJs re\ei6rirjros IffdyyeXos fjiev evravQa. 
 $<areivos Se ^817 /cat us TJAtos Xd^Trcov (nrevSei e-rrl rty ayiav 
 juoi/Vj KaQdirep ot > b L .ir6ffro\oi. Edit. Oxon. Strom. 1. vi. p. 
 792. 
 
 y *EeffTus ovv Kal vvv rats KvptaKcus evaffK^ffavras TCUS evro- 
 Acus, Kara rb Evayyehiov reAetcos Puaffavras Kal IVa><m/cci;s, els 
 rty eK\oyj]v rwv 'A.iro<Tr6\<*)i' eyypafyrjvai. p. 793. 
 
220 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 son, because made a presbyter, but because 
 righteous, therefore chosen into that presby- 
 tery; and although he be not honoured with 
 the first seat here on earth, yet shall hereafter 
 sit down on the twenty-four thrones, judging 
 the people, as St. John says in the Revela- 
 tions 2 ." The sense of this whole speculation, 
 I think, appears plainly to be this ; that, in re- 
 spect of true intrinsic excellency here, and of a 
 title to perfect bliss and happiness hereafter, 
 neither Apostle, presbyter, deacon, or layman, 
 have any great advantage of one another, by 
 any outward character, title, or difference of 
 order they may have below, but purely as they 
 excel one another in Christian virtue, divine 
 knowledge, wisdom, and goodness; and so are 
 more perfect ' Christian Gnostics' than the rest. 
 And therefore if a presbyter, in particular, be 
 such a qualified saint as this, though he be not 
 honoured with the ' first seat' here ; that is, says 
 he, with as high a seat as any I have named to 
 you now, which, in plain connection with the 
 whole argument, is with an ' Apostolical chair' 
 in the Church (for an Apostle was one of the 
 orders, in his comparison, amongst the rest), 
 yet he shall sit in the twenty-four thrones, 
 judging the people, as St. John speaks in the 
 Revelation; as if he had directly said, though 
 he may not sit in a bishop's place, (whose see 
 
 z Ovros Trp(T^vTp6s effTi T($ ovTi rrjs 
 aAT/flyjs TTJS TOV &cov j8ouA.rj(recos, av iroifj Kal 5t5a<r/o7 ra TOV 
 Kvpiov, OVK VTT' avdpuiruv x L P orovo ^f jLVOS ^ ov ^ TL TrpscrfivrcpoS) 
 SiKaios vo/JLi6/j.VOSi a\\ y ttri Si/catos ev Trpecr^vTepica Karateyo/JLe- 
 vos' KO.V evraJvQa enl yrjs irpwroKadefipiq, /ur; Ti/jLr]6rj eV rots etKOcrt 
 t 6p6vois^ rov \abv Kpivwy., a>s <$>i}<r\v tv rij 
 Ibid. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 221 
 
 Tertullian, contemporary with Clemens, calls 
 an ( Apostolical chair ;' and the Church of that 
 age, I have proved above, acknowledged bishops 
 to be their proper successors), yet he shall sit, 
 says St. Clemens, at the last day, among the 
 chiefest saints, to judge the world with Christ ; 
 and how the mentioning of a first chair of a 
 presbytery, in the sense wherein this holy Fa- 
 ther names it here, should imply, that every 
 presbyter who sat in the presbytery also, should 
 be of equal order with him who sat the first and 
 highest in it, by this evidence of Clemens for 
 it, I leave now to the reader's judgment on the 
 place. 
 
 But this venerable Father affords our En- 
 quirer a further testimony for his cause ; which 
 though some men think, as he observes him- 
 self (p. 72), to be more against him than for 
 him ; yet he roundly affirms, it is evidently on 
 his side. Clemens mentions, says he, advance- 
 ments (or ' processes,' as he renders them) of 
 bishops, presbyters, and deacons: but "these 
 are evidently meant," says our discerning Au- 
 thor, " only of degree 3 ," and there are but " two 
 orders between them all:" For Clemens imme- 
 diately adds, says he, that " those offices are an 
 imitation of the angelic glory, and of that dis- 
 pensation, which, as the Scriptures say, they 
 wait for, who treading in the steps of the Apo- 
 stles, live in the perfection of evangelical right- 
 eousness; for these, the Apostle writes, shall 
 be took up into the clouds [1 Thes. iv. 17], 
 and there first as deacons attend, and then ac- 
 
 a UpoKOTral siruTKoirtav, Trpeffftvrepcav, $icLK6wv. Stromat. 6. 
 
222 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 cording to the process, or next station of glory, 
 be admitted into the presbytery (for glory dif- 
 fers from glory), till they increase to a perfect 
 man b ." 
 
 Hence he argues, that since the Scriptures 
 mention but two orders of angels, viz. ( arch- 
 angels ' and ' angels;' and the stations of glori- 
 fied saints are here explained by being deacons 
 awhile, and then taken into the presbytery, and 
 so, as he says, "their glory perfected," It 
 therefore appears, that the holy Father meant 
 his ( bishops, presbyters,' and ' deacons,' to have 
 but c two orders' amongst them. 
 
 This is his argument faithfully stated, and I 
 think to the full. Upon which I take leave to 
 make these few observations. 
 
 First, That since deacons and presbyters, 
 which are two of Clemens's three progressions 
 in the Church, have unquestionably a distinct 
 order from one another, and yet but one com- 
 mon word is used to express ' those ' two pro- 
 gressions, and that of the third together with 
 them; it is a forced and unwarrantable con- 
 struction, I conceive, of the venerable Father's 
 phrase, to make him mean a difference of order 
 between two of these progressions, and no dif- 
 ference at all in the third. For that a differ- 
 ence 6 of order ' was to be understood amongst 
 
 aKivr]S rrjs ou 
 
 v, fyv ava^v^iv (paffli/ at ypatyal rovs /car' ^ 
 "* Kiro(rr6\<av ev reAeicotrei StKaioffwys Kara rb evayyc\iov /3ej8ia>- 
 /coras, V vefyeXais TOVTOVS apfleVras, ypdtyei 6 'ATrdo'ToAos, StaKo- 
 vt](Tiv /j.V ra Trpwra^ eTretra zyKaraXXayfivai rep TrptcrfivTepiw Kara 
 -rrpoKoir^v S&jrys, 8d|a yap d6^s ai'aQepci, &XP LS ^ av is TH^flpl' 
 avSpa av^rjcrwo'iv. Id. ib. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 223 
 
 these progressions in general, is clear from our 
 Enquirer's application of them, who insists upon 
 it, that they were an imitation of the ' archan- 
 gels' and ' angels orders.' So that not only three 
 progressions must here be taken to be a natural 
 pattern and imitation of two only in heaven 
 6 above ;' but one of the three also, who had no 
 distinct order, but what was common to an- 
 other, must help to make up the true represen- 
 tation of the state of angels and archangels, who 
 had each of them a very distinct and different 
 order to themselves. And this will appear the 
 harder construction of Clemens's words still, if 
 we observe, that in this very quotation itself, 
 when he expresses the two orders of glorified 
 saints afterwards, by their advancing from the 
 order of deacon-saints first, to that of glorified 
 presbyters at last (upon which the force of this 
 argument depends), he uses the same numerical 
 word for it c : it is a TlpoKoir^j 80^779, which 
 makes the higher order of saints or angels 
 there ; and why must not this IIpofcoTrrj of bi- 
 shops then, in his language, be thought to do 
 as much for them, if the 'relatum' and 'corre- 
 latum' in the comparison duly answer one an- 
 other ; I conceive it must be so. But, 
 
 Secondly, What warrantable grounds can we 
 have to determine the number of the orders 
 of angels, by reading ' only ' of angels and arch- 
 angels in the Holy Scriptures? St. Augustin 
 durst not do it ; but thought a " cautious igno- 
 rance less to be blamed, than a rash presump- 
 tion in this very case d ;" and was so humble as 
 
 c Kara rrpoKonyit/ 8oas syxaTaX\a.y7}va,i TW TrpefffivTepiG). Ibid. 
 d Magis in istis temeraria praesumptio, quam cauta ignoratip 
 
224 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 u own it in himself." That " there are thrones, 
 and dominions, and principalities, and powers, 
 in the heavenly parade above," says he, "I 
 steadfastly believe ; and it is my undoubted 
 faith, that there is a difference between them ; 
 but what that difference is, I know not, nor do 
 I think that ignorance is any hurt to me." He 
 seemed to be mindful of St. Paul's awful hint, 
 6 not to intrude into things he saw not.' The 
 learned Grotius, from the common opinion of 
 the Jews, affirms somewhat more of them, and 
 says, " they were names of the sublimest classes 
 of angels 6 ," familiarly taken to be such by that 
 ancient Church of God; which is little less 
 than attributing so many 'orders' to them. 
 Nor do I apprehend, indeed, that the general 
 division into 6 archangels ' and ( angels,' suppos- 
 ing our revelation of them to be full and entire, 
 does any more conclude their orders to be but 
 strictly ' two,' than the division of English sub- 
 jects into peers and commoners, is an evident 
 proof that there are but two orders of subjects 
 in this kingdom. And to draw proofs for any 
 part of the Christian dispensation from so pre- 
 carious an hypothesis as this, to say the best of 
 it, is to argue in the dark. Clemens himself 
 gave but little occasion to be so represented; 
 
 culpanda videatur. Esse itaque secies, dominationes, princi- 
 pafus, potestates, in ccelestibus apparatibus firmissime credo, 
 
 et differre inter se aliquid indubitata fide teneo sed quid 
 
 inter se differant, nescio. Nee ea sane ignorantia periclitari 
 me puto. August, lib. ad Oros. cap. 11. fol. 141. inter opera, 
 torn. 6. Paris, 1555. 
 
 e Nomina sublimissimarum classium angelicarum, frequen- 
 tia apud Hebraeos. Grot, in Ephes. i. 21. inter opera, torn. 3. 
 p. 520. Lond. 1679. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 225 
 
 for he does not so much as name c the orders' 
 of angels, but only mentions the ' angelical 
 glory' in this quotation; and immediately joins 
 it with the glory of humane saints in heaven, 
 as making both of them the subject of his com- 
 parison ; and that he assigned a threefold state 
 of glory to them, will appear by the last obser- 
 vation I shall make ; which is this : 
 
 Thirdly, That when Clemens advanced his 
 glorified saints from the inferior state of dea- 
 cons into the presbytery afterwards, he did not 
 so consummate their bliss there, as our Enquirer 
 positively does; but adds, that "glory differs 
 from glory," as the quotation owns, till they 
 "increase into a perfect man." And that this 
 6 increasing into a perfect man' was a further 
 advancement than that of his ' deacon and pres- 
 byter saints' before, is not only evident by what 
 he adds immediately upon it, viz. " that such as 
 those rest in the holy mount of God, in the up- 
 permost Church, where the philosophers of God 
 do meet together f ," so his platonic phrase is, 
 and a great deal more of that superlative cha- 
 racter of them; but, I think, is undeniably 
 clear, at his summing up this whole argument 
 a leaf or two after, in these express words : 
 "You see," says he, "what wisdom says of 
 these Gnostics: and, in proportion to this, 
 there are different mansions, according to the 
 dignity of believers. Solomon says, a select 
 grace of faith shall be given to him, and a more 
 delightsome lot in the temple of the Lord. 
 
 f "A-Xpis "hv els T\iov &vfipa av^crwo'iv' Ol TOLOVTOI Kara- 
 irav(Tov(nv / opei ayicp 0eoD, rfj cu/corar^ e/c/cA.Tja'ia, Katf fyv ol </>t- 
 \6crofyoL crvvdyovrai rov @eot. - Strom. 6. p. 793. 
 
 Q 
 
226 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 This comparative shews there are inferior ones 
 in God's temple, which is the universal Church ; 
 and it gives us to understand, there is a super- 
 lative one too, where the Lord is. These three 
 elect mansions are signified by the numbers in 
 the Gospel, of thirty, sixty, and an hundred 
 fold : and the perfect inheritance is theirs, who 
 attain to the perfect man, according to the 
 image of the Lord 8 ." 
 
 By this clear evidence of the venerable Fa- 
 ther's sense, I conceive he now appears consist- 
 ent with himself, and that the three orders in 
 the Church are so far from being lost by the 
 parallel, that it could not be made out without 
 them ; and I should think I very unfairly repre- 
 sented him, if I contracted them into two. 
 
 Between these two authorities of Clemens, 
 6 for only two orders in the Church,' the En- 
 quiry (p. 74) describes the form of session in 
 the ancient presbytery; which I should pass 
 over without any controversy about it, but that 
 he tells us there, that St. Cyprian calls the pres- 
 byters 'his colleagues' in the session. This 
 obliged me to consider his authority for it, be- 
 cause I had appropriated that title to ' bishops 
 only' by which they spoke of one another; and 
 
 S 'Opas ola TTfpl r&v TvwffriK&v SiaXeyerai TJ o~o<j>ia' ava\6yus 
 apa Kal fj.oval Trot/aAat, /car' aiav rwv Trio~Tvo~dvTcw. Avr'iKa 
 2oAo,ua>j/, 5o0^<reTcu yap avry rys Triffrcws rj x^P LS e/cAe/cr??, /cat 
 
 Kj^TJpOS V Va Kvpiov 0V/ji7]p0~TpOS. Tb 0~VyKpiriKblS yap St'lKVVffl 
 
 fjiV ra vTTo^f^rjKora ev T< vaq rov eou, bs eo~riv y vrdVa 5 E/c- 
 /cA^trta, aTroAetTret 5e Ivvosiv Kal rb vTrepOeriKbi', ev6a 6 Kvpios 
 etrnv. Tavras e'/cAe/cras ovffas ras rpels novas ot eV r$ evayye- 
 Aicu api^yttot alviffffovrai, 6 rpiaxovra, Kal 6 e|7j/covra, Kal 6 e/ca- 
 rof ical -r) pel/ reAeta K\7jpovoin.ia r>v els avSpa re\eiov afyiKVOv- 
 fMfvwv, Kar' iK6va rov Kvpiov. 1b. p. 797. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 227 
 
 had accordingly argued, as you may remember, 
 for their prerogatives upon it. I presumed he 
 had found some singular passage in St. Cyprian, 
 to warrant what he had said. The place he 
 quotes for it, is in his 28th epistle, 2 h . [Edit. 
 Pamel. or Ep. 34. Edit. Oxon.] I carefully 
 perused the whole epistle, and found St. Cy- 
 prian mentioning 'his colleagues' four times in 
 it. First, He commends his presbyters and 
 deacons, to whom he writes, for 'not commu- 
 nicating with a presbyter and deacon of Didda, 
 as his colleagues had advised them 1 .' Were 
 these ( colleagues' his own presbyters, do we 
 imagine, by whose advice they themselves acted 
 so agreeably to his mind ? Secondly, He takes 
 notice to his presbyters, that they had ac- 
 quainted him by letter, how the said presbyter 
 of Didda and his deacon had been admonished 
 again and again 'by his colleagues,' and yet 
 went on in their fault k . Did the presbyters 
 mean themselves, by e those colleagues,' in their 
 letter to Cyprian? Why not 'admonished by 
 us?' when the letter was their own, and why 
 not ' by you,' in St. Cyprian's again to them ? 
 but no remark can make it so plain, as the epi- 
 stle itself does ; yet I must go on to the place 
 peculiarly quoted still. Thirdly, then, he orders 
 his presbyters and deacons to read his letters to 
 4iis " colleagues also, if there were any there, or 
 
 h Pag. 168, supra. 
 
 1 Consilio collegarum meorum censuistis non communi- 
 candum. Cypr. Ep. 34. Edit. Oxon. 
 
 k Semel atque iterum, secundum quod mihi scripsistis, a 
 collegis meis moniti pertinaciter perstiterunt. Ib. 
 
 o2 
 
228 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 happened to come thither 1 ." Strange sense, if 
 he meant such persons as he wrote to, and 
 questioned whether any of them were there. 
 Thus far I think his colleagues and presbyters 
 were somewhat different persons with him; 
 and do we think he used the same term a 
 fourth time after this, and meant quite another 
 thing by it? In the last place, then, he ac- 
 quaints his presbyters and deacons, what should 
 be done in the case of two sub-deacons and an 
 acoly th, which they consulted him about ; and 
 tells them, that many of his own clergy were yet 
 absent, and he would not privately decide that 
 cause, which was likely to be a standing prece- 
 dent concerning ministers of the Church, and 
 therefore ought to be examined, ( not only toge- 
 ther with his colleagues, but with all his people 
 also" 1 :' letting them plainly know, that the 
 hearing of that cause should be as public as the 
 concern was, and not only he, and his own 
 clergy to whom he wrote, but 'his colleagues 
 also,' and even his own people too should be 
 present at it ; where by his 6 colleagues,' surely 
 he meant the same persons, as he had three 
 times before, you see, in the same letter, that is 
 some bishops of the province, whereof he was 
 metropolitan ; as the solemnity of the case did 
 manifestly invite him to call in their assistance, 
 
 1 Legite has easdem literas et collegis meis, si qui aut prae- 
 sentes fuerint, aut supervenerint. Ib. 
 
 m Haec singulorum tractanda sit et limanda plenius ratio, 
 non tantum cum collegis meis, sed et cum plebe universa, ex- 
 pensa enim moderatione libranda et pernuncianda res est, quae 
 in posterum circa ministros Ecclesise constituat exemplum. 
 Ib. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 229 
 
 and require their presence, according to his ac- 
 count of it. And this confirms me more still, 
 that ( colleague' was unquestionably a term ap- 
 propriated to e fellow-bishops' only, in St. Cy- 
 prian's language ; since the fairest instance so 
 inquisitive an Author could single out to dis- 
 prove it, appears to fall in with it too. 
 
 I have now considered, and too particularly, 
 I am afraid, the tired reader will think, the 
 three general arguments for equality of orders 
 in the bishops and presbyters of the Church, 
 with every single authority, I think, which the 
 ingenious Enquirer has offered for the proof of 
 it; and if it still appears, that the presbyters 
 could do every ' clerical act' which the bishop 
 could do, by virtue of their inherent powers 
 alone, without his authority for it; that their 
 different powers made no difference of orders 
 in them; that the identity, and sameness of 
 name, proved them to be the same with one 
 another; and that the primitive Fathers did 
 expressly own and declare that there were but 
 two orders in the Church : it is no more than 
 that learned Author foretold, would surely be 
 the effect of such a vain attempt as this. For 
 though he humbly questioned for a while (p. 75), 
 whether his premises were fully proved or no ; 
 yet he concluded soon, that upon the narrowest 
 enquiry he could make, 'they could not be 
 evinced.' I have no ' opinion' of all that I 
 have said, any further than of the sincerity of 
 it, and that it keeps me unavoidably, through 
 the evidence of truth I verily think to be in it, 
 from consenting to any one of the arguments 
 he offers for his cause. What others may think 
 
230 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 of it, I leave only to God and themselves ; hav- 
 ing as unfeigned and hearty a concern (I may 
 say it before Him, who knows my thoughts 
 long beforehand) as that affectionate Author 
 professes to have for the unhappy divisions this 
 fatal controversy causes in the Church. 
 
 The close of this chapter is an innocent spe- 
 culation about the reason of the number of 
 presbyters in the primitive Churches, and of 
 the time when their office began. The scheme 
 required something of this, since a diocese was 
 allowed by it to have no more than a single 
 congregation for three hundred years together ; 
 and reading of forty or fifty presbyters in one, 
 the question might be asked, he pretty well 
 foresaw, what need there should be of them all ? 
 He answers therefore, they were partly as cu- 
 rates are to our rectors now, though more ne- 
 cessary ones, says he, upon account of the va- 
 riety of accidents then, and of the uncertainty 
 of the times; and because the number might 
 be a little surprising still, he further makes his 
 presbyters to be young pupils to his parochial 
 bishops, and in a state of education under them, 
 to be fit to succeed them in time. This harm- 
 less thought, since it is pressed upon us with no 
 authorities of Fathers, councils, or historians, to 
 give the reader much trouble about it, shall be 
 left undisturbed by me; and I will conclude 
 this chapter, as the Enquiry does, with a short 
 reflection upon a remarkable account which 
 Clemens Alexandrinus gives us of St. John the 
 Apostle; "He went," upon request, "to the 
 neighbouring provinces," says Clemens, " in 
 some places to constitute bishops ; in others, to 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 231 
 
 plant whole churches; and in other places to 
 ordain such into the number of the clergy, as 
 were signified to him by the Holy Ghost n ." 
 Here is a sacred example of primitive bishops 
 indeed, ' instituted/ we may truly say, by the 
 Holy Ghost himself, for who assigned the per- 
 sons ? it was that Holy Spirit, you see, in this 
 quotation, and 'inducted' by an Apostle, for so 
 St. John placed them in their churches ; and if 
 our learned Author meant such an ' institution' 
 and ' induction' as this, derived from this origi- 
 nal upon all their successors in the like station 
 in the Church, we should differ but little about 
 his words, when he calls the 'bishops, the pre- 
 sented, instituted, and inducted' ministers of 
 his diocesan parishes. [Enq. p. 57.] But then 
 the obligation of the presbyters, not to invade 
 these bishops' places, would have something 
 more in it, than he thinks fit to allow ; for he 
 will have it, that 'for peace, or unity, or order 
 sake, they could not or would not do it,' as if it 
 were mere gentleness, or love of peace in them, 
 which withheld them from invading a bishop's 
 function, being as fully qualified for it as the 
 bishops themselves ; whereas here is an eminent 
 superior by God's institution ordained to preside 
 over them ; and as I have proved above, with 
 additional clerical powers too, which were ne- 
 ver imparted to them ; and as the bishops were 
 thus Apostolically settled at the first, so the 
 orders of presbyters and deacons, as distinct 
 
 n 'ATT^ei TrapaKa\ovfjLVos Kal eirl TCI, TrX^ff^wpa. TWV 
 "Oirov fj.V eTrttr/c^Trous, /caTa<rTrja*cjj>, "Oirov 5e b\as KK 
 
 "Oirov 5e tvays TIVCL KXrjpdxTdw TWV virb rov Hvv/j.aros 
 ivo^v(av. c. ult. et Euseb. 1. iii. c. 23. p. 185. ed. Burton. 
 
232 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 from them here, had the like institution and 
 induction into their respective places in the 
 churches, so early as St. John's time ; for our 
 Enquirer tells us, he believes, that by the word 
 6 clergy,' in the last clause of this quotation, 
 both those orders most probably should be un- 
 derstood. So that a e divine right' for each of 
 them, in the language and acceptation of those 
 times, wherein Clemens and Eusebius lived, is 
 as clearly affirmed here, as the venerable Cle- 
 mens, in so few words, could possibly have 
 said it. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 233 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE fifth chapter begins with the order and 
 office of 6 deacons ;' and it is a comfort to 
 hear ( there is no great controversy about them" 
 (p. 79). I hope I shall occasion none, by barely 
 using the learned Vossius's authority for restor- 
 ing a ( negative particle' to a short clause quoted 
 out of St. Ignatius, here. The Enquiry leaves 
 it out, as some copies had done before, and by 
 that means makes that venerable Father call 
 this third order in the Church, ' the deacons of 
 meats and cups 3 .' Whereas it is plain b , St. 
 Ignatius's intention was to remove that meaner 
 character from them, and give them their pro- 
 per title of ' servants, or ministers, of the Church 
 of God,' in contradistinction to it, and imme- 
 diately thereupon he requires all to reverence 
 them accordingly. The nature of the period 
 itself, and the holy Father's ordinary notion of 
 the deacons, agree with this reading. The rest 
 upon this head I willingly leave as I find it, and 
 
 a Bpoytarcoj/ Kal iror&v clffl SIO.KOVOI. Enq. p. 80. 
 
 b Ov yap jSpco/uarajj/ Kal ITOTWJ/ civl Sta/co^oz, aAA 5 'E/c/cArjcrias' 
 
 0eoD vinjpeTai Tlavres ej/rpeTrea'Ouo'av rovs SiaK6vovs. Ig- 
 
 nat. Ep. ad Trail. 2. 3. ed. Jacobson. 
 
234 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 wish I could have done the like to all that is 
 gone before. 
 
 Sub-deacons are briefly considered next ; not 
 for anything this learned Author thought mate- 
 rial to say about them, but purely, one would 
 think, to give one plausible turn more to what 
 he seems to have so much at heart, 'the equality 
 of bishops and presbyters' orders.' For all he 
 observes of them is this, that the orders of dea- 
 cons and sub-deacons, in his opinion of them 
 (p. 81), were ' probably' the same; the one in- 
 tended only to assist the other in the same ec- 
 clesiastical offices, common to them both, that 
 so the account he gave of the like equality be- 
 tween bishops and presbyters might pass the 
 better for being so directly parallel to these. 
 Now all he could hope for from hence, amounts 
 to no more than what uncertainty and supposi- 
 tion could afford him ; for he concludes it 
 doubtful, after all, whether deacons and sub- 
 deacons' orders were the same, and supposes it 
 only upon this presumption, that " in no church 
 whatsoever it was usual to have more than seven 
 deacons, because of the original number insti- 
 tuted by the Apostles ; and therefore sub-dea- 
 cons were ordained to discharge their necessary 
 ministrations for them in the greater and more 
 numerous churches." But that a sub-deacon 
 could not discharge the necessary ministrations 
 of a deacon, I think is plain enough, from what 
 our learned Author himself knows, and owns 
 (p. 80), a deacon did in the primitive Church ; 
 that is, " assist in the celebration of the eucha- 
 rist, preach, and baptize ;' for what monument 
 of antiquity ever affirmed the sub-deacons could 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 235 
 
 do all this ? So far from that, that the council 
 of Laodicea (which the learned Dr. Cave ob- 
 serves was peculiarly held to revive the disci- 
 pline of the primitive Church) assures us, " sub- 
 deacons were not suffered to have any place in 
 the diaconicum c , or sacred apartment of the 
 deacons, nor so much as to touch the holy ves- 
 sels' 1 ." That "they might not wear the sacred 
 fascia, or linen wreath, called the orarium, ap- 
 pointed for the deacon's office 6 ;" and for this 
 very reason, as Zonaras notes upon it, " because 
 every sacred order had their peculiar habit f ." 
 That sub-deacons ministered c to,' and not 'for' 
 the deacons, is observed by the inquisitive Sui- 
 cer g , from no less authority than the first great 
 council of Nice. All this does little less than 
 directly contradict the hypothesis before us, of 
 sub-deacons being ordained to discharge the 
 deacons' ministrations in their stead; and, one 
 would think, were evidence enough to prove 
 their orders to be different, unless some au- 
 thentic ordinal, within our Enquirer's period of 
 time, were extant to demonstrate the contrary. 
 And lastly, As to the primitive churches con- 
 fining themselves to seven deacons only, from 
 the example of the first institution in the Acts, 
 
 c In eo prsecipue id agebatur, ut collapsa primitives Eccle- 
 sise disciplina resarciretur. Hist. Liter, part. 2. p. 122. Edit. 
 Lond. 1698. 
 
 d Ou 5el vTnjperas %x* LV X < * ) P al/ * v rf $ 8to:oz/i/c<, Kal aTrreaOai 
 lepujr (TKevuv. Cone. Laod. Can. 21. 
 
 e Ov 5e? rjTT^pcTTjv wpdpiov fyope'iv. Ib. Can. 22. 
 
 f 'EKaffrcf) Icpca rdyfmri farovv4fwrrcu KOI (TTO\T] olfceia aiT<p, 
 &c. Zonar. in Can. 
 
 Suicer in voce virr)pTf]s. 'TTnjpeVcu in Ecclesia dicimtur 
 subdiaconi, qui episcopis, presbyteris, et diaconis ministrant. 
 Act. Cone. NIC. 1. par. 2. p. 172. 
 
236 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 I refer the reader to the judgment of the sixth 
 general council about it, where he will find, in 
 their 16th canon, that that original precedent 
 in the Acts h , did not affect the number or office 
 of the deacons 'who ministered at the altar of 
 the Church.' And the testimony of an oecume- 
 nical council about the sense of the Catholic 
 Church, is of some weight, I think, though at 
 a distance from the three first centuries of it. 
 
 But to pass from this, and all the other anti- 
 quated orders in the primitive Church, I pro- 
 ceed to consider the next general head in this 
 chapter; which is, the manner of ordaining 
 presbyters in use amongst them then. 
 
 And in no point is our learned Author more 
 curious and particular than in this : he presents 
 us with every circumstance of the ancient man- 
 ner of ordaining presbyters, in a more exact 
 method than any author who lived amongst 
 them, or near those early ages he speaks of, 
 ever did ; and for that reason, I shall oblige the 
 reader with the whole scheme of it, in his own 
 words. 
 
 "Whosoever desired to be admitted," says he 
 (p. 83, 84), "into this sacred office, he first pro- 
 posed himself to the presbytery of the parish 
 where he dwelt and was to be ordained; de- 
 siring their consent to his designed intention ; 
 praying them to confer upon him those holy 
 orders which he craved. Now we must sup- 
 pose," says he, " this petition to the whole pres- 
 bytery, because a bishop alone could not give 
 
 h Tovs irpOip7)/jiej'ovs eTrra SKLKOVOVS fify irl rois 
 ia/coi'oi^ueVwj' \a/bLftdvffdai. Cone. 6. in Trullo. Can. 16. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, 237 
 
 those holy orders ; as is most evident from Cy- 
 prian, who assures us, that all clerical ordina- 
 tions were performed by the common council 
 of the whole presbytery. Upon this applica- 
 tion 1 , the presbytery debated their petition in 
 their common council (ibid.), and proceeded to 
 examine, whether he had those qualifications 
 and endowments which were requisite for that 
 sacred office," viz. these four, " his age, his con- 
 dition in the world, his conversation, and his 
 understanding." If they approved all, they de- 
 clared him capable of the function, (p. 95, 96.) 
 Then his name must be propounded to the 
 people, that, if worthy, he might have their tes- 
 timony and attestation ; if unworthy, he might 
 be debarred and excluded from orders. If they 
 approved his fitness for the office, then followed 
 ordination, by imposition of hands, usually of 
 the bishop and presbyters of the parish, accord- 
 ing to 1 Tim. iv. 14. 
 
 Here is a formal abstract, one would verily 
 think, of some primitive ' ordinal' or another; 
 though not a syllable quoted from any one re- 
 cord, so public, proper, and necessary in the 
 case ; here is a candidate for holy orders, made 
 an humble supplicant to a whole parochial, or 
 ' diocesan,' presbytery for them, and not a text 
 of Scripture to direct, or one single canon (so 
 much as of a provincial synod) to require it of 
 them. And lastly, here is a Catholic practice 
 set forth to us, upon a bare ' supposition' (for 
 the learned Author himself says no more), that 
 
 j Communi consilio omnium nostrum. Cyp. Ep. 24. alias 
 29. Edit. Oxon. 
 
238 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 three or four words in a particular bishop's 
 writings, relating purely to his own peculiar 
 practice, as we shall see by and by, must ' evi- 
 dently' imply so much. 
 
 This is a singular method, I must needs say, 
 of proving the general practice of the Christian 
 Church; and to say the most we can of it, 
 amounts only to this, that if the excellent St. 
 Cyprian did upon any consideration whatsoever 
 generally consult his presbytery (and we may 
 say his people too) whensoever he ordained in 
 his Church; then he, and all other Christian 
 bishops besides, were so far obliged, by the 
 constitution of the Catholic Church in his time, 
 to do so, that none of them could ordain a 
 single presbyter without them. For upon that 
 holy Father's account of himself alone (and that 
 in much larger terms in the translation, than 
 we find it in his own text) this formal scheme 
 of 'primitive ordinations' is drawn. Let the 
 reader consult the whole, and he will find it so; 
 though whatever less material quotation inter-^ 
 venes, I shall both mention and weigh it too. 
 In the mean time, to prove the translation of 
 the present quotation to be far wider than the 
 text itself, before we go any further, we need 
 only set one against the other. 
 
 The Enquiry makes St. Cyprian say, that 
 " all clerical ordinations were performed by the 
 common council of the whole presbytery," im- 
 plying by his general terms, and the application 
 of them here, that he and all other bishops 
 practised so. Whereas the words, c all clerical 
 ordinations,' are neither named, nor so much as 
 implied, in that epistle, from whence this quo- 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 239 
 
 tation is taken. The whole case there was this : 
 " St. Cyprian had formerly designed to ordain a 
 certain lector and sub-deacon, by the common 
 advice and counsel of his presbyters and dea- 
 cons ; therefore he assures us/' says our learned 
 Enquirer, that "all clerical ordinations were 
 performed by the common council of the whole 
 presbytery k ;" for from this very place the quo- 
 tation is taken. But having occasion 1 , as the 
 holy bishop further tells them, to make use of 
 such ' clerical officers' in the time of his absence 
 from them, he lets them know, that he had or- 
 dained them there by himself alone ; which, by 
 the way, is proof enough that the orders were 
 complete, and valid to all intents and purposes, 
 without them. It is true, he plainly wishes, as 
 his manner was, rather to have had them in 
 council with him, and excuses himself for doing 
 it alone ; and why ? " Because he had solemnly 
 purposed with himself," as he tells them in an- 
 other epistle, " from the time of his first promo- 
 tion to the see, that he would do nothing of his 
 own private opinion, without consulting them, 
 or without the consent of his people" 1 ." The 
 only needful enquiry here is this : 
 
 Was this resolution of St. Cyprian grounded 
 upon any law of God, or the Church, by which 
 
 k Quod jampridem communi consilio omnium nostrum ecer 
 perat, &c. oportuit me per clericos scribere. 
 
 1 Fecisse me sciatis lectorem Saturum et hypodiaconum 
 Optatum. Ep. 29. Edit. Oxon. 
 
 111 A primordio episcopatus mei statuerim nihil sine consilio 
 vestro, et sine plebis consensu mea privatim sententia gerere. 
 Gyp. Ep. 14. ult. Edit. Oxon. 
 
240 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 he was obliged and bound to do so ? Or was it 
 by the mere free motion of his own discretion 
 and goodness, that he determined so with him- 
 self? The former would imply Catholic prac- 
 tice and duty in the case, if it had been proved; 
 the latter will amount to no more, than a per- 
 sonal virtue and prudence in the peculiar cir- 
 cumstances of that meek and holy Martyr; 
 worthy of all imitation indeed, where times and 
 persons suited so properly with it, as this did 
 then. But, otherwise, obliging unto none. 
 
 That no constitution, law, or canon whatso- 
 ever, obliged St. Cyprian to it ; these following 
 particulars must incline us to believe. 
 
 First, That the whole college of presbyters 
 and deacons in the Church of Rome, who were 
 co temporary with the holy Martyr himself, and 
 continually corresponding with him, give a quite 
 contrary account of it. For in the preface of an 
 epistle to him, they represent his practice thus : 
 " Although a good conscience," say they, " sup- 
 ported by the vigour of the discipline of the 
 Gospel, and made a true witness of itself, by 
 the decrees of heaven, commonly contents itself 
 with appealing to the judgment of God alone, 
 and neither courts the praise, nor fears the ac- 
 cusations of another; yet they are worthy of 
 double honour indeed, who, knowing their own 
 conscience, ought of right to be judged of God 
 only, yet desire all their actions to be tried and 
 approved by their own very brethren them- 
 selves; which we do not wonder, brother Cy- 
 prian, that you do; who, according to your 
 native modesty and care, are willing that we 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 241 
 
 (the presbyters and deacons of another church) 
 should judge, or rather be partners of all your 
 counsels with you 11 . 5 ' 
 
 This is pretty clear language, and the holy 
 Martyr himself says little less, when he speaks 
 out to the lapsed brethren of his own diocese, 
 that "the Church was constituted upon bishops, 
 and every act of it was to be governed by them ;" 
 and his stated sense, repeated over and over 
 again, throughout his whole works, is this; " that 
 every bishop had the ordering and disposing of 
 his own act in the administration of the church, 
 and was accountable for it to God alone p ." 
 The learned Dr. Cave q understood this in the 
 same sense that the Roman presbyters and dea- 
 cons did, and therefore speaks of this holy Mar- 
 tyr's practice in the same language with them ; 
 "he was so modest," says that judicious author, 
 " that in all v great transactions concerning the 
 church, he always consulted with his colleagues 
 
 11 Quanquam bene sibi conscius animus, et evangelicee dis- 
 ciplinse vigore subnixus, et verus sibi in decretis ccelestibus 
 testis effectus, soleat solo Deo judice esse contentus, nee alte- 
 rius aut laudes petere aut accusationes pertimeseere ; tamen 
 geminata sunt laude condigni, qui cum conscientiam sciant 
 Deo soli debere se judici, actus tamen suos desiderant etiam 
 ab ipsis suis fratribus comprobari ; quod te, frater Cypriane, 
 facere non mirum est, qui pro tua verecundia et ingenita in- 
 dustria consiliorum tuorum nos non tarn judices voluisti, quam 
 participes inveniri. Ep. 30. 1. Edit. Oxon. 
 
 Per temporum et successionum vices episcoporum ordina- 
 tio, et Ecclesiae ratio decurrit, ut ecclesia super episcopos con- 
 stituatur^ et omnis actus ecclesice per eosdem prapositos guber- 
 netur. Cypr. Ep. 33. 1. Edit. Oxon. 
 
 P Actum suum disponit et dirigit unusquisque episcopus ra- 
 tionem propositi sui Domino redditurus. Ep. 55. p. 110. 
 
 1 In ecclesiae administratione voluntatis suee arbitrium libe- 
 rum. Ep. 72. p. 198. 
 
 R 
 
242 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 and his flock, and determined not to adjudge 
 anything without the counsel of the clergy and 
 the people 1 ." A singular modesty! if he were 
 6 obliged' to act no otherwise. But, 
 
 Secondly, St. Cyprian's own expression, upon 
 which this question more immediately depends, 
 implies 110 manner of obligation in it ; but on 
 the contrary, denotes a free determination of 
 his own will; "a primordio episcopatus mei 
 statuerim," says he, " I have purposed or deter- 
 mined with myself, from the time I entered 
 upon the bishopric 8 ," that I would act in com- 
 mon concert with you all. This was a rule, in- 
 deed, for the holy man to act by ; but all the 
 authority in it taken upon himself alone. So 
 the learned Grotius expressly declared it to be, 
 even when he was speaking in favour of the 
 presbyters and presbytery of the Church ; for 
 quoting this passage of St. Cyprian, " the word 
 (statuerim)," says he, " signifies a voluntary act 
 of his own*;" and I presume the most partial 
 reader finds no more of any legal obligation in 
 it, than that discerning critic did. But, 
 
 Thirdly, It is instead of many arguments to 
 me, that no law, ecclesiastical or divine, obliged 
 that humble bishop to his ordinary condescen- 
 sions in the case ; that our accurate Enquirer 
 himself could not find so much as a single one 
 in all antiquity for it. For, had he found one, 
 he had never left his plausible scheme, so per- 
 
 r Cave's Life of St. Cyprian, p. 263. 
 
 s Ep. 14. ult. 
 
 1 A primordio episcopatus mei statuerim [lisec vox rem ar- 
 bitrariam significat] Grot, de Imp, Sum. pctest. &c. c. xi. 
 14. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 243 
 
 fectly precarious as it is, without it. For what 
 can be more so ? than thus formally to represent 
 a candidate for orders, tendering his petition to 
 a parochial presbytery for them, the presbyters 
 in solemn debate upon ' such petition,' and the 
 whole success of the supplicant to depend on 
 ( their declaring him capable or incapable of 
 them,' and the ' people's authority in it,' little 
 less than theirs too; insomuch ,as the bishop 
 himself was not able, by any power or commis- 
 sion of his own, to ordain so much as a single 
 clerk in his diocese, but as ( they' should please 
 to approve or disapprove of him. And 'all 
 this,' without one sacred text, one single canon, 
 general or provincial, one clear precedent of 
 matter of fact, or so much as a positive affirma- 
 tion of a single Father of the Church, that it 
 was Catholic custom and constitution to do so ; 
 but c purely,' because a wise and humble bishop 
 would have a chapter called, and take what 
 counsel and information he possibly could from 
 his presbyters, and from his people too, before 
 he would proceed to ordinations. For St. Cy- 
 prian's ' commune consilium,' the ' consistorial 
 convention' he was pleased to call upon such 
 occasions, is the very fundamental argument 
 here for the whole scheme : of which conven- 
 tion, the holy Martyr himself tells us plainly 
 enough what assistance he ever expected from 
 it, when he acted most in common council with 
 them all ; for speaking in full and plain terms 
 about it to his presbyters, deacons, and people 
 together, he expresses the whole of his expec- 
 tations from them to be no more, than their 
 evidence, information, or ' testimony,' about the 
 
 R2 
 
244 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 qualifications or merits of the persons he pur- 
 posed to ordain. ' Humana testimonia u ' are 
 the very words he uses, to denote their part in 
 all his clerical ordinations, as you will see in his 
 38th epistle, where this custom of his is drawn 
 up by his own pen. 
 
 Now to draw such pregnant inferences as we 
 have heard but now, and to raise such imagi- 
 nary suppositions as are offered us here, from 
 these consistory councils alone, is much the 
 same thing, as if we should suppose, that s some 
 branch,' at least, of royal authority must needs 
 belong to the privy counsellors of a wise prince, 
 because he will seldom, or never, collate ho- 
 nours, or exert any important act of his sove- 
 reign power in the state, without entering first 
 into council with 'them;' and that a cautious 
 and wise judge, who gets all the evidence and 
 information he possibly can, before he decides 
 a cause, and probably forms his judgment in a 
 great measure by the advantage of it, should 
 therefore be said to allow a negative or casting 
 voice to those witnesses, because they have 
 some useful influence, in all appearance, upon 
 his determination. St. Cyprian's case with his 
 presbytery and people, both in his own account, 
 and from the impartial j udgment we have heard 
 of others about it, has a plain and near resem- 
 blance to these; at least, I may say, the En- 
 quiry before us offers nothing that can prove it 
 to differ from them : for he proves no more, but 
 that St. Cyprian had such a consistory council 
 
 u Sed expectanda non sunt testimonia humana. Gym*. Ep. 
 38. 1. Edit. Oxon, 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 245 
 
 in his church, and made some use of it in his 
 clerical ordinations ; and I doubt not but other 
 churches did so too. But as to the candidate's 
 petitionary application for ' craving orders from 
 them/ and his success depending upon ' their 
 conciliary declaration' in the case, and the peo- 
 ple's authority to 6 debar or exclude him/ if they 
 thought him unfit for them, and the ' bishop's 
 incapacity to ordain alone,' he allows his fancy 
 to infer and suppose all that, without one single 
 proof or authority for either of them, unless his 
 quotation (p. 96) from St. Cyprian's 68th Epi- 
 stle, 4, must pass for a proof of the tf people's ' 
 great interest and authority in ordinations, which, 
 I have shewn at large before x , implies no such 
 thing at all. 
 
 We have seen then what St. Cyprian's ' com- 
 mune consilium,' or his ordinary consultations 
 with his presbytery and people, means. And 
 ' in that,' how much authority the learned En- 
 quirer had to represent the primitive manner of 
 ordaining presbyters in such a singular and un- 
 precedented form, as he has done here : and if 
 the reader please to reflect upon what I have 
 offered from Holy Scripture and primitive anti- 
 quity before, to prove, that s all ordaining power 5 
 was originally a ' personal trust,' fully and en- 
 tirely invested in the single persons of the first 
 governors of the Church, by divine and aposto- 
 lical institution, and derived down so ; I shall 
 need to leave no other test with him to try this 
 extraordinary scheme by. Yet, because the 
 Enquirer himself has suggested one particular 
 
 * Chap. iii. p. 137, supra. 
 
246 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 more, immediately relating to this present case, 
 I shall briefly mention it, forasmuch as it is his 
 own. 
 
 In the close of the former chapter he observes 
 (p. 77), that "all churches were not furnished 
 with presbyters, and especially new -planted 
 ones, where either the number or abilities of 
 the believers were small and inconsiderable," 
 which I make no doubt of; and therefore can- 
 not but ask a few obvious questions about them. 
 Can we think such new-planted churches were 
 never so blessed with an increase of converts, 
 as to stand in need of assisting pastors to dis- 
 pense the w r ord and sacraments to them ? Do 
 we believe there was no authority in the single 
 pastors or bishops, to whom those churches 
 were entirely committed, to supply that im- 
 portant want in them ? Could the discipline of 
 such churches be executed by a joint council of 
 bishop and presbytery (in the known Catholic 
 sense of such an ecclesiastical body) where no 
 ordained presbyters were? Or have we any 
 precedent or rule, for the bishops of such sees 
 to seek abroad in other churches for necessary 
 ministers to assist them in case they stood in 
 need ? Unless all this can be supposed, besides 
 what we have so liberally supposed before, we 
 must allow that single bishops of those primi- 
 tive churches had a power in their original 
 commission to ordain assisting elders for the 
 necessities of their increasing flock or diocese, 
 and, to be sure, to execute trie discipline of the 
 church, without a regular presbytery to give 
 any kind of force or sanction to it. And the 
 case of Titus's commission in Crete is evidence 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 247 
 
 enough of all this, if we would impartially judge 
 of it. For that there were no Church-ministers 
 of any denomination at that time settled there, 
 is highly agreeable to the sacred account of it ; 
 and then, it is clear, he must have ordained in 
 that island, without any such presbytery to assist 
 in it ; for to that very purpose was he left there. 
 Or if St. Paul had ordained any elders there be- 
 fore, that would look very favourably on the 
 episcopal prerogative again, that such a single 
 and peculiar church-governor, as Titus was, 
 should be nominated and sent thither with 
 that special article at the head of his commis- 
 sion, if 'any' presbyters or elders, already re- 
 sident amongst them, could have done it as well 
 as he. 
 
 Having seen then where the full power and 
 right of ' ordination' always lay; if a candidate 
 did petition for 'his orders,' one would think 
 it should be directly ' there,' even to the vene- 
 rable bishop alone. Or if, peradventure, for a 
 'testimonial' of his qualifications and moral 
 conversation, the presbytery might not impro- 
 perly be addressed to for it, or the more emi- 
 nent of the people either ; for recommendations 
 from them had a considerable influence, to be 
 sure, on every wise and careful bishop in the 
 Church ; though, should the candidate not pro- 
 ceed in such ' a form,' which we have little evi- 
 dence to prove he did, yet the bishop's volun- 
 tary consultations with them in the manner that 
 the excellent St. Cyprian used it, did suffi- 
 ciently supply that ; and more than so, neither 
 the Enquirer's own quotations, nor any other 
 records of antiquity I meet with, do amount to. 
 
248 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 As to the particular ' qualifications,' there 
 mentioned to be usually enquired into, we 
 need have little difference about them. Such 
 as the ingenious Author names, are primitive 
 and genuine : and in the canons and ordina- 
 tion-offices of ' our own church,' such suitable 
 provision is made for each of them, that if the 
 spirit of peace and unity in the blessed primi- 
 tive times were not more altered amongst us, 
 than the e constitution' of the church is, we 
 should hear of few exceptions against it. For, 
 
 First, As to the age of a candidate, I find but 
 little particularly determined about it within the 
 three first centuries; only, in general, that he 
 should not be a ' novice;' a word often used 
 with little good intention in our times, and as 
 little understood; for in the Scripture sense of 
 it, and as the word itself literally imports, f a 
 novice' can scarcely ever be ordained here 
 now; because it signifies an adult person 'but 
 very lately converted to the faith, and newly 
 planted in the Church,' as the best commenta- 
 tors y agree in the exposition of it. But as to 
 maturity of years in general, it has little or no 
 reference to it, though St. Paul's use of the word 
 to Timothy is by this learned Author here ap- 
 plied to that purpose. Whereas to be early 
 baptized rather, and to have the advantages of 
 a happy education after it, for the improvement 
 of knowledge in sacred and humane learning to- 
 gether, are the proper considerations, in this re- 
 spect, to form a reasonable judgment of matu- 
 
 y See St. Jerome, Chrysostome, CEcumenius, Theophylact ; 
 and, of later times, Erasmus, Menochius, A Lapide, Dr. Ham- 
 mond, Grotius, in 1 Tim. iii. 6. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 249 
 
 rity of age by ; and in view of both these, in 
 the age and nation wherein we live, our holy 
 mother the Church has enjoined the age of 
 candidates 2 to be always enquired into, and 
 allowed none to be ordained sooner, than in all 
 probability, with these advantages, they may 
 have attained to it; though she commands a 
 strict examination a for further assurance in it 
 too, and suffers none to be advanced from the 
 lowest to the highest order afterwards 6 , without 
 a gradual promotion to them, and a space of 
 time given to try how they behave themselves 
 in the first. And, 
 
 Secondly, No less care does she take to con- 
 fine all her ministers to that holy employment 
 alone, to which she has consecrated each of 
 them ; enjoining them " to lay out every hour 
 they can get, either in reading or hearing the 
 Holy Scriptures; or some such laudable study 
 or exercise as that ; and to be ever doing what 
 tends to piety and virtue, and to the advance- 
 ment of the Church of God c ;" interdicting 
 "all mean trade or employment in the world, 
 and much more every loose and scandalous 
 course of life, under penalty of all the censures 
 she can inflict upon them d ." And, 
 
 z Vide Can. 34. Edit. A.D. 1604. 
 
 a Ib. Can. 35. 
 
 b Ib. Can. 32, and last Rub. in off. for Ord. Deacons. 
 
 c Horis omnibus opportunis vel scripturis legendis aut au- 
 diendis incumbent, vel alii cuipiam studio aut exercitio lau- 
 dabili vacabunt ; ea semper facientes quse ad probitatem et 
 virtutem spectent, seduloque operam dantes ut Ecclesiam Dei 
 promo veant, &c. Can. 75. 
 
 d Nee vero sordidae alicui aut illiberali operse assuescent, 
 nee potationibus et crapules se dedent, tern pus ve otiose transi- 
 gent in alea, &c. Ib. 
 
250 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 Thirdly, That she imitates the primitive 
 Church in getting what testimony and infor- 
 mation she possibly can, even from the people 
 themselves, before her bishops ordain any, I 
 have shewn already 8 from the public manner of 
 celebrating those sacred offices, and the holy 
 bishop's solemn appeal to the congregation to 
 assign what crime or impediment they can, and 
 even conjuring them in the name of God to do 
 so ; and whosoever will, has timely notice, and 
 a free liberty for it ; and the testimonials ex- 
 pected from the neighbourhood where they 
 lately lived, is a farther occasion for the same. 
 And, 
 
 Lastly, As to the trial of the candidate's un- 
 derstanding, a.nd his advancement both in sacred 
 and humane learning ; she is far from neglect- 
 ing that. She enjoins f the venerable bishop 
 himself, if able to be present, to be strict and 
 diligent in his examination; together with all 
 the presbyters who are to join in imposition of 
 hands with him ; requires it to be solemnized 
 in the cathedral itself, or the bishop's parochial 
 church, and the reverend dean, arch-deacon, 
 and two prebendaries at least, to be present 
 and assisting in it, or, in case of legal absence, 
 four of the gravest preaching ministers who 
 may be had. Besides testimonials required 
 either from colleges of presbyters and gradu- 
 ates, where they have had their education, or 
 some grave, learned, and judicious persons, who 
 have known their conversation for some years 
 last past ; which, should we calculate the num- 
 
 e Chap. iii. p. 150, supra. 
 f Vide Can. 31, 35. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 251 
 
 bers of the fullest presbyteries in most of the 
 primitive churches, would perhaps amount to as 
 considerable *a multitude' of proper ' counsel- 
 lors' in this case, as could ordinarily be had in 
 those carefullest and purest ages of the Church; 
 and consequently as much f safety ' in it now 
 (to use the words and judgment of the wisest of 
 mens) as they could hope for then. 
 
 What can any sons of peace then complain 
 of here ? Ordinations, we have seen, are an un- 
 questionable part of the bishop's commission 
 alone ; the manner of them is no otherwise set 
 forth in Holy Scripture, than as prayer, and 
 fasting, and imposition of hands were the Apo- 
 stolical way of conferring them. All other cir- 
 cumstances in them were referred to the wis- 
 dom and judgment of the ordainers themselves; 
 and in our own constitution, we find such pro- 
 vision made for each of them, that had we but 
 first learnt the most essential rules of Church- 
 membership, commanded in the Gospel, to love 
 the brotherhood, obey them who are set over us in 
 the Lord, and to keep the unity of the Spirit in 
 the bond of peace, we should find little difficulty 
 to own, that they were proper and sufficient 
 means, if duly executed, to obtain the end for 
 which they were designed. 
 
 I should here close this subject and chapter 
 together, but that our learned Author has one 
 insinuation, in the course of this argument, 
 against the modern custom of f receiving tithes,' 
 which he may think, perhaps, deserves to be 
 considered. 
 
 In quoting a passage from St. Cyprian's 66th 
 
 s Prov. xi. 14. 
 
252 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 Epistle, he met with these words, relating to the 
 maintenance of the ministry: "In honore spor- 
 tulantium fratrum, tanquam decirnas, ex fructi- 
 bus accipientes" (p. 86, 87), which he translates 
 thus : " As tithes receiving subscriptions from 
 the brethren." And with nearer analogy to the 
 words, and quite as much kindness to the 
 Church, he might as well have rendered them, 
 "the clergy's living on the basket." For some 
 allusion there is indeed to e that,' but to ' sub- 
 scriptions of the brethren,' not the least, that I 
 can see. The true account of this phrase will 
 occasion some digression; but it shall be as 
 short as I can make it. 
 
 That the primitive Christians paid their first- 
 fruits to God, Origen assures us, when he says, 
 " to whom we pay first-fruits, to Him we also 
 offer up our prayers h ." Irenaeus further, when 
 speaking of 'the oblations of the Christian 
 Church,' "we ought," says he, "to offer to 
 God the first-fruits of his creature, even as 
 Moses says, tJiou shalt not appear empty before 
 the Lord thy God i ;" and that these first-fruits, 
 in the language of the Fathers, included even 
 6 tithes' in them, I might offer Clemens Alex- 
 andrinus's authority for it, who in one short 
 sentence makes them both to be terms equiva- 
 lent ; " the tithes of fruits and cattle," says he, 
 "taught piety towards God; for out of these 
 
 h 'H5e ras a7rap%as <X7ro5t&co/uej/, TOVTU> Kal ras sv^ 
 Troyuej/. Orig. c. Cels. Edit. Hoeschel. August. Vind. 1605. 
 
 j Ecclesiae oblatio, quam Dominus docuit offerri, &c. 
 Offerre igitur oportet Deo primitias ejus creaturae, sicut et 
 Moyses ait, Non apparebis vacuus ante conspectum Domini 
 Dei tui. Iren. 1. iv. c. 18. p. 250. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 253 
 
 first-fruits/' which he called ( tithes,' you see 
 just before, "I conceive the priests also were 
 maintained V But Irenseus needs no illustra- 
 tion of his sense in this case, who expressly 
 says, that "the law of paying tithes was no 
 more abrogated by our Saviour's doctrine, than 
 those two precepts in the decalogue, against 
 adultery and murder, were ; but," like them, 
 "more enlarged and completed by it;" inso- 
 much that, " as the Jews consecrated the tithes 
 of their possessions to God, so Christians," says 
 he, " gave all they had to such uses as the Lord 
 had for it 1 ;" and what uses the Lord had for 
 it, St. Paul tells us, where he calls it ( an ordi- 
 nance of the Lord m ,' that such as preach the 
 Gospel should live of the Gospel, even so, as 
 such as ministered in holy things (before) lived of 
 the things of the temple, and such as luaited at the 
 altar were partakers with the altar. [1 Cor. ix. 
 13,14.] 
 
 To apply this therefore to the case before us : 
 out of these first-fruits, these holy oblations, 
 these tithes, and overplus of tithes thus depo- 
 
 k Ai SeKarcu roDy Kapirui/ KCU Ope/A^drcw evcrefteivTe els Gelov 
 
 eStSaavcoj/' e/c rovrav yap oTjuat T&V a/rrapx^ teal ol tepe'is 
 
 SteTpeQovro. Strom. 1. ii. p. 397. Edit. Lutet. 1629. 
 
 1 Et quia Dominus naturalia legis, per quae homo justifica- 
 
 tur non dissolvit, sed extendit, sed et implevit, ex sermo- 
 
 nibus ejus ostenditur pro eo quod est, non mcschaberis^ 
 
 nee concupiscere prsecepit ; et pro eo quod est, non occides, 
 neque irasci quidem ; et pro eo quod est, decimare omnia, quae 
 sunt pauperisms dividere ; hsec omnia non dissolventis erant 
 legem, sed adimplentis, et extendentis, et dilatantis in nobis. 
 Iren. 4. 13. p. 242. (ed. Venet. 1734.) 
 
 m Et propter hoc illi (sc. Judaei) decimas suorum habebant 
 consecratas, qui autem perceperunt libertatem; omnia quee 
 sunt ipsorum ad Dominicos decernunt usus. Idem. ib. c. 34. 
 
254 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 sited by the primitive Christians in the holy 
 Apostles' hands at first, and in the hands of the 
 venerable bishops of the Church for some con- 
 siderable time after; those faithful stewards of 
 this consecrated treasure allotted a suitable pro- 
 portion to each presbyter, deacon, and other in- 
 ferior officers in the Church; arid withal, to 
 such poor brethren as stood in need of main- 
 tenance. In which distribution, every clerical 
 officer's part was called his c sportula n ,' or basket 
 of the consecrated offerings, in allusion to that 
 custom prescribed by the Jewish law, that every 
 Israelite who dwelt remote from the temple at 
 Jerusalem, should bring his first-fruits in a 
 6 basket' thither [Deut. xxvi, 2]; and accord- 
 ingly, the several ministers who received such 
 portion of those ' hallowed oblations,' were 
 called the ' sportulantes fratres,' by St. Cyprian 
 here and elsewhere ; that is, e brethren who had 
 their maintenance from those dedicated things.' 
 
 How fairly, then, this manner of maintaining 
 the priesthood in the primitive Church is, with- 
 out any further note upon it, but as in an ordi- 
 nary notion of the word, represented to be by 
 the ' mere subscription' of the brethren, I leave 
 with the unprejudiced reader to judge. 
 
 The holy Fathers themselves, we see, own a 
 6 natural obligation ' to pay such tithes and 
 offerings to the great author of all we possess, 
 as the heathens did indeed ; which we may see 
 
 n Caeterum presbyterii honorem designasse nos illis jam 
 sciatis, ut et sportulis iisdem cum presbyteris honorentur, et 
 divisiones mensurnas aequatis quantitatibus partiantur. Cypr. 
 Ep. 39, ad finem. Edit. Oxon. 
 
 Dominus naturalia legis per quae homo justificatur, non 
 dissolvit. Iren. (upon this subject) ut supra. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 255 
 
 clearly set forth, in a short comment of the late 
 venerable bishop Fell, upon the close of St. Cy- 
 prian's treatise of c the unity of the Church.' 
 They argued the obligation of it also, from the 
 morality of the Mosaic law 'in that particular:' 
 they profess that our Lord's doctrine did not 
 dissolve, but complete that obligation, by en- 
 larging the former bounds and measures of it. 
 
 What is wanting here then, to make the sense 
 and practice of the primitive and modern Chris- 
 tians agree in this matter, unless we amuse our- 
 selves about forms and circumstances of a duty, 
 and overlook the thing? Little difference, as I 
 can see, between us ; but that there was no 
 secular law then to enforce the duty upon pri- 
 mitive Christians, as indeed it was scarcely pos- 
 sible there should be, all power of that kind 
 being lodged then in persecuting heathen hands, 
 from whence it were absurd to look for it. Nor 
 probably did any canon of the Church so ex- 
 plicitly enjoin, or require it then, as they have 
 done since ; for which Mr. Selden himself has 
 given a sufficient reason. For "it had been 
 little to the purpose indeed," says he, " to have 
 had tithes of annual increase paid (and I may 
 say ' required' or ( demanded' by the Church 
 too), while that most bountiful devotion of 
 good Christians continued in frequent offer- 
 ings, both of lands and goods, to such large 
 value p ;" and this, as he observes, continued to 
 the end of the fourth century [Hist, of Tithes, 
 c. 4. n. 2. p. 40]. In the mean time, those pri- 
 mitive Christians, we have seen, performed the 
 
 )' See Selden 's Review, annexed to his Hist, of Tithes, c. 4. 
 p. 462 
 
256 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 thing itself, in as e direct/ and 'more eminent' 
 a manner, as they themselves relate it, than the 
 true Church of God ever did, either before or 
 since ; and that by virtue of a natural, consci- 
 entious, and evangelical obligation lying upon 
 them to do so, wherein the very essence and 
 reason of the duty (in the sense of modern 
 Christians also) wholly does consist. But I 
 have stayed longer than was intended in this 
 digression : if St. Cyprian's expression be some- 
 thing cleared by it, it is all I designed. I shall 
 therefore leave this subject, and close this chap- 
 ter together, and proceed to what follows in the 
 learned Enquiry before me. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 257 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HITHERTO we have heard the proper 
 acts of the clergy only ; those peculiar to 
 the ' laity' are considered next. He briefly 
 mentions, 1st, the means of becoming members 
 of the Church ; and then tells us what powers 
 and actions the ' laity' exerted distinctly by 
 themselves. No controversy need be raised 
 about the former: that baptism makes mem- 
 bers of the Church, I think is agreed by all, 
 who own any ; and that it gives a right to all 
 the peculiar privileges of the Church, that is, 
 to all the spiritual means of grace and salvation, 
 in such order as by divine and apostolical insti- 
 tution they are administered in it, till such time 
 as they forfeit that right by just censures for 
 their faults; I take to be equally true. But 
 our learned Author, in his latter clause upon 
 this head, entitles his lay members to powers 
 and privileges of another nature. They had 
 power, he says, to ' elect their bishops ;' and in 
 case they proved scandalous, heretical, or apo- 
 states from the faith, to ' depose' them too. 
 And these powers he makes so full and proper 
 to 'them,' that he reckons them among the 
 
258 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 ' discretive and particular acts of the laity ' (p. 
 103); insomuch that if they called in any par- 
 ticular bishops, or a synod of bishops, to assist 
 or concur with them in it, he (p. 105) repre- 
 sents that as an act of modesty or discretion 
 only in them, and the power entirely their own. 
 
 Now the laity's 'electing power' 1 have at 
 large considered before, and refer the reader 
 to what I have offered there. Their ' deposing 
 power,' so far as it is maintained here, is wholly 
 grounded upon a single passage in the answer 
 of St. Cyprian and his African synod to the 
 clergy and people of Legio, Asturica, and Eme- 
 rita in Spain. The case of which churches, at 
 that time, was this; their late bishops, Basili- 
 des and Martialis, being notoriously convicted 
 of idolatry, blasphemy, and other crimes of the 
 highest nature, Felix and Sabinus were, by a 
 synod of the province, constituted bishops in 
 their stead. The ejected bishops secretly ap- 
 plied themselves to Stephen, bishop of Rome ; 
 who, knowing little of the merits of the cause, 
 or over-forward, as it is most likely, to shew 
 some prerogative of his see, admits them into 
 his communion, and restores them to their bi- 
 shoprics, as far as his power would go. Upon 
 this, they return to their respective churches, 
 and claim a right to their sees again: the 
 people meet with two great difficulties in this 
 case ; 
 
 First, Whether their old bishops, being re- 
 ceived now into communion with an orthodox 
 bishop of the Catholic Church, had not reco- 
 vered, by that means, a title to their own 
 churches; according to the Catholic rule, that 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 259 
 
 communion with one church, gave a right of 
 communion with all. And, 
 
 Secondly, Whether it were warrantable for 
 them, be their claim never so good, to commu- 
 nicate in all holy offices with such idolatrous 
 and apostate bishops, as Basilides and Martialis 
 were certainly known to be. 
 
 For satisfaction in these points, as appears by 
 the epistle a , wherein the present quotation lies; 
 they write to a provincial synod in Africa, 
 wherein St. Cyprian himself presided at that 
 time. The synod, in answer to the first of 
 their scruples, flatly tells them, that all which 
 pope Stephen 5 had done through the deceitful 
 insinuations of their deprived bishops, could 
 not disannul the regular and just ordination of 
 their new ones, but that Basilides and Martialis 
 were justly deposed, and the others duly or- 
 dained in their room. And if we would know 
 by what power this charge was made, St. Cy- 
 prian will satisfy us ; who in express terms tells 
 us, that " Sabinus's ordination into Basilides' 
 see was by the regular authority of a synod of 
 bishops, who met upon the place for it c ;" and 
 surely Felix's case must have been the same, 
 
 a Cypr. Ep. 67, Edit. Oxon. 
 
 b Nee rescindere ordinationem jure perfectam potest, quod 
 Basilides Stephanum collegam nostrum longe positum, et 
 gestse rei ac taeitae veritatis ignarum fefellit, ut exambiret re- 
 poni se injuste in episcopatum, de quo fuerit juste depositus 
 sed nee Martiali potest profuisse fallacia Cypr. Ep. 67. 
 
 c Quod et apud vos factum videmus in Sabini collegse nostri 
 ordinatione, ut de universes fraternitatis suffragio, (and what 
 that suffragium, means I have shewn before,) et de episcoporum, 
 
 qui in prsesentia convenerant judicio, episcopatus ei de- 
 
 ferretur, et manus ei in locum Basilidis imponeretur. Cypr. f b. 
 3. 
 
 s 2 
 
260 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 since that was the known Catholic practice in 
 those times and places, and both those new 
 bishops were sent by their respective churches d , 
 to represent their common case to the African 
 synod, and both recognised alike as fellow-bi- 
 shops by them all. The deposition therefore 
 was over, and new ordinations ( synodically' 
 passed, before the people wrote to the African 
 council for any advice in their case, and all de- 
 clared by the council to be just and valid, and 
 such as the bishop of Rome could not disannul. 
 What a groundless imagination must it then be, 
 to think that the laity of those churches should 
 enquire anything of that synod about their 
 'own' deposing or electing power, when all of 
 that kind was over in a 'synodical' way before, 
 and that they themselves had approved of what 
 was done ? No ! It is plain enough, by the 
 whole tenor of the council's answer to them, 
 that the two queries above mentioned were the 
 difficulties they wanted to be resolved in ; and 
 that the latter of them, relating to their joining 
 in religious offices with those idolatrous bishops, 
 (supposing their claim to be good,) was directly 
 referred to, and clearly answered by that very 
 quotation, which is here so unduly applied to a 
 * deposing power.' The circumstances they were 
 in, explain the thing ; they had two sorts of com- 
 petitors, claiming a right of ministry amongst 
 them, the deposed idolaters Basilides and Mar- 
 tialis on the one hand, and the orthodox syno- 
 dically ordained Felix and Sabinus on the 
 
 u Legimus literas vestras, quas ad nos per Felicem et Sabi- 
 num co-episcopos nostros pro fidei vestrse integritate fecistis. 
 Ib. 1. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 261 
 
 other ; neither of them of their own setting up, 
 or putting down, but both by the synodical au- 
 thority of the province. Now, which of these 
 competitors they thought themselves obliged to 
 communicate with, the African council told 
 them, ( they had a liberty in that to choose and 
 refuse ;' which is just such a power of making 
 and deposing bishops, as the Israelites had in 
 that solemn competition for the priesthood in 
 the wilderness, when they separated themselves 
 from Corah and his usurping Levites, and kept 
 close to Aaron their lawful high-priest; and 
 the African synod, it is plain, thought no other- 
 wise of it ; for they make that very comparison 
 in this place, and apply the quotation here in- 
 sisted upon immediately to it e . 
 
 And however our learned Author came to 
 strain this clear passage to so very different a 
 sense, he himself (p. 105) was conscious, we 
 find, that at the deposing of any bishop, a con- 
 vention of bishops was always present wherever 
 it could be had ; nay he confesses, the deposing 
 power is directly ascribed (ib.) to synods by the 
 Fathers of the Church; and gives us remark- 
 able instances of it in the cases of Paulus Sa- 
 mosatenus, and Privatus bishop of Lambese, 
 and might have added several more, even where 
 he had these f . But all this synodical solemnity 
 
 e Separamini, inquit, a tabernaculis hominum istorum, &c. 
 propter quod plebs a peccatore prseposito separare se debet, 
 nee se ad sacrilegii sacerdotis sacrificia miscere, quando ipsa 
 maxime habeat potestatem vel eligendi dignos sacer dotes > vel 
 indignos recusandi. Cypr. ib. 
 
 f Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. vii. c. 30. et Cypr, Ep. 55. U. 
 Edit. Oxon. 
 
262 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 (in our Enquirer's account of it) was only 
 through the gracious condescension of the hum- 
 ble people, who would not, though they might 
 and could, do all (p. 105), by virtue of their 
 own power. This is a glorious account of the 
 honourable use and great power of the sacred 
 synods of the primitive Church ; they were to 
 be ready at the summons of any people, who 
 thought it needful to change their bishop ; and 
 why? that the people's actions in it, says he^ 
 might be more ' authentic' and c unquestion- 
 able;' more ' authentic,' it seems, though they 
 themselves, he says, had full authority to do it ; 
 and less ' questionable,' though the African 
 council had just before asserted, and that 
 6 flatly' too (as his words are, that is, ' beyond 
 all question, I think'), the people's power to 
 depose. But further, they allowed the synod 
 to e examine,' says he, ' their complaints and 
 accusations too ;' and so they were commission- 
 ers, besides, to examine witnesses for them, and 
 when that was done, 'they might concur,' he 
 says, ( in the deposition with them ;' and if they 
 only ' might' do so, then they ( might not too;' 
 as this whole hypothesis of his ' popular power' 
 implies it to be needless indeed. Thus the sa- 
 cred synods were to be ornaments and under- 
 officers in this great solemnity, whilst the ' ve- 
 nerable court of laity' proceeded to depose their 
 bishop by their own inherent right and power, 
 and chose another in his room. And which is 
 stranger still, the holy Fathers and historians of 
 these times took a liberty to tell the world, that 
 bishops in their times were deposed ' by synods 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 263 
 
 of bishops' in the Church (for so the learned 
 Enquirer himself immediately shews us that 
 they did), and in the very next breath, unwa- 
 rily owns also (p. 106), that such a provincial 
 synod was ( necessary' in the election or depo- 
 sition of a bishop, against the plain sense of all 
 that he had said before. Such pregnant in- 
 stances of the ( discretive and particular acts of 
 the laity,' as our learned Author undertook to 
 prove them, were these two important privi- 
 leges of ' deposing' and 'electing' bishops for 
 themselves. 
 
 The rest of this chapter sets forth the admi- 
 rable discipline of the ' primitive Church,' in 
 leading her ' adult converts' through all the 
 stages of 6 catechetical instruction,' till she fitted 
 them for the heavenly blessing of her ( holy bap- 
 tism.' A precedent ! of piety and wisdom, fit 
 for all ages to set before their eyes, in train- 
 ing up the younger and unexperienced mem- 
 bers of the Church, though not directly ap- 
 plicable (or very rarely, at least, in the primitive 
 and original use of it) to our own times ; since 
 most Christians are baptized in their infancy 
 now. 
 
 And yet, if we will distinguish justly here 
 (and I am sorry there should be need of f that') 
 between ' constitution itself,' and c personal' neg- 
 lects of it ; between the pious ' laws, orders,' and 
 ' canons,' of our most holy mother the Church of 
 England, and the too-imperfect executing of 
 them indeed, by her sons at this day ; we must 
 own that that faithful parent of ours has not 
 been wanting in making suitable provision for 
 a due instruction of all the tenderest, and 
 
264 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 more undisciplined members of her commu- 
 nion. 
 
 Her care for her very infant members, com- 
 mences with the first hour of their entering into 
 covenant with God. She requires 'duly quali- 
 fied' sureties, as so many spiritual guardians for 
 them, (besides what God and nature gives them 
 in their Christian parents,) to look to their reli- 
 gious education, as soon as the first seeds of 
 reason spring up in them. She conjures these, 
 as a charge then taken upon them, in the pre- 
 sence of God and his Church, to see that they 
 be forthwith taught, as soon as they be able to 
 learn, the nature and importance of their bap- 
 tismal vow, and all other things which a Chris- 
 tian ought to know and believe to the saving of 
 his soul ; dismissing them with her own fervent 
 addresses first to the throne of grace, that that 
 infant Christian might lead the rest of its life 
 according to that beginning: and not content 
 with this, she enjoins g every minister of hers in 
 their respective parishes, to attend continually 
 on this very work; commanding them under 
 penalty of the highest censures she can inflict, 
 * to catechise ' children, youth, and every igno- 
 rant person within their cure, upon every Lord's 
 day, and other holy festivals throughout the 
 year, till they become thoroughly instructed in 
 all the articles of the Christian faith, in the 
 duty of prayer, and all practical rules of a holy 
 life ; and that none may want it, she lays as 
 strict an obligation upon all those, to whom 
 God, nature, and civil laws, have given author- 
 
 * Vide Can. 59. Edit. A, D. 1604. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 265 
 
 ity over the youth and servants of their families, 
 and even upon the young and ignorant ones 
 themselves too, as the power of the keys allows 
 her, to use their respective authority, and do 
 their several parts in carrying on this blessed 
 work, for the good of them all ; that, if possible, 
 no soul might miscarry, or the Church be re- 
 proached, through the ignorance or immorality 
 of any of her members. 
 
 Thus far she goes in the first stage of the ex- 
 cellent primitive discipline ; and before she al- 
 lows them to be perfect communicants with her, 
 she commands examination to be made of the 
 progress of these younger members of hers in 
 this catechetical discipline, and requires all who 
 can give a good account of it, to come and re- 
 ceive greater helps of the Holy Spirit, for their 
 establishment and perseverance in faith and a 
 good life, by the sacred rite of her solemn ' con- 
 firmation ;' and so gradually admits them into 
 the highest class of her blessed children, by the 
 holv eucharist at last. 
 
 fiere is some visible resemblance, an impar- 
 tial eye must see, of the incomparable discipline 
 of the purest ages of the Church ; copies of this 
 nature, we must expect, will fall short of their 
 originals ; and more and more so, by distance 
 of time : but whatever our uncharitable adver- 
 saries may say, it is a comfort to see so fair a 
 draught of it preserved within our own national 
 constitution, to these very last and worst of 
 times. And if we looked calmly ' into things,' 
 instead of aggravating our resentments against 
 6 personal abuses' of them, we should find our 
 
266 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 holy mother the Church has suffered more re- 
 proaches from her enemies, and from too many 
 of her unnatural children too, both in this, 
 and many other parts of her wise and pious 
 constitution, than she has ever deserved of 
 them. 
 
 But to return to the Enquiry again, which 
 after the extraordinary account it has given us 
 of the s peculiar acts' and ' special powers' of 
 the laity of the primitive Church, proceeds to 
 treat next of the ' conjunct acts' of clergy and 
 laity together; wherein the general proposition 
 is this; "that all things belonging to the go- 
 vernment and policy of the Church, were per- 
 formed by their joint consent and administra- 
 tions" (p. 106). The people, on one hand, 
 could do nothing, says he, without their bi- 
 shop, as St. Ignatius, he owns, affirms in ge- 
 neral terms ; and seems satisfied, that in every 
 church it was so. But that the bishops, on the 
 other hand, could do nothing without their peo- 
 ple's consent, he offers nothing more to prove it 
 here, than what I have shewn already is no 
 proof of Catholic practice at all, and much less 
 of ecclesiastical law for it ; and that is, St. Cy- 
 prian's ( private purpose' again, to act in con- 
 cert with his clergy and people in the chief 
 affairs of the government of his church ; which 
 as himself explained it, and other cotemporary 
 witnesses, I have shewn, confirmed it to us, was 
 a voluntary condescension of his own ; and that 
 he used their e advice' and ( information' only 
 in the causes which came before him, and 
 owned no other power or authority in them, or 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 267 
 
 was any ways obliged or bound to do so much 
 as he did in it ; and more than this need not 
 be said here, till we meet with new arguments 
 upon this head, which we must look for in the 
 next chapter. 
 
268 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE constitution of the primitive Church 
 has been the general subject of all that 
 has gone before. The ' discipline ' of it is to be 
 considered now. It is introduced with proper 
 observations of the necessity, nature, and ad- 
 mirable advantages of it; about which there 
 need be no dispute. For that the Christian 
 Church is a true ' society,' and has a govern- 
 ment annexed to it as such ; that it is a spiri- 
 tual one, and therefore her own proper laws, 
 orders, and penalties, purely spiritual too ; that 
 admonitions, excommunications, suspensions, 
 and the like, as our learned Author here ob- 
 serves, are peculiar acts of this spiritual power, 
 is readily agreed ; and all the brightest charac- 
 ters and glorious encomiums, which from the 
 elegant pen of St. Cyprian are here transcribed, 
 concerning the usefulness, excellency, and ne- 
 cessity of this holy discipline, are no more than 
 what are due to it; for, to use the Apostle's 
 words, whatsoever things are true, honest, just, 
 pure, lovely, or of good report, if any virtue or 
 any praise ; they all fade or flourish in propor- 
 tion to the remissness of it; and may the re- 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 269 
 
 spective trustees or stewards in the house of 
 God, to whom any part of this important 
 charge is committed, be ever mindful of it! 
 Who they specially are, and in the primitive 
 Church were ever owned to be, is the question 
 now before us. 
 
 Our learned Enquirer, you see, has just now 
 told us, that the clergy and laity together have 
 a right to this ecclesiastical power, as in joint 
 commission with one another; "they were all 
 judges," as he here further affirms (p. 112), "in 
 the ecclesiastical court;" insomuch that "they 
 perform all things belonging to the government 
 and policy of the Church, by their joint con- 
 sent and administrations." 
 
 His fundamental proof of this, is taken from 
 such interpretations, as he tells us some of the 
 primitive Fathers made of those two eminent 
 texts, where the ' power of the keys' is expressly 
 promised; namely, Matt. xvi. 18, 19, where 
 they are promised to St. Peter only, ' by name ;' 
 and Matt, xviii. 15, 16, 17, 18, where, in ge- 
 neral terms, they seem to be given c to the 
 Church;' and it is somewhat strange, that he 
 takes no notice of a third text, where 'this 
 power' was more solemnly promised, and by a 
 sacred symbol from the mouth of the blessed 
 Jesus, assured to those persons, for whom it 
 will appear, I think, it was peculiarly designed: 
 I mean, that text in St. John xx. 21, 22, 23, 
 where our Lord breathed on those disciples, 
 whom He then sent, as the Father had sent Him, 
 and that is surely the ' Apostles alone' (that 
 very ( mission' confirming the name and title 
 to them), saying, receive the Holy Ghost; whose- 
 
270 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 soever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them, fyc. 
 But I shall not interrupt our learned Enquirer's 
 method, on account of this omission here, but 
 fairly state his arguments in the way he offers 
 them to us. 
 
 This power of e the keys,' as promised to St. 
 Peter, in St. Matt. xvi. 18, 19, he confesses 
 (upon Origen's authority 51 , truly quoted for it) 
 "the bishops of the primitive Church applied 
 to themselves ;" and owns also, that very an- 
 cient Father "allowed it to be orthodox in 
 those bishops to do so, so long as they held 
 Peter's confession, and were such as the Church 
 of Christ might be built upon;" and that is, 
 surely, so long as they were true and orthodox 
 bishops of the Catholic Church. But, what is 
 more surprising to me, he tells us (p. 114) that 
 St. Cyprian himself was of the same opinion 
 also ; and quotes that very passage for the proof 
 of it, which I have elsewhere cited from that 
 holy Martyr upon much the same occasion ; 
 "the Church," says St. Cyprian, "is founded 
 upon the bishops, by whom every ecclesiastical 
 action is governed 5 ." St. Cyprian then thought 
 just the same, it seems, as Origen did in this 
 matter ; that the orthodox bishops might justly 
 claim the power of the keys to themselves 
 alone : though others of the ancients, as the 
 Enquiry adds here, mention this power as given 
 to the 'whole Church,' according to that in St. 
 
 a See Enq. p. 113, et Orig. Comment, in Matth. torn. 12. 
 p. 27 9. vol. 1. Edit. Huetii, Rothomagi, 1668. 
 
 () Ecclesia super episcopos constituatur, et omnis actus Ec- 
 clesiae per eosdem pnepositos gubernetur. Cypr. Ep.27. Edit. 
 Pamel. or Ep. 33. Edit. Oxon. 1. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 271 
 
 Matt, xviii. 15, &c. And how clearly that ap- 
 pears, we shall quickly see. 
 
 But, in the mean time, here is a truth ac- 
 knowledged now; which, if earlier owned, 
 might have prevented a considerable part of 
 this ' elaborate Enquiry ;' for what numerous 
 quotations have we met with? and still shall 
 meet with more, from the venerable St. Cy- 
 prian's works, to prove, that not only presbyters 
 had a ( ruling power' inherent in their orders, 
 in respect of excommunications, absolutions, 
 and such-like manifest acts of the sacred power 
 of the keys; but that the laity also, as well as 
 they, had a share of e legislative, decretive,' and 
 'judicatorial' power in the consistory of the 
 Church. And yet this very St. Cyprian him- 
 self is now declared to have been wholly of that 
 opinion, that the bishops alone, by virtue of the 
 original grant of the keys to St. Peter, did in 
 the primitive Church justly appropriate all that 
 power to themselves. What can more directly 
 confirm all that I have proved at large before in 
 these several particulars ? namely, that whatever 
 part either presbyters, deacons, or people had, 
 in any such authoritative acts of discipline or 
 government in his church, it was upon one or 
 other of these two accounts ; either that St. Cy- 
 prian commissioned some amongst them, whose 
 character and station made them the properer 
 officers, in many cases, to execute some parts of 
 discipline, which he authenticly decreed to be 
 done by virtue of the power of the keys in- 
 vested in himself; or else, that he purely con- 
 descended, according to his humble purpose at 
 the first, to take counsel, information, and ad- 
 
272 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 vice only, from his clergy and people, in all im- 
 portant acts of his administration : and if there 
 had been more in it, he must have practised 
 otherwise than his own opinion of these matters 
 is here truly owned to have been. 
 
 Thus far, then, the ( joint administration' of 
 clergy and people, together with their bishop, 
 in the government of the Church, is set aside 
 by Origen and St. Cyprian's interpretations of 
 the original promise to St. Peter, as to any 
 power the two former were entitled to by it; 
 'from which promise and commission,' as our 
 learned Enquirer (p. 113) owns, 'all power 
 that any church court exerted,' was derived. 
 
 What is offered, then, to balance such evi- 
 dence and authority as this ? Why ! others of 
 the ancients, says our learned Author, mention 
 this power as given to the 6 whole Church,' ac- 
 cording to that in St. Matt, xviii. 17, 18, Tell 
 it unto the Church; but if he neglect to hear the 
 Church) let him be unto thee as a heathen and 
 publican. Verily I say unto you, whatsoever you 
 shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven, fyc. 
 " By the Church here," says he, " is to be un- 
 derstood the whole body of a particular church, 
 or parish, unto which some of the Fathers attri- 
 bute the power of the keys." And yet it is re- 
 markable, that neither of the two Fathers he 
 produces to prove it, argue upon this text at 
 all, but from the two others I have mentioned 
 before ; the one from the grant to St. Peter, in 
 Matt. xvi. 19, the other from St. John, xx. 21, 
 &c. But let us hear their evidence : Tertul- 
 lian's, so far as the Enquirer is pleased to give 
 it us, is this: "If thou fearest heaven to be 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 273 
 
 shut, remember the Lord gave its keys to Peter, 
 and by him to the Church ." The rest of the 
 sentence is; "which keys, every one who is 
 brought to the question here, and confesses 
 [Christ,] will carry along with him." If our 
 Author had thought fit to give us this period 
 6 entire,' and the occasion of it too, we should 
 have needed little more to understand what 
 Tertullian meant. For in what sense do we 
 imagine this penetrating Father should say, 
 that the keys given to Peter were thereby given 
 to the Church ; so that every Martyr, or con- 
 fessor in it, should carry them to heaven with 
 them ? Was it in such a sense, do we think, as 
 it is here required to be taken in ? namely, that 
 they should exercise an ecclesiastical discipline 
 with them ? By that construction we might as 
 well conclude, that they were to continue such 
 a discipline in the other world still. No ! the 
 plain occasion of the words will expound them 
 clearly for us ; he was arguing against heretics, 
 who held it needless for persecuted Christians 
 to confess Christ on earth d : it was enough, 
 they said, to confess him hereafter in heaven. 
 Tertullian replies 6 , there is no coming thither, 
 unless first approved here ; no occasion for such 
 trial there, where no persecution can be ; no 
 fanciful porters, as the chimerical pagans dream, 
 to stop a Christian's coming in; Christ had 
 
 c Si adhuc clausum putas ccelum, memento claves ejus hie 
 Dominum Petro, et per eum Ecclesiae reliquisse, quas hie 
 unusquisque interrogatus atque confessus feret secum. TertuL 
 Scorpiae. p. 496 a. Ed. Rigalt. Venet. 1744. 
 
 d Adseverat diabolus illic confitendum, ut suadeat hie ne- 
 gandum. Tert. ib. 
 
 e Ib. p. 494. 
 
 T 
 
274 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 opened heaven for every true Christian by his 
 own entrance thither. Or if "you think that 
 heaven is shut still," says he, "remember the 
 Lord left the keys to Peter, and by him to the 
 Church, which every one who is brought to the 
 trial here, and confesses Christ, will carry along 
 with him." Here is a manifest advantage de- 
 clared indeed to every member of the Church 
 by the grant of the keys to St. Peter, and of 
 such a nature, that, if they made a right use of 
 it, would help them all to heaven, in reference, 
 no doubt, to our Saviour's words at the first 
 delivery of them, that whatsoever should be 
 bound or loosed on earth by these keys, should 
 be bound or loosed in heaven ; which is a clear 
 comment on Tertullian's words here, and im- 
 plies, that the keys w r ere so given to all the 
 Church in general, that if they made that ad- 
 vantage of them which was intended for them, 
 by duly fitting themselves for the holy absolu- 
 tion appointed to be administered by them, 
 they would find that comfortable sentence rati- 
 fied above; and, peradventure, the virtue of 
 that grant should extend further to martyrs 
 and confessors, through their very confession 
 alone, where no more was to be had, as the 
 common opinion of the ancients was. This 
 comes up, I think, to the sense of Tertullian's 
 whole period, but makes out no particular per- 
 sons ; and much less the whole Church, as en- 
 titled to the present power of those keys, but 
 only that such an universal blessing accrued to 
 the Church by them, and to every member of 
 it, who would fit themselves for that benefit of 
 them. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 275 
 
 Firmilian, bishop of Csesarea in Cappadocia, 
 is joined with Tertullian, as another of the an- 
 cients, who understood 'this promise of the 
 keys' to be made to the ' whole Church.' This 
 venerable Father was arguing, pretty warmly 
 indeed, against Stephen, bishop of Rome, for 
 allowing, that remission of sins could be given 
 ( within the synagogues of heretics,' as his own 
 words are, that is, amongst such as were out of 
 the Catholic Church, urging those two eminent 
 texts to prove the contrary : First, that ' it was 
 Peter alone V to whom Christ said, whatsoever 
 ihou shalt bind in earth, shall be bound in heaven 
 (Matt. xvi. 19); and afterwards, it was the 
 ' Apostles alone,' upon whom he breathed and 
 gave the same power (John xx. 22, 23); and 
 therefore concludes, in the quotation here in- 
 sisted upon, 'that the power of forgiving sins 
 was given to the Apostles, and to the churches 
 which they planted, and to the bishops who 
 succeeded them, by being ordained into their 
 places s." Now, one would be apt to ask this 
 plain question here ; Why did Firmilian so dis- 
 tinctly say this power of the keys was given ' to 
 the bishops,' when he had said, but just before, 
 it was given c to the churches?' Were these bi- 
 shops no part of the churches? Were they not 
 included in them? Or had his argument been 
 any ways more imperfect without that special 
 
 f Qualis error sit, et quanta sit caecitas ejus, qui remissionem 
 peccatorum dicit apud synagogas hsereticorum dari posse. 
 Apud Cypr. Ep. 75. p. 225. Ed. Oxon. Fell. 
 
 ? Potestas ergo peccatorum remittendorum Apostolis data 
 est, et ecclesiis, quas illi a Christo missi constituerunt, et epis- 
 copis qui eis ordinations vicaria successerunt. Ibid. 
 
 T2 
 
276 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 addition, who was only proving that remission 
 of sins was peculiarly and solely within the 
 churches, and had no need to prove more? 
 The least I can conceive of it is this, that 
 the keys, in his opinion, were given 'to the 
 churches' in one sense, and 'to the bishops' in 
 another ; else it was rather tautology j than pro- 
 priety of speaking, to have distinguished the 
 grant so. And if we nearly consider the holy 
 Father's period entire as it is, and observe the 
 application he was to make of it there, we shall 
 see a very different nature of grant affirmed by 
 him ; and discover plainly too, where that dif- 
 ference lies. "The power of remitting sins," 
 says he, "was given to the Apostles,*' and, as 
 the sacred text speaks, (from whence he just 
 then proved it to be so,) it was 'the Apostles 
 alone V and that was, doubtless, without any 
 joint commission to Apostles and brethren to- 
 gether; and then in the same breath, he tells 
 us, that it was "given to the bishops as their 
 successors, by a vicarious ordination". What was 
 this less, than in plain terms to say, that the bi- 
 shops were ordained to enter upon the Apostles' 
 title and possession of that power he was then 
 speaking of, and to hold it in such a manner as 
 they themselves had held it ? so far, I think, 
 Firmilian's own period explains itself. But what 
 did the holy bishop mean, you will say, when 
 in the intermediate comma he tells us, that the 
 "power was given to the churches which the 
 Apostles constituted?" The subject he was 
 upon as clearly explains this clause, as his own 
 
 h In solos Apostolos insufflavit Christus, dicens. Ibid. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 277 
 
 words did the other. He was to prove against 
 pope Stephen, that baptism without the pale of 
 the church was of no force, because remission 
 of sins was only to be had within it. Now, 
 having only proved, by the other two clauses of 
 this period, that the Apostles first, and bishops 
 after them, were in sole and full possession of 
 that power within the churches : this did not 
 undeniably prove yet, but that some one or 
 more of those bishops, being either by just cen- 
 sure or voluntary separation, removed out of 
 their churches, might exercise all their ministry 
 still, with as good effect as before ; and so re- 
 mission of sins might by their means be had as 
 well ' without' as ' within.' Now to obviate such 
 exceptions as these, and to make his argument 
 every way perfect, he adds this clause, "that 
 the power was given to the churches," that is, 
 so peculiarly to 'them,' and 'them' only, that 
 none could either validly use or exercise that 
 power, if once they were gone out of them, or 
 any receive any fruit or benefit of it, but from 
 the hands of such as were in them; and this 
 comes up in every point to the argument he 
 was upon, against the validity of heretical bap- 
 tism. And that this construction of the whole 
 period agrees with the sense, and language too, 
 of this very Firmilian himself, upon a like occa- 
 sion, will evidently appear ; by repeating only 
 a quotation from him out of this very epistle, 
 which we met with some time since in the En- 
 quiry (p. 61) now before us. "All power and 
 grace," says Firmilian, "is constituted in the 
 Church," where elders preside, "who possess 
 the power of baptizing and laying on of hands, 
 
278 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 and ordaining 1 ." Here 'all power' is at large 
 said to be 'in the Church' (an expression every 
 way equivalent to what we dispute of now in 
 this very quotation), and then immediately it is 
 added, that " elders preside there, who possess 
 the power of baptizing, laying on of hands, and 
 ordaining;" and doubtless, had Firmilian's ar- 
 gument required it there, he had gone on and 
 proved that possession of power to have been in 
 the same elders in respect of any other act of 
 government or discipline besides; for the rea- 
 son had been the same, and the limitation of 
 'all power' in that manner imports no less. 
 Now that those 'presiding elders' were true 
 and proper bishops, I have proved at large be- 
 fore, though so much is not required here, since 
 it unquestionably proves these two things : 
 
 First, That though all power was absolutely 
 said to be in the Church, in general terms, yet 
 the 'possession' of it, and that is, I think, the 
 'very power itself,' was in particular hands 
 only. And, 
 
 Secondly, That they were 'presiding elders' 
 only, and that is, in our Enquirer's own appli- 
 cation of it above, they were ' clerical presby- 
 ters ' at least, and consequently the lay brethren, 
 in Firmilian's opinion, had no share of it ; and 
 therefore upon the whole matter, this latter 
 quotation, I conceive, does no ways prove the 
 thing it was brought for. 
 
 To sum up this present argument then, Ori- 
 
 1 Omnis potestas et gratia in Ecclesia constituta sit, ubi 
 praesident majores nati, qui et baptizandi et manum impo 
 nendi et ordinandi possident potestatem. Ep. 75. ut supra, 
 p. 220. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 279 
 
 gen and St. Cyprian did unquestionably own, 
 that true bishops in the primitive Church ap- 
 propriated the ' power of the keys' to them- 
 selves, and that warrantably and orthodoxly 
 too. Tertullian and Firmilian, the two only 
 Fathers here quoted to entitle ' all the brethren' 
 to a joint interest in them, appear to have 
 meant no such thing, in those passages of their 
 works which this learned Author had so care- 
 fully sifted out for it; and therefore I may 
 leave the reader to judge, from what ground- 
 less and unfair premises he has drawn this 
 fundamental inference (upon which all that 
 follows in this chapter depends), namely, that 
 " the power of the keys was so lodged both in 
 bishops and people, that each had some share 
 in it" (p. 115); and, as he distributes it, 'the 
 legislative, decretive,' or ( judicatorial power,' was 
 held in common ' between clergy' and ( laity;' 
 and c the formal executive power only,' consist- 
 ing merely in ' pronouncing sentence,' or the 
 empty e ceremony of imposing hands,' was al- 
 lowed ( peculiar to the clergy.' How he has 
 proved antiquity to agree with him in all this, 
 you have seen already ; for this ( general thesis ' 
 of his has no other of the ancients to vouch for 
 it, than what you have heard just now. Some 
 particulars follow, for better security to the lay 
 brethren, of ( their share ' in this common stocK 
 of ecclesiastical power, which it will be ex- 
 pected I should consider in order as they lie. 
 
 First, then, that " the laity were judges and 
 sharers with the clergy in the judicial power of 
 the spiritual court," he tells us (p. 116), "does 
 most evidently appear" from what he reads in 
 
280 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 Clemens Romanus's first epistle to the Corin- 
 thians. I shall briefly state the subject that 
 holy Father was upon, and then recite the 
 words of this quotation. The church of Co- 
 rinth was fallen into a miserable faction: "a 
 few giddy and audacious men had stirred up 
 the meaner sort against their betters k ; a crew 
 of vile and ignorant wretches," as the holy Fa- 
 ther styles them, " had got a head against the 
 men of wisdom and reputation in the Church, 
 and were for turning out the presbyters, who 
 had been duly placed over them, and had faith- 
 fully discharged their ministry amongst them 1 ." 
 The peaceful Clement affectionately bewails 
 this; exhorts the heads of those seditions to 
 peace, humility, and charity, with an Apostolic 
 spirit indeed; for many pages together, con- 
 jures them to prefer the public interest before 
 their own ; and, in the end, goes so far, as to 
 recommend the great example of Moses to 
 them" 1 , that as that meekest saint on earth had 
 consented that his name should be blotted out 
 of the book of God, rather than the people 
 who had sinned so presumptuously against him, 
 should be consumed by him. So he advises 
 the unhappy authors of that fatal faction, to 
 imitate, if possible, this ' superlative perfec- 
 tion",' and wishes each of them, singly for him- 
 
 irp6ff<aira. 
 
 ILLOI eVi TOVS frriiiovS) ol #8ooi tirl u5^|ous, ol &<ppovs &rl rovs 
 fyoyifjunn. Clem. Epist. ad Corinth. I. 1. et 3. Ed. Ja- 
 cobson. 
 
 1 'Eviovs fyieTs /uerTj-ycfyere /eaAws iroXirevontvovs /e rr}S a/ue/u- 
 rrtas a.\ndis renyuijpt&tys \eirovpytas. Ib. 44. 
 "' Ib. 52. 
 
 Ov TC\i6T7)ros. Ib. 53. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 281 
 
 self, to make this heroic declaration in the au- 
 dience of all : " if this sedition, strife, schisms, 
 are upon the account of me, I withdraw, I go 
 whither you will, and am ready to do whatso- 
 ever the [TO 7r\i]0oi] 9 the multitude, the ma- 
 jority, the people [English it as you please], 
 shall order to be done ; so the flock of Christ 
 may live in peace with the presbyters who are 
 set over them ." Now the ra Trpocrracrcrofjieva 
 VTTO rov irXrjOovs here, that is, the conditions 
 this incensed multitude would insist upon in 
 this case, how unreasonable soever, before they 
 would be quiet, our learned Author offers to 
 us as an act or precept of a regular power in- 
 vested in them ; and that all who loved peace 
 in that church were obliged to do what they 
 thus required to be done ; for he quotes these 
 words ' alone,' as a proof of the people's autho- 
 rity in a consistorial capacity. And me thinks, 
 if this be so, then in the example which the 
 holy Father here proposes for their imitation, 
 it must be taken for no more than an account 
 of justice and duty in holy Moses, to consent 
 to have his name blotted out of the book of 
 God, to save the wicked Israelites from a just 
 punishment of their sin ; for to me the compa- 
 rison plainly seems to lie there, and to import 
 no less. Besides, I cannot but take notice that 
 the word 7rX?7#os, in this place, is a very extra 
 ordinary term to express the laity of any church 
 by, in contradistinction to the clergy of it, and 
 
 Et Si' jui arrdcris., Kal epis, Kal c 
 av /8ovA.77<r0e, Kal iroi<a TO, Trpocrrao'o'S/jieya virb rov 
 vov rb iroifjLj/iov rov Xpicrrov efp^yeuerw /xera T&V 
 puv. Ib. 54. 
 
282 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 much less the laity in consistorial council toge- 
 ther, as the application of it here must imply. 
 I am sure it is the very same word that Cle- 
 ment expresses the idolatrous rebels by, in the 
 case of Moses's controversy with them just be- 
 fore ; and I am apt to think it would be no 
 hardship upon them to translate it 'a tumul- 
 tuous multitude or rabble,' in the circumstances 
 we find it here, and much more agreeable to 
 the vile and sordid character which Clement 
 himself, you see, gave us of them just before. 
 
 After this ' evident proof,' as the Enquiry 
 calls it, from Clement's epistle, the subject runs 
 low, and seems to be exhausted. For to tell us 
 (p. 116) that Origen describes a criminal as ap- 
 pearing ' before the whole church or congrega- 
 tion ;' and that Dionysius of Alexandria should 
 say the like of Serapion, and that 'no one ever 
 took any notice of him,' is such a singular way 
 of proving, that all persons present sate with a 
 'judicial authority' in the Church, as would 
 make every individual person, even women or 
 children, 'a magistrate,' who in any capacity 
 were a proper member of either sacred or civil 
 assemblies. The force of such arguing, if there 
 be any force in it, has been at large considered 
 upon sundry occasions before, especially in the 
 second chapter ; and therefore I may leave it as 
 I find it here. 
 
 All the rest upon this head are only quota- 
 tions from St. Cyprian again, whom he (p. 116) 
 affirms to be more full in this matter (of the 
 'judicial power of the laity' in the spiritual 
 court), than any he has named before. And 
 who can help observing here : 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 283 
 
 What a paradox it is in this learned Author 
 to bring St. Cyprian's authority for a ' popular 
 jurisdiction' in the Church, when he had so 
 freely owned but just before (p. 114), that Cy- 
 prian was of Origen's opinion about the 6 power 
 of the keys ?' Both agreeing, 6 that primitive bi- 
 shops appropriated the grant of them to them- 
 selves, and were very orthodox in doing so.' 
 From whence it must follow also, in the second 
 place, that no personal condescensions in St 
 Cyprian's practice, (upon which the Enquirer's 
 arguments all along run,) can amount to any 
 proof in this matter before us, unless we will 
 make the self-consistent Martyr not to believe 
 and act alike ; which is very hard indeed. 
 
 And yet, since two or three passages in that 
 eminent Father's writings are offered to us, 
 after this, with a peculiar air of plausibility in 
 them, I will fairly represent them, before I leave 
 the subject. 
 
 First, then, we are told p of the great difficul- 
 ties St. Cyprian had to win his people's consent 
 to the absolution of some penitent schismatics ; 
 and, it is true, he had a very affectionate con- 
 flict with them in the case ; but for what ? Was 
 it to gain their ' authoritative vote' as ' fellow- 
 judges' w r ith him, and without whose concur- 
 rence he could not do it, as is here pretended? 
 Three or four particulars in St. Cyprian's rela- 
 
 P Enq. p. 118. si posses, frater charissime, isthic inter- 
 esse nobiscum, cum pravi isti et perversi de schismate rever- 
 tuntur, videres quis mihi labor sit persuadere patientiam fra- 
 tribus nostris, ut animi dolore sopito recipiendis mails curan- 
 disque consentiant. Vix plebi persuadeo, imo extorqueo, ut 
 tales patiantur admitti. Cyp. Ep. 59. p. 137. Ed. Oxon. ' 
 
284 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 tion of it sufficiently shew the contrary. 1st, 
 He calls it their ( patience ' in the case, which 
 he had so much trouble to persuade them to, 
 (as the Enquirer's quotation, noted in the mar- 
 gin, shews,) which is a very extraordinary word 
 indeed, to express an 6 authoritative suffrage' 
 by. 2ndly, In the foregoing paragraph, St. 
 Cyprian tells Cornelius, that " the people were 
 so much against the restoring of some of the 
 more profligate schismatics," that for fear of 
 " scandal, and endangering others by it, he was 
 put to it to know who should, or should not, be 
 admitted into the church" 1 ;" and further adds, 
 "he should be no profitable or well-advised 
 pastor, who should so mingle the infected sheep 
 with the flock, as to grieve the whole flock with 
 a resentment of so much evil amongst them 1 "." 
 From whence it is plain, not only that point of 
 scandal was the great controversy betwixt him 
 and his people ; but also, that it was a single 
 pastor's act and deed which might occasion or 
 prevent that scandal ; sufficiently intimating to 
 us, that that single pastor had the power of re- 
 ceiving or keeping out such exceptionable schis- 
 matics from the communion of the Church; 
 and this directly spoken with reference to him- 
 self. But, 
 
 3rdly, and lastly, To make all clearer still, 
 
 * Nobis sollicite examinantibus qui recipi et admitti ad Ec- 
 clesiam debent; quibusdam enim ita crimina sua obsistunt, 
 aut fratres obstinate et firmiter renituntur, ut recipi omnino 
 non possunt, [nisi] cum scandalo et periculo multorum. Ib. 
 p. 137. 
 
 r Nee utilis aut consultus est pastor qui ita morbidas et con- 
 tactas oves gregi admiscet, ut gregem totum mali cohaerentis 
 afflietatione contaminaret. Ibid. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 285 
 
 St. Cyprian further tells Cornelius, in the same 
 paragraph where this quotation lies, that "he 
 had actually absolved one and another of those 
 schismatics through his own tenderness to them, 
 though the people stiffly withstood and contra- 
 dicted him in it 5 ;" which shews sufficiently 
 what he knew he might have done to all the 
 rest. 
 
 Weigh these few circumstances together, and 
 judge if it were an s authoritative consent' which 
 St. Cyprian wanted of his people. The whole 
 case suits his settled resolution indeed, of ten- 
 derness and condescension to his diocese, but 
 does not in the least impair the fulness of his 
 power. 
 
 Secondly, We are told again (p. 119), that 
 the clerical presbytery, as being more at leisure 
 than the rest, prepared matters for the court, 
 wherein the ( clergy' arid ' laity together' were 
 to pass sentence at last. The proof is thus: 
 some eminent schismatics of Novatian's party, 
 begged to be admitted to communion with Cor- 
 nelius again ; that holy bishop, having been 
 personally applied to before, and thoroughly 
 instructed in the case*, 'was pleased' to call his 
 presbyters together to consult about it; and 
 when he, and they, and five bishops more with 
 them, had concerted that matter there ; and, as 
 the next sentence, wherein the ( quotation' lies, 
 does imply, had absolutely agreed that those 
 
 s Unus atque alius, obnitente plebe et contradicenle, mea 
 tamen facilitate suscepti. Ib. 
 
 1 Omni actu ad me perlato placuit contrahi presbyterium ; 
 adftierunt etiam quinque episcopi. Cypr. Ep. 49. p. 92. Ed, 
 
 Fell. 
 
286 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 penitent schismatics should be admitted to 
 communion again ; then says Cornelius, " what 
 followed was, that all which had been done 
 should be notified to the people";" and why 
 was it to be notified to them ? Cornelius is not 
 wanting to add the reason for it; "that they 
 might see those very persons," says he, "esta- 
 blished in the Church again, whom they had a 
 long time seen as forlorn vagabonds before, and 
 had lamented their condition." Judge you, if 
 this matter had not been thoroughly agreed 
 upon before this ; and whether Cornelius would 
 have spoken thus of 'the people,' if he had 
 wanted their ' authoritative consent' to receive 
 the criminals into his church ; and accordingly, 
 when a great concourse of the people appeared 
 upon this notice of the matter, an universal joy 
 and praise to God ensued upon it, with tears 
 and mutual embracing of the brethren, which 
 in his language indeed, (as I have else where w 
 evidently proved, I think,) he called an ' ingens 
 populi suffragium,' in the close of this relation ; 
 that was, ' their joyful approbation of the resti- 
 tution of them ;' and exclusively of any act of 
 the people at all, he says, in the same breath, 
 "we commanded Maximus the presbyter to 
 take his place again x ." 
 
 Now when our learned Author had c thus' 
 settled, c as you have seen,' an equal share of 
 
 u Quod erat consequens, omnis hie actus populo fuerat in- 
 sinuandus [so far the Enquiry quotes, and leaves out this], ut 
 et ipsos viderent in Ecclesia constitutes, quos errantes et pala- 
 bundos jam diu viderant et dolebant. Ibid. p. 93. 
 
 w Chap. iii. p. 140, supra. 
 
 x Maximum presbyterum locum suum agnoscere jussimus ; 
 c&teros cum ingenti populi suffragio recepimus. Ib. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 287 
 
 'legislative, decretive,' or ' judicatorial' power 
 in the laity of the Church : the next thing was 
 to shew me ' manner' of their executing this 
 power in the solemn acts of public discipline. 
 To which purpose he has set before us the or- 
 dinary form of an ' ecclesiastical consistory' in 
 the primitive Church ; wherein, had he assigned 
 to the several members of it their respective of- 
 fices and powers, as ingeniously as he had repre- 
 sented the thing, we should have found indeed 
 a general scheme of admirable discipline for 
 preventing any long infection of vice or heresy 
 in the Church of God. But one would wonder 
 to see what strained constructions he has made 
 of a few plain passages in St. Cyprian ' again, 5 
 to secure to the laity of the churches their pre- 
 tended share in the administration of that disci- 
 pline. 
 
 Censure, and absolution of criminals, are 
 without doubt the two principal acts of eccle- 
 siastical discipline; and to prove that 'cen- 
 sures' passed by the votes and suffrages of 'the 
 people,' as well as of any of the ( clergy' in the 
 Church, he tells us, St. Cyprian writes thus; 
 " whoever was excommunicated, it was by the 
 divine suffrages of the people y ." The original 
 words he quotes, are in an epistle to ( his peo- 
 ple ' indeed ; but so miserably pointed, so mis- 
 translated and misapplied here, that, to speak 
 the truth, I am surprised at it. St. Cyprian 
 wrote to his people a zealous letter against the 
 schismatical presbyters who had sided with 
 
 y Enq. p. 121. Secundum vestra divina suffragia conjurati. 
 Ep. 43. p. 82. Ed. Fell. 
 
288 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 Felicissimus ; telling them " that by God's 
 providence they had met with the punishment 
 they deserved; for without my knowledge/' 
 says he, " and beyond what I wished, and even 
 whilst I said nothing, and excused their fault, 
 those confederate and wicked wretches," says 
 he, " not cast out by us, have of their own ac- 
 cord turned out themselves ; convicted in their 
 own conscience, they pronounced their own 
 sentence, according to your divine suffrages 2 ." 
 What can be plainer here, than this : That nei- 
 ther St. Cyprian, nor his f clergy, nor his peo- 
 ple,' had any hand in this extraordinary excom- 
 munication ? It was the schismatics' own act 
 and deed, by a voluntary separation, and no- 
 thing more in it. But what mean those words 
 of the holy bishop, you will say then, " accord- 
 ing to your divine suffrages?" They plainly 
 mean, as I just now said, arid have proved be- 
 fore, what this word 'suffrage' does almost al- 
 ways signify in this holy Father's language ; 
 namely, that those self-condemning schismatics 
 had done ' what the people very well approved 
 of,> and liked it should be so.' What sort of 
 translation therefore this learned Author gave 
 us of this passage, and what a groundless appli- 
 cation he made of it, I conceive is pretty clear ; 
 and how unintelligibly it is pointed also, to 
 countenance that application of it, the reader 
 may see, by comparing the Enquirer's small 
 
 z De Dei providentia, nobis nee volentibus, nee optantibus, 
 imo et ignoscentibus et tacentibus, poenas quas meruerant re- 
 penderunt, ut a nobis non ejecti ultro se ejicerent ipsi in se 
 pro conscientia sua sententiam darent, secundum vestra divina 
 suftragia, conjurati et seelerati de Ecclesia sponte se pelle- 
 rent. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 289 
 
 clause of it, with the entire transcript of the 
 whole period, which I have joined together in 
 the margin. 
 
 This is all the authority offered for the peo- 
 ple's judicial power in 'the censures' of the pri- 
 mitive Church. But then. 
 
 Secondly, To prove 'they' could 'loose,' as 
 well as 'bind,' he assures us (p. 130), the peni- 
 tents applied themselves to 'this ecclesiastical 
 court of his for their absolution.' For St. Cy- 
 prian, he finds, amongst other things, tells us, 
 that the "life and demeanour of the penitent 
 was to be looked into a ," before he was absolved, 
 and therefore concludes, it needs must be, that 
 the penitent offender went to beg his absolution 
 c of the consistory;' and if that clause, or any 
 context in the place where it is, warrants such 
 a conclusion as that, I must own it is a way of 
 reasoning I cannot comprehend ; and therefore 
 shall leave it to the more judicious reader to 
 make the most of it he can. 
 
 And by the same way of reasoning again, he 
 supports all those positive and important asser- 
 tions of his, relating to this matter; namely, 
 that the joint assembly of all the laity and 
 clergy in the Church had the proper right of 
 judging (p. 126) the sufficiency or insufficiency 
 of a censured person's repentance ; the right of 
 (ibid.) admitting him by degrees into part, or a 
 full communion with the Church ; the right of 
 (p. 129) continuing offenders for a longer or 
 shorter time in the 'penitentiary station,' and 
 
 a Inspecta vita ejus qui agit pcenitentiam. Cypr. Ep.~17. 
 p. 39. 
 
 U 
 
290 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 lastly, a full right or power (p. 130) to 'assoil' 
 or f absolve ' them ; insomuch that the imposi- 
 tion of the bishop's and clergy's hands upon 
 them, was a mere ' declarative act' (p. 133), and 
 no more than a barren 'form' of admitting 
 them to the Church's peace. Now, not to 
 trouble the reader with a repetition of what 
 has so largely been cleared before, concerning 
 the use St. Cyprian made both of his clergy and 
 people, as well in all causes within his own pri- 
 vate consistory, as in that eminent council for 
 trial of the lapsed brethren (from whence all 
 that is offered from him, upon these several 
 points, is taken and misapplied again), I shall, 
 once for all, shew how very different that holy 
 Father's judgment was from that of this ( learned 
 Enquirer,' in relation to all the main points he 
 here quotes him for. And, 
 
 First, The Enquiry tells us (p. 112, 113), that 
 "both clergy and laity were all of them judges 
 in the ecclesiastical court," and (p. 117) that 
 " the people as well as the bishops had each of 
 them a negative voice." St. Cyprian as expressly 
 says, "there is but one judge in the Church at 
 a time, as Christ's vicegerent there 5 ." 
 
 Secondly, The Enquiry tells us (p. 130), the 
 "consistory court did actually assoil or absolve 
 the penitent ." St. Cyprian says, "absolution 
 was a remission of sins effected by the priests, 
 and acceptable to God." 
 
 Thirdly, The Enquiry says (p. 133), that 
 
 b Unus in Ecclesia ad tempus sacerdos, et ad tempu&,judex 
 vice Christi. Ep. 59. p. 129. Ed. Fell. 
 
 c Remissio facta per sacerdotes apud Dominum grata est. 
 Cypr. de Lcipsis, p. 134. Edit. Oxon. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 291 
 
 "imposition of hands by the bishops and clergy, 
 was a mere formal ceremony, declarative only 
 of an absolution passed by the consistory." St. 
 Cyprian says, " the hand of the priest conduced 
 to the purging of the conscience d ;" and where 
 he describes the whole course of a censured per- 
 son's recovery, " if he repents," says he, " does 
 good works, and prays to God for it, God can 
 pardon such an one, and what the martyrs 
 should request, and the priests should do for 
 such persons, might be accepted of him 6 ." 
 
 Fourthly, Whereas the Enquiry says (p. 126 
 and 129), that "his ecclesiastical court was to 
 judge of the reality of a censured person's re- 
 pentance, and according to their will and plea- 
 sure they were to continue a longer or shorter 
 time in the penitentiary station ;" St. Cyprian 
 says, "it was the peculiar part or province of 
 the governors of the Church (exclusive of the 
 lay-brethren, to be sure) to order ignorant or 
 over-hasty penitents in that matter f ;" for "to 
 grant them," says he, "those things which 
 would turn to their destruction (that is, for 
 those governors to permit them to be absolved 
 before they judged they were fit for it), 
 would be plainly to deceive them, and they 
 would be rather butchers than pastors of the 
 sheep." The office of ordering their absolu- 
 
 d Ante purgatam conscientiam sacrificio et manu sacerdotit, 
 pacem putant esse. De Lapsis, p. 128. 
 
 e Poenitenti, operanti, roganti, potest clementer ignoscere 
 (Deus,) potest in acceptum referre quicquid pro talibus et pe- 
 tierint martyres, etfecerint sacerdotes. Ib. p. 138. 
 
 f Prcepositorum est, properantes vel ignorantes instruere, ne 
 qui ovium pastores esse debent, lanii fiant ; ea enim concedere, 
 quae in perniciem vertant, decipere est. Ep. 15. Edit. Oxon. 
 
 u 2 
 
292 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 tions sooner or later, and the guilt of an over- 
 hasty absolution, is fastened, you see, upon the 
 governors or pastors of the Church alone ; 
 where must we think then the power lay? 
 And agreeable to this, when the martyrs were 
 importunate to have some lapsed brethren ab- 
 solved, who were unqualified for it, St. Cyprian 
 argues, they " could not put the bishops upon 
 doing that which was against the command of 
 God g ." Why put the 'bishops only' upon it? 
 How is the whole consistory forgot in such an 
 important act of their power as this? Sure, if 
 they had had a negative, and it had been done 
 amiss, the guilt as well as power would have 
 been shared amongst them, and they would not 
 have been overlooked. But, 
 
 Fifthly and lastly, St. Cyprian assures us, that 
 his own presbyters sent to him alone for his ' au- 
 thoritative order,' upon the like occasion with 
 this ; for so the ' forma,' as the holy bishop calls 
 it, plainly does imply; which he immediately 
 explains thus : " you desired a form," says he, 
 "of me, in relation to some lapsed brethren, 
 who were very pressing with you to be speedily 
 absolved ; I wrote my mind very fully," I think, 
 "upon that matter, in my last letters to you h ;" 
 and then proceeds to tell them the contents of 
 them, which was no less than a positive f au- 
 
 s Ut ab episcopis contra mandatum Dei fiat, auctores esse 
 non possunt. 
 
 h Significastis quosdam immoderatos esse, et comrnimica- 
 tionem accipiendam festinanter urgere ; et desiderastis in hac 
 re formam a me vobis dare. Satis plene scripsisse me ad hanc 
 rem proximis literis ad vos factis credo, ut qui libellum acce- 
 perunt, &c. manu eis in pcenitentia a vobis imposita 
 cum pace ad Dominum remittantur. Ep. 19. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, 293 
 
 thority and order' for them to act by, in absolv- 
 ing some, on such conditions as he there pre- 
 scribed, and leaving others as they were, till 
 public peace should be restored again. 
 
 Endless were quotations from that excellent 
 Father upon these heads. What part he allowed 
 the lay-brethren of the Church in each of them, 
 I leave the world to judge from the few I have 
 produced here, and only hope and pray that 
 truth will clear itself at last, on whichsoever 
 side it lies, and be impartially embraced by all 
 the lovers of it. 
 
294 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 WE have heard, at large, the excellent dis- 
 cipline of the primitive Church. Our 
 learned Author makes this remark upon it here ; 
 " that all those judicial acts were exerted in and 
 by every single parish;" which being wholly 
 grounded upon his own precarious principle, 
 that a primitive Church, or diocese, and a mo- 
 dern parish, or congregation, were one and the 
 same thing, I shall refer the reader to what I 
 have said before a in answer to that unwarrant- 
 able notion of ' congregational dioceses,' and 
 only confirm the authorities, then produced 
 against it, with one single instance here; which 
 I take to be a clear proof, though nothing had 
 been said before, against that whole hypothesis, 
 and the present observation from it. 
 
 The instance is this: Nepos, a bishop in 
 Egypt 5 , had corrupted most of the Christians 
 
 a Vide supra, cap. ii. 
 
 b 3 Ev rep 'Apffivoeirr) y^v6jjivos^ tvOa irpb TTO\\OV rovro 
 Aae TO fi6y/j.a cri/7/raA.eVas rovs irpecrfivrfpovs KOI SiSacr 
 T&V fv TCUS K(a/JLaLS deA$aJ*/, Tra.p6vTwv KOI rwv ftovXo^.v<a 
 $a>y, ftr)fj.o(ria. r^v Qeraffiv Troiyaao'Ocu rov \6yov irp 
 Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 1. vii. c. 24. 5. Ed. Burton. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 295 
 
 about him with the erroneous doctrine of the 
 Millenaries; Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, 
 goes into that region of Egypt, called Arsinoe, 
 where he had done that mischief, and (Nepos 
 himself being lately dead) summoned in " the 
 presbyters and teachers of the brethren in the 
 several villages there, together with as many of 
 the brethren as were willing to come," to hold 
 a solemn conference and public disputation upon 
 that subject; and after three days' reasoning 
 with them, happily brought them off from their 
 mistaken opinions. 
 
 Now who, do we think, were these ( presby- 
 ters and teachers of the brethren in the several 
 villages there,' summoned in by Dionysius upon 
 this occasion? And in what capacity did they 
 exercise their ministry in teaching the brethren 
 committed to their care ? Not as supreme pas- 
 tors over the several congregations of them ; for 
 Dionysius himself, and the whole Catholic 
 Church in that age, ever distinguished such 
 pastors by the proper name and title of ' bi- 
 shops ;' and accordingly the late deceased Ne- 
 pos is so styled here c . If they were not village 
 curates, therefore, instituted and deputed to 
 their respective cures there by the bishop of 
 the neighbouring city of Arsinoe (and possibly 
 of some others in that province too), these con- 
 gregations, or religious assemblies of Christians 
 under teaching ministers, were members of no 
 church at all ; for, without a bishop, all agree, 
 they could not be so ; and that Dionysius, and 
 Etisebius with him, should call ' bishops' by the 
 
 c Nejrcw eVi'ovcoTTos TWV /car' AXyvirrov. Ib. 
 
296 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 name of ( presbyters and teachers of the bre- 
 thren in villages and hamlets up and down the 
 country/ is what no modest antiquary, 1 verily 
 believe, will affirm. It remains, therefore, that 
 they must have been ' congregational parishes' 
 relating to some mother church, where their 
 bishop resided; and consequently no one of 
 them was an entire, ' particular' church, in the 
 sense of antiquity, or ( could exercise judicial 
 acts of ecclesiastical discipline within them- 
 selves ;' for St. Ignatius's maxim is owned by 
 this learned Enquirer himself, and by all the 
 ancients with him, ( that without the bishop it 
 was not lawful to do any thing d . ? 
 
 What follows, is a just account from antiquity 
 of the admirable harmony and mutual corre- 
 spondence of every particular church with one 
 another in those primitive times ; which was so 
 blessed a precedent of unity indeed throughout 
 the Catholic Church, as every succeeding age, 
 how degenerate soever, must have a veneration 
 for, and all good men must lament the fatal 
 breaches which uncharitable schisms have made 
 in it since, and with a holy, though hopeless 
 emulation, I am afraid, in these divided times 
 of ours, must wish and pray, at least, to see 
 such heavenly concord in the churches upon 
 earth again, Yet, however irrecoverable so 
 great a blessing may seem to be, let every dis- 
 ciple of the peaceful Jesus so far contribute to 
 it still, as to ask his own heart, with all the 
 strictness and sincerity he possibly can, what 
 occasion he, in particular, has given for so mi- 
 
 d OVK e'&> eVrt;/ avcuyKouov e<mv &/ev T 
 
 der irpda'O'eij'. Enq. p. 17. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 297 
 
 serable a change ; by which means he may hap- 
 pily find a way to acquit himself, at least, 
 (which would be no small comfort to him,) 
 though, for the present, he has but little further 
 hopes in view. 
 
 The rest of this chapter treats of the inter- 
 course and government of the primitive churches 
 by synodical assemblies ; the proper members of 
 which assemblies, the Enquirer tells us (p. 143), 
 were " bishops, presbyters, deacons, and deputed 
 laymen, in behalf of the people of their respec- 
 tive churches." Though a little after (p. 148), 
 he says again, that Firmilian's yearly synods 
 were rather mere 'clerical convocations,' and 
 consisted of ( bishops' and ( presbyters' only. 
 However, to prove that all those orders of men 
 were members of a primitive synod, he pro- 
 duces two passages from Eusebius, which make 
 it not unlikely that some of each of them might 
 be present at the councils he there refers to. 
 And, 
 
 First, In the great council of Antioch, which 
 condemned Paulus Samosatenus, there "were 
 present," says he, " bishops, presbyters, dea- 
 cons," and the "churches of God 6 ;" (by their 
 lay-representatives, as he explains it) because, 
 in the synodical epistle which the Fathers of 
 that council sent to the Christian churches 
 abroad, after the council was over, they sent 
 the joint salutation of all of them, together with 
 their own. And, 
 
 Secondly (p. 143), "When the heresy of the 
 Montanists was fixed and preached, the faithful 
 
 e Enq. p. 143. Ex Epist. Synod. Apud Euseb. 1. vii. c. 30. 
 
298 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 in Asia/' says an anonymous author in Euse- 
 bius, "met together several times to examine 
 it ; and, upon examination, condemned it." 
 
 The argument from the former of these au- 
 thorities is plainly no more than this: there 
 were, ' probably/ present in that council of 
 Antioch, some of all those orders of men ; 
 therefore they were all there as * proper mem- 
 bers' of the council.' 
 
 Now, to be ( really present' in any court or 
 council, and to have a 'right of membership' 
 and ( session' there, are, doubtless, very different 
 things. And, to judge aright where this dif- 
 ference lies in the present case before us, let 
 these few particulars be considered : 
 
 First, That bishops were so absolutely neces- 
 sary and essential members of the primitive 
 councils, that a ' convention of bishops' and a 
 ' primitive council,' in the familiar language of 
 the ancients, were convertible terms. And this 
 our learned Enquirer is very sensible of, who 
 tells us, from Eusebius, that "Polycrates pre- 
 sided over a synod of bishops f ," which was no 
 other than the great ( council of Asia' assembled 
 about the controversy of keeping Easter. And, 
 in another place, he says (p. 105), "Privatus, 
 bishop of Lambese, was deposed by a synod of 
 ninety bishops." In both which places, it is 
 manifest, a convention, or synod of bishops, 
 and a primitive council, were one and the same 
 thing ; and it were endless to produce instances 
 of this kind. The ancients, therefore, bear suf- 
 ficient witness, that bishops were necessary, at 
 
 f Enq. p. 145. Euseb. Eccl. Hist. 1. y. c. 23, 24. ' 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 299 
 
 least, if not the only, members of a primitive 
 council. Whereas, 
 
 Secondly, No passage in antiquity, I have 
 ever heard of, affirms so much, in either re- 
 spect, either of presbyters, deacons, or people, 
 how often soever we may hear of them, as being 
 present at them; nor do I think our diligent 
 Enquirer could have overlooked it, had there 
 been any such passage to be found ; and sure it 
 is, he offers no such thing. 
 
 This express evidence, therefore, of antiquity 
 on the one side, and entire silence on the other, 
 gives a fair occasion to distinguish who were 
 necessarily present, and who occasionally, or 
 prudentially called thither; especially, if we 
 consider in the third and last place, 
 
 Thirdly, That whosoever were present in any 
 primitive council, the f whole right' of vote, or 
 suffrage, in passing any acts or canons there, 
 was peculiar to the ' bishops' alone. And this 
 our learned Enquirer has made clear to my 
 hand in one of the most eminent instances, 
 which the writings of the ancients can afford us. 
 For, in the page just before referred to (p. 145), 
 he tells us, " the office and duty of a moderator 
 in a synod was," amongst other things, " to take 
 the votes and suffrages of the members of the 
 synod; and last of all, to give his own; as is 
 evident," says he, "in the proceedings of the 
 council of Carthage, which are extant at the 
 end of St. Cyprian's works. Cyprian, being 
 moderator, sums up all, telling the synod what 
 they had heard: and that nothing more re- 
 mained to be done, but the declaration of 
 their judgment thereupon. Accordingly, the 
 
300 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 bishops gave their respective votes and deci- 
 sions; and last of all, Cyprian, as president, 
 gave in his." 
 
 In this account you find, 
 
 First, That St. Cyprian, as moderator, took 
 the votes and suffrages of 6 the members' of that 
 council ; and if St. Cyprian's own authority may 
 be taken, they were ' bishops only,' whose votes 
 and suffrages he took there ; and therefore ( bi- 
 shops only,' in the Enquirer's account, were 
 ( members' of it. The proceedings of the coun- 
 cil, at the end of St. Cyprian's works, which this 
 Author appeals to, manifestly prove as much. 
 At the opening of the council g , we find there, 
 some few learned letters were read, containing 
 the full sense and substance of the controversy 
 they met about ; as any one who pleases to pe- 
 ruse them will quickly see. As soon as those 
 letters were read, St. Cyprian, the moderator, 
 addresses to his fellow-bishops to this effect: 
 " You have heard, my beloved colleagues," says 
 he, "what has been ' written' on one side and 
 the other ; and now what remains, is only this, 
 that each of us \_ ( the bishops here present,' for 
 so the context obliges us to read it] do give in 
 our respective votes and suffrages, or declare 
 our opinions in the case, which accordingly the 
 bishops there present immediately did, being in 
 number eighty-seven ;" and their suffrages alone 
 
 s Cum in unum convenissent, et lectse essent literse, Cypria- 
 nus dixit ; audistis, collegcB dilectissimi, quid mihi Jubaianus 
 co-episcopus noster scripserit, et quid ego ei rescripserim 
 
 lectse sunt vobis et alise Jubaiani literse superest, ut de 
 
 hac re, singuli quid sentiamus, proferamus. Cypr. in Exord. 
 Cone. Carthag. A. D. 256. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 301 
 
 (so obtained and given, as I have shewn you 
 now) are recorded by St. Cyprian himself, as 
 the e whole' of that council. And what room 
 is left here, for any one order of men, there pre- 
 sent, to have any part or interest in it, besides 
 the ' bishops only?' 
 
 Nor does our Enquirer's own representation 
 of it imply less than this. St. Cyprian, says he, 
 in summing up all, told the ( synod' what they 
 had heard, and called upon c them' (that is, 
 upon the f synod' again), to declare ( their judg- 
 ment;' and how did this ' synod' (which were 
 surely all the members of it) declare their ' judg- 
 ment' in the case; Why, the e bishops accord- 
 ingly,' says he, ' gave their respective votes and 
 decisions, and last of all Cyprian gave in his.' 
 Can anything be clearer, than that the ( bishops 
 alone' are owned in this account to be the 
 ' whole synod,' to whom alone their president 
 applied himself for votes, and that no others 
 gave in any? 
 
 And if this eminent council (which I may 
 justly call the brightest precedent of primitive 
 synods, within the times prescribed by the JCn- 
 quiry) had presbyters, deacons, and a great part 
 of the people present at it, and yet the bishops 
 only were addressed to under the name and 
 title of c the synod,' had the sole right of suf- 
 frage, and determined all there; what would 
 our learned Author gather more from Euse- 
 bius's account of the council at Antioch h , which 
 condemned Paulus Samosatenus, supposing that 
 historian had plainly said, that all those orders 
 
 h Euseb. H. E. 1. vii. c. 30. 
 
302 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 of men were present there also, both at the 
 time of debate, and when the sentence passed 
 too? Why should we think they proceeded 
 otherwise there, than the practice of synods in 
 those times appears to have been, by the evi- 
 dent example of St. Cyprian's council now men- 
 tioned ? The reason of the thing itself must in- 
 cline us to believe they did not, and no particu- 
 lar reason is offered to make us think otherwise. 
 Though, after all, the quotation from Eusebius, 
 wherein the ( churches' in general terms, as well 
 as bishops, presbyters, and deacons, are named, 
 is no part of any { synodical act,' or so much as 
 of a ( debate ' in that council, but barely a part 
 of the formal salutation in the synodical epistle 
 sent by the Fathers of the council to the Catho- 
 lic Churches abroad, after the council was over, 
 (and the Enquiry (p. 143) quotes it as such,) 
 wherein those venerable prelates, who in the 
 sense of antiquity were the proper representa- 
 tives 1 of the churches they presided in, sent the 
 salutation of their respective churches to the 
 sister churches in all other parts, together with 
 their own. By which, the historian himself so 
 little understood 'them,' or any lay-represen- 
 tatives of theirs, to be proper members of that 
 council, that when he speaks expressly of the 
 first meeting of it, it was a ' convention of bi- 
 shops,' as he tells us, who assembled at Antioch, 
 to suppress that open enemy of the Church ; 
 and no other order of men does he make men- 
 tion of, as belonging to that council. His words 
 are these: "Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria 1 ", 
 
 1 Ecclesia in episcopo, Cypr. Ep. 66. Edit. Oxon. 
 
 k C O /cor' 'AAelai/Spgiay Aiovvcnos ynpas alriacrd^yos 5t 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 303 
 
 by reason of his old age, sent his suffrage by a 
 letter to them ; but the rest of the pastors of 
 the churches [that is, plainly, such as Dionysius 
 was,] came together there from every quarter to 
 oppose that destructive ravager of the flock of 
 Christ 1 ;" and when he mentions the last ses- 
 sion, wherein Paulus was actually condemned, 
 he calls it "a synod of innumerable bishops, 
 which met there, and cast him out of the Ca- 
 tholic Church." This was Eusebius's Antio- 
 chian council, which deposed Paulus, and no 
 others mentioned to concur with them in it. 
 
 The other authority from the same historian 
 will soon appear to be much the same with this. 
 " The faithful in Asia," says an anonymous Aur 
 thor cited there" 1 , "met together to examine 
 and condemn the growing errors of the Monta- 
 nists." Now the ' ol jrurTolJ or the ' faithful,' 
 here mentioned, must not be understood, I con- 
 ceive, in the f peculiar and appropriated' notion 
 of them in the primitive Church, by which they 
 signified only the " highest station of the Chris- 
 tian laity, admitted to all the mysteries of it n ;" 
 for then those Asiatic synods would have had 
 neither bishops, priests, nor deacons in them, 
 which I presume is not pretended ; they must 
 
 Trapa<TT-f)(ras. Ol 8e \oiirol r<av K- 
 K\f]ffi(av Trot/ueVes &\\os foJaoBev us eVi \v/j.wva rrjs TOV Xpurrov 
 iroi/jLvns ffvvitffoLv. Euseb. Eccl. Hist. 1. vii. c. 27. p. 518. Ed. 
 Burton. 
 
 I T\vratas ffvyKporrjOfio-Tfjs irtetovan/ offvv sTriVKfatov <rvv6ov 
 Ka.Ta.yv<affQeis rijs KafloAi/ojs 'E/c/cA^truis KKr)pvTTercu. Ib. 
 cap. 29. 
 
 " Euseb. H. E. 1. v. c. 16. 
 
 II See Dr. Cave's Prim. Christian, part 1. c. 9. p. 219. Edit. 
 3. in 8vo. Ib76. 
 
304 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 be taken therefore in the more general sense, 
 for e true and orthodox believers ;' in opposition 
 to infidels on the one hand (as our blessed Lord 
 uses that distinction, John xx. 27), and of here- 
 tics on the other, as the distinction between the 
 Montanists and them require them to be un- 
 derstood indeed in this present quotation ; and 
 then what sort of evidence is given here, to 
 prove that this or the other order of Christians 
 acted with synodical right and authority in 
 those assemblies; or indeed to prove what ' par- 
 ticular orders' of them were present there, by 
 telling us only, that true and orthodox Chris- 
 tians met together to examine and condemn the 
 heresy of the Montanists ? Which is all that ano- 
 nymous author says of it. 
 
 To strengthen these authorities from Euse- 
 bius, we are put in mind again (p. 143) of that 
 eminent council, which St. Cyprian so often 
 promised to call, as soon as the Church's peace 
 was restored, about the ' case of the lapsed ;' 
 assuring his people again and again (p. 144), 
 that "bishops, presbyters, deacons, and the 
 standing laity should all be present at it ;" and 
 further, that the "Martyrs, Confessors, and 
 whole body of the Clergy of Rome highly ap- 
 proved of such a general convention upon that 
 occasion." And why such careful and repeated 
 assurances, one would be apt to say, of calling 
 all those orders of men to that particular coun- 
 cil, if all of them had a right of session in every 
 council, of course ? Or why such signal notice 
 taken of the Roman Martyrs, Confessors, and 
 whole clergy's approving so much this wise pro- 
 position of the venerable bishop of Carthage 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 305 
 
 upon that occasion, if he could not hold a synod 
 without them ? These very circumstances would 
 incline a man to think, that all those orders of 
 Christians were not the ordinary and necessary 
 members of every ecclesiastical synod ; but that 
 something extraordinary made it advisable to 
 have them present then ; and that St. Cyprian 
 himself assigned such a peculiar reason for it, is 
 observable wherever he made mention of it; 
 and because the clergy of Rome (whose author- 
 ity is here quoted) not only confirm, but further 
 explain that reason of his, I shall briefly shew 
 you their declared opinion of it, as being one 
 and the same with his. 
 
 They approved St. Cyprian's whole scheme, 
 as they tell him , of that great council, 'in so 
 momentous a case,' upon account of a double 
 advantage of it. 
 
 First, " Because it seemed a hard matter to 
 them, how so great a number of persons," as 
 were likely to appear criminals in that case, 
 " could duly be examined, without a great num- 
 ber assisting in it." And, 
 
 Secondly, "That it would be an invidious 
 thing," in their opinion also, " for any one sin- 
 gle person to pass his sentence upon criminals 
 
 Quamquam nobis in tarn ingenti negotio placeat^ quod 
 
 et tu ipse tractasti prius perquam enim nobis et invidio- 
 
 sum et onerosum videtur, non per multos examinare, quod per 
 multos commissum videatur ; et unum sententiam dicere, cum 
 tam grande crimen per multos diffusum notetur exisse ; quo- 
 niam nee firmum decretum potest esse, quod non plurimorum 
 videbitur habuisse consensum ; aspice totum orbem pene vas- 
 
 tatum et idcirco tam grande expeti concilium quam late 
 
 propagatum videtur esse delictum. Cypr. Ep. 30. Edit. 
 Oxon. 
 
 X 
 
306 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 in so universal a cause as that was, wherein the 
 whole world, in a manner, was concerned as 
 well as himself; and that such a private decree, 
 without the concurrence of more with him, 
 would scarcely be thought authentic enough in 
 so very public a concern." 
 
 In which declaration these particulars seem 
 clear. 
 
 First, That the Roman clergy conceived St. 
 Cyprian must either try the lapsed brethren of 
 his diocese, by a private consistory of his own, 
 or else in a public council convened for that 
 purpose. 
 
 Secondly, That if he had tried them the 
 ' former way,' then he himself had been the 
 6 one only judge' in the case; for what other 
 sense can be made of their ( unum sententiam 
 dicere' here urged as an invidious thing, in 
 case he had not called a council for it ? where 
 I desire the reader to take notice, by the way, 
 how plainly this Roman clergy place the ' whole 
 judicial power' of a diocesan consistory in a 
 single person, that is, in the bishop alone. 
 
 But Thirdly, and lastly, They therefore ap- 
 proved his whole design of calling so numerous 
 a council, both of his own clergy and people at 
 home, and of as many bishops as could be got 
 from abroad ; because, not only the examination 
 of so many criminals would be managed with 
 greater ease and less envy, if all the brethren 
 were present, and assisted the bishops in it 
 (which plainly shews they argued upon no 
 right belonging to them there), but likewise the 
 decree and censure, which should pass upon the 
 offenders at last, would be more firm and satis- 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 307 
 
 factory to the whole Christian world, who had 
 so great an interest in it ; because, it would not 
 be the decree or sentence of one only bishop 
 then, as it must have been in the other case, 
 but would have the consent of ' many ;' that is, 
 of many such as that 'one' was; for the word 
 'plurimorum' in the latter clause, is set in plain 
 opposition to the f unum' in the former. By 
 which it appears, what an entire synodical right 
 and power this Roman clergy attributes to the 
 bishops in that council, and what an occasional 
 and prudential reason they assign for so many 
 others being present there also; which agrees 
 with St. Cyprian's own account of the same 
 council ; who, as often as he wrote about the 
 vast number of the lapsed, the importance of 
 that case, and the public interest of all the 
 churches in it, assured his people and all his 
 correspondents, that every order of the Church 
 should be present at the solemn trial of those 
 lapsed brethren. But when he acquainted Ju- 
 baianus, how that trial was carried on, he ex- 
 presses himself only thus : " a numerous assem- 
 bly of us bishops," says he, " met after the per- 
 secution was over, and such and such moderate 
 decrees we passed there p ; and if such a num- 
 ber of bishops in Africa," as he further relates 
 the matter, "may not seem to be sufficient 11 
 (placing the sufficiency of the council, you see, 
 
 P Persecutione resopita in unum convenimus copiosus et epis- 
 coporum numerus, et temperamentum libravimus. Cypr. Ep. 
 55. Edit. Oxon. 
 
 * Ac si minus sufficiens episcoporum in Africa numerus vi- 
 debatur, etiam Romam super hac rescripsimus ad Cornelium 
 
 qui ipse cum plurimis co-episcopis habito concilia con- 
 
 sensit. Cypr. Ep. 55. Edit. Oxon. 
 
 x2 
 
308 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 in the number of the bishops there), we wrote 
 also to Cornelius of Rome, who, holding a coun- 
 cil with many of his fellow-bishops, fully agreed 
 with us." The councils, therefore, as such, are 
 familiarly styled 'a pure convention of bishops 
 only,' in St. Cyprian's language ; as we saw 
 they were in that of the accurate Eusebius also: 
 though the learned Enquirer has been as care- 
 ful to conceal this, as his own authors are clear 
 in it. For quoting many canons from St. Cy- 
 prian's works here, he barely tells us, that such 
 and such things were declared ' in synods ;' and 
 notwithstanding St. Cyprian is as clear in telling 
 us, they were ' synods of bishops' who decreed 
 them, as that they were decreed at all ; yet in 
 no one canon which he quotes in this place, was 
 he willing we should hear that. As, for instance, 
 St. Cyprian tells us, " it was long since decreed 
 in a council of bishops, that no clergyman 
 should be trustee of any man's will r ." The 
 Enquirer had occasion to cite this canon, but 
 c only' tells us (p. 149), 'statutum sit,' it was so 
 decreed; though in 'concilio episcoporum,' in 
 c a council of bishops,' be part of the same 
 comma ; and there are four canons more, quoted 
 in the same page ; which I do not say the 
 learned Enquirer had any necessity to tell us 
 what sort of synods they were made by ; but he 
 must be sensible himself, by perusing the several 
 places from whence he cites them, that in St. 
 Cyprian's account they were f synods of bishops 
 only,' who made them ; and therefore I chiefly 
 
 r Cum jampridem in concilio episcoporum statutum sit. 
 Cypr. Ep. 1. Ed. Oxon. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 309 
 
 take notice of them, for a further confirmation 
 of that holy Father's sense of the synods in his 
 time. 
 
 That presbyters, more or less in number, 
 were generally present with their bishops in 
 those provincial synods, is not to be doubted ; 
 that they should all of right be there, we may 
 be sure the necessities of the churches could 
 not admit of; and that there were any stated 
 representatives assigned for them, by the usage 
 or appointment of the Church, as necessary 
 members of a synod, we find no evidence in 
 antiquity for it. And lastly, that they had no 
 right of suffrage in passing any canons or cen- 
 sures when they sat there, I think is manifest 
 by what is said before. All which particulars 
 considered, seem to point out this determina- 
 tion for us, that they came to councils, in those 
 primitive times, according as each bishop of the 
 several dioceses in the province chose out some 
 one or more of them to be proper counsellors 
 and assistants to them, in such synodical de- 
 bates and consultations as should come before 
 them, whose judicious opinions were of eminent 
 advantage and considerable weight, no doubt of 
 it, with the venerable Fathers themselves, who 
 alone sate as ' necessary' members, ( proper' 
 judges, and 'sole' legislators there. 
 
 As to the people's part or interest in ' all pri- 
 mitive councils,' because we read they were pre- 
 sent ( in some,' I shall only observe, 
 
 First, That their being present 6 only in some,' 
 and not ' in all,' is a fair argument against ' their 
 right of session in any ;' for right and claim are 
 seldom wanting to themselves, and popular rights. 
 
310 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 the least of any. Yet how often we hear nothing 
 of them amongst the many synods we meet with 
 in antiquity, their greatest advocates must be 
 very well aware of. And, 
 
 Secondly, Where we hear the most of them, 
 there are special reasons given for the ' particu- 
 lar' occasions of their being there, and such as 
 little related to the essence or constitution of 
 the council itself; for such, we find, St. Cyprian 
 and the Roman clergy gave for the * standing 
 laity's' coming to that extraordinary council, 
 where their ( lapsed brethren were to be tried. 
 And, 
 
 Thirdly, Though this learned Author has 
 produced two or three instances where ' lay- 
 brethren ' were present in the primitive councils 
 (and we have seen what sort of instances they 
 were), yet in his ' general' account of them, 
 which is more material by far, you may remem- 
 ber he told us from the great authority of Fir- 
 milian, that the eastern synods of those times 
 consisted of " bishops and presbyters, who met 
 every year to dispose those things which were 
 committed to their charge" (p. 148). And can 
 we think that excellent Father could be so de- 
 fective in his account of St. Cyprian, or so in- 
 jurious to all c the laity 5 of those churches, as to 
 give no intimation in the least of f their' meet- 
 ing with the rest; if either personally, or by 
 representatives, they were members of those 
 synods, as well as any of the others who met 
 there ? 
 
 To close this point then, since we neither 
 meet with the name nor notion of ' lay-represen- 
 tatives' in any synod of the primitive Church; 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 311 
 
 nor any footsteps of a claim of right, pretended 
 by the ' people/ to sit and act in the councils of 
 those times; nor so much as a single Father 
 bearing witness to any such 'right' invested in 
 them ; but barely read, that in some particular 
 councils, ' lay-brethren' were present (which is 
 accounted for above), and in the most we read 
 of, they are not so much as mentioned at all ; 
 and nowhere affirmed, that they either came or 
 acted in a true synodical capacity there. Since 
 antiquity, I say, goes no further than this, I 
 must take leave to differ from this learned En- 
 quirer here, who has (p. 143) placed ' such 
 members' in the provincial synods of those 
 times ( as the synods themselves nowhere 
 owned for ' proper members' of their body) 
 under this modern title of c deputed laymen, 
 in behalf of the people of their respective 
 churches.' 
 
 There are other circumstances, relating to 
 these primitive synods, wherein this learned 
 Author and other antiquaries do not agree ; 
 but they are less material, and may the sooner 
 be dismissed. 
 
 And first, as to the extent or first division of 
 ecclesiastical provinces, he concludes (p. 141) 
 that depended wholly upon the mere conve- 
 niencies, or accidental circumstances of the 
 churches they consisted of: whereas approved 
 antiquaries assign a more regular original of 
 them. The judicious Du Pin's opinion is, that 
 " after the Apostles' decease, the Christian 
 Church did of course, as from the reason of 
 the thing, apply themselves to the bishop of the 
 metropolis, or chief city in that province of the 
 
312 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 empire, wherein they first were founded, in 
 case any bishop were to be ordained or de- 
 posed, or any controversy arose amongst them ; 
 who called together the bishops of the same" 
 civil "province, and jointly managed all those 
 ecclesiastical affairs which the Apostles them- 
 selves had done in their life time; by which 
 means, the distribution of churches, though not 
 by canon, yet by general custom, was quickly 
 modeled after the form of the empire itself 8 ." 
 The learned Dr. Hammond* proceeds further, 
 and with great evidence of reason shews, that 
 the Apostles themselves invested those bishops 
 of the chief cities with a right of regulating the 
 common discipline of all the churches within 
 the peculiar provinces adjoining to their sees. 
 But whatsoever occasion we assign for it, the 
 matter of fact, I think, wants no other evidence, 
 besides the sixth canon of the first Nicene coun- 
 cil, which expressly calls such a peculiar pre- 
 eminence of many ' chief churches' in several 
 provinces of the empire, by the name of * 'Ap- 
 ' e%?,' or customs of an ancient standing in 
 
 6 Du Pin, speaking of the civil distribution of the Roman 
 empire, Simile aliquid (inquit) in rebus ecclesiasticis fecere 
 Christiani, et sive cum ordinandus aut deponendus erat 
 episcopus, sive cum aliqua divisio erat in Ecclesia, &c. cum 
 jam non amplius superessent Apostoli, per quos haec an- 
 tea componebantur, urbis metropoleos episcopum adire par 
 fuit, idque paulatim per consuetudinem invaluit, ac tota Ec- 
 clesiarum distributio ad formam imperii facta est, urbesque 
 metropoles, metropoles quoque fuerunt ecclesia, et illarum 
 episcopus super universam provinciam potestatem habuit 
 turn ad ordinandos, &c. turn ad componenda ecclesiarum dis- 
 sidia, turn ad convocandas synodos. Du Pin, Dissert. Ecclesia 
 prima de Antiq. Eccl. Discipl. 7. 
 
 1 See Hammond of Schism, p. 42. to p. 54. in 8vo. Edit. 
 Lond. 1654. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 313 
 
 the Church"; and then canonically decreed 
 them to continue so still. These bishops then 
 of the more eminent cities, as Du Pin, you see, 
 observes, did likewise call councils, and s pre- 
 side in them too, long before the first general 
 council ordered anything synodically about it ; 
 to which the accurate Valesius agrees, in his notes 
 upon Euseb. Eccl. Hist. lib. v. cap. 23. Where, 
 the historian speaking of Theophilus bishop of 
 Csesarea's presiding in the council of Palestine, 
 he observes upon it, that " the bishop of Csesa- 
 rea, both before and long after the first council 
 of Nice, had the dignity of a metropolitan, so 
 that he presided in all the councils of Palestine, 
 as bishop of the first see x ; and where it was 
 otherwise (as in Africa it often was) there the 
 same privilege devolved of course upon the 
 eldest bishop of the province ; as the same Va- 
 lesius observes upon "Palma's presiding in 
 the synod of Pontus, because the eldest bishop 
 there V 
 
 So that our Enquirer's notion of primitive 
 synods " assembling themselves by their own 
 
 11 Ta apxcua edr] /cparerrco, TO. eV Aly6coT(p Kal Aifivy Kal n/- 
 TaTroAei* &(Tirp T*bv eV ' AAeaz/fyeia eViV/coTiw TTCM/TCWZ/ rovrwv 
 *X I - V e&vfficu', eVeiS^ Kal TO? eV rfj 'P(a/j,y eiatr/coTr^ rovro ffwri- 
 6es ecrriv' fyiotcos 5e ical Kara TJ]V 'AvTiox*iw Kal eV raTs a\\ais 
 tirapxi-ais ra Trpea-jSeta crd&ffQai rats e/c/cA7/(Tiats. Cone. Nic. 1. 
 Can. 6. 
 
 x Csesariensis episcopus ante Concilium Niccenum, et din 
 postea, metropolitan! honorem ac dignitatem semper obtinuit, 
 ita ut omnibus Palestinas conciliis prcesideret tanquam primee 
 sedis episcopus. Vales, in loc. 
 
 y Palmam prsesedisse ait ob antiquitatis praerogativam. 
 Simplicissima sessionis fuit ratio, ut antiquissimus episcopus 
 casteris prsesi<Jeret. ^Vales. ib. 
 
314 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 authority and appointment 2 ," if he mean so 
 much by it, that every order of Christians in 
 his mixed councils of laity and clergy concerted 
 that matter together, and by a joint authority 
 determined, that a council should be called ; as 
 his account of it would imply. This is very 
 different, you see, from the sense of other anti- 
 quaries, who place that prerogative of calling 
 councils in some peculiar chief bishop in each 
 province of the primitive Church, from the very 
 time of the Apostles' decease, as they also do 
 their right of presiding there when they met ; 
 so that there seems to have been no such great 
 concern again at the opening of a council about 
 finding out e some grave and renowned bishop,' 
 one or more, to moderate for them (as our 
 learned Author (p. 144) conceives), since the 
 person, to whom, of common custom, that be- 
 longed, was known to them all beforehand; 
 and if the observation be made of the bishops 
 presiding in the several councils of the three 
 first centuries, which either Fathers or histo- 
 rians give us any account of, I presume it would 
 appear, that these learned antiquaries' remarks 
 upon them were just and true. 
 
 What is further said of provincial synods, that 
 they ordinarily met once a year, at least, and 
 oftentimes more than so ; that their canons were 
 binding to the several churches of the province 
 whereof they did consist, and to none but 
 them, unless otherwise confirmed. And, lastly, 
 
 * See also Du Pin in his ninth section of the fore-cited first 
 ,Hist. Dissert. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 315 
 
 that the general end and use of them was for 
 the regulation and management of all ecclesias- 
 tical affairs within their respective jurisdictions, 
 needs no dispute about it, and therefore I shall 
 close this subject and this chapter here. 
 
316 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HAVING seen what sort of enquiry has 
 been made into the ' constitution' and 
 6 discipline ' of the primitive Church, I leave it 
 to the reader to judge, how impartially the 
 learned Author of it has represented them. 
 
 He proceeds, next, to consider the 6 unity' of 
 the Church, in order to clear up the sense of 
 antiquity in that important point of ' schism ;' 
 which is rightly defined here, c a breach of that 
 unity.' 
 
 This enquiry might be short; but, as the 
 case is stated for us, we have three or four sorts 
 of ' unities' to enquire into, instead of one. For 
 " Church-unity," says he, " is to be differently 
 understood according to the different accepta- 
 tions of the word Church ; that is," as he ex- 
 plains himself, " there is one sort of unity pecu- 
 liar to the Catholic or universal Church (p. 154); 
 another to a church collective (p. 160) ; a third," 
 we may say, i( to a provincial church, for he dis- 
 tinguisheth them also (p. 161);" and lastly, "a 
 fourth kind of unity belonging to a particular 
 diocesan or parochial church (p. 162)," which 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 317 
 
 terms, you may remember, are all along equiva- 
 lent in this Enquiry. 
 
 These are offered to us for primitive notions 
 of ' Church-unity/ though not a single instance 
 given of any of the ancients who so diversified 
 it ; nor do I think all the records of the primi- 
 tive times could afford him one. ' Unity 5 or 
 6 schism/ upon whatsoever occasions the ancients 
 speak of them, are represented in uniform terms, 
 and everywhere alike ; ' a parochial, a diocesan, 
 a provincial, a total or a partial schismatic,' is 
 very foreign language from any we meet with 
 in the Fathers of the primitive Church; and 
 consequently such sorts of ' unity' are so too. 
 
 However, I will consider this ingenious Au- 
 thor's singular speculations; not doubting but 
 they will all centre in the one, true, and indivi- 
 dual unity at last. 
 
 He begins with the unity of the Church-uni- 
 versal ; which, " negatively considered," says he, 
 "did not consist in an uniformity of rites or 
 customs." 
 
 This proposition is so far true, that the Ca- 
 tholic Church did not enjoin ( particular rites 
 and customs' to all particular churches. Nor, 
 on the other hand, did particular churches im- 
 pose their own rites and customs upon one an- 
 other ; and, therefore, I see no reason why the 
 unity of the Catholic Church, and that of par- 
 ticular churches, should be distinguished upon 
 this ' negative' account. In the mean time, 
 each particular church might lawfully impose 
 indifferent rites and customs upon her own 
 members, as this learned Author elsewhere 
 (p. 163) owns; and if they could lawfully im- 
 
318 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 pose them, then they might lawfully censure 
 such as would not comply with them for contu- 
 macy, or opposition to the lawful orders of their 
 own church, was a just cause of censure in St. 
 Cyprian's opinion, and the Enquiry (p. 121) 
 quotes him for it; now to such as were justly 
 censured by their own church, the laws of the 
 Catholic Church, we know, denied communion 
 in any part of her. So that a contentious mem- 
 ber of any particular church might find himself 
 wholly cast out from the Catholic Church, 
 though it were for mere nonconformity to in- 
 different rites and customs in his own; and 
 therefore this indefinite negative, I think, does 
 not hold good, that the unity of the Catholic 
 Church did in nowise consist in an uniformity 
 of rites and customs, since it was liable to be 
 lost for want of it. But, 
 
 Secondly, " Neither did it consist," says he, 
 "in an unanimity of consent to non-essential 
 points of Christianity." 
 
 To waive the c undefined' term of ' non-essen- 
 tials,' I may justly say of this, what I said of the 
 former; though the Catholic Church enjoined 
 them not, yet where any of them were decided 
 one way or the other, and enjoined to be re- 
 ceived either by authority of a particular or 
 provincial church; if any member of such 
 church or churches should break communion, 
 and be censured on account of them, the Ca- 
 tholic Church would no more receive such a 
 censured person, than she would the former. 
 I will put the case in that very instance which 
 the Enquirer (p. 156) gives us of non-essential 
 points. St. Cyprian, and the African bishops 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 319 
 
 of his province, decreed that heretical baptism 
 should not be valid ( amongst them;' this de- 
 cree was binding to the whole province, (as the 
 Enquirer owns, where he speaks (p. 146) of the 
 obligation of provincial canons in general), and 
 if binding, then such as would act contrary to 
 it, were justly liable to censure ; and would the 
 Catholic Church, do we think, receive into 
 communion any such member, which either St. 
 Cyprian, or any bishop in his province, should 
 have censured for not observing that decree of 
 theirs, though the point itself is here acknow- 
 ledged to be non-essential ? By the laws of the 
 Catholic Church, we know they could not. So 
 that the general c negative ' seems not to hold in 
 this particular neither. 
 
 But let us see the learned Enquirer's special 
 authority, in this case of ' non-essentials.' " Jus- 
 tin Martyr," says he (p. 155), "would receive 
 the Jewish converts who adhered to the Mo- 
 saical rites into Church-fellowship and commu- 
 nion with him, if they did it only through 
 weakness, and did not persuade others to it; 
 therefore every one was left to believe in those 
 lesser, non-essential, matters," says he, " as God 
 should inform them." Now, if ' every one' 
 were so left to God and themselves, then why 
 not the Gentile converts as well as the Jews in 
 this particular instance ? And yet St. Paul tells 
 them, if they should be circumcised, Christ would 
 profit them nothing*. Nor did Justin himself 
 allow them that liberty. The observation of 
 the Mosaical rites therefore was, either not 
 
 a Gal. v. 2. 
 
320 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 thought a non-essential point (and then it is 
 unduly quoted for an instance of it here), or 
 else the Church did not allow that ( every one' 
 should believe in those matters as they thought 
 fit ; or, if it pleases better, ' as God should in- 
 form them ;' so that this instance so little proves 
 the proposition it was brought for, that it rather 
 proves the contrary; besides, most men are sen- 
 sible, I believe, that Justin Martyr in that early 
 age b , and peculiar country he lived in c , was not 
 swayed by his own private judgment in that 
 extraordinary case, but had a fair plea of the 
 opinion and practice of the highest authority in 
 the Church for what he did ; which I take to 
 be the only true warrant indeed for concluding 
 any difficult part to be non-essential; for if 
 every one might do it for himself, it is scarce 
 conceivable how the Church of God should se- 
 cure the fundamentals themselves, which are 
 committed to their trust. 
 
 How little then the two negative definitions 
 of Catholic unity distinguish it from any par- 
 ticular kind besides, appears by what has been 
 said. The inference drawn from the former is 
 this; "whosoever imposed on particular churches 
 the observance of their peculiar rites and cus- 
 toms, were esteemed not as preservers and mam- 
 tamers, but as violators, and breakers of the 
 Church's unity and concord ; for so Victor of 
 Rome was," says he, " for exacting of the East- 
 ern churches to keep Easter as they did in the 
 West (p. 156). 
 
 / MaOrjTrjs. Ep, ad Diognet. prope finem. 
 os veas Tr6\ws TTJS 
 Apol. secunda ad init. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 321 
 
 This inference seems carefully calculated for 
 the Author's own singular notion of a primitive 
 ( particular church ;' and not so much to inform 
 us (what his example shews), that a church in 
 the West could not impose customs on a church 
 in the East (which none would dispute with 
 him), as that no bishop of any church whatso- 
 ever, from east to west, could impose their rites 
 and customs on more ' congregations ' than one ; 
 because every congregation, in his opinion, was 
 a particular church, and always should be so. 
 But since this ' ingenious inuendo' does, 1st, 
 suppose that he has clearly proved the primi- 
 tive dioceses to have been no more than mere 
 congregational churches (which I take to be 
 sufficiently spoken to before), or, 2ndly, that 
 they could not have been truly Catholic or 
 Apostolical churches, if they had consisted of 
 more ; which he has not so much as attempted 
 to prove, though it might well have been ex- 
 pected from him, I shall leave the reader and 
 him to make the best use they can of the argu- 
 ments he has offered for it within the three 
 first centuries; and to censure, as they think 
 fit, all the celebrated bishops of the ages imme- 
 diately following ; which I make no doubt they 
 freely own to have presided over churches of 
 more congregations than one, and consequently 
 to have enjoined the same rites and customs to 
 be observed in all. 
 
 The inference from the latter negative defi- 
 nition is more extraordinary still ; "whosoever," 
 says he (ibid.), "should impose the belief of 
 non-essential points upon particular persons, 
 were in like manner esteemed as violators of 
 
322 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 the Church's unity and concord. For thus/ 
 says he, " Stephen, bishop of Rome, was con- 
 demned by other bishops for anathematizing 
 Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, because he held 
 the baptism of heretics to be null and void." 
 
 In this inference you may observe, that the 
 words ' whosoever,' and ' particular persons/ are 
 indefinitely named, and in general terms, at 
 first ; but in the instance given for the proof of 
 it, they are explained by the bishop of one 
 church imposing his non-essentials on the bi- 
 shop of another. Now, if the instance explains 
 the full meaning of the Author, as it ought to 
 do, then the inference is just, and may pass 
 without exception, and the imposer deserves all 
 the hards words of f cruelty, tyranny,' and the 
 like, which this zealous Enquirer fixes upon 
 him ; and the reason is plain, because the one 
 bishop had no manner of jurisdiction over the 
 other; and besides, the bishop of a church is 
 not looked upon in a private capacity as * other 
 particular persons' are, especially when a fo- 
 reign bishop attempts to impose a point of doc- 
 trine upon him, which is otherwise determined 
 in his own church. St. Cyprian's maxim is pe- 
 culiarly applicable in such a case ; " the church 
 is in the bishop, and the bishop in the church ;" 
 at least, it was notoriously so in the present 
 case between Stephen and St. Cyprian; for 
 Stephen's controversy was not with " the per- 
 son of St. Cyprian only," as it is here made to 
 be, " but with his whole diocese, nay, his pro- 
 vince indeed, insomuch as he proceeded to cen- 
 sure all alike, for not receiving that non-essen- 
 tial point in dispute between them, as he and 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 323 
 
 his bishops had decreed it at Rome'V This 
 was tyranny with a witness, and if the Enquirer 
 had meant no otherwise than this (as his exam- 
 
 Ele and quotations prove no more), it had been 
 dr to specify his 6 whosoever,' and his ( parti- 
 cular persons' with some note of restriction 
 upon them. But they are left at large, you 
 see, that the inference might remain an univer- 
 sal proposition still, though the proof of it was 
 in a particular and singular case only ; to the 
 end that his freedom in non-essentials might be 
 liable to no sort of check or control, either from 
 abroad or at home. Insomuch that if a synod 
 of bishops in any province of the Christian 
 Church, should pass any canon relating to a 
 non-essential point, though for the better se- 
 curity of some fundamental doctrine in their 
 impartial judgment and opinion of it (as both 
 the African and European bishops plainly did 
 in that case we have been speaking of), and 
 should require the subjects in their respective 
 jurisdictions to consent to it (as those bishops 
 on one side and the other certainly did), they 
 must be censured as schismatical violators of the 
 concord of the Church, according to the infer- 
 ence drawn by this learned Author from his 
 negative definition of unity in the Church uni- 
 versal; notwithstanding we are fully assured, 
 that the universal Church itself did peaceably 
 allow all those celebrated churches to use that 
 
 d Stephanus non tantum sententiam suam ad versus Cypria- 
 num et synodum Africanam etiam iteratam protulit, sed et 
 ipsum et episcopos contraria sentientes, abstinendos esse puta- 
 vit, ut turn Cyprianus turn Atigustinus disertis verbis testantur. 
 Annal. Cypr/ad A. D. 256. 3. p. 54. Edit. Oxon. 
 
 Y2 
 
324 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 liberty within themselves., and none but the fu- 
 rious "bishop of Rome himself, whom all Chris- 
 tian churches besides exclaimed against for it, 
 did ever think the sacred unity of the Church 
 was violated by it. But to proceed to his ' po- 
 sitive ' definition, which is this : 
 
 " The unity of the Church universal," says 
 he, " positively consisted in an harmonious as- 
 sent to the essential articles of religion, or in an 
 unanimous agreement in the fundamentals of 
 faith and doctrine." This is true ; but whether 
 the whole truth, is not so clear. 
 
 The unity of the Catholic Church was two 
 ways liable to be broken : by ' heresy,' and by 
 6 schism;' so the Enquirer tells us from St. 
 Cyprian, under this very head, " that the devil 
 found out heresies and schisms to divide the 
 unity 6 ." Now, in opposition to heresies, 'the 
 unity did consist,' no doubt of it, ' in an unani- 
 mous agreement in fundamentals of faith and 
 doctrine.' And this Irenaeus particularly meant 
 in the quotation here produced from him, as 
 the subject of his whole book indeed implies, 
 which was directly wrote against heresies. But 
 does our learned Author's definition tell us 
 wherein the unity of the universal Church con- 
 sisted, in opposition to schism also? which was 
 the main motive of his Enquiry into it, as he 
 says himself, 1. of this chapter. If the ' unity 
 of the episcopacy' be admitted by him for one 
 of his ' fundamentals/ I need raise no further 
 controversy about it at present ; but if he ex- 
 
 e Enq. p. 160. Diabolus haereses invenit et schismata, qui- 
 bus scinderet unitatem. Cvpr. de Unit. Eccl. p. 105. Edit. 
 Oxon. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 325 
 
 elude that (as his manner of explaining it, and 
 his different use of it afterwards, give us just 
 reason to think he does) I must take leave to 
 say, 'his positive definition' is imperfect, and 
 appeal to the primitive Fathers themselves, if 
 the ( unity' of the 'episcopacy' was not abso- 
 lutely essential to the unity of the Catholic 
 Church. 
 
 St. Cyprian, in the same breath, I may say, 
 wherein he exemplifies the unity of the Church 
 in the words of St. Paul, One body and one 
 Spirit, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one 
 faith, one baptism, one God f ; adds, as parallel 
 to the rest ; " Let no man deceive the brethren 
 with a lie, let no man corrupt the truth of our 
 faith with any treacherous prevarication, the 
 episcopacy is one;" making it a treacherous 
 corruption of the truth of the faith, you see, to 
 deny that. And that it was the episcopacy of 
 the ' universal Church,' and not of any particu- 
 lar one, which he so affirmed to be but one, is 
 evident beyond exception, by what he imme- 
 diately says of it, "that each bishop held no 
 more than a part of it," though they were in- 
 terested for the whole. 
 
 But notwithstanding this evidence, which 
 runs throughout all St. Cyprian's works, and 
 the same principle received by the whole pri- 
 mitive Church, our learned Author seems so 
 little to allow this unity of the episcopacy for a 
 
 f Unum corpus, et unus Spiritus, una spes vocationis vestrae, 
 
 unus Dominus, una fides, unum baptisma, unus Deus. 
 
 Nemo fraternitatem mendacio fallat, nemo fidei veritatem per- 
 fida praevaricatione corrumpat ; episcopatus est unus. Cujus 
 a singulis in solidum pars tenetur. Cypr. de Unit. Eccl. 
 p. 108. Edit. Oxon. 
 
326 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 common bond of unity to the Church univer- 
 sal, that he mentions nothing of it, you see, 
 either in his negative, or positive, definitions of 
 it. But, on the contrary, to make it patronise 
 his own singular opinion (p. 168), "that primi- 
 tive schism respected only a particular Church," 
 he produces St. Cyprian's notion, under that 
 head, as a current proof of his 6 particular' or 
 f parochial' unity, in contradistinction to that of 
 the Church-universal ; though, to make it bend 
 to that design, he was obliged to translate the 
 holy Father's words, as he had done once be- 
 fore (p. 21), contrary to his plain meaning in 
 them, and the genuine signification of them. I 
 will repeat the quotation 8 , and let the reader 
 judge. The words, as he translates them (p. 
 166), are these; "God is one, Christ is one, 
 the Church is one, the rock on which the 
 Church is built is one (a very unlikely preface, 
 you will say, to introduce the unity oif a single 
 parish church by); but observe what follows: 
 "wherefore," says the Enquirer's translation, 
 " to erect a new altar, and constitute a new bi- 
 shop, besides the one altar and one bishop, is 
 impracticable." And had St. Cyprian said this, 
 one might have thought, indeed, by his speak- 
 ing of ' one bishop,' and a ( new bishop,' and no 
 more than so, this clause of the period might 
 have had some reference to the unity or schism 
 of a c particular church,' and for that reason, no 
 doubt, the Enquirer translated it so. But St. 
 
 s Deus unus, et Christus unus, et una Eeclesia, et cathedra 
 una super Petrum Domini voce fundata : aliud altare consti- 
 tui, autsacerdotium novum fieri, pneter unum altare, et nmtm 
 sacerdotium, non potest. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 327 
 
 Cyprian's words, we see, are unum sacerdotium, 
 et novum sacerdotium, "one priesthood, and a 
 new priesthood;" which are complex terms, 
 and denote not a single bishop, but the entire 
 order of them in the Church, or (in his own 
 language, as we observed but now) the 'one 
 episcopacy,' whereof each bishop held a part. 
 And this is that principle of unity in the Ca- 
 tholic Church, which the holy Martyr, in this 
 quotation, declares to be so absolutely 'one,' 
 that he introduces it with all those solemn in- 
 stances of indivisible unity which we find here 
 in the same period with it. A plain proof, that 
 no breach of it could be made in any single 
 church whatsoever; but the whole episcopacy 
 was broken, and consequently the schism must, 
 ' ipso facto,' extend to the Church universal. 
 
 In few words, the difference between the pri- 
 mitive Church and the Enquirer, in this matter, 
 lies here. The Enquirer takes notice only, how 
 'that' particular church 'alone,' wherein the 
 schism began, had a new bishop imposed upon 
 them; and therefore seems to see no further 
 injury or innovation yet made in the Church of 
 Christ besides. Whereas the primitive Church 
 was sensible, that there was not only a new 
 bishop schismatically made in that 'particular 
 church,' but a new c priesthood,' or a new ' epi- 
 scopacy,' springing up by means of it, which 
 stood in open competition with that one priest- 
 hood, or one episcopacy, derived down to them 
 all from Christ and his Apostles, and might, 
 from generation to generation, propagate an- 
 other pretended church, distinct from, and in- 
 dependent of, the only true one ; usurping an 
 
328 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 equal right and title to scriptures, creeds, and 
 sacraments (as well as a 'new priesthood'), with 
 the Apostolical succession itself, and the au- 
 thority as good in the one as the other; unless 
 they all jointly disavowed the usurpation, and 
 every bishop of the Church, as soon as they had 
 any cognizance of it, utterly renounced all cor- 
 respondence and communion with the authors 
 or abetters of it ; for it equally injured them all. 
 So immediately did every particular schism, 
 without any other intervening act in the case, 
 influence the universal Church, and violate the 
 sacred unity of it. 
 
 From whence these two things appear. 
 
 First, That it was no slight error in the 
 ' learned Enquirer' to render St. Cyprian's <no- 
 vum sacerdotium,' by that undue translation of 
 a ' new bishop,' instead of a ' new priesthood ;' 
 since it was the main hinge on which the con- 
 troversy turned ; and had it been rightly ren- 
 dered, would have discovered wherein the pri- 
 mitive Church and he differed about those im- 
 portant points of ' unity' and ( schism.' And, 
 
 Secondly, That the two only ways, where- 
 by the Enquirer afterwards says (p. 177), the 
 " schism of a particular church might influence 
 other churches, namely, by admitting excom- 
 municated schismatics, their legates, messen- 
 gers, or followers ;" or else, by " receiving letters 
 from them, and approving their pretensions;" 
 are of a very different consideration from the 
 point in question here. For the question is not, 
 how other churches might actually become schis- 
 matics, as well as the ' principals themselves;' 
 but how all Christian churches, in the judg- 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 329 
 
 merit of the primitive Fathers, were ' ipso facto ' 
 injured, and their Catholic unity immediately 
 broken, by a schism breaking out in any parti- 
 cular church, though no other church besides 
 either favoured or approved of them. Which 
 was not, you see, by becoming schismatics them- 
 selves, as the Enquirer's argument implies, but 
 by the schismatics introducing a new priesthood 
 or episcopacy into the Church of Christ, where- 
 in they were wholly passive, but universally con- 
 cerned. 
 
 It is true, St. Cyprian very well knew, from 
 the nature of the thing itself, that every schism 
 must be formed by some members of a ( parti- 
 cular' church breaking off from their own bi- 
 shop, and therefore inveighs against that viola- 
 tion of their spiritual allegiance, and aggravates 
 the guilt of such a breach, as the ' necessary 
 cause' from whence schism must arise, and so 
 much the Enquirer's several quotations 11 from 
 him shew ; but he produced them as plain evi- 
 dences that schism respected only those parti- 
 cular churches, and no more; whereas when 
 the same St. Cyprian comes to close those dis- 
 courses, and to tell the schismatics how their 
 guilt came to be so great; he gives them this 
 reason for it, which the Enquirer 1 has tran- 
 scribed amongst the rest too, "because," says 
 he, " the Catholic Church, which is one, is not 
 
 h Neque aliunde nata sunt schismata, &c. Hi sunt ortus 
 atque conatus schismaticorum, &c. Inde schismata et hsereses 
 obortcB sunt, &c. See Enq. p. 166, 167. 
 
 1 Enq. ib. p. 167. ad finem. Quando Ecclesia, quae Catho- 
 lica una est, scissa non sit neque divisa, sed sit utique connexa, 
 et cohserentium sibi invicem sacerdotum glutino copulata. 
 Cypr. Ep. 66. Edit. Oxon. 
 
330 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 rent nor divided, but knit and coupled together 
 by the cement of her bishops united to one an- 
 other." As if he had plainly said, that no schism 
 can be made, but the Catholic Church and all 
 the bishops of it must be injured at once ; and 
 this plain consequence of revolting from a sin- 
 gle bishop, was a sufficient motive for the holy 
 Martyr St. Ignatius also, to lay such frequent 
 and pathetical injunctions upon all Christians 
 to obey their f respective pastors,' and live in 
 unity 'with them (which the Enquirer (p. 169) 
 makes a great argument again for his primitive 
 parochial schism) whereas if the sin of schism 
 was the consequence of their disobedience, 
 which is agreed as well on one side as the 
 other; the reason was equal at least, take it in 
 which sense we please, for that zealous Martyr 
 to warn them so affectionately against it ; or if 
 any difference, the argument would rather look 
 the other way ; that their crime extended far- 
 ther than our learned Author allows it to do, 
 because the holy Father's injunctions were so 
 tf frequent' and ' pathetical,' as he observes them 
 to be. And this cannot be doubted indeed, if 
 we remember St. Ignatius's notion of ' the one 
 altar,' which he unquestionably meant, as all the 
 ancients did, with reference to the universal 
 Church, as I have shewn before. 
 
 After all, the Enquirer (p. 172) undertakes 
 to make his < thesis' clear, beyond exception, 
 by the noted instances of Felicissimus's schism 
 in the church of Carthage, and that of Nova- 
 tian at Rome; and to that purpose shews at 
 large, that they were called schismatics, and 
 proceeded against as such, whilst they neither 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 331 
 
 caused nor attempted any separation from any 
 other churches, but those respectively of Car- 
 thage and Rome ; and they very well might be 
 so, and yet nothing less injurious to the univer- 
 sal Church, as you have seen already. But let 
 us hear what St. Cyprian says of these very 
 schisms, which are offered as a pattern for all. 
 Of Felicissimus and his accomplices, says that 
 holy Martyr to Cornelius of Rome, " What 
 manner of persons do you think they must be, 
 who are enemies of the bishops, and rebels 
 against the Catholic Church k ?" Did their 
 schism respect himself and his church 'only,' 
 and yet that good man fix so hard a charge 
 upon them, beyond what they deserved ? No, 
 it was on account of his settlecl judgment in the 
 case, and that of the whole Christian Church 
 with him, according to the Catholic principle 
 we are now speaking of. And of Novatian, 
 more plainly still ; " he separated himself," says 
 he, "from the bond of the Church, and from 
 the college of bishops, and would neither keep 
 the unity of the episcopacy nor the peace of 
 it 1 ." How this suits with primitive schism, 
 again, respecting a particular church only, I 
 confess I cannot see. 
 
 This, and such-like evidence from antiquity, 
 pressed so hard upon the Enquirer's singular 
 notion, that he found himself obliged to Sy to 
 these cautious distinctions ; That schism in its 
 
 k Quales putas esse eos, qui sacerdotum hostes, et contra 
 Ecclesiam Catholicam rebeiles ? Cypr. Ep. 59. Edit. Oxon. 
 
 1 Qui se ab ecclesiee vinculo, atque a sacerdotum collegia 
 separat qui episcopatus nee unitatem voluit tenere, nee 
 pacem. Cypr. Ep. 55, p. 112, Edit. Oxon. 
 
332 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 " larger sense was a breach of the Church uni- 
 versal ; but in its usual and restrained sense, of 
 a church particular" (p. 180). And again, " that 
 schism, principally and originally, respected a 
 particular church or parish; though it might 
 consequentially influence others too" (p. 162). 
 And again, that it " actually broke the unity of 
 one church, and virtually of all" (p. 173). 
 
 In the first of which distinctions, he owns, 
 you see, that schism, in 'some sense,' was a 
 breach of the ' Church universal ;' and in what 
 < large sense ' that should be, if it ' respected ' no 
 more than a ' particular church only,' as he 
 affirms of it (p. 168) is too much for me to con- 
 ceive. ' Originally,' indeed, it respected a ' par- 
 ticular church,' so far, that in one or other of 
 them, it must ' originally' break out; but that 
 it respected other churches 6 consequentially 
 only,' is but the same mistake again, which I 
 answered before, " that none were aifected with 
 it," in his opinion, " but such as became schis- 
 matics themselves." And lastly, how this Ca- 
 tholic unity 'was broken,' and not 'actually 
 broken,' is too nice for me again. But such un- 
 even ground we may expect to meet with, when 
 we leave the plain way. 
 
 I have wondered, I confess, from whence the 
 singular way of reasoning in this Enquiry should 
 come ; but the secret of it, if I mistake not, and 
 I ask pardon if I do, seems to lie here ; some 
 charitable expedient was to be found out to 
 support some sort of schismatics with this com- 
 fortable hope, that though they broke the unity 
 of the 'particular church' whereof they were 
 members, yet they might continue in the unity 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 333 
 
 of the ' Church universal' still; especially, if 
 the points in controversy between them were 
 matters only of rites or non-essentials ; and if 
 the unity of the episcopacy had been admitted 
 for an essential bond of Catholic unity, as it 
 really was in the judgment of the primitive 
 Church, that ' comfortable expedient/ and this 
 whole ( scheme of diversity of unities,' had been 
 lost together ; as appears, I think, by the parti- 
 cular account I have here given of them. 
 
 I have taken but little notice indeed of his 
 difference between the unity of a church f col- 
 lective,' and that of the Church ' universal ;' be- 
 cause he had prevented me in his own account 
 of that. For the " unity of a church collective," 
 says he (p. 160, 161), "may have consisted in a 
 brotherly correspondence with, and affection to- 
 wards each other ; which they demonstrated by 
 all outward expressions of love and concord ; as 
 by receiving into communion the members of 
 each other's, mutually advising and assisting one 
 another by letters or otherwise ; and other 
 marks of love and concord." And, on the 
 other hand, "the relation," says he, "between 
 each particular church and the universal Church, 
 in general, was this, that as one member of the 
 natural body has a regard to all the other mem- 
 bers thereof!, so a particular church had to every 
 member of the Church universal; the bishops 
 employed a general kind of inspection over all 
 other churches besides their own, observing 
 their condition, and giving them an account of 
 their own ; and sent to one another for advice 
 and decision in difficult points. In these, and 
 in many other such-like cases, there was a cor- 
 
334 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 respondence between the particular churches of 
 the universal." Now, where the ' distinct unity 
 of a collective' church, from that of the ( uni- 
 versal/ lies in this account of them, I must leave 
 the reader to enquire ; for I confess I can dis- 
 cover none. 
 
 And thus having considered the several kinds 
 of unities proposed, I may conclude, I think, 
 what I first expected of them, that, in respect 
 of schism at least, for the sake of which this 
 singular diversity was contrived, they all centre 
 in that one individual unity, which all anti- 
 quity attributed to the Catholic Church of 
 Christ. 
 
 One point under this head is still behind, 
 and so necessary to be settled, that the subject 
 of the whole chapter is of little use without it. 
 " Schism," as our learned Author has defined it 
 (p. 163), "was a causeless separation from their 
 lawful pastor." This gave him occasion to en- 
 quire, what causes could justify such a ( separa- 
 tion,' and what riot ; an enquiry, proper on all 
 sides; whether the schism were 6 particular' 
 only, or an ' universal' one, since schism was a 
 certain and immediate effect of it. But to be 
 clear in this enquiry with him, the principal 
 term in the question must first be rightly un- 
 derstood. 
 
 ( Separation,' if it be meant according to the 
 point in question here, must imply, not a bare 
 abstaining from communion with the lawful 
 pastor, but setting up another also in his stead ; 
 for otherwise a formal schism was not yet made; 
 which distinction I briefly hint to the reader, 
 because, though the question itself dees so ne- 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 335 
 
 cessarily suppose this ( setting up of altar against 
 altar,' as well as ( forbearing to communicate ;' 
 yet in the proofs and precedents offered for it, 
 and in the inference drawn from them (p. 166) 
 at the last, he will find they are promiscuously 
 used without this due distinction; whereas it 
 is evident by the whole economy and principles 
 of the primitive Church, that causes might be 
 given for not joining in communion with a 
 pastor, through some fundamental corruption, 
 for example, in the very service of his church ; 
 and yet the same persons, who leave him for it, 
 may not be authorized to deprive that pastor, 
 or to substitute another in his place. The ne- 
 cessary requisites for 6 deposing' or e constitut- 
 ing' bishops in the primitive times, as we have 
 seen at large before, is sufficient proof of this; 
 and the learned Enquirer, in the close of this 
 very head, declares (p. 165), that " it was 
 avouched by all, that synods did depose all 
 those bishops that were guilty of criminal or 
 scandalous enormities." As he owned before 
 also (p. 47, 49), that the bishops of the province 
 were to be called in, at least, and their consent 
 obtained, before any bishop of the primitive 
 Church could be legally instituted, as he calls 
 it, or settled in their place. From these consi- 
 derations of confessed matter of fact, it must 
 follow, that the people's part in any separa- 
 tion, be the occasion never so justifiable, could 
 amount to no more, than a bare abstaining from 
 communion, till a ( regular authority ' should de- 
 
 m Cap. 3. et 6, supra. 
 
336 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 pose their criminal pastor, and provide another 
 for them. 
 
 And if we bear these premises in mind, 
 whilst we examine all this learned Author offers 
 upon this subject, we shall find it comes to just 
 the same thing; whatever more might be in- 
 tended by it. His whole account of it is as 
 follows : 
 
 " The justifiable causes," says he (p. 163, 164), 
 " for such a separation, I think, were two, or at 
 the most, three." First, "Apostacy from the 
 Faith." Secondly, "Heresy." And Thirdly, 
 " A scandalous and wicked life." 
 
 His instance for apostacy, is that of the Spa- 
 nish bishops, Basilides and Martialis; whose 
 relapsing to idolatry in time of persecution was 
 notorious ; and that the people should separate 
 from them, and join in communion with others, 
 was approved by St. Cyprian and his synod, in 
 that epistle" the Enquirer refers to for it. But 
 how stood the case, when the African council 
 thus advised them ? and how far did the peo- 
 ple's part in that separation go ? Did the people, 
 or any of the inferior clergy of their churches 
 with them, turn their apostate bishops out of 
 their places, and, by their own act and deed, 
 substitute others in their room ? Nothing like 
 it, if you will believe the synod itself in that 
 case. For, as they represent the matter (in the 
 same epistle), those idolatrous bishops were 
 < synodically ' deprived ; and others, in the 
 ' same manner,' placed in their sees, before the 
 
 " Cypr. Ep. 67. Edit. Oxon. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 337 
 
 people ever applied to St. Cyprian and his 
 council about communicating or not communi- 
 cating with them ; only by the unjust interpo- 
 sition of the bishop of Rome, in favour of those 
 idolaters after they were deprived, they claimed 
 their former right still ; and, in f that case,' the 
 African council advised and warranted the peo- 
 ple to separate from their first idolatrous bi- 
 shops, and join communion with those who 
 were so regularly provided for them ; as I have 
 shewn more at large in the sixth chapter fore- 
 going. And now a ( separation,' in any case 
 whatsoever, thus managed, is justifiable without 
 /dispute. And this is all c the Enquiry' proves 
 in the first justifiable cause for it, namely, that 
 of notorious idolatry. For what the instance or 
 example proves, is presumed to be the substance 
 of the argument which the Author grounds 
 upon it. But, 
 
 Secondly, What sort of separation he ap- 
 proved of, in case of an heretical pastor, is not 
 so easily to be known, from his short quotations 
 under that head; for all he says of it is , that 
 Irenseus advises us c to fly from all here tics p ;' 
 and that Origen allows the people to separate 
 from their bishop, ( if they could accuse him of 
 false and heretical doctrine 01 ;' which, no doubt 
 of it, all good Christians ought to do. But this 
 is speaking at large. If we would know the 
 practice of the primitive Church in this matter, 
 the case of Paulus Samosatenus is as clear a 
 
 Enquiry, ibid. 
 
 P Enq. ib. Oportet longe fugere ab eis. Iren. 1. i. c. 13. 
 
 1 Si habueris accusation em doctrinae pessimee, et alienorum 
 ab ecclesia dogmatum. Orig. Horn. 7. in Ezek. 
 
 Z 
 
338 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 precedent as antiquity can afford; and as evi- 
 dently shews, that the separation both of laity 
 and inferior clergy from an heretical bishop, 
 was managed in the same manner then, as we 
 have seen it was in the case of the idolatrous 
 bishops before. The proceedings against Paul 
 are at large recorded by Eusebius, and in the 
 synodical letter of the council called against 
 him, which that historian has in great part pre- 
 served for us ; where we read of no new altar 
 or second bishop set up by presbyters, deacons, 
 or people (notwithstanding they were conscious 
 enough of his blasphemous notions), till such 
 time as the great council solemnly deposed him, 
 and promoted Domnus to his see. Nay, we 
 find his orthodox people still present at the 
 public service of the Church with him (his 
 heretical blasphemies not being yet inserted 
 there), though " they suffered reproaches from 
 him all the while, for behaving themselves more 
 decently and gravely than his wretched flat- 
 terers did 1 ," as the holy Fathers of the council 
 relate the case themselves. The separation in 
 this case therefore was managed thus: the 
 watchful bishops of the several churches of 
 God about him took the alarm of his heresy, 
 and provided a more faithful pastor in a regu- 
 lar and authentic manner for his people, who 
 waited for that warrantable course of being 
 duly separated from him; trusting to the pro- 
 vidence of God (without going out of his 
 way), which every Christian safely may de- 
 
 ToTs ou*>, us ev oiK(f &eov ff/uivoTrpTrws /cat 
 vfTrnifjiuv /cat iyvfiplfav. Euseb. H. E. 1. vii. c. 30. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 339 
 
 pend upon, from the faithful promises of our 
 blessed Lord, that he will be with his Church 
 for ever. But, 
 
 Thirdly, As to the matter of a scandalous and 
 wicked life, the learned Enquirer himself, and. 
 the venerable authors he cites, are divided about 
 * the modes' of separation in such a case. " An 
 African synod," he tells us (p. 164, 165), "af- 
 firms, that the people of their own power and 
 authority, without the concurrent assent of 
 other churches, might leave and desert a scan- 
 dalous bishop ; and Irenaeus," he says, " agrees 
 with them in it, though Origen seems to be of 
 another mind." 
 
 Now by " leaving and deserting their bishop, 
 of their own authority, and without the assent 
 of other churches," it is plain he means no less 
 than a full power in them to discharge him of 
 his pastoral care over them, and to provide an- 
 other bishop or pastor for themselves; for he 
 sets it in direct opposition to Origen's opinion, 
 which, in his own construction of it (p. 165), was 
 "to wait for a synodical authority to depose 
 their bishop in any such case." 
 
 His meaning being plain then, we shall soon 
 see, (or rather have seen already, indeed,) that 
 the African synod he refers to, allows no such 
 popular liberty, of placing and displacing pas- 
 tors for themselves, in case of a c scandalous or 
 immoral life ;' for it is the very same synod, 
 and the same epistle of theirs he here appeals 
 to, which he cited just before in the case of the 
 e idolatrous' Spanish bishops; who being, not 
 apostates only, but vicious and immoral men 
 
 z2 
 
340 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 too, the synod considered them in both re- 
 spects, in their answer to the clergy and people 
 of their churches who wrote for their advice 
 about them ; and as this gave occasion to the 
 synod severally to declare, in many passages of 
 that epistle, how unworthy either vicious or 
 idolatrous bishops were to minister at the altar 
 of God ; so it did to this Enquirer also to make 
 a double use and application of it ; whereas, in 
 respect to the people's separation from one, and 
 joining in communion with another (which is 
 the case before us here), the synod's judgment 
 was the same, as well in regard to the immo- 
 rality, as to the idolatry of their bishops. In 
 both cases it had immediate reference to the 
 condition the people were in, and the difficul- 
 ties they were driven to, of having rival bishops 
 (on one side synodically deprived, and on the 
 other synodically set up), and the synod's deter- 
 mination for them was this. That since they 
 had bishops so regularly provided for them, 
 and the other so justly deprived, they should 
 separate from the one who were guilty of such 
 open idolatry and immoral lives, and join com- 
 munion with the other, who could be charged 
 with neither, notwithstanding the bishop of 
 Rome, and some other nearer home, discou- 
 raged them from doing so; and this was the 
 'very separation' that synod had occasion to 
 speak to, upon the clergy and the people's ap- 
 plication to them ; and the only kind of ' popu- 
 lar election' they maintained, which has so 
 mightily been insisted upon, in a very different 
 sense, before (chap, vi.). Let the impartial 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 341 
 
 reader have recourse to the synodical epistle 5 
 itself, and judge if he can find this dispensa- 
 tion granted there to any Christian churches 
 whatsoever, "to desert their criminal bishops 
 of their own authority, and without assent of 
 other churches," in such a sense as is affirmed 
 here. To proceed then to the other authority 
 for it. 
 
 Irenaeus, says he (p. 164), was of the same 
 mind with this African council; and I doubt 
 not, but he was ; but not in the sense intended 
 here. The passage quoted* for it from that 
 Father, neither implies so much, nor is directly 
 applicable to the point in hand, if the learned 
 commentator upon it understood it right. The 
 question before us is, what the people are to do 
 in case of ( scandal' and ' immorality' in their 
 bishops, his faith and principles in the mean 
 time being sound and orthodox ; but Irenseus, 
 in the place quoted here, was speaking of the 
 " most vicious heretics of those times, such as 
 Nicolas the deacon, Cerinthus, Ebion, and the 
 like";" as the judicious annotator verily be- 
 lieves. This alters the case, and many circum- 
 stances would persuade any reader that Irenseus 
 meant so. First, because he does not name the 
 presbyters he was speaking of there, as ' ge- 
 nuine presbyters' of the Church, but 'such as 
 
 8 Cypr. Ep. 67. Edit. Oxon. 
 
 4 Q,ui vero presbyter! serviunt suis voluptatibus, &c. ab 
 omnibus talibus absistere oportet. Iren. 1. iv. c. 44. 1. 
 
 u Qui vero crediti quidem sunt a multis presbyteri, &c. 
 Annot. Nicolaum, Cerinthum, Ebionem, et id genus hsere- 
 siarchas hie atro carbone notari existimo. Ad Iren. ubi 
 supra. 
 
342 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 were thought by many to be so x ;' which cha- 
 racter of them the Enquirer was pleased to 
 leave out, though in the midst of the first 
 comma he cites. Secondly, because Irenseus 
 introduces what he says of them, with plain 
 terms of distinction from the presbyters he was 
 speaking of before, who were "such as had 
 succession from the Apostles, and with that 
 succession the certain gift of truth, according 
 to the good pleasure of the Father y ;" as the 
 context shews. And, thirdly, because in the 
 quotation itself, where he advises all Christians 
 6 to abstain from them,' he exhorts them, by 
 way of distinction again, "to keep close to 
 those, who, as he told them before, preserved 
 the doctrine of the Apostles 2 ;" pretty plain 
 signs, one would think, that he was speaking 
 of heretics, as well as vicious men, though the 
 same persons still. 
 
 And yet, after all, be it of one or the other, 
 or both, he says no more, you see, to our pre- 
 sent case, than that c we should abstain from 
 them;' which determines nothing, how the 
 Church of God in general should be regularly 
 freed from such wretched presbyters, or any 
 particular people provided with a more worthy 
 pastor for themselves; but leaves his reader 
 
 x Qui vero crediti guidem sunt a multis presbyteri. 
 
 y Eis qui in Ecclesia sunt presbyteris obaudire oportet, his 
 qui successionem habent ab Apostolis, et cum episcopatus 
 successione charisma veritatis certum secundum placitum Pa- 
 tris acceperunt, 1. iv. c. 43. Qui vero crediti sunt a muttis* Sec. 
 Ib. c. 44. 1. 
 
 2 Ab omnibus igitur talibus absistere oportet, adhaerere vero 
 his qui Apostolorum (sicut praediximus) doctrinam custodiunt. 
 Ib. cap. 44. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 343 
 
 there to the warrantable rules and method of 
 the Church, having taught him just before what 
 sort of Apostolical successors all Christians were 
 obliged to cleave to ; and further warned him 
 to " suspect all others who go off from that suc- 
 cession, and hold their meetings in any place 
 whatsoever, as heretics or schismatics, or proud, 
 or pleasers of themselves, or else as hypocrites 
 who do it for the sake of interest or vain- 
 glory*. " Which gives as little license, I think, 
 to the people of any ( diocese, particular church, 
 or parish,' name it as you please, to provide 
 themselves a pastor of ' their own authority, and 
 without the assent of other churches,' in the 
 sense it is pretended here, as the African coun- 
 cil itself did before ; and so far Irenaeus and 
 that council do agree, neither of them warrant- 
 ing that ' popular right and authority of heaping 
 up teachers to themselves' (to use the Apostle's 
 phrase), however unfortunate they may be, to 
 have an immoral pastor at any time among 
 them. 
 
 And that Origen comes nearer to the sense 
 of both of them, than our learned Author 
 thought he did (though he endeavoured to re- 
 concile them too), I believe the reader will per- 
 ceive by the very quotation he gives us from 
 him here, which I shall transcribe in his own 
 translation, together with the text itself; not 
 only as the true sense of the African council 
 
 a Reliquos vero qui absistunt a principal! successione, et 
 quocunque loco colliguntur, suspectos habere, vel quasi heere- 
 ticos et malse sententise, vel quasi scindentes, et elatos, et sibi 
 placentes ; aut rursus ut hypocritas, qusestus gratia et vanse 
 gloriee hoc operantes. Iren. ubi supra, cap. 43. 
 
344 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 and Irenseus, but of the whole primitive Church 
 with them; in this point of scandal and im- 
 morality in any minister of the Church of 
 God. 
 
 He " that hath a care of his soul, will not be 
 scandalized at my faults, who am his bishop, 
 but considering my doctrine, and finding it 
 agreeable to the Church's faith, from me in- 
 deed he wall be averse, but he will receive my 
 doctrine, according to the precept of the Lord ; 
 which saith, the Scribes and Pharisees sit on 
 Moses's chair ; whatsoever therefore they say unto 
 you, hear and do, but according unto their works 
 do not, for they say, and do not. That scripture 
 is of me, who teach what is good, and do the 
 contrary, and sit upon the chair of Moses, as a 
 Scribe or Pharisee. The precept is to thee, O 
 people ; if thou canst not accuse me of false 
 doctrine, or heretical opinions, but only be- 
 holdest my wicked and sinful life ; thou must 
 not square thy life according to my life, but do 
 those things which I speak b ." 
 
 Here Origen " must needs be understood," as 
 
 b Qui curam habet vitae suae, non meis delictis, qui videor 
 in Ecclesia praedicare, scandalizabitur, sed ipsum dogma con- 
 siderans, et pertractans Ecclesise fidem, a me quidem aversabi- 
 tur, doctrinam vero suscipiet secundum praeceptum Domini, 
 qui ait, supra cathedram Moysi sederunt Scribae et Pharisaei, 
 omnia enim quaecunque vobis dicunt audite et facite, juxta 
 autem opera illorum nolite facere, dicunt quippe et non fa^ 
 ciunt. Iste sermo de me est, qui bona doceo, et contraria 
 gero, et sum sedens supra cathedram Moysi quasi Scriba et 
 Pharisaeus ; praeceptum tibi est, popule ; si non habueris ac- 
 cusationem doctrinae pessimae et alienorum ab Ecclesia dognaa- 
 tum, conspexeris vero meam culpabilem vitam atque peccata, 
 ut non habeas, juxta dicentis vitam tuam instituere, sed ea 
 facere quee loquor. Orig. Homil. 7. in Ezekiel. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 345 
 
 the learned Enquirer (p. 165) remarks upon 
 him, " to restrain the people from present sepa- 
 ration, till they had the authority of a synod for 
 doing so ;" and can the African council be said 
 to differ from him in this, when all they wrote 
 upon this subject, was in the particular case of 
 the Spanish churches, where such a regular 
 synod had already settled all in the same man- 
 ner that Origen would have it done ? Or, sup- 
 posing Irenseus referred to this special case 
 of immorality (which it is likely, you see, he 
 did not), could he be said to allow the people 
 to provide another bishop for themselves, "of 
 their own power and authority, and without 
 the assent of other churches," because he said 
 " they should abstain from the former ?" deter- 
 mining nothing for them which way they should 
 be better provided for in the case, but plainly 
 leaving them, as I observed before, to the ordi- 
 nary methods of the Church for that; which, 
 as the Enquirer owns, in this very place, " was 
 avouched by all to be this ; that synods did de- 
 pose all scandalous and criminal bishops ; and 
 to understand it otherwise (in Origen's case, 
 says he) was to contradict all other writers be- 
 sides." It were hard upon Irenaeus then, to 
 say, he did not understand it so, who had so 
 strictly charged all Christians (as you heard 
 but just now) to keep close to the Apostolical 
 succession, to whom the certain gift of ' truth' 
 was so peculiarly bequeathed, and to be so jea- 
 lous of all -others, who would meet anywhere, 
 without regard to that. 
 
 And thus the three authorities produced 
 agree, I conceive, in this, that neither one nor 
 
346 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 the other justify the people of any church, to 
 deprive or set up a bishop or pastor for them- 
 selves ( of their own power and authority,' in this 
 last case of ' a wicked and scandalous life ;' any 
 more than the Catholic practice of the primi- 
 tive Church did in the greater ones of heresy 
 and apostacy itself, which we have nowhere 
 found was done; and with this I shall close 
 the material point of the ( justifiable causes of 
 separation,' and at the same time the general 
 head of this last chapter, concerning the unity 
 or schism of the primitive Church. 
 
 And by the particular survey which has 
 been taken of these two important points, it is 
 no hard matter, I think, to know what ' schism 
 is,' and in every division of the Church, ' who 
 the schismatics are.' The learned Enquirer in- 
 deed, differs widely from the primitive Church 
 about it 5 in the case of non-essentials ; but then 
 he differs little less from himself too; for all 
 kind of imposers in that case are schismatics of 
 the highest nature with him ; he taxes them 
 with ( cruelty, tyranny, violation of the Church's 
 concord,' and a great deal more, beyond his 
 usual temper; and yet in his own account of 
 the discipline of the primitive Church, he shews 
 us there was as much imposition of that nature 
 practised then, as he can anywhere complain 
 of, in any orthodox church at this very day. 
 For his account of primitive provincial synods 
 is this ; " they were assembled," says he, 
 amongst other things, "for resolving all diffi- 
 cult points that did not wound the essentials 
 of religion (p. 147);" and what were those ' re- 
 solutions,' but so many determinations one way 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 347 
 
 or the other, what the churches of the pro- 
 vinces they belonged to should believe, in such 
 non-essential matters as they so considered and 
 resolved? especially, since he further adds (p. 
 148, and 149), that " what they there enacted, 
 they decreed to be observed by all the faithful 
 of those churches whom they represented," or 
 " by all the members of them." Now this right 
 of debating non-essential points in ecclesiastical 
 councils, of resolving and determining about 
 them there, and requiring all the churches they 
 belonged to, to acquiesce in such synodical de- 
 terminations of them, is all the imposition, I 
 am sensible of, that any orthodox church, pri- 
 mitive or modern, can be charged with in ( any 
 difficult points that wound not the essentials of 
 religion ;' and therefore I cannot see, I confess, 
 what sort of imposers he can be so highly angry 
 at in this case, without reflecting on the sacred 
 synods of the primitive Church, in his own ma- 
 nifest account of them. 
 
 But it is too visible, with what partiality to 
 his own opinion he (p. 158) applies the venera- 
 ble Ireneeus's censure (of ' all' inexcusable schis- 
 matics in his time) to the single persons of such 
 ' imposers only,' as he is pleased to call them; 
 that is, to all ecclesiastical authority whatso- 
 ever, which should determine anything in 
 6 these difficult points, which no way wound 
 the essentials of religion,' let their considera- 
 tions of unity, peace, or order, in it, be what 
 they will ; and notwithstanding the right and 
 practice he had owned, you see, before, in pri- 
 mitive provincial synods to do so. And that 
 St. Cyprian and his African province drew up 
 
348 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 a solemn decree in such a case (as our learned 
 Author himself allows the case to be), for the 
 observation of all belonging to them, I have 
 shewn at large before. 
 
 But I shall leave Irenseus's own words with 
 the reader, that he may judge how the bias of 
 an author's mind must be set, to apply such 
 general language to any special sense he has 
 first prepared for it, which the holy Father him- 
 self gives no manner of occasion for. The words 
 are these : 
 
 The " spiritual man," says he, " will judge, or 
 discern those who make schisms, who are inhu- 
 mane, not having the love of God, but prefer- 
 ring their own advantage before the unity of 
 the Church, for trivial and slight causes, rend 
 and divide the great and glorious body of 
 Christ, and, as much as in them lies, destroy it ; 
 who speak peace, but wage war, truly straining 
 at a gnat, and swallowing a camel c ." 
 
 Here is a fearful character of schismatics, 
 every one sees ; but the Enquirer thinks he sees 
 more; he discerns a ( special' kind of schisma- 
 tics marked out here, to whom he frankly ap- 
 plies it all: and those are 'imposers' of non- 
 essentials, as I hinted but now, be their author- 
 ity what it will, or the articles they decree 
 never so innocent or useful in their kind. In 
 
 Discipulus vere spiritualis recipiens Spiritum Dei 
 
 judicabit eos qui schismata operantur^ qui sunt immanes, non 
 habentes Dei dilectionem, suamque utilitatem potius conside- 
 rantes, quam unitatem Ecclesiae, propter modicas et quaslibet 
 causas magnum et gloriosum corpus Christi conscindunt et di- 
 vidunt, et, quantum in ipsis est, interficiunt ; pacem loquentes, 
 et bellum operantes, vere liquantes culicem, et camelum trans- 
 glutientes. Iren. 1. iv. c. 53. et 62. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 349 
 
 such cases, all inferior members of a church, by 
 his construction of the place, may be left at 
 liberty to disturb the peace, and rend the unity 
 of the Church for such mere non-essential 
 points, and be all the while innocent and 
 blameless in it ; for the whole guilt is removed, 
 you see (ibid.), from them, and placed where 
 it cannot touch them. But, what one syllable 
 is there in Irenseus's words, which looks that 
 w^ayV unless we will be great imposers our- 
 selves, and oblige the reader to believe that 
 there could be no ' inhumanity, or want of the 
 love of God in it,' if any subordinate members 
 of a Church should break the unity (and dis- 
 obey their spiritual superiors too) for such slight 
 matters as Irenaeus speaks of there ; or that it 
 could not be said of them, that ' they preferred ' 
 their own advantage before 'the Church's unity,' 
 who, from being subjects in it, make themselves 
 heads and governors of faction and a party, by 
 excepting against non-essential matters, and 
 forming a schism upon it. Or that it could 
 not be supposed, that such mean and ordinary 
 schismatics should make ' professions of peace 
 and piety,' whilst they ' wage war against the 
 Church of God.' Or lastly, that to 6 strain at a 
 gnat, and swallow a camel,' could with no pro- 
 priety of speech be said of them, with whom a 
 harmless ' non-essential' will not down, and yet 
 the dreadful guilt of schism be easily digested 
 by them. 
 
 The words make no distinction of persons 
 from one end to the other; nor exempt any 
 from the common guilt of the same unnatural 
 schism, where the cause of controversy and di- 
 
350 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 vision is the same; that is, for slight or non- 
 essential matters; and it is strange to think 
 the venerable author of them (who held the 
 highest station in the Church) should mean to 
 clear all 'other' members of it, and leave them 
 free to rend the ' great and glorious body of 
 Christ/ for such slender matters as he was 
 speaking of, except himself alone, or such as 
 he was. 
 
 Had his first words been fairly translated, 
 there could have been no umbrage for such 
 a construction ; for the schismatics Irenseus 
 censures, are, in his own express terms, such 
 as actually make or form a schism d , upon 
 some slender occasion or other, and not such 
 as should more remotely ' cause,' or occasion, 
 such a schism to be made, as the Enquirer has 
 rendered them ; and by that slight turn alone, 
 made them so plausibly countenance his own 
 peculiar application. 
 
 But I will leave the quotation now to speak 
 for itself, and only excuse myself for differing 
 in one particular more from the learned En- 
 quirer, in translating that first sentence of it. 
 He renders it thus; "that, at the last day, 
 Christ shall judge those who cause the schisms" 
 (there spoken of); and I doubt not but all 
 such schismatics will sadly find it so. But Ire- 
 naeus's sense, I conceive to be this, that "the 
 spiritual man will judge (or discern) those who 
 actually make such schisms, &c." And my 
 reason for it is, because the holy Father for 
 nine or ten short chapters together, was speak- 
 
 d Qui schismata operantur. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 351 
 
 ing in one continued discourse of this particu- 
 lar judge, who should try and discern all sorts 
 of adversaries to the truth. And in the fifty- 
 third chapter, where he first began it, he ex- 
 presses by name the spiritual disciple, who 
 should so discern and judge all, and himself be 
 judged of no man, according to the sacred text, 
 1 Cor. ii. 15. And answerable to that, in the 
 sixty-second chapter, where he speaks of judg- 
 ing ' schismatics' amongst the rest (in the words 
 of this quotation before us), he shuts up the 
 whole discourse with repeating that clause 
 again, " but he himself will be judged or dis- 
 cerned by no man;" which made it plain to 
 me, that the 'spiritual man' was the judge 
 spoken of, from one end to the other; and 
 therefore I translated it so. 
 
 Some little attention then seems to have 
 been wanting here, both as to the context and 
 application of this primitive Father's words. 
 But take them in what sense we will, they are 
 an evident instance of that awful sense which 
 the first and best of Christians had of the 
 dreadful sin of ' schism;' not much unlike to 
 what the learned Enquirer (p. 180) has ob- 
 served from St. Cyprian to the same purpose; 
 and since his Enquiry was professedly written 
 to heal such unhappy divisions in the Church, 
 and 'my heart' tells me I had no other ends 
 in all my observations upon it, I shall leave 
 the authorities of both those ancient Fathers 
 to the serious consideration of the sons of peace, 
 as no unsuitable conclusion to this whole dis- 
 course. 
 
 St. Cyprian's words are very close and affect- 
 
352 AN ORIGINAL DRAUGHT OF 
 
 ing indeed : " the schismatic," says he, " can no 
 longer have God for his Father, who has not 
 the Church for his mother, but is out of the 
 Dumber of the faithful ; and though he should 
 die for the faith, yet should he never be 
 saved 6 ." 
 
 And Irenaeus's sense is this ; that schism is 
 such " a rending and dividing of the great and 
 glorious body of Christ, as equals the guilt of 
 schismatics f " to that of apostates from the faith, 
 censured by St. Paul, who crucify to themselves 
 afresh the Lord of glory, and put him to an 
 open shame g ; and this guilt he makes more 
 monstrous and unnatural still, when men ( ac- 
 tually form their schism for slight and incon- 
 siderate matters 11 ;' that is, as the learned En- 
 quirer explains it, upon account of non-essen- 
 tial points, which wound no fundamental article 
 of Christian faith or doctrine; to this sort of 
 schismatics his censure more immediately be- 
 longs. And if the joint suffrage of these two 
 eminent Martyrs of the primitive Church were 
 duly weighed and solemnly attended to, it 
 might have a comfortable influence upon the 
 unhappy divisions of our times. For should 
 all divided parties in the reformed churches of 
 this age, have the same awful fear of the dread- 
 ful guilt and danger of schism, and the same 
 
 e Alienus est habere jam non potest Deum patrem, 
 
 qui Ecclesiam non habet matrem, tales etiamsi occisi in con- 
 fessione nominis fuerint, macula ista nee sanguine abluitur. 
 De Unit. 
 
 f Magnum et gloriosum corpus Christi conscindu et divi- 
 dunt, et, quantum in ipsis est. inter ficiunt. Iren. ubi supra. 
 
 * Heb. vi. 6. 
 
 h Propter modicas et quaslibet causas. Iren. ut supra. 
 
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 353 
 
 peaceful indifference to non-essential points, as 
 it is manifest these holy Fathers of the primi- 
 tive Church had; the sorest divisions amongst 
 us would well nigh heal of themselves; we 
 should need no litigious volumes of controversy 
 to apply to them, which rather fret than cure ; 
 they would insensibly dissolve within every 
 man's own breast, through the gentle, but 
 powerful, influence of that spirit of peace, 
 humility, and love, which, for so many ages 
 together, kept the universal Church of Christ 
 in so amiable and admired an unity within it- 
 self. May the dying petition of the great Lord 
 and Redeemer of the Church, so often and so 
 affectionately repeated to the Father, for the 
 peace and unity of us all, procure that miracle 
 of mercy for us, that we all may be one, even as 
 the Father and He are one\ Amen, Amen. 
 
 4 Johnxvii. 11,21,22,23. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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