who refuse full or competent Evidence when the Proofs rise up to a Demonstration or are direct and suitable to the nature of the Matter But for Men to advance new Notions and Paradoxes concerning things at very great Distance of which the Proofs are obscure and the Evidence only conjectural and then to cry out upon those who are not convinc'd as Persons of no Faith or Equity argues a Confidence very unusual and rarely to be seen either in understanding or good Men. That for the space of the first three Centuries a Bishop was no more than a Pastor to a single Congregation is in the first place a Conclusion very new and never heard that I can learn before the last Age. The space of time intervening between the nearest point of the three Centuries assign'd and the Birth of this Notion wants little of Thirteen compleat Centuries and therefore the Evidence of a matter so remote ought to be positive and direct and it must be expected that some Ancient Witnesses who liv'd within the compass of that Term or in the next Age at least should be produced and have declared expresly that no Bishop had more than one single Congregation or that it was the Opinion of those Times that a Bishop ought to have no more If but one Author of Credit had left this Testimony the circumstantial Evidence might reasonably be admitted for Confirmation but when all the Proof of a Fact so distant consists only of Conjectures and Suspicions and unconcluding Circumstances I hope that in this time of Liberty an honest Man may refufe to believe so obscure and unnecessary Inferences without any Diminution of his Reputation It may be very true that some Villages had Bishops that several Cities were not greater than some of our Market-Towns that all the People may be said in an usual sense to be present at Church in the greatest Cities all this may be true and yet very far from proving the Point in Question The Conclusion Congregational Episcopacy may remain still at as great a distance from these Premises as the Primitive Times we speak of are from the present Age or as some gifted Mens Discourses are from the Text. When this fancy of Primitive Congregational Episcopacy came first into Mens heads the Diocesan way had been every where Establish'd and that we may not take this for a piece of Popery no Churches came nearer to the Congregational Standard than those that were under the immediate Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome nor was it pretended that Diocesan Bishops were new they had an acknowledg'd Prescription of above twelve hundred years but the time of its rise was not so positively assign'd Cartwright pretended to trace some footsteps of the Congregational way in the two first Centuries but I do not find that he or the Dissenters of his Time had made the Conclusion so universal that no Bishop within that compass of Time had more than one Congregation Rome and Alexandria and the greatest Cities seem'd to stand out and remain'd Exceptions but now they too are taken in and reduc'd to the Congregational Model It is something hard to conceive how the Species of Church-Government should come to be chang'd and no Account of so important a Change be transmitted to Posterity Those who fancy Presbytery turn'd into Episcopacy in the former part of the second Century make some shew of Reply when they say that it is a very obscure Age and hath left little or nothing of its Story behind it But the Ages in which Primitive Episcopacy is pretended to have been transform'd into Diocesan were of another Character they abounded with Learning and Writers and a great many of their Books have been preserv'd but not the least hint of this Fundamental Alteration of Church-Government What! so just an Offence given by the Church and no Sectary no Schismatick to reproach her Those who were so minute and trifling in their Cavils could they overlook so obvious a Topick as this of Diocesan Innovation Nay these very Sects where their Numbers made them capable liv'd themselves under the Diocesan Way If then in times of so much Division Contention and Dispute such a change as this could be introduc'd without any Opposition and all Parties of different Opinions and Interest conform'd to it for my part I cannot see how it can be denied that it was done by Miracle For what greater Miracle can we well imagin than that so many sorts of Christians divided by Principles and mutual Aversions should conspire to receive this pretended alteration of Episcopacy So that those who deny it to be Primitive must allow it a higher Title since Miracle carries with it much greater Authority than Prescription Mr. Clerkson therefore had great reason to aprehend that it would appear a great Paradox to hear that a Bishop of Old was but the Pastor of a single Church or that his Diocese was no larger than one Communion Table might serve It does indeed seem very strange not only to those who take the Measures of Ancient times and things by their own or are much concern'd they should not be otherwise than they are now but most of all to those who have competent knowledg of those Times and who are qualify'd to make some Judgment of the State of the Primitive Church from the Testimonies of Ecclesiastical Writers It is a great weakness to take the measures of Ancient times by our own (a) P. 116. but I know none more unfortunate in this way of reckoning than the Author himself who measures the Ancient Territories of Greek and Roman Cities by Liberties that belong to Ours and demands with more Zeal than Knowledg How many Cities in the Roman Empire can be shâ—wn us where this Jurisdiction of the City Magistrates reach'd farther than it doth in our English Cities Vrbem quam dicunt Romam Melibaee puâ—avi Stultus Ego huic nostrae similem But of this in its proper place How great Advantages may be expected from a clear discovery of what the Author thinks to be true in this particular I cannot readily discern having not the assistance of his Prospective to discover things at so vast a distance much less can I see that it may contribute much to the deciding of the Controversies among us about Church-Government and bringing them to a happy Composure Now to deal liberally with this Notion of Primitive Episcopacy let us yield up the point at once and grant that no Bishop for the three first Centuries had more than one Congregation But at the same time let us take the Reason along with us that for so long time no City had more Christians then might meet in one Church no Bishop then could have more Congregations then all the Christians of his City and Territory did compose But the Controversies about Church-Government are still undecided for this does not preclude the Bishops from a right of having many Congregations under their inspections if more had been
this diffidence and caution does that Learn'd Man propose his Opinion which together with the testimonies upon which it is grounded (a) Vindic. of the Prim. Ch. p. 34. and Seq has been considered at large in another place and I am not willing here to transcribe Yet that I may not seem to decline an Answer in this place I will give the sum of what is there answer'd and add something for future explication First then Altar in the primitive sense signify'd not only the Communion Table but the whole place where the Chair of the Bishop and the Seats of the Presbyters were plac'd and in this sense there was but one Altar in one Diocese as there is now but one Consistory This is explain'd by passages out of Ignatius Cyprian and Arch-Bishop Vsher and to be within the Altar which is Ignatius his phrase is no other than to be in Communion with the Bishop and his Clergy And the one Altar is no more than one Communion which may be held in different places and at several Tables Besides some passages cited out of Ignatius about one Altar are only allusive to the Jewish Temple and Altar and therefore are not to be urg'd too strictly Lastly the name of Altar might be appropriated to that of the Bishop's Church upon another account and that is in respect of the oblations of the Faithful which were presented there only and from thence distribution was made according to the occasions of the Church Among other oblations was the Bread and the Wine which were to serve for the Sacrament these were always bless'd at the Bishops Altar though not always consecrated there Concerning these oblations preparatory to the Sacrament Mr. Mede has given a judicious account in his Treatise of the Sacrifice where he shews these Offerings were in the nature of a Sacrifice and upon the account of these gifts the Table might receive its name of Altar For as the Jews had but one Altar on which their Sacrifices were offer'd and sanctify'd yet were they eaten at several Tables so the Bishops Altar might serve to the same purpose at least within the same City to receive those Oblations which were to be communicated in different places This was the practice of Rome in Pope Innocent (a) Innoc. Ep. ad Decent the first his time who sent the Bread allready consecrated to all the Churches of the City but did not send any to such Presbyters as were plac'd in remote Cemiteries since they might consecrate themselvs and as for Country Parishes he did not think it convenient the Holy Consecrated Bread should be sent to them for it was not fit it should be carry'd to places remote So all though not present in the same place did yet partake of one Altar and eat of the same Spiritual Bread And to this purpose perhaps may most commodiously be understood that noted passage of Justin Martyr concerning the administration of the Eucharist in Christian Assemblies where he says that the Deacons distribute it to all that are present and carry it to those who are not present For to all who were not present as they were dispers'd in their several dwellings it could not conveniently be carry'd by the Deacons besides that in numerous Congregations it was not easy to know who was not present Nor is Valesius (a) Annot. in Euseb l. 5. c. 24. his conjecture very probable who would send it to persons of other Dioceses So that it seems most probable that it was carry'd from the Bishop's Church to other Assemblies in the same City Nor will this look strange for those times that the Holy Bread should be sent from the Bishops Altar to other Churches of the same City when it was usual to send it into remote Countries and Dioceses as a symbol of Communion The old Bishops of Rome before (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb H. E. l. 5. c 24. Victor's time us'd to send such presents and (c) Act. Lucian ap Metaph. 7. Jan. Lucian the Martyr sent them from his Prison So Paulinus (d) Paul Ep. 1. did to Severus This practice was forbid by the Synod (e) Can. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Ladicea that the holy Mysteries should not be sent abroad into other Dioceses which Zonaras observes to have been a very ancient custom And this forbidding it to be carry'd into other Dioceses seems to allow its being carry'd from the Bishop's Church to other places of the same Diocese After Mr. Mede (a) Prim. Ep. p. 16. Dr. Hammond is brought in a witness of this notion of one Altar (b) In re incomperta non est audacter nimis pronunciandum Ham. Diss 3. c. 8. s. 15. He mentions it indeed as the opinion of some learned Men but he himself makes no judgment concerning it leaving the matter as uncertain and declining to pronounce any thing in a point so obscure Bishop Taylor (c) Episc Assert is likewise forc'd to appear in this cause meerly because he cited Damasus in the life of Pope Marcellus who is said to have made twenty five Titles as so many Dioceses for Baptism and Penance From whence the Bishop is said (d) Prim. ep p. 16. to infer that there was yet no preaching in Parishes and but one pulpit in a Diocese And further Damasus and the Doctor out of him leaves us evidently to conclude that there was no Communion Table but in the mother Church And this three hundred and five years after Christ and at Rome too It is not very advisable to conclude any thing too hastily upon the authority of this pretended Damasus it costs such counterfeits nothing to build twenty Churches in a day and to consign them to what use they please But this Impostor as he had little wit so in this instance his luck was very bad to make so many Converts and to erect so many Titles in the year three hundred and five when the Roman Emperors were persecuting the Christians to utter extirpation and when there was not a Church or Title standing in Rome This was the third year of the Persecution according to (a) Baluz Chron. Mart. ex Lact. Dodw. Di. 8. Cypr. XI Lactantius or the second according to Eusebius and therefore a sorry time for Converts and making of Titles and Baptistries So that the relation being fabulous and forg'd by one who had no knowledg of those times the inferences made from it must drop It was surely not very well contriv'd to multiply Churches for Baptism and to leave but one Communion Table for all the Christians of Rome For one Baptistry may serve the greatest City because men are baptiz'd but once and that not all together but at several times and in ancient times no City had more unless where the magnificence of Emperors or Bishops made as it were many Cathedrals And at this time in the City of Florence (b) Pflaumern Merc. Ital. Lasselina reckon'd among
the chief of Italy all the children are christen'd in one Font in the old Church of St. John Which Leandro Alberti (c) Gloss v. Baptisterium says was a Temple of Mars which Dufresne observes Tanquam veteris moris Institutum It being the old way for all who liv'd in or near the same City to be baptiz'd in one Church i. e. the Cathedral But the use of the Altar was more general and more constant for every Lord's day in the primitive times all the Faithful receiv'd the Sacrament And the administration of it does require more time and more room than any other office of Christian Religion For more may pray together or hear the Scriptures or a Sermon with convenience than can receive the Sacrament which was delivered (a) Eus H. E. l. 6. c. 43. with a form of words to every person that receiv'd it to which the receiver answered Amen So that in a numerous Congregation it must grow inconvenient and soon stand in need of several other Churches Wherefore it seems most probable that the Christian Assemblies were first parted on this account and Titles or parish-parish-Churches erected as supplements of the chief Altar Let a man but consider the state of the Church of Rome under (b) Eus H. E. l. 6. c. 43. Cornelius when above fifteen hundred persons were maintain'd from the publick stock of the Church what numbers of believers there must be in that City and then let him conceive if he can how so many thousands could meet every Lord's day in one Church and receive the Communion at one Altar And in Lions c where in Severus his time there are said to have been eighteen thousand Christians it is not easy to conceive how one Altar could be sufficient We are told indeed that we have many thousands in a Parish that hath but one Altar but if our Communions (d) Irenaeus martyrizatus est cum omni populo Christianorum XVIII M. Thron S. Benig ap Dacher T. 1. were as frequent and as numerous as those of the Primitive Church many Altars I am sure would be necessary to such Parishes To conclude the words of the counterfeit Damasus now under debate do not deny to those Parish-Churches the administration of the Eucharist for when he appoints them for Baptism and Penance he doth not exclude all other Christian Offices such as Prayer reading of the Scripture or the Communion but names those of Baptism and Penance because even in his time they were not allow'd to every Parish-Church But this Damasus liv'd later than to think of a Church without Mass or without an Altar and he had taken care not only for such Churches but for the Sepulchres of Martyrs that they should have Altars raised over them and Masses celebrated long before the time of Marcellus and ascribes the ordering of that matter to (a) Pseud Damas in Felix 1. Felix 1. And (b) Baron An. 275. Baronius seems to be troubled that this Author had not done it sooner and therefore thinks fit to let the Reader know that all this had been provided before And lastly the expression quasi Dioceses referring to Baptism and Penance import that those services indeed belong'd only to a Cathedral and therefore the granting of those priviledges to Parishes made them seem like Dioceses whereas * Innoc. Ep. ad Dacen Aug. Conf. c. 2. vid. Euseb H. E. l. 7. c. 11. l. 9. c. 2. every Martyrium every Cemitery and common Title had the priviledge of the Communion That there was no preaching in the Parishes of Rome may very well be granted without reducing the Christians to a single Congregation For if (a) Soz. l. 7. c. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sozomen was not misinform'd there was no preaching in any Church in Rome not in the Bishops for in Rome neither the Bishop nor any other taught in the Church And Valesius takes notice that we have no Homilies of any Roman Bishop before Leo 1. and to confirm this of the Historian he observes that Cassiodore who was well acquainted with the customs of the City had translated this passage which he would scarce have done and publish'd it in Rome it self if he had not known it to be true (b) Prim. Ep p. 16 17. To carry on this notion of but one assembly of Christians in the greatest Cities (c) Petav. Animad in Epiph. p. 276. Petavius is cited with an ample character that he had no superior for learning among the Jesuits nor any to whom Prelacy is more oblig'd But our Author is as much oblig'd to him as the Prelats if while other Witnesses speak doubtfully and with reserve He is positive that in the fourth Age there was but one Church or Title ordinarily in a City and proves it by Epiphanius who speaks of more Titles in Alexandria as a thing singular and peculiar to that City there being no instance thereof but in Rome I am willing to believe our Author did not read that place himself but took it upon trust For Petavius affirms there the direct contrary to that for which our Author makes him so positive For these are his Words You may guess says he that this was a singular manner of Alexandria or at leastwise in use in very few Churches that Epiphanius makes so particular mention of this way of Alexandria as if it had been peculiar to that Church but the same thing had been long before ordered elsewhere particularly in Rome I do not doubt but there were many Titles or Churches within the pomaeria of the greater Cities since the people could not all meet within the Walls of one Church and therefore had Presbyters appointed for those Churches into which the Christians were distributed In smaller and lesse populous Towns there was but one Church in which all were assembled together such as the Cities of Cyprus were upon which account Epiphanius observes the manner of Alexandria as an unusual thing and strange to his People This is what Petavius delivers there You may guess says he as our Author fancies that this was peculiar to Alexandria but the same thing was ordered elsewhere and he did not doubt but it was so in all the greater Cities But that Petavius should prove this also by the Council of Neocaesarea can 13. is an oversight yet stranger For though Petavius cites that Canon yet it is not to prove this or any thing like it but having entred into a discourse about Chorepiscopi he shews from that Canon that they were Bishops and not Presbyters because they had the priviledge of officiating in the City-Church in the presence of the Bishop or his Presbyters whereas that priviledge is expresly deny'd the Country-Presbyters But how our Author came to fancy this passage to be for his purpose I will not undertake to divine I have hitherto only shew'd what Petavius had observ'd concerning the Alexandrian Parishes but whether his Observation be just is another question
For my part I cannot find any reason to believe that all the Cyprian Cities were so small or if they were that Epiphanius would upon that account have made such a frigid Observation as to take notice of that as a singularity in Alexandria which was common to every great City That which was peculiar to Alexandria was this that the Parishes were assign'd to fix'd Presbyters which has been elsewhere observ'd (a) Vind. of Prim. ch p. 65 66. The Titles of Rome were serv'd by the Presbyters in common as (b) Val. Annot. in Sozom. l. 1. c. 15. Valesius observes out of Innocent 1. Epistle to Decentius And what he adds of his own as more proper to shew that in (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athan. Ap. 2. T. 1. p. 739. Julius 1. his time there were Parishes appropriated to certain Presbyters has but a slight foundation For the expression of Athanasius though it may bear the sense of Valesius seems to be more naturally and simply render'd by Nannius that Vito the Roman Presbyter assembled fifty Bishops and not that fifty Bishops assembled in Vito 's Church or the place where he assembled the people This Periphrasis seems too frigid and affected when every Church had its proper name by which it was call'd It may perhaps seem strange that a Presbyter should assemble and preside over Bishops It were strange indeed if he should do it in his own right but when he acts as the Deputy of the Bishop of Rome this will be no wonder for the Legats of Bishops always sate in the place that belong'd to those they represented tho' themselves were but Presbyters or sometimes Deacons And that Vito should be appointed to preside in this Synod is answerable to the character and employments he had born before For he seems to be the person (a) Sozom. l. 1. c. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phot. Ep. 1. de 7. Syn. Niceph Cal. l. 8. c. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sent by Sylvester to the council of Nice with Vincentius for though the Latin writers often call him Victor yet the Greeks constantly write Vito and the Latins sometimes Vitus the fittest person surely to moderate in a Synod where the Council of Nice was concern'd in which he had so eminent a part There is one thing more observable in the distribution of Parishes and Presbyters in Rome which I cannot omit because I do not know that hath been taken notice of by any It is that every Church in Rome had two Presbyters to attend it and not one only as the Churches of Alexandria This information we have from Hilary the Roman Deacon in his Comment on (b) Ambr. in 1 Tim. c. 3. Nunc autem septem Diaconos esse oportet aliquantos Presbyteros ut bini per Ecclesias unus in Civitate Episcopus Omni enim Hebdomada offerendum est etsi non quotidie peregrinis incolis tamen vel bis in Heb. domada etsi non desint qui prope quotidie baptizentur aegri 1 Tim. c. 3. which is published among the works of St. Ambrose but observ'd long since by learned men to be the work of this Luciferian Deacon This Author speaking of the order of the Roman Church and comparing it with part of the Jewish Temple notes that they had twenty four courses of Priests but now we must have but seven Deacons and Rome had no more as Sozomen (a) Sozom. l. 7. c. 19. observes whereas other Churches confin'd themselves to no definite number And besids these Deacons there must be such a number of Presbyters that there may be two for every Church For the inhabitants Communicate twice a week (b) Vid. Hieron Apol. adv Jovin et August Ep. 118. ad Januar. and their Sick are to be Baptiz'd almost every day who according to the practice of those times were to receive the Communion upon which account they are mention'd in this place But to put this matter beyond all doubt it is evident from several Writers cotemporary with Epiphanius that it could not be noted as a singularity in Alexandria to have many Parish Churches in it since the same thing is occasionally reported of most great Cities in that time in Rome (c) Opt. Milev l. 2. con Parnen Optatus informs us that there were above forty Churches when Victor Garbiensis came thither which was long before his time And it will be as much to our purpose if Optatus be understood of the state of Rome in his own time since he wrote under Valens (d) Hieron in Catal. in Opt. as St. Jerom informs us who dy'd in the year three hundred seventy eight But Optatus wrote about the year three hundred seventy as may be gather'd from his own words (a) Opt. l. 1. v. 3 where he reckons but sixty and odd years from the beginning of Dioclesian's Persecution to the time of his Writing But Epiphanius (b) Epiph. in prolog Panor began his work against Heresies in the year three hundred seventy four When he wrote of the Manichees (c) Epiph Haer. 66. n. 20. Anim. Petav. 1. it was the year seventy six The Arian Heresy comes afterwards at some distance where he speaks of this custom of Alexandria So that making the largest allowance that can be requir'd for Optatus his words he must be granted to have wrote before Epiphanius In Milan there were many Churches at the same time for St. Ambrose (d) Ambr. Ep. 33. id Ep. 85. names several for example Portiana Nova Vetus Ambratiana Romana Faustae In Constantinople we have an account of many Churches before Epiphanius his time (e) Euseb l. 3. de vit Const c. 48. for Constantine built there many Oratories and vast Churches as well within the City as the Suburbs (f) Socr. l. 1. c. 16. Socrates names two that of Irene and the Apostles the former was afterwards joyn'd to Sophia (g) Id. l. 2. c. 16. by Constantius tho' it was from a small Church rais'd by Constantine to be very magnificent and large yet his Son building a great Church hard by it concluded both in one enclosure and under one name (a) Theoph. in Chron. Niceph. Hist l. 7. c. 49. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophanes and Nicephorus Calistus reckon others as three to the Honour of Christ under several denominations of Wisdom Peace and Power One bore the name of the Apostles And besides these he built Martyria for Mocius Acacius Agathonicus and Menas In (b) An. 342. Constantius his time there is mention of the Church of St. Paul in Constantinople (c) Socr. l. 2. c. 12. In short the Historians who speak of that City from Constantin the Great downward speak of the Churches of the City as familiarly as we should of those of London without taking any notice of it as an unusual thing So the Bishop of C. P. is sometimes styl'd from the Church sometimes from the
his Province do it The reason then of this prohibition is from the place and not the Ordainers altho' it might be more necessary to apply it to Foreigners than Provincials who would take greater care to preserve ancient bounds So that if this be not an absolute Prohibition it will be hard to know what is The reason is general and holds alike whoever may be the Ordainers But (b) Prim. Ep. p. 34 35. they except such places where there had been Bishops already and forbid it to none for the future but such for which one Presbyter is sufficient and so there is room enough for Bishops in large and populous Villages What our Author mincingly calls places where there had been Bishops already the Canon both in the Greek and Latin Edition calls Cities and when he says there is room left by this Canon for Bishops in populous Villages he knew the contrary to be true For the Canon (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Si qua talis aut tam populosa civitas mentions only the case of a City if a City shall be found very populous and worthy of a Bishop let it have one So that this Synod neither leaves room for Bishops in any Villages nor signifies that it was usual before this to have Bishops in small places unless such places were Cities What our Author has in his margin that this Synod decreed that where there were twelve families there was to be a Rector is a mistake (d) Vid. Crab. T. 1. p. 331. for in this Synod there was no such Decree (e) Prim. Ep. p. 35. In Creet they tell us more than once that there were a hundred Bishops yet Pliny and Ptolomy found but forty Cities there So that the far greatest part of Titus 's Suffragans must have their Thrones in Country-Villages He seemeth to take it for granted on all hands that Crete had indeed an hundred Bishops in Titus's time On the contrary I know some (f) Thorndike Prim. Goverm c. 4. who make Titus the sole Bishop of the Island and conceive the Churches of that place governed by Presbyters under that one Bishop This is indeed contradicted by several ancient Writers And some (g) Chrysost Oecum Theophil Theodoret. say expresly that the Apostle would not commit so great an Island to one man Eusebius (h) H. E. l. 3. c. 4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to favour Mr. Thorndike's opinion and makes Titus Bishop of the Churches of Crete In the third Century we find two Bishops of this Island mentioned and each said (i) Ego consacerdotes mei to be a Bishop of Churches There might be many more though they are no where mention'd But in Leo the first 's Reign there seem to have been no more than eight for so many subscribe the Synodical Epistle (l) Epistola Synod ad Leon. Imp. apud Car. a S. Paulo Not. Ant. of that Island In an old Notitia of the Patriarchat of C. P. Crete has one and twenty Bishops and in Hierocles his civil Notitia this Island has twenty three In the Notitia of Nilus Doxopatrius (m) Leo Allat de consens Ecc. Orient c. l. 1. c. 24. Simon Hist Crit. de Levant Moine Adv. Sacra Crete has ten Bishops This Island according to Pliny l. 4. c. 12. was 270 miles in length and fifty in breadth and therefore the Dioceses one with another must be competent when the Bishops were most numerous and very large in old time when they were but few We are at last come to Italy and one would scarce imagine that any thing very Primitive should be found there and especially in the Pope's own Province Here our Author observes (n) Prim. ep p. 36. that every petit Town has a Bishop and he cannot discover that there are more Bishops now than of old nay in that call'd in special the Roman Province there are now fewer by many than anciently as Miraeus tells us is evident by comparing the old Provincial Code with the new l. 4. p. 160. This Roman Province of which our Author has taken upon him to speak without understanding the matter consists now of such Churches as were under the Bishop of Rome's immediate Jurisdiction a great part of which were in the Country that lay next to Rome but many are remote and situated in other Provinces Now these Churches our Author observes are now fewer than anciently If he speaks of all those under the peculiar Jurisdiction of the Pope it is a mistake for they are now more numerous than heretofore But if he mean only those Bishopricks that lie near Rome in the next adjoyning Provinces of those there are fewer indeed belonging to the Pope than did formerly not because the Bishopricks were sunk but many of them were made Archbishopricks and others thrown under another Jurisdiction Florence which was in the old Roman Province was made (o) Anno. 1421. an Arch-Episcopal See by Martin the fifth and had four suburbicary Bishopricks given to it for Suffragans besides as many more of newer erection Siena belonging to Rome anciently was made (p) Anno 1459. an Arch-Bishoprick by Pius II. and had Grosseto and Soano for two of its Suffragans which also belong'd to the Roman Province Vrbin was made (p) Anno 1459. an Arch-Bishoprick but in the last Century by Paul the third and had six Bishopricks out of the Roman Province annexed to it Fermo was made an Arch-Bishoprick by Sixtus the fifth and had five Suffragans given it all of new Erection So that in the two ages next preceding this within the Roman Province there were ten new Bishopricks made and fifteen taken from the immediate Jurisdiction of the Pope and subjected to new Arch-Bishopricks So that the Bishopricks remain tho' they are not in the same Province There were indeed about five old Bishopricks united to others in the Roman Province since the writing of the old Provincial but we have seen ten new rais'd to make amends and there are more yet unaccounted for if there were occasion But after all it signifies little to the present question whether the Roman Province at this time have fewer Bishops than it had when that old Provincial was made For that which our Author calls old is indeed but new in respect of Ecclesiastical Antiquity Baronius places it in the eleventh Century and that is (q) Ughell Ital. Sacr. Miraei Not. l 4. at least an age too high for there are several Bishopricks even in the oldest Copies of it that were not rais'd till the twelfth Century Viterbo was not made an Episcopal seat till the latter end (r) Anno 1189 or 1191. of that age and yet it is in all the Copies of that Provincial and Italy affords many instances of Bishopricks raised in that age which are all to be found there In England it has Ely and Carlile both made (s) Anno 1109 1133.
Episcopos That Bishopricks were multiplied in Ireland in Malachy's time Bernard does indeed complain of but that before this increase they were 365 neither he nor any body else of that time does affirm Nor is it likely for a man less eloquent then S. Bernard could not have omitted it For what could have exposed this humour of multiplying Bishops more effectually than to have shewn that there were already in that Kingdom so many more Dioceses in proportion to the extent of it than in any Christian Country in the World Bernard (u) Bernard vit Malach. makes heavy complaint that it was a thing unheard of from the beginning of Christianity Bishops were chang'd and multiply'd without order and without reason Yet for all this storming his friend Malachy had a large Diocese to look after for he was not content says Bernard to go about his Episcopal City of Conneth but he went out into the Country and visited the Towns of his Diocese and all this on foot But within twenty years of the time we are speaking of we have a certain account of the Irish Dioceses For when Henry the second went (x) Anno 1171. over to Ireland there were (y) Joh. Brompton X. Script Col. 1070. but twenty-nine Bishops in all that Kingdom and four Arch-Bishops or thirty according to the reckoning of Gervasius (z) Cron. Gervasij X. Scr. Col. 1420. The former number is confirmed by Benedictus Abbas in the Life of King Henry II. And even of this number some were but lately erected For (a) Eadmer Hist Nov. l. 2. p. 36. in the year 1095. Murchertagh King of that part of Ireland with his Clergy and People desired leave of Anselm Arch-Bishop of Canterbury who was then Primate of all Ireland as well as England to found a new Bishoprick at Waterford complaining that in those parts they had hitherto wanted the presence of a Bishop requesting him to ordain Malchus for their Bishop whom they had sent over for that purpose which he did accordingly So far was Ireland from being overstocked with Bishops at that time The Copies of the Provincial are of little use to shew any thing of the ancient state of this Country for all of them are later than the year 1150 because they all have the four Arch-Bishops the Irish Church having never had (ae) Matth. Par. in Steph. Anno 1151. Sim. Duwelm Anno 1152. Gervasi Chron. Anno 1171. any before that year though Arch-Bishop Vsher would have Armagh excepted When we had come so near home as Ireland I was in hopes our wandring after Village-Bishops had been at an end especially when he had come to the dregs of his evidence Nennius and the Irish Legends But I know not how a sudden fancy transports our Author to Afric and thither I must follow a proper place to look rarities and unusual sights It cannot indeed be denied that in this Country there were Bishops if not in Villages yet in Municipia or Burrough-Towns but that this was the primitive state of that Church we cannot allow And the multiplying of Bishops being occasioned there by the Schism of the Donatists cannot be alledged for a precedent since the Bishops of that time complained of it in the Conference of Carthage as a wrong and an innovation But of this there is a more particular account in another Book (c) Vind. of Prim. ch p. 516. which I am not willing to transcribe But yet what our Author would put upon us ought not to pass without Examination (d) Prim. Ep. p. 41. In five of the Provinces of the African Diocese he might have said six for so they are reckoned in the Conference of Carthage Tripolis being added to the other five there were in St. Austin 's time near 900 Bishops And this he proves by adding the Donatist Bishops to the Catholick there being 500 of the one and 400 of the other (b) Prim. Ep. p. 41. As for the Catholicks the utmost of St. Austin's account in the abstract of the Conference is but 465. And yet in another Book he reckons (e) Centum ferme Episcopi contr Don. post Coll. c. 24. not the Absents full a hundred which in his Abstract he sets at 120. And for the Donatists who are reckon'd 400 we are not so easily to admit their account S. Augustin never admitted it though our Author says he did not deny they were 400. It is true he does not positively deny it because he could not be certain of their number but he does every where suggest that they boasted without reason and made themselves more numerous than they were For when they pretended to have many absent and more than the Catholicks he turns the pretence into a jest What says he (f) Aug. post Coll. c. 24. had some Pestilence invaded them that a third part of their number should be sick together For they had acknowledged that they were all present excepting such whom age or sickness had detained And in all his accounts of the Conference he detects their frauds in subscribing for the absents as if they had made their appearance And among the subscriptions there was one found who had been some time dead and they could not deny it But be the number of those Schismaticks what they will it is not reasonable to admit them into the list of the Bishops of that Country since they set up Altar against Altar oftentimes in the same City and generally in the same Diocese where a Catholick Bishop was plac'd and sometimes set up three or four against one So there is no reason that these should swell the account of African Bishops We reckon a Parish with us to have but one Rector though an Independent or Anabaptist Teacher may set up in it a separate Assembly or though a speaking Presbyterian Elder the most forward and fiercest of all our Church-dividers should hold a Conventicle there for a Nursery to other Sects But we have reason our Author thinks to take the Donatists into the account since the Catholicks decreed that when the Donatists were reduc'd those places among them which had Bishops should continue to be Episcopal seats If he had thought fit to consider the order of time and how different the state of the African Church before the Conference at Carthage was from that which followed it this apparition of an Argument had vanished Before Marcellinus his Decree the Catholicks of Africk made several temporary Provisions for the reclaiming of the Donatists And that no encouragements might be wanting to invite either the People or their Bishops to be reconciled to the Church sometimes they order that if a Donatist Bishop should prevail with his people to leave their schism he should remain still their Bishop Sometime that the People who had a Bishop heretofore and were converted from the Donatists might without a new order from a Synod chuse a Bishop of their own or if they would chuse rather to be annexed
Prim. ep p. 76. In the West he offers but one instance or two In Turin the Heathen were so prevalent that the Christians were not suffered to choose a Bishop after Gratian's decease Greg. Turin l. 10. c. 43. This Turin is I suppose Tours in France And Gregory Bishop of that place does indeed in the last Chapter of the tenth Book of his History make a recapitulation of the Bishops of that City of whom Gratian was the first who according to that Author (y) Greg. Turon was sent thither from Rome in the first year of Decius which answers the year of Christ 253. according to Baronius (z) H. l. 10. c. 31. but 249 according to Bishop Pearson (a) Ann. Cypr. Anno. 249. When this Gratian dyed the See is said to have been void seven and thirty years but no reason is there assigned for so long a vacancy But Gregory seems to be affraid there should be many Christians in that part of Gaule before Martin came to convert the Country Yet in Gaule they could not but be exceeding numerous since they suffered (b) Lactant. de Mort. Persec ss 16. so little in Dioclesian's Persecution and must consequently become the common refuge of the Christians that fled from other places But to make short work and so offer all the rest in one In Rome it self in the fourth Century the Senate the Nobles and the greatest part of the people were given up to Heathenish Superstitions And for this he refers his Reader to the Centuriators They have indeed several instances to prove that there was a great party of Heathen in that City in the fourth Century But none of these make it evident that the greatest part of the Romans were then Heathen unless it be a passage of St. Jerom (c) Hoc errore pessima consuetudine vetustatis multarum provinciarum urbes laborant Ipsaque Roma orbis domina Ut tam intrantes quam exeuntes domos suas inoliti semper commoneantur erroris Hieron In Esa c. 57. which as it is produced by those Collectors would make them all Heathen For they make him say that the Image of the tutelar Deity is worshiped in every house in Rome But he seems to represent this as a relique of Heathen superstition that stuck in many places and was retained even among Christians and therefore brings it as a parallel instance to match the superstition of the Jews which they learned from their neighbours But that the greater part of the people of Rome were Christians towards the end of the third Century and the beginning of the fourth we have a plain testimony from Eusebius (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb H. E. l. 8. c. 14. who speaking of Maxentius says that at first he counterfeited himself a Christian to please and flatter the people of Rome Yet Mr. Clerkson is of another opinion and tells (e) Prim. ep p. 76. us that a little before the Christians were but a small part of Rome when with general acclamations the people cried out Christiani tollantur duodecies c. Baron Anno. 301. ss 3. But this evidence falls short upon several accounts First the authority of it is not very good it is taken from the acts of Savinus of which Baronius published some part But they are entire in Baluzius (f) Baluz Miscel l. 2. p. 47. his Miscellanies Baronius (g) Anno. 301. 18. vouches them for sincere and good and Baluzius (h) Baluz Not. in Pass S. Savini p. 463. gives them the same character But there are some marvelous passages which may make one who is not very credulous to doubt such (i) Pass S. Savini ss 5. 9 10 11. as the breaking of the Idol of Jupiter made of Coral by this Martyr while he was under examination his restoring sight to the Nephew of Serena his healing and converting of Venustianus president of Tuscia and some other things that tast of Fable But to let these Acts pass for authentick it does not follow from the clamour of the people at the Circensian games against the Christians that the greatest part of Rome was Heathen For those who were present at those sports were generally Heathen The Christians thinking themselves forbid by their Religion to go to such shews So this allegation yeilds but a poor argument against the number of the Christians since the fact is not very certain and the consequence far from being good However our Author (l) Prim. ep p. 77. finds that long after this the Romans were generally Heathen For Constantine after he had been Emperour twenty years expressing his detestation of the Heathenish Rites Incurred the hatred of the Senat and People of Rome and was reproached in a manner by all the People Zosim l. 2. And this is assigned as the cause why he thought of transferring the Imperial Seat This indeed is said by Zosimus a zealous advocate for Gentile Superstition and the only design of whose History is to set up the Apostate Julian for a Hero and to disparage all the actions of Constantine and the Christian Emperours and to this purpose he has made a History as fabulous as his Religion especially where that is concerned And therefore it is no wonder if such a one stretch beyond truth in the magnifying his party and make all the Roman people of his side That he translated his Imperial Seat might not be occasioned by the prevalence of Heathenism in Rome for Dioclesian had done (m) Nicomediam studens urbi Romae coaequare Lact. de Mort. Pers ss 7. cum libertatem populi ferre non poterat prorupit ex urbe Id. ss 17. the same thing not long before and made a prodigious expence upon Nicomedia with a design to render it equal to Rome that had indeed disoblig'd him but it could not be by being too Heathenish but by that Liberty or rather Insolence which the People used towards their Emperours Now in Constantine whether it was pique or desire of glory to be the founder of a new Rome or a nobler design for the safety of the Empire to remove the Imperial Seat and consequently the best and quickest strength of it nearer to the Barbarous Nations that were then most powerful is not easy to say at this distance but for Christianity's sake we ought not to take the reason of an enemy and especially one of so profligate credit as Zosimus was But within less than twenty years of Constantine's reign the Christians of Rome had forty Churches as we are informed by Optatus (n) Optat. Milev l. 2. Bishop of Milevis a writer of that age And in the later end of that Century S. Augustin excuses the practice of St. Peter's Church in Rome which was objected against his Reformation in Hippo upon this account that it was remote from the Bishop For when St. Augustin (o) Quod remotus sit locus a conversatione Episcopi in tanta civitate sit magna
Carnalium multitudo August ep 29. Ed. Bened. had resolved to break that custom of Feasting in the Church on Ascension-day against the general inclination of his people it was objected that it was the practice of St. Peter's Church in Rome which he excuses from its distance from the Bishop As appears from one of his Epistles lately published by the French Benedictins To make proof of Diocesan Episcopacy in the first ages it is not requisite that all the World should be Christian nor that the greater part of every City where a Bishop was placed should consist of believers There were some Cities so populous that if but the twentieth part were Christians they must have divided into several Congregations and there were several others so great that a tenth part of them would have exceeded the measure of a Congregation And therefore where the proportion comes to rise nearer to an equality or to exceed it most Cities must have more than one assembly tho' they were confined to one Bishop Nor was the City all that appertained to the Bishops care but all the Christians of the territory were of his flock who were too numerous and too remote to come to the Bishop's Church upon all occasions of Religion Yet some Cities from the beginning others in the third and several in the middle of the fourth Century are known to have been entirely Christian Edessa (p) Holsten in Steph. was the metropolis of Osroena and the Seat of the Kings of that Country but is more renowned for being wholly Christian even from the beginning of Christianity and for this reason was avoyded by Julian in his Persian expedition Eusebius (q) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soz. l. 6. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb H. E. l. 2. c. 1. bears testimony of this place that from our Saviours time it had been altogether Christian and so continued to the age he wrote in And whether the story of Abgarus and the pretended Letter of our Saviour to him be true or false yet this is certain that this whole City was Christian very early and consequently had several Congregations and Churches under one Bishop as Sozomen (r) Soz. l. 6. c. 18. mentions it to have had Neocaesarea in Pontus was all Christian in the third Century And a little Town in Phrygia was destroyed upon that account in the beginning of the next In the reign of Julian Caesarea the greatest City in Cappadocia was entirely Christian and for that reason suffered not a little vexation from that Apostate who disfranchised it and confiscated all the goods belonging to the Churches of the City or Territory appertaining to it And this was an old grudg for he hated (s) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sozom. l. 6. c. 4. this place mortally from the beginning as having long before destroyed the Heathen Temples Nisibis the noble bulwark of the Roman Empire a City so great and populous (t) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zoz l. 3. c. 33. that when Jovian had by a dishonourable Treaty with the Persians given it away the Citizens beseech him that they might defend themselves against all the power of Persia and they did not doubt but with their own force and at their own expence they might be able to preserve the the place (u) Ad defendendos penates se solos sufficere sine alimentis publicis milite ut experti sunt saepe Ammian Marc. l. 25. c. 9. as they had often done This City was altogether Christian and therefore Julian (x) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soz. l. 5. c. 3. upon an irruption of the Persians threatned to leave them out of his law and protection and that he would never set his foot in such a profane place where his Gods were not worshipped And all other Cities that were generally Christian are said to have the same reception when they had any occasion to sue for favour Samosata (y) Samosata Civitas ampla illustris Ammian Marc. l. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joseph B. J. l. 7. c. 28. the greatest City and the Royal seat at Commagena was not only altogether Christian but all Orthodox and Catholick in Valens his time For (z) Theod. H. E. l. 4. c. 15. when Eusebius their Bishop was banished and one Eunomius an Arrian put in his place neither rich nor poor nor young nor old would go into his Church or have any communication with him Majuma the Port of Gaza was made a City by Constantine the Great and called Constantia because all (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soz. l. 2. c. 5. the people turned Christians though before they were extreamly addicted to Idols And that we may not think this a mean place because it had always been dependant on a City the Church of that place is represented (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soz. l. 5. c. 28. as very great from the multitude of people and wealth And that this place had several Churches and Altars belonging to it we are inform'd by one who was well acquainted with the place who tells (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soz. l. 5. c. 3. us that when this Diocese was taken out of that of Gaza the bounds of their respective Territories were laid out and what Altars or Churches should belong to each Upon the same account of total conversion to Christianity in Constantine's time Constantina (d) Soz. l. 2. c. 5. in the same Country had its name and very many (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cities in the same manner of their own accord and without any compulsion from the Emperour left their Idols and became Christian pull'd down their Temples and built Churches In Antioch one of the greatest Cities of the world the generality of the people were Christians and for this we have a witness who cannot be suspected to magnifie their number it is Julian the Apostate (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Julian Misopog he had offended so many of that City he had almost said all the Senate the rich the common people and these were angry with him for the greatest part or rather all since they had chosen Atheism so the Apostate called the Christian Religion and all this because he adher'd to the the Gentile superstition And how universal the neglect of the Heathen rites was then in Antioch the same Author makes a sad complaint For when he had come upon the feast of Apollo to do sacrifice in Daphne the people of Antioch had provided no sacrifice for that occasion nor taken the least notice of the feasts and therefore chides (g) Id. Misopog with the Senat for putting such an affront upon their peculiar God And then bestows his raillery upon them as if they were grown so poor that they were not able to buy a sacrifice their wives having bestowed all upon the Galileans In short so small was the devotion of that great City towards their Patron Apollo that the
sometimes in his Sermons complains of the smallness of his auditory But this is not necessary For the language of a Preacher is not to be examined by the rules of an accountant nor when he exhorts every one to convert his man is he supposed to be telling of heads and comparing of parties But since the Jews would admit no publick exhortation then as they do endure in some places since for forms sake this zealour Preacher for the advancement of Christianity and the saving of Souls might direct his people as they have occasion to deal privately and apart with the Jews and to endeavour every one to gain his convert And this I have said to shew the inconclusiveness of Mr. Clerkson's arguments But in truth the whole is a down-right fraud For St. Chrysostom in the place cited directs not every Christian to convert his Jew but every zealous and faithful Christian to endeavour to reclaim or convert his brother and that whether Heathen or Jew or which he there chiefly intends negligent Christian A little before he had lamented the carelesness of Christian masters who permitted their wives or servants to frequent the Theaters or the Synagogues of the Jews when it was in their power to restrain them and by that influence which they had over them dispose them either to embrace the Christian Religion or more strictly live up to the rules of it if already embraced For this frequenting of the Jewish Synagogues in these persons arose not from the belief of the Jewish Religion but from the same vanity which induced them to frequent the Theaters that is the pleasure of seeing pompous and even theatrical ceremonies practised in them For so Chrysostom argueth with them Tell me what is it that you run to see in the Synagogue of the Jews To hear men sound with trumpets For it appears that the Jews retained that custom and strived to perform it with great art in their religious service which might draw great numbers of idle persons whether Christians or Heathens to hear them Such persons ought no more be supposed to have been Jews than all those to have been Papists whose vain curiosity tempted them to enter the Popish Chappels in the last reign As for the Jews dispersed over the Empire it does not appear they were in any City so numerous as to bear any near proportion to the inhabitants of the place Of old indeed in Alexandria and some Cities of Syria they were exceeding numerous But then they were original inhabitants of those places and not strangers But in the fourth Century of which we are now speaking tho' every where almost there were some yet were there not very many in any one place excepting their own Country We may judge by what we see now there is scarce any great Town of trade in Europe where there are not some Jews And in many Countries they may be said to be numerous but still they bear no proportion to the Natives And I do not know whether there be any City in Europe where they are so many in proportion to the other people as one to an hundred And this is so small a matter that it does not deserve any consideration It is as if in the computation of what water a river may discharge in a day a man should be scrupulous to make allowance for the drinking of a few Horses When he had brought Christians very low by great favour and partiality towards Heathens and Jews he thinks fit at last to divide this small party and with a true spirit of a Dissenter to draw away as many as he could from the Communion of the Bishop To this purpose therefore he tells (z) Prim. ep p. 81. us There remains another sort of people inhabitants of these Cities to be taken notice of whose numbers made the Christian assemblies thinner and the Bishops flocks less numerous Such as were called Hereticks or Sectaries these were many and had Bishops of their own So that there were several Bishopricks in one City There is scarce an age since the Apostles in which the Predictions of St. Peter and St. Paul that there would be Heresies were not sadly accomplished Yet it pleased the same providence that checks the increase of noxious and venemons Creatures to put likewise some stint to the growth and spreading of this evil and to lessen the mischief of these Wolves in sheeps cloathing by not permitting them to multiply into too great numbers So that St. Austin (a) Aug. de Util. Cred. even in the midst of Afric the most divided with Sects of any Christian Country in that age does not stick to affirm that the Catholick Christians were more than all the Sectaries put together And Sozomen (b) Sozom. l. 2. c. 32. observes that all other Hereticks but the Novatians from the very beginning were but few The Novatians therefore Mr. Clerkson chuses to insist on and from their number to let the Reader judge of the rest (c) Prim. ep p. 82. For by the multitude of them we may conjecture what all the rest put together would amount to Let us therefore try what deductions these may make from the Diocese of the Orthodox Bishop He tells us then that they were many from first to last And that they had a Diocese in Rome and Alexandria and Constantinople where it continued with publick liberty longer And to make short they had Bishops and Churches in many other places But to come near and to make some guess of their number he tells us at Constantinople their Churches were more confirmed and enlarged under one Chrysanthus their Bishop And in Rome Innocent took many Churches from them And Celestine deprived them of more And to conclude till that time they had mightily flourished at Rome having many Churches and great multitudes of People What had these Novatians then many Churches in one City I had almost been tempted to think by Mr. Clerkson's former discourse that one Church had been sufficient for all the Christians of the greatest City in the Empire and yet it seems one single Sect could not be content with one Church but they must have many under one Bishop Well then these were Dissenters and they may have what they please and yet we shall see in the next Chapter how hard he is towards Catholick Christians for these must be no more than may meet in one place even in Rome and Constantinople We expect no favour then but let us not be pressed to death while we are willing to plead There were he says in the fourth Century several Sects Of these the Novatians the most numerous These in Constantius his time had (d) Socr. l. 2. c. 38. three Churches in Constantinople under one Bishop The Catholick or established Christians before this time upon a very low computation were twenty times as many and these with all the Country Parishes of that Diocese had but one Bishop yet they are to have but one Church
Alexandria And thus perhaps may Cornelius his expression in Eusebius be best understood that in the Catholick Church there ought to be but one Bishop For although in one City there may be many parish-Parish-Churches appointed for the use of the several quarters where they are placed yet is there but one common or general or Catholick Church in one City Rome had many Churches when the schism of Vrsicinus happened to divide it and long before that time there were no less than forty Yet Socrates (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socr. l. 4. c. 29. speaking of the ordination of Vrsicinus observes that it was not done in the Church but in a private place of the Church called Sicine or Sicininus (m) Ammian Marcell l. 27. c. 3. that is in the Church of Sicininus which was but an obscure place in comparison of the great Church In Constantinople there were many Churches from the beginning Yet in Constantius his time Socrates (n) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socr. l. 2. 16. speaks of the Emperours order to drive Paul out of the Church of that place and to put Macedonius into possession of it Wherefore (o) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socr. ibid. after Paul was sent to banishment the Prefect took Macedonius and brought him toward the Church and when they came near to the Church and the people strove to get into the Church Though all the while it is notorious (p) Socr. l. 2. c. 12. there were many Churches in the place though this was then the Cathedral Or if our Author may fancy this City still to have but one Church yet we have the same language long after even in Chrysostom's time who upon his return is said (q) Socr. l. 6. c. 16. Pallad Vit. Chrys p. 15 16 24 25. Chrys Ep. ad Innocent to be brought by the people to the Church And by this time sure there must be many Churches in that City or some unkown destruction must have befaln those magnificent houses of God in that place so much celebrated by some of the Writers of that age So the inference our Author draws from this expression the Church of Berytus to the exclusion of all other Churches proves a mistake But he proceeds to observe farther (r) Prim. Ep. p. 85. that Tyre was one of the most illustrious Cities of the East yet Paulinus Bishop there in Constantine's time had but so many under his Episcopal charge (s) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 276. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 285. as he could take a personal notice of their souls and accurately examine the inward state of every one acquainting himself thoroughly with the condition of all those souls that were committed to him And that you may be sure that all this is just and exact without Hyperbole he quotes his Author as the Panegyrist in Eusebius informs us l. 10. c. 4. It is usual in Panegyricks to raise things beyond nature and the strictness of truth and it is allowed as long as the proportions and resemblance of the things so represented are preserved What therefore if Eusebius by all this citation should intend only to commend the diligence and the penetration of that Bishop of Tyre that he had the gift of discerning spirits and of judging aright whose repentance was sincere and therefore to be received into communion whose conversion was unfeigned and therefore to be admitted to baptism who was best qualified for the respective offices of the Church If he should mean no more by these high expressions he would not exceed much the allowances given to such kinds of discourse and I think they are more to blame that would force a complement into a Syllogism It is scarce worth the while to say so much as is necessary for the illustration of this passage only to shew at last to how little purpose it was alledged Yet since this instance of Tyre comes in among the rest because he esteemed it more satisfactory than ordinary I m st beg the Reader 's patience to explain the matter Eusebius (t) Euseb E. H. l. 10. c. 4. p. 376. in his Panegyrick delivered at the Dedication of the Church of Tyre commends not only the fabrick but the spiritual Church or the Christians of that City And this Temple says the Panegyrist is very great indeed and worthy of God The inside of this Temple who can describe who can look into it but the great high Priest who alone has authority to enter into this Holy of holies and to search the secrets of the heart And happily it may be given to one more in the second place and by way of substitute that is to him who sits there the leader of this noble Army To him therefore as a high Priest after Christ it may be lawful to look into the most secret parts of your souls or as Mr. Clerkson translates to take a personal notice of your souls and to examine the inward state of every one Now Eusebius says not the least word that Paulinus had but so many under his charge that he could look into all their souls but (u) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb l. 10. c. 4. p. 385. that it was lawful for him to do so to be an inspector or Bishop of their souls And this to be understood with respect to the Bishops office who received the publick confessions in the Church and was the Judge of the sincerity of the profession as far as Ecclesiastical Discipline was concerned And all this might be said although he had had forty Parish-Churches within his City Valesius mentions a marginal note of some Greek set against this place in a Manuscript that he had seen detesting it as a wicked and blasphemous passage He thought Eusebius had spoken those things of Christ which he directed to the Bishop But though there are some expressions below the majesty of Christ yet are there others that are something too high to be offered to man The other passage out of the same Oration that speaks of Paulinus as thoroughly acquainting himself with all those souls committed to him will appear as little to our Author's purpose if we do but observe what goes before it For Eusebius speaking to those who had defiled their consciences in the Persecution by complying with the wicked decrees of the Persecutors And you says he whose consciences a little while ago were polluted and overwhelmed by profane commands have your minds now cleansed by the terrours of God's law and are by him committed to the Bishop who as he is otherwise of excellent judgment so hath he a singular sagacity in judging of the thoughts of souls These words then are directed to such as had fallen in the late Persecution and were now in the state of Penitents or had lately been so And it is with respect to them that the discretion of the Bishops is commended that he can see into the very secret of their hearts
house in which there is not one dead and I would to God there were but one dead in a house However we Christians cast out and persecuted and put to death even then kept the Feast For the place of every ones affliction was to him a place of solemn assembly the open field the wilderness the ship the inn the prison where each happened then to be in this time of dispersion was to him a Church If I had a mind to trifle I might urge this for proof that the Christians of Alexandria had several panegyrical assemblies if it may be said without solecism at the same time and in the several places mentioned by Dionysius But I have neither inclination nor forehead to follow our Author in this way of discourse nor is it in every ones power to recommend for fair probabilities what he cannot but know to be nothing to the purpose (a) Prim. ep p. 97. But Athanasius in his Apology to Constantius about Anno. 355 makes it evident beyond all contradiction he being accused for assembling the people in the great Church before it was dedicated makes this part of his defence That the confluence of the Pascal Solemnity was so great that if they had met in several assemblies the other Churches were so little and streight that they would have been in danger of suffering by the crowd And it was better for the whole multitude to meet in that great Church being a place large enough to receive them all together This passage hath been often urged and answered by several hands so that I might spare my self the labour of any farther reply than referring to those books in which it has been examined especially since our Author has thought fit to add nothing new but words of assurance and ostentation that it is evident beyond contradiction and to take notice of nothing that hath been offered to impeach this irrefragable evidence However to avoid cavil I am content here again to take it into examination And first tho' it should be yeilded to our Author that it is certain from this passage that all the Christians in Alexandria were present in this assembly yet will it not be of that service to his notion as he might imagin Suppose then the flock of Athanasius reduced so low that one great Church might receive it all If this should proceed from some late accident and be owing to such separations as had been lately made from the Communion of the Church it can be of no use either for the proving of Congregational Episcopacy in elder times or for the discovering of the proportion of Christians in other Cities Suppose the Dissenters should prevail so far in some one Diocese with us as to leave the Bishop no more people than might be crowded into one of the greatest Cathedrals of the Kingdom it would surely be but a sorry argument that the constitution of our Episcopacy is Congregational or that we have no Diocese greater than may assemble in one Church This according to Mr. Clerkson (b) No Evidence for Dioces Episc p. 47. was the case of Alexandria in Athanasius his time At the first breach Meletius had many more adherents than Peter and from that time to Athanasius the Meletians had such encouragements that their numbers were not like to be impaired And as for the Arrians if we may take the measure of the people by their Officers they were more numerous than the Catholicks in this City for (c) Theod. H. E. l. 4. c. 22. Soz. l. 1. c. 15. of nine it should be nineteen Presbyters and Deacons which the Church of Alexandria had eleven embraced Arrianism There are many mistakes in what is here advanced concerning the Meletians and the party of Arrius but the course of the argument must not be interrupted In these circumstances the Arrians might well out-vie the followers of Athanasius in numbers and these declined as the others increased Now if the party of Athanasius which in Mr. Clerkson's judgment was inferior in number to the Arrians was yet so great as to fill all the Churches in Alexandria and could not have met in any one Church before that vast fabrick was erected by Constantius the Arrians surely who are supposed to be the greater party must divide into many Congregations and live in the Diocesan way especially in the time of Gregory who seems to have joyned the Arrian and Meletian party for by Epiphanius (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph. Haer. 69. n. 2. he is stiled both Arrian and Meletian For tho' that Sect divided from the Church upon a point of Doctrin yet did they not pretend to make any alteration in Discipline and had but one Bishop in a City how great soever it might be So that our Author while he lessens the Catholicks of Alexandria does unawares make the Arrians not a Congregation but a Diocese Nor is it any advantage to the Congregational fancy to streighten the Catholick Christians within the walls of one Church while his indulgence to other Christian Sects permits them to increase beyond his Rule and to grow up into a Diocesan stature Having considered the consequence of this passage of Athanasius upon a kind supposition that it proved the thing for which it was produced I proceed to shew that this Testimony does not certainly evince that the Christians of Athanasius his Communion were no more than could meet or actually assembled in that great Church Mr. Baxter (e) Ch. Hist p. 10. is not so rigid in his inference from this Testimony as to contend that every Christian of Alexandria was present in that assembly I do not hence gather says he that every man woman and child was present And to him this only seemeth hence plain that the main body of them could meet and hear in one assembly But all things are not equally plain to all people For if all the other Churches in Alexandria could not receive this Congregation I am afraid they could not all hear unless it were the Amen which they all pronounced aloud and that indeed might be heard from far For in Alexandria besides this great Church Epiphanius (f) Epiph. Haer. 69. n. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 names nine more and adds that there are other Churches besides which he had probably named with the rest if they had been but few Nor can they well be conceived much fewer than twenty for in Rome (g) Optat. l. 2. there were above forty in the beginning of Constantine's reign Suppose then a Congregation that twelve Churches could not contain which though much inferiour to this new Cathedral yet had some of them served the Bishop of the greatest City in the world after Rome and his Congregation It will be scarce possible to conceive how all that multitude should hear especially since I do not find that in those days any Church had scaffolds or galleries but all the people stood in the Area and nothing raised above the
his Sons This was the case of Angier and some other places mentioned in the same Author which he proves by the number of Successions For instance Defensor who was one of the Ordainers of St. Martin was the first Bishop of Angier There were but ten Bishops of Vermand before Sophronius who subscribed in the Synod of Orleans Anno 511. And Silvanus was but the ninth Bishop of Senlis who was also present at the same Synod And the same Author proves (f) Buch. Belg. Rom. l. 8. c. 10. that in the two Belgick Provinces the Bishopricks preserved the same bounds from Constantin's time to the last age when Pius the Fourth erected new Seas and certainly there are few places in the World where there were longer Bishopricks It is evident beyond all reasonable doubt that the number of Bishops in the three first ages was far less than in those that followed Nor have I met with any who called this in question but Mr. Seldon He indeed being in great distress for his Arabian Fabler who brings above two thousand Bishops to the Council of Nice to save the credit of his Author suggests (g) Selden in Eutych Orig. p. 83. 84. 85. that in Constantin's time and before Dioceses had other bounds and Bishopricks were more numerous and of less extent than in the succeeding ages when Christianity was established by Law That the bounds of ancient Bishopricks are altogether unknown and those which follow the civil distribution of the Provinces of the Empire are new He mentions and recommends Berterius and Salmasius concerning the Suburbicary Regions upon this occasion but I do not find they have any thing to his purpose or that they were of his opinion It is strange a person of so great reading should advance a notion concerning ancient times against the general opinion of Learned Men without any testimony from Antiquity to give it countenance especially when there are so many things in the Writers of the third and fourth Centuries that seem to overthrow it What! did not the Church before Constantine follow the civil disposition How then came the Bishop of Alexandria to have jurisdiction over Egypt Lybia and Pentapolis so long before the Council of Nice for there it was confirmed as an ancient and immemorial Custom How came the Bishop of Rome to challenge the Suburbicary Regions by the same prescription And before this How came Cyprian to preside in the general or provincial Synods of Africk but in the right of his City He was not long a Bishop and could not preside by his Seniority which in the other Provinces of Africk took place after the rights of Metropolitans had been setled in all the other parts of the Empire How came Cornelius to assemble the Bishops of Italy and to preside when he was so young a Bishop but by the preheminence of his City These things are so obvious that they cannot be avoided As to the number of Bishopricks what can be more plain than that they were generally according to the number of Cities Those Provinces which had most Cities had most Bishops But in the general it is evident that the number of Bishopricks was much less before Constantine than since Africa makes this clear beyond contradiction and whoever compares either the Provincial or general Synods of that Country in Cyprian's time with those that followed in the next age will quickly be convinced The general Synod under Cyprian concerning the Rebaptizing of Hereticks had but eighty seven Bishops of whom there were four subscribed from the Province of Tripolis two present and two by proxy who in all probability were all of the Province which in the next age when Bishops were multiplied every where else in Africk beyond all example had but one more and it cannot be well doubted but other Provinces sent in the same proportion For this was one of the most remote and is spared by following Synods upon that account as to the number it is to send to Synods Athanasius in the middle of the fourth Century affirms that Mareotes a large Region belonging to Alexandria never had a Bishop but always belonged to the Bishop of the City Why but because it was part of its Territory So this fancy of Mr. Selden is disproved by undoubted Evidence and the contrary is too plain to be disputed The Christians in the first three ages were dispersed over the Empire so that there was hardly a Town where there were not some and those if they had no Bishop had a Presbyter or a Deacon for Divine Service Now the fewer Bishops are found in those times the more of these Subordinate Officers must be acknowledged Of these there was not one independent from some Bishop and therefore the fewer Bishops the more Congregations they must have under their inspection And therefore if we compare the account Tertullian gives of the number of the Christians and their dispersion in all manner of places we must conclude the Dioceses of the first ages to be larger than of those that succeeded if not for multitude at leastwise for extent and number of smaller Congregations In the fourth and fifth Centuries we read of many new Bishopricks erected but of no old ones united or sunk And those Canons which forbid the making of Bishops in Villages do expresly except those where there had been any before So that by the rules of these ages in which Mr. Selden supposes an alteration the number of the old Bishopricks could not be diminished and it is plain by many instances that they were encreased Nor could this pretended change of the bounds of Dioceses in the fourth Century be made without great clamour and disturbance for there never was an age of greater animosity among Christians the parties were very watchful and cried out upon every the least Innovation What complaints must we have heard if all the Dioceses in the Empire must have been cast as it were in a new mold and so many by this reduction must have lost either the whole or part of their Bishopricks If any thing of this nature had been so much as attempted it is impossible but some account must have been left of it by an age so much abounding in Writers However it is sufficient for our present purpose that the Bishops of the first ages were Diocesans and had many of them more Congregations than one within their Dioceses Before the end of the third Century Manes is said (h) Epiph. Haeres 66. n. 13. to have disputed with Archelaus Bishop of Caschara in Mesopatamia where it seems the people were generally Christians for they were so provoked by the Blasphemies of that Heretick that they were ready to stone him Wherefore Manes forced out of that City went into (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Village that belonged to it at a considerable distance as the circumstances of the story suggest where there was a Parish-Presbyter named Tryphon who had the care of that Parish So that
the Parishes of the Territory had no Bishops but Presbyters under the Bishop of the City In the Prefecture of Arsinoe where Nepos had been Bishop there were many Country Parishes under Presbyters who belong to that Bishop as (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eus H. l 7. c. 24. Dionysius of Alexandria relates And it is usual within the three first Centuries to mention many Churches belonging to one Bishop Mark is said (m) Euseb H. l. 2. c. 16. to have gathered several Churches in Alexandria and Julian one of the Bishops of that City is said (n) Id. l. 5. c. 9. to have had the over-sight of the Churches of Alexandria the same thing is said (o) Id. l. 6. c. 2. of Demetrius and Dionysius (p) Id. l. 6. c. 35. and Peter Bishops of that place So Basilides is stiled by Dionysius (q) Eus H. l. 7. c. 26. Bishop of the Churches of Pentapolis Silvanus Bishop (r) Id. l. 8. c. 13. of the Churches of Gaza and another of the same name of the Churches of Emesa and Meletius Bishop (s) Id. l. 7. c. 32. of the Churches of Pontus which stile cannot in any constructon suit a Bishop of a single Congregation After having cleared the main point in question it may seem needless to take any farther notice of Mr. Clerkson's Discourse For having little or nothing of fact to alledg farther he proceeds to draw Corollaries only from what he had said before and walks forward in great security and confidence that he had proved his point How different his fancy of antiquity is from the truth and reality of the matter does by this time I hope sufficiently appear However I will follow him still and when he offers any thing that has the countenance of an Argument it shall not pass without some notice taken of it (t) Prim. ep 116. If the Territory were large he fancies the Christians were but few in Villages because those were last of all converted Hence Heathen Idolaters were called Pagani But the Apostles preached and made Converts in the Country as well as the City according to Clemens And Tertullian boasting of the numbers of Christians affirms there was no Village nor place without them in his time But when the Cities became entirely converted the Heathen retired into the Country and tho' they were but few in comparison of the Christians yet there they were most numerous He tells us (u) Prim. ep p. 117. there were many Villages in the fourth age in which there were no Christians very many in which there were but few and but few in comparison in which all were Christians The affirmation of a man who is an humble servant to a new notion concerning distant matters of fact makes but bad payment Thus therefore he proves it If a Village wholly Christian had not been a rarity even in Jerom's time why does he make it a singular observation of Jethura (x) Hieron de Loc. Hebr. Villa praegrandis Jethura habitatoresque ejus omnes Christiani sunt Surely a reason may be assigned without making this matter such a rarity And St. Jerom in the same place does suggest it when he observes that it is situate in Daroma near Malatha For in that part it seems there were not many Pagans but Jews For in Daroma there was (y) Hieron de Loc. Hebr. in Eschemo a great Village of the Jews called Eschemo this being some remote part where it seems they retired and for that reason it might be observed of Jethura that it was all Christian (z) Prim. ep p. 117. When Christians in the territory were many yet being disposed as generally they were under other Bishops than him in the City his Diocese had no enlargement thereby How far this is from being true is sufficiently evident from the instances given of the Dioceses of City Bishops and Mr. Clerkson alledges nothing for proof but the Bishops of Hippo who only met there in a Synod as we have shewed before (a) Prim. ep p. 119. He mentions (b) Aug. Civ Dei l. 22. c. 8. a Bishop in the Castlâ— Syâ—ica near to Hippo but not in the Region for he expresly distinguishes and says it was near the Colony of Hippo. He mentions a few African Bishops in the Territories of Cities but we have already shewed that it was Schism erected those Bishops in Villages and that from the beginning it was not so Basinopolis whiâ—â— was once a Village and made a City was taken out of the Diocese of Nice and was no longer under the jurisdiction of the Nicene Bishop And so was Ely and Peterborough and Oxford taken from the Diocese of Lincoln and yet the remainder is still enormously great He tells us too of a Bishoprick raised in the Precinct of Caesarea in Cappadocia but at a great distance from it and half a dozen more Dioceses might have been well spared out of Caesarea At last he comes to (c) Prim. ep p. 121. the territory of Rome if that be it which was under the Provost of the City It was well he demurred upon this point for that indeed was not the Territory but the Province of the City and consisted of several Provinces And the Bishops there tho' they were many were not of the Congregational way Nor are all the Bishops he finds in the Roman Provincial in the Province of Rome within the distance of an hundred miles but of this a large account hath been given He notes farther That there was not one Parish or Church in the Territory of Rome that belonged to the City Bishop And for this he cites Innocent's Epistle to Decentius cum omnes Ecclesiae nostrae intra civitatem constitutae sunt If the Bishop of Rome had no Country Parish then the neighbouring Bishops had the more But we are not to conclude this too hastily for it is not very certain where that which he called the City ended nor yet what sort of Churches he speaks of for he had Presbyters in other places besides those in the Churches of Rome and such as consecrated the Sacrament themselves and consequently had Congregations for then there were no private Masses and to these he did (d) Nec nos per caemiteria diversa constitutis Presbyteris destinamus Et Presbyteri eorum Consecrandorum jus habeant Innoc. ad Decent Prim. ep p. 122. not send the Sacrament consecrated because they had authority to do it themselves and these as well as the other were in his Diocese To this he adds some instances of Bishops whose jurisdiction was confined within their Walls Some in Italy And that of Dublin when John Papyron the Popes Legat came over But all these are new and that of Dublin is so too (e) Usher's Relig. of the Irish p. 83. for that being a Norman Colony and the Irish possessing all without the walls of the City the Norman Bishops Jurisdiction could extend no farther than the
223. tells us that we ought to be cautious of charging one another with Schism for such things wherein the ancient Churches are like to be involved in the same Condemnation As tho ancient Churches had any thing parallel to the case of our Dissenters or indeed any other Church Sure I am that the instances alledged by Mr. Clerkson are very wide of it as I have shewed already For we charge no other Churches with Schism because they have not the same rites that we use nor do we so much as condemn the Dissenters upon that account But in this we charge them with Schism that they have departed from the Communion of our Church upon the account of rites and they indeed condemning us by their Separation upon that reason do truly involve the ancient Churches in the same condition To make the end answer the beginning Mr. Clerkson concludes with a manifest calumny Hereby says he (l) Prim. ep p. 226. it appears with what judgment and charity some among us will have none to be true Churches that want Diocesan Bishops they hereby blast all the Churches in the Apostles times and the best Ages after as no Churches Herein they are as wise and friendly as if one to secure the height of his own Turret should attempt to blow up all the Houses in the best part of the world nay they blow up their own too It is neither wise nor friendly to charge men with absurd opinions of which neither they nor perhaps any other were ever guilty What witness what evidence of this matter What Books or conversation ever betrayed so great a weakness I never yet heard of any man who made it essential to a Bishop to have many Congregations under them The Papists have several Bishops with a very small flock and such as one Parish-Church may contain They have others who have not so much as one Congregation nor perhaps one Christian within their Diocese But we may guess at the men our Author intends they indeed distinguish with all the ancient Churches between a Bishop and a Presbyter But for the measure of Episcopal Churches They willingly subscribe to S. Jerom's (m) Ep. ad Evagr. judgment that the Bishop of Eugubium is no less a Bishop than he of Rome and the Bishop of Tanis is as much a Bishop as he of Alexandria since it is not the greatness of the City but the Ordination that makes a Bishop In the Primitive times and those next succeeding the extent of Dioceses were very different In Scythia (n) Soz. l. 7. c. 19. there was but one though many Cities and in some places there were Bishops in Villages Some Cities had very large Territories belonging to their Bishops others but small yet all this while these Bishops accounted themselves all of equal authority though their Dioceses might be very unequal and never broke Communion upon that account But if some Presbyters should attempt then to separate from their Bishops and to set up Altar against Altar they incurred the censure (o) Can. Ant. 5. of all Christian Churches and were shut out of Catholick Communion by universal consent As to matter of fact it is plain that in the Primitive times there were no Churches without Bishops such as were acknowledged different from Presbyters And Ignatius (p) Ign. Ep. ad Traâ— is bold to say that without a Bishop Presbyters and Deacons it cannot be called a Church But as for those who separate from their Bishops whose doctrin they acknowledge to be sound and set up Churches and make Ordinations in opposition to them and the whole establishment of a National or Provincial Church These I shall not scruple to Unchurch since in this I have not only the suffrage of antiquity but the consent of all Protestant Churches on my side In France while the Reformed Religion stood there if any departed from the established order of those Churches they were excommunicated and if they should attempt to set up separate Congregations they would have been accounted no Churches (q) Hist Eccles de Bez. T. 2. l. 6. How zealous they were of the Orders appointed in their Synods will sufficiently appear from the case of Morelli and the proceedings against him Nor is it otherwise in Holland or Germany or where-ever the Reformed Religion is received they unchurch all who upon such frivolous pretences as our Dissenters use against us would leave their Communion By this notion of Primitive Episcopacy Mr. Clerkson (r) Prim. Ep. p. 23â— thinks that some mistakes concerning Episcopal Ordinations of ill consequence may be rectified A Bishop in the best ages was no other than the Pastor of a single Church a Pastor of a single Congregation now is as truly a Bishop Why they should not be esteemed to be duly ordained who are set apart by a Pastor of a single Church now I can discern no reason after I have looked every way for it It is the hardest thing in the world for some men to see a reason that makes against them and the fear of finding it makes them commonly look where they are not likely to meet it However it does not seem to be so difficult a matter to assign a reason in the case proposed It is not the being Pastor of one or many Congregations that makes a Bishop but the Order For a Presbyter may be the Pastor of a Congregation and in the Primitive times there were many such but this does not make him a Bishop Nay the Chorepiscopi were Pastors of many Congregations and yet these were not Bishops If these in ancient times should have proceeded upon Mr. Clerkson's grounds and presumed to ordain Presbyters or Deacons or Bishops the Church of those times would have made no difficulty to pronounce the Ordinations null Ischyras pretended to be a Presbyter because Colluthus had ordained him but Athanasius represents it as monstrous that one should esteem himself a Presbyter who was ordained by one who died himself a Presbyter of the Church of Alexandria Nor was Ischyras so absurd as to think that the Ordination received from a simple Presbyter would be valid For in Truth that Colluthus was made a Bishop by Meletius and his name is still in the Catalogue of his Ordinations but renouncing his Schism and those Orders he was received into communion as Presbyter for so he was before he joyned with Meletius and in that degree he died Nor can I find in all Antiquity any one instance of Presbyters making Ordinations without a Bishop nay the Hereticks and Schismaticks of old among all their irregularities are not charged by any of this presumption In the Diocese of Alexandria there were many Presbyters who were the Pastors of single Congregations and so it was in most of the ancient Dioceses as we have shewed before In the Province of Scythia there must be yet a greater number of such Parish Pastors Yet none of these are found to have claimed any right to
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the head or chief not the first in Situation and the Syriack and Arabick Versions follo wit Now the most ancient Copy as it is suppos'd of the New Testament now extant confirm'd by two old Versions may weigh as much as a late conjecture Besides Philippi was not the first in Situation as is pretended but Neapolis And it would be something strange if Dover be indeed the first Town of England that he who pass'd that way should call Canterbury the first It might not be very considerable when Macedon was reduc'd by Paulus Aemilius but it might be the chief Town of that part of the Country when St. Luke wrote (c) Brev. c. 5 Liberatus mentions the Arch-Bishop of Philippi and in the Council of Ephesus the Bishop subscribes among the Metropolitans tho' it be express'd that he had the Proxy of the Bishop of Thessalonica In an old Notitia he is Metropolitan of the Province of Macedon And so Sedulius styles him and Tertullian (a) de Praescrip names it before Thessalonica Nor will I contend with our Author about the other Argument of Dr. Hammond which he rejects that Philippi was a Metropolis because it was a Colonie It does not indeed necessarily follow but yet Roman Colonies were generally placed in the principal Cities of Provinces and endow'd with the chief Dignities and Jurisdictions in the Countries where they were So Carthage Corinth Caesarea and many others might be nam'd But if it was the Head of that part of the Country and a Colony as Beza's old Copy has it this Dispute is over and nothing I am sure Mr. Clerkson has produc'd does make out that it was not a Metropolis when St. Paul was there Now this Debate concerning the Bishops of Philippi had soon been at an end if our Author had thought fit to explain himself and told us what he meant by Bishops For were they Pastors of single elect Congregations respectively in covenant Then there must have been several Churches or Congregations in that one City But on other occasions he will not allow more than one Congregation for three hundred years after Christ even in Rome it self But if we allow such an obscure place as Philippi to have many Churches so early we cannot avoid yielding to Alexandria and Antioch and other great Cities many more and what will prove worse than all those Churches must be acknowledg'd to be all under one Bishop Or were these Bishops only Presbyters ruling the Church of Philippi with common and equal Authority Then our Author must give up the Question and instead of making many Bishops must own that there was none at all there but only Presbyters Will he contend that there were no other Bishops than Presbyters This will be to abuse his Reader with the ambiguity of a word which he takes in one sense and the Church in another That many Presbyters might belong to one Congregation none ever deny'd that many Bishops in the allow'd and ecclesiastical sense of the word had the oversight of one City sounds strange and incredible to the ancient Christians Chrysostom observing this expression of the Bishops of Philippi seems to be startled with it What many Bishops in one City By no means it cannot be What then They were not Bishops properly so call'd but Presbyters The same poor Sophistry is carry'd on (a) Prim. Ep. p. 10. under the colour of another Text. (b) Acts 20.17 St. Paul from Miletus sent to Ephesus and call'd the Elders of the Church who are say'd v. 28. to be made Bishops by the Holy Ghost Now these Elders or Bishops belong'd to the City-Church of Ephesus as our Author contends and not to the Province and therefore there were several Bishops in the same City But if we demand here again what Bishops are here meant whether these were Bishops in the sense of the present question or Presbyters only The objection vanishes and leaves the Reader to wonder that any man should so solemnly undertake to prove what no man ever doubted that in Scripture-times there were many Presbyters over one Church But Dr. Hammond will have these Bishops to be Suffragans of Ephesus And Mr. Clerkson with all his force does endeavour to disprove them to have been City Bishops Now in the midst of this contention we may be very safe from the danger of Congregational Episcopacy For if Dr. Hammond's way prevail these Bishops must have each a City and Territory and be Diocesans either actually or in right If Mr. Clerkson carries it then properly speaking there might not be a Bishop among them all for they are but Presbyters belonging not to several Independent Congregations but to one Church and might have a Bishop to whom they were subject as the Ancients believ'd they had and thought Timothy to be the Person And here he musters up great forces against Dr. Hammond's opinion and affirms (a) Pr. Ep. p. 10 11. that the Text it self the Syriack Version Chrysostom Theophilact Oecumenius and Theodoret and the whole stream of Ancients are against this new sense not any favoring it but one among them all But what sense are these Ancients for that there were many Bishops of one City-Church Nothing less for they all declare the contrary and that these were no other than Presbyters But there hapned to be one for the Doctors new sense our Author does not name him it was Irenaeus and it seems something incongruous to call that sense new which is vouch'd by so ancient Authority For this Father is judg'd by (a) Diss 3. in Iraen Mr. Dodwel to be born in the later end of the first Century or the very beginning of the second He convers'd with Polycarp as himself declares whose Martyrdom according to the computation of Bishop (b) Diss Post 2. c. 14. et seq Pearson could not be later than the year 147. And therefore must have liv'd forty years of the first Century He was Bishop of Smyrna which was under the Jurisdiction of Ephesus and might understand from the Tradition of the place more of St. Paul's visitation than is recorded by St. Luke and so be more particular in noting the quality of the Persons that the Apostle call'd to him to Miletus and express'd himself therefore in that manner c having call'd together the Bishops and Presbyters of Ephesus and the other Neighbouring Cities Now if Authority go by weight and not by number Dr. Hammond's case will not appear so desperate for though many names are produced against him yet several of them are very light For Oecumenius and Theophilact may be discounted as Transcribers of Chrysostom who with Theodoret will scarce weigh down the credit of Irenaeus in a case of this nature for they speak only by conjecture whereas he might have nearer notices from Tradition Howe'er it were yet our Author should have call'd this sense any thing rather than new since it is
Ordination The next exception against this Synod is (z) Prim. ep p. 62. that it was of little authority not admitted by the Greeks into their Code till the Trullan Council Nor by the Latins some ages after it was held c. Nor by the African Churches who rejected and would not be oblig'd by its Canons for Appeals to Rome How soon or late this Synod was generally receiv'd does little concern the Canon in dispute which does not establish any thing new but only affirms ancient Practice And if the matter of this Canon was generally observ'd where the Synod of Sardica was not yet owned it is plain that this matter depends upon better authority than the sanction of a Council immemorial Custom and the general agreement of Churches Without regard to this Canon the bounds of ancient Bishopricks were accounted sacred and not lightly to be changed Some Villages in Pentapolis accounted considerable enough to make a Diocese in troublesom times because they had immemorially been annex'd to the Episcopal City were judged by their poeple to have been settl'd in that condition by Apostolical Order and therefore the people of those places were earnest they should return again to their first dependance The Region Mareotes was large enough to make a good Diocese of it self yet when a Bishop was set up in one part of it Athanasius complains that it was done against ancient Tradition which in such cases as these was to take place Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria having made a Bishop in a mean place where there had been none before is blam'd as a violator of the establish'd Order of the Church So that if the Synod of Sardica was not received any where for many ages after it was held yet this Canon against making Bishops in small places where there had been none before was it seems generally approv'd at leastwise the matter of it was accounted equal and fit There are Orders of other Synods in the same age to the same effect and I do not know of any ancient Assembly or so much as a single Writer that ever made any exception against this Rule But on the contrary when Bishops were ordein'd in small places where there had been none before we find complaints against it as a violation of old establishment and even in Afric where such innovations grew frequent the complaints were loud on both sides In the Conference at Carthage the Donatists as well as Catholicks complaining of these violations of ancient limits (a) Prim. ep p. 62. Nor need I say that this Synod is misunderstood and that this restraint is laid on Bishops of another Province Our Author speaks reason for surely he needs not say what he had said already and to so little purpose nor need I repeat here what I have reply'd before But what he adds deserves consideration for the newness and singularity of the Argument It would be much says our Author for our satisfaction if we could understand punctually what numbers they thought sufficient for one Presbyter and we may have the best direction that can be expected in such a case from Chrysostom (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Or. in Ignat. who affirms that one hundred and fifty Souls was thought as much as one Pastor could well and more than he could without great labour discharge His words are It is a very laborious thing for one man to have the charge of a hundred and fifty How much this was to the satisfaction of Mr. Clerkson I will not enquire how little it is to the purpose will I hope sufficiently appear from what I am going to reply First then Chrysostom makes not the least mention of a Presbyter nor of the number sufficient for his cure but in general says It is a difficult thing for one man to take the care of a hundred and fifty only Whether one Presbyter or one Bishop or one Captain he does not say And this is clear that at the same time he makes such a little flock so formidable a charge he makes (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in Ign. T. 5. P. 501. the Apostles to commit a City of twenty myriads or two hundred thousand to the cure of Ignatius and therefore from thence gives an estimate of the person and of what talents he must be possessed to whom the Apostles would deliver so great a charge The design therefore of Chrysostom in that passage is to set out the character of Ignatius to advantage from the greatness of the City of which he was Bishop and to set off the City he compares it with the lowest or meanest Congregations but does not give the least intimation that no one Presbyter had greater or that a place of more inhabitants than a hundred and fifty requir'd the care of a Bishop If to commend the chief Magistrate of some very great City one should borrow this of Chrysostom and say that it is a difficult thing to govern a Family of twenty people or to keep good order in a Town of but two hundred inhabitants and therefore his endowments must be extraordinary into whose hands the government of so great a City is committed he would be thought a very strange Critick who from such a complement should remark that a Family ought to consist of no more than twenty or that a Constable ought not to undertake the keeping of the peace in a Village that has more than two hundred inhabitants and therefore where there is a greater number it requires a Mayor and Aldermen to undertake the charge Or if upon a Commemoration of some Bishop of London the Preacher should think fit to turn the greatness of the City into a Topic of that Bishops commendation and say that a cure of a hundred and fifty Souls is a great and difficult charge and great care to be us'd in providing even for such a place an able Pastor and therefore what wonderful abilities must he be thought master of who was judg'd capable of being the Pastor of so vast a City Would any man that is awake conclude from hence that there is never a Parish-Presbyter in England that had a greater cure So pertinent is that direction which our Author fancy'd to have found in Chrysostom for understanding punctually what numbers they anciently thought sufficient for one Presbyter To the same effect he proceeds to tell us (d) Prim. ep p. 63. that upon this account one Presbyter was not thought sufficient for a place that contain'd three or four hundred inhabitants For this we desire some proof but I am affraid we must expect long There is one thing more in our Authors remarks upon the Canon of Sardica that deserves to be taken notice of and that is that where one Presbyter is not sufficient there a Bishop ought to be ordein'd It is a rule he has made to himself by inverting the Canon of Sardica that forbids the making of a Bishop in a very little City where even
Vigil all the people are said to answer Amen to the Prayer which Vigilius their Bishop made Pelagius is said in St. Peter's Church in Rome to have gone up into the Pulpit and satisfy'd (e) Satisfecit cuncto populo plebi quia nullum malum fecisset contra Vigilium Lib. Pont. in Pelag. all the people that he had done Vigilius his predecessor no harm Gregory the Great is said to be chosen by (f) Gregonium Diaconum plebs omnis elegit Greg. Turon l. x. c. 1. Joh. Diacon l. 1. c. 39. 40. all the people tho' at that time in Rome there were neither Heathen nor Sectaries to make any abatements in the Bishops flock Nay if our Author will insist rigidly upon this phrase all Israel in the time of Samuel was no more than could meet in one place to hear Samuel who is said (g) 1 Sam. 12.1.4 to speak to all Israel and they answer him that he had neither oppressed nor defrauded them But our Author proceeds (h) Prim. ep p. 92. They were no more after Anno. 250 than could all together in the Church importune Cornelius for the readmission of the Ordeiners of Novatian The whole people interceeding for him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb l. 6. c. 43. Our Author according to his usual ingenuity has left out a word that spoiled his argument and limited this expression For Cornelius does not say that all the Christian people of Rome importuned him (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but that all the people that was present with him did interceed They were no more than could concur in an Epistle to salute their Brethren at Carthage Salutant vos fratres tota Ecclesia Cypr. ep 3. As tho' the general salutation of a Church could not be sent without the actual concurrence of every member How many publick acts bear the name of the people tho' the twentieth part was not present when they were made Or shall we fancy that all the Citizens of Rome met in one Assembly to pass every order that bears the title of Senatus Populusque Romanus (l) Prim. ep p. 93. They were no more than Cornelius could read Cyprians Letters to in their numerous Assembly amplissimae plebi They were no more than could all be present about consultations about matters of concernment c. Consultis omnibus ipsis stantibus laicis Cypr. ep 26. A Bishop may communicate Letters and Propoposals concerning Ecclesiastical Discipline in a full Congregation and to all the people then present and yet this cannot imply that there are no more Christians or no other Congregation in that City Whatsoever is done in publick and before a Congregation that is unlimited is in the common way of speaking said to be done before all the Community I meet with nothing says our Author (m) Prim. ep p. 93. that makes any shew of a probability that their numbers were more at that time but Cornelius his Catalogue of Officers and the number of the poor which were fifteen hundred Euseb l. 6. c. 37. This passage has not hitherto received any answer that made so much as a shew of probability And that which our Author replieth to the number of Officers hath been long since (n) Vindic. prim ch p. 51. shewed to be frivolous As to the number of Officers the shew will vanish Mr. Clerkson fancies if it be considered that it was the custom of those ancient times to multiply Officers beyond what was necessary yea so much that as Nazianzen (o) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Naz Or. 1. tells us the Officers were sometimes as many as they had the charge of It might be excusable in Mr. Baxter to confound times of persecution with times of settlement and the middle of the third Century with the latter end of the fourth for he was too hasty to be curious and looked not the date of the Fable so it happened upon a time or shortly after he was contented But from Mr. Clerkson something might be expected more exact what will this shew of probability vanish and no likelyhood that there were more Congregations in Rome than one remain from six and forty Presbyters in Cornelius his time because it was the custom of Nazianzen's times to multiply Officers beyond what was necessary Forty six Presbyters were never accounted necessary to one Congregation even in the most prosperous times of the Church nor can any instance be given of so many relating to one Assembly in any age accounted ancient tho' it might be fashionable then to multiply Church Officers But for this we are at a greater certainty for Cornelius (p) Euseb H.E. l. 6. c. 43. assures us that this number was not for state nor for form without use and necessity but exceeding necessary and that upon the account of an infinite and numberless people And if the multitude of Christians in Rome was then so great as to require forty six Presbyters we may make some guess at the proportion they might have to the people of Rome after it had been entirely converted in the fifth and sixth Centuries for in those times the Presbyters of Rome were scarce a third part more than those in the Catalogue of Cornelius as we may gather from the subscriptions of the Presbyters in the Roman (q) Synod Rom. 1. sub Symmach Subs Pres 67. Council Nay in one Synod (r) Cum Episc omnibus Rom. Eccl. Presbyteris Greg. Reg. l. 4. ep 44. under Gregory the Great there are but thirty four Presbyters that subscribe I do not intend to say that two thirds of that City was then Christian but the Christians of that place under Cornelius seem to be at least two thirds in respect of all Rome in after ages when it was much diminished from its ancient greatness and when it seems to have no more than seventy Parish Presbyters This number therefore of forty six Presbyters all necessary for so great a people as the Christians of Rome then were makes it evident notwithstanding the frivolous exception of our Author that the believers of that City could not all assemble together upon any religious occasion and that the Church there must consequently be distributed to several Parishes and Congregations (s) Prim. ep p. 94. As to the other how to compute the numbers of the Roman Church by the number of the poor I know no better way than to observe what proportion there was betwixt these in other places But the ground of this exception is a mistake For Cornelius does not say that the number of all the poor Christians in Rome was but fifteen hundred but that so many were maintained by the publick stock of the Church besides the necessary Officers Now there might be many more poor maintained some by Relations others by private Charities and it is plain from the account that Chrysostom gives of the poor of Antioch and the number in the Church-Book that those
but that my Author continues to abuse his Reader after the same manner in another Chapter which conteins for the most part such allegations as he had produced before but something more being added it seemed necessary to add some brief reflections (e) Prim. ep p. 217. When the Bishop could not be content with a moderate charge but extended it to such a largeness that it became ungovernable by him This pretended ruling was no longer government but anarchy as Isidore speaks of a Bishop of his time l. 3. cap. 319. That this is said of a Bishop does by no means appear from that Epistle but the circumstances direct us to understand it rather of a Civil Judg than of a Bishop Vnder such a ones government says Isidore which was anarchy rather than government punishment went before accusation for being an unreasonable man it is no wonder he should act so preposterously and pervert all methods of Justice But that this was a Bishop or had a large Bishoprick and would not be content with a moderate charge but extended it to such a largeness to be ungovernable Mr. Clerkson did not find in Isidore but in his sleep for surely his Conscience must be a-sleep when he knowingly perverts the words of ancient Authors to impose upon the World With the same integrity he useth Basil 's words Through this ambition of governing all all Church government came to nothing de Sp. S. c. ult This governing all which makes the passage look as if it were directed against large Bishopricks is not in Basil but without this addition Mr. Clerkson might think the citation would not be to his purpose The place deserves to be taken notice of and when I have represented it as it is in the Author let the World judg who is most concerned in that reproach Every one says that Father (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will be a Divine tho his Soul be blemished with ten thousand spots Hence it is that those who are given to change strengthen their Faction Impatient ambition invades the high places of the Church without call or ordination despising the Oeconomy of the Holy Ghost and all the precepts of the Gospel (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence it is that there is so much rushing upon the Offices of the Church every one intruding into those sacred places and through that ambition Anarchy hath seized the Church and the people are left without government Hence it is that the exhortations of the Bishops are vain and ineffectual because every one is more forward to rule others than to obey his ignorance and his pride possessing him with a vain opinion of his own abilities (h) Bas l. de Sp. S. c. 30. p. 225. Here is not the least notice taken whether the Bishopricks were litle or great much less is this confusion charged upon their too great extent It is ambition only that is here reproved and the impatience of those who when they could not in a regular way advance themselves to the government of the Church became Bishops of their own making Upon a supposition that a Primitive Bishop had but one Congregation Mr. Clerkson proceeds to shew that every Congregation which is always adequate to a Church in his notion had a right of ordering it self and appointing what rites it thought fit And to that purpose he observes out of Socrates and Sozomen that in several parts of the World there were different usages and customs But is there any instance in antiquity of people that separated from their Bishop and their own Church because they would not comply with the customs and rites received there For instance in Rome it was customary to fast on Saturday In other Countries they fasted the day before Now did any Roman Christian forsake his Church because they did not fast on Friday Or did any African part Communion because the Saturday was not observed there as it was in Rome S. Augustin's judgment in this point is well known and universally approved He directs every Christian to comply with the rites and customs of the Church where he happens to be tho he find some things different from the usage of his own Church The reverence which the Primitive Christians had for the Forms in which they were brought up raised in them some scruple when they came to observe those of other Churches to be different But as to their own particular rites and usages proper to each respective Country they were so peaceably and religiously observed that they were never made a pretence of Separation or so much as the occasion of a Controversy Some differences indeed did arise very early between Churches of different Countries about the time of Easter and rebaptizing of Hereticks but in the conclusion every one adhered to his own way which he thought the best and he was generally blamed who took upon him to prescribe to the rest Let us suppose therefore in this case an African Christian who had lived some time in Rome and taken a liking to the peculiar usages of that Church should after his return home disparage the received order of his own Church and to shew how much he had improved by Travel indeavour to introduce foreign Customs What treatment think you would such a one have received from S. Augustin or S. Cyprian Such a troubler of the peace and order of the Church would soon find himself cast out by the severest censures unless they might think it more advisable to send him to the Exorcist This was plainly the case between the Church of England and the first Dissenters Some of the English Exiles took I know not what fondness to the usages of some Protestant Churches abroad and a strange dislike to their own way They returned home with foreign manners and set them up in opposition to the order of their own Church and at last parted Communion upon this pretence It is not here a place to enquire into their reasons or to make a comparison between what they chose and what they rejected This only I may be bold to say that their Schism is without example either in ancient or later ages For who ever separated from the Church of Geneva in favour of some peculiarities he might have seen in Zurich Or what French-Man forsook the Communion of the French Churches because they had some Ceremonies different from those of Holland Or did a Hollander ever run out of the Church because the Preacher was uncovered out of pure zeal to the custom of France where the Preacher took the same liberty with the Congregation of being covered too Our Church does not pretend to prescribe to any other nor does she think it reasonable any other should prescribe to her but as all other Churches use their discretion in appointing what rites they think most meet so does she and is the only Church in the World that I know forsaken upon that account Yet Mr. Clerkson (i) Prim. ep p.
ordain and if any of them should have presumed against the rule of the Church in that particular the Church of those times would not only have declared the Ordination null but a prodigy and think that Antichrist was at hand and the world drawing towards an end when such new and unexampled confusions were permitted to arise What sentence shall we think would they have pronounced upon Presbyterian Ordinations when they did not stick (s) Can. Nic. 9 10 16. Can. Ant. 73. to rescind Orders conferred by Bishops against the Canons and established discipline of the Church and in some cases to (t) Nic. Can. 19. re-ordain Aerius who declared there was no difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter is represented by Epiphanius (u) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph. Haer. 74. n. 1. 3. as a prodigy and his opinion madness though there is no mention at all of his Ordinations But the case of the Ordinations of our Dissenters is peculiar and they do forreign Churches great wrong when they concern them in their quarrel For first the Independents have no root of Orders but their Pastors are of Lay Original extraction The Presbyterians have Ordination from Presbyters not only without but in opposition to Bishops against all the established rules of this Church against the Laws of the Country as well as practice of ancient Churches And if upon this account we pronounce them void we do no more than what all the Protestant Churches abroad would do in the like case If some Deacons or Lay-men would take upon them to ordain Pastors in the French Churches for separate Congregations in opposition to the received discipline setled in their general Synods I would appeal to any Minister of those Churches whether he held such an Ordination valid And yet by the principles of those Churches Lay-men may confer orders in some cases as appears (x) Hist Eccles T. 1. l. 2. by the first Ordination in Paris where there was no Presbyter present and by the confession of Beza (y) Hist Eccles T. 1. l. 4. in the Conference of Poissy Nay though a Presbyter deposed by their Synod should take upon him to ordain I still appeal to the Ministers of those Churches whether they would account the Orders valid If we therefore do judge such Ordinations here to be nullities because administred by subordinate Officers against the Laws of the Church in opposition to their superiours and against the practice and discipline of the Primitive Christians we cannot be thought singular in this judgment since all ancient Churches would have done the same thing and all the Protestant Churches in Europe in the like case would follow our example It is in vain to cite Jerom and Chrysostom to lessen the difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter because both may do almost all the same things Yet is Ordination still excepted and accounted the peculiar prerogative of the Bishop And though in some Churches Presbyters did assist the Bishop in ordaining Presbyters which is likewise the practice of our Church yet is there no instance of their ordaining without a Bishop FINIS Books Printed for James Adamson I. VIta Reginaldi Poli Cardinalis ac Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi Acta Disceptationis inter Legatos Angliae Galliae in Concilio Constantiensi de utriusque Gentis Dignitate Praerogativa in Conciliorum Tomis desiderata Libri Rarissimi olim quidem Editi sed paucis noti ac nullis facile obvii Octavo II. Pauli Colomesii Observationes sacrae Editio secunda auctior emendatior accedunt ejusdem Paralipomena de Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis Passio sancti Victoris Massiliensis ab eodem emendata Editio quarta ultima longe auctior emendatior Octavo III. The Travels of Monsieur de Thevenot into the Levant In three parts viz. 1. Into Turky 2. Persia 3. The East-Indies In Folio IV. Mr. Chillingworth's Book called The Religion of Protestants a safe way to Salvation made more generally useful by omitting Personal Contests but inserting whatsoever concerns the common Cause of Protestants or defends the Church of England with an exact Table of Contents and an Addition of some genuine Pieces of Mr. Chillingworth's never before printed viz. against the Infallibility of the Roman Church Transubstantiation Tradition c. And an Account of what moved the Author to turn Papist with his Confutation of the said Motives In Quarto V. A Treatise of the Celibacy of the Clergy wherein its Rise and Progress are Historically considered Quarto VI. A Treatise proving Scripture to be the Rule of Faith writ by Reginald Peacock Bishop of Chichester before the Reformation about the Year 1450. VII Doubts concerning the Roman Infallibility 1. Whether the Church of Rome believe it 2. Whether Jesus Christ or his Apostles ever Recommended it 3. Whether the Primitive Church knew or used that way of deciding Controversies VIII A brief Historical Account of the Behaviour of the Jesuits and their Faction for the first twenty five Years of Queen Elizabeth's Reign with an Epistle of W. Watson a Secular Priest shewing how they were thought of by other Romanists of that time Quarto IX A brief Examination of the present Roman Catholick Faith contained in Pope Pius his new Creed by the Scriptures Ancient Fathers and their own Modern Writers In Quarto
four thousand Men to the relief of Pednelissus when it was Besiged by an Army from Selge Fregellae a City in Italy not very memorable for greatness yet how populous it was at one time appears sufficiently from the complaints (a) Fregallas quoque millia iv familiarum transijsse a se Samnites Peligni querebantur Liv. l. 41. c. 8. made by the Samnites and Peligni to the Roman Senat that within a short time four thousand Families had removed from them to Fregellae Heraclea in Doris was never named among great Cities tho' the Colonie sent (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Marcian Her p. 25. thither from Laconia consisted of ten thousand Men. Xenophon (c) Xenoph. Exp. l. 5. while he had the greatest part of his ten thousand together thought of building a City and setling somewhere near the Euxin Sea but when they divided then he left off those thoughts the number not being competent for such a purpose And to conclude Memnon in his History (d) Memnon apud Phot. cod 220. of Heraclea Pontica speaks of that company that Thrasymedes had got together to repeople that City after it had been destroyed by the Romans as a poor and miserable remain and so disproportioned to their former numbers although these gleanings made up about eight thousand Men. Placentia and Cremona most eminent Cities says our Author had each of them six thousand persons decreed by the Romans to be their Inhabitants Symps Chr. pt 5. p. 112. I do not scruple taking any Authors when I know the matter to be true tho' for facts so remote it would be more decent as well as more satisfying to direct us to Writers something older than Simpson These Colonies then which were drawn (e) Liv. l. 21. in the first year of the second Punic War were indeed considerable beginnings for those Cities but they had scarce deserved the title of most Eminent (f) Ascon Pedian in Orat. Cic. in L. Pis Vel. Paterc l. 1. if they had not increased much beyond this number Now the improvement of these Cities was so great that they might justly be called Eminent For Cremona (g) Dio. Cass l. p. 740. Tacit. H l. 3. when it was Sacked by the Army of Antonius Vespasian's General had fifty thousand Citizens slain and a great many more that escaped Such was the difference between the circumstances of it when it was so eminent and those of its first Plantation Besides a Colony of six thousand Men is not so mean a thing as I have already shewed since Women and Children and Servants are to be added to this number which in ordinary places may be four or five times as many in very rich Cities may be double or treble this proportion Nor are we to imagine that the places into which Colonies were sent were altogether empty and had no inhabitants for this was very rare although the Colonies had all the power as well as the propriety of the place and Country adjoyning And if in our Cities only Freemen were to be reckon'd those which we might expect to find exceeding populous would afford but very few thousands Or if we should judg of a County by the Freeholders-Book we must fall very short of the true number of the people and yet this way which our Author takes is not very unlike these But of the Roman and Greek Colonies and Cities I shall have occasion to speak more particularly when I come to consider the Teritories of ancient Cities (h) Prim ep p. 69. Thirty seven Cities yeilded to Alexander near Porus ' s Country some of which had five thousand some ten thousand inhabitants Justin. l. 12. c. 7. Curtius l. 8. c. 20. Mr. Clerkson's references are not very exact here nor do his Authors say that for which they are quoted tho' some others do Nor does it much concern the present question how populous the Indian Cities might happen to be tho' the writers (i) Arrian Exp. Alex. l. 5. p. 351. Ed. Blancardi of Alexanders Expedition do commonly represent them as extraordinary when they give a particular account of those places Only in one Province they happened not to be very great and much short of the common measure of that Country And therefore Q. Curtius (l) Ad magnam deinde ut in ea regione urbem pervenit Q. Curt. l. 9. c. 1. speaking of a great City in those parts adds this qualification great for that Country or if we understand this in respect of the Roman World this instance of Indian Cities will still be more frivolous That which follows is more to the purpose if it were but true (m) Prim. ep p. 69. That Conquerour says our Author Building a City near the River Indus which he call'd after his own name Alexandria though it sufficiently peopled with a thousand persons Strab. l. 15. I must complain here again for want of exactness For Strabo in the Book cited has no such thing But Diodorus Siculus (n) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diod. Sic. l. 17. speaking of that Alexandria tells us that the Founder furnish'd it with ten thousand inhabitants which agrees much better with the genius of that great Prince and the character of the other Cities built by him and call'd by his name For to pass by that of Egypt as more generally known The Alexandria on the Tanais was (o) Q. Curt. l. 7. c. 6. sixty furlongs or seven miles and an half in circuit And that at the foot of Mount Caucasus (p) Id. l. 7. c. 3. had seven thousand old Macedonian Soldiers assign'd to it and the other Soldiers then discharg'd had the liberty to settle there And now from these instances he has produced let the Reader judge whether many of their great Cities contain'd no more than might come together in one Assembly After all the pains our Author has taken to reduce the greater part of ancient Cities to the lowest measure and number possible some it seems will still remain obstinate and refuse to comply with the Congregational Model I was afraid he had prepar'd Earthquakes for such places as these since he could not bring them to his Rule But since he has thought fit to save the Cities and the Men and to take a gentler method of dealing with them let us give attention (q) Prim. ep p. 69. As for Cities that were greater and more populous In them the Christians for some ages were no more than could assemble in one place the inhabitants consisting most of Heathens with Jews and those of the Christian profession that were not of the Communion nor would assemble with the Bishop I will not deny that for some ages the number of Christians were inferior to that of the Heathen But then this being allow'd it will not follow that all the Christians in the greatest Cities might assemble in one place of worship for some Cities were so great that a hundred Churches could not
receive all the people Suppose therefore in Rome for instance a million of Souls which I think is the lowest estimate that was ever made of that People If for the three first ages but a tenth part was Christian not twenty Churches such as the Christians were provided of at that time could suffice In London tho' those of the Communion of the Church of England be much the greatest number and make up the gross of the People yet the Dissenters were they willing to joyn in one Congregation would not be able to meet in one place And their way of service makes them more capable of great Congregations than the Primitive Christians since generally speaking they seem to have no other publick act of Religious Worship but to hear Nay there is scarce any one Sect of them so mean but would think themselves Persecuted should all of that Sect within the compass of London be stinted to one place of meeting Amsterdam may exceed London in number of Sects tho' it be inferior to it in number of people the Jews there inhabit one good quarter the Papists are so numerous that I have heen inform'd they have near thirty Chappels within that City the Lutherans there have several Churches to say nothing of other Sects that are very numerous Yet those of the establish'd Religion are reckon'd the greater part and require many Churches for their Worship But to return to the Primitive Christians That we may better conceive the state of the Christians in the first three ages let us consider how it was possible for them to thrive and at last to become Masters of the Roman Empire under all those great discouragements to which they were all the while subject They had seldom any friends in Court and there are but two Reigns in all that time in which they had any countenance but were frequently set upon by the Emperors and persecuted with full intent of utter extirpation They could make no Faction in the State for the roots of popular government had been pluck'd up and the government of the Empire was too absolute to bear any thing of that nature They had no power in the Army for there were but few of them employ'd that way and generally speaking they did not like the service Yet for all this in less than three ages they possessed themselves of the Empire and gave laws to the Heathen Now if we speak humanly of this matter we can resolve it into no other cause than the great number of the Christians It must be confessed that the providence of God was wonderful in preserving and raising this meek and simple people but the means he chose were the same he had taken before in Egypt for the deliverance of Israel he increased them exceedingly and so made them stronger than their enemies The numbers of the Christians were great from the begining And what was said of our Saviour in Judaea became true in a great part of the World that all the World did run after him This Tacitus and Pliny do affirm early This Tertullian sets out with great ostentation towards the begining of the third Century But these Testimonies with several others have been urg'd already (r) Vindicat. Prim. ch p. 54. 55 458 499 500. c. and need not to be insisted on in this place I will add only one passage more to the same purpose out of Maximin's (s) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb H. E. l. 9. c. 9. Letter to Sabinus where he sets out the occasion of that great Persecution under Dioclesian Dioclesian says he and Maximian my Fathers and my Lords seeing all people almost to have forsaken the worship of the Gods and to have joyned themselves to the Christians had rightly ordered that those who had forsaken the Religion of their Gods should undergo exemplary punishment Now this being the confession of an Enemy ought to have the greater weight and we cannot doubt but in the beginning of that Persecution the Christians were become the greater part of the Roman Empire And therefore in the great Cities they could not meet in one Assembly and in the chief Cities they could not have so few as twenty Congregations But you know the Fable the Toad could not conceive an Elephant any bigger than the stretch of his own skin Mr. Clerkson (t) Prim. ep p. 69. could meet with but one City small or great for three hundred years after Christ whose inhabitants were generally Christians and that was Neocaesarea of whose Conversion Gregory Thaumatargus was the instrument (u) P. 70. But for all this it does not appear that the Christians in that City were more than could meet together in one place And to make it probable that all the City made but one Congregation he offers two things First That we saw before that this place was not very populous And then that Gregory built but one Church there he would doubtless have erected more if more had been needful The first reason has been rejected already and they must be very easy that admit it because eleven Egyptian Bishops were banished to this place therefore it had no more people than could meet in one Church Yet as weak as this is the other is no wiser because Gregory built but one Church therefore there were no more Nay tho' he might have built several Parish-Churches yet the Cathedral which by the ancients is called the Church by way of Eminence might be only mention'd and in the great Cities where we are sure there were many Churches they speak of the Church that is the Bishops as if there were no other in the place and there was but one Church in any City for some uses of Religion that is for Baptism and Penance So that to speak properly and after the manner of ancient times there was in a City but one Church the other being but Parish-Chappels and Oratories Gregory therefore might build but one Church and yet his City might have many Parish-Congregations But for Neocaesarea we have greater probabilities that it was too populous for one Religious Assembly For first it was the Metropolis of Pontus and that long before it was converted by Gregory as Holstenius (x) Luc. Holsten in Steph. v. Neocaes proves by a Medal of Severus which had upon the reverse the age of this City In the next place it was eminent for liberal Studies which little Towns never were And Basil (y) Bas ep 64. relates with what earnestness the Magistrates pray'd him to take upon him the instruction of their Youth And lastly the character which the same Father gives (z) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil ep 75. it of being the most Illustrious of Cities cannot agree with that meaness under which Mr. Clerkson does represent it There is another City in Phrygia whose inhabitants are said to have been all Christians Euseb H. l. 8. c. 25. (a) C. 11. Ed. Vales and all with the City burnt together but
if our Author may have his way Rome and Constantinople are a great way off and the times of which our Author speaks were very remote from ours But let us try whether we may not comprehend this matter without travel or much reading and make London the Scene of our Discourse for as great and populous as it is it may receive no disparagement by the comparison with old or new Rome Now in London there is a Sect or two ambitious of being thought to have some resemblance to the Novatians and that they may not be displeased let them be more numerous instead of three Churches let them have ten Meetings The other Sects who can speak of numbers too may have their assemblies as convenient as they please and not crush or hurt one another for want of room yet the Bishop of the place will scarce be able to assemble his flock even of the City in any one Church tho' Pauls were finished For if you should happen to be late on Sunday morning go to St. Clements and there 's no room go to St. Martins and its all full go to the Abby and you can scarce come within hearing and at St. Gile's you will be throng'd and if you walk to St. Andrews you may have no seat I might add near a hundred Congregations more within the lines of which many are as considerable as these I mentioned and all this in a City which is much inferior for number of people to those old ones of which our Author speaks You may see therefore by this how much thinner a multitude of Sects and some of them numerous will render the Bishops flock in such great Cities as we have been speaking of and what mighty abatements are to be made in the number of the Church Christians upon the account of three Conventicles of the Novatians in a City that wanted not much of a million of Souls But we have made no allowance for Heathen which in the fourth Century were numerous and now are grown rare But the sluggish and irreligious brutes in our greatest Cities may be reconed against them and our account remain as it was and I am afraid that about London there may be more of these than there were Heathens in Constantinople I need not shew says our Author (e) Prim. ep p. 83. how predominant Arrianism was in the greatest part of the Christian World Ingemuit totus orbis Arrianum se esse miratus est When it possessed the whole Orient having none to oppose it but Athanasius and Paulinus Adv. Joh. Hierosol That the Arrian party or faction was very great under Constantius and Valens is certain but that the Sect was very numerous I find no reason to believe I am sure the passage of St. Jerom which is much oftner cited than understood intends no such thing but the quite contrary For Jerom l speaking of the Council of Rimini endeavours to shew that the Bishops there were Orthodox that they confirmed the Nicene Faith that they condemned Arrianism that they left out the word Consubstantial not because they condemned the sense of it but for accomodation and because it seemed to give offence that they pronounced anathema on all those who denyed Christ to be eternal God or affirmed him to be made of nothing Wherefore thinking they had done well and wisely they return home in great hopes that the East and West were now reconciled and that this small alteration had begot an eternal Peace But when the Arrians had obtained their point and had excluded the word Substance out of the Creed they began to proclaim (g) Sine conscientia Haeretici ferebantur their Conquest and to triumph as if the Nicene Faith had been abolished Then the Bishops began to perceive the trick So that the whole World wondred to see it self become Arrian not that they were really so but only that they had been imposed upon by fair pretences to give the Arrians some advantage for which they were sensibly grieved and therefore as soon as they (f) Usiae nomen quia in Scripturis aiebant non invenitur multos simpliciores novitate sua scandalizat placuit auferri Non erat curae Episcopis de vocabulo cum sensus esset in tuto Hieron adv Lucif found their mistake some immediately joyned Communion with the Confessours in Banishment the rest as soon as they had opportunity renounced all Communion with the Arrians and were received into the Church not as Hereticks returned for they never had been Hereticks but as persons deceived by fair words to joyn with those who were indeed secretly Hereticks But their expressions (h) Sonabant verba pletatem nemo venenum insertum putabat Hieron adv Lucif bore a fair construction and their words were Catholick and it seemed (i) Cur damnassent eos qui Arriani non erant Id. unreasonable they should be condemned for Arrians who had never been so This passage then of Jerom is brought in by Mr. Clerkson directly against the intention of the Author Nor is it any more to the intent of the present question or any way serviceable to our Author's purpose which is to render the flocks of the Bishops of those times thinner for the flocks of these Bishops did all adhere to them and when (l) Cum omnes populi Sarcedotes suos diligentes paene ad lapides interemptionem deponentium eos convaluerint Hieron adv Lucif some persons of more zeal than discretion attempted to depose some of them and ordein others in their place their people were so concerned that they were ready to stone those obtruders The same answer is to be made to the other passage of St. Jerom that in the East there were but Athanasius and Paulinus to oppose the Arrians Not that all the rest or the greater number were Hereticks or would not oppose the Doctrin of Arrius but those two only did in an eminent manner oppose the designs of these Hereticks which were covered over with specious pretences of peace and sincerity of belief so as to impose in a manner upon the whole Church But the number of that Sect is no more to be taken from the party they once prevailed upon to joyn with them against a few Bishops whom they traduced as Authors of all those publick distractions which they themselves had caused and pretended that the Faith was not concerned than the numbers of our Sects are to be estimated from the interest which upon some occasions they can make against some great men who seem to stand most in their way and to give the greatest obstruction to their designs In all Constantine's time the Arrians had no separate Congregations excepting what the Author of the Sect made for a little while in Alexandria And when Bishops and whole Provinces took parties in this quarrel the separation was of one City or Province from another and not of the people from their respective Bishops and in a little time all