Veneer on Article XXIII: Of Ministering in the Congregation

[…]

The Exposition.

HE Author of the Epiftle to th^ The NeceJJ^ty of

Hebrews, speaking of the Priesthood, ’- says, Chap. v. ner. 4. No Man taketb this Honour unto himself hut he that is called of God as was Aaron, If it be said that this Text is not applicable to the Christian Difpenfation, the very next Verse confutes the Objedion : So also Chrifi glorified not hirafelf to h tnade an High-Prieji but he ’ that

47 <^ ^n Exposition on the

L”- that [aid unto him hou art my Son to-day ha’ve y 1 begotten thee. And A6fs xx. 28. St. P-atil ad- dreffes himself to the Elders of the Churches of Mtletus and Ephefus thus : ake heed there fore unto yoiirjelves and to all the Flock ever the which the Holy Ghost hath made you Over- feers. And since the Miniflers of the Word and Sacraments are the Amhaffadors of Christ 2. Cor. V. 2.Q. Minifiers of God Chap, vi. ver. 4. Miniflers of Christ, and Stewards of theMyfte- ries of God 3 it follows, that they ought to re- ceive their Commiffion from God, and to be fent by him. For should any Man take upon him the Charader of an AmbafTador to an Earthly Prince, should he offer Terms of Peace to Enemies, pretend to naturalize Strangers, and grant Pardons without a ComrpifTion from his Sovereign ; as all his Ads would be null and void, fo he would be highly criminal, and liable to the feverefl Punishment.

The Commiffion I am pleading for is a Me- diate or Ordinary one. For as God Almighty gave Authority to Aaron^ to his Sons, and to the Levites^ to be his Miniflers, in an imme- diate or extraordinary Manner, and order’d that their several Offices should descend in a dired Line, which made those who succeeded them as truly and properly Miniflers of God as themselves, as appears from Heb. v. 4. which I have had Occasion to mention already : So un- der the Christian Difpenfation, fmce the imme- diate or extraordinary Call to the Miniflry, which the Apoflles and the refl of Chrifl’s firfl Miniflers had, no Man is called or ordained to the Ministry in this Manner, but proper Per- fons are entrufled by God to call and fend QCherSj or to fet them apart for the Miniflry of

Rcligionc

Thirty-Wine Articles. 477

Religion. Thus the Apostles Barnabas and Art. XXIIL

Paul are said to ordain Elders in the Churches ^^/VX^.

[…]

And thole that were ordained by the Apostles

did likewise, as appears from the concurrent

Voices of all the Ecclefiaftical Writers, who

have recorded what hath been done in the

Church since the Time of the Apostles. And

that we are neither wrong as to our making a

Diftindtion betwixt the Clergy and Laity, nor

as to our having the three Orders in our Mini-

ftry of Bishop, Priest, and Deacon, is plain

from the Words of St. Clemens of Rome^ in

which, as S. Jerom hath done after him, he

compares them to the three Orders of High-

Priest, Priest, and Len^ite^ among the Jews,

The High-Priest, faith he, hath his proper

Ministry allotted him, the Priests have their

proper place affigned them, and the Levites

have like wife their proper Services appointed

them. The Layman is to perform such Things

as belong to Laymen. Let every one of you,

my Brethren, in his proper Place and Station,

glorify God, keeping a good Confcience, and

taking Care with all Gravity, not to tranlgrefs

the Rule which fets Bounds to your Duty or

Office. ^

The Words going before this Sentence, faith Mr. Lozvth^ wherein Clemens exhorts them, njiz. the Corinthians^ to perform God’s Service in an orderly Manner, and at fet Times and Seasons, and by such Persons whom he hath appointed, and the Application in the last Sen- tence, fhews, that the Writer of that Epiftle

• Ail Cor. cap, 40, 41.

applies

47 S ^n Exposition on the

Art. XXIII. applies himself to the several Ranks or Orders

V^‘^VN^ of Men in the Church ; though he calls the

several Orders of the Clergy by the several

Titles of the Jcwijh Priesthood, as many of

the ancient Writers do. t

Mr. Norman hath replied to this Argu- ment of Mr. Lowtb’sy in the 49th Page of his Defence of his Remarks on Mr. Lowth’s Ser- mon, and what he faith to it’ is. That he is apt to believe, the prelent Archbishop o( Canter- lury^ when he translated the Epiftles of the Apoftolical Fathers, did not fee That in these Words which is fo plain to the Redtor o^ Peters- field^ because upon perufmg the Index of that Translation, he finds that Great Prelate men- tions the several Places in that Work, in which he thought it appeared, that Bilhops in the Primitive Church were the lame as with us ; but takes no Notice of the Paflage which Mr. Lowtb hath cited, nor fb much as of one in all Clemens” s Epiftles. My Answer is, i. That the Colledling of an Index for a Book is a very tedious and difagreeable Undertaking, lb that ‘tis no wonder if it be not always performed with all the Exadlnefs that the Nature of the Thing will poflibly admit of And I am apt to think, this is the Reason why his Grace of Canterbury did not take Notice of this Paflage in his Index, as he did those which Mr. Norman makes men- tion of, except he was of Opinion, as I alio am, that there’s no Occasion for fo much Exadlneis, where the several Particulars contained in the Book which the Index is affixed to, are again and again referred to. 2. That fuppofing the

f Answer to Mr. Norman, p. 2^.

Arch-

Thirty-Nine Articles. 479

Archbifliop’s Opinion to be as Mr. Norman is Art. XXIIL apt to think though I heartily join with him in *Wi/j thofejuft Encomiums which he bellows upon this Great Prelate, yet I am certain, that his Grace does not exped us to pay a greater Deference, even to his declared and avowed Opinion than to that of fo many Great and Learned Writers, who have quoted this Paffage to the fame Purpose ihdit Mv, Lowth hath. 3. That if the Archbishop’s Opinion, in cafe it should appear to be againfl us as to this Paffage, should in Mr. Normans Judgment be Decisive in a Dif pute betwixt Mr. Lowth and Him I hope it is but Modefl to expeft, that his Grace should have as much Authority as a Moderator be- twixt them with relation to the Epiftles of St. Ignatius. And laflly. That Mr. Norman furprizes us exceedingly, by intimating that he cannot but wonder, that this Paffage seemed to Mr. Lowth to be fo very plain for Primitive Epifcopacy, when he cannot be ignorant, if he hath behaved himself in this Controversy as he ought, that is, if he hath read carefully on both Sides, that hardly any Episcopal AVriter that hath recourse to the Writings of the Fathers for the Eftablifhment of his Scheme, hath miffed taking Notice of it, or mentioned it with less Affurance of its being for his Purpose than Mr. Lowth hath.

Having done with the Opinion of the Arch- bishop of Canterbury that is, what Mr. Norman very vainly, and upon fo trifling a Foundation, fancies to be his Opinion j he proceeds in the next Place to give us his own, which he does in the following Words : ” And for my Part, after having read the Words abovementioned, * and the preceding Part of the Chapter over

” and

480 Jn Exporitloii on the

JXS™- andover, I can’t fee that the venerable Father designed any thing more than to recommend Order and Regularity in the Church ; that the Service of God might be performed with a proper Decorum, and that there might be no’ Confusion’in the Worship, or among the Wor- shippers and therefore he mentions the Ex- a6tnefs with which the Solemnities of Religion were managed under the Jewijlo Oeconomy, as an Inflance or Example of good Order, but not as a Model according to which Christian Churches were to be constituted. ” — What I have to fay to this is, that in my Opinion, for I hope I may have the Liberty of giving one as well as Mr. Norman Mr. Normans Gloss upon this Paffage, is artful, strained, and laboured , and that Mr. LowtJfs is plain, easy, and natural, and therefore the most probable. I cannot forbear remarking in this Place, that if Mr. Norman hath hit upon the right Sense of the Paffage which is now under our Confidera- tion, this venerable Father does not seem to me to be such an Enemy to the Imposition of a few decent Ceremonies and Circumstances, for the Sake of Order and Regularity, as Mr. Norman and his Brethren are. I know Mr. Norman wilf diflinguifh upon me, and let meknov/ that there’ is, in his Opinion, a wide Difference betwixt the Church of England’s taking it upon her to make Canons and Rubricks, and the Diffenters appointing the Time and Place for Religious Worlhip, and requiring that the Habit of their Ministers be ra’ve and comely and that Men should either fiand or kneel in Time of Prayer which he acknowledges they do in the ii$th Page of the Performance I am now concerned with , but all that I shall ever be able to learn from him, will not convince me, or any othef

unpre-*’

Thirty-Nine Articles. 481

unprejudiced Perfbn, but that the Quarrel be- Art. xxiir: t^ixt us is in reality only this, whether we or ^^-/VNJt they Ihall have the Power of prescribing Rules for Decency and Order in the Publick Worship. But to return from this Digreflion, Mr. Normally after he hath told us what he is apt to believe the Archbilhop thought of this Paffage, and what his own Opinion is, begins to offer at an

Argument ■ ’^ And that he had no such

” Intention as Mr. Lowth fuppofes, may appear ’ from this , that when he speaks of the Officers ’ of the Church, he mentions no more than ’ Bijbops and Deacons.” Thus, difcourfing of the Apostles and their Miflion, says he, ” Preaching through Countries and Cities, and ’ proving by the Spirit, the first Fruits of their ” Converfibns, they appointed out of them Bijloops and Beacons over such as should afcer- ’ wards believe. And because we are sure ’ that the Apostles ordained Elders in the ’ Churches, feeing Clemens does not mention ’ these separately from Bijloops when he gives ’ an Account of the Officers which the Apostles ” instituted , it is very plain, that by Bishops ” here, he means Presbyters , or the Pajiors of ” Churches ; and that he had no Notion of an ’ Order superior to them. ” I very readily yield to the first Part of this Remark, but I can by no means agree to the second. I believe, as well as Mr Norma?! that the Bifiops here spoken of, are no more than Presbyters but yet it will not follow, that this Father had no Notion of an Order superior to them. He doth not fay, that these Officers, or any of them, were the Supreme Governors of thole Churches where they were placed ; and, indeed, it ap- pears from the Scriptures themselves, that Supremacy of Power over all the Apoftolical

H h Churches,

482. An Expofitioii on the

Art. XXIII. Churches, for the greatest Part at least of thd xyrsj Apostles Lives, was reserved in their owf Hands, by which St. Vaul fb juftly imputed to himself the Care of all the Churches 2 Cor. xi. 28. 3 and his Commands, Cenfures, and peremp- tory Precepts (fb visible in most of his Epiftles to them) do evidently prove the fame; and therefore, whatever Affiftants they were to the Apostles, by their Ministry and Regulation of the Churches under them, they could not be Ecclefiaftical Officers invested with a Plenitude of Church Power ; for Mr. Norman may under- iland, if he pleases, that we are very far from denying all Church Power to Presbyters. We know very well, that St. ?aul himself says, that a Bishop, that is, such an one as we now call a Presbyter (for fo the Word signifies in this Place) cannot take care of the Church of God except he know how to rule his own House I fim, iii. 5. And that the Elders that rule well floould he counted worthy of double Honour chap. v. 17. And therefore his allegding, i Cor. v. 12. — Do not ye judge those that are within ? as an Argument to prove that St. Paul had nothing to do with the ordinary governing Power of the Church of Corinth. is not only impertinent, but furprizingly lb : And from hence we may fur- nifli Mr. Norman with sufficient Means to get over the Difficulty which the Apostle’s Absence from a particular Church, for a Time, hath occafioned. If this will not do in Mr. Normans Opinion, let me ask him how ‘tis poffible fbr the King of England to be in Polfeffion of the ordinary governing Power of these Kingdoms at the fame Time that he is visiting his Do- minions in Germany ? Or whether the Autho- rity which is executed by the Judges in Ifefi- minJier-Hall be not a Proof that he hath no- thing

Thirty’-Mne Articles^ 485

thing to do with the Government at all ? Or if Art. XXIII.’ Mr. Norman will not be satisfied without Proof -/VN that the Apostles had an extraordinary Power of discerning, when there was an Occasion for it, I beg leave to recommend to his most serious Consideration, those Mords of St. Patd i Cor, V. 3. For I ‘Verity as ahfent in Body hut present in Spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath done this Deed. What Mr. Norman means by talking of St. Paufs having taking his leave of the City of Corinth I do not understand, fmce he fo fre- quently mentions his coming thither again, in the latter End of his Second Epiflle to the Corinthians and that too, in order to corredt and remove the very great Disorders that were among them. And if the Power which he was to exercise upon this fad Occasion was extraordi- nary Power, let me ask. Why all Church Power which we read of in the New eftament is not looked upon as Extraordinary ? and how it ap- pears, that this Gentleman hath any greater ordinary Authority over his own Congregation, than St. Paul had over the Church of Corinth ? He is pleased indeed to tell us, that the Autho- rity which the Apostle had over that Church was Extraordinary, and not that of an ordinary Church Governor, dogmatically enough : But, alas! he creeps off, when he comes to support it, with saying, that Dodor Wlnthy thinks his fay- ing. He had in a Readiness to re’venge all Dtf- obedience J &c. 2 Cor. x. 6. to be the Authority peculiar to the Apostles, of infliding corpora! Punishments on refractory Perlbns, and deliver- ing them up to Satan and that Mr. Lowtb himself, for which he thanks him heartily, C3\h it Apoftolical Power, to the utter Subversion of his own Hypothesis. And cannot Mr. Norman Hh z per-

4S4 -^’^ Exposition on the

Art. xxill. perceive a wide Diftindlion betwixt un Autho- K/y rity, and the Means to keep up the Reverence that is due to it ? For that the Do61:or is speaking of the latter only, and not of the former, at least as the Words are here quoted, is as obvious as may be. But were Dr. iVbithy very clearly of Mr. Normans Opinion, ‘tis very well known that he was a Man of a very wavering Judg- ment, a very Free-Thinker, and as bold a Writer, and a tatronizer of fo many wild, heterodox, and heretical Notions, that his ]j)fe dixit or mere Say-fo is fo far from palling with us of the Church of England in lieu of good Reasoning, that I am sure the Majority of us are very ibrry that any Ferfbn of such un- found Principles, Ihould be unfincere enough to herd among us, and profels himlelf a Member of our Communion, for no other Reason than to enjoy such Preferments as would have served to encourage or reward a more honest and de- serving Person than himself, or any of the fame Stamp. As to Mr. Lowth I dare swear for him, and I think it is evident enough in all Conlcience from his Writings, that he believes the Apol’tles had Succeffors, properly fo called, as to all Parts of their Office, except the Power of working Miracles , and that by Apoftolical Power he means no more than he now does by Epif copal Po-wer ; and how his calling it by this Name does fubvert his Hypothesis, I profefs 1 cannot fee, and believe I never shall. Another Argument which Mr. Lowtb m-kes ufe of, to fhew that St. Paid took upon him the Supreme Govern- ment of the Church of Corinth is his calling himself their Father or the Perlon that con- verted them to the Christian Faith, i Cor. iv. 15. And who but out Author, faith Mr. Nor raariy would have inferred from this, that

St. Paid

Thirty-Nme Articles. 485;

St. Paul had the ordinary Government of that Art. “ill. Church in his own Hands for Years after he took -/“VNi*’ his leave of it ? At this rate he goes on further, with a little common Banter and Flourish, as if it were not plain to a Demonstration, that the Apostle makes good his Claim to the Govern- ment of that Church from this Consideration, and that in this very Chapter ; and but a Verse or two lower, he talks of coming to them again, and of visiting them, if Occasion were, with a Kod. I shall not trifle fo far as to d’fpute, whether the Apostle’s Rod was any thing like the Lash of the Spiritual Court which Mr. Norman is fo merry with • or like the Ecclefiaftical Ty- ranny of the Scott tjh Kirk , the Parochial Papacy of the Independents, or the several Courts of Inquisition among the Presbyterians : I shall only observe, that 2 Cor. :i;iii. i. he talks of proceeding like an ordinary Church Governor […] the Mouth of tzvo or three IVnnejfes JloaU every Word he eftahlifljed. If Mr. Norman says, that this Argument is no Proof that the Power which St. Vaul intended to exercise was ordinary Power I must put him upon proving, that the Power which the Presbyters are said to exerciie, was ordinary Power ; for I am sure I have proved the one, as well as he hath proved the other, and I am content to let the ordinary Power of the Apostle, and that of the Pres- byters of Corinth stand and fall together, as I am sure they must. If Mr. Norman shall think fit to engage in this Argument afrefh, I (hould be glad to know when it was that the Apostle took his Leave of the Corinthians’. I mean his fiyial Leave or elfe I shall be of Opinion that be does nothing.

H h ^ But

4^6 An Expofitioti on the

Art.xXIII. But whatever can be said to this Purpose, \yy\J and whatever Difficulties this Gentleman may be drove to, I know he will not look on himself to be answered, except we remove a Difficulty which he throws in Mr. Lo’iotFs way on account of the Uie which we make of 2 Cor, xi. 28. For if we fuppofe that the Care of all the Churches lay upon St. Paul as that Care signifies the ordinary Government of those Churches, he can’t, he says, reconcile it with the Notion of St. James’s being made Bishop, or Chief Governor of the Church of Jenifalem which according to Mr. Lo’Wth must be fuppofed to be done long be- fore the Writing of the Second Epiille to the Corinthians,

Mr. Norman needs not to be told, that

there are very strong Figures made ufe of in the

Style both of the Old and New ^eft anient ; and

therefore, I shall only endeavour to fhew him,

that the Words all the Churches^ are not to be

underftood in a ftrid: and rigid Senfe, but of

fome particular Churches only, which belonged

to St. Paurs Jurifdi^ion, Thus Gal. ii. 7. He

tells us. That the Gospel of the Uncircumcifio7i was

committed unto him., as the Gospel of the Circimcificn

was unto Peter. And ver. 9. That «;te James,

Cephas, and John, who seemed to he Pillars^

percei’ved the Grace that was given to him, they

ga’ve to him and Barnabas the Right Hands of

Fellcwfhip^ that they floould go unto the Heathen^

and they\ viz, James, Cephas, and John, unto

the Circumcision. And 2 Cor. x. 13. &c. IVe

wtU not hoaft of Things^ laith he, without out

Measure,, hut according to the Measure*vf the

Rule which God hath difinhuled to us, a Measure

to reach ^-ven unto you. For vje fir etch not our-’

[elv^§

Thirty-Nine Articles. 487

selves leyond our Measure^ as though we reached Art. xxill.

not unto you , for we are come as far as to you ^^-/'''VX/

also^ in ‘Preaching the Go/pel of Chriji : Not

loafling of things without our Meaftire^ that is^

of other Mens Labours^ hut having Hope when

your Faith is increased that we shall he inlarged

hy you according to our Rule abundantly^ To

preach the Gospel in the Regions heyond you^ and

not to hoafi in another Maris Line of Things made

ready to our Hands, From hence it appears,

that the Churches, the Care of which Jay upon

[…]

among these, such as had been converted to

Christianity by himself. And this Reasoning

may, I hope, be looked upon as sufficient to

reconcile the seeming Inconfiftency of an Apo-

flle’s confining himfelf to a particular Diftrid:,

with the Commiffion given to them in General,

which was to teach and baptize all Nations. By

Virtue of this Commiilion, they were made

Ministers of the Catholick Church, their Mini-

fterial A6i:s were valid where-ever exercifcd,

but yet it was faithfully executed, though the

Care of one Part of the World was committed

to one Apostle, and the Care of another to

another. Let me likewise observe, that an

Apostle, is not by the Tenor of this CommifBon,

to be conftantly in a wandering Condition, but

only to take Care to teach and baptize in that

Diftrid to which his own Choice, or God’s

Providence should determine him.

What Mr. Norman offers further to take off the Force of this PafTage out of Clemens Ro- manusy is, ” That the Epiftle, of which it is ” a Part, was written more than twenty Years ” after the Deaths of St. Peter and St. Paul., as ^^ Mr. IFithers hath made appear to be highly H b 4 ” pro=^

488 An Expofitioii on the

Art.xxtii. ’ probable from Eufehius himself, and that L/’y* ” there was confeffedly no Diocefan Bijhop in ’ the Church oi Corinth at that Time.” As to what Mr. Lo’-jJth faith upon this Head, ’ That ” he looks upon the Conjed:ure of the Learned Dr. Maurice to be very probable, who hath ’ brought several Reasons to prove, that the ’ See of Corinth being vacant by the Death of ” the BiJJjopj as it is most likely, was the Occa- ’ fion of Clemens” writing of that Epiftle to ’ them j and that the Contention fo much ’ repro/ed there, was about chufing another ’ Bidiop in the Room of the Deceased.” As to this, 1 fay, Mr. Norman infifts upon Proof, and will not be determined by a Conjedure : Well then, lo be it but I must be fo free as to tell him, that I shall take the Liberty to deal by Mr. Wither s’s highly r oh able as he does by Dr. Maurtce’s ‘very probahle and fb pafi on to the Merits of the Cause.

Mr. Norma n’s whole Strength, as to the main Thing in Debate, for I shall not trouble myself about the Date of Clemens\ EpifVle, depends upon these two Conceflions, which he fliall have as freely from me as from the Learned Gentleman he hath to do with. i. That at the Writing of this Epiftle there was no Diocefan BiJJwp in the Church oi Corinth. 2. That we cn find no mention of the Church of Gr/w in the Hntient Writers, from the Time of the Writing that Epiftle, ‘till Dionyfiiis fate Bijhop of that Church, which was about the Middle of the Second Century. And may not all this be true, and yet the Consequence which Mr. Norman draws from it be, as Mr. Lowth says it is, doubt- ful and precarious ? If a Bijhoprick be void at this or that particular Time is it a Proof that K

was

Tljirty-Wifie Articles, 489

ijvas never filled ? And is it not very diverting. Art. xxilL :hat a Man should conceive the lead hopes of /VN advantaging his Caule from the bare Silence of the antient Writers of the Church, which is in reality neither for or against him ? But thus it happens, for he tells Mr. Lowth that should he affert that the Church of Corinth was without such an Episcopal Government, as Mr. Lowth Ipeaks of, a great while longer than twenty or thirty Years after the Deaths of St. Peter and St. Paul he might with Safety challenge him to difprove him, becauie of the latter of those Con- ceflions before mentioned. Nevertheless I hope this brisk Challenge may not be altogether o dangerous to the Cause of Epifcopacy, as the Giver of it may imagine. If notwithstanding the Effeds of Time, and Accidents of all kinds during the Space of fo many hundred Years, and the almost utter Extirpation of Christianity, in fome Parts of the World where it once flourished, an exad: and authentick Lift or Cata- logue of such Bishops as were first ordained by the Apostles, together with their Succeflbrs ever since, could be procured, it would, without doubt, be a very useful and entertaining Thing: But at this Distance of Time it is utterly im- poflible to gratify the World with any such Curiolity, whatever Pains should be taken about it. Yet there are ibme scattered Remains and Fragments to be colledled out of the antient Writers, which one would think should fuf- ficiently convince any reasonable Man, that the Apostles settled Bishops in all Churches upon their first Plantation. As to the Churches of Kome Jerusalem Antioch Smyrna Hieropolis EphefuSy Crete Athens and Philippic the Matter is beyond Dispute and though we can* not produce particular Vouchers for fome other

par-

490 An Ejpofition en the

Art, XXIII. particular Churches, yet ertiilUaiis Challenge y”* to the Her sticks of his Time, supplies the Place of them. Let them fhew us faith he, an Ori* ginal of their Churches, and give us a Cata- logue of their Bishops, in an exad SuccefHon, from first to last, whereby it may appear, that their first Bilhops had either fome Apostle, or fome Apoftolical Man, living in the Time of the Apostles, for his Author or immediate Pre- deceffor. For thus it is that Apoftolical Churches make their Reckoning. The Church of Smyrna counts up to Polycarp ordained by St. Johu The Church of Rome to Clemens ordained by St. Peter i and fo all other Churches in like manner exhibit their first Bishops ordained by the Apostles, by whom the Apoftolical Std was propagated and conveyed to others *. This implies that the Apostles, as they founded Churches, settled Bishops in them, and that this might be proved from the Records and Archives of every Church, the most of which were pro- bably then remaining, when ertiillian made this Challenge, and appealed to these Original Records in Behalf of the Catholick Church ; for ertullian we all know, was a Writer of the Second Century. Now I think I may fairly argue, that if the Apostles, or Apoftolical Men, appointed or begun a Succeflion of Bishops in all the Churches, they did this in the Church o Corinth as well as others. It may not be amils to let the Reader have the Objedion of Dr. Calamy upon this Head, together with the pre- fent Bishop of Salishurfs Answer to it, in the 35cth Page of his Lordship’s Book against that Writer.

♦ TertuL de Prjcfcript. Adver. Hseref.

Thirty-Nhie Articles^ 4pr

• The TeJftimony of the antient Writers “t- “l- concerning Epifcopacy, faith the Doctor, /VN.’ ’ cannot reasonably be received, because Ec- ’ clefiaftical Historians have not given us any ’ plain and certain Accounts of the first Plan- *’ tation of Churches, or any true Catalogues *’ of Bishops succeeding one another in them. ” But in Answer to this faith the Bilhop, ]

•

[…]

the Apostles Proceedings : What can this signify, I fay, to the Testimony of the Ages preceding Eufehius j that Epifcopacy was the Government of the Church, on which we rely ? 2. Suppofing we cannot have an exa6l Account of the first Settlement of particular Churches-^ of their Founders^ and of the Line oi Bifijops succeeding in them; this will no more prove that there were no Bishops in them, than the Disputes and Diiferences about the Succeilion, and Years of Reigning of the Kings of any Country, will prove that there were no Kings in those Countries, Nay, this will no more prove that there were no Bishops in those Churches, than that there were no Presbyters in them. For if this ” Argument prove any Thing, it will unfor- ” tunately prove too much, njiz. that no ^’ Churches of Christians were settled any were : [[ It being certainly as conclusive to fay, Hi-

^’ ftorians

45? X Jn Exposition on the

Art. XXIII. ^^ ftofians are obscure and uncertain in their

^^/VX^ ” Accounts of the Travels of the Apostles, and

’^ the Settlement of particular Churches , there-

’^ fore there were no Churches settled by them :

” as it is to fay, they are very uncertain in

[…]

’^ particular Churches ; therefore there were

^^ none. But what wonder is it, that Hifto-

[…]

o ^^ not be able to furnish out exa6b Accounts of

[…]

’^ Or what Argument can this be in either of

’^ these Cafes, when it is fb certain from other

^^ Writers before them, that there were Churches

^’ planted by the Apostles, and Bishops settled

” in thefe Churches ? And if notwithftanding

[…]

” mony of the more antient vVriters in one Cafe;

^’ {o likewise may we in the other. 3. The

” Appeal of the more antient Writers (in their

[…]

*^ dirine of the Bishops whom they affirmed to

’^ have succeeded one another from the Apo-

” files, and this not contradidled by their Ad-

^^ verfaries, but, as far as appears, acknowledged

” by all in thole Days when the Falihood of it

^^ might easily have been detected : This Ap-

^’ peal, I fay, though it do not support the

[…]

^’ fion 3 yet it proves, that in those early Days

’^ it was known and believed without Oppo-

” fition or Contradiction, that there was such a

[…]

’^ And this is a very great Argument for Epif-

” copacy^ though later Writers have not been

’^ able to furnish out complete Catalogues of

^’ Bishops. ” I have now but a Word or two to fay further upon this Head, and I have done.

I can-

Thirty-Nine Articles. 49 1

I cannot but observe, that Mr. Norman in en- Art. XXIIT. deavouring to get rid of this unlucky Paflage in V’Wi St. element’s Epiftle, very artfully and unSirly paffes by the ftrongeft Part of Mr. Lowtb’s Argument which follows his Quotation in order to prove that the Sense which he understood it in was true and genuine ” The Writer of that Epiftle, faith Mr. Lowth applies himlelf *’ to the several Ranks or Orders of Men in the ’ Church, though he calls the several Orders of ’ the Clergy by the several Titles of the JewiJJj *’ Pricfthood, as many of the antient Writers ’ do. ” It might not be amiis, fmce Mr. Nor- man hath been pleased, as it were, to appeal to his Grace of Canterbury for the Sense of the PalTage in Debate, to put him in Mind, that wc have the Great and Learned Bishop Beveridge clearly on our Side, together with a Multitude of other Learned Divines, as 1 have intimated already • but perhaps it may be more to the Purpose to dired him to the 8th Page of the First Part of the Enquiry into the Conftitiition Difctplme Unity and IVorJbip of the Primitinje Churchy &c. a Book after his own Heart. In this Place the Author first of all afferts, that the diftinguifhing the Church into the Clergy and Laity, is an early Diftindion , and then for the Proof of this, he says, that ‘tis mentioned by Clemens Komanus and after him by Origen and several others. For the Proof of this, he refers in the Margin to this very Paffage of St. Clement, which we have been dilcourfing of, and to the Eleventh of Grrgens Homilies tipon Jeremiah. I believe this Writer’s Opinion, when it is ibr Mr. Normans Turn, is as sacred to him, as our

[…]

most

4P4 ^^ Exposition on the

Art. xxiit. most excellent Metropolitan’s seeming or declared W”W^ Opinion can poffibly be. Whoever was tb^ Author of this Book, I can never be brought to believe that it was written by that great and good Man who is commonly said to be the Writer of it, because he is in this Place guilty of fo mean an Artifice, as is utterly inconfiflent with that Impartiality which he profefTes in his Title Page, and much more with that spot- less Integrity fo conspicuous in that eminent Person’s Characfter, who, as I said before, is the reputed Author of it.

The whole PafTage, as it is in St. Clemenfs Epiftle, without the Application of it, (lands

[…]

The Englijh of which is, as I have said already, ’ — The High’Frieft hath his proper Ministry allotted him ; the Priefis have their proper Place afligned them ^ and the Levites have their proper Services appointed them. The Layman is to perform such Things as belong to Laymen.

The Author of the Enquiry quotes it thus^

[…]

thus. The Fr lefts have their proper Place afligncd them. The Layman is to perform such Things as belong to Laymen.

By this Artifice, by leaving out High-Friefi at the Top, and the Levites in the Middle, he hath avoided giving us such a Platform of a Church as was not for his Purpose, and seems wilfully to have Ihut his Eyes against a most

glaring

Thirty ‘Nine ±\rticles. 495

glaring Truth, — That there were in the Primi- Art, xxiil

[…]

Clergy, as there are at this Time in the Church

of England. But as I shall treat profefTedJy on

this under the next Head, I shall leave it at

present, having, as I hope, secured St. Clemenfs

Vote and Interest for our Side of the Queflion,

and proceed to difcourfe a little further with

those who do not stand difputing whether Epif-

coparians or Freshyterians are in the Right with

regard to their feveral Claims in Oppofition to

each other, but make short Work of it, and

[…]

or at bed but Human or Political Institutions.

I N a Word therefore, for I think we need not honour these bold and wild Notions with any long Confutation j Since it hath pleased God to declare, Isaiah Ixvi. 21. That he would take of the Gentiles for Priests and Levites : Since the Mi- nifters of the Gospel are compared to the Priests of the Law, i Cor. ix. 13, 14. where they are clearly mentioned as their Succeflors, and as a particular Order of Men. Since St. Paul tells us, that 710 Man can preach before he is fent^ Rom. X. 15. Since, as it hath been observed before, he and Barnabas ordain’d in several Churches. Since, in his First Epiftle to I’imo’ ^

thy he commands him to lay Hands suddenly on no Man -, Chap. v. 22. Since he reckons up the Qualifications which Men ought to have before they were admitted into Holy Orders, Chap. ill. And finally, since he tells Titus in his Epiftle to him. Chap. i. 5, 6. that /or this Cause loe left him in Crete that he floould fet in Order the nings that ‘Were wanting and ordain Elders in every City as he had appointed him , and then describes the Qualifications of such as t Ihould

49 6 An Exposition on the

Art. xxiii. should be ordain’d Elders or Bifbops : I cannot ‘yy but stand amazed at those who afTert, that Or- dination is not founded upon Scripture, and that all Men are Priests, or Clergymen, as much as they who are commonly call’d fo or that the Difference betwixt the Clergy and Laity depends entirely on the Laws of the Land where they live. And the more am I furprized, because I have never met with any thing, besides a fhamelefs Affurance, a few Witticifms, and a great deal of Scurrility, to support those strange Affertions. As for those who now pretend to be fent immediately by God’s Holy Spirit to preach the Gospel, and perform the great Work of the Ministry, fmce EnthuJIaJls con- wc are not presently to helieije every Spirit hut (itted* to try whether it he of God s hecanfe many false

Prophets are gone out into the Worlds i John iv. I. let them convince us that they are, as they pretend to be, Divinely inspired 3 let them give us the fame Testimony that the Prophets gave under the Old Testament Difpenfation, and our Saviour and his Apostles gave for the Eftablifhment of the New, /’. e. work Miracles ; And let them prove their Do6lrine to be agree- able to the Word of God and right Reason. Without such a Proof as this, every prudent Man must look upon them as frantick Enthu- fiafts and Deceivers.^

The

Thirty-Nhie Articles. 4p7

The next Point to be difcufTed is the fol- t. xxrir. Jowing Question ; Who are they to whom Pub- -‘“VV-/. lick Authority is given to call and fend Mini- fters into Christ’s Vineyard ? My Anlwer is. Such as we now call Bishops. In order to make good this AfTertion, I lay down thcfe two Pro- ’ cepyof positions; I. That there hath always been in S '''' the Church of Christ, an Order of Men diftindt from and superior to Presbyters. And, 2dly That the Power of Ordination hath ever in- Communicably belong’d to that Order.

Our BlefTed Saviour at firfl:, ordain’d the Twelve Apostles, that they might he with him and that he might feiid them forth to preachy and to have Power to heal Sicknejfes and to cast out Devils Mark iii. 14, 15. And afterwards, he ordain’d the other Seventy, and fent them out upon a like Errand, Luke x. i. And after his Refurredion, he said to the Apostles, that he would be with them eucn unto the End of the Worlds Matth. xxviii. 20. And John xx. 21, that as his Father had fent him fo fent he them After this, the Apostles ordain’d the seven Dea- cons, A6ls vi. 6. Here then we have a clear Account of three Orders of Ecclefiaftical Mi- nifters, which answer to our Bishops, Prieftsy or Presbyters, and Deacons. Without thcfe, S. Ignatius tells us, there is no Church.

i T is not denied, that the Deacons were in- ferior to the Apostles and Seventy , but fome will have it, that the Office of the Apostles and the Seventy was the fame, and their Authority

-* Bfifl. ad TralU

1 4 • <equal.

498 -An Exposition on the

Art.xXUI. equal. If this be true, why was the Place of OrX Judas who had been one of the Twelve, filled with fo much Solemnity ? And why was Alat thias the Man that filled it, who is by the best Historians afiferted to be one of the Seventy ? Avis i. This is affirmed by Epiphamus and St. Jerom , and Eufebius tells us, ” That tho’ ’ there were no particular Catalogue of the ” Seventy Disciples extant in his Time, for that ’ which was written by Dorotheus was not then * extant, yet there was a Tradition, that Bar ” nab as Softhenes Cephas addeus, and *”’ James the Brother of our Lord, were origi- ” nally of this Number. Matthias also, faith ’ he, who was numbered with the Apostles in ” the Room of the Traytor Jttdas and the ” other who had the Honour to be proposed in ” the fame Lot with him, are reported to be of *’ the Number of the Seventy.” *

After this, the Apostles ordain’d others to the lame Office. Among these were Ttmo thy and fitus : For ‘tis plain from the Epiftles St. Paul wrote to them, that they presided over Presbyters : They had Power to enforce them to their Duty, to receive Accusations against them, and judicially to pass Sentence upon them. Such likewise were St. James furnamed the ytift and Epaphrodittis who were term’d Apo- ftles by all Antiquity. Snch, doubtleis, were those whom St. Paul cWs the Apostles of the Churches, and joins with 7’ttus 2 Cor. viii. 23. And such also were those Angels of the Churches, mentioned in the Revelations, Thcfe

• -Eufeb. lib. I. cap. 12. Set Scot’s Clirift. Life. Part II. Vol.11. Page 390.

are

Thirty-Wine Articles. 499

are they which S. Clement of Kome speaks of*. Art, xxilt. Our Apostles knew, faith he, from our Lord OOTV/* Jesus Christ, that there would be a Contention about the Name of Bishop. For this Reason, they resolved to ordain such as were appointed for this Purpose, and to place them in the Pa- ftoral Care ; that after their Death, other Men, who were firfl: try’d and approved of, might receive their Office.

Mr. Norman in the 2d and 3d Pages of his Defence of his Remarks &c. wants to fee ic proved, i. That by the Angels of the Seven Chttrches in the Reqjelatwns single Governors are intended. 2. That if they be fuppofed to be single Governors, how it appears that they were not the Chief Presbyters of these Churches ? And, 3. From what can it be concluded, that they were the Governors offe-veral Congregations and their Presbyters as our Diocefans are ? The Substance of the last of these Queries will come in our way hereafter.

A s the Presbyterian is the elder Brother of the Separation, I shall pay him fo much Defe- renee and Refpe(5i: as to dilcourfe with him first, and then I shall apply myself to the Independejity as the Order of Things and Time requires. I shall therefore at present endeavour to ihew,

I. That the Angels of the Seven Churches mentioned in the Revelations^ were single Per- Ibns. 2. That they were Persons of great Authority in those Churches. And, 3. That ^hey were the Presidents and Btjhops of those

• ^d Cm’, cap, 44,

I i 2 Churches,

500 An Exposition on the

Art. xxni. Churches. And, i. That they were fi ngle Per-

L/^-^^

ions, is evident, because they are all along men- tioned as llich ; the Anjel of the Church of Ephefus in the Singular Number , the Angel of the Church of Smyrna, and (b of all the rest -, and fo every where in the Body of the Epiftles they are all along addreffed to in theSingularNum- ber ; / know thy iVorks and thy Labour never- thelefs I have a few I’hings again\ thee remem- her whence thou art fallen repent and do thy fir ft IVorks and the like ; in all which our Saviour plainly writes to them as to fmgle Persons. It is true, what he writes to them, he writes not only to them Perfcnally but also to the People under their (lovermnent and Infpecion , and therefore sometimes he mentions the People Plurally , fb Chap. 2. ver. lo. ‘J’he De-vil will c aft fome of you into Prtfon • and fo ver. 13. and ver. 23. But this is fo far from arguing that these Angels were not fmglc Persons, that it argues the quite con- trary 5 fmce if they were not, what Reason can there be ajTigned why our Saviour should not mention them Plurally as well as the People ? I know it is objected, that the Angel of the Church o’lThyatira is mentioned Plurally Chap. 2. ver. 24. But unto you I fay. and unto the rest of Thyatira, where by yo//, it is fuppofed must be meant the Angel and by the rest of I’hya- tira the People. To which I answer, That in the antient Greek Manuscripts, and particularly in that at St. Janicss g, or and is left out, and io the Words ran thus. But unto the rest of thyatira, or to the rest of you at Thyatira which is fet in Opposition to thole of thyatira that had been fed uced unto the Secft of Jezebel and therefore cannot be understood of the Angel, who is all along mentioned in the Singular Number ; ¥/herefore had he not been a Jingle Person, no Ac- count

Thirty ‘Wine Articles. joi

count can be given why he should be mentioned Aht.xxiii. flngJy, and the rest oJ’byatira pluralJy. But chen, oO‘“N, Secondly, That these finglePeribns were of great Authority \x\ thole Churches, is evident, not only by that honourable Title oi Angel that is given them, which plainly fliews them to be Perions of Office and Eminence, and that not only by our Saviour’s direding his Epiftles to thenij to be com- municated by them to their several Churches, but also from that Authority which the Angel of Ephefits exercised there, and which the Angels oi Pergamus and Thyatira ought to have exer- cifed, but did not: For as for the Angel of Bpheftis he is com.mended for trying them which [aid they were Apostles and were not and dii covering them to be Liarsj which Words plainly denote a Juridical rial and Convi(‘iojr of fbme Person or Peribns, who pretended to Apoftoltcnl Authority but upon Examination were found to be Cheats and Impoftors : And then as- for the Angel of the Church oi Pergamus he is blamed for having in his Church thole that held the Doctrine of Balaam or of the Nicolaitans ; which plainly fhevvs, that he had Power to remedy it, by casting them out of the Church ; for if he had not, how could he have been juftly blamed for suffering them ? And the lame may be said of the Angel of the Church c ‘Thyatira who is also blamed for suffering the Woman yezehel which was not in his Power to prevent, unless we fuppofe him to have Authority to ejedt her and her Followers. But then, Thirdly and Lastly, That these single Pcrfons were the Presidents or BifJjops of thole Churches, is alio evident from the most Primitive Antiquity j for fo in the Anonymous Trail of ‘timothy s Mar- tyrdom recorded in Bihliotb. Pat. n, 244. we are told, that when Si. John the Apoilie returnpd I i 3 from

501 Jn Exposition on the

[…]

AViTat iJ.mes7ihicoi, i. e. ‘ithat heing ajjified with the Presence of the Seven BiJJwps of that Pr evince j he affumed to himself the Government of it. Now that these Seven BifJjops were the fame with those Seven Angels he wrote to in his Revela- tions., is evident, becauie all those Seven Churches in which those Seven Angels presided, lay within the Circuit of the Lydian or Procon fular Afia of which Ephefus was the Metro- polis, and therefore, who elfe can we fairly fuppofe these Seven BiJJjops to be, by whom he governed the Province of Ephefus., as the Seven Angels of those Seven Churches which were all of them within that Province ? And St. Atiftin cxprcily calls the Angel of the Church of Ephe- fiis the Prcepofittis Ecciefia i. e. the Governor cf the Church f ; and speaking of those Sevejt Angels he stiles them Epifcopi five Prpofttl Ecclefiarum the Bishops or Governors of the Churches. This he docs in his Commentary on the Revelations. So alio the Commentaries under the Name of St. Amhrofe referring to these Angels, i Cor. c. 1 1. exprefly tells us, that by those Angels he means the BtfJoops ; and that they were fo, is most undoubtedly evident of the A7igel of the Church of Smyrna in par- ticular, who could be no other than St. Polycarp who Vv’as most certainly made Bishop of Smyrna fome Years before the Writing these Epiftles, and continued Bishop of it a great many Years after j for o Ignatius who was his Cotemporary, m his Epiftle to that Church, stiles him Polycarp

Ep. i6i..

. Thirty N’me Articles, 505

[…]

carp was not only tnftruied by the Apostles and did not only connjerfe with many of those who had feen our Lord hut was made B’tfljop of Smyrna by the Apojtles that were in Afia *. And in their Encyclical Epiflle of his Martyrdom, the whole Church o Smyrna ftile him Bifliop of the Catholick Church of Smyrna . So alio Po//- crates Bishop of Ephefus who was Thirty-eight Years old when Polycarp fuifered, tells us, that he was Bishop and Martyr in Smyrna +. And the fame is attested by ‘fertullian Eufebius and St. Jerom and indeed by all Eccleiiaftick Antiquity : So that it is a plain Cafe, that one of these Angels to whom St. John writes, was Bilhop of the Church whereof he is ftiled the jingehy and since one was fb, to be sure all the rest were fb, especially considering, that very near if not at the very ime when these Epiftles were written, we have certain Accounts that there were BiJJoops actually presiding in these Seven Churches. So within twelve Years after these Epiftles were written, Ignatius in his Epiftle to the Ephefians makes mention of Onefimus their Bishop, whom he exhorts them all, as well Presbyters and Deacons as Laity to obey. That there was alio at the fame time a Bishop in Philadelphia is abundantly evident from Ignatius his Epiftle to that Church, though

j| Ibid.

■^ Ibid, lib /. cap. 24.

li 4 he

iXVNw’

504 ^^^ Exposition on the

Art.xxtit. he doth not name him j and about the fame i,r‘“X Time Carpus was Bishop of hyatira as the antient Koman Martyrology testifies, and Segafis oi Laodica f. And Meltto Bishop of Sardts §. And as for the Church oi Pergamus Parceus m his Commentary on Chap. 2. of the Reiwlations proves out of Aretas Cxfarienfis that Antipas that faithful Martyr mentioned Rev. ii. 13. was Bishop of it immediately before the Angel of that Church to whom St. John wrote, and that that Angel was one Gams who, as he proves out of Clemens immediately succeeded yintipas in the Episcopal Chair. Since there- fore it is apparent, that at the Writing these Epiflles to these Seven Churches there was a Bijbop actually presiding in one of them , and that about the fame Time there were Bijhops presiding also in all the rest, there can be no Colour of Reaibn to doubt, but that all thole Churches hid Bishops in them v/hen St. John wrote to them ; and if fo, to be sure those Bijhops being the Go’vernors of those Churches, and having the Charge of them committed to them, were those very Angels whom St. John wrote to, because he all along writes to them as to those who were the Overfeers and Gover nors of their refped:ive Churches and if thole Angels were BtJJjops then in them, our Saviour exprefly allows and approves of the Episcopal Order, since he not only dignifies them with the Name o( Angels but calls them Stars in bis pzvn Rtght’Hand.

[…]

T^

Thirty-lSlme Articles. 505

T o produce all that is to our Purpose from Art. xxiil. that Blefled Martyr S. Ignatius were to tran- OO’NJ cribe his Epiftles • and therefore to avoid the Force of what might be juftly concluded from the repeated Tellimonies of fo early a Father, our Adversaries have with open Mouth declared them fpurious : From which injurious Sentence, they have been fo triumphantly vindicated by the Learned and Pious Bishop Pear/on that I dare fay, no Man of Learning for the Future, will fo far expose the Reputation of his Under- standing and Modesty, as to call them in Que- ftion again.. However, I shall tranfcribe a few Paffages besides that which I have mentioned already. ’ Run ye together, according to the ” Will of God 5 for even Jesus Christ is fent by ’* the Will of his Father, as the Bishops appoint- ” ed unto the utmost Bounds of the Earth are ” by the Will of Jesus Christ f” ” I exhort ’ you, that you study to do all Things in a ’ Divine Concord, your Bishop presiding in the ’ Place of God, your Presbyters in the Place of ’ the Apostles, and your Deacons being en- ’ trusted with the Ministry of Jesus Christ. 4

” Wh e r e a s ye are fubjed: to the Bishop ’ as to Jesus Chrifl, ye seem to me to live not after the Manner of Men, but according to ’ Jesus Christ. Alfb be ye fabjed to your ’ Presbyters, as to the Apostles of Jesus Christ : ’ The Deacons also, as being Ministers of Je- ” fus Christ, must by all means please all : For

they are not the Ministers of Meat and

Drink, but of the Church of God. H”

[…]

But

4C

5o6 Jn Exposition on the

Art. xxiii. B u t in Opposition to this, our Adversaries ,,yY”\j urge, that the Words Btjhop and Presbyter xq Words of the fame Signification in Holy Scrip- ture, and that therefore there is no Difference of Order betwixt a Bishop and a Presbyter. The first Part of this Argument is true , for after St. Paul hath told ‘I’ttus that he left him in Crete that he might ordain Elders in e’very City as he had appotJited him , he immediately adds, ff any he hlamelefs the Husband of one IVife having faithful Children not accused of Riot or unruly : For a BifJjop mufi be blamelefs &c. ftt. i. 5, 6, 7. St. Peter likewise calls himself an Elder or Pref- tyter i Pet, v. i. And St. John does the fame in the Beginning of his Second and Third Epi- ftles. But I hope to fliew that this is nothing to the Purpose, and consequently that the Conclusion drawn from it mufl fall to the Ground.

The Words Presbyter, Bishop, and Dea- con, are in the Original, Words of a general and large Signification : The firfl signifies an Elder, the second an Overfeer, the last a Mini- fler j and like the Word Imperator^ which figni- fies either an Emperor, or a General of an Ar- my ; or the Word Lawyer^ which in this King- dom comprehends the Judges, Serjeants, and Barrifters at Law ; and other general Words, which take in Things of a different Nature. And as those Words have a general, fo they have a particular Meaning in Holy Scripture : And therefore, though St. Paul calls himself no less than twice A/aV.oi’©-, in one Chapter, Colof.L 23, 25. as he likewise does Ephef iii. 7. and as often as he is fliled a Minifler by ourTranflators; and though this be the Word which is always

put

Tbirty-Nme i.\rticles. 507

put for Deacon in the Greek i’eftament j yet ‘tis Art. xxill. on all Hands agreed, that St. Paul was no other- v.-/V’X wife a Deacon, than as a greater Officer includes a leis. In like manner may it be obferv’d, that there is no Reafbn to conclude, that every one that is called Presbyter in the New fefiament was a mere Presbyter 3 especially fmce it ap- pears from what hath been laid, that there was a Superiority and Subordination among those to whom this Name is applicable. As for the Name of Bishop, I own that it was generally, if not always, aicribed to thole whom we now call Presbyters or Priests. How then Ihall we clear up the Point ? Why, by having Recourle to Pacfa?ms a Writer of the Fourth, and fbeo doretj who flourifhM in the Beginning of the Fifth Century ; who tell us, that formerly the fame Pcrlbns were calfd both Presbyters and Bilhops ; and thole now call’d Bishops, were then call’d Apostles : But in Procels of Time, the Name of Apostle was left to Apostles ftridly o call’d, and the Name of Bishops to all the rest ; who, it seems, out of Modesty, declined fo high a Title.

I REMEMBER My. Pelrce is plealed to objedl to one or both of these Writers as not early enough. But I hope every reasonable, unpre- judiced Man will allow, that they who lived twelve or thirteen hundred Years nearer to the Times of the Apostles than Mr. Peirce^ ought to be allow’d as much better Judges in the Cafe than he is ; especially, fmce what they deliver hath a Probability in Scripture, and is agreeable to the constant Voice and Pradice of the Primitive Church, the best of Commentaries prExpofitions on^any difficult Text of Scripture.

Secondlv,

5o8 An Exposition on the

Art. XXIII. SECONDLY, it IS objedcd, That timothy and

k/VX>

^itus were EvangeUfis , ‘tis true, that I’imothy IS required to do the Work of an Enjajigelift^ 2 I’m. iv. 5. But nothing of this kind is to be met with in the Epiftle to fitus j fo that with relation to him the Obje6lion is very deficient and ill grounded, aslikewife are whatloever Con- sequences our Adversaries imagine they have a Right to draw from it, even fuppofmg that the Title of Evangelist could be proved to belong to I’ltus as clearly as it does to i’imothy.

An E’vangelift faith Mr. Roberts in his Vifita- tion Sermon to which I could never yet fee an An- fwer, was no diftind Officer at any time in the Christian Church : For the proper Notion of an Evangelist in the As and St. Paul’s Epiftles is one who was eminently qualified to preach the Gospel and had taken great Pains therein. Thus Philip was called an Evangelist A6is xxi. 8. who was no more than a Deacon and could only preach and baptize and had not the Power oi laying on of Hands which i’imothy had, and therefore the Office oi Philip was fir inferior to that of Timothy. Whence ‘tis evident, that allowing i’imothy to be an Evangelist. yet his Power over Presbyters did not accrue to him upon that Account. Nor does i’imothy s being an Evaficelift prove the Office of ruling and ordaining Presbyters to be peculiar to an Evan- gelift any more than Philip’s being called an Evangelist proves the Office of preaching and baptizing to be fb. I’imothy is, indeed, required to do the H’ork. of an Evangelist., faith Mr. Lowth t.

but

Thirty ‘Wine Articles. 509

but we may observe, it was not his whole Work Art. xxiit. to preach and propagate the Gospel^ which was ^-/V\y the peculiar Office of an Evangelifi ; but besides that, he was to fettle the Churches, to govern them, to ordain Officers, to cenfure Offenders : Thele Things are particularly given him in Charge, whereas doing the Work of an E’vangelifi was common to him with divers others.

There is no Reafbn, faith the Author of the Clergyman’s Vade Mecum in his Preface to the Second Part of that Book, to believe, that 2l;;?o//s Precedence proceeded from his being an En)angeUft : Not only the poftkj but the Prophet is placed before this Officer, Eph. iv. ii. and it seems to me, that this Office was clearly confiftent with any other. Saint John and St. Matthew were Apostles and EnjangeliftSy St. Mark a Btjhop and E’vangelift St. Luke was an En)angelift , and yet, as is commonly believed, one of the Seventy. Philip was certainly both a Beacon and Evangclift Afis xxi. 8. and why might not ‘Timothy as well as Mark be both a BiJI-np diwd Evangelifi ? We know why four of theie are called Evangelifts namely, becauie they were fo well skilfd in the History of our Saviour’s Life and Death, as to give it us in Writing. By Parity of Reason, all others called Evangeltfts were such as made it their Study and B’ fmefs to make themselves acquainted with our Saviour’s Actions, and Sermons, and Sufferings, and to relate such Paffages of them in the Publick Congregation, as the present Occasion required. And this was as useful and edifying an Office as any in the Church of God ; and it was extreamly neceflary for fome Years after our Saviour’s Afcenfion : For it was a good while before the Gospels were written, and

much

510 j4n Exposition on the

Art,xxiii. much longer still before they were difperfed ancJ

l/V^^

universally received: During aJJ this Time, the Bvangelift who could confirm any great Truth, add Weight to any Advice, or Reprehenfion, by rehearfmg any Difcourfe, or relating any mo- mentous Paliage of our Saviour’s Life and Death, must have frequent and great Occasion to exerciie his Abilities : But when the four Gospels were committed to Writing, and were in every one’s Hand, this Office of courft ceased. It is not neceflary to fuppofe, that any miraculous Gifts were neceffary for this Officer, the H-oly Ghost affifted him only in calling to remejnhrance what he had feen or heard by con- verfmg with our Saviour himself, or learned from those who were themlelves Eye-Witnefles ; therefore he is ranked below the Prophets. For it w^as certainly a more eminent Gift of the Spirit to foretell Things to come, than to be able to recoiled w hat was past.

The Word Ivetyyiiov Good News or Mejfage faith Dr. Ha??imondy being common to that which is written, and which is delivered by Word of Mouth, two Notions there are of the Evangelifi one for the Writer another for the Preacher of the Gospel. In the first Notion we have the four E’vangelifts of which two were Apostles of the Twelve Matthezv and Johnj and yet those as ordinarily called E’vangelifis as the other two. But this is not the Notion which belongs to this Place, where Evangelist is a diftind Office from Apostle , but the Second which denotes an Office then known in the Church, when any that was taken Notice of for fome eminent Degree of Proficiency in the Gospel, and ipecial Abilities of Utterance and Diligence, was, upon Recommendation of

the

Thirty-Nine Articles. 5 1 1

the Church (as was said of ‘I’linotheus As xvi. Art. XXIIT. 2.) chosen by any of the Apostles to aflift him VVN in this Work, and fent out with Power oif preaching the Gospel (and with doing Miracles, and with Gifts of healing to that Purpose) and of baptizing those that should receive the Gospel, and with others alio of ordaining Bishops when the Apofiks thought fit to allow it him ; for as the Office of E’vangelift being to preach to Un- believers, requires not the Donation of all the Episcopal Power of Ruling, nor the Power of Or- dination necefTarily, because when the E’vangelifi had planted the Faith the Apostle himself may come and confirm and ordain Bishops, as we fee in Samaria j and therefore the Author of the Com- mentary on the Epiflles under St. Amhrofe his Name, faith on this Place, amnjts non fint Sa- cerdotes e’vangeltzaretamen pojjint fine Cathedra quemadmodum Stephaiius Phtltppus. Though they be not Priests, that is, Bishops, yet they may evangelize without a Chair ; fb the Dona- tion of that superior Power doth not make them cease to be Enjangelifis : And accordingly, as Philip, which was but a Deacon (and therefore preached and bsiptizedthQ Samaritans A5ls\nn, 12. Peter and John the Apostles being fent to lay Hands on them, ‘ver. 17.) i fo others that were Ei.aneUfts had also Power given them by the Apostles that fent them out to conflitute Churches, and fo to ordain Rulers over them -, as oi Mark it is said, that being fent into Egypt by St. Peter he conflituted Am anus Bishop of Alexandria ; and fb when tmotby v/as con- ftituted Bilhop of Ephefus i in. i. 3. he is yet commanded by St. Paul to do the Work of an E’vangelift 2 ftm, iv. 5. that is, as he was Bishop of those that believed under that Metro- polis y and of those alfb that should come into the

Faith

512 An Exposition on the

Art. xxtii. Faith ill all Afia fo he had also Authority t yy make known the Gospel to them that knew it not, to call them to the Faith, which is the pe- culiar Notion of ‘EvdLyyiKiiAt and Kiipv7ffiiv to Evangelize and to Preachy and UcltiCuv Mat. xxviii. 29. to gather Disciples as those Words are opposed to teachings A5is xv. 35, c v. 44. and as hoy©- the IVord differs from

Now as he that from a Deacon is made a Bifloopy hath all the Powers that belong to a Beacon still continuing to him, and the Addition of fo much more, fo he that is an Evangelifty if he be farther invested with Power of Ordina- tion may still remain an EvangeUft-, the Power of conftituting BifJoops over them that believe and are baptized being reconcilable to the Power of preaching to them that believed not ; only the Word Evangelist denoting no more than that of being fent by an Apostle to preach, is indifferently used, whether he have the Power of Deacon only as Philip or more ; as of timothy and Mark hath been affirmed, and fo is here fet after the Jpoftles and Prophets and diftinguifhed from Paflors and Dolors that come after, by which the Ruling Elder is understood *.

I HAVE often wondered what Answer could be made to this Reasoning of these, and a great many other great and learned Divines of our Communion upon the fame Subjed, and to the fame Purpose, and at last, I confess, I have met with something worthy of a Reply in the 29th and 30th Pages of Mr. Normans Defence

[…]

Tbirty-Nhie Articles, 515

of his Remarks. ” Mr. Loivth^ faith he, I know. Art. xxillJ

[…]

^’ was the peculiar Office of an EvangeJifl • and

[…]

” to conclude his officiating in a higher Chara-

” d:er. But when this Gentleman, continues

” he, mentions preaching and propagating the

^.^ Gospel, as the peculiar Office of an Evange^

*’ liftj if he means that this was all the Work

’^ that belonged to that Chara5ler^ (and he must

*^ mean that, if he would concludeany thing from

^^ it in Favour of his Opinion) he has a different

*^ Notion of the Office of an Evangelist from

’^ Eufehius^ who makes one Part of his Work

” to be to conftitiite Pafiors^ fb that timothy and

^^ fitus might do that as well as preach the Go-

’^ fpel^ and yet be no other than E’vangelifts.

*^ And indeed timothy was charged by St. Paul^

’^ in his iecond Epiflle to him, to do the Work

’^ of an E’vangeUft^ Ghap. iv. 5. And this was

” not confident with his being fixed as a Btjhop

’^ in any particular Place ; the Bufmefs of an

’^ Evangelist being (according to the Accoune

” given by the aforementioned Historian) to lay

^^ the Foundations of the Faith in barbarous

” Nations, to constitute Pastors ; and having

” committed to them the cultivating of theie

” new Plantations, to pass on to other Coun-

” tries and Nations.” And for a Proof of this,

he refers us to the third Book and the thirty*

[…]

story.

The Words of EufehittSj which Mr. Nor^ man refers to, are these — — Many of the then Disciples, whose Souls were inflamed by the Di- vine Word with a more ardent Desire of Philo- fophy, first fulfilled our Saviour’s Command- K k mcnr^

514 •’^^^ Exposition on the

Art. xxiti. ment, by distributing their Substance to those Kyy\J that were necefHtons 3 then after that traveUing abroad, they performed the Work of Evan- gelifis to those who as yet had not at all heard the Word of Faith ; being very ambitious to preach Christ, and to deliver the Books of the Divine Gofpek And these Ferfons, having only laid the Foundation of Faith in remote and barbarous Places, and constituted other Pa- ftors, committed to them the Culture of those they had perfectly introduced to the Faith, de- parted again to other Regions and Nations, ac- Cvompany’d with the Grace and Co-operation of

God Now he that can fee any more in this,

than what I have transcribed from those learned Writers of our Church, before-mention’d, con- cerning the Office of an E’vangelift is able to fee, I confess, a great deal farther than I can. That En)angelifts had fomctimes the Power of Ordi- nation, we have admitted, and have the fame Notion of an Evangelist xhditEufehins had, which he here explain s to be the Preaching of Christ, and delivering the Books of the Divine Goipel. As to the other Claule of this Quotation, it is a plain Transition to a diPdndt Article, and the Exercift of a diftind Office, and is very far from being an Aflertion equivalent to M.Y. Norman s That Ordination was one Branch of the Office of an Evaiigelijij consider’d as fjch. Many that travelled abroad might perform the Work of E’vaugelifts and ordain Pastors, and yet every En:angcUft might not have Power to ordain, as we have fhewn before in the Quotation from Dr. Hammond. If Mr. Norman will not aree to this, I must desire him to make this Notion of the Office of an Enangeltfl which he would fain father upon Eufehlus confident with • .what the fame Author delivers but a few Pages

before

Thirty-I^ine Articles. 515

[…]

the fourth Chapter of this very Book he tells us, that ‘timothy was reported to have been the first that was chosen to the Bifhoprick of the Ephefian Church 5 as also I’ms of the Churches in Crete, This he delivers at least as a Piece ofHiftory, which he had no Objedion to whereas if he had looked upon these Men as E’vangelifts (which for ought I know he might) and if he had such a Notion of their Ofiice, as such, as Mr. Norman says he had, ‘tis very flrange that fo judicious and exa6t a Perlbn as Etifehius iliould not have dfopt a Word or two to fhew ys the Improbability, nay the utter Impofiibility of the Truth of such a Report. That learned and accurate Peribn Valefius who published the best Edition of Enfehins now extant was pretty quick-sighted where any busy Editor had been io free as to let Eiifehius againfl: himielf, and yet he hath found no Contradidlion betwixt tha fourth and thirty-seventh Chapters of the third Book of his Ecclefiaftical History. To this let me add, that St. Chryfoftom whose Judgment was fo far esteemed of, as to be made the com- mon Standard of the Church, had certainly as true a Notion of the Office of an Evangelist as we can pretend to have at this Distance nor could he be ignorant of what Eufebhis says ’ That many very eminent and zealous Persons ’ in the primitive Times went abroad, per- ’ form’d the Vvork of Evangjelifts to others, constituted Pastors in their new plantations, ’ and then paffed on to other Regions and Na- *’ tions j” nor that timothy was charged by St. ‘Paul to do the Work of an Enjangelift ; and yet he * aflerts that timothy wasDrdained Bilhop

• Chryf. Horn, i , in Vhili^.

K k 2 of

xy^r^

5 1 6 Jn Exposition on the

Apt. xxiil- ofEpbefus by St. Pc7ul. The fame may be said y’T of Epiphanius *, St. Jerom f, Hilary the Dea- con 45 and the Author of the Paflion of fnnothy m Pbotius . And beodoret moreover affirms, thrt he was Bifbop, under the Title of an Apo- ftle tt- Moil of the fame Authors agree in the fame Evidence for itus that he was made Bi- shop of Crete by St. Paul also. And St. Cbry- foftom as well as Eufehius seems to give both him and imotby the Power of Metropolitans \. All these Writers were doubtless of Opinion, that a Man might exercise his Talent as an Enjangelift even tho’ he fixed his Residence in this or that particular Country • and as Mr. Norman is the firfl Writer, that I know of, that ever afferted the contrary, a Writer of the Eighteen - hundredth Century, and fmce he proves it no better than by wire-drawing and torturing the Words oi Eufehhts I fliall by this Time venture to wish him Joy of his Discovery, and fo take Leave of the Objedlion which is taken from the Suppofition that ‘Twiotby and /itus were Evangelifts. For tho’ I am not igno- rant that a fuller Answer may be given to it, yet I cannot but look upon what I have said al- ready to be sufficient.

Thirdly, The most learned Advocates for the Presbyterian Government objed, that tho’ the Apostles exercised a Superiority over

• Epiphan. Hoircf. 7/. Aerian.

■f Hit-rou. Catau Scriptor. in T’lmotheo.

4^ Ffmulo-Ambrof. Prxf. in Tir». it. Com. in i Tim.nu

** Fhot. Cod. 2^4.

-J-f Theodor.Com, in 1 Tim,m, i.

rj:^: Eufi’b, ik Chryf. Theod. as before cited. Hkron. dc Sciiptor. in Tit. T feu Jo- Am br of. PrxEinTit. CV;rj^/”. Horn. i. in Til. J>; i;f. in 1 Tim.

the

Thirty ‘Nme Articles. 517

the other Ecclefiaftical Orders, yet they Jest rt.xxiil none behind to succeed them in that Power, /‘V”N but the Church was every where governed by a Connmon Council of Presbyters.: But this Form of Government being found inconvenient, as giving too much Occasion for Schifms and DivifiojiSj it was at last universally agreed upon, that one Presbyter should be choien out to pre- fide over all the rest , and this, fay they, was the Beginning of Epifcopacy, for which they cite that famous Paflage of St. Jerom Ajite • quam Diaholi inftintt’ &c. /. e. Before such Time as through the Inftindl of the Devil Di- visions in Religion began, and it was said among the People, I am oi Paul I am of Apollos and I o£ Cephas- the Churches were go- verned by Common Councils of Presbyters , but afterwards every Presbyter reckoning such a he baptized to be his, and not Christ’s, it was agreed over all the World, that one from among the Presbyters should be chosen and fet over all the rest, to whom ftiould belong all the Care of the Churches, that fo the Seeds of Schifms might be destroyed ; which universal Decree, as they guess, was made about the Year 140.

This Objection, as ‘tis abftradled from the Testimony of St. Jerom^ is what I have re- turned an Answer to already, and therefore I shall not repeat it. Nevertheless it may not be amils to fay something in lieu of it, and there- fore I ftiall lay before the Reader those Argu- ments which Mr. B aster makes ufe of in the 831ft Page of his Christian Dire^lory^ to prove that the ordinary governing Part of the Apofto- . lical Office, was settled for all following Ages. I. Because we read of the settling of that Form, but we never read of any Abolition, Diicharge, Kk 3 or

5 1 8 An Exposition o?i the

Art.xxiii. or CefTation of the Institution. 2. Because if we W’V” affirm a CefTation without Proof, we leem to ac- cufe God of Mutability, as settling one Form of Government for one Age only, and no longer. 3. We leave Room for audacious Wits accord- ingly to question other Gospel Inflitutions, as Pastors, Sacraments, c. and to fay they were but for an Age. 4. It was general Officers Christ promised to be with to the End of the World. As to this PalTage of St. Jeromj which fo much Streis is laid upon, I shall not diipute the Sense of it;, but allowing that v/hich they put upon it to be right, I shall only desire the Reader to consider, i. That it is the Teflimony of one who lived long after several that have been and may be quoted as Witneflfes, not only of the Continuance of the Apoftolick Superio- rity in the Church in the next Age after the Apostles, but also of the Derivation of it from the Apoilles themselves, and fo far less capable of atteflingfo early a Matter of Fa6l , for fbme of these were such as lived in the Days of the Apo- files, others such as lived in their Days who lived in the Days of the Apostles ; and certainly these were much more competent WitneiTes of what was done in the Apostles Days than St Jerom,\vho was not born till about the Year 3 3 o,almost an hundred Years after Origen the latest, and three hundred Years after Clemens the earliest of those Writers j and certainly to prefer the Authority of one fm- gle Witness, who lived fb hng after the Matter of Fa ui to ihQ unanimous Attt)i?t\o\s of fo many earlier WitneiTes, is both immodeft and irra- tional. 2. It is also to be considered that St. ‘Jerom was a Witness in his own Ccrnfe in which Cafe Men of his Warmth and Paffion are too- too apt to exceed the Limits of Truth ; for the Design of that Pafflige was to curb the Iniblence

of

. TIjirty-Nme Articles. 519

of fbme pragmatical Deacons, who would needs Art. xxiil. advance themselves above the Presbyters, which -OTV St. Jerom being a Presbyter himielf, takes in high Disdain, and, as the beftof Men are too prone to do when their own Concerns are at Stake, bends the Stick too much the other V/ay, and deprefTes the Deacon too low and advances the Presbyter too high. For, 3. In other Places, where he is not biaiTed by Partiality to his own Order, he talks at a quite different Rate. So in Dial, Adnjerf. Luciferia7i. ” Doft thou ask ” why one that is not baptized by the Bishop ” doth not receive the Holy Ghost? Why it ” proceeds from hence, that the Holy Ghost ’ descended on the Apostles.” Where it is plain that he placeth the Bishops in the fame Rank with the Apostles. So also in Ep. nd Heliodor, speaking of the Bishops of his Time, ” They stand, faith he, in the Place of St. Paul ’ and hold the Place of St. Peter!’ And in Pfal. xiv. 16. ” Now because the Apostles are *’ gone from the World, thou liaft instead of ” those their Sons the Bishops and these are ” thy Fathers, because thou art governed by ” them.” And Ep. ad Nepot.‘Vh2it Aaron 2ind ’ his Sons were, that we know the Bifnops and ’ the Presbyters are.” And therefore as yir;/, by Dinjine Right . was superior to his Sons the Priefis fo is the BiJJjop above his Presbyters • all which arc as plain Contradifiions to that fa- mous Paffage of his (understanding it as the Presbyterians do) as one Proposition can be to another : And 1 would fain know whether a Man be not more to be credited when he speaks without Biafs or Partiality, than when he speaks in his own Caiife and under the Influence of his own Interest ? 4. It is farther to be consider’d, that the Decree of which St. Jerom here speaks, K k 4 by

510 Jn ETX^oilthn on the

Art.xxiit. by which the Government of the Church was .J’f’ traniaLtd from a Commo7i Cotinal oi Presbyters to a fmgle Bijljop must, according to his own Words, be Apoftolical, and consequently much earlier than the Presbyterians will allow it • for it was made at thac Time when it was said among the People, I am o£Paul and I am oiApol- loSj and I oi Cephas , and this, as St. Paul tells us, was aid in his Time, and therefore this De- cree mud be made in his Time j and that St. Jerom did mean fo, we are elsewhere alTur ‘d from his own Words, for fo in his Book de Ecclef. Script, he tells us, that immediately afcer the Afcenfion of our Lord, St. James was ordained by the Apofiles to be Bishop oijerufalem i- inotby by St. Paul Eifhop oi Ephefus i’ltus Bi- shop of Crete and Polycarp by St. Jchn Bishop pi Smyrna. So that either he must here ex prefly contradict himself, or elfe the Decree of \vhich hefpeaks mud have been made immediately after tbeAfcenficn ofourLordyar)d fo it consequently rnuft be an Apofiolical Decree. 5. It is yet far- ther to be considered, that if any such Decree of changing the Church Government from Pref- Jpyterial to Episcopal had been made by the Apostles it is strange we should not find the leaf!: mention of it in Scripture ; and if it had been made after the Apofiles about the Year 140, it is strange we should have no mention of it in Ecclefiaftic Antiquity , for an Universal Change of the Government of the Church from one kind to another is a Matter of such vast Mo- ment, that had the Apostles made a Decree con- cerning it, they would doubtless have been very ibJicitous to publijh it through all the Churches and to have tranimitted down to Pofierity fome fi:dianng Record cf it • which yet they were fo fir from doing, that they have not given usthu

lead

Thirty^l^hje Articles. 521

lead Intimation of it in ail their Writings : And Aut. xxill. had it been made afterwards, about the Year -/”VX 140, to be sure all primitive Antiquity would have rung of such a pubUck and important Al tevation ; but, on the contrary, we fee both Cle- mens and Ignatius who lived before that Period, testify, that the Church was not governed in their Time by a Common Council of Presbyters, but by Bishops j Hegefyppus Irenneiis and Dionyfius oi Corinth who lived in that Period, are fo far from taking Notice of any such Decree of Alte- ration, that they testify the Government of the Church by an uninterrupted Succeflion of Bi- Jloops even from the Apofiles themlelves and as for Irentis who gives us an Account of the Succefiion of the Roman Bishops, from St. Peter down to the Time when he himfclf was at Rome, it was as easy for him to know who they were that succeeded from St. Peter as it is for us to know who succeeded from Archbifliop IVhitgift in the Chair oi Canterbury he being no farther diflant from the one than we are from the other ; and tho’ thro’ xh Ambiguity or Defe of the Re cords offome Churches, this Succejfion be not e- qually clear m all, yet in the moll eminent Churches luch as Jerufaleni Rome Antioch and Alexan- dria the Succeilions are as clear as any thing in Ecclefiaftical History and is it not much more reasonable to conclude what was the Government oithofe Churches that are not known from what we find was the Government of tliofe that are, than to question those Ecclefiaftical Records that are preserved, because of the Uncertainty of those that are not j for tho’ we do not find in all Churches an exad Catalogue of all their Bi- shops; yet we cannot produce any one Instance in any one ancient Church of any other Form pi Government than the BpifcopaJ and there

fore.

5 1 z Jn Exposition on the

Art. XXIII. fore, as I have observed before, we may as well yf” question whether there ever was any such thing as an ancient Monarchy in the World, because many of the Histories of the Monarchs are de- fedive as to \ht\v Names and the Order of their Succejjion as whether there was ever any such thing as a primitive Epifcopacy in the Church, because the Records of several Churches are defeive as to the Names and SucceJJtons of their Biftiops : Since therefore this Story of St, Jerom’s Universal Decree is not only altogether un- attested, but also diredly contradiory to the concurrent Testimony oi 2,” Antiquity how can we reafbnably look upon it otherwise than as a mere Figment of his own Fancy? Eipecially considering, 6thly and lastly, How odioufly this Conceit of his refledls upon theWifdom of our Saviour, and his Apostles- for the Apostles devolving the Government of the Church upon Common Councils of Presbyters was, as he himself tells us, the Occasion of several Schifms and Bi’visions ; for the Removal of which, the Church afterwards found it necelTary to diffolve those Presbyteries, and introduce Epifcopacy in their Room 3 and this St. Jerom approves as a very wife and prudent Adion. With relation to the Epillles of St. Ignatius what Dr. Calamy hath been pleased to fay of them ihall be as much flighted by me as it hath been by others. ” I ’ could not, says he, help reckoning any Mo- ’ dern, that should ufe such Language as St. * Ignatius does, as one out of his Wits, or a ” Blafphemer.” Defence of Mod. Noncojif or raity Tart I. p, 152. This, as he hath been told, is only saying an unmannerly Thing, and inflead of his Learning, to fhew his Breeding, and must pass for a gross Calumny till he be able to prove his Word: which he v/ill never be able to do

except

Thtrty-Kine Articles. 513

except he mean, that the bleffed Martyr, to Art. xxilL whom fo many Honours were ihewn by the an- V.‘VX dent Church, be a Blafphemer of his (Dr. Ca- Jamys) Diana Anarchy and Democracy, But as another, and, if poflible, more furpriziag Ufe hath been made of them of late Years, I must of Neceffity have Regard to it, together with such other Arguments as are produced upon the fame Account. And this brings me to con- fider the Independent or Congregational Scheme, as I promised to do, as foon as I had dilpatched the Presbyterian. For indeed the old Quarrel about the Pre-eminence of Bifliops above Pres- byters seems in a manner to be dropped, and ‘tis acknowledged that in the Primitive Church, particularly in St. Ignatius’s Time, Bishops were superior to Presbyters ; but then ‘tis alledged that a Bishop was no more than the Pallor of a fmgle Congregation, and that his Superiority over a Presbyter was no more than that of a Re- dor over his Curate. The Church of this or that Place, ‘tis said, was a fmgle Congregation, ©nly the Bishop of that Church was the chief Minister or Presbyter of it, and this is alledged to be an Apoftclical Institution and the Pradice of three or four Centuries or Ages after the Apostles, and, by this Means, Antiquity, which the Church of England hath o long given out to be entirely on her Side, is fuppofed to be fairly carried over to the Dijfenters. I cannot but begin with observing,that thofc of the Independent or Congregational Way, arc a novel and upftarc Sed, that owes its Rife to the Confufions of the Ci’vil IVars , and ‘tis a very good Prefumptioa against it,that ‘twas never before heard of,tho’ the Searies of former Times were as quick-sighted as they are now, and ‘tis hardly to be conceived how they could havq miifed those Motives for

Sepa-

5^4 ^^ Exposition ojt the

Art XXIII. Separation which are contained in the Obje- dions of those Men against our Eccleftafiical GoDernment if they had any other real Foun- dation besides Fancy, or something worse. Nor was the Independent or Congregational Way, when it first appeared in these Kingdoms, con- demned by the Church of England only, but alfb by the Presbyterians both at Home and Abroad. For as Mr. Bingham informs us, in his Apology of the VxQnch Church c. B. i. ch. i. the whole Reformed Church of France in their third Synod oi Charentcn held yf. D. 1 644. condemned it as a Sed most prejudicial to the Church and dan- gerous to the State, becaule, lay they in cafe it should prevail, it would form as many Reli- gions as there be Parishes. The Notion which these Men had with Pvclation to the Govern- ment of the Church hath been considered al- ready, and their Scheme, as hath been (hewn, differs widely from that which I am now con- cerned with. ‘Tis true that many of them, particularly those of our own Nation, denied Diocefan Epifcopacy to be the Primitive Church Government, because they aflerted that Bishops and Presbyters were the fame, and that the Go- vernment of the Church belonged to a Common Council of Presbyters, by an ApoftoUcal Decree according to the Fancy of Sz. Jerom which I hope I have sufficiently refuted. But it will ap- pear hereafter, that the Reformed Churches abroad have from Time to Time looked upon Diocefan Epifcopacy as very ancient, and as it is eftablifhcd and pradtifed in our Church, to be very far from being a sufficient Motive to be- gin or carry on a Separation. And if it be true that the hidependcnt or Congregational Scheme be nothing but a modern Invention, as the whole Christian World (the Patronizers of this pretty

Whim

Tbirty-Nwe Articles. 525

Whim only excepted) seem to be fully agreed, ” xxill. as far as I could ever learn, what is built upon OTN- it (lands upon a very tottering Foundation, and therefore I cannot yield that the taking Notice of this Matter is at all wide from the Argument, but as pertinent and appofitc as any thing can be. But as the Cause 1 am pleading hath, God be thanked, no Occasion to have us lay any greater Stress upon the bare Judgments of Churches or particular Divines than our Ad- verfaries are willing to allow us, I shall examine the Reafonings of the most celebrated Cham- pions of this new Do6lrine. And here I shall only single out fome of the most material Parts of the Controversy, and refer the Reader for further Satisfedion to Dr. Maurice s Defence of Biocefan Epifcopacy which contains a full and exad Answer to Mr. Clarkson’5 Primitive Epifco- pacy to the Original Draught of the Primitive Churchy which is, as to this Point, for it reaches no further, a compleat Answer to the En- quiry &c. ; and to Bishop Stillijigfleefs Unrea fonablenefs of Separation which contains a tho- rough Confutation of the first Advocates for this new Engine of Independency which, as a learned Writer of our Church says, was en- couraged, when it first appeared, by fbme State Politicians and Military Officers in order to pull up all Church Authority by the Roots. But if we can fhew that tht Independent or Congregational Scheme is unfound at Bottom • if we can fhew that its chiefeft Props or Pillars are but imagi- nary ones we need not be in any great Pain about the rest, a Confutation of which is only neceffary to fhew that there can be no Room to look upon the Defenders of it to be unan- fwerable. The Definition of a Church is made the Corner iStone of this Controversy, and

therefore

5 16 Jn Exposition on the

Art. xxtil therefore I iliall observe the fame Method. The “y Word ‘E;t;c£lrt, or Cburcb signifies in Stridnefs a Company of Men called out from others, and is derived from the Verb lanctxico to call out. Among the Athenians from whom the Ufe of it came into the Christian Churchy it was taken •for such an AlTembly as had the Power of Go- verning and Determining Matters of Religion, as well as the Affairs of State. For the Senate of Finje Hundred being distributed into Fifties according to the Number of the ‘IriheSy which succeeded by course, through the Year, and was then called -puTtsuWct (puAw, or the Governing rihe ; every one of these had four vo[y.r/jt iKKn- fficti Regular AJfemhliesy in the last of which, an Account of the Sacrifices was taken, and of other Matters which concerned Religion • as in the Comitia Calata at Kone. From whence we may observe, that it was not the Meeting of one of the single bribes that was called lytKhmict but the general Meeting of the Magistrates of the whole City and the People together. In Scripture the Word signifies, when apply’d in its moil extensive and largefl Sense, to the Vifi- ble Church o Chrifl, the whole Catholick or Universal Church, v/hich is allowed by Divines of all Perfuafions to be rightly defined in the 19th Article ’, where ‘tis said, that ’ The Vifi- ” ble Church of Chrifl is a Congregation of ” faithful Men , in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly ” miniilred, according to Christ’s Ordinance, • in all those Things that of Neceffity are re- ” quifite to the fame.” And in this Sense is it to be underilood, Eph. i. 22, 23. where Chrifb is said to be Head of the Church, and the Church to be his Body and Chap. v. n:er. 24, 25, 275 29. and all other Places of the like Im- port,

Tbirty-Nine Articles. 527

port. But as it must be acknowledged that the Art. xxilt Word iKKhmictj or Churchy is alfb used to denote Or a Part or Parts of thisUniverfal Church, we must now proceed to cofider what those Parts are, for “‘tis certain that we frequently read of Churches in the Plural Number, as often perhaps as we do of the Church in the Singular. And here I do readily yield that a fmgle Congregation is in Scripture called a Church, particularly i Cor xiv. 24. If therefore the whole Church he come to- gether into one Placcj &c. and in several other Places, to fay nothing of the Churches in the Houses of Priscilla and Aquila at Kome of Nymphas at Coloffe and Philemon at Laodicea because the Texts which make mention of these are controverted both by Epifcoparians and Presbyterians and I have no Occasion to interest my self in this Dispute. I agree likewise, that this is alio the Language of the Primiti’ve Church as well as the prelent Times. I agree to what the Author of the Enquiry &c. hath quoted from ertullians Exhortation to Chastity, p, 457. Ubi tresj Ecclefia eft Where three are there is a Churchy or, as he hath translated it, that ‘fhree are fifficient to make a Church. Thus far there is no Dispute but I can by no means allow that either Scripture or Antiquity require us to un- derfland by the Church of Rome the Church of Smyrna the Church of Antioch the Church of Athens., the Church of Alexandria., or the Church in any other such Place whatsoever, no more than a Congregation of Christians alTembling all together for religious Exercises at Kome An- tioch, Smyrna, Athens, Alexandria, or such like Places, as the Enquirer and those of his Sen- timents would have us believe. I shall, in order to fhew my Reasons for dilTenting from this Opi- mon of our AdverfarieSj begin with the Church

of

528 Jn Exposition on th^

•-vS’ 7*’ Mother Church of all, which -yf the ingenious Enquirer for Reasons best knov/n to himself, is pleased to take no Notice of It is to me unconceivable, and I am apt to think it was fo to him, how the many Thousands from Time to Time converted in Jemfaleju alone, and the daily Increale of them, (as it is fpeci- fy’d in the Texts here noted at Bottom *) should commodioufly or indeed poflibly worship God in one and the fame Place together, since they neither had the capacious Temple (we may aifure our selves) or any other Place, that should be too much taken Notice of, to hold such a numerous and indeed inconceivable Aflembly in. And yet St. James the Bishop of this Church, himselF, in a few Years after, calls thole Thousands of converted Jews by the mul- tiplied Name o Myriads of them, Aoisy. 20. t And if common Sense and Reason can contract such Numbers into a fmgle Congregation, all the other Parts oi Divine IVrit will, I am afraid, feel the dangerous Effe6t of luch an extraordi- nary commenting upon them. Nevertheless, this is what Mr. Norman is o hardy as to at- tempt in the 67ch Page of his Defence of his Re

”*■ Acis i. ly. The Number of the Names together were about 120. AcJs ii. 41. There were added to them about 3000 Souls. Ver. 47. The Lord added daily to the Church liich as fliould be saved. Ach iv. 4. (Feter and yo^m preach- ing afterwards upon healing of the Cripplej many of them which heard, believed j and the Number of the Men was about 5”ooo. Acis V. 14. Believers were the more added to the Lord both of Men and Women. Acisy’uj. Still the Word of God increased, and the Number of Disciples multiplied inje- rufalem greatly j and a great Company of the Priests were obe- client ro tue Faith.

miTT.^iVKuJay* Ads xxi. 20,

tnarks^

Thirty N’me Articles. 529

marks as xMr. Clarkson had done before him in Art. xxiil. the 6th Page of his Primitinje Eptjcopacy. Let ‘XysJ. us therefore attend to what thole Gentlemen have been pleased to fay. ” lhrce thousand I ’ confess, says Mr. Norman were converted by ” Peter s Sermon, and there was fban a very ’ considerable Addition made to that Number; ’ but then it may be observed, that am.ong ’ these Converts there were many Strangers ” who came to Jerusalem on the Day of Pen- ’ tecoft ; and these must be fuppofed to return ” very foon into their several Countries, by ” which the Number might be fo reduced, that *’ such as continued at Jerusalem might be able ” to meet in one Place for ibcial Worship : And ’” if the Upper Room which the Apostles and ” Disciples met in immediately after our Sa- ” viour’s Afcenfion, was not sufficient for fo ’ great a Number, without doubt they found ” another to affemble in : But if that could not be done, and there was a NecefTity for their meeting in several Places, (which doth not appear) till Mr. Lowtb can prove that one Bijhop governed these several Congregations, and their several Presbyters, by an Autho- rity veiled in him as a Bishop, and not as an Apostle, I think he proves nothing.” Mr. Norman hath here given us a sufficient Proof that he is resolved to die hard, and hath sadly convinced us what a terrible Thing it is to be under the Prejudices of a wrong Education, or to be resolved to perfift in the Notions which we have had the Misfortune to efpoufe. ‘Tis true, that an Allowance may be made for Strangers, with relation to the Three thousand converted on the Feast of Pentecoft ; but such as are to be reckoned in the considerable Addition that Mn Norman confefles was made to them afterwards,

L i ^Q

y^Q Jn Exposition 07t the

Art,xxiii. do not appear to have been converted on the .yf” Feast, and therefore whatsoever Dedudions we may make from the Three thousand, yet the Five thousand, the Multitudes of Men and Wo- men, and the Number which caused the Com- pany of Disciples to multiply in Jerusalem greatly, and the great Company of the Priests, or, as the Syriack reads, of the Jews that were obedient unto the Faith, will remain to the Church of yn/,//;;/, notwithstanding this De- dudion. Secondly, Let me add, that Mr. AV- wan is no Stranger to the Greek Tongue, and that he knows very well that ‘oacti yivttAi? which our Translators render (Jjow many hou- [ands) ought to have been rendered (Jooisj many Myriads and that a Myriad is 2;/ thousand. This Gentleman hath doubtless exercised his Fa- culty in numerous Aflemblies of DifTenters, and cannot be ignorant, that when all the Contri- vances imaginable are made to enable a Mini- fter to ipeak, and a Congregation to hear to the bed Advantage, fb great a Number as Two thousand is a vafl Audience, and as large an one as the best Pair of Lungs in the Kingdom can poflibly enable a Man to be understood by. I am here willing to foreftal an Objedlion, which I should otherwise make my self pretty sure of j which is this. That the Myriads of Converts spoken o? Atls xxi. 20. may fairly be fuppoled to confifl:, in a great measure, of out-lying Jews who were alfembled at Jerusalem on the Account of the Feafl ; for ‘tis said. Chap. xx. ver. 16. That St. Paul hailed, if it were poflible for him to be at Jerusalem the Day of Pentecoft, I will not dispute whether the Apoflle obtained his Ends or not, tho’ I know St. Chryfojiom Bishop Pearson and Dr. Maurice think it very plain that he did not arrive at Jerusalem till the

Feast

Thirty-Nhie Articles. 53 1

Fcaft of Pentecoft was over ; for it is certainly AuT.xxiit, very manifeO: that these Myriads were not of ‘Vv the Number of those that were difperfed among the Gentiles for then St. James could not pro perly have said to him as he does, A6ls xxi. 21. hey (meaning those Myriads of beh’eving Jew’s ipoken of in the foregoing Verse) are informed of thee that thou teacheft all the Jews, which are among the Gentiles, to forfake Moses, c, because these Jews having been thus taught by St. Paul would have been able to give an Account of his Dodirine without the Ailiftance ofanyfuch Information as is here specify’d. But, thirdly, If, for Argument’s Sake, we fup- pose Mr. Norman in the right, as to his Dedudion from the first Converts at Jerusalem yet it will not be denied but that a Number of Chriftiansj too large for one Meeting-Place, for the Per- formance of Divine Service, reiided together at Jerusalem for a Time, and yet we read only of the Churchy and never of the Churches of Jeru- salem ’, nor is there the least Hint throughout all the New Testament, that as foon as the Con- verts or Company of Believers became too great there or elsewhere for one particular Affemhly they did or must become a new Church under particular Officers, and an independent Autho- rity. How the Matter stood, is plain enough to any Man that will fee with his Eyes, from As ii. 46. where the Disciples are said to fre- quent the Temple, which it seems the firfl Chri- ftians did for fome Time at the Hour of Prayer, Chap. iii. ver. I. And ‘tis clearly intimated that their Affemblies, which were properly Christian were held in several private Houses, for they are laid to continue in breaking Bread, kclt lttlv from House to House. If we compare this Place vnth Chap. xx. ver. 7. where ‘tis said. That

L 1 z fipoj}

Ky^‘YSj

5^2 Jn Expofitwn on the

r.W- upon the first Day ofthelVeek isohen the Difciptes came together to break Breads Paul preached unto them, it will appear, that by Breaking of Bread, we are to understand the Administration of the Lord’s Supper, which was fo constant and main a Part of their Religious Worship, that ‘tis men- tioned as the chief and in a manner the only End of their alfembling together. From what hath been said upon this Point, we may furniih our selves with a general but sufficient Answer to the Argument, which our Brethren of the Con- gregational Way think themselves intitled to from thole Instances, by which they think it proved , beyond Contradidion , that fomc Churches in the Primitive Times did not ex- ceed a single Congregation, for no Bishop could have more Congregations than all the Christians of his City and Territory could compole- but this does not preclude the Bishops from a Right of having many Congregations under their In- iJDedion, if more had been. The Controversies about Church-Government, turn upon Questions of Right, and not of Fad: : Matters of Fac are pertinently alledged to prove a Right, where the Fast does involve a Judgment of Right ; but where it is purely accidental, it has no Consequence on either Side ; ” for, faith he, *’ the Safety of the Church depends upon the ’ Authority of the High Priest or Bishop, to ” v/hom if there were not given all supreme ’ Authority, there would be as many Schifms ’ in the Churches as there are Priests/’ So that, according to him, had the Church continued under that Government which the Apostles, as the Presbyterians fuppofe, left in it, it must un- avoidably have been torn in Pieces with endless Schifms and Divisions ; and if fo, either the A- poftles were very mprudeit in not forefeeing this,

or

Jhirty-Kine Articles. 533

or very negligent in not preventing it ; fb that Art. xxiil. had not the After-age taken care to supply the ”C Defe5f of their Conduct, by ereding a IVifer Form of Government than they left, the Church had infallibly run to Ruin. This is the unavoid- able Consequence of St. Jerom’s Hypothecs with Relation to our Saviour and if under- llood as the Presbyterians will have it, that is, if, the Decree he speaks of was made in the Year 140, with Relation to the Apostles ; which there- fore I can look upon no otherwise than as a mere Device of his own Brain, snatched up in haste to defend his Order against the Infolence of those factious Deacons that flew in the Face of the Preslpytery.

But nothing, it seems, will satisfy Mr. ormanj except it can be proved, that fuppo- fing the fir ft Converts at Jerusalem were at length fo numerous, that there was a Necefiity for their meeting in several Places, that one Bijloop governed these several Congregations and their Presbyters, by an Authority veiled in him as a BifJoop and not as an Apostle and till Mr. Lowth says he, could do this, he thinks he had proved nothing by what he had said abour them. But, with Mv, Normans good Leave, this is quite another Question , Mr. Loivtifs Bufmeis was to dig up the Foundation of the new-invented Fa-

brick of Independency, which he hath effedtu-^ ally done in one Paragraph, which confifts of no more than about eighteen or twenty Lines, his Def?gn being to handle the Argument in a much briefer manner than I have done ; and Standers-by will make bold to fay, that Mr. Norman being brought to a Difficulty, leap’d over the Hedge, and after having roundly af- ferted what he pleas’d^ endeavoured to wave th^ “L 1 3 Matter

4C

5 354 Jn Exposition on the

Aptxxiii. Matter in Debate, and to amuse the Reader y’YSJ yvith a Point which is properly the Superftru- d:ure of the Independent Scheme. I am a Httle unv/illing to be diverted from the Argument I am upon and therefore shall not step out of the A\ ay to try whether 1 can prove what Mr. Nor- man says he thinks neceffary to make what hath been already advanced of Service to the Cause of Epifcopacy, but shall pais it by for the pre- fent as more proper to be spoken to hereafter, and fo proceed to consider what Mr. Clarkson hath been pleased to offer in Relation to the Church ofjemfalem. As to the first Converts, he lays, ” It is but a small Proportion of those ” Thousands that can in Reason be accounted to the Inhabitants oJemfalein and fo fixed Members of that Church, for they were con- - verted at one of the great Feafts , at which ” Time the Inhabitants were not by far a twen- ” tieth Part of those that were alTembled in the ’ City.” This hath been answered already, it being the fame in Substance with what I have taken Notice of in Mr Norman s Defence &c. But as Mr. Clarkson hath offered something more than this in the 4th Page of his Primitive Epif- cop.acy which is really new, and carries with it ithe Air of Demonstration, I will beg the Rea- der’s Patience, while I let him fee, with how e;reat Pains and Learning fome Authors can trifle.

That it may appear, what small Proper- tion the Inhabitants oijerufalem held to the Multitude that resorted thither on the solemn Feafts, our Author enters into an Enquiry, both after the Number of the Inhabitants of that City, and of those that resorted from other Places to those Solemnities, ” To begin with

” the

Thirty-Kme Articles, 535

” the latter of these, he says, that Jofephus tells Art. xxill. ” us, and out of him Eujebius that Cefiius -” ” Gallus wilUng to represent to Nero who ” contemned the Jews the Strength of that ” People, desired the Priests to take an Account ” of the Number, and, to make the Story (liort, ’ from the Number of the Pafchal Sacrifices, ” they computed all the Jews present at that ’ PalTover to be about three Millions; but ’ then they were all in a manner Foreigners, ” for a great Part of that Multitude came from ” abroad i whereas the Inhabitants of Jr/to ’” were but fixfcore Thousand, as we learn by ” Hecatceus : And that we may not fancy Heca* ” tus to have under-reckoned the Inhabitants ” oijerufalem our Author intimates a quite ” contrary Suspicion. It may be, he says, that ” Hecata;usy or his Informer, over-reached as ’ well in the Number of the Citizens, as in the ” Measure of the City and that he makes the ” Circuit of it fifty Furlongs, whereas Jojephus ’ says, it was but thirty-three, ap.d the Cir- ” cumvallation of fZln/5 but thirty-nine” from all this, therefore, he concludes, that the Inha- bitants oijerufalem upon the most favourable Computation, will scarce make the twentieth Part of the Multitude, which usually attended those Fecifts and consequently not a twentieth Part of the Converts mentioned in the Afts can be fuppofed to belong to the Church of Jeru salem. To find out the Proportion between the Inhabitants of Jenifalcm and the Pafchal Af- femblies, it is neceffary to know the Number of each at the fame Time, or at least-wife in the fame Age. Now Hecatns from whom he learns the Number of the Citizens, lived un- der Alexander the Great and Ptokmy the Son of Lazus ; but the Numbers of those who resorted L U

5 ;f5 Jn Exposition on the

/.RT.xxiii. to the Pafibver, was taken by the Order of WOrx Ceftius G alius under Nero that is, above three hundred and fifty Years after. The Inhabitants oijenifalem might be much more numerous in the Apostles Time, than in the Age of Heca- tcciis and therefore this Calculation cannot be certain, and this Spedre of Demonstration va- nifhes. That 1 may not seem to want a due Re- gard for Mr. Clarkfons Diligence upon this Point, I will not dilmiis this Calculation with fo short a Reply, but examine every Point of it apart, and fhew of what Consequence it may be to the Congregational Scheme, i. The three Millions returned to Nero came from no authen- tick Census or any certain Account, but only from Conjecture ; and one may reasonably fufped that the Fricfts, to let out the Greatnels of the Nation to a Prince who had them in Con- tempt, would be apt to over-reckon, a. JeuL- salem could not receive o many Millions, if the Circuit of it were but thirty-three Furlongs, as we read in Jofephus j and our Author does con- tend it was no more. 3. If this Account of the Priests should be admitted,yet that PafTover might be extraordinary, and like that oJosiah of which it is said, 2 Fmgs xxiii. 22. that [iirely there ivas not holden such a Faffover from the Days of the Judges that judged Israel, nor in all the Days cf ike Kings 0/ Israel, nor of the Kings o/Judah And that this Number was extraordinary, ap- pears from Jofephus who, accounting for the vail Number said to be ilain and taken in Jeru- salem informs ws that the Jews resorted thither out of all the Country, and were unawares shut up in that fatal Siege j and yet the Sum was about twelve hundred thousand Persons, not half of that Number upon which our Author calculates j yet this ieemed io extraordinary, thtjofepbusj to

make

Thirty-Nine Articles. 5^7

make it pass, observes, that the greatest Part Art. xxiit. indeed were Jews but not Inhabitants of Jeru- U/Vw/ fale?n or Judea *. 4. Tho’ a middle Number might be agreed on for calculating the Pafchal AlTemblies, yet would it be of no Ufe in the present Question ; for we do not read in Scrip- ture of any Converts made on the Paffover ; but the three thousand which are no\v under Debate, were converted on the Feast of Frnte- cost and from the Resort of these, no Guess can be made of thcNumbers that repaired to the other; for the PalTover was much more frequented than the Pentecofl. It is true, that the Law seems to make no Difference between the three Festivals, but obligeth all the Males to repair to the Place which God should choose upon each of those Feafts. But the Practice of the Jews seems to have been otherwise, long before our Saviour’s Time. Lyra observes, that those who were far from Jerusalem were excused from attending on the two Feafts of Weeks and Tabernacles . And Tfiella cites fome Jewiflj Authors to this Purpose, that the Law obliged those only who lived near the Sandluary ; the rest were dif- penfed with, fo they appeared once a Year, that is at the Paffover. He mentions others that were of Opinion that the Law was fatif- fied, if every third Year ail the Males came up to the three Feafts but he himself thought that either they were obliged yearly to come twice, that is, on the Palfover and Feast of Tabernacles, for the Pentecoft being fo near to the Paffover, they must be excused for that, or elfe fome Years they were to come up only once,

f Lyrci ‘\\I.xocl. xxiii. 17. T)eut, xvi. 16. T;imen cum illis qui erant remoti a Jerufalem aliquando dilpenfabatur, de dua- bus vicibus, fcil. Pentecofte, 6v Fefto Tabernaculorum, &cc.

that

538 An Exposition on the

Art. XXIII. that IS, at Easter , on others twice, that is, at ’” Easier and the Feast of Tabernacles , for every seventh Year the Law was to be read on that Feast fb that those who were any thing re- mote, were never bound to go up at Pente- cost *. But besides the Males obliged to attend on the three Festivals, the devout Women and Children, not yet under the Obligation, went up to the PafTover out of voluntary Devotion ; So Elkanab’s Wives went to the yearly Sacrifice at Sbilo. So the Parents of our Saviour went up to Jertifalem every Year at the Feast of the PafTover. Now those Interpreters, who are concerned to make Joseph as touching the Law, blameleis, fend him up three times a Year according to the Law, and are content to have these Words understood of the bleffed Virgin, that fhe went up but once a Year, and that at the Paftbver. Though others understand them of both our Saviour’s Parents, as if they had gone up but once , and Lyra according to his Notion mentioned above, observes that Galilee was remote and therefore within the Difpenfa- tion for two of the three Feafts ; and indeed the Expreflion of St. Luke does not easily admit ©f any other Conftrudtion. And the Words of the Book of Samuel do as plainly intimate, that El- kanah himself, tho’ a Levite, went up to Sbilo but once a Year : bis Ma?i, lays the Text, we?U up out of his City yearly to worjhip in Shilo. And after his Wife had vow’d, and he and his Family had return’d home, it follows 3 IVberefore it came to pass when the ‘time was come ahout after Hannah had conceinjedy that floe hare a Son and called his Name Samuel j and the Man El- kanah and all bis House went up to offer unto the

^ rfielU in Deitt. xvl

Lord

Tbirty-Nijje Articles. 5^9

Lord the yearly Sacrifice and his Vow. So that t- xxiir. by this Relation Elkanab seems not to have -”'''- gone up to Shiloj from the Time Hannah vowed in the Temple, until after the Birth o( Samttel that is the Space of a whole Year. But however these Places may be understood, it is allowed by all, that the PafTover was the chiefeft for Solem- nity and Resort of Worshippers, of all the Feafts of the Jews and therefore a Computation of the Strangers at Jerusalem on a Pentecoft, from the extraordinary Numbers laid once to have been at a PafTover, must be very fallacious for the fame Calculation cannot serve both. Now left this Argument should lose any thing of Ad- vantage by being too diffuse, the Force of it shall be contra6led into \qs Compass, that it may be the easier obferv’d. i. Because three Millions are reported to have been at one PafTover, therefore every PafTover had as many. Many will be apt here to deny the Consequence; but let it pass : And then the Argument pro- ceeds farther ; If fo many resorted to the Pai fever, then the fame Number came up at Pen- tecoft 5 this is hard to grant : But who can deny any thing to such a Difputant ? To go on therefore , If three Millions were present at Pen- tecoft, on which three thousand Souls were con- verted, therefore not above a hundred and fifty could belong to Jerusalem j because in Heca- taus’s Time, that City had but a hundred and fifty thousand Inhabitants. Wonderful ! Who can find in his Heart to deny any thing fo con- sequential ? But had that City received no In- crease from the Time of Hecatceus to that of Nero? Jofephus mentions several Improvements it had under the Afmonean Kings, whose Family united the Priesthood and the Crown, and un- der whom this sacred Metropolis could not but

receive

54 o Jn Eypofition on the

Art. XXIII. receive great Advantage *. Afterwards we VOTV have an Account that the old Walls could not hold it, and the Inhabitants multiplied o much, that they were forced to build without the Gates 5 and these new Buildings in the Time oi Claudius y were fo considerable, as to make, as it were, another City. Yet our Author keeps to his old Computation, which is just as if the Inhabitants oi London were to be computed by what they were about three hundred Years ago. It may seem perhaps no less ridiculous to refute such an Argument, than it was to make it : Yet because our Author fufpedls even this Number in Hecatxus as too great, I must take the Li- berty at leafl-wife to explain this Matter a little more. Mr. Clarkson as we have obierv’d be- fore, fufpecfiis his Author to have over-reach’d in his Number of the Citizens at Jerufalemy because he had done fo in the Measure of the City, of which he makes the Circuit to be fifty Furlongs whereas Jofephus says it was but thirty-three, and the Circumvallation of ‘fitus to be thirty-nine. And to fhew the Number of Inhabitants in Jerusalem could not be great even in the Beginning of the last War, he ob- serves, that v;hen twelve thousand were slain in Jerusalem in one Night, the Loss is represented as though the greatest Part of the Citizens had been destroyed t- As to the Circuit of Jerufa- lem I cannot conclude Hecatdcus to have over- reached, till I can be sure there is no Fault in the Copies of Jofephus or that our Author did rightly understand him. For first Jofephus does not seem to agree with himfeif in this Matter,

• B.J. lib. 5-. c. 15. t Jof, B.T. 1.4. C.20.

whefi

Th’irty-Kine Articles. 54 1

when in the fame Chapter, giving an Account Art. XXIII. of the three Walls that encompafTed the City, -VN he makes the third to have ninety Towers, confifting of twenty Cubits diameter each, and between every one of thole Towers a Curtain of two hundred Cubits , which being fum’d up, make near fifty Furlongs in Compass. ” Or if we take Villalpandus his Reckoning, who allows but four hundred Cubits to a Fur- long, we shall have fifty Furlongs compleat. Nor was this the whole Compass of the City, for this ¥/all was not drawn round the other two on every Part ; but where the City ended in inacceflible Precipices, there was but oneWall f, and then it must be,by fo much, more than Fifty Furlongs : fo the Particulars and the Sum total of this Author not agreeing, there must be fome Mistake in the Calculation. But several learned Men have endeavoured to recon- cile these Paflages, among whom, Villalpandus seems to have succeeded best ; who having fhewed the right Order and Situation of the three Walls out of Jofephus againfl the Mif takes of Adricojnius and others, concludes, with great Probability, that the City, which is said to have been thirty-three Furlongs about, was the old City, contained within the first Wall of sixty Towers : And if the Distance betwixt these was equal to that of the third Wall, the Sum will be exadlly according to Jofephus his Mea- sure. Now to confirm this Conjecture, it must: be observed that the Town about which itm drew his Vallum was only the old : for the lower .Town and two of the three Walls were taken

[…]

by

542 ^n Exposition on the

Art. XXIII. \yy the Kojuaus and ruined before that Circum- yf’ vallation was begun, which was according to Jofepbus thirty-nine Furlongs ; and it was this which was properly called the City, the other Acceflions being accounted for Suburbs, and fo called by Jofepbus, Nor can we imagine either that the Romans would leave fo great a Part of the City as that which was deflroyed, in the Pof- feilion of the Jews or contrive their Vallum which was to keep them in, at fo great a Di- stance from the remaining Wall or Place of At- tack, as it must needs be, if theCircumvallation encompaffed that Part which was before ruined by the Romans and quitted by the Jews, Now if Jofepbus be thus understood, he is not only reconciled to himself but to that Charadler of Greatness which Vliny gives Jenifalem of being far the most famous City, not only of Jiidea but of all the Eaf *. Arifteas if he deserves any Credit, makes it forty Furlongs about f) and there are thoie that represent it as quadran- gular, three Miles in Length, and fbmething less in Breadth • which is indeed the most liberal of all Calculations, but has no great Authority to vouch it : However, by the Reckoning of Jofepbus Jerusalem was more than fifty Fur- longs in Compass , and the Precipices being rec- koned, where there was but one Wall, many Fur- longs more may remain to be added to that Sum. What is fuggeftcd to lelTen the Number of the VtoAt o£ Jerusalem from the Complaint made to the Idumeans t, that they had destroyed in one Night almost all the People, when there

j- Arifi. dc 70 Inter.

was

Thirty-lSlme Articles. 545

was but twelve thousand llain, is not exa6t Art. xxiil. enough to ground any Calculation on. For the V Jdumeans flew above twenty, perhaps above forty Thousand while they were in Jerusalem as Jofephus reckons j for they flew the first Night they were let in eight thousand five hun- dred Persons, not in the City, but about the Temple : and not content with this Slaughter, they turned upon the City, and killed every one they met , nor did it end thus, but they flill went on and butchered the People like a Herd of unclean Beads: These are without Number. Afterwards having taken many Perfbns of Con- dition, and young Men, they bound them and put them into Custody, hoping to gain them to their Side but they all chose rather to die than join with their Enemies, whereupon they were tortured and killed f: Thofc who were taken into Custody in the Day, were slain and cast out in the Night, to make Room for others the Day follow- ing, who were alfb destroyed in the fame manner, and the Number of those young People of Qua- lity destroyed in that manner is said to be twelve Thousand. t Such was the Slaughter made by the Idumeans in Jerusalem that it is no Won- der if those who had a mind to be rid of their Company should represent the whole People as destroyed : And considering the prodigious Number slain by the Fa6tions in that City, it is a Wonder there should be any more remaining for new Calamities; and yet after this Loss, the People of Jerusalem were (o formidable, that Jofephus commends the Conduct: of Vefpafian for

not

544 -^^^ Exposition on the

;;xxiii. not adventuring to attack it at thatTime, when his ”- Officers urged him to march his Army thither, that fo the Factions might have yet more Leisure to weaken one another : whereas, if the People were in a manner all killed, he had no reason to ap- prehend any Opposition* Now should all this Calculation be allowed, and Jerusalem reduced to the narroweft Circuit, and the lowest Reckon- ing, yet I cannot iee what Benefit can redound to the Notion of Congregational-Epifcopacy ; for we do not read of any great Acceffion of Profelytes to the Christian Faith on any of the three Feafts, except one, on that of Pentccoft when three thousand Souls were gained, but fmce that there were many added daily to the Church : There were five thousand converted at a time and after this. Believers were the more added to the Church, Multitudes both of Men and Women, And after this the Word of God increased and the Number of Disciples multi- plied in Jerusalem greatly and a great Co??!- pany of the Priejis were obedient to the Faithj As V. 14, and vi. 7. These Acceffions are no where said to confift of out-lying Jews nor to come in upon solemn Times, but daily and all this to fall out within the Compass of a Year.

I N short, to fum up the Argument, all the Endeavours todedu6l from the Number of Con- verts expreifed by St. Luke can have no Place in the Church of Jerusalem : For, i. All that were converted on Pentecofi are said to continue On the Apostle’s Dod:rine) in Fcllowfhip, and breaking of Bread, and in Prayer; that is, to stay in Jerusalem^ at least for fome Time, 2. The five Thousand added to these, accor- ding to the Circumstances of the Story, and the Exposition of all the antient Writers, will afford

no

ThJrtyNhie Articles. 545

no Occasion for any Dedudion. 3. The In- A?.t. xxill. crease, of which the Numbers are not expreiTed, w/YX* may reasonably be presumed no way inferior tor the other, where the Number is iet down , but if we obierve the Expreflions, seem to furpafs them. For when five Thousand were converted, it is said, that many of those who heard the Word believed , if the Number had not fol- lowed, this would have pafled for a little Mat- ter with our Author : But in other Places it is said, that great Multitudes both of Men and Women and a great Number of the Prieils were obedient to the Faith. 4. While the Apostles continued in Jerujalem we have reafbn to be- lieve the Church was still increafmg , and the People being generally of their Side, upon the Account of the Miracles they wrought, fo as m give a Check to the Rulers, and to restrain them from perfecuting the Apostles, it cannot be well doubted but the Apostles improved this good , Difpofition to a perfect Conversion. 5. Besides the preaching of the Apostles, the Influence of the Converts (such of them I mean as were Men) upon their Families could not fail of having great Effed, and of making no small Addition to the Sum of Believers ; the Authority the Masters of Families had over them am,ong the Jews be- ing very great, and the Submiflion of Wives and Clildren to them in that Nation being very im- plicit : it being the received Custom of the Eafi as De la Valle observed, that the Women and Children ihould accommodate themselves to the Father of the Family in Matters of Religion, tho’ the Women had before they married been bred up to other Rules *. 6. That the Multi-

Lottcr 17 from Baghdad.

M m tude

546 -^^ Exposition on the

Art. XXIII. tude Converted could have no Convenience in .’V Jerusalem of meeting in one AlTcmbly. The Apostles went from Houie to Houiexctr hmv, i. e, in several Houses there were several religious Affemblies, and fo consequently several Congre- gations, fo that the Multitude, though it might in a very great Theatre or Temple have come together 5 yet for want of such Accommodation, began in the Dioceian Way, and difperfed into leveral Affemblies, which Hill made up but one Church.

T F we descend from Scripture-times to thoie which immediately followed, at least to those Times in which Independency is fuppofed to have fiourifhed, we Ihall find i’ertuWan a Writer of the second Century, making Mention of an infinite Number of Christians in every Piace in general: The Numbers of them in his early Age were well nigh the greater Part of every City i for fo he tells the perlecuting Scapula who was not to be jeiled with . And again, to all the Koman Magiilrates, in his Apology, he glo- ries in the Multitudes of his Profeflion thus: ’ We are of Yesterday, (says he) yet every * place is filled with us, your Cities, the Islands, the Forts, your Corporations, the Councils, ” the Armies, the Tribes, and Companies, yea, ’ the Palace, Senate, and Courts of Justice: ” your Temples only have we left you free ; ” fnould we go oif and separate from you, ” you’d (land amazed at your own Desolation, ’ be aifrighted at the Stop and Deadnefs of ” AiTairs amongst you, and you’d have more

[…]

^^ Enemies

Thirty-Nme Articles. 5-47

Enemies than Subjects left you:” An m- Apt/xxiit. comprehenfible Account sure, with Mr. Normans -/V’V* good Leave, if the biggefl: City in the Empire had no more than a fingJe Congregation in it. Let me add a Hint or two from the excellent Eufehius to the fame Purpose. That accurate Historian, when he speaks in general of the pri- mitive Christian Churches in every City and Country about the Close of the Apo’ftolick Age, uses such fmgular Terms to expreis the Multi- tudes and Numbers of them, as any impartial Reader must needs confess do rather denote them to be Hods and Legions, than any such thing as mere parochial Affemblies f- His Words are hardly to be rendered in our own Tongue ; for the greatest Number of thronged and crowded Societies of them are an imperfed: Translation of his Original (which I have iet in the Margin) and his Comparifbn for them is this, That they were like heaped Grain upon a Barn-Floor. It is strange if fo exadt an Author as this should strain for such fuperlative Words as these are, to describe only a common Congregation by. Yet thus he represents (we fee) the State of Christian Churches, at the Entrance as it were of that Period of Time to which our Adverfa- ries appeal, and before he comes to the End of his Third Century, he confutes, (I think even

[…]

M m 2 to

54B Jn Eipofitioii on the

Art. xxill. to a Demonflratioii) the whole Congregational

K^y^su

or Independent Hypothesis at once : For speak- ing of the peaceful and bleffed Times that the Christians enjoyed after the Valerian Periecution ended, and before the Diode fian began, which was the last forty Years of the third Century, ” Who can describe (says he) the innumerable ’ Increase and Concourie of them ? the Num- ” bers of AfTem.blies in each City ? and the ’ extraordinary Meetings in their Houses of ” Prayer ? ” fo that not content with the Build- ings they had of old, they founded new and larger Churches throughout every City *. Which agrees diredtly with what Optattts f (the holy Bifliop of Milevis’) tells us, that when Diodefian destroyed the Chrifcian Churches, (which was but five Years after the third Century at the most) there were above forty Bafilic , that is publick Places for Christian Worfi:iip, in the single City of Kome. When were these forty Churches built or dedicated to this holy Ufe? Were none of them (can we imagine) ered:ed fo much as five or fix Years before Had the Christians enjoyed forty Years of Peace and Favour with the Emperors, just at that Time, and not provided fo much as two or three such Houses of God for their iblemn Afiemblies, and yet had Occasion for forty of them, and actually had them too before the fatal Edi6t was ilTued out, that levelled them all to the Ground? Why

t Opt^i, de Schiim. Donat. Lib. 2,. P. 39.

truly

Thirty-Nhte Articles. 549

truly Mr. Norman tells us, Page 69 of his Le- Art. xxill. fence &c. That Mr. Clarkson hath considered orYs the Number of Officers which belonged to the Church oiKome when Cornelius was Bishop there, which was about the Middle of the third Cen- tury, and also the Number of the Poor, accord- ing to Eufebhus Acco\jLnt; and made it very probable, that there were not fo many belonged to that Church as to divers of our Parishes : And for a Proof of this he refers us to the 5th Chap- ter of Mr. Clarkfo7is Primitive Epifcopacy which I will take care to have Recourse to, as foon as I have told the Reader what Account Enfebius hath given us of this Church at the Time before mentioned. This is contained in a Letter from Cornelius himself to Fahius Billiop oi Antiocb ’ and it is as follows, There were forty-fix Pres- *’ byters,fevenDeacons,fevenSubdeacons,Clerks ’ forty-two, Exorciils, Readers, together with ” Janitors, fifty-two j Widows and indigent * Persons, which could not maintain themfelvef, ’ above a thousand and five-hundred : All theie ” the Grace and Bounty of the Lord maintained. *’ As to the Number of Officers, Mr. Clarkson fancies the Shew will vanish, if it be confi- ’ dered, that it v/as the Custom of those antient ’ Times to multiply Officers beyond what was ’ necefifary ; yea, fo much, that, as NdZianzeu ” tells us, the Officers were fomecimes as many ” as they had the Charge of ’” It might be excufable 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 to the Date of the Table; fo it

Etifeb. Lib. 6. C, 43.

M m 3 happened

55© -^^^ Exposition on the

Art. xxrii. happened upon a Time, or fliortly after, he was -y” contented. But from Mr. Clarkson somewhat might be expected more exad: What, will this Shew of Frohahility vanijh and no Likelihood that there were more Congregations in Rome than one remain from fix and forty Presbyters in Conielhis’s Time, because it was the Custom of lazianzens Times to multiply Officers be- yond what was neceffary ! forty-fix Presbyters were never accounted neceifary to one Congre- gation, when in the most prosperous Times of the Church ; nor can any Instance be given of fo many relating to one Alfem.bly in any Age accounted antient, tho* it might be fashionable then to multiply Church-Officers. But for this we are at a greater Certainty : for Cornelius af- fures us, in the Letter which I referred to be- fore, that this Number was not for State, nor for Form, without Ufe and Necefiity • but ex- ceeding neceflary, and that upon the Account of an infinite and numberlefs People. And if the Multitude of Christians in Koine v/as then fo great as to require forty-fix Presbyters, we may make omt Gucfs at the Proportion they might have to the People of Fome after it had been intireiy converted* in the fifth and sixth Centu- ries 5 for in thoie Tim.es 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 Ro77iau Council ’*: Nay, in one Synod under Gregory the Great f there are but thirty-four Presbyters that fubfcribe. I do not intend to fay, that two thirds of that City was then Chriilian but

[…]

the

Thirty ”Nine Articles. 551

the Christians of that Place undtv Cornelius seem Art. xxill, to be at lead two Thirds, in refped: of all Rome -OrV in After-ages, when it was much diminished from its antient Greatness, and when it seems to have no more then seventy Parish Presby- ters. The Number therefore of forty-fix Pres- byters, all neceffary for fo great a People as the Christians of Rome then were, makes it evident, notwithstanding the frivolous Exceptions of our Author, that the Believers of that City could not all aftemble together upon any religious Oc- cafion, and that the Church there must confe- quently be diftributcd to several Parishes and Congregations. As to what relates to the Num- bers of the Poor mentioned in Cornelius’s Letter, Mr. Clarkson faith he knows not how to com- pute the Numbers of the Roman Church by them better than by observing what Proportion there was betwixt the Poor in this and others in other Places- But the Ground of this Excep- tion is a Mistake : For Cornelius does not fay, that the Number of all the poor Christians in Rome was but fifteen Hundred -, but that fo many were maintained by the publick Stock of the Church, besides the neceffary Officers. Now there might be many more Poor maintained, fome by P.elations, others by private Charities 3 and it is plain from the Account that Chryjoftom gives of the Poor of Antioch and the Number in the Church-Book, that those that were main- tamed by the Church were but a small Part, m Comparison of the whole Number of the Poor. For exhorting the rich Men to coutribute to- wards the Maintenance of the Poor, he observes how easy it would be to provide for them. ” For the Church, says )i-! maintains many ” Widows, and Virgins, and Priibners, and Sick, and Clergy.” The Number of those M m 4 upon

[…]

Art.xxiti. upon the Roll maintained by the Publick Stock uyrXy’ of the Church is about three Thousand, now the Income of the Church is scarce equal to one of the lowest of those accounted rich : if there- fore but Ten such rich Men would difpofe of their Estates, as the Church does, there would not be a poor Man in all Antioch unprovided ; jiay, if all the rich Men would but give a tenth pare to Charity, it would aniwer all Occasions, So that upon the Computation of Cbryfoftom, the Church did not relieve above a tenth Part of the Poor • and yet this must be more in Pro- portion than the Roman Church can be fuppofed able to do in Cornelius his Time, when it had no other Revenue than the Oblations of the Faith- ful: whereas in C/:?ryyii/? 6) ;;/s Time, besides these, it was endowed with great PoffefRons, and was maintained from the Rents or Product of her Estate 5 the Capital remaining undiminiihed, as he observes in the fame Place. Our Author having laid this false Foundation, proceeds to build upon it in this manner, ” That atConJian- ’ timyle Chryfoftom computes the Poor to have ” been half as many as all the other Christians there, and that at Antioch the fame Father ” fuppoies the Poor a tenth Part : ” The first js unreasonable, and without Example in any City ; the latter multiplies the Poor that stand in need of Relief, I think, beyond what we can find in any rich City, such as Antioch WIS. Yet upon this Foot let us reckon. The fifteen hundred Roman Poor we will fup- pose, according to Chryfoftom to be the tenth Part of the poor Christians of the Place. The Sum will be fifteen Thousand, these multiplied by Ten, will make an hundred and fifty Thou- fand: and this may be fuppofed about a seventh Part of the Inhabitants in Kome of all Ages and

Condi-^

Thirty-Nhte Articles. 553

Conditions. And considering the great Oftenta- Art. XXIIL tion which ‘Tertullimi makes of the Numbers of V’VN the Christians in the Beginning of this Age, and the great Increase they received in the Time in- tervening between ertullian and Cornelius un- der Alexander Sever us and Pbilipj I cannot but think I fet their Proportion too low, when 1 reckon them but a seventh Part. I cannot pass by one PafTage in the fame Homily of Chryfoftom that I cannot reconcile with his Suppofition, that makes the Poor of Antioch the tenth Part of the City. When he had divided the People into ten Parts, he makes one to con- fift of rich Men, another of very poor Men, the other eight to confift of such as had Competence of Eft ate, and were neither very rich nor very poor: Yet having made this Distribution, he says, that if the Poor were divided between those who were rich, and those who were not • poor, there would not one poor Man fall to the Share of fifty or a hundred ; whereas, according to his Distribution, there will be a poor Man left between nine. I cannot think Chryfoftom fb little skilled in Arithmetick, as to commit a Mistake in fb obvious a Reckoning. I had ra- ther fufpe(5t the Reading in this Place of the tenth Part which with small Variation may be reconciled with the following Computations. But having not the Countenance of any Critick, nor the Authority of any Copy, 1 am content to leave it as I find it. However, as it stands, it does but imall Service for the diminilhing of Christians in ancient Times,

Mr. Baxter^ Mr. Cotton^ and Dr. Owen do all of them appeal to the Church as it was in St. Cyprian^ Time. Mr. Baxter faith, that in St. Cyprians Time the African Churches were

the

554 j47j Exposition o^i tie

Art. XXIII. the best-ordered Churches in the World, and ''' that the Bishops there were the most godly, faithful, peaceable Company of Bilhops since the Apostles Times. And of the following Times he Ipeaks thus : Most of the African Coun- *’ cils were the best in all the World; many good Canons for Church-Order were made by this and most of the African Councils, no Biihops being faithfuller than they *.” Let us therefone examine how the Cafe stood in the Times to which those Writers appeal. St. Cyfrian complains in his 28th Epiftle, that many of the Clergy were absent, and that the few that remained were hardly sufficient for their Work. And eliewhere he acquaints us, that altho’ many stood firm in the Time of Perfecu- tion, yet the Number of the Lapfed was fo great, that every Day Thousands of Tickets were granted by the Martyrs and Confeffors in their behalf for their Reconciliation to the Church : And in one of those Tickets fome- times might be comprehended twenty or thirty Persons, the Form being Communicet ille cum fuis t. In an Epiftle to the People of Carthage in his Absence he complains that fbme of the Presbyters did not reserve to the Bishop the Honour that was due to his Chair, and Place. There were likewise at Carthage while St. Cy- prian was Bishop of that See leveral Churches. Besides the Cathedral called BafiUca Major & Reftituta in which the Bishops always fat, as Viior Vitenfis faith, lib. i. There were several

t Lib. 3. Ep. s* 2v I;-. ^11.

Other

Thirty ‘Nine Articles. 555

other considerable ones, in which St. Aitgtiftine A. xxiil. often preached when he went to Carthage as -‘“VX the Basilica CereVmx ; which, Vior Vitenfis faith, was likewise called the Scillitanorura i the Basilica Petri Paiili & Basilica Novarum. I do not question but that there were many more, for the fame Writer faith, that when Geifericus en- tered Carthage he found there the Bishop and a great Multitude of Clergy, all which he imme- diately banished, and that without the City there were two great Churches, one where St. Cy- prian suffered Martyrdom, and the other where his Body was buried, at a Place called Mappalia. In all he reckons up about 500 Clergy in the Church of Carthage including those that were trained up to it.

HiiviNG briefly fhewn the Reader in what manner Scripture, Church-Hiflory, and the an- cient Fathers applaud the Honour of God, and do Justice to the blelTed Labours of the holy Apostles, in setting forth the innumerable Souls they gained to God and his Church, in fo little a Compass of Time ; I shall now, with- out further Interruption, consider the impor- tant Observations which the learned Author of the Enquiry &c. Mr. Boyfisj and Mr. Norjiian have made upon several Paflages in the Writings of the Primitive Fathers, which have prevailed upon them to affirm, that there was no more than one fmgle Congregational Church of Chri- ftians for two or three, hundred Years together in the greatest City in the Christian World. The Author of the Enquiry begins with Justin Martin and renders a PalTage in his first Apology thus : On Sunday (says he) all affeiU” hie tcgether in one Place YicLvrcov I’tt] to dv-h run- MiVciiyUJAi, Enojiiry Page 17. Now Jitfiins % Words

5 56 j4?i Exposition on the

[…]

V-/VN 7eov k’jt 70 AVTo avvkhivtni yivi]cLiy Ofi Sunday dll throughout City and Country or, to come nearer to the G reeky all throughout Cities or Countries y meet together ; and why do we think he left out these Words throughout Cities or Countries’] which were in the very Middle of the Sentence ? Why, because those Words of the holy Martyr would undeniably fhew it to be a general Ac- count of Christian Pradlice in all Places of the Christian World , whereas our Enquirer’s Bufi- ness was to make it a particular Instance of a single Bishop’s Diocese, and that all the Mem- bers of it, both in City and Country, met in one and the fame Place together at once ; and if it were fo, then Cities and Countries in the plural Number would be too much for him , for if they proved any thing in that Sense, they would prove that O’/zi and Countries indefinitely taken, where-ever there were any Christians in them, met all together every Sunday and made but one Congregation , and therefore the (jjmcKiv(ni ylvi-mt Iti to avto) which properly iignifies, ajfembling together tho’ ‘tis exprefled in the singular Number, yet being spoken with reference to a complex Body, as it evidently is here in relation to Cities and Countries at large, does feverally refer to each diftind: Member and Part, whereof that complex Body does confift j and plainly denotes that every Part, as well one as the other, did hold an AlTembly on that Day, or elfe the fame Absurdity would un- avoidably follow as before, that all made but one AfTembly in the Whole. So unwarily (at least) are this holy Martyr’s Words mifrepre- fented here, to prove what they in no wife do prove, or were never intended to do. For the plain Cafe was this The pious Apologift writes

to

Tbirty-Nme x\rticles. 557

to the Heathen Emperor, Senate and People, in Art. xxill. Vindication of the persecuted Christians through- -/V”* out the Roman Empire, and towards the Glofe of his Apology, fets forth the general Method of them all in the Exercise of their Religion ; I fay, the general Mdied of them all, for other- wife his charitable Plea for that Profeifion had been very lame and imperfedl indeed, and con- trary to the Tenour of his whole Apology, as Is obvious to them that read it : So that his Sundays Affemblies here, were a Specification of the Catholick Pradice, whether in Cities or Countries, throughout the Empire, as the plu- ral Words observed above do unquestionably imply ; and forafmuch as they were Aliens to the Christian Difpenfation, to whom he wrote, he neither used the peculiar Word Bijloop or Presbyter to express the President of their re- fpeclive Affemblies by, (tho’ our Enquirer frankly tranllates it by the former of these) but 0 njrx’?, such a general Term as might inftrudl the Heathens he addreffed to, that a Person in peculiar Authority did prefide over each of them, and principally diicharge the Duties of the Affembly and the Day ; and what does this prove as to the Certainty of but one Congrega- tion only in any City or Diocese ?

The next Appeal of our Author, in which he hath the Concurrence of the Writers of the fame Side before-mentioned, is to several Paf- fages in the Epiftles of St. Ignatius. The Quo- tations are pretty many in Number , but the Force and Importance of them all, when they are heard, will, I conceive appear to be much the fame. To the Church of Smyrna he writes thus : IVhere Ihe Bijhop is., there the People nnifi hi and again, It is unlawful to do any thmg

“Without

558 Jn Exposition on the

Art. XXIII. ifhout the Bijloop *. To the Tralllans thus, /“V f bere is a NeceJJity that we do nothing without the Bijhop, And to the Philadelphians Where the Pastor is there the Sheep ought to follow +, And to the Magnefians As Christ did nothing without the Father fo do you nothing without the Bijhop and Presbyters hut ajfemhie into the fame Place ‘y fb he renders l-m to autv without any other Word joined to it, that you may have one Prayer one Supplication one Mind and one Hope §. Now can any Man fee more in all this, than that the Bishop must be in all the Mini- llrations of the Church, and none can rightly partake of any of them but by him ? But how ? by his personal Ministry alone yes, or elfe these Gentlemens Ufe and Inference from them will come to little indeed. But are we sure the Holy Martyr meant fo too ? Nothing I think can be plainer than that he did not 3 elfe how could he fay, immediately before his Charge to the Church of Smyrna of doing nothing without the Bifloop II J(t that Eucharifi be counted valid with you which is celebrated by your BifJoop or by ftich an one as he floall authorize to do it : And imme- diately after it again, as fbon as he had told them that without the Bishop it was not lawful

[…]

vy.A?. Ep. ad Tral. /). 4-8.

[…]

IkttU. Ep. adMagnei; ;>. 33.

W; « u Av Avm e’5r/]pfe4n. Ad Smyr. p. 6,

to

Thirty-Kine Articles. 559

to baptize or fblemnize their Love-Feast, (which Art. xxiir, implies Communion too) he adds, as it were by VN way of Exception, But what he (that is the Bi- shop) dees approve that is acceptable unto God The Bishop’s Permiflion and Approbation (it seems then) were, in the Holy Martyr’s Sens,. as good as his Ad and Deed. And no Ms is plainly to be feen in that great Argument, by which he enjoins this dutiful Regard to the Bi- shop, in his Charge to the Mafiefians -, f ys the Lord (says he) did nothing of himself or by his Apo files without his Father Jo neither do you without the Bishops and the Presbyters. In the Relative Part of this Comparison, we fee, what our Lord did either by htmfelf or his Apostles (commiflioned by him) is implied to be the fame Thing ; and therefore in the Correlate, which answers to it, what the Church should do by the Ministry of the Bishop himself, or of the Presbyters commiflioned by him, by a jufl Ana- logy of Sense, should be the fame too : And for this Reason perhaps our cautious Enquirer, in quoting this Paffage in this Place, left out the whole former Part of this Comparison in his Original in the Margin, and these Words, By himself or by his Apofiles in his Translation of it in the Text. I need not add sure how natural and undisputed a Maxim it is, in all Ads of Government whatfbever, that the supreme Ma- giflrate is said and owned to do what is warranta- bly done by his commiflioned Miniflers and Au- thority ; fo little does St. Ignatius Language in

[…]

this

5(5o j4n Exposition on the

Art,xxiil this Sense, and in his own Interpretation of lU.

”r differ from the ordinary Dialed: and Notion of all Mankind. That a Bishop then might and did lb a6l by deputed Presbyters, I think is very- clear, in St. Ignatius’ s own Sense of it, and this fort of Deputation fb very nearly resembles even what we call InftHution in an Epiicopal Church at this Day, at least as to the exercifmg of mi- nifterial Offices in it, that if the Place as well as the Office were affigned, I ihould scarce know what we did dispute about. And that thole Primitive Bishops could and did affign to Pres- byters as well a separate Place or Places to mi- nifter in, as depute them to the Ministry itself, I can bring even the learned Enquirer himlelf to bear witnels for me; for ia the 38th and 39th Pages of this very Treatise of his, which is en- titled All Enquiry c, (where he gives an Ac- count of the populous Church of Alexandria J he confelTes, ” That because ‘twas incommodi- ” ous for all the People to alTemble in their own ’ usual Meeting-place, which was very far from ” their own Homes, and withal to avoid Schism ’ from their Bishop, the People asked Leave, ” and the good Bishop Dionyfius granted if, ” that they Ihould eredl a Chapel of Eale. ” He might have laid Chapels in the plural Num- ber if he had pleased, for in the Historian him- lelf there is the fame Authority for it . This PafTage from Etifehius’s History, Book the Vllth, Chapter the Xlth, is represented by our Author in a very nice and arbitrary Fi- gure, to fuit the Scheme it was produced for, as much as it could hafndfomely do ; and yet

[…]

how

<

Thirty ?\ine Articles, ^6t

how little it does fb, nay how diredly it con- Art. xxiil tradi6ts the Whole, is obvious to any Reader v0”“Xi. by the bare reciting of it. Here are several AfTemblies of Christians under the Jurifdidion of one Bishop, officiating separately in them, and diftindt Places afligned for their doing fo. Let the Reader judge if this be like our Enqui- rer’s Congregational Dioceie, or can be reafona- bly opposed to a genuine Episcopal one, even in After-ages of the Church, and down to these Days of ours, if we will not still infift on bare Names, and overlook Things. His only Sal’vo is, that on solemn Occasions they were all to ailemble dill in one Church, and with their opJ BiJJoop together ; which neither Dionyfius him- self, nor the Historian from whence he quotes it, fay any thing of j and yet we know indeed, that ‘twas a customary Form, by which paro- chial Churches, for many Ages together, used to testify their Union and Dependance upon then* several Cathedrals ; namely, to o3er and com- ’ municate with them by proper Representatives on the greater Festivals of the Year j and how much more than that the Church of Alexandria ever did, Cefpecially in St. Athanafiuss Time, from whence our Author tells us he could bring his Proof) any Man may pretty easily conceive ; fmce that venerable Father affirms, that the whole Region o( Mareotis *, and all the Churches in it, belonged to the Bifliop of Alexandria alone that the Presbyters had their several

[…]

N n Portion!

0i Jh Exposition on the

Art. XXIII. Portions of it, and each of them ten or more K/’f large Villages under their particular Care. What Sort of Congregation this whole Region, with all the Christians in the great City of lesandriaj would make, I leave to any rea- fonable Man to consider. Having thus ex- plained this familiar Phrase then, of that pri- mitive Martyr St. Ignatius fl’bat without the BiJJpGp 710th ing JJjould he done) in a Sense which no way warrants the Hypothesis ‘twas quoted for, and that by the unexceptionable Authority of the holy Martyr himself, and our learned Author’s own Conceflions, who was here apply- ing it to quite another End ; I think there is no Tittle in the fore-mentiou’d Citations, that does not in courle fall in with the fame Interpreta- tion 5 unless perhaps he will fay that the par- ticular Phrases ‘Ett/ r av-n, and Mft f[imi, will not confift with this ; by the former of which he concludes for certain, that the whole Diocese or Bilhop’s Church, aiTembled in one Place to- gether 3 by the latter, that all Publick Prayer and Religious Duties, were fb jointly performed too. But what Neceflity for this* Do these Words fo evidently imply it, that the holy Fa- ther himself could have no other Meaning in them ? Let the Context dired us in the Cafe ;. which, together with the Sense which approved Comimentators, and other Ecclcfiafliical Writers, give us of the Words themselves, will help us to a fair Conftrudion of them. In the Words immediately before these, the holy Martyr warns the Magnefians to account nothing for a reason able Service y that is done privately , Agree-

Ad Magnet />. 33-

able^

Tbirty-N’me Articles. 5^5

able, no doubt, to the Apoftolical Charge, Heh, Art.xxiip X. 25. xS\2X they Jhould not forfake the affemhling OOTS of therafelves together but meet for Publick Worfliip under the proper Minister of their Church, to avoid Schifhi and heterodox Opi- mons, as he proceeds to explain hlmfelf presently after. Now if it had been undeniably proved by any Expreflions before, that there neither was, nor ought to be, any more than one single House of Prayer, or of Publick Worfliip within a Bishop’s Diocese, and that his perfbnal Mini- ftry was absolutely neceflary in all Divine Of fices, it might have been fairly inferred indeed, that they were all obliged to alTemble with him in that one individual Place alone: But fmce the holy Martyr himself had informed us elfe- where, that the most foiemn Offices of Publick Worfliip were ‘valid in themfePveSj and accept a- hie to God too when performed by any Person whom the Bishop fliould anthorize and approve of for it, (as we have feen before he did) furc, if any particular Number or Society of Mem- bers in that Diocese had aflfembled for Publick Worfliip, under any Presbyter fo allowed and commiflioned by him to officiate for them, they had answerd the full Import of the holy Martyr’s Charge here given them, against private and clan- deftine Ways of Worshipping or elfe I cannot fee how the Bifliop’s Approbation and Permiflion of such a Person could be to any Purpole at all. Nay, if the fame Presbyter (by Virtue of such PermiRion) could not minister in Places diffe- rent from their Bifiiop’s Church, or Cathedral of his Diocese too, our learned Author’s Cha- pel of Ease (as he calls it) in the Alexandrian Church, had been no better than a fchifmatical Conventicle, at the least : So little can it be in- ferred from St. Ignatius’ Phrase in this Place, N n 2 that

564 -A^^ Expofition on the

Art. XXIII that he confined a Diocese to a single Congre- y’y gation. But let us fee what Confl:ru6lion im- partial Commentators, and other Ecclefiaftical Writers, have made of this Phrase, Ett to rture, to whose Observations I ihall only premise this short and general Key to them all • that as the Phrase it self does (by no grammatical Con- ftrudion whatsoever) io much denote a Place as it does a ‘Thing in general according to the known Rule of all such neutral Words as this is- fo in the Instances I shall mention, you will find ‘tis accordingly taken and understood by them all. Thus the learned Grotius ex- plaining this ‘E TV duTo, in s iii. i. only tranilates it in these Words, Qrca idem tempus that is, About the fame Time. And in Bezas Tranilation of the New Testament, the Note and Paraphrase upon it, s ii. 44. is this ; ’ That the common Affemblies of the Church, ” with their mutual Agreement in the fame Do- * drine,and the great Unanimity of their Hearts, ’ were signify’d by it * ” Agreeable to which Conftrudion of it, is what we meet with in the Greek Translations of P fa I. xxxiv. $. where that which the Septuagint render ‘Ettt tj rtWo, is trans- lated by Aquila ‘OiJ.o-%iJ.ctrov that is, zvitb one Mind and one Heart. And I need not remind the Reader, of what we just now observed, that in J lift in Martyrs Ufe of the Phrase, it could not be understood in the Sense that our learned En- quirer here puts upon it, without the gross Ab-

[…]

fwrdity

Tbirty-Nine Articles- 565

flirdity of bringing the Christians of whole Art. XXIII. Cities and Countries into one and the fame in- v./‘VN.j dividual Place at once. As iv. 26, 27. Herod Pilate the Gentiles and People ofl/raelj were gathered against Christ to auto, were they all in one Place, and at one Time together ? How concluding that Argument must then be which proceeds upon a positive Interpretation ofafingle Phrase, that is indefinite in its own Nature, and determined to fignifyotherwife by Authors of no mean Charadler in the learned World, and is not suitable to the Author’s own Notions from whence it is taken, neither, I shall not need to observe. But it is poffible, you’ll fay, that //at -srcyx”. and fjU J’imi, that is, one Prayer and one Sup- plication for a whole Church, should be confift- ent with this Plurality of Congregations. Let us fee what we mean by it, and then ‘tis likely we shall argue more clearly about it : For if it should appear by the Nature of the Thing it self, and by the Ufe and Application which St. Ignatius makes of it, that it can confift o ; that is all, I think, can be required in it. Now from the Nature of the Thing it self, ‘tis clear that Prayer must be one either in refpedt of the Words and Phraies which ‘tis uttered or de- livered in or in refped: of the Sense and Sub- stance, the Heads or Subjed Matter of which it is composed : that is, it must be one either in respect of the Matter or in refped of the For7n of it for to fay it must be one here, upon the Account of admitting but one Place or one Person in a Dioceie to offer it up, is to beg the Question which it is brought to prove and therefore Unity in either of the other Senles, if it agrees with the holy Martyr’s Sense too, is the fair Account of it. Now that it is not meant to be one in the former Senie relating Nn 3 to

[…]

Abt. xxill. to the Words or Phrase of it, I fuppofe will *=”“V- readily be granted j for that would make the holy Father plainly to prescribe a ftinted Form, or mere common Liturgy in the Church, which our gifted Congregational Bishops, I conceive, v/ould scarce allow. And therefore, 2dly, it must be underllood to be one in refped: of the Sense andSubftance of it; or, in plainer Terms, It must be Prayer made with ftrid Analogy to the one common Faith, and found Dodlrine of the one Catholick Church throughout the Chri- ftian World, as every true Chriflian Prayer ne- ceffarily ought to be : And in no other Sense than this, is it conceivable, I think, how even a fmgle Billiop in a Congregational Church, could be said to oifer up this yLtct cAW/?, or one Prayer with his People, (which is here enjoined) who affeds, as often as they meet together, to alter the Phrase and Language of his Devotion for them. And that this was St. Ignatius s Meaning in it, we may realbnably infer, i. from the Words he immediately joins with it, one Prayer me Supplication J one Mind, and one Hope the two latter Words imply a plain Unity in them, and yet have fo diffufive a Sense as to extend to all the Congregations of the Catholick Church ; and therefore why not the two former alfb And, 2. We may infer it alfb from the Ufe he was then making of it, which (as I hinted before) was directly to secure them from fchilmatical Conventicles, and heretical Notions ; and fmce the Biihop himfclf was to approve (as we have feen St Ignatius himself allowed him to do) of any Minifler whatsoever that should officiate for them, and thereby reserve to himself the Infpe-. fftion, Visitation and Cenfure of them, (which Is a natural Consequence of it) whatsoever Prayer the People of his Dioceie should join a in.

Thirty-Nine Articles. 567

in, with such a commiilioned and approved Art. xxill. Presbyter as this, could never bring them into yKJ that Danger of Schilm the holy Martyr here warned them against , but being orthodox, and as conformable to Christian Faith and Dodtrine, as the Bishop’s own could be, would, in the true Sense of the primitive Father, and to the great End for which he intended it, be that ftia /5Jm, that one Prayer, which the Bishop and all his Diocese were to offer up to God. The next Place which our Author tries his Skill upon is in the 41ft Page of St. ;m?////s Epiftle to the Philadelphiam : ” The Bishop (says he) had ’ but one Altar, or Communion-Table, in his ’ whole Diocese, at which his whole Flock re- ” ceived the Sacrament from him, and that at ’ one Time. St. Ignatius’ s Words are, here ” is but one Alt at as hut one BiJJjop .” To explain which Phrase, I ihall ufe our Enquirer’s own Method, by joining to it a parallel Ex- preflion of the admirable St. Cyprian which is fo near akin to it, that it seems almost a meer Translation of it, at least ‘tis a most dired and immediate Illustration of it. St. Cyprians Words are here in the f Margin : Our Enquirer renders them thus, ” No Man can regularly confti- tute a new Bishop, or ered: a new Altar, ” besides the one Btjloop and the one Altar. ” And here I am forry I must remark a fatal Over- fight, (for I am loth to call even this unjuffl translation by another Name) but ‘tis evident that what St. Cyprian here calls a new Priefi-

[…]

N n 4 hood^

5^8 An Exposition on the

Art. XXIII. hocd and one Friefthood our learned Author M’V”-/’ renders by a new Btjloop and one Bifiop ; which proves indeed that he believed it a dire5tly pa- rallel Place to that of St. Jgnatms (as it really is) because he translates both in the very fanae Words : But in the mean-time he fo difguifes this holy Father’s Text, that he hides from the EngliJJo Reader’s Sight the main Key which would open the genuine Sense and Meaning of this and all such Expreflions as these are not only in tbefe two venerable Fathers alone, but in all the Writings of primitive Antiquity besides: For the Unity of the Altar, the Unity of the Bifliop, the Unity of the Eucharist, the Unity of Chri- (lian Prayer, and the very Unity of the whole Church itself, are all founded upon the common Bottom that the Unity of the Chriftlan Priest- hood is ; and no Man ever fo unlocked the Evan- gelical Secret of this Catholick and Christian Unity as the inimitable St. Cyprian hath done. So that if his (hort and plain (but admirable) Account of it were but duly weighed and cre- dited, as it ought to be, we fliould hear but few Enquiries after the Constitution of the primitive Church, few Amufements about the fundamen- tal Unity of it, drawn only from a scatter’d Sentence here and there, in the most uniform Records of the best and antienteft Writers in it. St. Cyprian s brief Account of it lies in that noted Paiiage, (b familiar to all who ever read hisWorks, or almoil ever heard his Name : ” Epifcopacy, ’ (faith he, in his small Trad: of tbe Unity of * the Church is but one; a Part whereof each ” Bishop holds, fo as to be interested for the _ Whole. The Church is also one, which by ** its fruitful Increase improves into a Multi- ” tude: As the Beams of the Sun are many, as; ’ Branches from Trees, and Streams from a

’*’ Fountain ^

Thirty-Nine Articles, 569

’ Fountain ; whose Number tho’ it Teems dif- Art. XXIir. * perfed by the abundant Plenty of them, yet U/’VX. * their Unity is preserved by the common Ori- * ginal of them all *.” Apply this plain Rule to all Sorts of Unities mentioned here • and fee first if the primitive Expreilions of one Churchy one Altar and one Bijhopy do not evidently con- fift with as many Churches, Altars, and Bifliops, as can be proved to be undeniably derived from one and the fame original Inftitutor : The Unity of whose divine Power and Spirit, diffufed at first amongst the chosen Twelve, stamps a Cha- rader of Unity upon all who regularly descend from them; and upon every Individual, who only claims under, and owns his Authority from, and his Dependancc upon such as them : ny, the Unity of fimdry Prayers too, (as I have (hewn before) by the fame Analogy of Reason, may- be owned to be such, if they all center, as to the Substance of them, in that original Model which the divine Author of Christian Prayer first delivered unto us , thole common Articles of Faith and Dodtrine which he obliged us all to, provided they be offered up by a Person duly authorized for fach Ministerial Offices in the Church. Nor will the Miniftration of the blefted Eucharist by divers Hands, or at fundry Tables, tho’ within the fame particular Diocese still, differ any thing from the rest, if duly warranted by, and kept accountable to the first and principal Minister of that holy Ordinance, who is the rightful Bi-

[…]

fliop

570 ^n Exposition on the

Art. XXIII. stop of the whole Flock. The Plurality of Eu- yy charifts is thus made one throughout all the united Provinces and Diocefes of the Catholick Church; because in the gradual Progress of the Church, from the Beginning, both Bishops and Presbyters do all claim a Power of Commiflion to confecrate from one another, till they rife up to the bleifed Apostles thcmfelves, and they from Christ alone. And thus St. Ignathis’s Ca- tholick Phrase of one Altar one Btjhop and the like, does no more prove the Neceflity of but one Communion-Table in a primitive Bishops Diocese, than it would do in the most extcnfive one of this or any former Ages, or in the largest patriarchal Province that was ever settled in the Church, provided every one who minister’d at each of them had a just Commiflion from their Orthodox Superiors for doing fo : But what is otherwise than fb, is Altar against Altar indeed, and no less than formal Schism. Let us take care then not to draw up Forces (as St. Igna- ///i’s Words import) against the Bishop, if we mean not to withdraw our Subje6tion from God f. By this Account the Reader will fee what the Antients truly meant, when they called afchifmatical Ufurpation of the Episcopal Power by the Name of a Profane Altar which yet our learned Enquirer urges again and again, as a fair Argument to prove that there could be no more than one single Congregation in a whole Diocese, though the Ministers of the second, or third, or more, should never fo much agree with the Bishop himfeif in all his Principles and Mi- niftrations, and be even authorized and ap-

Bu 6wolA^oi/.iV.i’ Ad EphcL p. 20.

proved

Thirty-‘Nine Articles. ^ 571

proved of by him : as St. Ignatius exprefly tells Art. xxiIT. us, a Bishop might fo authorize and approve ’“‘VN.i/ him ; in which Cafe they were fo far from being a profane Altar that they were truly owned to be but one and the fame t- Our Author having gleaned all the short Phrases that he found in St. Ignatius % Epiftles that he thought gave any Countenance to his Hypothesis, and offered them at once to prove his general Proposition from Page the 17th to the aift, givesus them all again by Retale, Page the 27th3 and applies the self- fame Quotations by Piece-meal to prove that each of those Churches St. Ignatius wrote to, were mere Congregational Churches, and no more. This makes the Bulk of Authority look great indeed, but adds not one Grain of Weight to it ; and therefore the Reader will excuse me (I know) if I take no more Notice of his re- peated Arguments here about one Altar one Eucharifty c. by which Repetitions he here labours separately to prove that the Diocefes of Smyrna Ephefus Magnefia Philadelphia and r allium were such fort of Churches as he con- tends for. The Strength of all these Arguments, I conceive, I have fairly tried already , and ‘tis much there should scarcely be one new one to be found, when he took the Pains to consider each of those Churches fingly, and one by one.

‘T I s true, to make the Diocese of Smyrna appear such, he adds a short Clause or two, (omitted before), ” i. That the Bishop of ” that Church could know his whole Flock per- ” fonally by their Names *. ” So he translates

[…]

the

572 ^n Exposition on the

Art. XXIII. the Place, though St. Ignatius s Words have no W>Or\J such Affirmation in them j but are only a plain Advice to St. Polycarp to do what the primitive Bishops always did, that is to keep the Names of every Member of his Church enrolled in what the Antients called the Matricula of their Church: The Occasion of the Words imply it to be fo. He just before befought St. Polycarp not to negle^ the Widows of the Church f, and immediately after desires him not to overlook fomuch as the Men-Servants and Maid-Servants 4: in it: and in the Midst of this (as a Means to know the Quality, Number, and Condition of his Diocese) adviles him to enquire out all hy Name , that is, to get such a Register of their Names, that upon Occasion of any Objed of Charity proposed to him, of any Complaint or Application made to him about any within his Care or Jurifdidion, or in cale of Apoftacy or Perseverance in Time of Persecution or the like, by Means of this general Matricula he (as the other Bifliops did) might more diredlly know how the Cafe stood with them : And, which was more than all this, the Names thus entered in this sacred Record were personally intitled then to all the publick Interceflions and spiritual Blef- sings obtained by the Euchariftical Prayers, Obla- tions, and Sacraments of the whole Church , and to have their Names blotted out of this, was a constant Effed: of Excommunication, and . was dreaded by all that had true Veneration (as those primitive Christians had) for the holy Or- dinances of God. Those who know the right Nature of the Orthodox Commemorations, and

Eucha«

Tbirty-Nine Articles. 373

Eucharlftical Offerings for the Saints, before the Art. xxill,

[…]

as they now do, cannot be unacquainted with

this. And these were sufficient Reafbns for that

Apoftollcal Father to mind a Bifhop of the

Church to be careful of keeping such a neceflary

Matricula as this, and an effedual Way for

St. Polycarp to take Care of the meaneft and

poorest Members of his Diocese ; which the

Context tells us, was the Occasion of St. Igna-

[…]

of but one fmgle Congregation being then under

his Care, and that he must personally know them

all hy Name^ as one Neighbour knows another,

(which our Enquirer’sTranflation affirms of them)

I think they no more imply it, than that Au-

guftiis Cxfat had but one Town to command,

and could know every Subjed: he had, when

(for many political Occasions) he caused them

all to be enrolled, and required the State of his

Empire to be brought in to him • for the Cen-

for’s Work in fuch a Cafe as that, was to give in

an Estimate of the Age, Children, Family, and

Estates of all the People under him, as I’lilly

gives us an Account of it *.

But still (says our Enquirer) Smyrna could not have more than one Congregation in it, be- cause, as St. Ignatius faith again, it was not fit- ting that any should marry there without the Bishop’s Conlent f. \Now I confess it seems to me no unpradicable Matter for the fame Thing

[…]

‘%7TtrKQ7r\i humv wt&i»%(,t» Ad Pol. p. 15.

to

574 ^^ Exposition on the

Art. XXIII. to be done in the very City of London or Torkj y” at this Day, if either Banns or Licences were managed with that proper Care which the Church designed they fhouJd j nay, I think it may be laid, (even as Matters stand now) that either the Bishop in Person, or such as are commifHoned by him, (which is much the fame Thing) have a neceffary Cognizance of all such solemn Con- trad:s (before the Confummation of them) in the largest Diocefes amongst us. And this gives Opportunity, at least, to consent to or difallow of them, without reducing their Diocefes to fewer Congregations than they have all along had. Once more the Holy Martyr is summoned to bear Witness to this Congregational Cause t, and his Evidence (as ‘tis managed) must be ac- knowledged to be a very close one, for our Author makes the Holy Martyr expreily fay, that the Dioccie oi Magnefia had but barely one Church in it ; and I am now to fhew you how he faith it. § In his Zeal for the Unity of all the Christians there, he bids them all run one Way together, as to the Temple of God, (or as to the one Temple of God, as the old Latin Tranilation hath it, and the learned Editor from the Florentine Manuscript says it should be) and as to the one Altar - plainly exhorting them, (by JVa of Similitude ) to Christian Unity and Con- munion, after the Pattern of the antient Church of God among the Jews , who tho’ they had never-fo-many Synagogues, yet they all cen- tred, and were united in that one Temple, and one Altar, which God had fixed for them at

[…]

aov, ike. J bid.

Jeru^

Thirty-Wine Articles. 575

Jerusalem. But that this comparative Way of Art. xxilL the Holy Martyr’s arguing might be the \cs */VV perceived, our careful Enquirer takes no Notice of the little Particle a or as but quotes the Temple of God in the fmgular Number by it- self, as clear to his Purpoie, and gives it the Name of a Christian Church ; tho’ (besides this unfair Dealing in the Cafe) it may juftly be a Question, Whether St. Jgnatius himself, or any cotemporary Writer, ever used that Word Nfito? for a Place of Christian Worship at all, it being generally a Term in primi- tive Writers applyed to JewiJIj or Heathen Tem- ples i and then judge what a Proof this must be for but one Congregation in the whole Diocese of Magnefia. And now, tho’ all the Churches St. Ignatius wrote to were eminent Cities of the Lydian or Proconfular Afia most of them the Seats of Publick Justice for the Province where the Roman Governor kept his Residence, and (which is infinitely more) were dignify ‘d with a fmgular Visitation by our Blefled Lord in his great Revelation to St. John - and therefore scarcely to be imagined such inconfiderable Churches as our learned Enquirer labours to re- present them to us : yet, for fuller Satisfaction in the Cafe, he frankly appeals to Anttocb R.ome Carthage and Alexandria (the undoubted Me- tropolitan Cities of the Empire) to bear Witness to the Congregational Scheme : and therefore, not to negled: him, I (hall take a brief Survey of the former, vz. Antioch - as to the others, I hope I have laid enough of them already.

Antioch was early blefled with the glad Tidings of thcGofpel: The Blood of the first Martyr became the Seeds of a Christian Church there, (as the Fathers took a Pleaiure tofpeak)

for

57^ Jn Exposition on the

Art XXIII. for many Christians difperfed upon that Occafiort -y* resorted thither ; and the first Account we have of their Labours is, fhat the Hand of the Lord was with them and a great Number believed and turned unto the Lord. Tidings of this came to the Church of Jerusalem where the whole Col- lege of Apoflles was in Readiness to consult for them : They fend Barnabas a good Man, and full of the Holy-Ghost and of Faith, to improve this happy Opportunity, and the Succeis an- fwered their Exped:ation , for by his powerful Exhortations, much People (says the holy Text) was added to the Lord. But to forward this Work of the Lord still more, Barnabas travels to arfus and joins Saul the great Apostle of the Gentiles now, and returning with him to Antioch they continue a whole Year together in that populous City, teaching much People : What a Harvest of Christian Converts those A- poftolical Labourers made in that Compass of Time, aififted by all that fled thither from Je- rufalem besides, by the Men oi Cyprus and Cyrene t Fellow-Labourers with them, to convert the Greeks as well as Jews to the Faith ; and by the fe- veral inspired Prophets, io peculiarly noted:: to be amongst them, I refer to the sober Judgment of all who know the Fruits of many single Ser- mons preached by an Apostle, at the first Pro- mulgation of the Goipel. Two things are sure, I. That the Reputation and Honour of the Con- verts there, was such, that they laid aside the derided Name of Nazarenes or Galileans now, and openly aifumed the Name of their Lord

^ Afts xi. 19. vcr. 21. to ver. 27.

•f Afts xi. 20.

^ Acts xi. 27. and chap, xiii, i-

2 and

Thirty-Nine Articles. 577

and Mailer, and were first called Chriflians Art. xxill. there *. 2. That there were two diftindl Stdis COTNi or Parties of them, Judaizing Chriftlans, zea- lous of the Law and Gentile Converts, as ear- neftly infifting on their Freedom and Exemption from it: Each Party fo considerable, as to call for an Apoftolical Council to decide theContro- verfy between them . Such was the very Infant State of this Church oiAntioch the Over- fight whereof (Antiquity tells us) the great Apo- ftle St. Peter in a peculiar Manner, took upon himself, and for fix or seven Years (at least) made it his first and special Apoftolick See. After him, Church-History acquaints us with fourteen Bifliops fucceflively there, before the Heretick Paulus of Samofata was promoted to that See: In the Number of these were those Mirrors of Learning, Zeal, Fortitude, and Piety, Ignatmr heophilus and Bahylas scarce to be equalled in all the Monuments of the Church after the Apostles Time : whereof the first fat forty Years, and each of the other two thirteen Years toge- ther were the watchful and laborious Bilhops of that exceeding vast and laborious Flock -, as the AVords of the learned Dr. Caxe are, where he peaks of St, Ignatius s Charge at Antiocb . Yet notwithft;anding all the united Labours of fo many Apostles, Prophets, Holy Martyrs, and Confeffors, to plant and improve a Cbriftian Church in this renowned City of the Ea(i in this ©soTTBA/f or City of God as the Antients thought fit to name it, we are borne down that there never were more Believers in it for two

• ABs xi. 15.

•f Chap. XV. I, 1,

O o hundred

578 ^^i Exposition on the

Apt. xxiii. hundred and seventy Years after Christ, than yy\J what could meet together in one single House of Prayer, and barely make a single Congrega- tion : One would reasonably look for very un- anfwerable Evidence to prove Co extraordinary an AlTertion, * elpecially since this City oi An- tiochj according to St. Cbryfofiojns Calculation of it, for Ignatius’s Times, contained no less than two hundred thousand Souls in it and ertulUan f, as we have feen before, durft tell the perfecuting Scapula that the Christians then *were ‘well nigh the greater Part of enjery City : Yet all that is offered us to the contrary is only this, that Paulus of Samofata the heretical Bi- shop of Antioch after the Middle of the third Century, refused to rejign the Church’s Hoiife when he was fynodically deposed by a Council held there and this Church’s House as our learned Author will have it, must needs be the only House of Prayer or Pub lick IVorfloip for all that Diocese and consequently they could make

but one Congregation 4^. Now, that the Bishop oi Antioch had a peculiar Church or House of Prayer for himself (as Bishop) more immediately to worship or officiate in, need not be dilputed : and this fb peculiarly the Church’s House, that fo long as he was rightly poireffed of that, he was poifeffed of the Church or Diocese whereof he was Bishop ; and to be legally and canonically ejeded out of that, was to be ejedted out of the Church, be the Diocese great or small, of more or fewer Congregations belonging to it : For Co when Conft ant ills the Emperor was resolved to ejecS:

f Tertul. ad Smp. c. z. p. 86.

[…]

Paulus

Thirty-Nhie Articles. 579

Paulus of Constantinople out of that Biihoprick *, Art. xxill. he ordered PhtUp the Pnfei to turn him only •rS-. out of the Church, in the singular Number, and place Macedonius in ; that is, out of that single Church where the Bishops oiConfiantinople uied to refidc and officiate, tho’ there were several other Churches long before that built by Con- ftantine in that City, and an undoubted Part of that Bishop’s Diocese f : But this fmgle Church or House of Prayer was fo peculiarly the Church’s- Hoiife that by being difpoffeffed of that, he was intirely thrown out of the whole Church or Diocese of Constantinople • and Inflances enough of this kind might be given if Need required but I think the Cafe is known to be the very fame in refped: of any modern Bishop’s Cathe- dral at this Day. Yet, to come more diredly to the Cafe before us, I think the Synod of Antioch\ Account of Paulus Samofatenus from whence this very Objedion is taken, does pretty fairly prove to us, that that heretical Bifliop had more Churches under him, besides that Honfe of the Church which he kept Poflfeflion of j (which ‘tis quedioned indeed whether ‘twas a House of Worship or no) because among the many Accusations of him, they tell us, he fent, Presbyters out to preach up his own Praises in their Sermons to the People % : and who should these be, but Presbyters that officiated under him within his own Jurifdidion j for the Phrase imports no In treaty, as if it were to Aliens not iubjcd: to him, but an Ad of Authority rather, for he fent them out to do fo : Nay, should they

f Zufeb, de vit. Confl. 1. 3. c. 48.

O o ^ havf

580 J?i Exposition on the

Art.xxiii. have been Presbyters related to another See, /Vi-/’ they arc at leall an Instance of religious Aflem- blies held by such, in Contradiftindlion to the Bishops to whom they did belong ; which over- throws the Enquirer’s Congregational Scheme, take it in what Sense you please. I will not con- ceal what is farther (aid here, that he fent out Bishops of adjacent Villages and Cities to do the fame Thing for him , to which I shall only fay, that the judicious Valefius understands those Bi- shops to be no other than flattering Chorepifcopi which makes them a farther Part of his own Dio- cefe dill. The Chorepifcopt were -r %cfj£.f vsrjVxo:/, or Country Bifljops ordained by the City Bi- shops to affift them when they grew old, or when their Diocefes became very large by rea- fon of new Conversions ; but this alters not the present Cafe, and ib the Bifhoprick ofAntioch I hope, will lose but little of its Glory and Extent by one such unconcludiug Argument. I shall wave those Arguments which our Author thinks himself intitled to from the Works of St. Cy- prian because I have fhewn already what fort of a Bishop St. Cyprian was in the Church of Carthage- and therefore if any thing in his Works seem to favour the Congregational Scheme, ‘tis certain that they that urge it with such a View, either mifunderftand or mifrepre- fent it. I shall jufl take Notice of a Quotation or two more under this Head, and then 1 shall think it high Time to difmifs it. Our Author tells us, P. 19. ”* That the Christians in er- ’ ttiUians Time and Country received the Sa- ” crament of the Lord VSupper from the Hands * of the Bifnop alone ” ” But how do wc

know

Thirty-Nine Articles- 581”

know that ertuUiaits Presidents in this Place Ait. xxill. (for that’s his Word, as you fee in the Margin) v/VX- were the Bishops only ? Now as far as our En- quirer can aflure us of it, you may find in Page the 67th of this Trad: of his ; where we read, that President was one difcretive Appellation of a Bishop ; and yet St. Cyprian (says he) calls his Presbyters Presidents too : Mayn’t we be very “well afTured then, do you think, That fertulUan (whom St. Cyprian familiarly called his Master) could mean nothing elfe by his Presidents but Bishops of a Diocese alone, since his great Difci- ple St. Cyprian thought no such thing of it ? at least would not one think that our ingenious Author Ihould satisfy his Reader a little with fome certain Note here, that in this Paffage of ertullian it could be meant no otherwise, fmce he himself had made that Observation for us-? But to be ihort, and to give a fair Account of the Scope of that Paflage in ertullian it was thus : ” ‘fertiillian was contending for the Au- *’ thority of tradition for many common Rites •’ then used in the Chriflian Church, without a ’ Scripture Warrant for them *. ” Amongst these Customs, he instances a general Pradlice in the Church then, to communicate in the Morn- ing different from the Time of the Institution itself j and together with that, this which we are now speaking of, That they received the Communion from the President’s Hands alone ; both equally common in his Days in the Chri- ftian Church : which, to make as clear an Inter- pretation of it as we can, 1 think implies neither

• Euchariftix Sacramentum £c in tempore vlttu;;, Sc omni- bus mandatum a Domino, etiam antclucanis CLx:tibu<;, nee de aliorum manu quam Pi-jclidentium fumimus. Tcrtul. ibid.

O o 3 more

582 ^^^ Exposition on the

Art.xxiii. more nor less than this, that as the Sacrament U/*VN was then generally adminiiler’d in the Morning, fo where-ever it was administer’d, the confe- crated Elements were usually delivered to the Communicants, (as it is indeed most in Ufe now) by the Hands of them only who presided in the several Affemblies where those hoJy Ex- ercifes were performed ; that is, I humbly con - ceive, by the oflBciating Ministers themselves: whereas in many Places, as yuftin Martyr tells us, the Deacons used to do it. And I want to know what Appearance of Proof there is in all this, for a Biihop’s personally diflributing the blcfled Elements to every Communicant in his whole Diocese, at one Time, and in one Place : I desire the Words and Context may be fifted, and I should be willing to fit down by the Rea- der’s Judgment of the Cafe. Well, but the Bi- iliop alone (generally says he) baptized all in his Diocese * , how much the Word generally implies, I need not over-nicely inquire: He him- y// again gives me aneafier Solution of it, P. sS’i where he tells us from the fame 7’ertullian ” That ’ the Bishop hath the Right of Baptism, and * then the Presbyters and Deacons; but, for ’ the Honour of the Church, not without the ” Bifliop’s Authority. ” I Ihall observe no more at present from this Quotation than this : That the Presbyters and Deacons might baptize in the Diocese, if the Bishop allowed them fb to do ; as St. Ignatius (we know before) admitted that Baptism to be acceptable to God, which the Eifhop should approve ; fo that the whole of he Aiatter (it seems) is this, that the Bishop

[…]

ThIrty-Nhie Articles. 585

with his Presbyters and Deacons must baptize Art.xxtil all in the Diocese : And this is offered as a Rea- y fon, that a Diocese must be no more than a Congregational Church, because the Bilhop could not otherwiie do all ; for as for his gene- rally doing it, that is our Enquirer’s own pretty Invention, for neither Quotation hath a Tittle of it. I confefi, that Conteftation mentioned by ertiillian or the Form of Renunciation, which all adult Catechumens ufcd in their own Persons, to testify their for fa kmg the Devil the Pomp.j Sc, before they actually were baptized, ‘tis probable (and poilible enough too) it might be in the Pre- fence of the Bishop himself, and the Diocese have a sufficient Plurality of Congregations in it too ; since it was a very large Space of Time (as Tertullian expreffes it) which was fet apart for this very ordering of Baptism every Year, even the fifty Days, from Easter to IVhitfmtide including the Festivals, as you’ll fee his Account of it in the Margin fhews.

It 13 a hard Task to attend such minute Par- ticulars, when 1 have produced before such ge- neral Rules, as might answer all at once: But I am willing to please. He tells us farther then, that Jitftin Martyr afTures us, the Bishop was common Curator and Overfeer of all the Or- phans, Widows, Difeafed, in a Word, of all that were needy and indigent ; and thence in- fers, that the Diocese could not be very large.

[…]

O o 4 where

584 An Fxpofitiofl on the

Art. xxiii. where the Bishop perionally relieved them all * **-''''' Now the seeming Force of this Argument does not lie in Jiifiin Martyr % Words, but in the dif creet manner of wording the Inference from them, with a little Help in the Translation : The holy Martyr said just before that the Col- ]e6lion of the People’s Alms was deposited in their Frefident’s Hands, and immediately fub- joins, that he took Care to relieve all kind of diftrefTed Persons (there mentioned), out of the Offerings, to be sure, that were fo entrusted with him. Our Enquirer infers, that he per- fbnally did this , by which he would have us understand, that all whom the Church’s Charity relieved, the Bilhop personally visited, infpeded every individual Caie from first to last himself alone, and diftributC’: Relief to the poor Suf- ferers with his own Hand for here the Strcis of all lies, which must nccefT.rily prove them to be io few , and to gi e a better Colour to this Interpretation, he finds out a noted Parish Term for this EpifcoprJ Almoner, and tranfiates him an Cverfeer. Iiow let the common Sense of all Mankind judge for us, if any publick Trust of this Nature was ever understood to be neceffarily executed fo in any Sort of Society whatfbever. I believe yi:/Im Martyr himself, or any other Christian Writer besides him, would have ventured to have said as much or more, than all we have iaid here, of St. Paul’s Care in treafuring up and distributing the Alms of many Chriflian Congregations for the Relief of all his

JuH.Mar. Apol. 2. p.5?p. Edit. Colon. i’686.

Churches :

Tbirty-Nine x\rticles. 585

Churches : And yet in the Sense we here con- Art. xxill. tend for, he had fuccoured but a poor Number -”’ of the Whole, and been but a small Almoner in the Matter, if what he obtained of the feve- ral Churches to colledt what the Presbyters and Elders did by his Order in it, and the Meflen- gers of their own too, which he allowed to di- flribute it for him, had not been imputed to his own Perfbn, as common Governor and Guardian for them all. And why (hould it then be fo im- pradlicable a Thing, as is here pretended, for any fnigle Person to take Care of diftrefled Christians in more than a single Congregation ? Besides, the Charity of the Church in those Days, was, among other Uses, to be employed for Relief of baniflied and captive Brethren, in Mines, in Illands, in remoteft barbarous Coun- tries : And in what Sense can we imagine the Bishop could personally do all this ? And yet what follows, I should less expert to meet with from fb judicious a Hand, f For he obfervej in no less than seventeen or eighteen Instances produced together, that when the ancient Church Writers give an Account of several publick and solemn Ads of Discipline in a Dio- ceie, (as Ceniures, Excommunications, Abfb- lutions, Elections, Ordinations, or the like) they tell us, they were done before the whole Church, before the Multitude, before all the People, by the Suffrage of all the Brotherhood, with the Knowledge, and in the Presence of the People; and from hence concludes, that all the whole Diocese met together in one Place upon these Occasions, and consequently were no more than could make one single Congre-

f See Biquiry, 6cc. p* 2Z, 23, 24,

gation.

5^6 Jn Expofitipfl on the

Art. xxiii. gation. And here I cannot but obfervej -‘V"" I. That this singular Conftrudion of luch ob- vious and familiar Forms of Speech as these are, bears very hard upon the common Sense and Language of all Mankind : Can no publick Acb of civil Justice or solemn Miniftration in the Church amongst us, be said to pass in the Face of the Country, before all the People, openly, and in the Sight of all Men, nay, in the Face of the whole World, as fome will think it no Absurdity to fay, unless the Matter of Fad will answer to the very Letter of the Phrase ? Are not all publick or solemn Ads of Church or State (as to Discipline and Govern- ment) familiarly diftinguifhed from any others by such a Latitude of ExprefTion as this, and no otherwise taken by any Man, that ever I heard of, than that a general Liberty is given to all, who either can or will, or are concerned to be present at them, to come and offer what they think material , to judge or bear Witness of the Regularity and Justice of what is done ? And if every individual Member of each re- fpedlive Society were expecSbed to be personally present at such Solemnities as these, neither Courts, nor Halls, nor Cathedrals, were ever yet ereded that could answer the Occasions which the Church or State would have for them ; and yet no EngliJJo Author, I am per- fuaded, would think it an Impropriety to fay, that such publick Ads of Law or Discipline as these, were done in the Presence, Sight and Cogni- zance of the whole Country, Church, or Peo- ple ; and if no Exceptions, but rather Accla- maticns were made, (as is not unuflial upon fe- veral Occasions of this Nature) they would lay they were done with the general Consent, Suf- frage and Approbation of them all. But, sdly,

that

ThiYty-‘Nine Articles. 587

that other Way of Arguing bears no less hard Artxxiti. upon the very Language of the holy Scriptures themfeJves and therefore there is little Rea- fon to fcflen it on the Writings of the primitive Fathers, who were the true Guardians and Af- lerters of them. What more familiar Phrase in the whole History of the Law delivered by MofeSy and during all the Time of his Govern- ment, than that Moses himself /pake to all the Congregation of Israel, whatsoever the Lord com- vjanded him , nay, even in the Ears of all the , Congregation of Israel he is said to speak all the Words of that Song, which he left for a Testimony amongst them *. In what Senle do we conceive he himself could be iaid to speak in the hearing of o numerous a Host as the Chil- dren of Israel then were? At different Times, do we think ? or Tribe by Tribe, and by Piece-meals in his own Pcrfon ? No, he himself gives us a better Key for the understanding such Phrases as these : For at the 28th VcTfe immediately foregoing, Gather tinto me (lays he) the Elders of the T’ribes ami the Officers that I may speak these IVords in their Ears and call Heaven and Earth to record against them. So that it plainly appears, that whatlbever Moses fpake in such a Manner, and in such an Audi- ence, as was sufficient to convey his Words and Precepts to all the Tribes of Israel tho’ not im mediately from his own Lips, nat the holy Prophet himself thought not improperly ex- prelTed, when he said afterwards, that hefpoke then to the ‘jiyhole Congregation of Israel. And if we can conceive any literal Way of interpreting

these,

588 Jn Exposition on the

[…]

L/^YN^

holy Bible, lo that fix hundred thousand Men should at once be inftruded by the Minlftry of one Man, we ned diipute no more about the greater or lelTer Numbers in the Diocese of a primitive Church, since one iuch extraordinary Comment as that would answer all for us. But, dly, To argue more diredly ad hominem in this Cafe : If that Way of Reasoning be right, then it will prove the Diocefes of latter Ages, as well as the ancienteft of them all, to be but mere Congregational Churches too : Compare the Times and Phrases, and youll find it to be fo. Our Enquirer tells us, that Sabinus was eledled Bishop o£ Emerita by the Suffrage of all the Brotherhood. This was in the third Age. Now heodoret tells us, that Ketarius was made Bishop of Constantinople by the Suffrage of the whole City too , and F/aviams made Bishop of of Atitiochj the whole Church, as it were with one Voice, giving their Suffrage for him. And this was towards the latter End of the fourth Age f. The like says Plat’nia of Gregory the Great, that he was made Biihop of Rome by the unanimous Ccnfent of all : And again. All the People chose him, says Gregory of I’riers -, and this at the very Clofc of the sixth Age. The learned Enquirer again tells us, from an African Synod in 258, That Ordinations should be done with the Knowledge, and in the Pre- lence of the People , that fb they might be juffc and lawful, being approved by the Suffrage and Judgment of all , and accordingly that St. Cy-

f ThcoJ. lib. y. c. 9. p. 211. Paris i^;^^.

prian

Thirty-Nine Articles. 589

priajt confuked his People Co : And from hence Art. XXIII. he infers, that his Diocese could be no more than OOTV one Congregation. How the Matter stood as to this Point I have fhewn sufficiently already, and therefore, as I promised, I will not tire the Rea- der with a Repetition of it: And if this Quota- tion had referred to this Father alone, I fliould have pafled it by j but as it appeals to the De- termination of a whole Synod, ‘tis fit that fbme Notice Ihould be taken of it. I observe then that the Roman Presbyters, in their Letter to Honorius the Emperor, (which was in the fifth Century) speak just the fame Thing in relation to Boniface their Bishop, whom they chose and consecrated in such a manner. ’ On a fet Day (fay they) calling all to an Affembly, we ” went to a Church we had all agreed upon : ” and there consulting with the Christian Peo- ’ pie, we chose him whom God had ordered ; ” for by the Applause of all the People, and ” the Consent of the befl in the City, we pitched ’ upon the venerable Boniface a Man ordained ” and consecrated by divine Inflitution.” Heres an Election and Ordination in one certain Place, in a general Affembly of the Church, Confulta- tion with and Applause of all the People in it : and yet our learned Enquirer is very well affured (1 doubt not) that there were many Congrega- tions in the Church of Kome at that Time j and therefore what Proof such Arguments can be, that there were no more than one in the third Century, I shall leave to himself to judge. I mufl beg the Reader’s Patience whilfl I consider one Argument more of this learned Author’s, which is indeed a very pretty and popular one but is fb far from having any Force or Evidence in it, that ‘tis taken from the Sound alone, and not from the Sense of a fmgle Word. ” The 2, ” Antientsr

590 Jn Exposition on the

Ar.TOCXTll. Antients (says he) frequently denominated their Biihop’s Cure by the Greek Word ” Uctc?iKU. 1 he modern EngltJJj ufe that Word ’ no.v, to express a Parijlj by (approaching very ’ near in Sound indeed to one another.)” And hence he concludes it very probable at least, that a Bifliop’s Cure then, and an EngliJJj Parish now, were both the fame Thing , nay, he positively affirms, that our present Sense of the Word is the very fame that the antient Christians took it in, and lays a great Stress upon the genuine Signi- fication of the Word itself forit: Now, before 1 give an Account of the Ufe or Meaning of this primitive Word UaetKia for a Chriflian Church, I hope I need not fay, that whatever gave Oc- cafion for the Ufe of it, it could have no refpedt to any Language then or ?wjj in Ufe amongst us of this Nation : It would be too absurd Co much as to imagine such a Thing ; and therefore to fug- ged the modern Affinity of the Words, by way of Argument in the Cafe, is diredly to amuse only where we undertake to inftrud. The truefl Me- thod I know to learn the Idiom or Propriety of a primitive Ecclefiaftical Word, is by one or all of these three Ways : Either, i. By the Snfe it bears in the holy Scriptures, if we find it there; or, 2. By the continued Ufe of it in the Chri- ftian Church for fome Time afterwards: or, 3. By the com.mon Signification of it in the origi- nal Language from whence it is taken : And by these three Tefls I Ihall try at present what the Word Uciiicici antiently might mean. In holy Scripture I find it used by St. Luke to denote a temporary Residence of a Stranger in a Place remote from home ; For in the Qiieftion of Cleo- pas to our blelfed Lord, after his Refurredion, ys xxiv. 1 8, yrt than a Stranger in Jerusalem, \3c ? the original Words are, %\ fMvQ- mtvn

‘Ufa-

Tbirty-Nhie Articles. 591

%pii9uriix ; which evidently includes this UctepmA Art. XXIII. in it, as the immediate Theme from whence it /""Y”* comes ; And should it be rendered with any Analogy to the Member of a Parish, or such- like Society in the City, the holy Penman’s Sense would be very singular and unintelligible indeed. Again, St. Paul uses it in the very fame Sense and Signification afterwards, Epbe- Jtans ii, 19. Tou are no longer Strangers and Fo- reigners says he, calling his Foreigners there by the Name of UdejiKot 3 which, if we should take it in our learned Enquirer’s Sense, mufl be ren- dered ‘very Jiear Neighbours at least, or Fellow- Members of one and the fame Society together, which I think diredly inverts the Meaning of the holyApoftle: And other such-like Instances there are. So that the holy Scriptures (you fee) fuggefted a very different Notion of the Word UaemU to the primitive Chriilians, and such as one should fuificiently warrant, and (one would think) give fair Occasion to those heavenly-minded Saints to denominate their first Societies and Churches from it ; fmce they ordinarily look’d upon them- selves as meer Sojourners and Foreigners in the World, and were no otherwise accounted by the Heathen round about them.

But, 2dly, we often meet v/ith the Word UtLepmet both in the Greek and Latin Writers for several Ages afterwards, denoting the fame Thing with a Diocese of many Parishes and Congregations in it 3 which farther proves that the Ecclefiaflical Sense of the Word had not fo narrow a Notion in it, till particular Places de- terminately made it fo. In the Code of the Afri- can Church, publish’d both in Greek and Latin by Juftellus^ we meet with Dioecefis in one Lan- guage rendered by UAepma. in the other. Thus

it

592 ^^^ Expofitioii on the

Art. xxiii. it is in the Title of the 56th Canon ”*, and VOr again and again in the Body of the Canon itself So St. Jerom translating an Epiftle of St. Epi fhanius to John Bishop oi Jerusalem f, expreftes both their large Diocefes (as they surely were then) by the Word Parochia only. St. Aiigti” ftine in his Epiftle to Pope Cosleftin +, tells him, that the 1 own of Fufalala was forty Miles di- ftant from Hippo yet both the Place itself and the Country round about it, did before this Time belong to the Parcschia of his Church of Hippo. And to come home to ourselves, the venerable Bede § calls the Dioceie of IJ’mcheJler by the fame Name, even when the whole Province of the South Saxons did belong to it. And then, whether the Word Biccefe (fo cuftomarily used for secular Diftridts and Provinces in the Em- pire) were immediately adopted into the Church or no I think it argues little j fmce, when it was received, Church-Writers themselves made no Scruple to uie both Dicecejis and Parochia often- times as Terms synonymous in ieveral Ages and Nations where Diocefan Diftricls were efta- blifhed : which makes it plain enough, that ‘twas not with reference to Circuit or Extent of Churches that they used either, till latter Set- tlements gave more appropriated Senses to them, as it is obvious enough to be obfervcd and ttx\ in several other Ecclefiaftical Terms.

[…]

f Vide Epiphan. Ep. ad Johan. Hierofol. inter opera Hid- ron. Vol. 2. ‘Tom. 3. FoJ. 71. Ed.t. Enifin. Basil. item in Epiphan. Tom. i. Pag. 312. Edit. Petav. Colon. 1682.

[…]

§ Bede Kcd, Hiftor. lib, f. c 19.

But

Tiytrty-Nine Articles. 5^95

But then, sdly, The very Signification of the Art. xxiil Word Uaqikia our learned Author will aflure us, ‘-OTV does make all clear : For it signifies (says he) a dwelling one by another as Neighbours do, or an Habitation in one and the lame Place. But here I must take Leave to fay (and I hope shall prove it too) that it is taken in a very diiferent Sense by Writers of unqueftionable Autho- rity, and by Gloffaries andCriticks in theCr Language is sufficiently warranted to be fo. The inquifitive Suiccr , in his first Observation on the Word naiKU renders it by the Latin Ad’vena or Peregrinus fum that is (as the in- fpired Penmen, 1 fhewed you before, always ufe it in the holy Scriptures) I am a Stranger and Foreigner in any Place, But this is not all ; he adds immediately, that this very Word is put in diredt Opposition to yTnimi’ which, accord- ing to the ancient Gloffes (says he) signifies to dwell or have an Habitation in any Place : And is this any thing more or less, than a downright Opposition to our learned Enquirer’s peremptory Interpretation of it ? And what this judicious GiofiTary does thus affirm, he makes good by the unexceptionable Authorities of Philo Jii daus t, St. Basil the Great t, I’heodoret §, and others, whose particular (Quotations you have here noted at the Bottom, which makes it clearer still. I am fenfible it may be alledged, that the Greek Prepofition ra”, when joined in

[…]

P p Compo”

594 ^^ Fypofition on the

Art. XXIII. Composition with another Word (as it is here) “yyJ does often signify the fame as juita with the Ltins that is, mgb or near to any Place. And this I take to be the fble Motive indeed, that in- duced our learned Author to make this positive Conftrudion of the Word. But let Devarius (that accurate Critick in the Particles oftheGry Tongue) be heard in this Cafe , and he will teach us chat we can’t, with any Authority, at- tribute such a determinate Sense to it : For his Note upon it is this, w 7m£ (lays he) non folum -n lyyvi fed etiam t) Tnp ; l?y fignificat ; that is, the Prepofition ‘ra’does not only signify ntgb or near to but alio beyond- or from abroad and without according to the different Phrase or Authors we may meet it in , which sufFiciently justifies the above-mention’d ancient Writer’s using it (even in this very Word before us) in direct Opposition to that of dwelling nigh one another in one and the fame Place. But too much of this, for I ever took Criticism to be a slender Way of Arguing on o great a Subje6b as this is 3 only 1 found no Help for it here, the Determination was fo positive in the Cafe, and such Imooth Infinuations advanced upon the Plaufibility of a single Word.

Having thus far consider’d the Platform of the Independent or Congregational Scheme, and, as I hope, sufficiently fhewn how fallacious a Bottom it stands upon, I shall proceed to confi- der what our Adversaries have endeavoured to build upon. But here, considering what hath been already advanced in Favour of Fpifcopacy,

[…]

Thirty ISline Articles, 595

in Opposition to the Presbyterian Scheme, it will Art. xxill. not, 1 hope, be expeded that 1 should be very VOr-/. long upon this Head. I fliall begin here alio with the Church o( Jerusalem and endeavour to gratify Mr. Normajt fo far as to prove, that the several Congregations of it in the Scripture- Times were govern’d by St. fames and that the proving of this, is proving something to our Purpose. This Gentleman hath been al- ready told by Mr. Lowth that this Qviz. that St. James was Bifbop of Jerusalem’) appears from several Paffages in the As of the Apostles j that we read in the 12th Chapter, that upon St. Peters being kept in Prison, Prayer was made without ceafmg of the Church to God for him, Verse the 5th , and after his miraculous Delive- rance, he ordered feme of the Faithful to ac- quaint James and the rest of the Brethren with it, Ver. 1 7. denoting him to be Governor of that Church, as the Diffenters, in their Notes upon that Place, acknowledge in the Continuation of Mr. Pool’, that at the Synod which was held at Jerusalem and recorded in the 15th Chapter, Ver. 19. the Decree was pronounced by him; and that after the Synod or Council we find him at Jerusalem as appears from Gal. ii. 12. and laflly, that fome Years after we read, As xxi. 18. that St. Pmil after he was come to Je rufalem gives an Account of the Success of his Preaching to James in the Presence of all the Elders, 1 will not pretend to lay that this is ir- refiftible Reasoning, as Mr. Norman is pleafcd in a fcoffing and bantering Sort of a Way to call it J all that I contend for, and, without doubt, all that Mr. Lowth expeded, is, that it be admitted to carry with it the Face of a. very strong Probability • and, from a Paffagc in Mr. Normans Defence, I am ape to think he is a

P p 2 little

596 ^^ Fxpofition on tJje

Art.XXIII. little inclined to be of the fame Opinion, or elfc Jf why docs he in his Reply to it, Lef. p. 20. in- stead of James and the Churchy fay only the church ? But then if we compare these Paffages of Scripture with fome others in Church Hiflory, they do fo illustrate and confirm each other, that I think a Man had need have as strong Eye-fight as Mr. Norman that can look up against fo much Light, and boldly outface fb strong a Degree of Evidence.

The first Author Mr. Lowth mentions among the ancient \ riters of the Church to prove that St,James was Bishop oVJenifalem is Hegefippus in EufebiiiSj Book 2. Chap. 23. Upon the Frag- ment of this Father, which the Hiilorian pre- fents us wiih, Mr. Norman makes the following Observations. i. ’ That it contains a Relation ’ of the Martyrdom of St. James who is said ’” to be Bishop of Jerufalefu but that the learn- ” ed Dti Ftn takes Notice that his Way of tel- ” ling it looks more like a fabulous Narative than a true History!’ To which I answer, that the learned Etifehius tells us, in this very Chapter, that Hegefippus being one of thole who were of the first Succeffion after the Apo- ftles, does in the fifth Book of his Commenta- ries ivoft accurately relate these Things concern- ing this James speaking after this manner : James, the Brother of our Lord &c. • which is the Beginning of this very Relation. 2. Mr. Norman obierves, ” That the Notes on this ” PaiTage, thcitjamcs \vd.sVAb.o oijerufalem ” tell us, that Scaliger hath proved by many ’ Arguments that this Relation is fabulous.” But in the Enghjh Tranllation of £’/.///?/f/j, with Valefius’s Notes, for I have not the Greek by me, there are no Notes upon this FalTage at all.

Indee(J

Thirty-Nine Articles. 797

Indeed as to that which follows it in these Art. XXIII Words, -Jo him only it zvas lawful &c. in which ''''V’N. a particular Privilege is said to belong to him, and an Account is given of his more than ordi- nary Piety, the Notes tell us that ScaUger in his Animadverfions upon Eujebius hath exa- mined it thoroughly in the 178th Page of that Work, and finds fault with many Thin2;s in it ; which are well worth reading, and if Mr. Nor- man will give himself the Trouble to turn to the 1 2th Chapter of this Book, he will fee that Va- lefius in the Notes there calls him the first Bishop oijerufalem. 3. He obfcrves further, that the Words of Hegefippus J zscittdby Eufeb his can’t be a Proof of what Mr. Lowtb refers to them for, but will rather prove the contrary -, he fay- ing, that James the Brother of our Lord go- verned the Church of Jerusalem with the Apo- ftles : And if he governed the Church with the Apostles, continues he, how was he settled there as a Diocefan ? The Prepofition t* is indeed sometimes rendered by Po/?, after - bu’- when it has a Gemtiije Cafe after it, I do not remem- ber that it ever signifies Po/?, but frequently Cum with : And the learned Vakfins in his Notes on the PalTage we are now considering, plainly favours this Interpretation. Now, fuppofmg Mr. Norman in the Right, and Mr. Lowtb in the Wrong, as to this Piece of Criticism, yet it will not prejudice the Cause of Epifcopacy in gene- ral; because it is allowed by the Epifcoparians, and fuppofed in this very Argument, that the Apostles did for a Time govern the Church of Jerusalem all of them together. But I cannot fee any Reason to give up Mr. Lowtb’ s Argu- ment at fo easy a Rate. ?vlr. Norman hath given us the Greek of Eufehius in the Margin ; which Valefiiis and the Engllflo Tranllator above- p p 3 mention dg

598 -^^ Exposition on the

Art.xxiii. mention’d, and Mr. Norman are for rendering WTN as the Englrjh Translation hath it: — Undertook together wttb the Apostles the Government of the church. The Words are, .tetTai J nv “‘kilkw- cidLv yATti ‘niv AgrAftjy. It may be no great Pre- fumption, ‘tis to be hoped, if I offer at another Translation of thcfe Words, and submit it to the unprejudiced Reader when I have done, whether it be not the most natuiral of the two. /tcLSiui/.i in my Lexicon signifies as much as ac-’ cipo per alhim quasi per 7?ianus traditum that is, to receive by or from another as when a h’tng is delivered to us by another Persons Hands. And the Prepofition u-m: signifies Per By or From, as well as Cum., JVtth - fo that I take the Engljlj of these Words to be, that he re- ceived the Church (/. e. the Government and Charge of it) by or from the Apostles.

The next Father which Mr. Lowth appeals to in order to prove that St. James was made Bifliop of Jerusalem^ is Dionyfius Bishop of Co- rinth , and for a Proof that this is attested by him, he refers us to the 4fh Book of EufebiuSj Chapter the 23d : I must be fo ingenuous as to own that I cannot find any such Paifage, tho* I have carefully peruied the whole Chapter. Mr. Bingham., in the first Volume of his Anti- quities, Book 2. Chap. I. afferts the fame • and directs us to Lionyfitis’s Epiftle to the Athenians^ in the Book and Chapter of Eu’ebms above- mention’d : But ‘tis certain that the Extracfl or Abridgment of this Bpiille, for the Chapter hath nothing more of it, contains no such Thing. Whether these learned Gentlemen have made Ufe of any other Edition of Eufehius be- fides that put out by Valejius, and whether this Paffage be there, or whether they are mistaken.

Tbirty-Nine Articles. 599

I cannot take upon me to fay ; but fuppofing Art. xxiTI, the latter to be the Cafe, I must take the Li- OOX bcrty to tell Mr. Norfjmn that tho’ it may be true that Mr. Lowtb may not escape the Ccnfure of him and his Brethren upon this Account, yet my Comfort is that their Cenfure will do him but very little Harm : for fo well is the Reputa- tion of that truly-excellent Person ellablifhed, fo fully ienfible hath the World been made of his great and uncommon Learning and Abilities, as likewile of Mr. Bingbam\ that ‘tis in vain to endeavour to leflen either of them ; especially by nibbling at an unwary Expn flion, or a Slip of the Pen, which 1 bslieve no Mm ‘s any frer from than from any other Inilancc of h-mm Frailty whatsoever. I’hirdly, Mr. Lowth nr.en- tions Clement of Alexandria as attelting that St. James was constituted Bishop of Jcrufalcm ; for whose Testimony we are likewile dircd:ed to Etifehius Book the second. Chapter the first. Now Eufehius faith Mr. Not man. it must *’ be owned, doth fay, that Clement ipeaks of ’ St. fames % being cholen Bishop of Jtrnfalem ; but it may not be improper, he says, lo take ” notice, that the Historian mentions this as ’ contained in a Work of that Father’s, called his Institutions : Which (as a very confidera- * ble Man tells us, the learned Critick PbotiuSj ’ who had feen it) was full of Errors. ” Now, who would expect such Reasoning as this from a Man that argues in the 52d Page of this Book C’viz. his Defence &c.J in the following man- ner 1 ” Now we will fuppofe Fhilofiorgius to be

such a notorious Lyar as Mr. Lowtb has repre- ” fented him, and Socrates to be an Historian ’^ of much better Credit j Is it not poflible

that Pbilofiorgius fhould he once in the right,

’^ and Socrates mistaken ?” But not to quarrel

P p 4 with

6oo j4n Exposition on the

Art. xxni. with Mr. Norman for small Matters, I will */VN agree with him that the Testimony of this Fa- ther shall not be admitted any farther than ‘tis agreeable to what other Writers have delivered upon the fame Subject. But Mr. Nor7nan does not seem to lay a great deal of Stress upon this, but faith, ” Be this as it will, when I consider how ” that PafTage is e:sprered, it does not appear ’ to me that it can be of any great Advantage ” to Mr. Lowth in this Argument. ” Clement it seems, says, ” That Peter James and John ’ tho’ they were preferred by Jcfus Christ to ’ the other Apostles, did not contend among ” themi elves for the first Degree of Honour, *’ but ehofe St. Jariies to be Bishop of Jerufa- ” km:” As if it were a greater Degree of Honour to be confined to Jerusalem than to have a Commiilion from Christ which extended to all Nations, and to be Bishop of a particular Diocese, was a greater Dignity than the Apo- ftolick Office itlelf Ail that I need to fay in Answer to thisj is, that I never heard or knew the Preference occasion’d by a Seniority either of Persons or Things fo much wondered at be- fore in my Life, and 1 hope 1 never fhail again ; and to my Knowledge a Deference hath been paid to a Diffenting Mmifter, by his Brethren, on the account of his Age, when his personal Merit and Abilities have required nothing of this kind. The last of the Antients cited by Mr. Lo’Wtb to prove that St. “James was by the Apo- ftles confdtuted Bishop oi Jerusalem is St. Je- rom ; but he being reckoned among the Writers of the fijih Century Mr. Norman faith, ’ He ’ mufl be fuppoled to have his Accounts rela- ’ ting to the primitive Church from those who fiounfhcd in the Ages before him: and there- fore if he does mention St Janws as Bifliop

Thirty -l^tne Articles. 6o\

• of Jcrufalem which he could not fay, be- Art. xxiit. ’ cause he had not his Works by him to exa- V0/’N ” mine the Chapter referred to, if he says no ” more than Mr. Lowth has made appear to ” have been said by the Fathers of the second ” Century, it does not come up to his Purpose ; ’ and if he aflerts more than they did, he thinks ’ his Authority may without Offence be juftly ” called in question.” What the Fathers which Mr. LoisJth hath quoted have been made appear to fay, must be left to the Reader to consider of. I hope they will be thought to have said enough but 1 am willing to believe, that no unprejudiced Perfbn will think it to be amifs if I add the Teflimony of Dionyfius of Aleyiandriay which is contained in the 7th Book of Eufebius, and Chapter the 19th : ” The Episcopal Chair ’ of JarrJes the firfl Bishop of Jerusalem who ” was consecrated by our Saviour himself, and ” the Apoflles, (who in holy Writ is honoured ’ with the Title of Brother of Christ) being ” reserved till this Time, the Brethren, who ’ have succeeded in that Church do reverence ’ it : ” Hence they plainly manifefl to all what great Veneration and Refpedt both the Antients and also those of our Age have and do pay to holy Men, for their Love to God. This Father fiourifhed about the Middle of the third Cen- tury. I am very willing to take leave of this Subjed:, but I must confess that I cannot with- out Indignation take notice upon this Occasion, that all the glorious Lights of the Christian Church in the fourth and fifth Centuries, whose Names can scarcely be mentioned without De- ference and Veneration by any true Sons of the Church of Christ, must be wholly fet aside, and implicitly (at least) ftigmatized with Innovation gnd prevaricating from the Evangelical Inftitu-

tion

[…]

Art. XXIII. tion and Apoftolical Eftablifhment of the Chri- V/VN-/’ ftian Church, to make way for the Congrega- tional Scheme ; which makes the fagacious Au- thor of the Enquiry Jay such ftri6t Injunctions as he does in his Preface upon any that (hould consider his elaborate Work, not to ftir a HairV Breadth from the third Century of the Church: for to the glorious Basil Gregories Cbryfoftom Augufttne or any of their Cotemporaries, he dares not appeal , knowing how notoriously the Catholick Church of God, then acknowledged in the World, and ever since, had Diocefes and Churches of a very different Constitution from his. ThisConfideration, I verily believe, would a little affed fome fort of modest Men ; but 1 leave it to themselves.

A s to Mr. Normans Demand, Whether one Bishop governed the several Congregations of the Church of Jerusalem? I answer, That St. James was, as I have proved, Bishop of that Church : And Mr. Nor man knows what that means, and that he knows the Independent Maxim of one Bishop to a Church as well as I do. As to his other Query, Whether St. James governed the Church of Jerusalem as a Bishop, or as an Apostle? I think I have answered it already out of Mr. Baxter-^ and Vis to no purpofc for Mr. Norman to tell us that Mr. Baxter hath laid one thing in one Place and another thing in another, or that he is not concerned to appear in Defence of Mr. Baxter s Notions. What I expe6t from him is, that he should answer Mr. Baxter s Arguments ; because, as Mr. Norman argues with relation to Bishop Stillingfleefs Jrcnium^ the Reason of them, unanswered by Mr. Baxter or any Body elfe, prevails with me and with several other Perlbns, tho’ we are far from

being

Thirty “‘Nine Articles. (5o3

being Ignorant that there is such a Book in the Art. xxiil. World as Richard against Baxter, In a Word, V’VXJ I hope what the blefled Martyr King Charles I. aflerts in his Reply to the first Answer of the Presbyterian Divines, hath been sufficiently made good, viz, ” That tho’ the Apostles had no ” Succeffors in eundmngradum as to those Things ’ that were extraordinary in them, as namely, ’ the Measure of their Gifts, the Extent of their ’ Charge, the Infallibility of their Dodrine, ” and the having itQn Christ in the Flesh ; yet ’ in those Things that were not extraordinary ’ (and such those Things are to be judged *’ which are neceffary for the Service of the ’ Church in all Times, as the Office of Teach- ’ ing and Power of Governing are) they were ’ to have and had Succeflbrsj and therefore ” (continues he) the learned and godly Fathers ’ and Councils of old Times did usually ftile ” Biftiops the Succeffors of the Apostles, with- ’ out ever fcrupling thereat.” But how con- vincingly foever this may be made out now, or hereafter, our Adversaries will still advance and alfert, that the succeeding the Apostles in the ordinary Part of their Office, makes them Parochial Bishops, that is, Presbyters. This Mr. Norman doth in his Defence &c. p. 15. and this the Author of the Enquiry &c. doth at full length in the 4th Chapter of his Book. ” The Definition of a Presbyter, he faith, may ” be this : A Peribn in Holy Orders, having ” thereby an inherent Right to perform the ” whole Office of a Bishop ; but being pof- ” feffed of no Place, or Parish, not adually ’ difcharging it, without the Permiffion and ’ Consent of the Bifhep of a Place or Parish.” But left this Definition ftiould seem oblcure, he proceeds tp illustrate it by this following In-

stance:

OOTN^ ^t

604 An Expofitioii on the

JkRTxxiil. stance : ’ As a Curate hath the fame Mifflon and Power with the Minister, whose Place he supplies ; yet being not the Minister of that Place, he cannot perform there any Ads of his Ministerial Function, without Leave from the Minister thereof; So a Presbyter had the fame Order and Power (he means for the three fir ft Centuries) with a Bishop whom he aflifted in his Cure yet being not the Bishop or Minister of that Cure, he could not there perform any Parts of his Pastoral Office, without the Permiflion of the Bishop thereof o that what we generally render BiPoops Priests and Beacons would be more intelli- gible in our Tongue, if we did express it by ” Reorsy Vicars and Deacons by Recflors understanding the Bishops, and by Vicars the Presbyters the former being the adtual In- cumbents of a Place, and the latter Curates or Affiftants, and fo different in Degree, but yet equal in Order/’ In answer to this, it will be neceflary to inquire into the Sense and Judgment of Antiquity, concerning the holy Rite or solemn Office of promoting a Presbyter to the Station of a Bishop ; wherein I observe, (after the Example of the Enquirer himself, p. 10.) I. That the fame IVord which all An- tiquity uies for expreffing the Promotion of a Layman to a Deacon, or a Deacon to a PreC- byter, they used also for the Promotion of Presbyters into the Station of a Bishop : ‘Tis Ordination of Bishops, as well as of Friefts and Deacons, in the familiar Language of the Fa- thers : This our Enquirer owns, for he hath quoted an Authority from St. Cyprian for it, p. 49. and ‘tis too obvious a Matter to need any Proofs. Hence I argue, in his own Words, J. 67. ’ If the fame appellation of a Stbing h&

a

u

(C

Tbirty-‘N’me Articles. 605

a good Proof for the Identity of its Nature Art. xxiil, ’ then the Rite of confecrating a Bishop must L/W ” confer a new Order upon him, because the ’”’ fame Name is as familiarly used for it, as for the Rite of ordaining a Presbyter, who ” undoubtedly had a new Order conferred upon ” him by it.” In this manner our Enquirer proves hisBifhops and Presbyters to be of one and the.fame Order, from the Identity of their Names, QEfiqui- ry p. 67.) and those Names sufficiently liable to diftindt Conftrudtions, as 1 have fhewn before ; and tho’ the Argument would have had confi- derable Vv’ eight in it, if he had proved the main Thing necelfary there, namely, that a Presbyter was ordinarily, or indeed ever called a Bijhop after the Apoftolical Age was a little over ; yet for want of that (which he did not, and I am free to fay, he cannot prove) his Argument, I think, cannot come up to the Application I make of it here ; fmce the Word Ordination for making of Bishops, has been authentick in all Ages of the Church, without any Mark of Diftindion put upon it ; and for Fathers, Councils and Historians generally to make ufe of it, where no Order is given at all, not only puts a Force upon the Word it self, but is little less than an Imposition upon all Poflerity also, by applying one nd the fame common Term to solemn Rites of the Church, of fo near a Re- semblance to one another in all visible Appear- ance, and yet io vastly different in the Intention of the Church, as our Enquirer’s Angular Notion of it would make it to be ; tho’, 1 believe, he is the first who ever ventured to tell the World, that Ordination in the making of a Bishop, did in our Language signify no more than an /- Jl ailment (as I observed before), and now again will have the Meaning of it to be a Presbyter’s

Infiitution

6o6 Jn Exposition on the

Art, XXIII. Inftittitkn and Induction into a Cure ; which

[…]

more than was necelTary to his Cause.

But, lecondly, as the Name, fb the Rite it lelf of conftituting a primitive Bishop, deserves to be considered : A single Bishop, by the an- cient Canons of the Church, and by sufficient Evidence besides, might ordain a Presbyter or Deacon ; but to make a Bijhop^ a whole Pro- vince of Bishops (our learned Enquirer knows) did most commonly afTcmble, and with the like holy Ceremony by which all Orders of the Church were conferred, that is, by Imposition of Hands and Prayers, did collate that Power and Character upon him, which ever after, and never before (as far as Fadt and Words together can prove it) he was invested in ; and if the former be the giving of an Order by a single Hand, and this latter but a License (as it were) to ufe it, or, as our learned Author chules to exprels it, but a formal Installment into an Epif- copal Chair j then the greater facrcd Solemnity*, this united Application of an Apoftolical Rife to it, and this joint-fynodical Invitation of the holy Spirit for it, are all of them to fo singular and indifferent a Purpose, as is not to be paral- leled (we may safely fay) in any other minifle- rial Solemnity in the whole Oeconomy of the Christian Church.

Thirdly, By this Ordination the promoted Presbyter became a Member of a diflind Eccle- fiaflical College, from all other Officers or Mini- fters in the Church , from whence St. Cyprtan {6 peculiarly calls the Bishops his CoUegues in that higher Function with him, which (as hum- ble as he was) he never once applied to Presby-

ters

Tbirty-Nine Articles. 607

ters or Deacons *i tho’ the learned Enquirer Art. xxiir. hath been pleaied to aflert the contrary, and, as -/’” it were, without making the least Attempt to prove it : And we know one immediate EfFe6t of it was, that he gained a rulmg Power over both of them, tho’ he was but a Co-ordinate Brother to the Highest of them before : And such as are curious to fee how such diftind Colleges implied diftind Orders in them, in the Nature of the Thing, may find it learnedly argued by the late fmgularly-learned and inquifitive Antiquary Mr. Dodwell, in his tenth Differtation upon St, Cyprian,

But, 4thly, This promoted Presbyter, from the Time he had paffed under the Provincial Impoiition of Hands, acquired a Prerogati\e parallel to that of God’s High-Priest among the Jews. Ihvs St. Cyprian not only makes the Rebellion of his Presbyters and others against him, of the fame kind with that of Corab., Da- than and Abiram against Aaron - but affirms the fame Law which God gave for the High- Priest, or any the fupremeft Ruler whatsoever, to judge decisively in the great Council of their Sanbedrim and to punish the Offender, did au- thorize theChriftian Biinop to judge and cenfure rebellious Schifmaticks within his Jurifdidion. So he alTures Rogatian a BiOiop in his Pro- vince t i and applies it to his own and Cornelius’s Cafe, in another Epiftle f : where he gives us a further Character of his promoted Presbyter’s

■* See Cyp. Ep. 28. (which is what our Author refejrs to, and is a dired Evidence agaiiiil him) and Ep. 34. + Cyp. Ep. 3. §. I. t Ep. S9^ §. 4.

Dignity

6o8 Jn Eipofition on the

Art. XXIII. Dignity too, n)iz. that he was then become the yy” one Judge, as well as the one High-Priest and Chrifi’s Vicegerent in the Church. Farther, he is from that Time peculiarly ranked in the Number of the Apostles Succejjors to whom they themselves committed their Churches and delivered up to them their Place of Mafterfhip, or Magifterial Authority in them. So Irenceus says in plain Terms, and in that very Place where he was proving Orthodoxy from the per- fonal SucceHion of them, which our Enquirer owns related to the supreme Presbyter or Biftiop alone *. Again, St. Cyprian minds Cornelius, Bifliop of Rome to be zealous with him of the Unity of the Church, because it came from the Lord, and by the Apostles (says he) to us their Succeffors f. Firmtlian stiles Bi(hops the Apo- ftles SuccefTors by a Vicarious Ordination t. And the Confeffor Clarus a Mafcula (a Bi- Ihop in the Carthaginian Council under St. C- frian) gives this unanfwerable Suffrage for it : The Sentence, faith he, of our Lord Jefiis Christ is manifest, who fent his Apostles, and granted to them alone the Power which was given to him of the Father, whom we succeed, governing the Church of the Lord with the fame Power §. ”

Lastly, He prcfided in the Confiftory (to ufe St. Ignatius\ Words) in the Place of God, whilft the Presbyters (in Analogy to that Com- parifon) fat as a College of Apoftles under him.

t Enquiry, p. 12, 15.

[…]

and

thWty-Kine Articles. fep

and then the Deacons as intriifted with the mi- Art. xxiir. nifterial Service of Jesus Christ . Very firgu- ^s.yy\J, lar Phrases ! for exprefling Officers, whereof any two were of the fame Order. These and many such Characters of a common Presbyter^ after Ordination by Provincial Bishops, which ‘twould be tedious to fet down, are frequently to be met with in the Writings of the Primi- tive Fathers, whereof not one of them was attributed to him ‘till then, or to any in that inferior Station wherein he stood before ; and if these AccefHons of fuperlative Titles, Prero- gatives, and Jurifdiclion^ denote no other Or- der conferr’d upon him than he had before, it will be very difficult to conceive, in what Senle the Jewish High-Priest, the Christian Apostles, the fupremeft Judges and Rulers in Societies, or the peculiar Vicegerents of God hrnfelf, are of a higher Order in Church and State, than all other Men of whatsoever Dignity or Station in any of them besides.

The next Proposition which I am to prove, is, that the Power of Ordination hath ever in- communicably belong’d to the Order which we now call Bishops.

That the Apostles had this Power, and that timothy and Titus had it, is acknowledged by all who allow of Ord’tiation, either by Bishops or Presbyters. But our Adversaries have been challenged long since to produce one Ordination during the first fifteen hundred Years after Christ which was perform’d by Presbyters, and not generally look’d upon as invalid. W hereas, on

• Igaat. Epill. ad Magnef. §. 6.

Q_q the

6io ^n Exposition on the

Art. xxill. the Other hand, they who have been ordained Kyr\J by mere Presbyters in the Primitive Times, have been dripped of their pretended Orders, and with Derifion turned down to the Laick Form. A famous and known Instance is Jfcby” ras who was deposed by the Synod of Alexan- dria because Colluthus who ordain’d him, was fuppofed to be no more than a Presbyter, tho’ pretending to be a Bishop. The Council of Sardica and the Council of Sevil in Spain aded in like manner on the like Occasions.

But ‘tis objected, that St. Paul exhorts Ti- met by not to negle the Gift that was in him ivhich was given him by Prophecy with the lay- ing on of the Hands of the Presbytery i Ttm. iv. 14. Now fmce there were apparently two Sorts of Presbyters when this Epiftle was writ- ten ; one which had Power over other Presby- ters, and o by Consequence another which was lubordinate or in Subjed:ion to this first Sort ; one which answers to that Order which we call Bishops, and another which answers to the Or- der which we call Presbyters , o that the Pref bytery here spoken of might be an AiTembly of the Apoilles themselves : For to make this Sense the more probable, we may observe, that Igna- tnis a Disciple of the Apostles,* called the Apostles, the Presbytery of the Church, and made ufe of the very fame Greek Word that is here used in the Original : I would fain know which is moll reasonable, to explain the Text agreeably to the constant Sentiments and Prac- tice of the most ancient Writers, and the Primi- tive Church, or to the novel Fancies of those who are but of Yesterday ?

• Epift. ad Phihd.

z Mr.

Thirty-‘Nme Articles. 6fi

Mk. Norman hath two Things to fay npon Art. xxiii this Head : i. He faith, ” That though Igna- ’ tms life the Words in that Sense, it does not *’ follow, that it was an Affembly of Apostles * who laid their Hands on Timothy!’ Very tne, but it follows, that the Laying on of the Hands of the Presbytery is an ExprelTion no way repugnant to our Scheme, and because capable of a double Signification, not plain enough to introduce new Prad:ices into the Church, in Opposition to what is already eftablifled, and as much, if not more, favoured by the Text on which this Opposition is built, as what Mr. Norman and his Brethren would have fubfti- tuted in the Room of it.

2. Mr. Norman faith, / That Ignatius (peaks ’ of fleeing to the Gospel as to the Flesh of ’ Chrlft, and to the Apostles as to the Pre ’ bytery of the Church ; and if the Gospel be ” not the Flesh of Christ, he submits it to ’ Consideration, whether from that Father’s Way of Speaking, we are to conclude, that an Affembly of Apostles miy properly be ’ called the Presbytery of the Church.” Now, if there be any-thing in this Argument it must be this, that if one Branch or Member of a Sentence be figurative, the Remainder of it must not be understood literally. This Gen- tleman knows that our Saviour faith of himself in the Revelation I am the bright and Morning Star- I am the Offspring of David. The former Part of these Words are figurative, and what will Mr. Norman fay of the latter ? Surely o intelligent a Perfbn as Mr. Norman never fur- prized the World with such Reaibning as this is before!

Q_q 2 But

6 1 2 An Exposition on the

[…]

Kjr>r>u

bytery here spoken of was an AlTembly of mere Presbyters, which I can as yet fee no Neceflity for ; yet it appears from 2 1’im. i. 6. that St. Paul was concern’d in fimothys Ordination. The Text runs thus. Wherefore I put thee in Remembrance that thou fur up the Gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my Hands. And therefore, the utmost that can be deduced from this Text, uiz. 1 fim. iv. 14. is this, “vtz. That one or more of such as were mere Pref byters, might lay on their Hands in Concurrence with him, to testify their Consent and Appro- bation • as is the Custom at th’s Day in the Ordination of a Presbyter, and has been fome- times done at the Ordination of a Bishop.

This, as fome learned Gentlemen have been of Opinion, is at least exceeding probable from the Prepofition c/i, or, which is annexed to St. Paul’s laying on of Hands and from the Prepofition fsTa or ‘with which precedes the laying on of the Hands of the Presbytery , the former of them proving St. Paul to be the prin- cipal Conveyor of the Authority which was given to I’lmothyj and the latter indicating the Presbytery to be a Company of subordinate Ailiftants. But as Criticism is, as I have hinted already, too little a Part of this Argument to be long dwelt upon, I pass on to another Diffi- culty, which our Objedors ought to clear, be- fore they argue- from i im. iv. 14. with fo much AiTurance as they do : I mean, that they should fliew that timothy s Ordination is there int€nded* To argue upon the Suppofition that it is, will do our Cause, as hath been feen, no Hurt j but methinks, thoie Writers of ours that

observe

Tbirty-Nme Articles. (5 13

observe how frequently laying on of Hands was Art. XXIII. ufcd in other Cafes besides Ordination, and of -''''V how large and comprehensive a Signification the Word Gift is, are too considerable to be fo en- tirely negledted as they seem to be by the Ad- vocates for the Presbyterian and Independent Schemes. Dr. Cala?ny would fain have 2 im, i. 6. refer to timothys receiving the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of the Hands of the Apostle ; but lurely, if the Gift in this latter Place may signify the Holy Ghost, it may alio o it in the former, for I can find nothing in the Context that will determine the Signification of the one more than the other.

T N a Word, the Neceflity of Ordination, and of Ordination by luch as we call Bishops, is here proved in the fame manner that the DilTenters prove that such and such Books are Canonical Scripture, and were written by thoie whose Names they bear ; that we are to ob- serve the Lord’s-Day infteadofthe JewiJJoSdb’ bath, and to baptize Infants. And how unequal it is not CO allow the fime Force where there is the fam.e Evidence, is left to all impartial Judges %o determine.

But still it is objeded, that we hereby Un- church the Reformed Churches abroad. My Answer is, That these Churches are irregular as to the Point in Debate , but inafinuch as they have affured us, that ‘tis not Choice which makes them be v/ithout such as we call Bishops, but Neceflity , on the Account of which I hope any polltive Institution may be difpenfed with j w-e neither judge them nor defpife them. And ‘tis with a great deal of Satisfidion that I ob- serve, that they join with us in accufiag thoie Q.q 3 of

^14 ^n Exposition on the

Art.xxhi. of our own Countrymen, who in this particular

L/^VN-^ rebel againfl: the best constituted Church in the

World, as Schifmaticks and disorderly Walkers.

CLF/As for instance, faith, ” Thit no Anathema is too great for such as refuse to ” reverence and obey such an Hierarchy, ’ such an Epifcopacy as ours is ” His own Words are in the Margin, X and are much stronger than my Tranllation of them. Let Monsieur VAngle one of the Preachers of the Reformed Church at Charenton near Paris in his Letter to the Bishop o London dated Oo- her 31, 1680. who was himself a Presbyterian, be heard as his Interpreter, who should, one “v’ould think, be free from the lead Suspicion of explaining him in a higher Sense than his Words were plainly intended to bear. ” Calvin *’ faith he, in his Treatiie of the Neceflity of ’ the Reformation, makes no Difficulty to fay, ’ That if there (hould be any fo unreasonable *’ as to refuse the Communion of a Church ’ that was pure in its Worship and Dodrine, ’ and not to submit themselves with refpedt to its Government, under Pretence that fhe had retained an Epifcopacy qualify ‘d as yours is, there would be no Cenfure nor Rigour of Discipline that ought not to be cxercifed up- on them.” 1 will take it upon me to alfuie

■^ Talem nobis Hierarcliiam fi exhibcant in qua iic emi- jicant Epifcopi utChrifto iiibcilc non recuicnt, ut ab illotan- quam ab uno capitc pendeant, 8c ad ipllim rcfcrantur i in cui- lie inter fe fraternani Ibcictatcm coiant, ut non alio modq quam ejus vcritate lint colligati s turn vero nuUo non Ana- thematv; ciignos fatcar li qui crunt qui non earn revercanlur fumm-aauc obedientiu obfcrycnt. ‘Calv. Edit, Amilel. Tom. S. P. 62.

the

Thtrty-Nme Articles. 615

the Reader, that Zanchy declares himself to be Art.xxiii. of the fame Opinion, though, because I have - not his Works by me, I cannot refer the Rea- der to the Place where be does it. Let us therefore hear Mr. V Angle a little further : ” Beza himself, continues he, who did not in ” the general approve of Episcopal Govern- ’ ment, makes such a Diftindtion of yours, ’ and is fo far from believing that one may, ” or one o Light to take Occasion from thence ” to fcparate from your Church, that he prays ” earneftjy to God that fhe may always remain ’ in that happy I’slate in which fhe had been ’ put and prelerved by the Blood, by the Pu- ’ rity of the Fairh, and by the wife Conduct ’ of her exce!l nt Bishops.” f Monsieur Le Moyne ProfefTor of Divinity at Lcyden in his Letter to the fame mod excellent Prelate, not only profeffes that he can fee nothing in the Episcopal Government that is dangerous, and may reasonably alarm Mens Conlciences, but also faith, That if this be capable of depriv- ’ ing us of Eternal Glory, and (hutting the ” Gates of Heaven, who was there that enter’d there for the Space of Fifteen hundred Years, ’ since that for all that Time all the Churches ’ of the World had no other kind of Go- ” vernment ?” He goes on celebrating the just Praises of Bishops in the Catholick Church, and in ours in particular, but this I shall leave

[…]

Qq 4 the

6x6 An Exposition on the

[…]

Monsieur Claude another of the Ministers of the Reformed Church at Charenton in his Letter to the fame Bifnop faith, ’ That it was ” an indifpenfable NeceHity that put their ” Churches under the Presbyterian Govern- ” ment at the Reformation/’ The learned Grotius was for having the Clergy of the Church which he belong’d to, ordained by Bishop ir/;- Joall who was then in those Parts, as appears to any body that will consult hij Letters, in the best Edition of his Book concerning the ruth of the Christian Religion. ” I have always ” profeffed, fa’th Mr. Le Clerc to believe, that Epiicopacy is of Apoftolical Institution, ” and consequently very good, and very law- ” ful ; that Men had no manner of Right to change it in any Place, unless it was im- poffible otherwise to reform the Abuses that crept into Christianity ; that it was juftly preserved in England where the Reformati- on was pra61:icable, without altering it : That therefore the Protestants in England and other Places where there are Bishops, do very ill to separate from that Dilcipline , that they would flill do much worse in attempting to destroy it, in order to fet up Presbytery, ” Fanaticifm, and Anarchy. Things ought ” not to be turned into a Chaos, nor People feen every where, without a Call, and with’ out Learning, pretending to Inspiration. — - Nothing is more proper to prevent them

(C

• This Gcnrlcman, if not alive, cannot have been long dead,

^’ than

nirty-Nme Articles. 6x7

[…]

The Letter from Geneva to the University of Oxford ipeaks the fame Lanf;uage it laments our unhappy Differences, it blames our Diffen- ters highly, and declares that Epifcopacy is wanted among them, not out of Choice, but downright real Neceility : By the Means of which Letter a Mifunderftanding was removed, and a very good Understanding settled betwixt the two Places, which, I hope, the youngest Perfbn now living will never fee the End of. That any of these Letters were obtained by Milreprefentations, or any other Methods not altogether to be justified, as Mr. Norman in- finuates in the 56th Page of his Defence c. is fo hard a Reflection upon fo many excellent Peribns, that I wonder he was not ashamed to fuggeft it, without a very great Degree of Evi- dence ; and much more that he could venture to do it, and at the fame Time acknowledge that he hath no Proof, besides his own kind and charitable Suppofition. Surely one may ven- ture, without the least Offence, to call this a very bold and delperate Way of proceeding. Nor is there a s:rcat deal more Modesty in what he af- ferts in the next Period , ” That the Reformed ’• Churches abroad are without Dtocefan Epif ’ copacy, and that this is a Cafe of Neccffity, ’” is afferted without the leafl Shadow of Rea- fon” This likewise is usher’d in with an uncommon Degree of Affurance. his faith he, we are fur e of Well, then, the Letter from Geneva which did not come from a few parti- cular

6i8 Jn Exposition on the

Art. XXIII, cular Men, but from a whole Society, is what

K^rY>^

1 humbly offer to Mr. Normans serious Perufal? not forgetting Mr. Btnghams Book, intitled, he French Churches Apology for the Church of England, Book IV. Chap. 4. which hath been already recommended by his learned Adversary Mr. Loivth but to no manner of Purpose, for he is not pleas’d to take the lead Notice of it. In the next place let me refer him to Bishop Burnet’s Exposition upon this Article, where he will find it alferted, that there is as great a Ne- ceflity for submitting to a Presbyterian Ordi- nation in the foreign Reformed Churches, as there was for the Je’-jvs to submit to Caiaphas as High-Priest. The Governments they live un- der, as he tells us, compel them to it, for feve- ral political Reasons, which, as his Lordship was long converfant among them, he had very fair Opportunities of discovering. As to what he says about the French Churches refusing to receive a Clergy ordained by £“7/?/// Bishops, though earneftly follicited to it, and particularly by Bi(hop Moreton I can only answer at present, that ‘tis impoiliblc to know whether, if we fuppofe it to be true, it affeds the Matter in Debate, ‘till we know the Reasons upon which this Refusal was grounded. Mr. Norman hath neither told us the Story at full Length, nor directed us where to find it, and therefore I Ihall content myielf with telling him another, but much better attested than this which he offers upon his bare Word. ” First then, my Lord, faith Monsieur Claude to the Bishop * of London we are fo very fir from believing * that a Mvan cannot live with a good Con- ” science under your Discipline, and under your ” Episcopal Government, that in our ordinary ’ Pradice, we make no Difficulty to beftow

” our

[…]

Thirty-lShie Articles. 619

” our Chairs, or to commit the Care of our Art. xxiir. ’ Flocks to Ministers received and ordained by ’ my Lords the Bishops, as might be justified ” by a great Number of Examples, both old ” and new ; and a little while since Mr. Du- ’ plffi that was ordained by my Lord Bishop ” of Lincoln., hath been eftablifhed and called ** in a Church of this Province , and Monsieur Wiccart whom you, my Lord, received to ’ the Holy Ministry, did us the Honour but ” fbme Months ago, to preach at Charenton to *’ the general Edification of our Flock/’ That fome of the Trench Ministers that fled hither from Persecution, did not procure thcmfelves to be Epifcopally ordained, may, for ought I know, be Matter of Fad, which if they had done, they would have been qualified for the taking of such Ecclefiaftical Preferments as they could find Friends to procure for them ; and this I am apt to think is the Piece of Self- Den ial that Mr. ‘Norman fo artfully afcribes to them. But, alas ! He must be a great Stran- ger to the World, who imagines that they might not be under a greater Temptation of a worldly Nature, to herd among the Sedaries, than to conform to the Church oi EnHand in which Mr. Norman knows there are a great many very poor Livings, besides Curacies, and many Mini- fters whose Incomes are a great deal \ts than the Salaries and other Gratuities which the Diften- ters, in leveral Places, bestowed upon their Teachers about Thirty or Forty Years ago. But as to the main Body of the Pefugees, ‘tis as notorious as any thing can poffibly be, that they crowded for Episcopal Orders and Prefer- ment fo thick, that it becameatiafta Grievance both to the Clergy and Laity of this Church,

and

6io J^n Eypofition on the

Art. XXIII. and made it to be doubted by fome, whether L/VNw^ Conscience was not the pretended, and Conve- niency the real Motive which prevail’d upon Ibmc of them to forfake their native Country.

But if the Neceflity which is alledged in behalf of the foreign Reformed Churches be nothing but a Pretence or Sham, I shall leave to Mr. Norman the Honour of branding them with the Charader of Hypocrites, a Compli- ment not much more acceptable, I believe, than the Calling in Queflion the Regularity of their Ordinations.

Upon a Review of what I have said under this Article, I judge it neceffary to fay fome- what concerning the Miniftration of the Sacra- ments. We fee that the Confecration of the Lord’s Supper w-as committed to the Ministers of the Church, i Cor. xi. as the Power of Bap- . tizing was Matth. xxviii. 19. And all Commif^ fions are naturally exclusive of all such as they are not granted to. Nor is it pretended by any Writer of Note, (if by any Christian) that the Confecration of the Lord’s Supper belongs to any but the Ministry. Much Dispute indeed hath been raised concerning the Validity of Baptism given by private Christians : But they who contend for the Validity of Lay-Baptism, allow it to be irregular and unlawful, which is as much as 1 am concerned to prove. ^

I

Thirty-Wine Articles. 6%x

I THINK it proper to observe to the Reader, Art. xxill. that (bme of the Books hereunder referred to, C/’W^ have indeed been written against ; but that Writing against a Book is one Thing, and An- fwering it another.

Before I conclude my Observations uon of the minter- this Article, 1 think it not amifs to take Notice P ’[’ pf those Gentlemen, who have of late Years -’ made themselves fo merry with the Notion of an uninterrupted Succeflion of Bishops. I ques- tion not but that this is looked upon by many of them as a Point maintained by none but High-Church-Men, High-Flyers, c. as fome of the Clergy and other Members of the Church have the Honour to be diftinguifhed by them. I am therefore exceeding glad, that I can tell them that Bishop Burnet who cannot, I am sure, be accused of letting his Zeal for the Church of England get the Start of his Judg- ment, hath not only confuted the Popijlj Story of the Nags-Heady in his Abridgment of the History of the Reformation Book IV. pag. 364. but is alio chargeable with this Dodrine of the Uninterrupted Succeflion, as well as a great many other eminent Divines. His Words, faith the learned Mr. Lcwth in his Answer to Mr. ’ 34- NormaUy are very remarkable in his Preface to

[…]

his

62 1 j4n Exposition on the

Art. XXIII. his Regale ; where, speaking of the Epilcopa!

yy Form of Government, he faith, ” I do verily ” believe it was begun by the Apostles, and ” continned down in an uninterrupted Succef- ” fion, in all Parts of the World, to our Days.” P 55/ As to his (Mr. Normans) Demand, How I prove this Succeflion ” ’ I answer, faith Mr. L, ’ That it being a Dodrine univerfaliy received, ’ that Bishops alone could ordain ; it was morally ’ impoffible that any Persons could be received as Bishops, who had not been ib ordained.”

(C

I HAVE often wondred what Answer could be returned to this excellent Argument, which Mr. Lowth faith^ contains an Historical Truth, against which nothing of Moment hath been at any Time advanced. Mr. Normans Answer to it, Page 75. of his Defence^ &c. is either a little trifling Banter, or elfe nothing but what I have fully consider’d, and, I hope, as fully confuted in several Parts of this Difcourfe. I shall only add, that if the several Oppofitions that were made to Presbyterian Ordination in the Primi- tive Times, which are recorded by the antient Writers of the Church, be not, in this Gentle- man’s Opinion, Historical Evidence, it will puzzle, I believe, the whole World, and him- ielf among the rest, to call them by their right Name. A ColIed:ion of Evidence like this, re- lating to Infant Baptism, is what the learned Dr. IVall calls a History of Infant Baptism, and it hath carried that Title a great many Years, with very great and deserved Applause.

I AM exceeding fenfible how long I have de- tamed the PvCader upon this Article, but I must take the Freedom to desire his Patience a little, while I consider a bold and fmgular Paradox

which

Thirty-lSIme Articles. 623

which Bi(hop Burnet hath advanced in his Ex- Art. xxiiI. position upon the fame Article. U’ hen he comes /VX to consider the second Part of the Article, which is the Definition which it gives of thole that are Lawfully Called and Sent into Christ’s Vineyard; ’ This, he says, is put in general Words, far ” from that magiflerial St’fFnels in which Icme ’ have taken upon them to didate in this Mat- ” ter. The Article, continues he, does not * resolve this into any particular Conflitution, ’ but leaves the Matter open and at large, for ” such Accidents as had happened, and such * as might still happen. They who drew it, ” had the State of the ieveral Churches before ” their Eyes that had been differently reformed, ’ and although their own had been less forced ” to go out of the beaten Path than any other, ’ yet they knew, that all Things among them- ” selves had not gone according to those Rules ” that ought to be sacred in Regular Times. ” Neceflity has no Law, and is a Law to itself.” Now, those whom his Lordship iuppofes to didate in this Matter with such a magiflerial Stiffness, are, at leafl, all other Expofitors on the Articles besides himself All that they can fee in this Place is what I have taken Notice of in the Beginning of these Observations, iz. That fmce the immediate and extraordinary Way of appointing the Peribns who are to mi- nifler in holy Things is over, as it presently was, such Perfbns as are duly ordained by Per- fons authorized for that Purpose, that is, such as receive a mediate or ordinary Call and Mii fion, are, to all Intents and Purposes, as much Miniflers of the Gospel as those who were im- mediately called and fent by God himself The Circumflances and Neceffities which particular Churches had been or might be under, were,

without

6i4 ^n Exposition on the

Art- XXIII. without doubt, before the Eyes of the Com-

C/TN^

pliers of the Articles when they drew them up 5 but it doth not appear that they thought them- selves obl’ged to affert any thing concerning them. Their Bufinefs was to draw up a Con- feflion of Faith, which might be proved to be plainly agreeable to the Word of God, and whatever Compaflion and Tenderness they might have for Persons and Churches which were- con- strained to be irregular^ when they were to de- Jiver their private Judgment, founded upon Charity and the Consideration of God’s infinite Goodnels, who, ‘tis to be. hoped, will in Cafes of Neceflity, difpenfc even with the want of the Sacraments themselves^ yet it would have very ill become them to expreis themselves with fo much AfTurance in a Cafe which is confefTedly a Deviation from the Rule prefcrib’d in the Scriptures, and yet compel us to declare, as they foon after did, in the Thirty-sixth Ca- non, the whole Thirty-nine Articles to be agree- able to the iVord of God. Nay, if it was their Intention to declare themselves with relation to extraordinary Cafes, and not to leave them to be defended when they happen, by such as are concerned in them, it seems ilrange to me how they came to affert. That it is not Lawful to Preach or Admimfter the Sacraments without Or- ders ; since it may certainly happen to be as neceffary for a Man to take upon him to do this as to accept of an irregular Ordination. This the Compilers could not be ignorant of, and I cannot think they could deny and affert the Principle, which the Bilhop faith they built upon, in the lame Breath and in the fame Article, which confifts of no more than two Sentences, and those of a very moderate Length. I know no better Way to explain the Sense of the Church

of

Thirty-Kine Articles. 61^

Ki? England than by comparing what it delivers Art. xxiir- in one Place with what it says in another, it -‘Y”*Vi’ having been esteemed a good Rule among the Learned, to look upon the Articles, Liturgy Homilies, and Canons to be, as it were, the Composition of one Man, and therefore I shall here tranfcribe the first Paragraph of the Pre- face to our Ordination Service, which the Clergy fubftribe to at the fame Time that they fubfcribe to the Articles. ” It is evident unto ” all Men, diligently reading Holy Scripture ’ and ancient Authors, that from the Apostles ’ Time there have been these Orders of Mi- ” nifters in Christ’s Church ; Bishops, Priests, ” and Deacons. Which Offices were evermore ” had in such reverend Estimation, that no ” Man might presume to execute any of them, ” except he were first called, tryed, examined, ” and known to have such Qualities as are re- ” quifite for the fame, and alio by Publick ” Prayer with Imposition of Hands, were ap- ” proved and admitted thereunto by lawful

” Authority. And therefore, to the Intent that * these Orders may be continued, and reve- ” rently used and esteemed in the Church of ” England 5 no Man shall be accounted or *’ taken for a lawful Biihop, Priest, or Deacon in the Church of England or suffer’d to ’ execute any of the said Fundiions, except he ’ be called, tryed, examined, and admitted ’ thereunto, according to the Form hereafter ” following, or hath had form.erly Episcopal ’ Confecration or Ordination.” This, I think, sufficiently vindicates the Church of England from the false, though artificial Gloss, which the Bishop had fb injurioully and with fo much Aifurance given to the latter Part of this Ar- R r tide.

i^(i An Exposition on the

Art.xxiii. tide. I express mylelf in this manner, because ’-/‘“Y”’ he only afferts, with a magiflerial Stiffness what Views the Compilers of the Articles proceeded upon, without giving us the least Proof, and at last fmks, of his own accord, fo low as to fay, that what he afferted to be their Meaning, seems to he fo. But his Lordfliip leaves the Ar- tide, and goes on to argue from the Atonement which was to be made among the Jews by the High-Priest alone. ” Here it may be very ” reasonably fuggefted, he says, that fmce none ’ besides the High-Priest might make this A- ’ tonement, then no Atonement was made, if ’ any other besides the High-Priest should fb ’ officiate.” And then he proceeds to tell us, ’ That the OilBce of the High-Priest was en- ” tailed by God himself on the eldest oi Aaron s ” Family, and that it might not be transferred to any other without a particular Revelation ’ from God himself; That yet several Changes of this kind had been made ; That to lay nothing cf the Changes made by the Macca- ’ h4!esj and all their SuccelTors of the Afmodean Family, as Herod had begun to change the ’ HighPriefthood at Pleasure,fo thRomans not ” only continued to do this, but in a most mer- ’ cenary manner, they let this sacred Function ’ to iale; That the Persons they fold it to were, in Fad, High-Priests, and since the ” People could have no other, the Atonement ” was ftili performed by their Ministry; That our Saviour owned Caiaphas whom he calls ** a facriiegious and ufurping High-Priest, and that as iiich he prophefied : This, he faith, ’ ilievvs, that where the Neceility was real and ” unavoidable, the Jews were bound to think, * that God did m Consideration of that, dil-

’• penfe

Thirty-Nine Articles. 627

” penfe with his own Precept.” And then he ART.xxnt, goes on to apply this to the Cafe of the Re- OOTV formed Churches abroad, and to determine what the real and unavoidable NecefHty is, that will justify a Departure from the Rule which God hath been pleased to eftablifh for the Ordering and Government of his Church. What I have to fay to all this, \s i. That our Bleffed Saviour doth not own Caiaphas in either of the Places referred to by the Bishop, which are John xi. 51. and xviii. 22, 23. St. John indeed, calls him the High-Priest, but whether he had any View to the Dispute before us, or only called him fb in compliance with the Lan- guage of the Times, I leave to be deter- mined by A6is xxiii. 5. 2. If Prophecying be an Argument to prove that our Saviour owned him, it will follow, I think, that Balaam and Saul were High-Pr lefts; and I must leave the Reader to judge, whether God’s permitting this Man to prophecy were designed as a Confirma- tion of his being the High-Priest, or of the Truth of the Christian Religion, in order to render the malicious Opposition of the Jews the more inexcufable. 3. That the Bishop himself calls Caiaphas a facrilegious and ufurp- ing High-Priest, and the Miniftrations or t\Q the Appointments of such High-Priests as he was, as great Nullities as can be well imagined to be. 4. And, that though we charitably hope, and that too with a pretty deal of Firm- ness and AiTurance, that our good and gra- cious God did accept of the best Endeavours of all fmcere Persons among the Jews to do his Will, though they were necelfarily and unavoidably destitute of a lawful Priesthood, fo we doubt not but that he does as readily R r a accept

6x8 An Exposition on the

Art.xXIII. accept of the Devotions of all the pious and V”Y devout Christians belonging to the Foreign Reformed Churches, and of all others, who are neceffarily and unavoidably without a regii’ lar Ministry , yet it will go very hard with a great many of us, to fubfcribe this Article in Bishop Btirnefs Sense, and fo by Confe- quence aiTert, that an irregular Ordination is agreeable to the IVord of God. 5. That the Bishop himself, by his way of Reasoning, makes the Ministers of these Churches to be no more in Holy Orders than Cat af has was High-Priest, or no more than such as are ap- pointed to minister in Holy Things by mere Laymen, fuppofe in fome of our distant Fac- tories or Plantations, and therefore ‘tis strange that he should be fb hot as to call such as are in Reality of his own Opinion, at the Bottom, a hotter fort of Men than their Fore-fathers, who he could not but know inhibited Tra’vers from Preaching in the einple because he had received no other Orders than such as were agreed upon in the National Synods in the LoiV’Countries and consequently that we have as favourable an Opinion of them as they had, with whom, as we agree in fo many great and fundamental Points of Chriflianity, and in the common Cause of all Protestants, we have been constantly ready, and Hill are, to behave ourselves towards them, upon all proper Oc- cafions, with all due Tenderneis and Brotherly Affe5non5 though vve think, that endeavour- ing to please them at the Expence of v/hat we believe to be the ‘irnth is a straining of the Compliment a little too far. 6. And lastly. That ‘tis juftly look’d upon as absurd and trifling t© put Qjaeftions to the Dead, and therefore

as

Thirtv-lSIine Articles.

as his Lordship hath not thought fit to tell us Art. xxill- what those Rules are which our Church hath 0c tranfgrefled, which ought to be sacred in re- gular Times I am afraid I shall never know what those Rules are: but my Comfort is, that he would not, in my Opinion, have neg- ledted to mention them, if there had been the least Hopes that the rest of the World would have thought them to be of as much Confe- quence as he hath been pleased to represent them.

Rr 3

Article

Notes

• See Hooker’s Eccl. Pol. Book V. §. 77. Votter of Church Government, cap. 4, f. Mr. Duke’s Sermons. Mr. Roberts’s Visitation Sermon. Mr. fackman’s Rational and Moral Con- dud: of Mr. Fierce, <^c. Dr. Rogers’s Difcourfe of the Vili- ble and Inviiiblc Church of Christ, Part i. cap. 3. Tillotfort on 1 Jokn iv. i.
• Eufeb. Hid. 1.4. c. ic,
• Arifwer to Mr. Nor math p. 13.
• Jof. B. J. 1. 6. c. 45”. Ed.^rob,
• Vlin. Lib. f. Cap. 4.
• : Jof, B. J. Lib. 4, C. io.
• Jof. Lib. 4. C. 17, 18, 19.
• Cotton’s Way of Conj^reo;ational Churches cleared, f. 98, 99. Owm’s Vindication of Nonconformity, />. 41. Baxter’s Plea for Peace, p. 6. Church Hifiory, j?. 37, ^7, and 73.
• Cav^i in the Life of St. Ignmus, p. loS.
• See Cave, Ubi supra, p. loi.
• Socrat. E. H. 1. 2. c. 16.
• Ettfib, 1. 7. c. 30. p. azp.
• Nee de aliorum manu quam Prselidenuumj 5;c, Ter d« Cor. Mil. p. III.
• Exod. XXXV. I, 4. Deut.v. i. — xxix. 2, &c. Deut. yxx. 31. Sfe Matt, iii? ^. Joh. xii. 19. Acis xvii. f, See.
• : Plat, in Vit. Greg. 5c Grcf. Turon. Hill. Franc. 1. 10. c. I.
• Suicer in Voc. Ilct^i)dso, ^c.
• Iren. 1. 3. c. 3.
• : Ep. FirmiL inter Ep.” Cyp. 75*. p. 225-.
• See Bllfon’s Perpetual Government, c. 12, 13. Hall’s Epif- copacy by Divine Right, Part 2. Hooker^ Eccl. Pel. Book. 7. §. 5”. BilV.op Lloyd’s Hiflor. Account of Church Government, Bur/cough of Schism, §. 2, 3. Scott’s Ckrijliun Life, Part 2. c. 7. §. 10. Held oi the Chtirc’n^ Book f. c. 27. Nelson\