Churches for Christian Worship, Title page – License
CHVRCHES, THAT IS, Appropriate Places FOR Christian VVorship; BOTH IN, AND EVER SINCE THE APOSTLES TIMES. A Discourse at first more briefly delivered in a Colledge Chappell, and since enlarged.
BY JOSEPH MEDE B. D. and Fellow of Christs Colledge in CAMBRIDGE.
LONDON, Printed by M. F. for JOHN CLARK, and are to be sold at his Shop under St Peters Church in Cornhill. M DC XXXVIII.
REVmo. IN CHRISTO PATRI ET DOMINO SVO SVMME HONORANDO, DOMINO GVILIELMO DIVINA PROVIDENTIA ARCHIEPISCOPO CANTVARIENSI, METROPOLITANO, TOTIVSQVE ANGLIAE PRIMATI.
Hanc suam de Ecclesiarum (hoc est, Locorum cultui Christiano dicatorum) jam inde ab Apostolorum temporibus antiquitate Dissertationem, Antiquitatis Ecclesiasticae propugnatori, sublati que inter sacrum & profanum discriminis assertori eximio, In grati & officiosi animi indicium Eâ, quâ decet, submissione, & favoris spe DICAT CONSECRATQUE Revma Paternitatis ipsius Cultor & Sacellanus observantissimus I. M.
PErlegi hanc Dissertationem Historicam de Christianarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitate, cui Titulus est [Churches, &c. both in and ever since the Apostles times.] in quâ nihil reperio Fidei Orthodoxae, aut Historiae Ecclesiasticae contrarium, quo minùs cum utilitate publicâ imprimatur, ita tamen, ut si non intra tres menses proximè sequentes typis mandetur, haec Licentia sit ominò irrita.
IUN. 4o. 1638. Rmo. in Christo Patri, & Dno. D. Arch. Cant. Sacellanus Domesticus GUIL. BRAY.
CHVRCHES: THAT IS, APPROPRIATE Places for Christian Worship both in, and ever since the Apostles times.
1 COR. 11. 22.
Have ye not houses to eat and drink in? [foreign;] Or despise ye the CHVRCH of God?
IT is taken in a maner for granted by the most of our Reformed Writers, and affirmed also by*Ioseph. Vice. com. de antiquis Missae ritibus. Vol. 3. l. 2. c. 21. some of the other side: That in the Apostles times, and in the Ages next after them (whilest the Church lived under Pagan and persecuting Emperours) Christians had no Oratories, or places set apart for Divine Worshipp; but that they assembled here and there promiscuously, and uncertainly, as they pleased, or the occasion served, in places of common use, and not otherwise. But that this is an errour, I intend to demonstrate by good evidence, taking my rise from this passage of the Apostle, who reproving the Corinthians for using prophane banquetings and feastings in a sacred place; Have ye not Houses (saith he) to eat and drink in? foreign; Or despise you the CHVRCH of God? Here I take the word foreign, or Church, to note, not the assembly, but the place appointed for sacred duties, and that from the opposition thereof to foreign , their owne Houses, foreign, Have ye not houses to eat and drink in? These are places proper for ordinary and common repast, and not the Church or house of God: which is againe repeated in the last verse of that Chapter foreign, If any man hunger, let him eat at home.
Thus most of the Fathers tooke foreign in this passage; namely, as most of the words, signifying an assembly or company, are wont to be used also for the place thereof: as foreign, Synagoga, Collegium, &c.
St. AUSTIN is so plain, Quaest. 57. sup. levit.as nothing can be more. For concerning expressions, where the continent is called by the name of the thing contained, he instances in this of Ecclesia: Sicut Ecclesia (saith he) dicitur locus, quo Ecclesia congregatur. Nam Ecclesia homines sunt, de quibus dicitur: Vt exhiberet sibi gloriosam Ecclesiam. Hanc tamen vocari etiam ipsam Domum orationum, idem Apostolus testis est, ubi ait; Nunquid domos non habetis ad manducandum & bibendum? an Ecclesiam Dei contemnitis?
St. BASIL hath the same notion in his Moralia. Reg. xxx. Quòd non oportet*Gr. foreign. loca sacra, mistura eorum quae ad communem usum spectant, contumelia afficere. Which he confirmes thus; Et intravit Iesus in Templum Dei, & ejiciebat omnes ementes & vendentes in Templo, & mensas numulariorum & cathedras vendentium columbas evertit, & dicit eis; Scriptum est, Domus mea domus orationis vocabitur, vos autem fecistis eam speluncam latronum. Et ad Cor. 1. Nunquid domos non habetis ad manducandum & bibendum? aut Ecclesiam Dei contemnitis? Si quis esurit, domi manducet, ut non in judicium conveniatis.
Againe, in his Regulae compendiosiùs explicatae, Interog. & Respons 310. answering that question, Nunquid in communi domo sacra oblatio debeat celebrari: Quemadmodum, saith he, verbum non permittit, ut vas ullum commune in sancta introferatur, eodem modo etiam vetat, sancta in domo communi celebrari: quum vetus Testamentum nihil isto modo fieri permittat; Domino item dicente, plusquam templum est hic; Apostolo item, Nunquid domos non habetis ad manducandum & bibendum? &c. Ex quibus erudimur, neque communem coenam in Ecclesia edere & bibere, ne que Dominicam coenam in privata domo contumelia afficere: extra quam, si quis, cum necessitas poscat, locum domumve puriorem delegerit tempore opportuno.
The Author also of the Commentaries upon the Epistles, amongst the workes of S. Hierom (whosoever he were) expounding Ecclesiam Dei contemnitis, by Facientes eam Triclinium epularum, shewes, he took Ecclesia here to signifie the place.
The self-same words are to be found in the Commentaries of Sedulius, as many other passages of this Author verbatim; which I note by the way.
St. CHRYSOSTOME is of the same minde; Ecce quarta accusatio (saith he) quod non pauperes tantum, sed Ecclesia laeditur. Quemadmodum enim Dominicam coenam privatam facis, ita & LOCVM, tanquam DOMO ECCLESIA usus. Ecclesia therefore here with him is Locus.
And so it is with THEODORET, who paraphraseth the words on this manner: Si acceditis, ut lautè & opiparè epulemini, hoc facite in domibus Hoc enim in ECCLESIA est contumelia, & aperta insolentia. Quomodo enim non est absurdum, intus in Templo Dei, praesente Domino qui communem nobis mensam apposuit; vos quidem lautè vivere, eos autem qui sunt pauperes, esurire, & propter paupertatem erubescere?
THEOPHYLACT and OECUMENIUS follow the same track, as he that lookes them shall finde.
I have produced thus largely the Glosses of the Fathers upon this Text; that they might be as a preparative to my ensuing discourse, by removing or mitigating, at the least, that prejudice which some have so deeply swallowed, of an utter unlikelihood of any such places to have been in the Apostles times, or the times neere them. For if these Glosses of the Fathers be true, then were there places called Ecclesiae, and consequently places appointed and set apart for Christian assemblies to performe their solemne service to God in, even in the Apostles times; Or suppose they be not true, or but doubtfull, and not necessary; yet thus much will follow howsoever, That these Fathers, who were neerer to those Primitive times by above 1100. yeares then we are, & so had better meanes to know what they had or had not, than we, supposed there were such places, even in the Apostles times. If in the Apostles times, then no doubt in the Ages next after them. And thus we shall gaine something by this Text, whether we accept this notion of the word Ecclesia, or not.
HAVING therefore gotten so good an entrance, we will now further enquire what maner of places they were, or may be supposed to have been, which were appropriated to such use; and that done, proceed to shew by such testimonies or footsteps of Antiquity, as time hath left unto us; That there were such places through every Age respectively, from the dayes of the Apostles unto the raigne of Constantine; that is, in every of the first 3. hundred years; For the first, It is not to be imagined they were*Isidorus Pelusiota. lib. 2. Epist. 246. foreign Where note, that of two expressions of this in the same place, the words foreign in the Printed Copie are deficient in the first of them; but to be supplyed out of this, the second, or repetition of the same thing, as the Reader that considers it, will observe the Antithesis requires. such goodly and stately structures as the Church had after the Empire became Christian, and we now by Gods blessing enjoy; but such as the state and condition of the times would permit; At the first, some capable and convenient room within the walls or dwelling of some pious disciple, dedicated by the religious bounty of the owner, to the use of the Church, and that usually an foreign, or foreign, an upper room, such as the Latins call Coenaculum; being, according to their manner of building, as the most large and capacious of any other, so likewise the most retired and freeest from disturbance, and next to heaven, as having no other roome above it. For such uppermost places we finde they were wont then to make choyce of, even for private devotions; as may be gathered from what we reade of S. Peter. Acts 10. foreign; That hee went up to the house top to pray: for so foreign signifies, exusu Hellenistarum, and is accordingly here rendred by the vulgar Latine, in superiora.
Such an Hyperôon as we speake of, was that remēbred by the name of*Coenacula dicuntur, ad quae …calis ascenditur. Fest. Inde Ennio Coenacula maxima coeli. Coenaculum Sion, where, after our Saviour was ascended, the Apostles & Disciples (as we reade in the Acts) assembled together daily for prayer and supplication; and where being thus assembled, the holy Ghost came downe upon them in Cloven tongues of fire at the feast of Pentecost.For these traditiōs, See Adricenius ex Nicephor. &c. and Bede infra, de locis sanct. Concerning which, there hath beene a tradition in the Church; that this was the same roome wherein our blessed Saviour, the night before his Passion, celebrated the Passeover with his Disciples, and instituted the mysticall Supper of his Body and Blood, for the sacred Rite of the Gospell: The same place, where on the day of his Resurrection he came, and stood in the middest of his Disciples, the doores being shut; and having shewed them his hands and his feet, said, Peace be unto you, As my Father hath sent me, so I send you, &c. Iohn 20. The place where 8. dayes, or the Sunday after, he appeared in the same manner again unto them being together, to satisfie the incredulity of Thomas, who the first time was not with the rest: The place where Iames the Brother of our Lord, was created by the Apostles, Bishop of Ierusalē: The place where the 7. Deacons (whereof S. Stephen was one) were elected and ordained: The place where the Apostles and Elders of the Church at Ierusalem held that Councell, and patterne of all Councels, for decision of that question; Whether the Gentiles wch beleeved were to be circūcised or not. And for certain the place of this Coenaculū was afterwards enclosed with a goodly Church, known by the name of the Chur: SION, upon the top whereof it stood: Insomuch that S. Hierome in his Epitaphio Paulae, Epist. 27.made bold to apply that of the Psalme unto it; Fundamenta ejus in montibus sanctis: diligit Dominus portas Sion super omnia tabernacula Iacob. How soone this erection was made, I know not; but I beleeve it was much more ancient than those other Churches erected in other places of that City by Constantine and his Mother; because neither Eusebius, Socrates, Theodoret nor Sozomen make any mention of the foundation thereof, as they doe of the rest. It is called by S. Cyril, who was Bishop of the place, foreign foreign, the upper Church of the Apostles; foreign (saith he) foreign. The holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles in the likenesse of fiery tongues here in Ierusalem in the VPPER CHURCH OF THE APOSTLES. Cyril Hierosol. Cat. 16.
If this tradition be true, it should seeme by it, that this Coenaculum, from the time our blessed Saviour first hallowed it by the institution and celebration of his mysticall Supper, was thenceforth devoted to be a place of prayer & holy assēblies. And surely no Ceremonies of dedication, no not of Solomons Temple it self, are comparable to those sacred guests whereby this place was sanctified. This is the more easie to be beleeved, if the house were the possession of some Disciple at least, if not of kinred also to our Saviour according to the flesh; which both reason perswades, and tradition likewise confirmeth it to have been. And when we reade of those first beleevers, that such as had houses and lands sold them and brought the prices & laid them down at the Apostles feet: it is nothing unlikely, but some likewise might give their house unto the Apostles for the use of the Church to perform sacred duties in. And thus perhaps should that tradition, whereof Venerable Bede tels us, be understood; viz. That this Church of Sion was founded by the Apostles: Not, that they erected that structure, but that the place, from the time it was a Coenaculum was by them dedicated to be an house of prayer. His words are these De locis sanctis. cap. 3. in Tom 3. In superiori Montis Sion planicie, monachorum cellulae Ecclesiam magnam circundant, illic, ut perhibent, ab Apostolis fundatam; eo quod IBI SPIRITVM SANCTVM acceperint: In quâ etiam LOCVS COENAE DOMINI venerabilis ostenditur.
And if this were so, why may I not think that this Coenaculum Sion was that foreign, whereof we reade concerning the first Christian society at Ierusalem. Acts. 2. 46. That they continued daily in the Temple and breaking bread [foreign] in the House, ate their meat with gladnesse and singlenesse of heart? the meaning being, that when they had performed their devotions daily in the Temple, at the accustomed times of prayer there, they used to resort immediatly to this Coenaculum, and there having celebrated the mysticall banquet of the holy Eucharist, afterwards took their ordinary and necessary repast with gladnesse & singlenesse of heart.Apud Homerum passim. For so foreign may be rendred for foreign, and not domatim, or per domos, house by house as we translate it; and so both the Syriack and Arabick renders it, and the N. T. (as we shall see hereafter) elsewhere uses it. Moreover we finde this Coenaculū called foreign in the 2. ver. of this chap. And for the phrase of breaking of bread, we know that the same a little before in the 42. ver. is wont to be understood of the Communion of the Eucharist, and by the Syriack Interpreter is expresly rendred by the Greek word, Fractio Eucharistiae, both there and again chap. 20. ver. 7. according to that of S. Paul, The bread which we break, &c. why should it not then be so taken here? If it be, then according to the Interpretation we have given, this will also follow; that that custome of the Church, to participate the Eucharist fasting and before dinner, had its beginning from the first constitution of the Christian Church: A thing not unworthy observation, if the interpretation be maintainable; of which let the learned judge.
It was an foreign, or Coenaculum also, where the Disciples at Troas came together upon the first day of the week to break bread, or to celebrate the holy Eucharist. Act 20. 7. where S. Paul preached unto them, and whence Eutychus, being overcome with sleep, sitting in a window fell down foreign, from the third story or loft, and was taken up dead. Such a one seems also to have been the place of the Churches assembly at Caesarea Cappadociae, by that which is said Acts 18. 22. viz. That S. Paul sailing from Ephesus, landed at Caesarea, where foreign, having gone up and saluted the Church, he went down to Antioch. Note, he went up to salute: whereby it should seem, that the place where the Church was assembled, was some upper place. See Ludovic de Dieu upon this place; where he tels us, that the Ethiopick translator so understood it, rendring, & descendit Caesaream, & ascendit in Domum Christianorum (.i. Ecclesiam) & salutavit eos, & abiit Antiochiam. Such as these, I suppose, were the places at first set apart for holy meetings, much like to our private Chappels now in great mens houses, though not for so generall an use.
In processe of time, as the multitude of beleevers encreased, some wealthy and devout Christian gave his whole house or Mansion place, either whilest he lived, if he could spare it, or bequeathed it at his death, unto the Saints, to be set apart and accommodated for sacred assemblies, and religious uses.
At length, as the multitude of beleevers still more increased, and the Church grew more able; they built them structures of purpose, partly in the Coemiteries of Martyrs, partly in other publique places: even as the Iews (whose religion was no more the Empires than theirs) had, neverthelesse, their Synagogues in all Cities and places where they lived among the Gentiles.