A Treatise of Episcopacy, Part 2 · Addendum to chapter 5
More Teſtimonies of Councils added to the former Chap. 5.
UPon the Review, finding ſome conſiderable Evidences from Councils before omitted, ſome ſhall be here added.
1. The Roman Clergy called a Council at Rome, Bin. pag. 158. &c. ſaith, that in the Interregnum they had the charge of the Univerſal Church: and Cyprian wrote to them as the Governors of the Church of Rome, when they had been a year or two without a Biſhop. And their Actions were not null.
2. A Carthage Council with Cyprian condemn even a dead man called Victor,Cypr. l. 1. …p. 66. becauſe by his Will he left one Fauſtinus a Presbyter the Guardian of his Sons, and ſo called him off his Sacred Work to mind Secular things. Did this favour of Biſhop's Secular Power, Magiſtracy or Domination?
3. How came the Carthage Councils to have ſo many hundreds in ſo narrow a room or ſpace of Land, but that every foreign Corporation or big Town had a Biſhop? Anno 308. at a Carthage Council the very Donatiſts had two hundred and ſeventy Biſhops. And at Arles two hundred Biſhops heard the Donatiſts Cauſe.
4. The Laodicean Council decreed, Can. 46. that the Baptized ſhould learn the Creed, and on Friday repeat it to the Biſhops or Presbyters:] which implieth that a Biſhop was preſent with every Church.
And Cap. 57. It is ordained that thenceforth [Biſhops ſhould not be ordained in ſmall Villages and Hamlets, but Viſiters ſhould be appointed them: But ſuch (Biſhops) as had heretofore been there ordained ſhould do nothing without the Conſcience of the City Biſhop.] Which implieth, 1. That every big Town had a Biſhop. 2. And Villages before.
5. Epiphanius, Haer. 68. pag. 717. &c. ſaith, That Peter ſeparated from Meletius in the ſame room, and as Meletius went to the Mines, he made new Biſhops, and gathered new Churches; ſo that in ſeveral Cities there were two (Biſhops and Churches:) Which implieth that they were Congregations for Perſonal Communion.
6. The Nicene Council, cap. 8. alloweth Rural Biſhops then in uſe, (whom Petavius proveth to have been true Biſhops.)
7. Greg. Nazianz. pag. 528. &c. ſheweth how Churches were enlarged and changed when the ſtrife began between Mea & Tua, Antiqua & Nova, Nobilior & Ignobilior, Multitudine Opulentior aut Tenuior.
8. After Lucifer Calaritanus ordained Paulinus, Antioch had long two Biſhops, half being his Flock, and half cleaving to Meletius.
9. Nazianzen had in the great City of Conſtantinople but one of the ſmall Churches. (the Arians having the greater) till Theodoſius gave him the greater: And thoſe Hearers he was Biſhop over.
10. A Council at Capua ordered that both the Biſhops Flocks in Antioch (under Evagrius and Flavian) ſhould live together in Love and Peace.
11. Many Cities tolerated Novatian Biſhops and Churches among them, and oft many other Diſſenters. Which ſheweth that but part of the City were one Church.
12. The Council at Carthage (called the laſt by Binius) decreed that [Reconciliation of Penitents (as well as Chriſme and conſecrating Virgins) is to be done only by the Biſhops, except in great neceſſity: (For how many Pariſhes can a Biſhop do all this and all the reſt of his Office?) And when Chriſtians were multiplied they that deſired a Biſhop where was none before, might have one. But elſe aliud Altare is again forbidden to be ſet up.
13. Another Carthage Council decreeth, Can. 15. That the Biſhop have but vile or cheap Houſhold-ſtuff and a poor Table and Diet, and ſeek Authority or Dignity by his Faith and deſert of Life. Can. 19. That he contend not for tranſitory things though provoked. Can. 23. That he hear no Cauſe but in the preſence of his Presbyters: elſe it ſhall be void that is ſentenced without them, unleſs confirmed by their preſence. (Note, this being a conſtant work required a conſtant preſence: and it is not a ſelected Chapter of Presbyters that is named: And muſt thoſe of many hundred Pariſhes dwell in the City, or travel thither for daily Cauſes of Offenders? &c.) Can. 28, & 30. Biſhops unjuſt Sentence void: and Judgment againſt the abſent.
14. A Council at Agathum, Can. 3. ſaith, [If Biſhops wrongfully excommunicate one, any other Biſhop ſhall receive him:] Which implieth that the wronged perſon lived within reach of a Neighbour Biſhop's Pariſh: For it doth not bind him to remove his Dwelling: And leave to go daily twenty or forty Miles to Church is a ſmall kindneſs.
And I have already cited, Can. 63. If any Citizens on the great Solemnities, Eaſter, the Lord's Nativity or Whitſuntide, ſhall neglect to meet where the Biſhops are (ſeeing they are ſet in the Cities for Benediction and Communion) let them for three Years be deprived of the Communion of the Church.] So that even when Churches were enlarged, yet you ſee how great a part of them met in one place.
15. Divers Canons give the Biſhop a third or fourth part of all the Church Profits; And if thoſe Churches had been as big as our Dioceſes, it would have been too much of all Conſcience.
16. A Synod at Carpentoracte decreed, that the Biſhop of the City ſhall not take all the Country Pariſh Maintenance to himſelf: Which implieth as the former, that his Country Pariſh was ſmall.
17. A Council at Orleance, Anno 540. decree, Can. 3. about ordaining a Biſhop, that [Qui praeponendus eſt omnibus, ab omnibus eligatur.] The Dioceſes yet were not ſo large, but that All met to chuſe.
18. So Concil. Byzazen. ſaith, it muſt be [By the Election of all.]
19. Another at Orleance, Anno 545. ſaith, [No Citizen muſt celebrate Eaſter out of the City, becauſe they muſt keep the principal Feſtivities in the preſence of the Biſhop, where the holy Aſſembly muſt be kept. But if any have a neceſſity to go abroad, let him ask leave of the Biſhop.] Here is but one City Aſſembly, and Individuals muſt be known to the Biſhop, and ask his leave to go abroad.
And Can. 5. ſaith, [A Biſhop muſt be ordained in his own Church which he is to overſee.] Which implieth that he had but one Church and Country Chappels.
20. Another Orleance Council hath the like, depoſing all Biſhops that come not in by common conſent: And requiring them both in their Cities and Territories to relieve the Poor from the Church-Houſe.] Let us have ſuch Dioceſes as the Biſhop can do this for, and we conſent.
21. A Synod at Paris, Can. 8. ſays, [Let no Man be ordained a Biſhop againſt the Will of the Citizens, nor any but whom the Election of the People and Clerks ſhall ſeek with plenary Will: None ſhall be put in by the Command of the Prince.] &c.
22. King Clodoveus called a Synod at Cabilone, which Can. 10. decreeth, [That all Ordination of Biſhops be null that was otherwiſe made than by the Election of the Comprovincials, the Clerks, and the Citizens.]
23. The Conſt. Trul. Can. 38. ſheweth how the unhappy changes were made, decreeing, [That whatever alteration the Imperial Power ſhall make on any City, the Eccleſiaſtical Order ſhall follow it.] And ſo if the King will make every Market Town a City, it ſhall have a Biſhop: And if he will make but one or two cities in a Kingdom, there ſhall be but one or two Biſhops: And if he will make one City Regent to others, that Biſhop ſhall be ſo. Thus Rome, Conſtantinople, &c. came by their Superiority. But Hierome telleth us the contrary; that the Biſhop of Tanais, or any ſmall City (like our leaſt Corporations) was of equal Church-Dignity with Rome (or the greateſt.)
24. The ſame Council, Can. 78. repeateth that, [All the Illuminate (that is, Baptized) muſt learn the Creed, and every Friday ſay it to the Biſhop and Preſbyters.] I hope they did not go every Friday ſuch a Journey as Lincoln, York, or Norwich Dioceſs, (no nor the leaſt in England) would have put them to; nor that the Biſhop heard as many thouſands every Friday, as ſome of ours by that Canon ſhould have heard.
25. Anno 693. at a Toletane Council, King Egica writeth a Sermon for them, and therein tells them, that [Every Pariſh that hath twelve Families muſt have their proper Governor (not a Curate that is no Governor.) But if it be leſs, it muſt be part of another's Charge.]
26. Anno 756. Pipin called a Council in France, whoſe Can. 1. is, that [Every City muſt have a Biſhop.] And (as is beforeſaid) every Corporate Town was a City.
27. In the Epitome of the old Canons ſent by Pope Adrian to Carolus Magnus, publiſhed by Caniſius, the eighth Antioch Canon is, [Country Presbyters may not give Canonical Epiſtles, but the Chorepiſcopi.] By which it appeareth that the Chorepiſcopi were Biſhops, as Petavius proveth (in Epiphan. Arrius.)
And Can. 14, 15. That [No Biſhop be above three Weeks in another City, nor above two Weeks from his own Church.] Which intimateth that he had one ſingle Church.
And Can. 19. That when a place wants a Biſhop, he that held them muſt not proudly hold them to himſelf, and hinder them from one; elſe he muſt loſe that which he hath.
28. The ſame Canons ſay (Can. 94.) If a Biſhop, ſix Months after Admonition of other Biſhops, neglect to make Catholicks of the people belonging to his Seat, any other ſhall obtain them that ſhall deliver them from their Hereſie.] So that, 1. The Churches were not ſo big but that there might be divers in one Town. 2. And converting the People is a better Title, than Pariſh Bounds.
29. It is there alſo decreed, [That no Biſhop ordain or judge in another's Pariſh: elſe it ſhall be void:] And they forbid [Foreign Judgments, becauſe it is unmeet that he ſhould be judged by Strangers, who ought to have Judges of the ſame Province choſen by himſelf.] But our Dioceſanes are Strangers to almoſt all the People, and are not choſen by them. See the reſt.
Alſo another is, that every Election of Biſhops made by Magiſtrates be void: yea, all that uſe the Secular Magiſtrate to get a Church muſt be depoſed, and ſeparated, and all that joyn with him: Alſo if any exact Money; or for affection of his own, drive any from the Miniſtry, or ſegregate any of his Clergy, or ſhut the Temple.
30. A Council at Chalone under Carol. Magn. the Can. 15. condemneth Arch-Deacons that exerciſe Domination over Pariſh-Presbyters, and take Fees of them: as matter of Tyranny, and not of Order and Rectitude. And Can. 13. ſaith, [It is reported of ſome Brethren (Biſhops) that they force them whom they are about to ordain to ſwear that they are worthy, and will not do contrary to the Canons, and will be obedient to the Biſhop that ordaineth them, and to the Church in which they are ordained: Which Oath, becauſe it is very dangerous we all agree ſhall be forbidden.] By which it appeareth that, 1. The Dioceſes were not yet ſo large as to need ſuch ſubordinate Governors as ours have: Nor 2. Were Oaths of Canonical Obedience to the Biſhop and Church yet thought lawful, but forbidden as dangerous.
31. A Council at Aquiſgrane, under Ludov. Pius, wrote an excellent Treatiſe gathered out of the Fathers, to teach Biſhops the true nature of their Office, which hath much to my preſent uſe, but too long to be recited.
32. Upon Ebbos Flight that depoſed Lud. Pius, the Arch-Biſhoprick of Rhemes was void ten Years, and ruled by two Presbyters, Fulk and Hotho: who were not then uncapable of governing the Flock: but it is not like that they governed Neighbour Biſhops.
33. Caniſius tells us of a Concilium Regiaticinum, and Can. 6. is, [That the Arch-Presbyter examine every Maſter of a Family perſonally, and take account of their Families and Lives, and receive their Confeſſions: And Can. 7. That a Preſbyter in the abſence of the Biſhop may reconcile a Penitent by his Command, &c.] Which ſhew that yet Dioceſes were not at the largeſt.
34. A Council at Papia, Anno 855. order yet, [That the Clergy and People chuſe the Biſhops: and yet that the Laity on pretence of their electing power trample not on the Arch-Presbyter, and that Great Men's Chappels empty not Churches.
35. Yea, Pope Nicholas, Tit. 8. c. 1. decreeth that no Biſhops be ordained but by the Election or Conſent of the Clergy and People.] When they became uncapable of the ancient Order, yet they kept up the words of the old Canons.
36. This is intimated in the old Canons repeated at a Roman Council, Anno 868. [That if Biſhops excommunicate any wrongfully, or for light Cauſes, and not reſtore them, the Neighbour Biſhops ſhall take ſuch to their Communion till the next Synod:] Which was the Biſhop of the next Pariſh or Corporation, and not one that dwelt in another County out of reach.
And Can. 72. Becauſe the Biſhops hindred by other buſineſs, cannot go to all the Sick, the Presbyters (or any Chriſtians) may anoint them. How big was the Dioceſs when this Canon was firſt made? Who would give his buſineſs, rather than Diſtance, and Numbers, and Impoſſibility, as the reaſon why the Biſhop of London, Lincoln, Norwich, &c. viſit not all the Sick in their Dioceſes?
37. Anno 869, till 879. was held a Council called General at Conſtantinople. The Can. 8. is, [Whereas it is reported that not only the Heretical and Uſurpers, but ſome Orthodox Patriarchs alſo, for their own ſecurity have made men ſubſcribe, (that is, to be true to them) the Synod judgeth that it ſhall be ſo no more; ſave only, that Men when they are made Biſhops be required as uſual to declare the ſoundneſs of their Faith: He that violateth this Sanction, let him be deprived of his Honour.]
But theſe later inſtances only ſhew the Relicts of Primitive Purity and Simplicity, more evidently proved in the three firſt Centuries.
38. And he that will read the ancient Records of the Cuſtoms of Burying, will thence perceive the extent of Churches: Doctor Tilleſly (after cited) affirmeth (pag. 179. againſt Selden) that The Right of Burial place did firſt belong to the Cathedral Churches:] And Pariſh Churches began ſo lately (as now underſtood, having no Biſhops, and diſtinct from Cathedrals) that they could not be there buried, before they were built and in Being; which ſaith Selden, began in England ſeven hundred years after Chriſt; here one and there one, as a Patron erected it: Selden of Tythes, pag. 267. Yea, in ſeven hundred he findeth but one of Earl Puch in Beda; and in Anno 800. divers appropriate to Crowland; and ſo after. And it was the Character of a Pariſh Church to have Baptiſterium & Sepulturam, (pag. 262.) So that before a Biſhop's Church however called, had but one place that had Baptiſterium & Sepulturam: Yea, long after that Pariſhes, had very few Members in moſt places, ſo long was it e'er the People were brought to Chriſtianity: And they were then, as our Biſhops make them now, not proper Churches, but Chappels of Eaſe. Selden, (ibid. pag. 267.) tells you that Ralph Nevil Biſhop of Chicheſter and Chancellor of England requeſted of the King that the Church of Saint Peter in Chicheſter might be pulled down, and laid to another Pariſh, becauſe it was poor, having but two Pariſhioners. Sure it was never built for two Perſons: But it's like many were Heathens: Or if not ſo then, in the Years 700 and 800 they were ſo, (Though Maſter Thomas Jones hath well proved that the Brittiſh Churches were far extended before Gregory ſent Auſtine, and that our Biſhops and Religion are derived from them:) Even at Tours in France in the days of Saint Martin, notwithſtanding all his Miracles, the Chriſtians were not ſo many as the Heathens, at leaſt till one publick Miracle towards his later time convinced ſome.