Dissertation Concerning the Antiquity of Churches, Section 5
SECT. 5.
Mr. Mede from Scripture, proceeds to enquire, what manner of Places theſe appropriate were, before he produceth the teſtimonies of Antiquity for ſuch. Where firſt he acknowledges (as Baronius had before him) that they were not ſo goodly and ſtately, as after the Empire became Chriſtian, and we now enjoy: But ſome capable and convenient room, within the Walls or Dwelling of ſome pious Diſciple, dedicated by him to the uſe of the Church, uſually an Upper-Room, ſuch as that called Caenaculum Sionis, where the Apoſtles and Diſciples after our Saviour's Aſcenſion, uſually aſſembled, and the Holy Ghoſt fell upon them, on the day of Pentecoſt. Concerning which place he brings a long Train of Traditions from Nicephorus; a moſt fabulous Author, in the judgment of all Learned Men; not worthy to be mentioned.
Here let me obſerve the Difference amongſt our Opponents. (1.) As to the Place, Bellarmine and Baronius, as alſo our Fuller, conclude from that Text in the Corinths, for appropriate Houſes or Churches; but Mede only for one Room, uſually an upper, in an Houſe. (2.) Bellarmine would have theſe Houſes to be holy Temples, from the Chriſtian Sacrifices therein, meaning the Maſs, which he thinks is alone ſufficient for the denomination of a Temple. For c. 4. de cultu ſanctorum, he ſaith, Templum nihil aliud eſt, quam locus Altaris. A Temple is no other thing than the place of an Altar: called alſo, baſilica, ſaith he, as erected at ſome Saints Sepulcher. Baronius and Fuller content themſelves with the diſtinction of Oratories, which tho poor and mean amongſt Chriſtians, in compariſon of the Heathens Temples, yet were thoſe Temples, as well as theſe. But Mede will have his rooms, by reaſon of the Owners Dedication, to be Oratories and Churches: Tho Juſtinian diſtinguiſhes theſe, (on 1 Cor. 11.) ſaying, Chriſtians had their meetings firſt in private Houſes, afterwards in Oratories and Churches.
And whereas Mr. Mede diſcourſeth of a room and Houſe, in the ſingular number (as beſt ſuiting his Opinion of appropriate places, even in the Apoſtles days) meaning without doubt, whereſoever there was a Church, as he inſtanceth in the coenaculum Sionis, in Jeruſalem. All this is nothing better than building upon the Sand. For conſidering the ſeveral circumſtances in Acts c. 1. & 2. its far more probable, that that foreign, or upper Room, was in the Temple, than any private Houſe As appears from ſeveral Authors and Arguments gathered together in Pool's Synopſis, on Acts 1 13. to which I refer, being unwilling to tranſcribe ſuch Authors, as are common, and eaſily come at. Then what room could contain ſuch numbers, as 3000 Acts 2.41. which ſoon increaſed (as ſome think) to 5000, or more probably, (as others gather from the Text Acts 4.4.) were ſo many more. The ingenious Potter on 666. ch. 36. from the multitude of Believers in Jeruſalem, computes that each of the Twelve Apoſtles might have about 500 under his care. Beſides, the Gift of ſo many Tongues, implies their ſeveral meetings accordingly: for we muſt not fancy, as Salmaſius and ſome others, that whoever ſpake in any Language, was underſtood by all: becauſe this makes the Miracle to be in the Hearers, and not the Speakers; who were inſpired for preaching the Goſpel abroad in the Nations, whoſe Languages they were ignorant of before. Conſider alſo that hot Perſecution that preſently followed the year after, in the 8th of the Acts, and whether this did not neceſſitate them, often to change the places of their aſſembling, it being neither ſafe to meet in great multitudes, nor always in the ſame place. It's probable alſo, from v. 3. by Saul's entring foreign into their ſeveral Houſes, was either when, or where they aſſembled; for into every Houſe (as we render it) of ſo many Chriſtians, as were in Jeruſalem, ſeems to me improbable.
I paſs over the fabulous Traditions, and fictitious Gloſſes on Acts 10.9. and 18.22. eſpecially, as unworthy the Author, and the leaſt conſideration. And can grant him that which follows, of ſome giving whole Houſes, for ſacred Aſſemblies, as the multitude of Believers increaſed; tho this cannot be proved in the two firſt Centuries. As alſo, that at length, they built Structures in the Coemeteries of Martyrs; which yet Platina and Polid. Virgil ſay, were but Sacella, Chappels, and thoſe in ſecret and unknown places