Vindication of the Dissertations Concerning Episcopacy, Chapter 3 · Section 5 – Section 5
Sect. V.
Teſtimonies of Irenaeus, The uſe of Presbyteri for Biſhops.
YEt becauſe their Method leads us forward to conſider ſome other of the Antient Writers, and I have promiſed ſo farre to comply with them, I ſhall now in the next place attend them to the view of two of thoſe, Irenaeus and Tertullian, p. 114. 115. where having acknowledged of them that they ſay that Apoſtles made Biſhops in Churches, Polycarpe in Smyrna, Clemens at Rome, &c. all that they require of us to prove, is, that by the word Biſhop is meant a Biſhop as diſtinct from Presbyters, and the reaſon why they thinke this needs proving, is, becauſe both thoſe Authors uſe the words foreign Biſhops, and foreign, Presbyteri, Seniores, for the ſame thing, the one calling Anicetus, Pius, Hyginus, Teleſphorus, Xyſtus, Presbyters of the Church of Rome in his Epiſtle to Victor; the other calling the Preſidents of the Churches Seniores in his Apologie, and ſome other places are produced to the ſame purpoſe.
To this therefore I ſhall now briefly give anſwer, i. e, by conceſſion that the ſame perſons, who by theſe two Authors are called Biſhops, are promiſcuouſly called Presbyteri and Seniores alſo; And therefore ſecondly, that this queſtion being thus farre (as to the Names) equally balanced betweene us, they ſaying that Biſhops] ſignifies Presbyters in the moderne notion, we that Presbyters] ſignifies Biſhops in the moderne notion, ſome other Indications, beſide this of the Names, muſt be made uſe of on either ſide, toward the deciſion of it.
Of this ſort there is no one offered to us by them, and ſo as they have nothing to incline the balance their way, ſo we have nothing to make anſwer to in that particular. I ſhall therefore (as the onelyonly thing left for me to doe) render ſome few Reaſons, why the words Biſhop and Elders in theſe Authors muſt needs ſignifie Biſhops in our Moderne ſenſe.
And the firſt proofe, as farre as concernes Ironaeus, is, becauſe Irenaeus, who uſeth theſe words promiſcuouſly, was himſelfe a Biſhop in our moderne notion, and yet is by others in his own dayes call'd Elder of the Church of Lyons, at that very time, when he is acknowledged to be Biſhop of it, in our moderne ſenſe of the word; This I thus manifeſt in each part.
And firſt, That Irenaeus was Biſhop of Lyons, in ſuch a ſenſe, as we now uſe Biſhop, appeares by what*L. 5. c. 23. Euſebius ſaith of him, importing that he was Primate of all France, foreign, foreign, ſaith he▪ he was Biſhop of the Provinces through France: Now this, we know, cannot be affirm'd of a moderne Preſbyter, who pretends not to any ſuch wide and ſingular juriſdiction; And this needs no farther proofe, it being by D. Blondell in his Apologie for St. Hierome confeſt, that 140. yeares after Chriſt, i.e. nigh 40. yeares before this time, the Government of the Church was in the hands of Biſhops over all the World, one in every Church ſet over all the reſt of the Church.
For the ſecond part then, that at that time, when he is thus an acknowleged Biſhop and Archbiſhop, he is yet called foreign, Elder of the Church, I appeale to the Teſtimony of the Gallicane Church, at that time, as it lies recorded in†L. 5. c. 4. Euſebius, where in an Embaſſy performed by him in the name of the Martyrs of Lyons to Elentherius the Biſhop of Rome, we have theſe words concerning him, foreign foreign, foreign foreign, foreign, foreign foreign foreign, foreign. We have intreated our Brother and partaker Irenaeus to beare theſe Letters to you, O Father Eleutherius, and we beſeech you to prize him at one very zealous of Chriſt's Covenant; If we thought that Juſtice would purchaſe a place to any, we had commended him in a principall manner, as Elder of the Church, for ſo he is.
Here nine yeares after he had been Biſhop and Archbiſhop of Lyons, about the yeare of Chriſt 177. he is ſtyled by thoſe Letters, Elder of the Church; by which it appeares that in his time Elder was the title of Biſhop, in our Moderne ſenſe, and conſequently ſo it may fitly ſignifie in his own writings, and ſo muſt needs do there, when 'tis applied to thoſe, who were acknowleged Biſhops at that time, when by the Presbyterians acknowledgement Epiſcopacy was come in, in that notion, wherein we now underſtand it.
A ſecond proofe of this, is, that what in one place out of Papias he ſaith of all the Seniores or Elders, which in Aſia converſt with St. John, that Clemens Alexandrinus, who lived in the ſame time, affirmes of the Biſhops or Elders of Aſia; meaning by both of them the Biſhops in our notion of the word.
Clemens Alexandrinus wrote his Stromata about the yeare 192. which is five yeares before Irenaeus Martyrdome, in the 5. of Severus. Now of this Clemens, it is certaine, 1. That he acknowleged the three Orders in the Church, which he calls foreign,Strom. 6. foreign, foreign, foreign, the three degrees or promotions in the Church, of Biſhops, Presbyters, Deacons, and conſequently muſt by the word foreign underſtand Biſhops in our moderne ſenſe.
Secondly, that when he makes the Relation of John's meeting with the Biſhops of Aſia (which is the ſame matter which Irenaeus produceth out of Papias) he calls them in the ſame period both Elders and Biſhops indifferently, For ſpeaking of St. John he hath this paſſage, foreign foreign, foreign foreign—Comming to a City not farre off—and looking on the Biſhop, which was conſtituted over all, ſeeing a young man, he ſaid, This perſon I commit to thee—And the Elder took him home, brought him up baptized, and at laſt gave him confirmation.
Here it is evident this Elder of Aſia, one of thoſe which, in Irenaeus, converſed with Saint John, is foreign foreign, a Biſhop conſtituted over all in that City; and agreeably when Saint John comes back that way againe, he calls to him by that title, foreign, foreign foreign foreign, O Biſhop, render us the depoſitum, which both I and Chriſt delivered to thee in the preſence of the Church, over which thou art ſet. Where againe he that is called Elder both by him and Irenaeus, is alſo by him called foreign foreign, the Biſhop ſet over the Church. And ſo that is a ſecond evidence of it.
Thirdly, In his Epiſtle to Victor Biſhop of Rome, he ſpeakes of his Predeceſſors thus, foreign—The Elders which were ſet over the Church which thou ruleſt, Anicetus, Pius, Hyginus, and Teleſphorus, and lib. 3. cap. 3 foreign—The bleſſed Apoſtles having founded and built the Church of Rome, put the Epiſcopal office into the hands of Linus, Anacletus ſucceeded him, Clemens Anacletus, Evareſtus Clemens, Alexander Evareſtus, then Xyſtus the ſixt from the Apoſtles, after him Teleſphorus, then Hyginus, then Pius, after him Anicetus, after Anicetus, Soter; foreign, foreign foreign, Now in the twelfth place Eleutherus poſſeſſes the Biſhoprick from the Apoſtles.
Here 1. it is evident that every one firſt named as Elders, are yet ſingle perſons, one ſucceding another, foreign ſet over, or ruling the Church of Rome: Secondly, That for twelve ſucceſſions together they are by Irenaeus lookt upon all, as of the ſame ranke, ſucceeding one another, and the firſt as well as the laſt, called Biſhop, which muſt conclude it to be underſtood by him in ſuch a notion, as is equally competible to all, and ſo muſt be in our moderne notion, if the great Aſſerters of the Presbyterian cauſe ſay true, that about the yeare 140. i. e. certainly before Elutherius was Biſhop of Rome, there were Biſhops over Presbyters all the world over.
Laſtly, *L. 4. c. 44.Irenaeus, ſpeaking of ſome unworthy voluptuous Elders, expreſſeth their faults in ſuch a manner, as cannot fitly belong to any but Biſhops, Principalis conceſſionis tumore elati ſunt, they are puft up with the …ride of the principall place, the foreign the principall chair, which as Biſhops belonged to them. …or though it is as poſſible that Presbyters ſhould be guilty of the pride, the tumour and elation, as that Biſhops ſhould be guilty of the ſame, yet the occaſion of it there mentioned, the principalis conſeſſio, the chiefe place of dignity, is peculiar to the one, and not reconcileable with the foreign or equality of the other.
Theſe evidences have readily offered themſelves to ſhew what Irenaeus meanes by Presbyteri, when he uſeth that and Biſhops promiſcuouſly, viz. by both, Biſhops in our moderne notion, and he that ſhall reade over that author diligently, and compare his dialect with Polycarpe and Papias, with whom he accords, the former uſing foreign for Biſhops (as hath largely been inſiſted on) and the latter for Apoſtles and Biſhops, ſingle Governors of each Church, (*Euſeb. l. 3. c. 39. foreign, foreign, foreign, foreign, and elſewhere foreign. Andrew, Peter, Ariſtion, John, Marke, all Elders) will doubtleſſe finde many more proofes that thus he uſed the word, and (I ſhall adventure to undertake) meet with no one indication to the contrary.
Sect. V.
Teſtimonies of Tertullian. Seniores, & Majores natu for Biſhops, ſo in Firmilian.
AS for Tertullian I ſhall need ſay no more, but that it is the confeſſion of the great Patron of Presbyterians,D Blondel Apol. pag. 38. that he doth aperte tueri communiuſu receptam ordinis in Epiſcopos, Presbyteros & Diaconos, diſtinctionem. Openly defend the received common diſtinction of the Eccleſiaſtick order into Biſhops, Presbyters and Deacons, and he that can yet doubt of it, let him examine his citations, de Praeſcript. cap. 41. de Baptiſme cap 17. de Monogam. cap. 11. de Fuga c. 11. And that de Baptiſmo as high & cleare, as that which was moſt quarrell'd with in Ignatius. Dandi Baptiſmum jus habit ſummus ſacerdos, qui eſt Epiſcopus, dein Presbyteri & Diaconi, non tamen ſine Epiſcopi authoritate, propter honorem Eccleſiae, quo ſalvo ſalva pax eſt. The Biſhop hath the right of giving Baptiſme, after him the Presbyters and Deacons, yet not without the authority of the Biſhop, for the honour of the Church, which being preſerved, peace is preſerved.
So that of him it is as cleare, as of Irenaeus or Clemens, that he muſt underſtand Biſhop in our Moderne notion: And yet even by him, theſe of this uppermoſt degree are called Seniores, and Majores natu, Elders, Praeſident probati quique Seniores, the Elders praeſide, Apol. c. 39. and of the Biſhops of Rome, the ſeries of whom he had brought downe to Anicetus, lib. 3. contr. Marcion. cap. 9. he expreſſes them by Majores natu, ſucceſſors of the Apoſtles, in his Book, written in verſe, againſt Marcion.
And there will be leſſe wonder in this, when it is remembred that after this in Saint Cyprian's times (who hath been ſufficiently evidenced to ſpeake of Biſhops in our moderne notion of them) Firmilian Biſhop of Caeſarea in Cappadocia, in vulgar ſtyle calls them Seniores, and Praepoſiti, Elders, and Provoſts, in his Epiſtle to Cyprian, and againe Praeſident Majores natu, &c. the Elders praeſide, evidently meaning the Biſhops by thoſe titles.
And ſo much be ſpoken in returne to what they have objected from theſe two Antients, Irenaeus and Tertullian, ſuppoſing that I have competently performed the taske by them impoſed on the Praelatiſts, ſhewed that the Biſhops ſpoken of by them, were Biſhops over Preſbyters, and by them underſtood to be ſo▪