Labours, to whom, after they had trained them up in the holy Office, they committed the same Plenitude of Power with themselves, and either placed them over particular Churches already planted, as Paul did Timothy and Titus, or sent them to preach the Gospel, and plant Churches where there were none. So that the Imparity observed by the Primitive Churches was of Divine and Apostolical Original, and conveyed down to them

from the Fountain itself.

Q. But do not the Words Bishop and Presbyter, in Scripture, sometimes denote the same Office?

A. It is granted that these Words were at first often used promiscuously to denote either Order; and generally that which we now call the Order of Priests. But then, as in that Time, the superior Order were called Apostles; so the Office of these Presbyters, who are here supposed sometimes in Scripture to have the Name of Bishops, was not to ordain Elders, or to exercise Jurisdiction, as those do who now have the Name of Bishops appropriated to them. This clearly appears by the Charge given to Timothy the first Bishop of Ephesus, how he was to proceed against his Presbyters when they transgressed; to sit in Judgment upon them, to examine Witnesses against them, and 1 Tim. v. 9. pass Censures upon them. Against an Elder, that is, a Presbyter, receive not an Accusation, but before two or three Witnesses, and them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear. And one may as well pretend there was no Difference between the Office of an Emperor and a General of an Army, because the Word Imperator is applied to both; as to prove a Parity between Church Officers from the promiscuous Use of the Word Bishop.

Q. But was not a Bishop anciently no more than a Pastor of a particular Congregation?

A. It is plain, I think, from the Condition of the first Churches that were established, that the Bishop had the Over-sight of several Congre

ch. iv. 4.

gations, which, as to the Church of Jerusalem Acts iii. is necessarily inferred from the particular Number 41. of Converts; from the general Expressions of wonderful Accessions; from the Jealousy of the ch. v. 14. Scribes and Pharisees, who apprehended that all Jerusalem would soon become Christians; from the farther Accounts of its Increase, and of the great Multitudes that were added to it. And we may ch. xi. 21. judge the Church of Antioch too great for one Congregation, from the Multitudes said to be converted, ch. xiii. 1. from the Number of Apostles and extraordinary Labourers residing in that City, and from the ch. xi. 26. Conjunction of Jews and Gentiles under the common Title and Profession of Christianity. These first Churches thus governed by Bishops, were not singular in their Constitution; but all other Churches of the Apostles planting, were of the same Kind, designed for the like and yet farther Increase. And these several Congregations of Believers made but one Church; St. James, our Lord's Brother, being ordained Bishop of the Church of Jerusalem by the Apostles, immediately upon our Saviour's Ascension. And after St. Peter, the Government of the Church of Antioch was committed to Euodius, who was succeeded by Ignatius.

Q. What Light is there from Scripture for this Method of governing the Church?

30.

A. In the History of St. Paul we find, when in Acts xxviii, any Place he had converted a competent Number, 2 xix. 9. he took Care to improve them in the Knowledge of the Truth; and as these Converts were made Partakers of the same common Doctrine and Faith, so they were to be perpetually united by a Communion in Worship, in Prayer, and the Sacraments; being obliged to assemble themselves Acts xi. together for that End under the Apostle, the 25, Church Officer that converted them. But when 25. he was called to preach the Gospel in other Places, ac it was necessary to ordain such Church Officers as might take Care of the Church in the Doctrine and

Heb. x.

Acts xiv.

Discipline of it; and others to take Care of the Phil. ii. 12. Poor, lest the former should be hindered in their

3.

18, 19.

ch. ix. 1.

2.

1 Tim. i.

3, 18.

spiritual Administrations. Now this Constitution did not take away the Relation the Apostle had to such a Church, the Officers he had constituted acting in Subordination to him, whether present or absent: As is plain in his Proceedings upon the Case of 1 Cor. v. Scandal given in the Church of Corinth, and when some Teachers in the same Church began to set themselves up in Opposition to the Apostle, he 1 Cor. iv. asserts his Authority and his Relation to them. But when his Province was so far extended, that he could not visit every Part himself; and his Communication by Letters would not answer all ch. iv. 12. the Occasions of those Churches he had planted, he did not resign all Authority into the Hands of every particular Presbytery, but sent Persons, not only endowed with extraordinary Gifts, but with Apostolical Power to ordain Elders to preach the Gospel, to end Disputes, to censure the Irregular, whether of the Clergy or People; and by all Means to provide for the Welfare of those Churches committed to them. Of this Kind were Barnabas, Timothy, Titus, Crescens, Epaphroditus, and Sosthenes: These governed those Churches, over which they were appointed by full Apostolical Power, which was transmitted to their Successors.

14.

Tit. i. v.

ji. 15.

Hieron. com. ad Titum.

Q. But doth not St. Jerome give another Account of the Original of Episcopacy, and affirm that the eap. i. 7. Church was at first governed by a Common Council or College of Presbyters, till Divisions reigning by Reason of Parity, it was decreed over all the World, that one from among the Presbyters should be chosen out of the Rest, and be called more peculiarly their Bishop; to whom the Care of the whole Church should appertain, that all Seeds and Occasions of Schism might be taken away? Which universal Decree is supposed to be made about the Year 140.

Government.

A. The Reasons that St. Jerome gives, are cerT tainly very much for the Advantage of Episcopal But allowing this Testimony to bear the Sense the Adversaries of Episcopacy put upon it; we must consider that St. Jerome flourished in the latter End of the fourth Century; and consequently is not so competent an Evidence of this Matter of Fact, as those are who lived in the Apostles' Days, and in the Time of their Successors; yet however he expressed himself, when he resented the Treatment of the Bishop of Jerusalem, who exercised his Jurisdiction over him farther than he thought it might be justly extended; or when he endeavoured to curb the Insolence of the Deacons, who began to advance themselves above the Presbyters; in other Places he talks after a different Rate, and makes Bishops to be the Successors to the Apostles, as well as the Rest of the most eminent Fathers had done before him, and even when he speaks most for a Parity, makes Ordination peculiar Hieron. in to the Bishop: Quid enim facit, exceptà ordinatione, Psalm. & Episcopus, quod Presbyter non faciat? Epist. ad Evag. Besides, if any such Decree had been made in the Apostles' Time, it would have been an Apostolic Institution, and we might have expected to have found some Mention of it in the Scriptures; if afterwards, as is supposed about 140, primitive Antiquity would have given us some Account of such an important Alteration; the contrary of which we find in all the Writers of that Age. Neither so can St. Jerome be reconciled to himself, who reckons several Bishops, long before that Time, in his Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers.

Q. What farther shows the Improbability of the sudden Change and Innovation that is suggested?

A. That universal Agreement that appeared among all the Christian Churches in this Matter, there being not one single Church produced in which Episcopal Government did not prevail; and this at a Time when no General Council could meet to enjoin

ad Evag.

in it, nor any civil Governor was concerned to promote it; and when, by Reason of the Heat of Persecution, and the Distance of Churches one from another, the Commerce and Intercourse between them was so little or nothing, that it was next to impossible to form a joint Conspiracy to establish it. Besides all People were obliged to know those who had the Rule over them, because the Scriptures engage them to pay to such the Duty of Submission and Obedience; so that they could not have acquiesced in this Innovation, without great Hazard to their Souls; neither is it likely that the Presbyters would so quietly have submitted to this usurped Authority, if to the natural Love of Freedom they could have joined the Argument of positive Apostolical Institution. Nay, even the Person thus advanced, could have no Motive or Temptation to be ambitious of it; for as this great Charge increased their Labour and their Care, so the first Christian Bishops were exposed to the sharpest Fury of their Persecutors, and when any Storm was raised against the Church they bore the Violence of it. And Men are not generally so fond of Trouble, or so apt to court Danger, as to act against their Duty in order to bear the one, or expose themselves to the other.

Q. How doth it appear that Ordination is the peculiar Privilege of a Bishop?

A. Because in the holy Scriptures of the New Testament, we find no Commissions granted, no Orders conferred, no Church Officers deputed to the Exercise of spiritual Powers, but by those who had Episcopal Authority, who were superior to ordinary Presbyters. Our Saviour, after his Resurrection, gave John xx. 21. his Apostles their Commission to be the supreme Governors of his visible Church; and they, being Acts vi. 6. invested with this Power, ordained Deacons with Prayer and Imposition of Hands. The first Ordination of Presbyters we read of was performed by two Apostles, Paul and Barnabas, both clothed

xix. 23.