dained them, and without that outward Call they could indeed have had no Authority in the Church: However he acted herein but Ministerially, and the Authority committed to them was given by the Holy Ghost, who by the Impofition of the Apostles Hands, called them to that Sacred Office, and made them Overseers of his Flock, tho' fubordinate to the Bishop who had Ordained them, fo as they were to be Affiftant to him in the discharge of the Care of that Church committed to their common Charge. And as they were to take his Directions in the Performance of their Duty, fo was he to use their Advice and Affistance in giving thofe Directions; and in the other parts of his Paftoral Care, particularly in Ordinations, they were to join with him in the Laying on Hands upon those that were to be Ordained, as appears from the Practice of * St. Paul. This then was the Authority of Compare the Presbytery or College of Presbyters in the A-2.6, poftolical Age: They were not meerly Minifters or Servants to the Bishop and to the Church, but had also a share in the Government and Oversight of it, tho' fubordinate to the Bishop, and where his Councellors and Affeffors, without whofe Advice and Confent, he neither made Rules or Canons for his Church, nor inflicted Cenfures, nor disposed of the Church Revenues, nor Ordained Presbyters. Therefore fays St. Hierome in his Comment on the Epiftle to Titus, Let the Bishops remember to govern the Church in common with the Presbyters, imitating Mofes, who when he had it in his Power to govern the People of Ifrael by him, Self alone, chofe feventy Elders in Conjunction with whom he might judge the People.

K 2

Thorndike

Tim. 4 14. with

.

Thorndike in his Difcourfe of the Primitive Government of Churches, fays thus: • Having hitherto justified the Ground whereupon we go, and fhewed that Bishops came after the Apoftles to be Heads of Presbyters, in confequence hereunto it must now be averred, that the Government of Churches passed in common by Bishops and Presbyters, as from the beginning the Presbyters governed with the Apostles themselves. If in that great Action of the Council at Jerufalem, the Elders of that Church bore their part with ( the Apostles themselves; what cause have < we to think they did lefs when they were dif perfed, St. James alone remaining there? "If they concurred with St. James in his Ad'vice to St. Paul about a matter of greatest Weight, how to deal with those of the Circumcifion that believed, fhall we imagine 'they did not do the like with his Succeffors? 'If St. Peter call the Presbyters of the Churches to whom he writes his Fellow-Elders, it is ' with design to put them in mind of their fhare in that Office which he chargeth himfelf with. If the Apostle of the Gentiles charge the Elders of the Church of Ephefus with their part of that Care of Christ's Flock after his Departure, which the Holy Ghoft had committed to them, shall we think them eafed of it, because Timothy came to be Bishop there? Rather let ne conceive this to be the Caufe why Timothy's Inftructions are addrefled in the Singular Number to him alone, without mention of his Presbyters, because they were to receive their Charge by themselves about the fame time: So far is it from me to think, that his Pref

..

८

८

• by ters

byters were not to concur in affifting in that 'courfe of Government wherein he alone is directed by the Apostles to proceed. And if we can go no further in proving this Point out of Scripture, the Reafon must be, becaufe (as appeareth by that which has been faid) the Scriptures for the most part speak ' of that Time when the Apoftles themselves 'governed the Churches as its Bishops. To which purpose, nevertheless, there will still be fomething to be faid out of the Scriptures ' in the Particulars which we shall Survey.

In the mean time, let us take Notice of a 'few Paffages, amongst many more, out of Ecclefiaftical Writers to prove what we have afferted. Ignatius, in his Epistle to 'the Trallians fays, What is the Presbytery but an Holy Meeting, in which the Presbyters are Councellors and Affeffors to the Bishop. We cannot ' understand more rightly what the Presbytery ' meaneth than out of thefe Words, that is, 'A College or Bench of Councellors and Affeffors to the Bishop. Not fimply Councellors • but owid gevral Affeffers alfo, Perfons that had ' a fhare of Authority with him. The Com'mentaries under St. Ambrofe his Name, upon 1 Tim. 5. 1. fpeak home to this purpose: Amongst all Nations Age is Honorable; whence the Synagogue, and afterwards the Church had 'their Elders, without whofe Advice nothing was done in the Church. This is as much as can 'be demanded, when we hear that nothing ⚫ was done in the Church, that is to fay, by the Bishop, without the Advice of his Pres• byters. And this is the true Reason why many times (efpecially amongst the most ancient Church Writers) Bishop and Pres

८

K31

byters

G

byters both are comprised in the fame Styles and Names, not because there were then no Bifhops (as fome Men imagine) but becaufe both States concurred in the fame Of'fice. As it is well known that the name Sacerdos is common to both Estates, in regard ' of the Divine Offices performed by both, fo ' in regard of the Government of the Church, common to both, are they niany times comprised together in the common Stile of Presbyters, the name of their Age; or Antiftites, Пeeses, Præpofiti and the like, the names of their Charge. For as the Apostle makes himself an Elder when he writeth to them in this Style; The Elders I exhort who am alfo . an Elder; fo is the like to be obferved in ' that well-known Paffage of Clemens Alexan+ Hift. l. 3. c. 23. drinus related by Eufebius concerning the

I Pet. 5. I.

Apol. c. 39.

८

• Youth which St. John the Apostle commen'ded to the Bishop of a certain Place; Clemens proceeding in the Relation, calls him a Presbyrer whom he had named a Bifhop but just be• fore. So Tertullian defcribing what was wont to be done in the Affemblies of Chriftians, addeth, Approved Elders prefide, who have attained this Honor, not by their Money, but by a Testimony of their Probity; Not meaning to tell us that there was no Bishop to be fcen at thefe Meetings, but comprising both Ranks and Eftates under one Name of Elders: And that upon the Reason specified in the Commentaries under St. Ambrofe's Name, upon 1 Tim. 3. 8. where he giveth the Reafon why the Apostle paffeth strait from Bishops to Deacons, because, faith he, Every Bishop is a Presbyter, though every Presbyter is not a Bishop, who is the chief of Pres

· byters.

byters. Juftin Martyr, in his fecond Apology relating the Orders of Chriftians in their Affemblies, having fpoken of reading the Scriptures, Then (faith he) the Reader having done, ITess, the Ruler, maketh a Speech of Inftruction to the People, exhorting them to imitate what was read. And again of the Eucha‹ rist, Then, faith he, Bread and Wine is offered to the Ruler, TПes. Was it the Bi-` 'fhop alone, or the Presbyters alone, that preached and celebrated the Eucharists? fure both did it, and the name of Пess was chosen on purpose by Justin to comprise both. The fame is to be observed in the words of

quinquaginta

*St. Augustin, who fays, Let the Sinner come Hom. ult. ex to the Presidents in the Church [ad Antiftites] Cap. 2. by whom the Keys of the Church are to be minifired to him, and from those who prefide over the Holy Things, [a Præpofitis Sacrorum] let him receive the Order to be used for making his Satisfaction. In this place certainly Antiftites in Ecclefia, or Præpofiti Sacrorum do not mean the Bishop alone, but the Bishop and the Pres'byters. To this we must add the Words of

Ireneus, who fays, That it behoveth us to ↑ Lib. 4. c. 43. obey the Elders that are in the Church, which have received according to the Father's Pleafure, the certain Grace of Truth, with the Succeffion of their Bishopricks. And in another place Lib. 3. c. 3. 'he fpeaketh of the Tradition coming from the Apostles, which had been preferved in the 'Churches thro' the Succeffion of Presbyters. Irenaus that is wont to appeal to the Succeffion of Bishops, to evidence that which the Church then believed to have come from the Apoftles, here refers himself to the Presbyters for the fame purpose: And fpeaks of the

..

K 4

Bishoprick