p. 164, 165.

This Controverfie feems to me to have been first set on foot in the Ninth Century, not long after the year Eight hundred. Then we find Du pin. Vol.7.that fome affirm'd the Chorepifcopi to be 'real Bishops by their Ordination, and that they might Ordain Priests and Deacons, Confirm, Confecrate Altars, and do all the Of 'fices of a Bishop: But others denied this, and affirm'd, that their Confirmations were Null and Void. Charles the great confulted . Pope Leo III. upon this Question, who anfwer'd, that he was certain, the Chorepifcopi • had not this Power, and that all they had done belonging to Bifhops, was ipfo facto void, and that they ought to be depriv'd of this Power. The Council of Ratisbon confirm'd "the Pope's Decree, and Order'd them to continue in the Rank of Priefts. This Decifion did not hinder, but that the Chorepifcopi continu'd yet in many Dioceffes, and the Bishops did ftill allow them Priviledges belonging only to their own Order. There has been always many Churches, and chiefly in Italy and Spain, where the Chorepifcopi have been efteem'd no more than ordinary Priefts, where they Re-ordain'd fuch as were made Priefts or Deacons by them, confirmed anew fuch as they had confirmed, and confecrated again fuch Churches as had been confecrated by them. Rabanus, Archbishop of Ments, and one of the moft Learned Writers of that Age, having understood this, undertook to defend the Chorepifcopi. He fays that their Order had its Original from the Apostles; and that they had fuch Affiftants as could Ordain, and do the fame Offices with them. He believes that St. Linus, and St. Clemens, • were

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were Chorepifcopi to St. Peter and St. Paul, in the Church of Rome. He accufes thofe Bifhops that undervalue the Chorepifcopi, and who look upon them as no more than ordi.. nary Priests, of overthrowing the Order by their Ambition. He afferts, that the Chorepifcopi were establish'd for the fake of the . Poor in the Country, that they might not be depriv'd of Confirmation, which they had Power to confer upon them; And that if they had not this Right, they would be of no ufe to the Bishops as they now are. And upon what it was Objected against him, that it is faid in the Scripture, that the Apostles Ats 8. 14. themselves had been fent into Samari., to bestow the Gift of the Holy Ghost, on those that were newly Baptized; He anfwer'd, that the Apostles were fent to Samaria, be'cause there was no Chorepifcopus in that Place, but only the Deacon Philip who had Baptiz'd them. Certainly, if the Pope had no better Argument against the Chorepifcopi, (and I fuppofe if he had, it would have been mentioned) he and his Council too had the least reason imaginable to Condemn them, and the Reply of Rabanus was unanswerable. But we know that the Bishops of Rome and their Councils have often decreed divers Matters, upon as weak Authorities as this. Nevertheless, it is apparent, there was another Reason, but not proper to be urg'd, which made the Pope condemn the Chorepifcopi, which I fhall take notice of hereafter. This difference which happen'd in this Ninth Age, has I fuppofe caus'd the various Opinions at prefent concerning them; but for full fatisfaction we must look into earlier times.

For

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For determining this Controverfie concerning the Chorepifcopi, I must acknowledge my felf beholden to Bishop Beveridge, who in his Learned Annotations on his Pandecta Canonum, has fet this Matter in the clearest Light. And I know not of any other that has fo far fearched into it, but they have generally given their Opinion on one fide or other, without any Proofs at all; So that for the fetling of this point, I fhall only Translate the Sum of his Arguments. First, fays he, it is certain they had Epif Annotat. ad Can.copal Orders. This we learn from the Tenth 13.Concil. Ancyr. Canon of the Council of Antioch, which begins thus, Those who are fix'd in Villages, or . Country Places, and called Chorepifcopi, altho they have receiv'd the Impofition of Hands as BiShops, to which Dionyfius Exiguus, in his Tranflation for Explication fake, adds, fo as to be confecrated Bishops. And that this is the true Interpretation of thofe Words, is plain, 'from what follows in that Canon: For im'mediately a Caution is put in, that altho the Chorepifcopi have receiv'd fuch Epifcopal • Orders, yet they ought to know their Station, and be content with the Care and Government of the Churches committed to them. But it is faid, they were forbidden to Ordain Priefts or Deacons, both in this Canon of the Council of Antioch, and in the 13th of the Council of Ancyra. Yet this by no means destroys, it rather abundantly confirms our Opinion. Forafinuch as the forbidding the Chorepifcopi to Ordain Priefts or Deacons, plainly proves they had fometimes done it; which they 'would never have offer'd at, unless they had 'been actually and truly Bifhops. Befides

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it is obfervable that they are not abfolutely

Forbid to Ordain Priests and Deacons, but to do fo without the permiffion of the Bishop of the City in whofe Diocess their Village is Situated, as it is exprefs'd in both thefe Caons. But had the Chorepifcopi been Presbycers only, they could not have Ordain'd tho' permitted by the Bishop to do fo. And beides all this, the Council of Neocafared Can. 13, 14 plainly diftinguishes between the Chorepifcopi or Bishops in the Country, and the Presbyters in the Country. It is indeed there faid that they were inftituted according to the Pattern of the Seventy Difciples, yet that they are Fellow-labourers with the Bishops. And tho' by the Eighth Canon of the Synod of Antioch Presbyters are forbidden to grant any Canonical Epiftles, yet the Chorepifcopi are allow'd to grant commendatory Epiftles, no less than Bishops. To omit the Eighth Canon of the Council of Nice, and the fecond of the Synod of Chalcedon, which plain

diftingnish the Chorepifcopi and Presbyters, the Council of Laodicea puts this matter beyond all Controverfie; Forbidding Bishops to be made in Villages, but only Vifitors, and ordering that those which are already constituted, hall act nothing without the confent of the Bishop of the City. And St. Bafil in his Ninetieth Canonical Epiftle reproves his Chorepifcopi for Ordaining Clerks contrary to the Canons without his Knowledge, and fays that he will Depofe fuch as fhall fo Ordain for the future. For whereas Bishops were Ordain'd only in Cities, and every City had often large Territories annex'd to it, the Bishop of the City could fcarce perform the Dutics of his Office in all parts of his Diocess:

Where

Wherefore Bishops of large Sees appointed one or more Co-adjutors to affift them, who were placed in fome part of the Country, remote from the City. For this purpose Chorepifcopi, or Village-Bishops were appointed, with a Restriction that they should do nothing of Moment without the Bishop of the City to whom their Region was Subject. And we find by the Acts of Councils, That there were anciently a great number of thefe Chorepifcopi, who as well as other Bishops C were prefent there, and Subfcribed in their < own Names, not as Deputies for others: Becaufe where any Deputies Subfcrib'd, they always named the Bishops by whom they were Deputed. In the firft Council of Nice we have the Subfcription of Palladius, Seleucius, Eudamon, Gorgonius, Stephanus, Euphronion, Rhodon, and divers others, all Chorepifcopi. But this is to be Obferv'd in the Subfcriptions, that whereas Bishops always named the City over which they prefided, thefe only Subfcribed in this manner, Palladius Chorepife spus, Seleucius Chorepifcopus, without naming any Place where they performcd their Functions. For tho' they were truly Bishops, yet had they no City under them, but were themfelves fubject to the Bishop of fome City. And therefore Ferrandus, Diaconus, and Crefconius, call them the Vicars or Deputies of the Bishops. And indeed their Deputations were fometimes fo large, that Lib. 6. c. 119. they cafed the Bishop of all his Care: Hereupon it is Obferv'd in the Capitularies of Charles the Great, that fome Unlearned Bifhops Conftituted Chorepifcipi, that they might give themselves up altogether to Eafe and Plea

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