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fure. Sidonius fays the fame of Claudianus,+ Lib. 4. Ep. 11. Brother to Marcus Bishop of Vienna.

A Prelate of the Second Rate was he,
Eafing his Brother in the Bishops See;
For one the Bishops Ornaments did Wear,
The other only had the Bishops Care.

'Where we fee Claudianus is called a Pre' late in the second Degree, which would not have been unlefs he had been actually a Bishop, for never any fingle Presbyter was 'called (Antiftes) a Prelate: But he is called 'a Prelate in the fecond Degree, because he ' was not Bishop of the City, but only Chorepifcopus; yet he took upon him the whole Epifcopal Charge, which was impoffible for "him to have done had he not been a Bishop: And fo indeed Gennadius exprefly calls him, ' in his Catalogue of Illuftrious Men, Treating of Salvian, and having occasion to mention this Claudianus, he Stiles him Bishop of Vienna: And not undefervedly, when he had all the Epifcopal Care laid upon him. But when this grew too common, and Bi'fhops for their Ease and Pleasure made Chorepifcopi, only to Devolve all their Care on

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them, The Council of Meaux, A. D. 845, Cap. 44. forbid the Bishop of a City out of Idleness, or auy other fecular Bufinefs, or for Infirmity, to fuffer the Chorepifcopi to exceed their Bounds. It must not be here omitted that the Office at least, altho' not the Name of the Chorepifcopi has been receiv'd in England from ancient time: For they are call'd Bishop's Suffra < gan. I am not ignorant that all Bishops are call'd Suffragans, because they are oblig'd to give • their Suffrage to, and to affift the Archbishop.

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de Conftit. c. quia Verb.Suffraganeis.

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For they are called in to part of the Archbishop's

Provinc. l. 1. Care, tho' not to the fulness of his Pomen, as our Lindmood fays, But nevertheless, they are alfo call'd Suffragans who are Affiftants to other Provincial Bishops, concerning which a Statute was Promulged in the Twen'to fixth Year of Henry VIII. Where it was Decreed, That in Twenty fix Places there named, and not elsewhere, Suffragan Bi fhops fhould be appointed, and that they fhould be Confecrated by the Archbishop and two other Bishops; but fo that none of thefe fhould Exercife any Epifcopal: Office but fuch as fhould be committed to him by the Bishop in whofe Diocefs he is Conftitu ted. And of this kind were the ancient Cho repifcopi, who were Confcrated as other Bis fhops were, and had all Epifcopal Bower 'committed to 'em, which yet they might not make use of but as they, were permitted by the Bishop of the Diocefs in which they were Conftituted. But if any of them did Confecrate Priests or Deacons, they were liable to be punish'd, but the Orders were ¿ not Invalid: Neither were they liable to Punishment, if they had leave to Ordain from the Bishop of the City: For the Power of Ordination arifes not from the Affig ⚫ nation of a Diocefs but from Epifcopal Or i der.

I fhall add nothing to what this Learned Author has faid, to prove the Chorepifcopi to have been the Epifcopal Order, but I think it may be convenient to fhew how they have continu'd in the Church, how they came to be cal led Suffragans, and what Reasons there are to tevive the use of 'em. They were in the Church,

Church, as has been already obferv'd, before the Council of Nice, becaufe fo many of them, fubfcribed to the Acts of that Synod, and probably are as old as the Apoftolical times, as Rabanus Maurus afferts.

For St. Paul, as (a) I have already obferved (4) Sup.ch. 4. and proved, kept all the Churches of his own Plantation under his immediate Care and Infpection for fometime. (b) And altho' he Or- (b) A&s 14. 23. dained Elders or Presbyteries in any City, (c)(c) 2 Cor. 11. 27. yet he charged himself with the Overfight of thefe Churches and Colleges of Presbyters, which he had Planted, and kept the Superiour Government of them in his own Hands. And the better to discharge his Care over fo many Districts, he took to his Affiftance fome Perfons whom he had advanced to the Epifcopal or Apoftolical Order, without affigning them immediately to any particular Place, but only occafionally fending them to vifit and inspect fome of his Churches as he faw expedient.

2 im. I. 16.

(d) Thus having made Timothy an Apostle (d) Acts 16.3. or Bishop at large when he was at Lyftra, he compared with took him along with him to accompany him, in his Travels, and to affift him in the Work of the Ministry. (e) Silas alfo otherwife called) Acts 18. 5. Silvanus, was another conftant Companion of compared with St. Paul, who affifted him in his Office, and accompanied him in his Travels and Voyages.

2

This Silas was (ƒ) a Prophet, and one of the (ƒ) Acs 15.32, Company of the Apostles and Elders which 22. affembled in the general Council at Jerufalem, and was fent by them together with Judas furnamed Barfabas to carry their Synodical Epiftle to Antioch. Now if these Perfons had not been of the fame Order with St. Paul and his Affiftants or Coadjutors, it is not to be eafily accounted

accounted for why that Apoftle fhould join them with himself in the Infcription of his Epiftles, as Perfons that had the fame common Care with him of thofe Churches to whom thofe Epistles were directed, which he does in (g) 2 Cor. 1.1. this manner. (g) Paul an Apostle of Jefus Chrift by the will of God, and Timothy our Bro

(i) Coloff. I. 1.

& 2 Theff. 1. I.

ther, unto the Church of God, which is at Corinth. (b) Philip. 1.1. (b) Paul and Timotheus the Servants of Jefus Chrift, to all the Saints in Chrift Jefus, which are at Philippi with the Bishops and Deacons. (i) Paul an Apoftle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timotheus our Brother, to the Saints and faithful Brethren in Chrift, which are at Coloffe. (k) Theff. 1.1(k) Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus, unto the Church of the Theffalonians. It is certain St. Paul had feveral other Perfons who accompanied him in his Travels, whofe Names we meet with in the Body of his Epiftles, or towards the conclufion of them, where they frequently falute the Church to which the Epistle is fent. Thus for Inftance in the Epistle to Coloff. 4 12, 14. the Coloffians, we read, Epaphras, who is one of you, a Servant of Chrift faluteth you. Luke the beloved Phyfician, and Demas great you. I can't fee why Timothy's Name is put with St. Paul's in the Infcription of this Epiftle and these other names only at the end of it, but becaufe Timothy was a Coadjutor to the Apostle and of the fame Order with him, and the others were not. St. Luke, who was one of thofe which greeted that Church, feems not to have been inferiour in Perfonal Qualifications either to Timothy or Silas, for he was an infpired Evangelift, and two of his Books, the one called his Gofpel, and the other the Acts of the Apoftles have made a part of the Holy Scriptures of

the

the New Teftament, and he was a conftant A&t. 21. 1. &c. Companion of St. Paul in his Travels, and ft 2 Tim. 4. 7. continued with him till that Apoftle had fini-1. shed his Course. Yet we no where find him mentioned as Timothy and Silvanus were in the beginning of any Canonical Epiftles as joyned with the Apostle himself, and a Partner of that Authority by which thofe Epiftles were written. It is therefore, I conceive, evident that it was not the mere Perfonal Qualifications of Timothy and Silvanus (for thofe were no doubt as great in St. Luke the infpired Evangelift) but the Apoftolical or Epifcopal Order to which they were advanced, that caused St. Paul to joyn them with himself in the Inscription of feveral of his Epiftles. Yet neither of them was immediately fixed in the Government of any particular Church, but St. Paul fent them as his Deputies or Vicars to visit sometimes one Church, fometimes another. It does not indeed appear that Silvanus was frequently fent upon fuch occafions, but it appears that he was for a time a pretty conftant (b) Coadjutor of St. Paul, and afterwards (6) A&. i§. 43. was also an (c) Assistant to St. Peter, and feems & 16. 19. &c. not ever to have been made a fixed Diocefan() 1 Pet. 5. 121 Bishop. And yet if Timothy was a Bishop he furely was one, for he is always put before him, being ever placed together in this Order, Silvanus and Timotheus, not Timotheus and Silvanus, because Silas or Silvanus was firft ordained to that Office. And if Timothy were not of the fame Order with St. Paul, 'tis not like ly that Apostle would joyn him with himself (d) in the Infcription of an Epiftle to the Bishops (d, Phil. i. đị and Deacons of Philippi: It would have been very improper for them to receive Authori

9.

tative

1 Cor. 1. 19.

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