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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. I.

& 2 Theff. I. I.

ther, unto the Church of God, which is at Corinth. (b) Philip. 1.1. (h) Paul and Timotheus the Servants of Jesus Chrift, to all the Saints in Chrift Jefus, which are at Philippi with the Bishops and Deacons. (i) Paul an Apoftle of Jefus Chrift, 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 because 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 inspired 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 Testament, and he was a conftant Act. 21.1. Sc. Companion of St. Paul in his Travels, and a Tim. 4. 7. continued with him till that Apoftle had fini-1. fhed 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 inspired Evangelift) but the Apoftolical or Episcopal Order to which they were advanced, that caused St. Paul to joyn them with himself in the Inscription of feveral of his Epiftles. Yet nelther 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 () A&. i§. 48. 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. 12: 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 Sil vanus, 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 Epistle to the Bishops (d, Phil.. độ and Deacons of Philippi: It would have been very improper for them to receive AuthoriQ

tative

1 Cor. i. 19.

(e) Supr. ch. 6. (4) 1 Cor. 4. 17.

· I Thef. 3. 1, 2, 6.

tative Directions from one that was not their Superior.

Timothy then being of the Superior or Apoftolical Order, was not for fome time fixed to any particular Church, but fent to visit fometimes one Church, fometimes another, as St. Paul, whofe Chorepifcopus or Coadjutor he was, faw expedient. Thus (as I have (e) already obferved) he was fent to (a) Corinth to prefide over the Diocefan Synod which St. Paul ordered to be there affembled, and to cenfure the Incestuous Perfon that had married his Fathers Wife. And whilft that Apostle staid at Athens he fent Timotheus to establish and comfort the Church of the Theffalonians, and to enquire into their Faith and Charity, and he there calls him not only his Brother, but the Minifter of God, and his Fellow-Labourer, which expreffions feem to intimate that he was of the fame Order with himfeif. (b) Another time he was fent from Ephefus into Macedonia, whilft St. Paul thought it necessary to stay fome time in Afia. And returning again to (c) 1 Tim. 1. 3. give an Account of his Vifitation (c) St. Paul then fixed him at Ephesus, at the time when he himfelf went from Ephefus into Macedonia, and in this place he continued altogether as the proper fixed Bishop thereof, which is not only teftified by Ecclefiaftical History, bnt may be plainly collected from the two Epiftles which St. Paul wrote to Timothy whilft he continued at that place, wherein he gave him Directions for the Government of the Clergy and People under his Carc. Thus, I think it is manifeft, that before Timothy came to be fettled as a fixed Diocefan Bishop, he was a Bishop at large, being of the Apoftolical or Epifcopal Order

(6) AQ. 19. 22.

but

but without any particular diftin& Cure, only he accompanied St. Paul in his Journies and Vifitations, and was affiftant to him in his Ministry, and was fent by that Apostle to vifit and infpect feveral Churches under his Jurifdiction, in fuch places where he had not yet fixed any Bishops as Heads of the Presbyteries, but kept that Power in his own Hands. For fo long time then he was plainly no other than a Coadjutor of St. Paul, one of the fame Order with him, but without any particular Jurifdiction, which is the true nature or Office of a Chorepifcopus or Suffragan to a proper Diocefan. Such an one alfo (as I have obferved) Silvanus feems to have been, who alfo appears to have been employed in the Government of the Church of Corinth under St. Paul as well as 2 Cor. i. 19. Timothy. I might perhaps fay the fame of ft A. 19. 21. Eraftus (who was fent into Macedonia with Timothy) and of fome others; but I forbear, because I do not find any mention made of them in the Infcriptions of any of the Apoftolical Epiftles, or that they were fent with fuch Authority as Timothy and Silvanus feem to have been. And I think my inftancing in these two fufficient to fhew that there is Authority from the Scriptures for the ufe of Chorepifcopi or Coadjutors of the Epifcopal Order.

That the Church continued this Practice, and that diverse Bishops had their Chorepifcopi under them as Affiftants or Coadjutors till the ninth Century, I have already fhewed from Bishop Beveridge, that is, till the year of our Lord 845, at which time the Council of Meaux mentions them, and forbids the Bishop of the City out of Idleness, or any other Secular Bufinefs or for Infirmity to fuffer the Chorepifcopi to exceed

Ο Σ

their

1

(4) Di Pin. Cent. their Bounds. And in the (a) tenth Century,

10. p. 19.

about the year 940, Pope Leo VII. in his Anfwer to Gerard Archbishop of Lorch in Germany, who went to Rome to ask him fomé Questions, amongst which the Sixth was, whether Chorepifcopi might Confecrate Churches, Ordain Priefts or Confirm? Tells him that they may not do it. In the next Century, about the time of the Conqueft of this Realm by the Normans, or foon after the Order of the Chorepifcopi was generally abolished in all places where the Papal Power (e) s Decm.Script. prevailed, as (e) Gervafe the Monk informs us. p. 1650. 1. 65. For he fays, that formerly phe Archbishops of Canterbury had a Chorepifcopus, who refided in the Church of St. Martin without Canterbury, whose Office upon the coming in of Lanfranc was abolifhed, as we hear it was done in all parts of the Earth. Now Lanfranc flourished in the eleventh Century, and came into England with the Conqueror, and was by him made Archbishop of Canterbury, A. D. 1070. about which time according to Gervafe the Chorepifcopi were generally abolished. And fure that Monk could not easily be deceived in a matter fo notorious not much above an hundred years before he wrote his History.

Thus it is evident that Chorepifcopi continued in the Church till they were outed of it by the Papal Authority. It is true indeed, that the Councils of Sardis A. D. 347. Can. 6. and of Laodicea A. D. 367. Can. 57. did prohibit Bishops to be ordained in Villages, and ordered that Vifitors fhould be appointed instead of them; but it is evident that notwithstanding this prohibition the Chorepifcopi were continued in fome Churches at leaft feven hundred years or more after the last of these Councils, but then,

as

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