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ocefes were divided into Parishes, and not Parishes united into Dioceses at firft: For the Bishop was placed in the City with a convenient Number of Presbyters about him, Part of whom he always kept with him, and others he fent out to Preach and Adminifter the Sacraments as he faw Occafion: But fixed Parish Priests were not fettled till the End of two or three Centuries. Indeed thefe Authors make a great Noise about the Promifcuous ufage of the Names Bishop and Presbyter, but that is not the Matter in difpute, for I have fhewed that those we now call Bishops were then called Apoftles or Angels.

But tho' during the firft Century or thereabouts the Name of Apoftle or Angel was generally applied to thofe Perfons who were of the first Örder in the Church, and the second Order was indifferently stiled either Bishops or Presbyters; yet immediately afterwards, whilst one of the twelve Apoftles remained on this fide Heaven, these two Names became apparently distinguished. The Succeeding Governours of the Church humbly abstaining from the Name Apoftles were contented to be called Bishops: And then the fecond Order were called altogether Presbyters; And the Title of Bishop was from thenceforth appropriated to thofe who had the Power of Government, Confirmation and Ordination, as appears from the Teftimony of the Ecclefiaftical Writers of the Firft Ages which I fhall in the next place attempt to prove.

And I hope that these afore cited Teftimonies of Scripture joyned with the univerfal Suffrage of the whole Church may be fufficient to convince any unprejudiced Perfon, that F

Bishops

cap. 3.

Bishops as they are diftinct from Presbyters are of Apoftolical Inftitution. For there are diverse Practices in the Church derived to us from the Apoftles for which we have no exprefs positive Precept in the New Teftament, but are gathered from the general Scope and Tenor of the Gofpel and from fome doubtful Places in it fo and fo understood and interpreted by the unanimous confent of the univerfal Church. (g) Adverf. Hær. For here that (g) Golden Rule of Vincentius Lirinenfis must have place, ut id teneamus quod ubiq; quod femper, quod ab omnibus creditum eft. That we hold faft to what has been believed in all places, at all times, and by all Perfons. By this we believe the Books of the Old and New Testament to be the true pure Word of God, and no other,how Divine, Orthodox or Ancient foever they be. By this we reject as Apocryphal thofe Books which Pope Gelafius and from him the Church of Rome have thruft into the Canon. By this Rule it is that we affemble for publick Worship on the Lord's Day, and San&tify and keep holy the firft Day of the Week inftead of the feventh. And by this Rule it is that we Baptize Infants and admit Women to the Communion of the Lord's Supper. And to name no more, I know no other Rule for diftinguishing the Clergy from the Laity, or fetting apart an Order of Men to Minister the Word and Sacraments. There is therefore as good Authority to diftinguifh the Bishops from the Presbyters as there is to have any Ministers in the Church at all. For the Scripture no where pofitively fays you fhall appoint a particular Order of Men to preach the Word, and adminifter the Sacraments, but we gather this Doctrine from the general Scope of the New Teftament,

Teftament, (which often speaks of Elders and Rulers in the Church, and enjoyns an Obedience to them) the Practice of the Apostles, and the Obfervation of this Practice by the whole Catholick Church in all Ages and all Countries, the Knowledge of which is defcended to us. And certainly, as Melanthon has very well Loc. Commun obferved, It is not safe to admit any new Doctrine de Bapt. Infant. for which we have received no Teftimony from the ancient Church. By which Rule the Presbyterian Government can by no Means be allowable, or indeed any other Church-Government than the Epifcopal, there being no Footsteps of any other Government in or after the Apoftles Days 'till the Times of Reformation And then Presbytery was first established at Geneva by Calvin, more thro' Neceffity than Choice, and this was the first best Plea they had for it, as Mr. Hooker has fhewed in his Preface to his Ecclefiaftical Polity. I fhall therefore proceed to fhew that as we gather from divers Paffages of Scripture that there were two diftinct Orders of the Clergy, one to Preach and Administer the Sacraments, the other to Govern and Ordain the Minifters, fo alfo that these two Orders have continued apparently distinct from the Apoftles Days downwards. I name only these two Orders at prefent, because I purpose to treat of the Deacons hereaf ter by themselves: They being apparently distinguished from these two and Inferiour to both.

Chap.

CHA P. V.

That Bishops and Priests are diftinct Orders proved from Teftimonies of the Church.

HE firft Teftimonies I fhall bring from

TH

the Authority of the Church and Primitive Fathers fhall be taken from Ignatius Bishop of Antioch, who fuffered Martyrdom within fourfcore Years after our Saviour's Afcenfion into Heaven. In his Epiftle to the Trallians he writes thus, He that's within the Altar is pure: wherefore alfo he is obedient both to the Bishop and Presbyters. And again in the fame Epiftle, ye ought every one of you, fays he, and chiefly the Presbyters to cherish your Bishop. Writing alfo to the Magnefians, and having juft before fpoken of Damas their Bishop, he from thence takes Occafion to exhort 'em not to contemn their Bishops Age: But, fays he, pay him all Reverence according to the Will of God the Father, as I know the Holy Presbyters do, not looking upon the Youth that appears in him, but the Prudence which he has received from God. And to the Philadelphians he writes, Let the Deacons obey the Priests, and both Priests and Deacons the Bishop, the Bishop Chrift, as Chrift obeys the Father. So that I think there never was a plainer Distinction of Bishops and Presbyters than is here made by this Reverend Father who was Contemporary with the Apostles. But the Paffages wherein he distinguishes the Bishops from the Presbyters are fo many that it would be a tedious Work to enumerate all of 'em, and one might almost transcribe half of his Genu

ine

*

aliter. 35.

ine Epistles, and yet not write all that he fays. of Bishops and Presbyters as diftinct Orders: And he himself as Eufebias teftifies, was the Lib. 3. C. 32. Second Bishop of Antioch after St. Peter, Evodius immediately preceding, and Heros fucceeding him in that See. Thefe Epiftles of his, as the fame Eufebius informs us, were written by him as he was paling from Syria to Rome, in order to fuffer Martyrdom there by Order of the Emperor Trajan. A. D. III. He had prefided over his Church almost forty Years, whereby it is certain he converfed with fome of the Apostles, perhaps with most of 'em : For it is fcarce probable that he fhould be appointed or Elected Bishop 'till he was forty Years of Age, and confequently must be born before our Saviour's Death. Our Adverfaries have nothing to object against this moft Reverend and ancient Father, but only that the Epiftles which bear his Name are forged, but they may as well charge Forgery upon any Book of that Antiquity now extant. Epiftles (I mean all those which are published as his Genuine Works) are every one mentioned by Eufebius, and cited by St. Polycarp the Difciple of St. John and contemporary to Ignatius himself, and by St. Irenaus, who was born before his Death, and Origen who was not a full Century behind him. And as for the little Cavils made against them or fome Paffages in them, they are all most learnedly answered and the Honour of this Holy Martyr vindicated by Voffius, the Reverend Primate Archbishop Ufher, and Dr. Pearfon late Lord Bishop of Chefter.

For his

St.

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