Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

"Ne in unâ civitate duo sint episcopi," was the consti*tution of the Nicene fathers, as saith Ruffinus; and long before this, it was so known a business, that one city should have but one bishop, that Cornelius exprobrates to Novatus his ignorance: "Is ergo qui evangelium vindicabat, nesciebat in ecclesiâ catholicâ unum episcopum esse debere, ubi videbat esse presbyteros quadraginta et sex :" "Novatus, (the father of the old Puritans,) was a goodly gospeller, that did not know, that, in a catholic church, there should be but one bishop, wherein there were forty-six presbyters;" intimating clearly, that a church that had two bishops, is not catholic, but schismatic at least, if both be pretended to be of a fixed residence; what then is he that would make as many bishops in a church as presbyters? He is Jóμaxos, ‘he fights against God,' if St. Ambrose say true, "Deus enim singulis ecclesiis singulos episcopos præesse decrevit:" God hath decreed that one bishop should rule in one church;" and of what extent this one church was, may easily be guessed by himself, who was the ruler and bishop of the great city and province of Milan. And, therefore, when Valerius, as it was then sometimes used in several churches, had ordained St. Austin to be bishop of Hippo, whereof Valerius was also bishop at the same time, St. Austin was troubled at it, as an act most uncanonical, and yet he was not ordained to rule in common with Valerius, but to rule in succession and after the consummation of Valerius. It was the same case in Angelius, a Novatian bishop, ordaining Marcian to be his successor, and Sisinnius to succeed him: the acts were indeed irregular; but yet there was no harm in it to this cause, they were ordained to succeed, not in conjunction. Axovolas súμboλόν ἐστι, καὶ ἐκκλησιαστικοῦ θεσμοῦ ἀλλότριον, saith Sozomen": "It is a note of schism, and against the rule of Holy Church, to have two bishops in one chair." "Secundus episcopus nullus est," saith St. Cyprian'; and as Cornelius reports it, in his epistle to St. Cyprian, it was the voice of the confessors that had been the instruments and occasions of the Novatian schism, by erecting another bishop: "Nec non ignoramus

d Lib. x. Eccl. Hist. 5 'Os xaì ähλai wóλus.

c. 8. Socrat. lib. v. c. 21.

h Lib. iv. c. 15.

VOL. VII.

[blocks in formation]

Epiphan. Hæres. 66. n. 6. Possidon. în Vitâ Š. Aug.

i Lib. iv. Epist. 2.

R

unum Deum esse, unum Christum esse Dominum, quem confessi sumus, unum Spiritum Sanctum, unum episcopum in catholicâ ecclesiâ esse debere." And these very words the people also used in the contestation about Liberius and Felix. For when the emperor was willing that Liberius should return to his see, on condition that Felix, the Arian, might be bishop there too, they derided the suggestion, crying out, "One God, one Christ, one bishop." So Theodoret, reports. But who lists to see more of this may be satisfied, if plenty will do it, in St. Chrysostom, Theodoret, St. Jerome, Ecumenius', Optatus", St. Ambrose ", and if he please he may read a whole book of it written by St. Cyprian, de Unitate Ecclesiæ, sive de Singularitate Prælatorum.'

[ocr errors]

6. Suppose the ordinary dioceses had been parishes, yet what were the metropolitans and the primates? were they also parish-bishops? Surely if bishops were parochial, then these were at least diocesan by their own argument, for to be sure they had many bishops under them. But there were none such in the primitive church? Yes, most certainly. The thirty-fifth canon of the apostles tells us so most plainly, and, at the worst, they were a very primitive record. "Epis cópos gentium singularum scire convenit, quis inter eos primus habeatur, quem velut caput existiment, et nihil amplius præter ejus conscientiam gerant, quàm ea sola qua parochiæ propriæ, et villis quæ sub eâ sunt, competunt:" "The bishops of every nation must know who is their pri mate, and esteem him as their head, and do nothing without his consent, but those things that appertain to their own diocese. And from hence the fathers of the council of Antioch derived their sanction": "Per singulas regiones epis copos convenit nosse, metropolitanum episcopum sollicitudinem totius provinciæ gerere," &c. "The bishops of every province must know, that their metropolitan-bishop does take cure of all the province." For this was an apostolical constitution, saith St. Clement", that in the conversion of Gentile cities in place of the archflamines, archbishops, primates, or patriarchs, should be placed, "qui reliquorum episcoporum judicia, et majora (quoties necesse foret) negotia in fide

k Lib. ii. c. 11.

1 In 1 Philip.

n In 1 Tim. iii. et in 1 Phil.

m Lib. ii. contra Parmen. • Concil. Antioch. c. 9.

P Epist. 1. ad Jacobum Fratrem Domini.

agitarent, et secundùm Dei voluntatem, sicut constituerunt sancti apostoli, definirent." Alexandria was a metropolitical see long before the Nicene council, as appears in the sixth canon, before cited"; nay, Dioscorus, the bishop of that church, was required to bring ten of the metropolitans that he had under him, to the council of Ephesus, by Theodosius and Valentinian, emperors; so that it was a patriarchate.

These are enough to show, that in the primitive church there were metropolitan bishops. Now, then, either bishops were parochial or no: if no, then they were diocesan; if yea, then at least many of them were diocesan; for they had, according to this rate, many parochial bishops under them. But I have stood too long upon this impertinent trifle; but as now-a-days it is made, the consideration of it is material to the main question. Only this I add, that if any man should trouble the world with any other fancy of his own, and say that our bishops are nothing like the primitive, because all the bishops of the primitive church had only two towns in their charge, and no more, and each of these towns had in them one hundred and seventy families, and were bound to have no more, how should this man be confuted? It was just such a device as this in them, that first meant to disturb this question, by pretending that the bishops were only parochial, not diocesan, and that there was no other bishop but the parish-priest. Most certainly, themselves could not believe the allegation, only they knew it would raise a dust. But, by God's providence, there is water enough in the primitive fountains to allay it.

SECTION XLIV.

And was aided by Presbyters, but not impaired.

ANOTHER Consideration must here be interposed, concerning the intervening of presbyters in the regiment of the several churches. For though I have twice already shown, that they could not challenge it of right, either by Divine in

4 Vide Concil. Chalced. Act, 1. in Epist.

stitution or apostolical ordinance; yet here also it must be considered how it was in the practice of the primitive church; for those men that call the bishop a pope, are themselves desirous to make a conclave of cardinals too, and to make every diocese a Roman consistory.

[ocr errors]

1. Then the first thing we hear of presbyters, (after Scripture, I mean, for of it I have already given account,) is from the testimony of St. Jerome: "Antequam studia in religione fierent, et diceretur in populis, Ego sum Pauli, &c. communi presbyterorum consilio ecclesiæ gubernabantur :" "Before factions arose in the church, the church was governed by the common council of presbyters." Here St. Jerome either means it of the time before bishops were constituted in particular churches, or after bishops were appointed. If before bishops were appointed,' no hurt done, the presbyters might well rule in common, before themselves had a ruler appointed to govern both them and all the diocese beside. For so St. Ignatius ', writing to the church of Antioch exhorts the presbyters to feed the flock until God should declare τὸν μέλλοντα ἄρχειν ὑμῶν, “ whom he would make their ruler." And St. Cyprian, speaking of Etecusa, and some other women that had made defailance in time of persecution, and so were put to penance, " præceperunt eas præpositi tantisper sic esse, donec episcopus constituatur:" The presbyters, whom sede vacante' he, præter morem suum,' calls 'præpositos,' they gave order that "they should so remain till the consecration of a bishop." But if St. Jerome means this saying of his after bishops were fixed,' then his expression answers the allegation, for it was but "communi consilio presbyterorum," the judicium might be solely in the bishop; he was the judge, though the presbyters were the counsellors. For so himself adds, that "upon occasion of those first schisms in Corinth, it was decreed in all the world, ut omnis ecclesiæ cura ad unum pertineret,' all the care of the diocese was in the bishop," and, therefore, all the power; for it was unimaginable that the burden should be laid on the bishop, and the strength put into the hands of the presbyters. And so St. Ignatius styles them σύμβουλοι, καὶ συνεδρευταὶ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου, « assessors Epist. ad Antioch. Epist. 21.

In Epist. ad Titum. c. 1

and counsellors to the bishop." But yet if we take our estimate from Ignatius, "the bishop is the ruler; without him, though all concurred, yet nothing could be done, nothing attempted; the bishop was superior in all power and authority; he was to be obeyed in all things, and contradicted in nothing; the bishop's judgment was to sway, and nothing must seem pleasing to the presbyters that was cross to the bishop's sentence:" this, and a great deal more, which I have formerly made use of, is in Ignatius; and now let their assistance and counsel extend as far as it will, the bishop's authority is invulnerable. But I have already enough

discussed this instance of St. Jerome's section; thither I refer the reader.

e "

2. But St. Cyprian must do this business for us, if any man; for of all the bishops, he did acts of the greatest condescension and seeming declination of episcopal authority. But let us see the worst. "Ad id verò, quod scripserunt mihi compresbyteri nostri, solus rescribere nihil potui, quando à primordio episcopatûs mei statuerim nihil, sine consilio vestro et sine consensu plebis meæ, privatâ sententiâ gerered." And again, "Quamvis mihi videantur debere pacem accipere, tamen ad consultum vestrum eos dimisi, ne videar aliquid temerè præsumere"." And a third time, "Quæ res cùm omnium nostrum consilium et sententiam spectat, præjudicare ego et soli mihi rem communem vindicare non audeo!" These are the greatest steps of episcopal humility that I find in materiâ juridicâ ;' the sum whereof is this, that St. Cyprian did consult his presbyters and clergy in matters of consequence, and resolved to do nothing without their advice. But then, consider also it was “statui apud me,' "I have resolved with myself," to do nothing without your counsel. It was no necessity ab extrà,' no duty, no sanction of Holy Church, that bound him to such a modesty; it was his own voluntary act. 2. It was as well 'diaconorum,' as 'presbyterorum consilium,' that he would have in conjunction, as appears by the titles of the sixth and eighteenth epistles: Cyprianus presbyteris, ac diaconis fratribus salutem:" so that here the presbyters can no more challenge a power

66

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

f Epist. 18.

« AnteriorContinuar »