66 But in those things, which are of no question, I need not insist. One title more I must specify, to prevent misprision upon a mistake of theirs of a place in St. Ambrose'. The 'bishop' is sometimes called 'primus presbyter.'-“" Nam et Timotheum episcopum à se creatum presbyterum vocat: quia primi presbyteri episcopi appellabantur, ut recedente eo sequens ei succederet "." Elections were made of bishops out of the college of presbyters: Presbyteri unum ex se electum episcopum nominabant," saith St. Jerome; but at first this election was made, not according to merit, but according to seniority; and, therefore, bishops were called 'primi presbyteri;' that is St. Ambrose's sense. But St. Austin gives another, ' primi presbyteri,' that is, ' chief above the presbyters.'-"Quid est episcopus nisi primus presbyter, h. e. summus sacerdos," saith he *. And St. Ambrose himself gives a better exposition of his words, than is intimated in that clause before: "Episcopi, et presbyteri una ordinatio est: uterque enim sacerdos est, sed episcopus primus est; ut omnis episcopus presbyter sit, non omnis presbyter episcopus. Hic enim episcopus est, qui inter presbyteros primus est y." The bishop is primus presbyter,' that is, 'primus sacerdos, h. e. princeps est sacerdotum,' so he expounds it; not princeps' or primus inter presbyteros,' himself remaining a mere presbyter, but princeps presbyterorum;' for 'primus presbyter' could not be episcopus' in another sense, he is the chief, not the senior of the presbyters. Nay, ' princeps presbyterorum' is used in a sense lower than 'episcopus ;' for Theodoret, speaking of St. John Chrysostom, saith, that "having been the first presbyter at Antioch, yet he refused to be made bishop for a long time;" "Johannes enim, qui diutissimè princeps fuit presbyterorum Antiochiæ, ac sæpe electus præsul, perpetuus vitator dignitatis illius de hoc admirabili solo pullulavit z." The church also, in her first language, when she spake of 'præpositus ecclesiæ,' meant the 'bishop of the diocese.' Of this there are innumerable examples, but most plentifully in St. Cyprian, in his epistles; and in Tertullian's book ad Lib. vii. Etymol. c. 12. * Quæst. Vet. et N. Testam. qu. 101. * In Ephes, iv. " Comment. in Ephes. iv. In 1 Tim. iii. 2 Epist. 3, 4, 7, 11, 13, 15, 23, 27. martyres; and infinite places more. Of which this advantage is to be made, that the primitive church did generally understand those places of Scripture which speak of 'prelates,' or 'præpositi,' to be meant of bishops;' "Obedite præpositis," saith St. Paul: " Obey your prelates, or them that are set over you." "Præpositi autem pastores sunt," saith St. Austin: "Prelates are they that are pastors." But St. Cyprian sums up many of them together, and insinuates the several relations, expressed in the several compellations of bishops. For, writing against Florentius Pupianus, "Ac nisi," saith he", " apud te purgati fuerimus, ecce jam sex annis nec fraternitas habuerit episcopum, nec plebs præpositum, nec grex pastorem, nec ecclesia gubernatorem, nec Christus antistitem, nec Deus sacerdotes;" and all this he means of himself, who had then been "six years bishop of Carthage, a prelate of the people, a governor to the church, a pastor to the flock, a priest of the most high God, a minister of Christ." ' 6 The sum is this: When we find in antiquity any thing asserted of any order of the hierarchy, under the names of episcopus,' or princeps sacerdotum,' or presbyterorum primus,' or 'pastor,' or 'doctor,' or 'pontifex,' or 'major,' or primus sacerdos,' or 'sacerdotium ecclesiæ habens,' or 'antistes ecclesiæ,' or 'ecclesiæ sacerdos;' (unless there be a specification, and limiting of it to a parochial and inferior minister,) it must be understood of bishops' in its present acceptation. For these words are all, by way of eminency, and most of them by absolute appropriation and singularity, the appellations and distinctive names of bishops.' SECTION XXVIII. And these were a distinct Order from the rest. Βυτ, ὀνόματα τῶν πραγμάτων μιμήματα, saith the philosopher : and this their distinction of names did, amongst the fathers of the primitive church, denote a distinction of calling, and office, supereminent to the rest. For, first, bishops are, by all antiquity, reckoned as a distinct office of clergy. "Si quis presbyter, aut diaconus, aut quilibet de numero clericorum, pergat ad alienam parochiam præter episcopi sui conscientiam," &c. So it is in the fifteenth canon of the apostles, and so it is there plainly distinguished as an office different from presbyter and deacon, above thirty times in those canons, and distinct powers given to the bishop, which are not given to the other, and to the bishop above the other. The council of Ancyra inflicting censures upon presbyters first, then deacons which had fallen in time of persecution, gives leave to the bishop to mitigate the pains as he sees cause: "Sed si ex episcopis aliqui in iis vel afflictionem aliquam-viderint, in eorum potestate id esse." The canon would not suppose any bishops to fall, for indeed they seldom did; but for the rest, provision was made for both. their penances, and indulgence at the discretion of the bishop. And yet sometimes they did fall; Optatus bewails it, but withal gives evidence of their distinction of order: 66 Quid commemorem laicos, qui tunc in ecclesiâ nullâ fuerant dignitate suffulti? Quid ministros plurimos, quid diaconos in tertio, quid presbyteros in secundo sacerdotio constitutos? Ipsi apices, et principes omnium aliqui episcopi aliqua instrumenta Divinæ legis impiè tradiderunt:" The laity, the ministers, the deacons, the presbyters, nay, the bishops themselves, the princes and chief of all, proved traitors." The diversity of order is here fairly intimated, but dogmatically affirmed by him in his second book adv. Parmen. "Quatuor genera capitum sunt in ecclesiâ, episcoporum, presbyterorum, diaconorum, et fidelium:" "There are four sorts of heads in the church, bishops, presbyters, deacons, and the faithful laity." And it was remarkable, when the people of Hippo had, as it were, by violence carried St. Austin to be made priest by their bishop Valerius, some seeing the good man weep in consideration of the great hazard and difficulty accruing to him in his ordination to such an office, thought he had wept because he was not bishop, they pretending comfort, told him, "Quia locus presbyterii, licèt ipse majore dignus esset, appropinquaret tamen episcopatui:" "The office of a presbyter, though a Can. 1. and 2. b Lib. ad Parmen. 66 indeed he deserved a greater, yet was the next step in order to a bishoprick." So Passidonius tells the story. It was the next step, the next descent in subordination, the next under it. So the council of Chalcedon: 'Eniσnoπov eis πgeσΕυτέρου βαθμὸν φέρειν ἱεροσυλία ἐστίν : “ It is sacrilege to bring down a bishop to the degree and order of a presbyter," anò τῆς πράξεως ἐπισκοπῆς ἀποκινεῖν· so the council permits in case of great delinquency, to suspend him from the execution of his episcopal order, but still the character remains, and the degree of itself is higher ". "Nos autem idcirco hæc scribimus, fratres carissimi, quia novimus quàm sacrosanctum debeat esse episcopale sacerdotium, quod et clero, et plebi debet esse exemplo," said the fathers of the council of Antioch, in Eusebius"; "The office of a bishop is sacred, and exemplary both to the clergy, and the people." "Interdixit, per omnia, magna synodus, non episcopo, non presbytero, non diacono licere f," &c. And it was a remarkable story, that Arius troubled the church for missing of a prelation to the order and dignity of a bishop. "Post Achillam enim Alexander-ordinatur episcopus: hoc autem tempore Arius in ordine presbyterorum fuit:" "Alexander was ordained a bishop, and Arius still left in the order of mere presbyters." Of the same exigence are all those clauses of commemoration of a bishop and presbyters of the same church. "Julius autem Romanus episcopus propter senectutem defuit, erantque pro eo præsentes Vitus, et Vicentius presbyteri ejusdem ecclesiæ :” "They were his vicars, and deputies for their bishop in the Nicene council," saith Sozomen. But most pertinent is that of the Indian persecution, related by the same man. Many of them were put to death. "Erant autem horum alii quidem episcopi, alii presbyteri, alii diversorum ordinum clerici." And this difference of order is clear in the epistle of the bishops of Illyricum to the bishops of the Levant: " De episcopis autem constituendis, vel comministris jam constitutis, si permanserint usque ad finem sani, bene-similiter presbyteros atque diaconos in sacerdotali ordine definivimus," &c. And of Sabbatius it is said, "Nolens in suo ordine manere presbyte c De Vita August. c. 4. Lib. vii. c. 26. d Can. 29. f Can. 3. Nicene Concil. * Lib. ii. c. 1. Hist. Tripart. Lib. iii. Tripart. c. 2. ratus, desiderabat episcopatum;" "He would not stay in the order of a presbyter, but desired a bishoprick."-" Ordo episcoporum quadripartitus est, in patriarchis, archiepiscopis, metropolitanis, et episcopis," saith St. Isidore; "Omnes autem superius designati ordines uno eodemque vocabulo episcopi nominantur." But it were infinite to reckon authorities, and clauses of exclusion, for the three orders of bishops, priests, and deacons; we cannot almost dip in any tome of the councils, but we shall find it recorded and all the martyr-bishops of Rome did ever acknowledge and publish it, that episcopacy is a peculiar office and order in the church of God; as is to be seen in their decretal epistles, in the first tome of the councils. I only sum this up with the attestation of the church of England, in the preface to the book of ordination: "It is evident to all men diligently reading holy Scripture and ancient authors, that, from the apostles' times, there have been these orders of ministers in Christ's church, bishops, priests, and deacons." The same thing exactly, that was said in the second council of Carthagek; τρεῖς βαθμοὺς τούτους, φημὶ δὲ, ἐπισκόπους, πρεσβυτέρους, καὶ dianóvous. But we shall see it better, and by more real probation, for that bishops were a distinct order, appears by this : SECTION XXIX. To which the Presbyterate was but a Degree. 1. THE presbyterate was but a step to episcopacy, as deaconship to the presbyterate; and, therefore, the council of Sardis decreed, that no man should be ordained bishop, but he that was first a reader, and a deacon, and a presbyter, "va καθ ̓ ἕκαστον βαθμὸν — εἰς τὴν ἀψίδα τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς, κατὰ προκοπὴν - eis διαβῆναι δυνηθείη : “ That by every degree he may pass to the sublimity of episcopacy.” Έξει δὲ ἑκάστου τάγματος ὁ βαθμὸς οὐκ ἐλαχίστου δηλονότι χρόνου μῆκος, &c. “ But the degree of every order must have the permanence and trial of no small Hist. Tripart. lib. xi. c. 5. Etymol. lib. vii. c. 12. |