THE IVDGEMENT OF DOCTOR RAINOLDES touching the Originall of Episcopacie.
WHEN Act. 14.23. Elders were ordain'd by the Apostles in every Church, Tit. 1.5. through every City, Act. 20.28. to [...], that is, to doe the duty of a Pastor to it. feed the flocke of Christ, whereof the Holy Ghost had made them over-seers: they to the intent they might the better doe it by common counsell and consent, did use to assemble themselves and meete [Page 2] together. In the which meetings, for the more orderly handling and concluding of things pertaining to their charge; they chose one amongst them to be the President of their company and Moderator of their actions. As in the Church of Ephesus, though it had Act. 20.17. sundry Elders and Pastors to guide it: yet amongst those sundry was there one chiefe, whom our Saviour calleth Rev. 2.1. the Angell of the Church, and writeth that to him, which by him the rest should know.
And this is he whom afterward in the Primitive Church the Fathers called Bishop. For as the name of 1. Cor. 4.1. Ministers, common to all them who serve Christ in Luke 12.42. the stewardship of the mysteries of God, that is in preaching of the Gospell, is now by the custome of our English speech restrained to Elders who are under a Bishop: so the name of 1. Tim 3.2. Tit. 1.7. Act. 20.28. Bishop common to all Elders and Pastors of the Church, was then by the usuall language of the Fathers appropriated [Page 3] to him who had the Presidentship over Elders.
Thus are certaine Elders reproved by Epist. 13. Presbyteris & Diaconis. Cyprian; for receiving to the communion them who had fallen (in time of persecution) before the Bishop had advised of it with them and others. And Euseb. Hist. Eccles. 1.6. c. 42. Cornelius writeth that the Catholick Church committed to his charge had sixe and forty Elders, and ought to have but one Bishop. And both of them being Bishops, the one of Rome, the other of Carthage, Cornelius Cypriano Ep. 46. Cyprianus Presbyteris & Diaconis Ep. 6. doe witnesse of themselves that they dealt in matters of their Churches governement by the consent and counsell of the company of Elders, or the Eldership, Cornelius Ep. 46. apud Cyprianum. as they both (after S. 1. Tim. 4.14. Paul) doe call it.
[Page 4] THus farre, that Reverend D. Rainold. Conference with Hart, chap. 8. divis 3. Doctor: whose observation touching the Angell of the Church of Ephesus (in the second of the Revelation) that he was the same with him whom afterwards in the Primitive Church the Fathers called Bishop, is clearely confirmed, both by the succession of the first Bishops of that Church, and by the testimony of Ignatius, who (within no greater compasse of time then twelve yeares afterwards) distinguisheth the singular and constant President thereof, from the rest of the number of the Presbyters, by appropriating the name of Bishop unto him.
As for the former: we finde it openly declared in the generall Councell of Chalcedon, by Leontius Bishop of Magnesia; [Page 5] that [...]. Concil Chalcedon. Act. 11. from Timothie (and so from the daies of the Apostles) there had beene a continued succession of seven and twenty Bishops; all of them ordained in Ephesus ▪ Of which number the Angell of the Church of Ephesus, mentioned in the Revelation, must needs be one whether it were Timothie himselfe, as [...] . in Vit. Polycarp. cap 7. some conceive; or one of his next Successors, as others rather do imagine.
For that Timothie had been sometime N [...]tandum est ex [...], Timotheum in Ephesino Presbyterio [...] [...] (id est, antis [...]em) ut vocat Justinus. Pez. Annotat. in 1. Tim. 5.19. Qui politicae causa reliquis fratribus in coetu praeerat (qu [...]m Iustinus [...] vocat) peculiariter dici Episcopus coepit. Id. in Philip. 1.1. the [...] (which is the appellation which Iustin Martyr giveth unto him, whom other of the Fathers do peculiarly tearme a Bishop) or Antistes, or President of the Ephesine Presbytery, is confessed by Beza himselfe: and that he was ordained the first Bishop of the Church of the Ephesians, we doe not onely read in the subscription of the second Epistle to Timothie, and the Ecclesiasticall History of Euseb. Hist. Lib 3. [...]. Eusebius, but also in two ancient Treatises concerning the Martyrdome of Timothie; the one namelesse in the Library of [Page 6] [...]. & post. [...]. Phot. B [...]bliothec. num. 254. Photius, the other bearing the name of Polycrat. de Martyrio Timothei: inter Vitas Sanctorum▪ edit. Lovanij anno 1485▪ Polycrates, even of that Polycrates, who was not onely himselfe Bishop of this Church of Ephesus, but borne also within six or seven and thirty yeares after S. Iohn wrote the forenamed Epistle unto the Angell of that Church: as it appeareth by the yeares he was of, when he wrote that Epistle unto Victor Bishop of Rome, wherein he maketh mention of [...]. Polycrat. Epist. ad Victorem: apud Euseb lib. 5. Hist. [...]. seven kinsmen of his who had beene Bishops; he himselfe being the eight.
I come now to the testimony of Ignatius: whom Theodoret in Dialogo 1. sive [...]. Theodoret and Felix III. in Epist. ad Zenonem. Imp. recitat. in V. Synodo Constantinopol. Act. 1. (tomo 2. Concilior. pag. 220. edit. Binij, ann. 1606) Felix Bishop of Rome, and Johan. Mal [...]la Antiochenus, Chronic. lib. 10. M.S. Iohn the Chronographer of Antioch report to have beene ordained Bishop of Antioch by S. Peter; and without all controversie did sit in that See, the very same time wherein that Epistle unto the Angell of the Church of Ephesus was commanded to be written. In the Isle of Patmos had S. Iohn his Revelation manifested unto him, [...]. Iren. advers. haeres. lib. 5. cap. 30. Euseb. lib. Hist. [...]. toward the end of the Empire of [Page 7] Domitian, as Irenaeus testifieth; or the foureteenth yeare of his governement, as Euseb. Chronic. Hieron. Catal. scriptor. Ecclesiast. in Johanne. Eusebius and Hierom specifie it. From thence there are but twelve yeares reckoned unto the tenth of Trajan: wherein Ignatius, in that last journey which he made for the consummation of his glorious Martyrdome at Rome, wrote another Epistle unto the selfe-same Church of Ephesus. In which he maketh mention of their then Bishop Onesimus: as it appeares both by Euseb. lib. 3. hist. [...]. Eusebius citing this out of it, and by the Epistle it selfe yet extant.
In this Epistle to the Ephesians, Ignatius having acknowledged that their [...]. Ignat epist. ad E [...]h [...]s numerous multitude was received by him in the person of their Bishop Onesimus, and [...]. Ibid. blessed God for granting unto them such a Bishop as he was: doth afterwards put them in mind of their [...]. Ibid. duty in concurring with him, as he sheweth their worthy Presbytery did, being [...]. Ibid. so conjoyned (as [Page 8] he saith) with their Bishop, as the strings are with the Harpe; and toward the end exhorteth them to [...]. Ibid. obey both the Bishop and the Presbytery, with an undevided minde.
In the same journey wrote Ignatius also an Epistle unto the Church of Smyrna; another of those seven unto whom those letters are directed in S. Iohns Revelation▪ wherein he also [...]. Id. in epist. ad Smyrn. saluteth their Bishop and Presbytery: exhorting all the people to [...]. Ibid follow their Bishop, as Christ Iesus did his Father, and the Presbytery, as the Apostles; and telling them that [...], &c. Ibid. no man ought either to administer the Sacraments, or doe any thing appertaining to the Church, without the consent of the Bishop. And that Polycarpus was then Bishop, when S. Iohn wrote unto the Angell of the Church in Smyrna; who can better informe us then Irenaeus? who did not onely know those worthy men, [...]. Iren. advers haeres lib 3. cap. 3. Euseb. lib. 4 hist. [...]. who succeeded Polycarpus in his See; but also Iren. in epist ad Florinum: (apud Euseb. lib. 5. [...].) & ad Victorem (ibid. [...].) was present, when he himselfe did discourse of his conversation [Page 9] with S. Iohn, and of those things which he heard from those who had seene our Lord Iesus.
Polycarpus [...]. Iren lib 3. cap. 3. ut suprà. saith he, was not onely taught by the Apostles and conversed with many of those that had seene Christ, but also was by the Apostles constituted in Asia Bishop of the Church which is in Smyrna: whom we our selves also did see in our younger age for he continued long, and being very aged, he most gloriously and nobly suffering Martyrdome departed this life.
Now being ordained Bishop of Symrna by the Apostles; who had finished their cours [...] and departed out of this life before S. Iohn (the last surviver of them) did write his Revelation: who but he could there be meant by the Angell of the Church in Smyrna? in which that he still held his Episcopall office unto the time of his Martyrdome (which fell out LXXIIII yeares afterward) may sufficiently appeare by this testimony, which the brethren of the Church of Smyrna, who were present at his [Page 10] suffering, gave unto him. [...]. Smyrnens. eccle. epist. encycl de martyrio Polycarpi Euseb. lib 4. hist. [...]. He was the most admirable man in our times, an Apostolicall and Propheticall Doctor, and Bishop of the Catholick Church which is in Smyrna. Whereunto we may add the like of Polycrates Bishop of Ephesus, who lived also in his time and in his neighbourhood, affirming [...]. Polycrat. epist. ad Victorem: apud Euseb. lib. 5. hist. [...]. Polycarpus to have beene both Bishop and Martyr in Smyrna. So saith he in his Synodicall Epistle, directed unto Victor Bishop of Rome, about 27 yeares after the Martyrdome of Polycarpus; he himselfe being at that time 65 yeares of age.
About the very same time wherein Polycrates wrote this Epistle unto Victor, did Tertullian publish his book of Prescriptions against Hereticks: wherein he avoucheth against them, that Sicut Smyrnaeorum Ecclesia Polycarpum ab Johanne conlocatum resert; sicut Romanorum Clementem à Petro ordinatum edit: proinde (or perinde) uti (que) [...] [...]ceterae exhibent quos, ab Apostolis in Episcopatum constitutos. Apostolici seminis traduces habent. Tertullian de Praescript. cap. 32. Vid. & ejusd lib. 4. contra Marcion. cap. 5. as the Church of Smyrna had Polycarpus placed there by Iohn, and the Church of Rome Clement ordained by Peter; so the rest of the Churches also did shew, what Bishops they had received by the appointment of the [Page 11] Apostles, to traduce the Apostolicall seed unto them. And so before him did Irenaeus urge against them Successiones Episcoporum, quibus Apostolicam quae in unoquo (que) loco est Ecclesiam tradiderunt. Iren. lib. 4. advers. haeres. cap. 63. the successions of Bishops, unto whom the Apostles committed the charge of the Church in every place. Omnes enim ij valdè posteriores sunt, quàm Episcopi, quibus Apostoli tradiderunt Ecclesias. Id. lib. 5. cap. 20. For all the Hereticks (saith he) are much later then those Bishops, unto whom the Apostles committed the Churches. And, Habemus annumerare eos qui ab Apostolis instituti sunt Episcopi in Ecclesijs, & successores eorum us (que) ad nos; qui nihil tale docuerunt ne (que) cognoverunt quale ab his deliratur. Id. lib. 3. cap 3. we are able to number those who by the Apostles were ordained Bishops in the Churches, and their Successours unto our daies; who neither taught nor knew any such thing as these men dreame of.
For proofe whereof, he bringeth in the succession of the Bishops of Rome, from [...]. Id. ibid. & apud Eu [...]eb lib 5. hist [...]. Linus (unto whom the blessed Apostles committed that Episcopacie) and Anacletus (by others called Cletus) and Clement (who did both see the Apostles, and conferred with them) unto [...]. &s. ibid. Eleutherius; who, when he wrote had the charge of that Bishoprick in the twelfth place after the Apostles; concerning whom, and the integrity which [Page 12] then continued in each other succession from the Apostles daies, Hegesippus, who at the same time published his History of the Church, saith thus. [...]. Hegesip. apud Euseb. lib 4. hist. [...]. Soter succeeded Anicetus, and after him was Eleutherius. Now, in every succession, and in every City, all things so stand, as the Law and the Prophets, and our Lord doe preach▪
When this Cùm Eleutherius vir sanctus Pontificatui Romanae Ecclesiae praeesset, misit ad eum Lucius Britannorum Rex epistolam; obsecrans ut per ejus mandatum Christianus efficeretur. Et mox effectū piae postulationis consecutus est: susceptam (que) fidem Britanni us (que) in tempora Diocletiani Principis inviolatam integram (que) quietâ pace servabant. Bed. hist. ecclesiast. Anglor. lib. 1. cap. 4. Eleutherius (as our Bede relateth) was Bishop of the Church of Rome, Lucius King of the Brittaines sent an Epistle to him; desiring that by his meanes he might be made Christian▪ who presently obtained the effect of his pious request: and the Brittaines kept the faith then received sound and undefiled in quiet peace, untill the times of Dioclesian the Emperour. By whose bloudy persecution the faith and discipline of our Brittish Churches was not yet so quite extinguished; but that within ten yeares after (and eleven before the first generall Councell of Nice) three of our Bishops were present and subscribed unto [Page 13] the Councell of Arles: Tom. 1. Concilior. Galiae, à Sirmondo edit. pag. 9. Eborius of Yorke, Restitutus of London, and Adelfius of Colchester, called there Colonia Londinensium▪ the first root of whose succession we must fetch beyond Eleutherius, and as high as S. Peter himselfe: if it be true, that he [...]. Metaphrast. Commentar. de Petro & Paulo; ad diem 29 Iu [...]ij. constituted Churches here, and ordained Bishops, Presbyters and Deacons in them; as Symeon Metaphrastes relateth out of some part of [...]. Ibid. Eusebius (as it seemeth) that is not come unto our hands.
But, to returne unto the Angels of the seven Churches, mentioned in the Revelation of S. Iohn: by what hath beene said, it is apparent, that seven singular Bishops, who were the constant Presidents over those Churches, are pointed at under that name. For other sure they could not be, if all of them were cast into one mould, and were of the same quality with Polycarpus, the then Angell of the Church in Smyrna: who without all question was such, if any credit may be given herein unto those that saw [Page 14] him and were well acquainted with him.
And as Tertullian in expresse termes affirmeth him to have beene placed there by S. Iohn himselfe (in the testimony before alledged out of his Tertull. Praescript. cap. 32. &, post eum, Hieronymus in Catal. script. Ecclesiast. cap. 17. Polycarpus, Joannis Apostoli discipulus, ab eo Smyrnae Episcopus ordinatus. Prescriptions:) so doth he else-where, from the order of the succeeding Bishops, not obscurely intimate, that the rest of that number were to be referred unto the same descent. Ha [...]emus & Joannis alumnas Ecclesias. Nam etsi Apocalypsim ejus Marcion respuit; ordo tamen Episcoporum ad originem recensus, in Joannem stabit auctorem. Sic & caeterarum generositas recognoscitur. Tertullian. advers. Marcion. lib. 4. cap 5. We have, saith he, the Churches that were bred by John. For although Marcion do reject his Revelation; yet the order of the Bishops reckoned up unto their originall, will stand for Iohn to be their Founder. Neither doth the ancient Writer of the Martyrdome of Timothy (mentioned by Photius) meane any other by those seven Bishops, whose assistance he saith S. Iohn did use, after his returne from Patmos, in the governement of the Metropolis of the Ephesians, that is, of the Churches of Asia most properly so called, which in his time acknowledged the [Page 15] Bishop of Ephesus for their Primate. [...]. Phot. Bibliothec num 254. Being revoked from his exile by the sentence of Nerva, he betook himselfe to the Metropolis of Ephesus; and being assisted with the presence of the SEVEN Bishops, he took upon him the government of the Metropolis of the Ephesians: and continued, preaching the word of piety, untill the Empire of Trajan.
That he remained with the Ephesians and the rest of the brethren of Asia, untill the daies of Trajan; and that during the time of his abode with them, he published his Gospell; is sufficiently witnessed by Irenae. advers heraes. lib. 2 cap. 39. item lib. 3.c 1. & 3. Irenaeus. That upon his returne from the Island, after the death of Domitian, he applied himselfe to the government of the Churches of Asia, si confirmed likewise both by Euseb. lib. 3. hist. [...]. Eusebius, and by Hie [...]onym. in Catal. script ecclesiast. cap 9. Hierom: who further addeth, that Id ibid. & Praefat. in Evangel Matthaei▪ at the earnest intreaty of the Bishops of Asia he wrote there his Gospell. And that he himselfe also, being free from his banishment, did ordaine Bishops in divers Churches, is clearely testified [Page 16] by Clement of Alexandria; who lived in the next age after, and delivereth it as a certaine truth, which he had received from those who went before him and could not be farre from the time wherein the thing it selfe was acted. [...]. Clem. Alexandrin. in lib de divite salvando (qui falso Origenis nomine habetur editus, ad calcem tomi 3. Commentariorum Michaelis Ghislerij) Euseb. hist. lib 3. [...]. When S. Iohn (saith he) Domitian the tyrant being dead, removed from the Island of Patmos unto Ephesus, by the intreaty of some he went also unto the neighbouring nations; in some places constituting Bishops, in others founding whole Churches ▪
And thus much may suffice for the deduction of Episcopacie from the Apostolicall times.