Tit. 1. 5. 2. 15. and ordain Elders in every City, and rebuke with all Authority, (the true Characters of epifcopal Power) and Timothy at Ephefus, even after the Prefbytery was formed and fettled; St. Paul having laboured among them for three Years together. And there can be no other Reafon given why in the primitive Language of the Church Bishops are ftyled Apostles, but because they fucceeded in the Apoftolical Superiority. And there cannot be a greater Evidence that fuch a Superiority was not to be temporary, but perpetual, than the univerfal Practice in the pureft Times, when they had no worldly Encouragements, but the chief among them expected to be the first Martyrs. Q. What was the Practice of the Primitive Church in Refpect to the Government of it? A. The Chriftian Church in the Ages next fucceeding the Apoftles, gives full Teftimony in behalf of Epifcopal Government. Some Writers that attest this, lived in the very Days of the Apostles, and were their immediate Difciples; and others there are that fucceeded those Clem. E- that were Difciples of the Apofles; which pift. ad makes them competent Witneffes of the MatCorinth. ter of Fact that is in Queftion. St. Clement, who Jun. converfed with the Apostles, mentions three Hy Orders of Church-Officers in his Time; and &- particularly diftinguifhes the Bishop from the Tos. ibid. Prefbyter. St. Ignatius, who in the Life-time P. 53. edit. p. 2. of fome of the Apoftles was Bishop of Antioch, is full and exprefs for the Derivation of the Superior Order from the Apoftles. And it is not to be imagined that the Chriftian Church would ever have admitted Bishops fo univerfally, as is apparent they did in St. Ignatius's Time, when fome of the Apoftles were living, had not fome of them derived their Authority from the Apoftles immediately; of which we have Affurance from Ecclefiaftical Hiftory. The Writers of the next Age, Justin Martyr, Hegefippus, Clemens Alexandrinus, and Irenæus confirm the fame Thing. All these are fupported by the Teftimonies of Tertullian, Origen, and St. Cyprian, who flourished in the Age following. And to ftrengthen all this, we have conveyed to us by Eufebius the Succeffion of Bishops from the Apostles in fome great Churches, fuch as Jerufalem, Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria; and it is reasonable to judge of the Government of thofe Churches that were not known, from those that were. Q. What appears plain from thefe Primitive Records and Practice of the Church? A. That their Church-government was formed according to the Model given by our Lord himself, and by his Apolles after him. He was himself the Great Shepherd and Bishop of his Church while upon Earth, and his immediate Province was Judea. The twelve Apoftles, whom he chofe, were his Prefbyters, whom he fent by two and two through his Province, to teach and to preach under him the Things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. The Seventy he called out to be Minifters to both, and he had the fupreme Care and Charge of all. After his Refurrection, he gave an ample Commiffion to his Apoftles, to go and make all Nations bis Difciples, and as his Father had fent him, fo be sent them, and they were to be in his ftead as Ambafadors for him to befeech Men to be reconciled to God, and to M m 2 continue continue this Office to the End of the World. And because the Harvest was great, and the Labourers few, when they had converted any Number of People to the Chriftian Faith, they took Care to ordain Prefbyters and Deacons to labour among them, referving to themselves the chief Care of the Churches they had planted, till they fhould find fit Perfons to whom they might commit it: and for this End took along with them Companions in their Labours, to whom, after they had trained them up in the holy Office, they committed the fame Plenitude of Power with themfelves, and either placed them over particular Churches already planted, as Paul did Timothy and Titus, or fent them to preach the Gospel and plant Churches where there were none. So that the Imparity observed by the Primitive Churches was of divine and Apoftolical Original, and conveyed down to them from the Fountain itself. Q. But do not the Words Bifhop and Prefbyter in Scripture fometimes denote the fame Office? A. It is granted that thefe Words were at first often used promifcuoufly to denote either Order; and generally that which we now call the Order of Priests. But then as in that Time the fuperior Order were called Apostles; fo the Office of thefe Prefbyters, who are here fuppofed fometimes in Scripture to have the Name of Bishops, was not to, ordain Elders, or to exercife Jurifdiction, as thofe do who now have the Name of Bishops appropriated to them. This clearly appears by the Charge given to Timothy the firft Bishop of Ephefus, how he was to proceed against his Prefbyters when they tranfgreffed; to fit in Judgment upon them, them, to examine Witneffes against them, and pafs Cenfures upon them. Against an Elder, 1 Tim. 5. that is, a Prefbyter, receive not an Accufation, but 19. before two or three Witneffes, and them that fin rebuke before all, that others also may fear. And one may as well pretend there was no Difference between the Office of an Emperor and a General of the Army, becaufe the Word Imperator is applied to both; as to prove a Parity between Church Officers from the promifcuous Ufe of the Word Bishop. Q. But was not a Bishop antiently no more than a Paftor of a particular Congregation? A. It is plain, I think, from the Condition of the first Churches that were established, that the Bishop had the Over-fight of feveral Congregations, which as to the Church of Jerufalem is neceffarily inferred from the particular Number Acts 3.41. of Converts; from the general Expreffions of ch. 4. 4. wonderful Acceffions; from the Jealoufy of the Scribes and Pharifees, who apprehended that ch. 5. 14. all Jerufalem would foon become Chriftians; from the farther Accounts of its Increase, and of the great Multitudes that were added to it. And we may judge the Church of Antioch too ch. 11. 21. great for one Congregation, from the Multitudes faid to be converted, from the Number of ch. 13. 1. Apoftles and extraordinary Labourers refiding in that City, and from the Conjunction of Jews ch. 11. 26. and Gentiles under the common Title and Profeffion of Chriftianity. These first Churches thus governed by Bishops were not fingular in their Conftitution; but all other Churches of the Apoft les planting, were of the fame Kind, defigned for the like and yet farther Increase. And thefe feveral Congregations of Believers made M m 3 but Acts 28. 26.1 Heb. 10. 25. 23. but one Church; St. James our Lord's Brother A. In the Hiftory of St. Paul we find, when 30. 19.9. in any Place he had converted a competent Number he took Care to improve them in the Knowledge of the Truth; and as these Converts were made Partakers of the fame common Doctrine and Faith, fo they were to be perpetually united by a Communion in Worship, in Prayer, and the Sacraments; being obliged to affemble themselves together for that End under the Acts 11. Apoftle, the Church Officer that converted them. But when he was called to preach the Gofpel in other Places, it was neceffary to As 14. ordain fuch Church Officers as might take Care of the Church in the Doctrine and Difcipline of it; and others to take Care of the Poor, left the former fhould be hindered in their fpiritual Adminiftrations. Now this Conftitution did not take away the Relation the Apostle had to fuch a Church, the Officers he had conftituted acting in Subordination to him, whether prefent or abfent: As is plain in his Proceedings upon the Cafe of Scandal given in the Church of Corinth, and when fome Teachers in the fame Church began to fet themfelves up in Oppofition to the Apostle, he afferts his Authority and his Relation to them. But when his 1 Cor. 4. Province was fo far extended, that he could not visit every Part himfelf; and his Commu Phil.2.12. I Cor.5.3. 18, 19. ch. 9. 1, 2, nication |