4z Church-Hiory of ßifhops and lï " verfie was hence laid, that thou Alexanderdidft askqueftions ofthe Pref.- "byters about a certain Textof Scripture ; yea, about acertain idle Par- "g tide ofa Queftion did enquire, what everyone of them thought ? And ' thouArius didit inconfideratelyblurt out that which thou hadit not be " fore thought of, orif thou hadft thought of it, thou oughtef to have "paft by in filence : Whence difcordwas ftir'd upamong you, and the "meeting hindered which is wont to be made in the Church, and the moft holy people difiraded into Several parts , is divided from the compaginationof the whole bodyof the Church. Therefore both of "you, forgivingone another, approve ofthat which your fellow-ferkant "doth not without caufe exhort you to And what is that ? That tb ' "fuch Queftions you neither Ask, nor Anfwer, if asked : For fuchQe- "pions as no Law or Eccleliaftick Canon doth neceffarily prefcribe, but °a. the vain ftrife ofdiffolute idlenefs doth propofe, thoughtheymay ferve "to .exercife acutenefs ofwit, yet we ought to contemn them in the inner "thought of the mind, and neither rafhly to bring them out into the "publick AAintblies of the Pec ;Je, nor unadvifedly to truft them to the "Barsofthe Vulgar. For how feware they that can accurately enough ".perceive the forceof things fo weighty, and lb involved in obfcurity ? "But if there be fome one that is confident that he can eafily doand reach "this , yet I pray you, how (mall a part of the multitude is it, that he -",canmake tounderftand him ? Or who isthere, that in the curious fearch "of fuch Queftions, is not in danger of a fall The reft is well worth the Reading, as to the commoncafeofTheologi- cal Controverfies, though it feems that Ganflantine made toolight of the Arian errour. But I dare not be fo injurious to Eufebi.0 as to queftion whether he faithfully recited the Epiftle, when Binnius himfelf backs his doubt with a dicere nonanderem: _ And if we give away the credit of that one,Hitorian,it will leave much of Church-Hiftory under doubt, that now goeth forcertain : Perhaps Peters being ever at Rome, &c. S. 49. XXIX. The next mentioned is theCouncil ofLaodicea in Phry - gia Polecat, (not Syria) of ;aBifhops, gathered by Nunechìus aBishopof Phrygia. They were fo few that without contention., they made divers. good Canons: The 46 Canon requireth that the baptized should learn the Creed, and on the Friday ofthe late week repeat it to the Bithop orPresbyters. (By whichyou may conjee`ture how large aBifhoprick then was.) And Can. 56. ThePresbyters were not tògo into the Church be fore the Bishop, but with him. (For then every Churchhad aBifhop,though Tome Chapels far off had Presbyters only.) And Can. 57. Ir is ordered,. that Bifhops Should notbe Ordained in foal/ Villagesand Hamlets, but Viftors Should be appointed them. But fuch (Bithops) as had beenheretofore thereOr- dainedï 'herald do nothing without the Confcienceofthe City Bilbao. Which fhew- eth that before Bifhops were made in Villages ; as Socrates faith then they were in 4rabia, and the PhrygianNovatiats, C c. The laft Can. reciteth the
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