( 35) the midfl,and that the Presbytersfit on each fide of him,and fo for the ref.And the Order of Officiating was, [ that (the Deacons tieing all orderly keep their Seats) the Reader fire read the old Scriptures, and the Deacon or Presbyters the Gofpels ; then that the Presbyters exhortthe people, not all at once, but one by one, and laft of all the Bifhop, &C.] Thefe were then the Churches where every Altar had a Bifhop. So cap. 5o. Cum doces Epifeope,jube &monepopulum frequentare quotidie Eerie- fiammane t'' ve#ere, ut omninoable nolit, immo ofdueconveniat, neque VUusfub- deecendofe Ecelefiammutilamfaciat, & a corpore Chrei unum membrum decerpat : -Neque enim defolk Sacerdotibus alum eft, fedpotius quifque Laicus, &c. So that a Bifhop's Diocefs or Church was fo great, as that no one Lay Member thould beabfent Morningor Evening. Lib. 4. cap. The Bifhop had the particular care of all the Pupils, Widows, Labourers, Weak, Naked, Sick, Virgins, &c. And cap. 5. He is to know well who they be that offer all the Oblations ; and is to rejeil the Oblations of all the Wicked : For cap. 7. Let the Poor have never fo much need, it's bet- ter perith by Famine, than receive any thing from the Enemies ofGod, which may be contumelious to his Friends.] Lib 8. cap. 4. The Ordering of a Bifhop mull be (de quo nulla eft querela ; es- qui fit a cunilo populo ex optimis quibufque elei'us, quo nominato &placente popu- ins in unum congregatu.r, una cum Presbyterit & Epifcopts pr.efentibus, die Domi- nico, confentiat. - e i vero inter reliquos princeps Epifcopus, percontetter Epifcopos & populum, an ipfe fit quern preeffepetunt ? &r. So that all the people of the Church came together to chufe and confent to the Bithop : no greater at that time was a DiocefaneChurch. Cap. 12. Hisperaé'tis dextram & lavam ejus ut difcipali Magiro affiflant.* This is part of the Common Rubrick (of the ben and elder Liturgy that I know ofrecorded by Church Hilìory) for the celebrating the Sacrament. So that it fuppofeth a Bifhop to be then prefent in all Churches that had anAltar and Sacrament. The rat of the Liturgy, lib. 8. fuppofeth fill the fame pre fenceof the Bifhop. Cap.'35. Congregabis Epifcope Ecclefiam ad veffieram, &c. It would be too long to recite all the Bithops part in the ordinaryOffices of the Affembly. It is hence plain that in thofe Ages (unlefs it were very few per-. haps only Rome and Alexandria) no Bithops had more fated Affemblies or Churches that had Altars, or communicated, than one. VIII. The Canons called the Apofles run jun in the fame firain with the Connitutions: And thoughby tome of them it is apparent that (at leaf) all of them are not foold as many think, (As that which intimateth that Rulers fet up Clergy-men, tit.) yet they were elder than our Compound Diocefane Churches. For Can. 5. It is faid. [Omnium aliorum primiti eEpiftopo & Pref.: byterie domúm mittuntur ; non fuper altare : Manifeum eft =tern quad Epif- copns& Presbyteri inter Diaconos & reliques Clericos eas divalent.] By which and many fuch paffages it is evident that there was then but one Altar and one Bifhop with his Presbytery and Deacons in a Church, as in E 2 Ignatius's
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=