(37) ciátion of theBlefing each Lords day, and that not by the Presbyters but the Bifhop, who mutt rebuke them that go out before it ; which fheweth thateach Church had a Bifhop. And after, E 4úi folemnitat'um, id efi Pafche dr natalo domini vel Pentecofies fefiivitatibus, cum Epifcopt intereffe neglexerint, guum in civitatibus communionis vel benediílionis accipiend.é caufa pofitos fewife dedeant, triennio communione priventur Ecclefia.] By which it appeareth that in a City there were no more Chrifti- ans or Church-members, than could congregate with the Bifhop on the Fefti- vals for Communion ; when all the negle lers were to be deprived oftheCom- munion for three years. XI. The Council at Eliberio Retie. An.3o .. had nineteenBithops, twentyfix Presbyters, and the Deacons, & amnir Plebs flood by : which intimateth that there twenty' fix Presbyters and theDeacons were the main body, of the Clergy under the nineteen Whops s which was not two Presbyters to a Bithop: why elfe fhould the Deacons and all the Laity be there, ifnot all the Presbyters ? And fuppofing that Plebs omnis here fignifie not ftriQly all the Laity, yet it inti- mateth that the Churches were no greater than that fo great a part oftheir Laity was there, as that Phrafe might bewell ufed of; whichcannot be ofour Compound Diocefs. XII. Conch. Gangrenf cap. 7. No one mat to receive the Oblations ofFruits, and the Firfifruits, due to the Church, out of the Church. And cap. S. None was to receive them but the Bifhop, or he whom the Bifhop appointed. This fheweth the quantity of-the Diocefs, and that every Church had one Altar and one Bifhop. XIII. In a Roman Council fob Silvefi. it's faid, [Ab omni Ecclefia eliga- tur confecrandus Epifcopus, nullode membrio Ecclefi.e . intercedente, & omni Ecclefia conveniente : & nulli Ep:fcopo liceat fine cuala Ecclefia a noviffimo grada ufgue ad. primumvordinare Neophytum Silvefier Papa dixit, A nobis incipientes moderamine le- nitatir judicare, commonemus ut molli Epifcópo liceat quemlibet gradum Clerici ordi- nare aut confecrare, nifi cum omni adunata Ecclefia, f placet : & dixeruel Epif copi, placet. What can bemore fully raid, [Let the Bifhop tobe ordained be cbo- fen by all the Church, no one of the Members ofthe Churchbeing-wanting, and all the Church meeting together. Let it be lawful for noBuhop without the wholeChurch to ordain. Not to ordain or con fecrate'any degreeofClergy-Man, but with the whole Church together in one.. And how great then were the Churches, when even at Rome and all about it, The whole Church united, and every member could meet together at every Ordination andConfeoration ? . I fcarce know how a teftimo- ny can be plainer. 'lV. The Concil. Sardic. which firft- began to befriend the Grandeur ofthe Rom en Bifhop, was it that firft forbad. Bifhops to be ordained in fmall Villages yet note that even,there it was not abfolutely forbidden to ,all Villages ; but only.
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