(46) 3 5. Yea, Pope Nicholas, Tit. 8. c. I. decreeth that noBithops be ordained but by the EleEtion or Confect of the Clergy and People.] When they be- came uncapableof the ancient Order, yet they kept up the words of the old Canons. 3 6. This is intimated in the old Canons repeated at aRoman Council, Anno 868. [That if Bithops excommunicate any wrongfully, or for light Caufes, and not reffore them, the Neighbour Bithops fhall take fisch to their Communion till the next Synod: ] Which was the Bilhop of the next Parifh or Corporation, and not one that dwelt in another County out of reach. And Can. 72. Becaufe the Whops hindredby other bufinefs, cannot go to all the Sick, the Presbyters (or any Chriftians) may anoint them. How big was the Diocefs when this Canon was firft made ? Who would give his bufinef, rather than Dance, and Numbers, and ImpoÇbility, as the reafon why the Bifhop of London, Lincoln, Norwich, &c. vifit not all the Sick in their Dio- cefes ? 37. Anno 869, till 879. was held aCouncil called General at Conftantinople. The Can. 8. is, l Whereas it is reported that not only the Heretical and Vfurperr, but fame Orthodox Patriarchs a'lfo, for their own fecurity have made men fubfcribe, (that is,,tobe true to them) the Synodjudgeth that it(hallbe fo no more ; faveonly, that Men when they are made Bithops be required as ufual to declare the found- nefs of their Faith : He that violateth this Sanction, let him be deprived ofhis Honour.] But thefe later inflancesonly (hew the Relias of Primitive Purity and Sim- plicity, more evidently proved in the three firft Centuries. 38. And he that will read the ancient Records of the Cuftoms of Burying, will thence perceive the extent of Churches : DoEtor Tillefly (after cited) af- firmeth (pag. 079. againft Selden) that TheRight ofBurial place didfirft belong to the Cathedral Churches:] And Parith Churches began fo lately (as now un- derftood,having no Bithops, and dittinC from Cathedrals) that they couldnot be there buried, beforethey were built andin Being ; which faith Selden, be- gan in England (evenhundred years after Chriitt ; here one and thereone, as a Patron ereEted it : Selden of Tythes, pag. 267. Yea, in (even hundred he findeth but one of Earl Puch in Beda ; and in Anno Soo. divers appropriate to Crowland ; and foafter. And it was the Chara6ter ofa Parith Church to' have Baptifferium& Sepulturam, (pag. 262.) So that beforea Bifhop'sChurch however called, had but one place that had Baptferiusn& Sepulturam : Yea, long after that Parilhes, had very few Members in molt places, fo long was it e'er the People were brought to Chriftianity : And they were then, as our Bi- (hops make them now,, not proper Churches, but Chappels of Eafe. Selden, (ibid. pag. 267.) tells you that Ralph Nevil Bithop of Chichefter and Chancellor ofEngland requefted of the King that the Churchof Saint Peter in Chicheer might be pulleddown, and-laid to another Parith, ' becaufe it was poor, having but two Parilhioñers. Sure it was never built for two Perfons : But it's like many were.Heathens : Or if not fo then, in the Years loo and Suo they were fo, (Though Matter Thomas loner hath well proved that the Brittifh Churches
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