whogathereth the difperfed into one Âffembly,and bringeth thgfe together into oneCan- gregation (or Convention) who by various Errors are variouflyfeduced. XXXIX. He that readeth impartially $eda's Eccleliaftical Hiflory (hall find that in England between fix and (even hundredyears after Chrift they werebut fingle Churches that had Bithops For indeed the famoufefi andholieft ofthem in the Kingdom ofNorthumberland, were but Scots Presbyters, and fuch as were fent by them without any Epifcopal Ordination ; (Aidan, Finan, &c.) And though they did Apollolically preach ill many places to convert the'Hea- then Inhabitants, yet their Churches ofChriftians were fmail :..yet prefently the Roman Grandeur and Ceremonioufnefs here prevailed, and fo by degrees did their Church-form. Yet faithCambden, Brit. ed. Frank p. ioo. When theBithops at Romehad atlignedfeveral particular Churches to feveral Presby- ters, and had dividedParithes to them, Honorius Arch-Bithopof Canterbury about the Year 636. firftbegun to diftribute England intorunes, as is read in theCanterburyHiftory.] But it's.plain in Beda, if he did then begin it, he went but a little way with that divifion. The fame Cambden alto tellsus, that the Bithoprick ofTorkdevoured (even Bithopricks, and the Bithoprick of Lincoln more, 6-c. Some Seats were but removed, but many Bithopricks were diffolved and turned into one, which yet were ere6ted when Chriftians were fewer, faith IfaackfonChronolog. There was one at Wilton, the See at Ramesbury, one at Crediton, one at St. Patrick's at Bodmin in Cornwall, andafter at St. Germains, one at Selfey Bland; one at Dunrniçh, one at Helmbam, and after at Thetford, one at Sidnaceffer or Links, one at Ofney," one at Hexham, &c. And at thisday Landaff, St. Afaph's, Ban- gor, St. David's areno Cities, where we have BithopsSeats, as `notices"of the old way. XL. Ifidorus Peleuflota, lib.i. 49. to BithopTribonianus difünêtly nam- eth the Bithop'sCharge, and the calamity, if he be bad, that will befall himfelf 6.rtt, and then the whole Church : Himfelf for undertaking and not perform- ing, and thewholeChurch, ÖTt TovOUT() lie&vutav CinqiC,35 bliAC .cuV, tuod hujufmodi viro ,Sacerdotium indigne mandavit. The whole Church then was no bigger than to chufe the Bithop and be under his prefent infpeaion, as he intimateth. And Epiff. 3 15. to Bithop L eoncitas ; [If thou tookeft on thee the care ofthe Church, againfi thy Will,and art confirained by the Suffrages, and theConten- tions and Hands of the People, God will be thy helper. But if by Money rc. Lib. 3. Ep. a 16..p. 342. He reckoneth up filch and fo much work as ne- ceffary for a Bithopas no man livingcan do for above one ordinary Parifh. And frequently he defcribeth theCity and Congregation at Pelufnom as the place where the wicked Bithop and his wicked Netts together deftroyed the intereii.of true Religion. XLI. I
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