( 6a XLI. I conclude this with the words of Eufebiús with the Colle6tionofPa- pirius Maffonus, a Writer of the Popes Lives. [ Fabianus ab itis deans elf ad Epifcopatum urbis : Acforte evenit ut in locum ubiconvenerant Columba, efublinti volans capiti ejus infideret, Idpro foelici figno accipientes magno confenfu alacritate animorum ipfitm elegerunt : H,ecEufebius, ERE l. 6. Ex quo loco collegimus Ele- e ionem Epifcopi Romani, nonad pancas, fed ad mines olim pertinuifJe. Pap. Maf- fon. in vita Fabiani, fol. LS col. 2.] And ifall the whole People ofthe great Church ofRome, were then no more than couldmeet in one Room to chufe their Bithop, what were the red ofthe Churches in theWorld ? and how ma- ny Congregations did they contain? CHAP. VII. More Proofs of the aforefaid Limits'of Churches. P"rHe thing that we are proving is that every Bi(hop fhould have but one S Church -( fuppoling him to be no Arch-Bifhop ) and that this Church fhould be fuchand fo great only as that there may beperfonal Communion in publickWorfhip and holy Converfation, between the Members : and not fo great as that.the Members have only a Heart-Communion, andby Delegates or Synods ofOfficers. As to our Hiftorical Evidence of the matter offact, it runs thus : I. That in the firft flare of the Churches, it cannot be proved that any one Church in all the World confided ofmoreRated Communicating Affemblies than one, or of more Chriftians than our Pàri(hes. But though through Perfecution they might be forced (as an Independent Church nowmay do) tomeet by parcels in feveral Hodes fometimes in a danger, yet their ordinary Meetings when they were free was all together in one place : And Vnum Altare was the note of their Individuation, with Vnus Epifcopus, when Bithops grew- in fafhion in the eminent fenfe.. 2. That the firft that broke this Order and had diversAffemblies and Altars under. one Bithop were Alexandria and Rome, and no other Church can be pro- ved to have done fo, for about three hundred Years after Chrift or near ; nor moil Churches till four hundred, yea ive hundred Years after. 3. That when they departed from thisChurch temperament, they proceed- ed by theredegrees. a, They fetup fotne Oratories, or.Chappelí (as are in our Parifhes) which had only Prayers and.Teachings without an Altar, Obla- tions or Sacraments in the City, Suburbs or Country Villages near, the People coming for Sacramental Communion to the Bifhop's Church. 2, Afterward ere;
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