(226 ) -any fay, It is "only 13ifhops that Formilianfpeaite.r of Ianfwer, r. He had á little beforeufed the word ( Seniores) ( the fame in fenfe with Majores natu here) asdiftind from (Prepofiti) to liignifie either all Pallor: ingen- eral, or Presbytersin fpecial. z. Whenhe fpeakes of (Majares natte) in general,- they that will limit it to Bithops, muff prove it fo limited and not barely affirme it. 3. The conjunct ads of the office difprove that: It was thefame men that had the powerof baptizing. S. The great CouncilofNice (the moft reverend Authority next to the holy Scripture) decreed thus concerning the Presbyters ordained by Melitius at Alexandria and in Egypt [ Ili autem qui Dei gratia & noffrir precibus adjuti , adnullum Schifma deflexiffi comperti lint , fed fi intra Ca- tholice Apoulolice Ecclefie fines ab erroris labe vacuoscontinuerint, authorita- ternhabeant turn miniflrosordinandi, turn cosque clero digni fuerint neminandi, turndenique omnia ex lege & inflitutoEccleftaflico libere exequendi.] Ifany fay that themeaning is that thefe Presbyters (hall ordain and Govern with theBifhopsbut not withoutthem, Iamofhis mind, that this mull needs be the meaningof thefe words ; or elfe they could not be confonant with the ChurchCanons : But this fheweth that ordination belongeth to the Presbyters, office, and confequently that it is no nullity (.though an irregulrity as to the Canons) when it is done by them alone Socrat. lib, g. 6.cap. 6. g. It is the title ofthe twelfth Canon Cantil. An cyrani [ kid non o- portet Chorepifiopos ordinare nifi inagrie & villulis] Now eitherthefe Chore- pifcopi wereofthe order of Bifhops or not ; Iftheywere, then it further appeareth how fmall the Churches were in the beginning that had Bifh- ops, even fahas had but ¡'nain Altare, as Ignatius faith ; when even in the Countrey Villages- they had Bithopsas well as in Cities ; notwith- ftanding that the Chriflians were but thinly fcattered among the Hea- thens. But if theywere not Bifhops, then it is apparent that Presby- ters did then ordain without Bifhops, and their ordination was valid. And the Vafrities ofthe Prelates is difingenious in this that when they are pleading for Diocefan Churches, ascontaining many fixed Congregati- ons, then they eagerly plead that the Chorepifcopi wereof the order of Presbyters:. But when they plead againft Presbyters ordination, they would prove them Bifhops. Read &Can, s o. Concilii Antiocheni. a o. Even in the daies of ignorance and Roman Ufurpation, Bonifacius Mogunt. aliá, Wilfred, Epifl. a3o (Ana. Bib. Pat. To z.p. ros.) tells Pope Zachary (as his anfwer intimateth) that inGente Boiariorum there, was but one Bifhop, and that was oneVivilo, which the Pope had ordain- ed, and that all the Prebyters that were ordained among them , as faras could be found were not ordained by Bithops, though that igno rant ufurping.Poperequireth, as it feemeth, that they be reordained, (un- lcfs Benediilionem ordinationis fhould lignifie only the bleng or confir- mation oftheirformer ordination, whichis not like) For he faith [&iia in- dicaftiperrexi.fre le adgentem $ciariorum,.& inveniQe cos extra ordinent ecclefiafli. cum
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