1 The State of the firft Chttrche.r, &c. 89 That which firft offereth itCelf unto us, and which is an invaluable Teltimony of the ftate of the firft Churches, immediately after the Deceafe of the Apoftics, is the E- pifile ofClemens Romanis unto the Brethren of the Church ofCorinth. This Epilile according to the Tithe of it, Ire - neus afcribes unto the whole Church at Rome,and callsit, potenti /mas literas; Jub hoc Clemente diffenfions non mo- dica inter eos qui Corinthi erant fratres facia,fcripltt quæ efl Rome Ecclefa, potenti[mas literas; lib. 3. cap. 3. By Eufebius it is termed y.& ui ,SzcvFtgc.a ,great and admira- ble; who allo affirms that it was publickly read in Come Churches; Ecclejiafi. Hill. lib. 3. cap. 14. And again he calls it, `Ir,pc..71 óTlw yesgl<,ú, a molt powerful writing; lib.5. cap. 7. There is no doubt but fome things in the writings of it did befal him humanitîrs, that the wo k offuch a compa- nion of force of the Apoltles as he was, might not be re. ceived as of divine Inflitution; fuch was the credit which he gives unto the vulgar fable of the Phenix. But for the fubftance of it, it is fuch as every way becomes a perfon of an Apoflolical Spirit, confonant unto the ftile and wri- tings of the Apoffles themlelves ; a precious Jewel, and juft Reprefentation of the fate and order of the Church inthofe days. And fundry things we may obftrve from it. I. There is nothing in it that gives the leaft intimation of any other Church-State, but that which was Congrega- tional, although there were the higheft caufes and Reafons for him fo todo, had there been any fuch Churches then' in being. The cafe he had in hand was that of Ecclfiaflical seditionor schifm in the Church ofCorinth ; the Church or Body of the Brethren having unjuffly depofed their Elders, as it fhould feem,allof them. Giving advice here- in unto the whole Church , ufìng all forts of Arguments N to
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