between the Catholick Church collectively confider'd on the one hand, and all Manner of Herefies and Schifms, of whatsoever Kind, on the other: So that the Church, wherein Firmilian affirms, the Majores natu, or Seniors, did prefide, invested with fuch a Fulnefs of Power for effectually executing every Ecclefiaftical Office in it, was no less than the Univerfal Church of Chrift upon Earth, as it stood diftinguifh'd from all Sorts of Sects, who feparated from her; and in this material Particular, this Parallel Place of Firmilian may help a doubting Reader to underftand what Sort of Church Tertullian alfo meant, wherein his Approv'd Elders did prefide. And then,

Secondly, As to the common Word of Prefiding, ufed by both the venerable Fathers alike; if Firmilian's Senfe of it fhould not be clear enough for us, yet Tertullian's Notion of a Prefident, or Prefiding Elder in a Church, being fo plainly interpreted by our learned Enquirer (as we have feen already) to be the fingle or Supreme Bishop of the Church he prefided in, in this Particular Tertullian may be faid to expound Firmilian's Meaning for us, and fatisfy the Reader, that his Prefiding Seniors were no less than fuch Supreme Bishops alfo, in exa& Conformity to S. Cyprian's Language too, who fays of the Christian Bishops in general, that they were [Atate Antiqui] ancient in Tears, that is, Seniores, as well as found in Faith. And yet,

Thirdly,

* Per omnes provincias & per urbes fingulas, ordinati funt Epifcopi in Etate Antiqui, in fide integri Cypr. Ep. 55. p. 112. Edit. Oxon.

Thirdly, Let Firmilian be allowed to explain himself more fully. In the next Paragraph he had a fair Occafion to do it; and accordingly he did: He was arguing (as we obferv'd before, and the whole Epiftle fhews it) against Stephen, Bishop of Rome, and his Party, who maintain'd Impofition of Hands fufficient for admitting a baptiz'd Heretick into the Church, without any farther Baptism than what they had in their Herefie; and his Argument against it runs thus: How is this (fays he) that when we fee Paul baptiz'd his Difciples again after John's Baptifm, we Should make any doubt of baptizing them who return from Herefy to the Church after that unlawful and prophane Baptifm of theirs, unless Paul was less than thefe Bifhops, of whom we are Speaking now, || that thefe indeed might give the Holy Ghost by Impofition of Hands alone; but Paul was infufficient for it. Here we plainly fee what Kind of Seniors in the Church Firmilian was fpeaking of, and to whom he attributed the Right of Baptifm, Impofition of Hands, and Ordination, juft before, for those who were to lay their Hands upon the returning Hereticks, (the immediate Subject then in hand) he calls by the proper and exprefs Name of Bishops, an incommunicable Term to any inferiour Elders of the Church (if we may believe approved * Antiquaries) in that Cyprianick

N 3

Quale eft autem - &c. nifi fi his Epifcopis, de quibus nunc, minor fuit Paulus, ut hi quidem poffint per folam manus impofitionem venientibus Hæreticis dare fp. fan&tum, Paulus autem idoneus non fuerit. Apud Cypr. Ep. 75. § 6. p. 221. Edit. Oxon.

*See Bishop Pearfon and Mr. Dodwell in Pearson's Differt. prima de fuccef. prim. Rom. Epifc. c 9. P. 97. in 4to. Lond. 1688.

anick Age; and, I make no doubt of it, could any Inftance to the contrary be given, our learned Author (who has a Collection of honorary Titles for his Presbyters, and argues zealovfly upon them) would fcarce have overlook'd it, or fail'd to have told us where it might be found.

Thus I have given the clear and genuine Senfe both of Tertullian and Firmilian's Expreffions together; from whence it appears,

Firft, That the Presbyters Ruling Power in the Confiftory, as joint Commiffioners with their Bishop there, (which was the firft main Point they were brought to prove) can't be grounded upon either of them, fince they have no Relation to the private Presbytery of a particular Church at all, but were manifeftly spoken with reference to the fingle Supreme Governors, or Bishops of all the feveral Diocefes, either within the Roman Empire, or the whole Catholick Church: And, indeed, I would gladly underftand how our ingenious Author difpofes of the [Пpaloxadedela, or] Right of the first Chair in the Primitive Presbyteries, (by which he and his Friends fo nicely evade the Bishop's higher Order in the Church) if all his Presbyters were Prefidents there, as the Application of thefe Quotations to them does literally make them to be. But.

Secondly, By this apparent Senfe of the Holy Fathers Words, it appears alfo, that the only Paffage in Antiquity our Inquifitive Author cou'd prefent us with, to prove the Presbyters Right and Power to ordain, contains no fuch Matter in it; but, on the contrary, places all Power

of

of Baptifm, Confirmation, and Ordination, in the Bishops Poffeffion, for fuch we find Firmilian's Seniors in the Church to be.

Yet, fince a full Power to ordain could not be found for his Presbyters, our Enquirer claims a Share, at least, from that noted Cafe of Timothy's being ordain'd by, or rather with, the Laying on of the Hands of the Presbytery. Now this is faying more for Calvin's Caufe, than Calvin could fay for himself; for he difowns it plainly, that a College of Presbyters, was meant by the Presbytery there, and maintains it, as his Opinion, that S. Paul ordain'd Timothy alone, from 2 Tim. i. 6. And the Affembly of English Divines go fo far with him, as to own, that all the Gifts which Timothy receiv'd at his Ordination, were from the Apoftle's Hands upon him. It can't be deny'd, therefore, that the two different Accounts (tho' not contrary ones to be fure) of Timothy's Ordination, with the Presbytery in one Text, and by S. Paul's own Hands in t'other, has occafion'd Variety of Speculations upon them; and therefore it must be a feeble Argument, at the best, which depends on a positive Construction of either of them: And yet, the utmoft it can afford fo, is only a concomitant A&t of an inferiour Order with an Apostle himself, and in a Cafe of Divine DefigN 4 nation

* 1 Tim. iv.

Paulus ipfe, fe, non alios complures, Timotheo manus impofuiffe commemorat Quod de impofitione manuum Presbyterii dicitur, non ita accipio, quai Paulus de Seniorum Collegio loquatur. Calv. Inftit. 1. 4. 6.3. in fine.

See Affemb. Anot, on 2 Tim. i, 6.

nation by Prophecy too: Which, fince it can be no great Ground of Controverfy amongst ourfelves, where the like Kind of Practice of Presbyters joining in Impofition of Hands with their Superiors in every Ordination of their own Order, is conftantly in Ufe, I need fay the lefs; and fhall only obferve here, that our learned Enquirer grounds his Senfe of it upon this; *That the conftant Signification of the Word Pref bytery, in all the Writings of the Ancients, is fuch as he here infifts upon, that is, it always denotes the Bishops and Presbyters of a particular Church or Parish (as his Terms for a Diccefe are.)

Yet, I am very fure, S. Ignatius calls the Apofles alone the Presbytery of the Church: For he tells the Philadelphians, (in his Way to the Crown of Martyrdom) that he betook himself to the Apostles as the Presbytery of the Church. And fince Timothy was ordain'd whilft thefe Superlative Presbyters were alive, and by an eminent one of them, I know no fairer Comment upon the Apoftolical Phrafe of his being ordain'd by the laying on of the Hands of the Presby tery, than that he was ordain'd by a special Member of this Apoftolical Presbytery; and if by more than fo, 'twas neither impoffible, nor unlikely, then, that fome other Apostle, or Apoftles, might concur with S. Paul in it: Efpecially, if we confider that Timothy's firft Ordination may reasonably be dated from the Time

that

* See Eng. p. 62, and 78.

Η Προσφυγῶν τοῖς ἀποςόλοις, ὡς πρεσβυζερίῳ ἐκκλη ias. Ignat. ad Philąd. 3.