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Judge if this be like our Enquirer's Congregational Diocese, or can be reasonably oppos'd to a Genuine Epifcopal one, even in After Ages of the Church, and down to thefe days of ours, if we will not ftill infift on bare Names, and overlook Things.

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His only Salvo is, that on folemn Occafions, they were all to affemble ftill in one Church, and with their one Bishop together, which neither Dionyfius himself, nor the Hiftorian from whence he quotes it, fay any thing of; and yet we know indeed, that 'twas a cuftomary Form, by which parochial Churches, for many Ages together, ufed to teftify their Union and Dependence upon their feveral Cathedrals; namely, to Offer and Communicate with them by proper Reprefentatives on the greater Feftivals of the Year; and how much more than that, the Church of Alexandria ever did, (efpecially in S. Athanafius's Time, from whence, our Author tells us, he cou'd bring his Proof) any Man may pretty easily conceive; fince that venerable Father affirms, that the whole Region of Mareotis and all the Churches in it, belong'd to the Bishop of Alexandria alone; that the Presbyters had their feveral Portions of it, and each of them Ten or more large Villages under their particular Care. What fort of Congregation this whole Region, with

* Ο Μαρεώτης χώρα ο Αλεξανδρείας δε των Αλεξανδρείας Επισκόπῳ αἱ Ἐκκλησίαι πάσης ο χώ ρας ὑπόκειν). Ἕνας 7 πρεσβυτέρων ἔχει τὰς ἰδίας κώμας, μεγίσας, καὶ ἀριθμῷ δέκα τε καὶ πλείονας. S. Athanaf. Apol. 2. in Oper. Vol. 1. p. 802. Edit. Colon. 1686.

with all the Chriftians in the great City of Alexandria wou'd make, I leave to any reasonable Man to confider.

Having thus explain'd this familiar Phrafe, then, of that primitive Martyr Ignatius, (That without the Bishop nothing fhou'd be done) in a Senfe which no ways warrants the Hypothefis 'twas quoted for; and that by the unexceptionable Authority of the holy Martyr himself, and the very learned Author's own Conceffions, who was here applying it to quite another End; I think there is no tittle in the fore-mention'd Citations, that does not in Course fall in with the fame Interpretation; unless perhaps he will fay, that the particular Phrases, 'Eì avrò, and μía Sinois, will not confift with this; by the former of which, he concludes for certain, that the whole Diocese or Bishop's Church affembled in one Place together; by the latter, that all publick Prayer, and religious Duties, were fo jointly perform'd too.

But what Neceffity for this? Do these Words fo evidently imply it, that the holy Father himfelf cou'd have no other Meaning in them? Let the Context direct us in the Cafe; which, together with the Senfe, which approv'd Commentators, and other Ecclefiaftical Writers, give us of the Words themselves, will help us to a fair Construction of them.

In the Words immediately before these, the Holy Martyr warns the Magnefians to account nothing for a reasonable Service, that is done privately,

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* Μηδέ πειράσηζε αλογόν τι φαίνεται ἰδίᾳ ὑμῖν. Ad Magnes. p. 33.

vately, or in their own private Way. Agreeable, no doubt, to the Apoftolical Charge (Heb. x. 25.) that they shou'd not forsake the Affembling of themselves together, but meet for publick Worfhip under the proper Minister of their Church; to avoid Schifm and Heterodox Opinions, as he proceeds to explain himself presently after. Now, if it had been undeniably prov'd by any Expreffions before, that there neither was, nor ought to be, any more than one single House of Prayer, or of publick Worship, within a Bishop's Diocese, and that his Perfonal Ministry was abfolutely neceffary in all Divine Offices; it might have been fairly infer'd indeed, that they were All obliged to assemble with him, in that one individual Place alone: But fince the Holy Martyr himself had inform'd us elsewhere, that the most folemn Offices of publick Worship were Valid in themfelves, and Acceptable to God too, when perform'd by any Perfon whom the Bishop fhou'd Authorize and Approve of for it ; (as we have feen before he did) fure, if any particular Number or Society of Members in that Diocefe had affembled for Publick Worship, under any Presbyter fo allow'd and commiffion'd by him to Officiate for them, they had anfwer'd the full Import of the holy Martyr's Charge here given them, against Private and Clandeftine Ways of Worshipping; or elfe I cannot fee how the Bishop's Approbation and Permiffion of fuch a Perfon cou'd be to any Purpose at all. Nay, if the fame Presbyter (by vertue of fuch Permiffion) cou'd not minifter in Places different from their Bi

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fhop's Church, or Cathedral of his Diocese too; our learned Author's Chappel of Eafe (as he calls it) in the Alexandrian Church had been no better than a Schifmatical Conventicle, at the leaft. So little can it be inferr'd from S. Ignatius's Phrafe in this Place, that he confin'd a Diocese to a fingle Congregation.

But let us fee what Conftruction Impartial Commentators, and other Ecclefiaftical Wri ters, have made of this Phrafe, 'Eì dur• to whose Observations I fhall only premife this short and general Key to them all; that as the Phrase itself does (by no Grammatical Conftruction whatsoever) fo much denote a Place, as it does a Thing in general, according to the known Rule of all fuch Neutral Words as this is; fo in the Inftances I fhall mention, you will find 'tis accordingly taken and understood by them all.

Thus the learned Grotius, explaining this 'ETI Tò durò, in Alts iii. 1. he only tranflates it in thefe Words, Circa idem tempus, that is, about the fame time. And in Beza's Tranflation of the New Teftament, the Note and Paraphrase upon it, Acts ii. 44. is this; that *the common Affemblies of the Church, with their mutual Agreement in the fame Doctrine, and the great Unanimity of their Hearts, were fignified by it. Agreeable to which Conftruction of it,

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* Ita communes Ecclefiæ cœtus fignificantur cum mutuà in eandem do&rinam confenfione, & fummà animorum concordià. Not. ad Bez. in A&t. ii. 44. Vid. etiam Poli Synopf. in Act. ii. 44.

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is what we meet with in the Greek Translations of Pfal. xxxiv. 3. where that which the Septuagint render 'Eì To dur, by Aquila is tranflated, Opoupador, that is, with one Mind, and one Heart: And I need not remind the Reader of what we just now observ'd, that in Juftin Martyr's Ufe of the Phrafe, it could not be understood in the Senfe that our learned Enquirer here puts upon it, without the gross Abfurdity of bringing the Chriftians of whole Cities and Countries together into one and the fame individual Place at once. Ats iv. 26, 27. Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles, and People of Ifrael were gather'd against Christ witò durò, were they all in one Place, and at one Time together?

How Concluding that Argument must then be, which proceeds upon a positive Interpretation of a fingle Phrafe, that is indefinite in its own Nature, and determin'd to fignifie otherwife by Authors of no mean Character in the learned World, and is not fuitable to the Author's own Notions, from whence it is taken, neither; I fhall not need to obferve.

But is it poffible, you'll fay, that μía Teod and uia inois, that is, one Prayer and one Supplication for a whole Church, fhou'd be confiftent with this Plurality of Congregations?

Let us fee what we mean by it; and then, 'tis likely, we fhall argue clearer about it. For if it fhou'd appear by the Nature of the Thing itfelf, and by the Ufe and Application which S. Ignatius makes of it, that it can confift fo; that is all, I think, can be requir'd in it.

Now,

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