stored the penitent to their forfeited privileges, passed judgment upon the different subjects of controversy and dissension, that arose in their community; examined and decided the disputes which happened between the elders and deacons; and, in a word, exercised all that authority which belongs to such as are invested with the Sovereign power.

The people, indeed, had, in some measure, purchased these privileges, by administering to the support of their rulers, ministers, and poor, and by offering large and generous contributions, when the safety or interests of the community rendered them necessary. In these supplies, each one bore a part proportioned to his circumstances and the various gifts which were thus brought into the public assemblies, were called oblations.

VII. There reigned among the members of the Christian Church, however distinguished they were by worldly rank and titles, not only an amiable harmony, but also a perfect equality. This appeared by the feasts of charity, in which all were indiscriminately assembled; by the names of brethren and sisters, with which they mutually saluted each other; and by several circumstances of a like nature. Nor, in this first century, was the distinction made between Christians, of a more or less perfect order, which took place afterwards. Whoever acknowledged Christ as the Saviour of mankind, and made a solemn profession of his confidence in him, was immediately baptized and received into the church. But, in process of time, when the church began to flourish, and its members to increase, it was thought prudent and necessary to divide Christians into two orders, distinguished by the names of believers and catechumens. The former were those, who had been solemnly admitted into the church by baptism, and, in consequence thereof, were instructed in all the mysteries of religion, had access to all the parts of divine worship, and were authorised to vote in the ecclesiastical assemblies. The latter were such as had not yet been dedicated to God and Christ by baptism, and were, therefore, admitted neither to the public prayers, nor to the holy communion, nor to the ecclesiastical assemblies.

VIII. The rulers of the church were called either presbyters or bishops, which two titles are, in the New Testament, undoubtedly applied to the same order of men." These were persons of eminent gravity, and such as had distinguished themselves by their superior sanctity and merit." Their particular functions were not always the same; for while some of them confined their labours to the instruction of the people, others contributed in different ways to the edification of the church. Hence the distinction between teaching and ruling presbyters has been adopted by certain learned men. But if ever this distinction existed, which I neither affirm nor deny, it certainly did not continue long; since it is manifest that St. Paul requires, that all bishops or presbyters be qualified, and ready to teach and instruct.

5 The word Presbyter, or elder, is taken from the Jewish institution, and signifies rather the venerable prudence and wisdom of old age, than age itself.

6 Acts xx. 17, 28. Phil. i. 1. Tit. i. 5. 7. 1 Tim. iii. 1.7 1 Tim. iii. 1. Tit. i. 5.

81 Tim. iii. 2, &c. See concerning the word presbyter, the illustrations given by the learned Vitringa, De synagoga vetere, lib. iii. part I. cap. i. p. 609; and by the

IX. Among the first professors of Christianity, there were but few men of learning; few, who had capacity enough to insinuate into the minds of a gross and ignorant multitude, the knowledge of divine things. God therefore, in his infinite wisdom, judged it necessary to raise up, in many churches, extraordinary teachers, who were to discourse in the public assemblies, upon the various points of the Christian doc. trine, and to treat with the people, in the name of God, as guided by his direction, and clothed with his authority. Such were the Prophets o, the New Testament, an order of men, whose commission is too much limited by the writers who confine it to the interpretation of the books of the Old Testament, and especially the prophecies. 10 For it is certain, that they, who claimed the rank of Prophets, were invested with the power of censuring publicly such as had been guilty of any irregularity. But, to prevent the abuses that designing men might make of this institution, by pretending to this extraordinary character, in order to execute unworthy ends, there were always present, in the public auditories, judges, divinely appointed, who, by certain and infallible marks, were able to distinguish the false prophets from the true. This order of prophets ceased, when the want of teachers, which gave rise to it, was abundantly supplied.

X. The church was, undoubtedly, provided from the beginning with inferior ministers or deacons. No society can be without its servants, and still less such societies as those of the first Christians were. And it appears, not only probable, but evident, that the young men, who carried away the dead bodies of Ananias and Sapphira, were the subordinate ministers, or deacons, of the church of Jerusalem, who attended the apostles to execute their orders." These

venerable Jo. Bened. Carpzovius in his Exerc. in Epist. ad Hebræos ex Philone, p. 499. As to the presbyters themselves, and the nature of their office, the reader will given of that order by Budæus, De ecclessia Apostolica, cap. vi. p. 719. and by the most learned Pfaffius De ori ginibus juris eccles. p. 49.

receive much satisfaction from the accounts that are

11.

9 Roin, xiii. 6. 1 Cor. xii. 28. xiv. 3, 29. and Eph. iv.

10 See Mosheim's Dissertation De illis qui prophetæ vocantur in Novo Foedere, which is to be found in the second volume of his Syntagma Dissertationum ad His toriam Eccles. pertinentium.

11 Acts v. 6. 10. Those who may be surprised at my affirming, that the young men mentioned in the passages here referred to, were the deacons, or ministers of the church at Jerusalem, are desired to consider, that the words veάTegos, veavíoxoi, i. e. young men, are not always used to determine the age of the persons to whom they offices, or functions, both by the Greek and Latin writers. are applied, but are frequently employed to point out their The same rule of interpretation, that diversifies the sense of the word presbyter, (which, as all know, signifies sometimes the age of a person, and, at other times, his function) is manifestly applicable to the word before us. rulers of a society are pointed out without any regard to As, therefore, by the title of presbyters, the heads, or their age; so by the term young men, we are often to understand ministers or servants, because such are ge nerally in the flower of youth. This interpretation may be confirmed by examples, which are not wanting, even in the New Testament. Christ himself seems to attribute this sense to the word νεώτερος, Luke xxii. 26. ὁ μείζων ἐν μïv, vsvíola is oveάTegos. Our Saviour explains the term μείζων, by the word ἡγούμενος, and it therefore signifies a presbyter, or ruler; he also substitutes, a little after, diazovav, in the place of vedregos, which confirms our interpretation in the most unanswerable manner. So that say and verigos, are not here indications of cer

first deacons of the church, being chosen from among the Jews, who were born in Palestine, were suspected by the foreign Jews of partiality in distributing the offerings which were presented for the support of the poor. To remedy, therefore, this disorder, seven other deacons were chosen, by order of the apostles, and employed in the service of that part of the church at Jerusalem, which was composed of the foreign Jews converted to Christianity. Of these new mi. nisters six were foreigners as appears by their names; the seventh was chosen out of the Proselytes, of whom there were a certain num. ber among the first Christians at Jerusalem, and to whom it was reasonable, that some regard should be shown, in the election of the deacons, as well as to the foreign Jews. All the other Christian churches followed the example of that of Jerusalem, in whatever related to the choice and office of the deacons. Some, particularly the eastern churches, elected deaconesses, and chose, for that purpose, matrons or widows of eminent sanctity, who also ministered to the necessities of the poor, and performed several other offices, that tended to the maintenance of order and decency in the church."

XI. Such was the constitution of the Christian church in its infancy, when its assemblies were neither numerous nor splendid. Three or four presbyters, men of remarkable piety and wisdom, ruled these small congregations in perfect harmony, nor did they stand in need of any president or superior to maintain concord and order where no dissensions were known. But the number of the presbyters and deacons increasing with that of the churches, and the sacred work of the ministry growing more painful and weighty, by a number of additional duties, these new circumstances required new regulations. It was then judged necessary, that one man of distinguished gravity and wisdom should preside in the council of presbyters, in order to distribute among his colleagues their several tasks, and to be a centre of union to the whole society. This person was, at first styled

tain ages, but of certain functions, and the precept of Christ amounts to this; "He that performs the office of a presbyter or elder among you, let him not think himself superior to the ministers, or deacons." The passage of 1 Pet. v. 5. is still more express to our purpose: Ομοίως νεώτεροι, ὑποτάγητε τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις. It is evident from the preceding verses, that presbyter here is the name of an office, and points out a ruler, or teacher of the church, and that the term versgos is also to be interpreted, not young men in point of age, but the ministers, or servants of the church. St. Peter, having solemnly exhorted the presbyters not to abuse the power that was committed to them, addresses his discourse to the ministers or deacons of the church : But likewise, ye younger, i. e. ministers and deacons, despise not the orders of the presbyters or elders, but perform cheerfully whatsoever they command you." In the same sense does St. Luke employ this term, Acts v. 6. 10. and his verigo and avíoxo: are undoubtedly, the deacons of the church of Jerusalem, of whom the Greek Jews complain afterwards to the apostles, (Acts vi. 1, &c.) on account of the partial distribution of the alms. I might confirm this sense of the word young men by numberless citations from Greek and Roman writers, and a variety of authors sacred and profane; but this is not the proper place for demonstra

tions of this nature.

1 Acts vi. 1, &c.

2 For an ample account of the deacons and deaconesses of the primitive church, see Zeigler, De diaconis et diaconissis, cap. xix. p. 347. Basnagii Annal. Polit. Eccles. ad A. xxxv. tom. i. p. 450. Bingham, Orig. Eccles. lib. i. Cap. xx.

the angels of the church to which he belonged, put was afterward distinguished by the name of bishop, or inspector; a name borrowed from the Greek language, and expressing the principal part of the episcopal function, which was to inspect into, and superintend, the affairs of the church. It is highly probable that the church of Jerusalem, grown considerably numerous, and deprived of the ministry of the apostles, who were gone to instruct the other nations, was the first, which chose a president or bishop. And it is no less probable, that the other churches followed by degrees such a respectable example.

XII. Let none, however, confound the bishops of this primitive and golden period of the church with those of whom we read in the following ages. For, though they were both distinguished by the same name, yet they differed extremely, and that in many respects. A bishop, during the first and second century, was a person who had the care of one Christian assembly, which, at that time, was generally speaking, small enough to be contained in a private house. In this assembly he acted, not so much with the authority of a master, as with the zeal and diligence of a faithful servant. He instructed the people, performed the several parts of divine worship, attended the sick, and inspected into the circumstances and supplies of the poor. He charged, indeed, the presbyters with the performance of those duties and services, which the multiplicity of his engagements rendered it impossible for him to fulfil; but had not the power to decide or enact any thing without the consent of the presbyters and people. And though the episcopal office was both laborious and singularly dangerous, yet its revenues were extremely small, since the church had no certain income, but depended on the gifts, or oblations of the multitude, which were, no doubt, inconsiderable, and were, moreover, to be divided between the bishops, presbyters, deacons, and poor.

XIII. The power and jurisdiction of the bishops were not long confined to these narrow limits, but soon extended themselves, and that by the following means. The bishops, who lived in the cities, had, either by their own ministry, or that of their presbyters, erected new churches in the neighbouring towns and villages. These churches, continuing under the inspection and ministry of the bishops, by whose labours and counsels they had been engaged to embrace the gospel, grew imperceptibly into ecclesiastical dioceses. But as the bishop of the city could not provinces, which the Greeks afterwards called extend his labours and inspection to all these churches in the country and in the villages, so he appointed certain suffragans or deputies to govern and to instruct these new societies; and they were distinguished by the title of chorepiscopi, i. e. country bishops. This order held the middle rank between bishops and presbyters, being inferior to the former, and superior to the latter.

XIV. The churches, in those early times, vere entirely independent; none of them subject to any foreign jurisdiction, but each one governed by its own rulers and its own laws. For, though the churches founded by the apostles had this particular deference shown them,

3 Rev. ii. 3.

time?

XV. The principal place among the Christian doctors, and among those also who, by their writings, were instrumental in the progress of the truth, is due to the apostles and certain of their disciples, who were set apart and inspired by God, to record the actions of Christ and his apostles. The writings of these holy men, which are comprehended in the books of the New Testament, are in the hands of all who profess themselves Christians. Those who are desirous of particular information with respect to the history of these sacred books, and the arguments which prove their divine authority, their genuineness, and purity, must consult the learned authors who have written professedly upon that matter.5

XVI. The opinions, or rather the conjectures of the learned, concerning the time when the books of the New Testament were collected into one volume, as also about the authors of that collection, are extremely different. This important question is attended with great and almost insuperable difficulties to us in these latter times.R It is, however, sufficient for us to know, that, before the middle of the second century, the greatest part of the books of the New Testament were read in every Christian society throughout the world, and received as a divine rule of faith and manners. Hence it appears, that these sacred writings were carefully separated from several human compositions upon the same subject, either by some of the apostles themselves, who lived so long, or by their disciples and successors, who were spread abroad through all nations. We are well assured, that the four gospels were collected during the life of St. John, and that the three first received the approbation of this divine apostle. And why may we not suppose that the other books of the New

8

4 The meeting of the church of Jerusalem, mentioned in the 15th chapter of the Acts, is commonly considered as the first Christian council. But this notion arises from a manifest abuse of the word council. That meeting was only of one church, and, if such a meeting be called a council, it will follow that there were innumerable councils in the primitive times. But every one knows, that a council is an assembly of deputies, or commissioners, sent from several churches associated by certain bonds in a general body, and therefore the supposition above mentioned falls to the ground.

5 For the history of the books of the New Testament, see particularly Jo. Alb. Fabricius. Biblioth. Græc. lib. iv. cap. v. p. 122-227. The same learned author has given an accurate list of the writers, who have defended the divinity of these sacred books, in his Delectus Argumentorum et Syllabus Scriptorum pre verit. relig. Christianæ, cap. cap. xxvi. p. 502.

See Jo. Ens, Bibliotheca S. seu Diatriba de librorum N. T. Canone, published at Amsterdam in 1710), as also Jo. Mill, Prolegomen. ad Nov. Test. sect. i. p. 23.

7

See Frickius, De cura Veteris Ecclesiæ circa Canon. cap. iii. p. 86. 8 This is expressly affirmed by Eusebius, in the 24th chapter of the third book of his Ecclesiatical History.

XVII. What renders this highly probable is, that the most urgent necessity required its being done. For, not long after Christ's ascension into heaven, several histories of his life and doc trines, full of pious frauds and fabulous wonders, were composed by persons whose intentions, perhaps, were not bad, but whose writings discovered the greatest superstition and ignorance. Nor was this all productions appeared which were imposed upon the world by fraudu

H

These apocryphal and spurious writings must have produced a sad confusion, and rendered both the history and the doctrine of Christ un certain, had not the rulers of the church used all possible care and diligence in separating the books that were truly apostolical and divine from all that spurious trash, and conveying them down to posterity in one volume.

XVIII. The writer, whose fame surpassed that of all others in this century, the apostles excepted, was Clemens, bishop of Rome. The accounts which remain of his life, actions, and death, are for the most part uncertain.10 Two epistles to the Corinthians," written in Greek, have been attributed to him, of which the second has been looked upon as spurious, and the first as genuine, by many learned writers.12 But even this latter seems to have been corrupted and interpolated by some ignorant and presumptuous author, who appears to have been displeased at observing a defect of learning and genius in the writings of so great a man as Clemens. 13

XIX. The learned are now unanimous in regarding the other writings which bear the name of Clemens, viz. the Apostolic Canons, the Apostolic Constitutions, the Recognitions of Clemens and Clementina," as spurious productions as

9 Such of these writings as are yet extant have been carefully collected by the learned Fabricius, in his Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti, which work is published in two volumes. Many ingenious and learned observations have been made on these spurious books by the celebrated livr. ii. p. 337. &c. Beausobre, in his Histoire Critique des dogmes de Manichée,

10 After Tillemont, Cotelerius and Grabe have given some accounts of this great man. And all that has been said concerning him by the best and most credible writers, has been collected by Rondinini, in the first of two books published at Rome, in the year 1706, under the following title, Libri Duo de S. Clemente, Papa, et Martyre, ejusque Basilica in urbe Roma.

11 J. A. Fabricias, in the 5th chapter of the fourth book of his Bibliotheca Græca, mentions the editions that have been given of St. Clemens' epistles. To this account we must add the edition published at Cambridge, in 1718, which is preferable to the preceding ones in many respects.

12 See the ample account that is given of these two Greek epistles of Clemens by the learned Dr. Lardner, in the first volume of the second part of his valuable work, entitled, The Credibility of the Gospel History, &c. &c.

13 See J. Bapt. Cotelerii Patres Apost. tom. i. p. 133 and Bernardi Adnotatiunculæ in Clementem, in the last edition of these fathers, published by Le Clerc. The learned Wotton has endeavoured, though without success, in hia observations on the epistles of Clemens, to refute the annotations above mentioned.

14 Besides these writings attributed to Clemens, we may reckon two epistles which the learned Wetstein found in a Syriac version of the New Testament, which he took the pains to translate from Syriac into Latin, and has subjoined both the original and the translation to his famous edi. tion of the Greek Testament, published at Amsterdam in two volumes in folio, in the year 1751, and 1752. The title prefixed to these epistles is as follows: Duæ Epis. tolæ S. Clementis Romani Discipuli Petri Apostoli, quas

1

cribed by some impostor to this venerable prelate, in order to procure them a high degree of authority. The Apostolical Canons, which consist of eighty-five ecclesiastical laws, contain a view of the church government and discipline received among the Greek and Oriental Christians in the second and third century. The eight books of Apostolical Constitutions are the work of some austere and melancholy author, who, having taken it into his head to reform the Christian worship, which he looked upon as degenerated from its original purity, made no scruple to prefix to his rules the names of the apostles, that thus they might be more speedily and favourably received. The Recognitions of Clemens, which differ very little from the Clementina, are the witty and agreeable production of an Alexandrian Jew, well versed in philosophy. They were written in the third century, with a design to answer, in a new manner, the objections of the Jews, Philosophers, and Gnostics, against the Christian religion; and the careful perusal of them will be extremely useful to such as are curious of information with respect to the state of the Christian church in the primitive times."

XX. Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, succeeds Clemens in the list of the Apostolic Fathers, among whom were placed such Christian doctors as had conversed with the apostles themselves, or their disciples. This pious and venerable man, who was the disciple and familiar friend of the apostles, was, by the order of Trajan, brought to Rome, and exposed to wild beasts in the public theatre, where he suffered martyrdom with the utmost constancy. There are yet extant several epistles, attributed to him, concerning the authenticity of which there have been, however, tedious and warm disputes among the learned, which still subsist. Of these epistles, seven are said to have been written by this eminent martyr, during his journey from Antioch to Rome; and these the most learned of men acknowledge to be genuine, as they stand in the edition that was published in the last century, from a manuscript in the Medicean library. The others are

ex Codice Manuscripto Novi Test. Syriaci nunc primum erutas, cum versione Latinâ adposita, edidit Jo. Jacobus Wetstenius. The manuscript of the Syriac version, from whence these epistles were taken, was procured by the good offices of Sir James Porter, a judicious patron of literature and men of letters, who, at that time, was British ambassador at Constantinople. The authenticity of these epistles is boldly maintained by Wetstein, and learnedly opposed by Dr. Lardner, in a Dissertation upon the two epistles ascribed to Clemens of Rome, lately published by Mr. Wetstein, &c. The celebrated Professor Venema of Franeker, suspected also the spuriousness of these epistles; see an account of his controversy with Wetstein on that subject, in the Bibliothéque des Sciences et des Beaux Arts, tom. ii. p. 51, &c. p. 311.

1 For an account of the fate of these writings, and the editions that have been given of them, it will be proper to consult two Dissertations of the learned Ittigius; the one De Patribus Apostolicis, which he has prefixed to his Bibliotheca Patrum Apostolicorum; and the other, De Pseudepigraphis Apostolicis, which he has subjoined to the Appendix of his book De Haresiarchis ævi Apostolici. See also Fabricius' Bibliotheca Græca, lib. v. cap. i. p. 31, &c. and lib. vi. cap. i. p. 4.

2 Budæus has collected the various opinions of the learned concerning the Apostolic Canons and Constitutions in his Isagoge in Theologiam, par. II. ch. v. p. 746.

3 See, for a full account of this work, Mosheim's Dissertation, De turbata per recentiores Platonicos Ecclesia, sect. 34. p. 174. This Dissertation is in the first volume of that learned work which our author published some years ago, under the title of Syntagma Dissertationum ad Historiam Ecclesiasticam pertinentium.

4 See Tillemont's Memoires pour servir à l'Histoire de l'Eglise, tom. ii. par. II. p. 42-80.

generally rejected as spurious. As to my own sentiments of this matter, though I am willing to adopt this opinion as preferable to any other, yet I cannot help looking upon the authenticity of the Epistle to Polycarp as extremely dubious, on account of the difference of style: and, indeed, the whole question, relating to the epistles of St. Ignatius in general, seems to me to labour under much obscurity, and to be embarrassed with many difficulties.

XXI. The Epistle to the Philippians, which is ascribed to Polycarp bishop of Smyrna, who, in the middle of the second century, suffered martyrdom in a venerable and advanced age, is looked upon by some as genuine; by others as spurious; and it is no easy matter to determine this question. The Epistle of Barnabas was the production of some Jew, who, most probably, lived in this century, and whose mean abilities and superstitious attachment to Jewish fables show, notwithstanding the uprightness of his intentions, that he must have been a very different person from the true Barnabas, who was St. Paul's companion. The work which is entitled, The Shepherd of Hermas, because the angel, who bears the principal part in it, is represented in the form and habit of a shepherd, was composed in the second century by Hermes, who was brother to Pius bishop of Rome. This whimsical and visionary writer has taken the liberty to invent several dialogues or conversations between God and the angels, in order to insinuate, in a more easy and agreeable manner, the precepts which he thought useful and salutary, into the minds of his readers. But indeed, the discourse, which he puts into the mouths of those celestial beings, is more insipid and senseless than what we commonly hear among the meanest of the multitude."

XXII. We may here remark in general, that these apostolic fathers, and the other writers, who, in the infancy of the church, employed their pens in the cause of Christianity, were neither remarkable for their learning nor their eloquence. On the contrary, they express the most pious and admirable sentiments in the plainest and most illiterate style. 10 This, indeed, is rather a matter of honour than of reproach to version of a great part of mankind to the gospel the Christian cause; since we see, from the conby the ministry of weak and illiterate men, that

5 For an account of this controversy, concerning the genuineness of the epistles of Ignatius, it will be proper to consult the Bibliotheca Græca of Fabricius, lib. v. cap. i. p. 38-47.

6 For an account of this martyr, and of the epistle attri. buted to him, see Tillemont's Memoires, &c. vol. ii. par. II. p. 287; as also Fabricii Biblioth. Græca, lib. v. cap. i. p. 47.

7 See Tillemont's Memoires, &c. vol. i. par. III. p. 1043. Ittigius' Select. Hist. Eccles. Capita. sect. i. cap. sect. xiv. p. 173, and lib. v. cap, i. sect. iv. p. 4.

8 This now appears with the utmost evidence from a very ancient fragment of a small book, concerning the canon of the Holy Scriptures, which the learned Lud. Anton. Muratori published some years ago from an an cient manuscript in the library at Milan, and which is to be found in the Antiq. Italicar. medii ævi, tom. iii. diss. 43. p. 853.

9 We are indebted for the best edition of the Shepherd of Hermas, to Fabricius, who has added it to the third volume of his Codex Apocryphus N. Testamenti. We find also some account of this writer in the Biblioth. Græca, of the same learned author, book v. chap. ix. sect. ix. p. 7. and also in Ittigius' dissertation, De Patribus Apostolicis, sect. lv. p. 184, &c.

10 All the writers mentioned in this chapter are usually called apostolic fathers. Of these writers, Jo. Bapt. Cotelerius, and after him Le Clerc, have published a collection in two volumes, accompanied both with their own annotations, and the remarks of other learned men.