PART II. CENT. Marseilles had along acquired a shining reputation I. for their progress in the sciences [9]; and there is no doubt, but that the neighbouring countries received the benefit of their instructions. Among the Celts, their druids, priests, philosophers, and legislators were highly remarkable for their wis dom; but their writings, at least such as are yet extant, are not sufficient to inform us of the nature of their philosophy [r]. The Romans, indeed, introduced letters and philosophy into all the provinces which submitted to their victorious arms, in order to soften the rough manners of the savage nations, and form in them, imperceptibly, the sentiments and feelings of humanity [s]. The neces CHAPTER II. Concerning the Doctors and Ministers of the I. THE great end of Christ's mission was to sity of pub-form an universal church, gathered out of all lic teachers. the nations of the world, and to extend the limits of this great society from age to age. But, in order to this, it was necessary, first, to appoint extraordinary teachers, who, converting the Jews and Gentiles to the truth, should erect, every where, Christian assemblies; and then to establish ordinary ministers, and interpreters of the [9] See the Histoire Litteraire de la France par des Religieux Benedictins. Dissert. Prelim. p. 42. &c. [r] Jac. Martin, Religion des Gaulois, livr. i. cap. 175. [s] Juvenal, Satir. xv. ver. 110. "Nunc totus Graias nostrasque habet orbis Athenas, De conducendo loquitur jam rhetore Thule." xxi. P. I. divine will, who should enforce, and repeat the CENT. doctrines delivered by the former, and maintain the people in their holy profession, and in the PART II. practice of the Christian virtues. For the best system of religion must necessarily either dwindle to nothing or be egregiously corrupted, if it is not perpetually inculcated and explained by a regular and standing ministry. ers. II. The extraordinary teachers whom Christ Extraordiemployed to lay the foundations of his everlasting nary teachkingdom, were the twelve apostles, and the seventy disciples of whom mention has been made above. To these the Evangelists are to be added, by which title those were distinguished whom the apostles sent to instruct the nations, or who, of their own accord, abandoned every worldly attachment, and consecrated themselves to the sacred office of propagating the gospel [t]. In this rank, also, we must place those, to whom, in the infancy of the church, the marvellous power of speaking in foreign languages which they had never learned, was communicated from above. For the person to whom the divine omnipotence and liberality had imparted the gift of tongues, might conclude, with the utmost assurance, from the gift itself, (which a wise being would not bestow in vain,) that he was appointed by God to minister unto the truth, and to employ his talents in the service of Christianity [u]. III. Many have undertaken to write the history The autho of the apostles [w], a history which we find rity of the loaded with fables, doubts, and difficulties, when [t] See St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, iv. 11. As also Euseb. Hist. Eccles. lib. iii. cap. xxxvii. [u] 1 Cor. xiv. 22. [w] The authors who have written concerning the apostles are enumerated by Sagittarius in his Introduction to Ecclesiastical History, ch. i. p. 2. and also by Buddæus, in his treatise, De Ecclesia Apostolica, p. 674. apostles. I. CENT. we pursue it further than the books of the New Testament, and the most ancient writers in the PART II Christian church. In order to have a just idea of the nature, privileges, and authority of the apostolic function, we must consider an apostle as a person who was honoured with a divine commission, invested with the power of making laws, of controlling and restraining the wicked, when that was expedient, and of working miracles when necessary; and sent to mankind, to unfold to them the divine will, to open to them the paths of salvation and immortality, and to separate from the multitude, and unite in the bonds of one sacred society, those who were attentive and obedient to the voice of God addressed to men by their ministry [x]. The seventy IV. The accounts we have of the seventy disdisciples. ciples are still more obscure than those of the apostles; since the former are only once mentioned in the New Testament, (Luke x. 1.) The illustrations that we have yet remaining, relative to their character and office, are certainly composed by the more modern Greeks, and therefore can have but little authority or credit [y]. Their commission extended no farther than the Jewish nation, as appears from the express words of St. Luke; though it is highly probable, that, after Christ's ascension they performed the functions of Evangelists, and declared the glad tidings of salvation, and [a] See Fred. Spanheim, De Apostolis et Apostolatu, tom. ii. opp. p. 289. It is not without weighty reasons, and without having considered the matter attentively, that I have supposed the apostles invested with the power of enacting laws. I am sensible that some very learned men among the moderns have denied this power, but I apprehend they differ from me rather in words than in any thing else. [y] These accounts are to be seen at the end of three books concerning the life and death of Moses, which were discovered and illustrated by Gilb. Gaulminus, and republished by Jo. Albert Fabricius, in his Biblioth. Græc. p. 474. the means of obtaining it, through different na- CENT. tions and provinces. 1. PART II. The exter V. Neither Christ himself nor his holy apostles have commanded any thing clearly or expressly concerning the external form of the church, and nal form of the precise method, according to which it should the church be governed [z]. From this we may infer, that mined by [z] Those who imagine, that Christ himself, or the apostles, by his direction and authority, appointed a certain fixed form of church-government, are not agreed what that form was. The principal opinions that have been adopted upon this head may be reduced to the four following: The first is that of the Roman Catholics, who maintain, “That Christ's intention and appointment was, that his followers should be collected into one sacred empire, subjected to the government of St. Peter and his successors, and divided, like the kingdoms of this world, into several provinces; that in consequence thereof, Peter fixed the seat of ecclesiastical dominion at Rome, but afterwards, to alleviate the burthen of his office, divided the church into three greater provinces, according to the division of the world at that time, and appointed a person to preside in each, who was dignified with the title of patriarch; that the European patriarch resided at Rome, the Asiatic at Antioch, and the African at Alexandria ; that the bishops of each province, among whom also there were various ranks, were to reverence the authority of their respective patriarchs, and that both bishops and patriarchs were to be passively subject to the supreme dominion of the Roman Pontiff *." This romantic account scarcely deserves a serious refutation. The second opinion, concerning the government of the church, makes no mention of a supreme head, or of patriarchs, constituted by divine authority, but supposes that the apostles divided the Roman empire into as many ecclesiastical provinces as there were secular or civil ones; that the metropolitan bishop, i. e. the prelate, who resided in the capital city of each province, presided over the clergy of that province, and that the other bishops were subject to his authority. This opinion has been adopted by some of the most learned of the Romish church †, and has also been favoured See Leon Allatius, De Perpetua Consens. Eccles. Orient. et Occident. lib. i. cap. ii. Morinus, Exercitat. Ecclesiast. lib. i. Exer. i. + Petrus De Marca, De Concord. Sacerdot. et Imperii, lib. vi. cap. i. Morinus, Exer. Eccl. lib. i. Ex. xviii. Pagi Critica in Annal. Baronii ad A. xxxvii. tom. i. p. 29. VOL. I. not deter Christ. CENT. the regulation of this was, in some measure, to be accommodated to the time, and left to the wis I. PART II. by some of the most eminent British divines . Some Protestant writers of note have endeavoured to prove that it is not supported by sufficient evidence §. The third opinion is, that of those who acknowledge, that, when the Christians began to multiply exceedingly, metropolitans, patriarchs, and archbishops were indeed created, but only by human appointment and authority; though they confess, at the same time, that it is consonant to the orders and intention of Christ and his apostles, that, in every Christian church, there should be one person invested with the highest authority, and clothed with certain rights and privileges above the other doctors of that assembly. This opinion has been embraced by many English divines of the first rank in the learned world, and also by many in other countries and communions. The fourth, and last opinion is, that of the Presbyterians, who affirm, that Christ's intention was, that the Christian doctors and ministers should all enjoy the same rank and authority, without any sort of pre-eminence or subordination, any distinction of rights and privileges. The reader will find an ample account of these four different opinions with respect to church government in Dr. Mosheim's Larger History of the first Century. This learned and impartial writer, who condemns with reason the fourth opinion, as it is explained by those bigoted puritans who look upon all subordination and variety of rank among the doctors of the church as condemnable and antichristian, observes, however, with equal reason, that this opinion may be explained and modified so as to reconcile the moderate abettors of the episcopal discipline, with the less rigid Presbyterians. The opinion, modified by Dr. Mosheim, amounts to this: "That the Christian doctors are equal in this sense; that Christ has left no positive and special decree which constitutes a distinction among them, nor any divine commandment by which those who, in consequence of the appointments of hu man wisdom, are in the higher ranks, can demand, by divine right, the obedience and submission of the inferior doctors, &c. their abstaining from the exercise of certain functions," &c. The truth of the matter is, that Christ, by leaving this matter undetermined, has, of consequence, left Christian societies a discretionary power of modelling the government of Hammond, Diss. de Episcop. Beverege, Cod. Canon. Vet. Eccles. Vindic. lib. ii. cap. v. tom. ii. Patr. Apost. Usser, De Origine Episcop et Metropol. p. 20. Basnage, Hist. de l'Eglise, tom. i. livr. i. cap. viii. Boehmer. Annot. ad Petrum de Marca de Concordia. Sacerd. et Imperii, p. 143. |