are quite of another Nature from that of a Pandect of Laws for the Chriftian Church, confidered peculiarly as fuch, fince it felf began not till after our Saviours Refurrection from the Dead, and Inauguration into his own Kingdom at God's Right Hand; while they alone contain the History, the Miracles and Preaching of our Lord, before his Refurrection and Afcenfion: i. e. While he acted as his Fathers Minifter or Deputy, as Job. f. 2. a Teacher come from God, before he had

any Commiffion to found a Christian Church at all among Mankind. Thus 'tis alfo plain that the Acts of the Apostles, and their Epiftles, are fo far from a Regular Digest of Laws, for the founding and governing the Chriftian Church, that they fuppofe the fame already founded and governed according to thofe Laws; and do only relate occafional Hiftories concerning the fpreading of the Gospel, or mention occafional Directions and additional Orders upon feveral Emergencies, which happen'd in fome Places, diftinct from the proper and general Settlement of Chriftianity among them: Nay were not Written but upon fpecial Occafions, which arofe many Years after the feveral Churches had been Establish'd, and the Body of Chriftian Laws been obferv'd among them; as is very plain upon their perufal. So that we ftrangely mistake the nature and defign of thefe facred Writings, if we esteem them

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as the proper Rule of Faith and Practice among Chriftians, or a regular Syftem of the Laws of Chrift. Indeed, if thefe Apoftolical Conftitutions, which do pretend to be, and upon perufal appear really to be fuch an intire Syftem and Standard, be fet afide, the Church of Christ must be fuppos'd never to have had any fuch Syftem or Standard at all given it; which yet was moft highly requifite, if not abfolutely neceffary to its very Being; and which the Church of the Jews most certainly had in its primary Inftitution, and have to this very Day preferv'd among them. Now tho' fuch Arguments à priori as have nothing à pofteriori to fupport them; I mean fuch as Infer that, because we fup pofe things in Reafon ought to have been fo, or fo, therefore they really were fo, are very uncertain in general, and of little Weight, because the ways and conduct of the Providence of the great God, are commonly very different from the Imaginations of Mortal Men; yet while this Argument à priori is fo ftrongly inforc'd d pofteriori, by the known parallel Cafe of the Jewish Church, which not only ought to have had, but most certainly actually bad, and ftill have the like intire Rule, Syftem and Standard among them, I cannot but think it highly worthy of our Confideration. So far, at the leaft, as to difpofe every honest Christian to wish, that fuch au Original Rule M 2 and

and Standard had been at firft given the Chriftian Church, and that, if it were once given, it might be recover'd again for its Advantage at this Day. And certainly, those unhappy Quarrels, Schifms, and Disorders; that fatal Tyranny, Idolatry, and Wickednefs which, like a Torrent, have overflow'd the Chriftian World in all thefe later Ages, ever fince the enquiry after and obfervance of fuch Original Chriftian Rules were very much laid afide, and modern Ecclefiaftical Decrees or Temporal Laws came in their Places, have been fo notorious, and fo pernicious to the real Ends of Religion, that all truly good Men cannot but wifh, that fuch a Sacred Rule, fuch an Infallible Guide might be difcover'd and the Chriftian World fatisfy'd in its fupreme Authority; which is all that I need to gain of my Readers by this preliminary Argument. For -H. It fo plainly appears by undoubted Evidence, and is fo undeniably prov'd in Cotelerius's incomparable Notes, that the feveral particular Doctrines, Appointments, and Rules, contain'd in thefe Conftitutions, were in the first Ages univerfally believ'd and obey'd, through the whole Chriftian World, and that as matters of ftrict Duty, and as Christ's own Inftitutions by his holy Apostles, that 'tis next to certain they could come from no other Original, but from Christ himself by thofe his Apoftles. Tis

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very plain that the first Chriftians own'd no other Supreme Authority, nor would have univerfally fubmitted to any other Laws, in Matters of Faith, Worfhip, and Difcipline, than fuch as were deriv'd from their bleffed Lord, by his immediate Minifters. Nor could the obfervance of the Rules in these

Conftitutions be fpread fo early, and fo far, even as early as our oldeft Accounts, and from one end of the World, or Roman Empire to another, which in Fact they appear. to have really done, had they not been fix'd and stated by the Apoftles, before their dif perfion to Preach the Gofpel over the World; or at leaft, before their final Vifitation of the fame Churches, and giving them their laft Inftructions and Directions before their Death. Now if these particular Laws and Rules, now contain'd in the present Conftitutions, be the very fame that all the first Churches receiv'd from the Apostles, at least from their Companions and immediate Succeffors, which I take to be undeniable, I think their Sacred Authority, in what manner or by what Author foever they are now conveyed to us, is indifputable, and to be immediately fubmitted to by all Christians. And as to this point, hear the Learned Albafpinaus; who tho' he had not difcover'd their real Apoftolical Authority, yet does he give this noble Teftimony to thefe Conftitutions and Canons before us: Sunt illi Cano

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Canones Conflitutionéfque antiquiffime, mul L. I. 6. 13. táque in illis excellentiffima & magni ponderis continentur. Nec dubito quin olim Grace Ecclefia pro Legibus, Manuali, Pontificali, Rituali, ut vocant, ac Codice fuerint. Satis enim conftat nihil quicquam in iis reperiri quod Ecclefiaftica quatuor primorum feculorum difciplina confentaneum non fit: So that fuppofing we were utterly at a lofs at what time, by what Author, in what manner, or on what occafion these Conftitutions were Written; as we are not; yet have we Evidence abundantly fufficient for their Authentickness and Authority; fo far, I mean, as to oblige us to prefer them before, and be more guided by them than by any, or by all the other uninfpired Writings of particular Men or Councils now extant in the Chriftian Church; because they certainly contain those Publick and Authoritative A&s, Rules, Doctrines, and Laws, by which the Chriftian Church was originally govern'd, in or foon after the Times of the Apoftles themselves; and which all along appear to have been then own'd as Sacred and Inviolable, nay rather more Sacred and Inviolable, than thofe which appear in any Writings of the fingle Apoftles or Evangelifts themfelves. This Obfervation is alone abundantly fufficient to my main Design, the Reception of thefe Conftitutions by the Chriftian Church, as, together with the Books of the

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