In the Year of our LORD 70.

ST. Clement Bishop of Rome, and a glorious Martyr, whofe Praife is in the Gofpel, and of whom particular Mention is made, Phil. iv. 3. Clement whofe Name is in the Book of Life. He I fay, fpeaks thus, in his ft. Epifle to the Corinthians, n. 42. p. 89. of the Edition of Oxford, 1597.

THE Apoftles having preach'd the Gospel, thro' Regions and Cities, did conftitute the first Fruits of them, having prov'd them by the Spirit, to be Bishops and Minifters [or Deacons] of thofe who fhou'd believe; and this, not as a new Thing, for many Ages before it was written concerning Bifhops and Minifters [or Deacons]; for, thus faith

Ifa. Lx.

17.

the Scriptures, in a certain place, I will conftitute their Bishops in Righteousness and their Minifters [or Deacons in Faith. What wonder is it then, that thofe who were intrufted by God, in Chrift, with this Commiffion, fhould conftitute thofe before fpoke of?

IBID. N. 44. And the Apoftles knew by the Lord Jefus Chrift, that Contefts wou'd arife concerning the Epifcopal Name, (or Order) and for this Caufe, having perfect fore-knowledge (of thefe Things they did ordain thofe whom we have mention'd before, and moreover, did eftablish the Conftitution, that other approv'd Men fhould fucceed those who dy'd, in their Office and Miniftry.

THEREFORE thofe that were conftituted by them, or afterwards by other approved Men, with the Confent of all the Church, (or the Church applauding the Choice) and have adminiftred to the Flock of Chrift unblamably, with Humility and Quietnefs, without all Stain of Filth or Naughtinefs; and have carry'd a good Report, of a long Time, from all Men, I think cannot, without great Injustice, be turn'd out of their Office: For, it will be no finall

fmall Sin to us, if we thruft thofe from their Bifhopricks who have holily and without Blame offer'd our Gifts (and Prayers) to God. Bleffed are thofe Priests who are happily dead, for they are not afraid of being ejected out of the Places in which they are conftituted. For, I understand that you have depos'd. fome, from their Miniftry, who behav'd themselves un-reproveable amongst you.

Par. 40. To the High-Prieft his proper Offices were appointed, the Priefts had their proper Order, and the Levites their peculiar Services, or Deaconfhips; and the Lay men, what was proper for Lay-men.

THIS, as before fhewn, St. Clement apply'd to the Distribution of Orders in the Chriftian Church; Bishops, Priefts and Deacons. And the Office of the Levites, is here call'd by the Word Alaxovía. i. e. the Office of Deacons.

Anno Domini. 71. St. Ignatius, a glorious Martyr of Chrift, was conftituted, by the Apoftles, Bishop of Antioch, and did thereby verily think that he fucceeded them (as all other Bifhops do) in their full • Apoftolical Office. Thence he falutes the Church of the Trallians, in the Fulness of the Apoftolical Character; and in his Epiftle he fays to them.

BE Subject unto your Bishops as to the Lord And to the Presbyters, as to the Apostles of ChriftLikewife the Deacons alfo, being Minifters of the Myfteries of Chrift, ought to please in all Things Without thefe there is no Church. He is without, who do's any Thing without the Bishop, and Presbyters and Deacons, and fuch a one is defil'd in his Confcience.

IN his Epiftle to the Magnefians, he tells them, That they ought not to defpife their Bishop, for his Youth, but to pay him all manner of Reverence, according to the Commandment of God the Father. And as I know that your holy Presbyters do

THEREFORE as Chrift did nothing without the

Father,

Father, fo neither do ye, whether Presbyter, Deacon, or Laic, any thing without the Bishop.

SOME indeed call him Bishop, yet do all Things without him; but these feem not to me to have a good Confcience, but rather to be Hypocrites and Scorners.

I exhort you to do all Things in the fame Mind of God, the Bishop prefiding in the Place of God and the Presbyters in Room of the Colledge of the Apofiles; and the Deacons, moft beloved in me, who are intrufted with the Miniftry of Jefus Chrift.

HE directs bis Epiftle to the Church at Philadelphia, to thofe who are in Unity with their Bishop and Presbyters and Deacons. And fays to them, in his Epistle.

THAT as many as are of Chrift, these are with the Bishop, and thofe who fhall repent, and return to the Unity of the Church, being made worthy of Jefus Chrift, fhall partake of eternal Salvation in the Kingdom of Chrift:

.

My Brethren, be not deceiv'd, if any fhall follow him that makes a Schifm, he fhall not inherit the Kingdom of God.

I exhort you to partake of the one Eucharift, for there is one Body of the Lord Jefus, and one Blood of his, which was fhed for us; and one Cup and one Altar, fo there is one Bishop, with his Presbytery, and the Deacons my Fellow-Servants GIVE heed to the Bishop, and to the Presbytery, and to the Deacons without the Bishop do no

thing.

IN bis Epifle to the Smyrnæans, he says, Flee Divifions as the Beginning of Evils. All of you follow your Bishop, as fefus Chrift the Father; and the Presbytery, as the Apofiles,and reverence the Leacons as the Inftitution of God. Let no Man do any Thing of what appertains to the Church, without the Bishop, let that Sacrament be judg'd effectual and firm, which is difpenced by the Bishop, or by

him

him to whom the Bishop has committed it. Whereever the Bishop is, there let the People be; as where Chrift is, the Heavenly Hoft is gather'd together. It is not lawful, without the Bishop, either to baptize, or celebrate the Offices: But what he approveth of, according to the good pleafure of God, that is firm and fafe, and fo we do every Thing fecurely.

I Salute your moft worthy Bishop, your venerable Presbytery, and the Deacons my Fellow Ser

vants.

IN his Epiftle to St. Polycarp, Bifhop of Symrua, and Martyr, who together with himself, was Difciple to St. John the Apoftle, and Evangelift. He gives thefe Directions.

IF any can remain in Chastity, to the Glory of the Body of the Lord, let him remain without Boafting, if he boaft, he perifhes; and if he pretends to know more than the Bishop he is corrupted. It is the Duty both of Men and Women that marry, to be joyn'd together by the Approbation of the Bishop, that the Marriage may be in the Lord- Give heed to your Bifhop, that God may hearken unto You. My Soul for theirs, who Subject themselves under the O

*Ignatius here fpeaks Him to the Church of not to Polycarp but thro Smyrna.

bedience of their Bishop, Presbyters and Deacons, and let me take my Lot with them in the Lord.

AND he fays to Bishop Polycarp, Let nothing be done without thy Sentence and Approbation.

A. D. 180. St. Ireneus Bishop of Lyons, in France, who was Difciple of St. Polycarp, and flourish'd about the Year of Chrift 180. In his Book, Advers. Hærefes, 1. 3. C. 3.

WE can reckon thofe Bishops, who have been conftituted by the Apoftles, and their Succeffors all the Way to our Times. And if the Apoftles knew hidden Myfteries, they wou'd certainly deliver them chiefly to thofe, to whom they committed the Churches themselves; and whom they left their

own

own Succeffors, and in the fame place of Government as themselves. We have the Succeffions of the Bifhops, to whom the Apoftolic Church in every place was committed. All these (Hereticks) are. much later than the Bishops, to whom the Apostles did deliver the Churches.

L. 4. c. 6. The true Knowledge is the Doctrin of the Apoftles, and the ancient State of the Church, thro' the whole World, and the Churches of the Body of Chrift, according to the Succeffion of the Bishops, to whom they committed the Church that is in every Place; and which has defcended even

unto us.

A. D. 203. Tertullian, of the Prefcription of Hereticks. c. 32.

LET them (Hereticks) produce the Original of their Churches; let them fhew the Order of their Bishops, that by their Succeffion, deduc'd from the Beginning, we may fee whether their firft Bishop had any of the Apoftles, or Apoftolical Men, who did likewife perfevere with the Apostles, for his Founder and Predeceffor. For, thus the Apoftolical Churches do derive their Succeffion: As the Church of Smyrna from Polycarp, whom John (the Apoftle) placed there? The Church of Rome from Clement, who was, in the like manner, ordain'd by Peter: And fo the other Churches can produce thofe conftituted in their Bishopricks by the Apostles.

C. 36. Reckon over the Apoftolical Churches, where the very Chairs of the Apoftles do yet prefide in their own Places. At Corinth, Philippi, Ephefus, Theffalonica, &c.

Or Baptifm, c. 17. The High pricft, who is the Bishop, has the Power of conferring Baptifm, and under him the Presbyters and Deacons, but not without the Authority of the Bishop.

A. D. 220. Origenis Comment. in Matt. Ratho magi, 1668. Gr. Lat. p. 255.

Origen