SECTION L. And therefore were enforced to delegate the Power, and put others in Substitution. BUT then did not this employment, when the occasions were great and extraordinary, force the bishops to a temporary absence? And what remedy was there for that? For the church is not to be left destitute, that is agreed on by all the canons. They must not be like the Sicilian bishops whom Petrus Blesensis complains of, that attended the court, and never visited their churches, or took care either of the cure of souls, or of the church possessions. What then must be done? The bishops, in such cases, may give delegation of their power and offices to others, though now a days they are complained of for their care: I say, for their care; for if they may intervene in secular affairs, they may sometimes be absent, and then they must delegate their power, or leave the church without a curate. But for this matter the account need not be long. For since I have proved that the whole diocese is in cura episcopali,' and for all of it he is responsive to God Almighty, and yet that instant necessity and the public act of Christendom hath ratified it, that bishops have delegated to presbyters so many parts of the bishop's charge, as there are parishes in his diocese, aubería, which is pretended for delegation of episcopal charge, is no less than the act of all Christendom. For it is evident, at first, presbyters had no distinct cure at all, but were, in common, assistant to the bishop, and were his emissaries for the gaining souls in city or suburbs: but when the bishops divided parishes, and fixed the presbyters upon a cure, so many parishes as they distinguished, so many delegations they made; and these we all believe to be good both in law and conscience: for the bishop" per omnes divinos ordines propriæ hierarchiæ exercet mysteria," saith St. Denis ":" he does not do the offices of his order by himself only, but by others also, for all the inferior orders do so operate, as by them he does his proper offices. a Eccles. Hierar. c. 5. But besides this grand act of the bishops first, and then of all Christendom in consent, we have fair precedent in St. Paul; for he made delegation of a power to the church of Corinth to excommunicate the incestuous person. It was a plain delegation, for he commanded them to do it, and gave them his own spirit,' that is, his own authority;' and indeed, without it, I scarce find how the delinquent should have been delivered over to Satan in the sense of the apostolic church; that is, to be buffeted,' for that was a miraculous appendix of power apostolic. When St. Paul sent for Timothy from Ephesus, he sent Tychicus to be his vicar. "Do thy diligence to come unto me shortly, for Demas hath forsaken me, &c. and Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus "." Here was an express delegation of the power of jurisdiction to Tychicus, who for the time was curate to St. Timothy. Epaphroditus for a while attended on St. Paul, although he was then bishop of Philippi; and either St. Paul or Epaphroditus appointed one in substitution, or the church was relinquished, for he was most certainly non-resident". Thus also we find that St. Ignatius did delegate his power to the presbyters, in his voyage to his martyrdom: "Presbyteri, pascite gregem qui inter vos est, donec Deus designaverit eum, qui principatum in vobis habiturus est:" "Ye presbyters, do you feed the flock till God shall design you a bishop "." Till then, therefore, it was but a delegate power; it could not else have expired in the presence of a superior. To this purpose is that of the Laodicean council: "Non oportet presbyteros ante ingressum episcopi ingredi, et sedere in tribunalibus, nisi fortè aut ægrotet episcopus, aut in peregrinis eum esse constiterit:" "Presbyters must not sit in consistory without the bishop, unless the bishop be sick or absent." So that it seems, what the bishop does when he is in his church, that may be committed to others in his absence. And to this purpose St. Cyprian sent a plain commission to his presbyters: "Fretus ergo dilectione et religione vestrâ, his literis hortor et mando, ut vos, vice mea, fungamini circa gerenda ea, quæ administratio religiosa deposcit:" "I b 2 Tim. iv. 9, 12. e Phil. ii. 25, 26. e Can. 56. more, entreat and command you, that you do my office in the administration of the affairs of the church f." And another time he put Herculanus and Caldonius, two of his suffragans, together with Rogatianus and Numidicus, two priests, in substitution for the excommunicating Fœlicissimus and four “ cùm ego vos pro me vicarios miserim "." So it was just in the case of Hierocles, bishop of Alexandria, and Melitius, his surrogate, in Epiphanius: "Videbatur autem et Melitius præmenire, &c. ut qui secundum locum habebat post Petrum in archiepiscopatu, velut adjuvandi ejus gratiâ sub ipso existens, et sub ipso ecclesiastica curans :" "He did church offices under, and for Hierocles "." And I could never find any canon or personal declamatory clause, in any council or primitive father, against a bishop's giving more or less of his jurisdiction by way of delegation. Hitherto also may be referred, that when the goods of all the church, which then were of a perplexed and busy dispensation, were all in the bishop's hand, as part of the episcopal function, yet that part of the bishop's office, the bishop, by order of the council of Chalcedon, might delegate to a steward, provided he were a clergyman. And upon this intimation and decree of Chalcedon, the fathers in the council of Seville, forbade any laymen to be stewards for the church: Elegimus ut unusquisque nostrûm, secundum Chalcedonensium patrum decreta, ex proprio clero œconomum sibi constituat." But the reason extends the canon further: "Indecorum est enim laicum vicarium esse episcopi, et sæculares in ecclesiâ judicare." Vicars of bishops the canon allows, only forbids laymen to be vicars. "In uno enim eodemque officio non decet dispar professio, quod etiam in divinâ lege prohibetur," &c.: "In one and the same office, the law of God forbids to join men of disparate capacities." Then this would be considered. For the canon pretends Scripture, precepts of fathers, and tradition of antiquity, for its sanction. f Epist. 9. Hæres. 68. Epist. 31. & 39. SECTION LI. But they were ever Clergymen, for there never were any lay Elders in any Church-office heard of in the Church. FOR although antiquity approves of episcopal delegations of their power to their vicars, yet these vicars and delegates must be priests, at least. Melitius was a bishop, and yet the chancellor of Hierocles, patriarch of Alexandria; so were Herculanus and Caldonius to St. Cyprian. But they never delegated to any layman any part of their episcopal power precisely. Of their lay power, or the cognizance of secular causes of the people, I find one delegation made to some gentlemen of the laity, by Sylvanus, bishop of Troas: when his clerks grew covetous, he cured their itch of gold by trusting men of another profession, so to shame them into justice and contempt of money. "Si quis autem episcopus posthâc ecclesiasticam rem laicali procuratione administrandam elegerit, non solùm à Christo de rebus pauperum judicatur reus, sed etiam et concilio manebit obnoxius:" "If any bishop shall hereafter concredit any church-affairs to lay administration, he shall be responsive to Christ, and in danger of the council"." But the thing was of more ancient constitution; for in that epistle which goes under the name of St. Clement, which is most certainly very ancient, whoever was the author of it, it is decreed, "Si qui ex fratribus negotia habent inter se, apud cognitores sæculi non judicentur, sed apud presbyteros ecclesiæ, quicquid illud est, dirimatur :" "If Christian people have causes of difference and judicial contestation, let it be ended before the priests." For so St. Clement expounds presbyteros' in the same epistle, reckoning it as a part of the sacred hierarchy". To this or some parallel constitution St. Jerome relates, saying that "priests from the beginning were appointed judges of causes." He expounds his meaning to be of such priests as were also bishops; and they were judges' ab initio,' 'from the beginning,' saith St. Jerome. So that the saying Socrat. lib. vii. cap. 37. U b Concil. Hispan. ubi suprà. of the father may no way prejudge the bishop's authority, but it excludes the assistance of laymen from their consistories. Presbyter' and 'episcopus 'were instead of one word to St. Jerome, but they are always clergy with him and all men else. But for the main question, St. Ambrose did represent it to Valentinian, the emperor, with confidence and humility, "In causa fidei, ecclesiastici alicujus ordinis eum judicare debere, qui nec munere impar sit, nec jure dissimilis." The whole epistle is admirable to this purpose; "Sacerdotes de sacerdotibus judicare," "that clergymen only must judge of clergy causes ;" and this St. Ambrose there calls "judicium episcopale," ‚"" the bishop's judicature." "Si tractandum est, tractare in ecclesia didici, quod majores fecerunt mei. Si conferendum de fide, sacerdotum debet esse ista collatio, sicut factum est sub Constantino, augustæ memoriæ principe." So that both "matters of faith and of ecclesiastical order are to be handled in the church, and that by bishops," and that sub imperatore,' by permission and authority of the prince: for so it was in Nice, under Constantine. Thus far St. Ambrose. St. Athanasius reports, that Hosius, bishop of Corduba, president in the Nicene council, said it was the abomination of desolation that a layman shall be judge in ecclesiasticis judiciis,' in church causes f.' And Leontius calls church affairs, "res alienas à laicis," " things of another court, of a distinct cognizance from the laity." To these add the council of Venice, for it is very considerable in this question: 66 Clerico, nisi ex permissu episcopi sui, servorum suorum sæcularia judicia adire non liceat. Sed si fortasse episcopi sui judicium cœperit habere suspectum, aut ipsi de proprietate aliquâ adversus ipsum episcopum fuerit nata contentio, aliorum episcoporum audientiam, non sæcularium potestatum debebit ambire. Aliter, à communione habeatur alienus:" "Clergymen, without delegation from their bishop, may not hear the causes of their servants, but the bishop, unless the bishop be appealed from; then the other bishops must hear the cause, but no lay judges by any means 1." e Epist. 13. ad Valent. Suidas in Vitâ Leontii. f Epist. ad Solitar. Can. ix. A. D. 453. |