of the mother-church shall not usurp any thing that is given to the churches in the diocese.' These churches in the diocese are the same as we now call parish-churches; though they themselves are sometimes termed dioceses in the Pontifical 17 and the African Canons 18; and in some other Canons ecclesiæ diœcesana, diocesan churches, as in the Council of Tarraco 19, which obliges all bishops to visit their dioceses once a-year, to see that no diocesan church,-that is, no church within the diocese, was out of repair. So that a motherchurch and a diocesan church, in that ancient style, differed as now a cathedral and a parish-church with us. The motherchurch being otherwise called 20 the principal see, principalis cathedra, where the bishop was obliged continually to reside; and sometimes the catholic church, as Valesius has observed 21 out of Epiphanius 22 and Nicephorus 23, in opposition to the lesser churches that were subject to it. Though, as I noted before, the Council of Trullo 24 calls every baptismal church a

17 Vit. Marcel. (CC. t. 1. p. 946 c.) Hic viginti quinque titulos in Urbe Roma constituit, quasi diceceses, propter baptismum, &c.

18 Cod. Afric. c. 53 tot. (t. 2. p. 1077 a.) Dico, si placet, circa hos, non tantum dioceses non esse servandas, verum et de propria ecclesia, quæ illis male faverit, omnimodo annitendum, ut etiam auctoritate publica rejiciantur, atque ab ipsis principalibus cathedris removeantur. Oportet enim, ut qui universis fratribus ac toto concilio inhæserit, non solum suam jure integro, sed et diœceses possideat. At vero, qui sibimet putant plebes suas sufficere, fraterna dilectione contempta, non tantum dioceses amittant, sed, ut dixi, etiam propriis publica careant auctoritate, ut rebelles.-C.56. (ibid. p. 1080 e.) Audivimus constitutum, ut diœceses non mereantur episcopos accipere, nisi consensu ejus, sub quo fuerant constitutæ: sed in provincia nostra cum aliqui forte in diœcesi, concedente eo episcopo, in cujus potestate fuerant constitutæ, ordinati sunt episcopi, etiam diæceses sibi vindicant, &c.

19 C. 8. (t. 4. p. 1565 a.).. Reperimus nonnullas diocesanas ecclesias esse destitutas. Ob quam rem hac

constitutione decrevimus ut... annuis vicibus ab episcopo diœceses [al. diocesano] visitentur; et siqua forte basilica reperta fuerit destituta, ordinatione ipsius reparetur.

20 C. Carth. 5. c. 5. (t. 2. p. 1216 b.) Placuit, ut nemini sit facultas, relicta principali cathedra, ad aliquam ecclesiam in diœcesi constitutam se conferre.

21 In Theodor. Lect. 1. 1. p. 553. (v.3. p. 566. n. 3.).. Notandum est, Nicephorum majorem ecclesiam vocare τὴν Καθόλου: non quod reliquæ ecclesiæ, huic subjectæ, non essent catholicæ, sed per excellentiam quandam major ecclesia patriarchalis dicebatur Catholica. Sic Epiphanius in Hæresi Arianorum, haud procul ab initio, Catholicam Ecclesiam vocat majorem ecclesiam urbis Alexandriæ, quæ subjectas habebat plures minores ecclesias.

22 Hær. 69. Arian. n. 1. (t. 1. p. 727 c.) See b. 7. ch. 2. 8. 2. v. 2. p. 329. n. 12.

23 L. 15. c. 22. (t. 2. p. 623 h. 1.) Ος ἅμα τῷ γενέσθαι οἰκονόμος, τὰ ἐν ἑκάστῃ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν προσφερόμενα, διετύπου τοὺς κατὰ τόπους κληρικούς ἀποφέρεσθαι· ἄχρις ἐκείνου πάντα τῆς καθόλου ἐκκλησίας νομιζομένης.

24 C. 59. (t.6. p. 1170 a.) Mŋdaμ@s

catholic church, in opposition to private oratories, where baptism was not allowed to be administered.

It was necessary for me to be thus particular about the names of churches in the entrance upon this Book, because some of them are curious, and others ambiguous, that the reader might find them explained at once, and not be at a loss about terms upon every occasion in the following discourse.

churches in

Mr. Mede.

13. Our next inquiry is into the original of churches; that is, Proofs of when Christians began to set them apart for divine service. the first A very singular paradox has been advanced by some learned century, collected by men in these last ages, that for the three first ages the Christians had no such distinct places of worship; grounding upon some mistaken passages of Origen, Minucius Felix, Arnobius, and Lactantius, who say 'the Christians had no temples, 'which they take for a denial of their having any churches; which opinion, though advanced with some show of learning by Vedelius 25, Suicerus 26, and others, is altogether without ground,

ἐν εὐκτηρίῳ οἴκῳ, ἔνδον οἰκίας τυγχάνοντι, βάπτισμα ἐπιτελείσθω; ἀλλ ̓ οἱ μέλλοντες ἀξιοῦσθαι τοῦ ἀχράντου φωτίσματος ταῖς καθολικαῖς προσερχέσθωσαν ἐκκλησίαις.

25 Exercit. in Ignat. Ep. ad Magnesian. c. 4. n. 2. (p. 68.) At Ignatii tempore, Christiani templa non ha bebant proprie sic dicta: immo post Ignatii etiam tempora iis carebant aliquamdiu. Origenis tempore, qui post annum 200 scripsit, templis carebant Christiani, ut patet ex libro octavo adversus Celsum; ubi Celsus Christianis exprobrat: Post hæc Celsus et aras et simulacra et delubra nos ait defugere, quo minus fundentur, &c.' Hoc Origines non negat, sed agnoscit, Quia,' inquit, 'haudquaquam Deum insensibilibus (h. e. inanimatis) templis colendum existimamus.' Negat autem causam, propter quam Celsus putabat Christianos templa defugere. Putabat Celsus id ideo fieri, ut confirmarent insensibilis suæ et inexplicabilis communionis fidem. Sed eam causam Origines negat, et veram adducit. Verba notanda sunt, ex quibus constabit, tum noluisse Christianos fundare templa, tum cur fundare noluerint. Non igitur ad nostra hujus invisibilis et inexplicabilis animorum

conjunctionis et tanti conventus con-
frmationem, simulacrorum templo-
rumve fundationes defugimus; sed
quia per Jesu doctrinam comperi-
mus, quemadmodum colendus sit
Deus, ea nos evitamus, quæ sub pi-
etatis prætextu et opinatione quadam
impios reddant, qui a vero per Je-
sum cultu errando falluntur, qui
utique solus ad pietatem est via, et
in vero illud profatus, Ego sum via,
veritas,et vita.' Eodem tempore vixit
Minucius Felix, in cujus Octavio
Cæcilius idem Christianis objicit,
Cur nullas aras habent? templa nul-
la? nulla nota simulacra? Hic ex-
presse Octavius fatetur: Delubra et
aras non habemus. Post hos vixit
Arnobius Afer, post annum 300:
apud quem rursus Gentiles Christ-
ianis templorum defectum objiciunt:
1. 6. adversus Gent. In hac consu-
evistis parte crimen nobis maximum
impietatis affigere, quod neque ædes
sacras venerationis ad officia ex-
struamus, non deorum alicujus si-
mulacrum constituamus aut for-
mam, non altaria fabricemus, non
aras.' Ubi etiam agnoscit Arnobius,
templa nulla a Christianis exstrui,
sed crimen quod in eo collocabant
Gentiles amolitur. Circa annum 317
vixit Lactantius, qui, l. 1. de Falsa

contradicted by the authors which they allege, and by themselves who assert and maintain it. Mr. Mede 27 has an elaborate discourse in confutation of this opinion, wherein he has learnedly collected the authorities of the Ancients, which for the three first ages prove the being of Christian churches. shall briefly, for the sake of those who have not that author at hand, relate the substance of his proofs, and add some others to his collections.

In the first place he shews that the Ancients, St. Austin 28, St. Basil 29, and the author under the name of St. Jerom, St. Chrysostom, Sedulius, Ecumenius, and Theophylact, in their comments on that passage of St. Paul, 1 Cor. 11, 22,

Have ye not houses to eat and drink in? or despise ye the church of God?" took the word church there not for the assembly, but for the place set apart for sacred duties; and that the Apostles always met together in a certain place for prayer and supplication upon Mount Sion, which was the hyperoon or cœnaculum, the upper room, so often mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles; where the Apostles were assembled when the Holy Ghost came upon them. Acts 2. Where our Saviour celebrated his last supper. Where he appeared to his disciples two Sundays, one after another, after his resurrection. John 20. The place where the seven deacons were elected and ordained. Acts 6. And where the first Council of Jerusalem was held. Acts 15. Which place was afterward enclosed with a goodly church, called the Church of Mount Sion, and the upper Church of the Apostles, in the time of Cyril 30, bishop of Jerusalem, and St. Jerom 31. That this was the oikos, or house of assembly mentioned, Acts 2, 46, where the Apostles continued breaking of bread; that is, celebrating the eucharist after the return from the temple. For he thinks, with many other critics, that the word ev oko 32 is not to be translated from house to house, but in the house, or place where the assembly was used to meet together. His next argument is drawn from

30 Catech. 16. n. 2. [al.4.] (p. 245 a.) Οἴδαμεν τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον τὸ λαλῆσαν ἐν προφήταις, καὶ ἐν τῇ Πεντηκοστῇ κατελθὸν ἐπὶ τοὺς ̓Αποστόλovs év eïdel Tupivwv ydwooŵv, evταῦθα ἐν τῇ Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ἐν τῇ ἀνωτέρᾳ τῶν ̓Αποστόλων ἐκκλησίᾳ· πάντων γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐστι τὰ ἀξιώματα· ἐνταῦθα Χριστὸς ἐξ οὐρανῶν κατῆλθεν ἐνταῦθα τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐξ οὐρανῶν κατῆλθεν.

31 Ep.27.[al. 108.] Epitaph. Paulæ. (t. 1. p. 691 c.) Unde egrediens ascendit Sion, quæ in arcem vel speculam vertitur. Hanc urbem quondam expugnavit et reædificavit David. De expugnata scribitur, Væ tibi civitas Ariel, id est, leo Dei et quondam fortissima, quam expugnavit David. De ea, quæ ædificata est, dictum est, Fundamenta ejus in montibus sanctis, diligit Dominus portas Sion, super omnia tabernacula Jacob: non eas portas, quas hodie cernimus in favillam et cinerem dissolutas, sed

portas, quibus non prævalet Infernus, et per quas credentium ad Christum ingreditur multitudo. Ostendebatur illi columna ecclesiæ porticum sustinens, infecta cruore Domini, ad quam vinctus dicitur flagellatus. Monstrabatur locus, ubi super centum viginti credentium animas Spiritus Sanctus descendisset, ut Joëlis vaticinium compleretur.

32 [The expression (Acts 2, 46.) is not ev otko, but Kar' oikov. The Codex Cantabrigiensis reads kar' oiKovs. The Vulgate reads circa domos; Erasmus, per singulas domos. Beza has domi, and thus defends his rendering (t. 3. p. 139. Not. in loc.)..... Accipi karà non tanquam distributivum, sed pro è præpositione, ita ut Kar' oikov nihil aliud declaret quàm ev oko, cui opponatur év To lepo, liquido constat ex aliis plurimis exemplis, ut Rom. 16, 25; 1 Cor. 16, 19; Col. 4, 15, et Philem. 2, &c. q. v. ED.]

Proofs in the second century.

He

what Eusebius 32 observes of the Therapeuta in Egypt, whether Essenes or Christians, that they had their oeuveîa, or places appropriated for divine worship, from the days of St. Mark. And that such places are to be understood in all those passages of St. Paul which salute 33 the churches in such or such a house, that is, the congregations that met in the houses of such pious Christians as had bestowed some part of their dwellings to be an oratory for the church to assemble in. Such a cœnaculum is described by Lucian, or whoever was the author of the Dialogue called Philopatris, about the time of Trajan, where he brings in one Critias telling how the Christians carried him into an hyperoon, the place of their assembly, with a design to make him a proselyte to. their religion. argues further from the tradition of the Church, derived from the ancient author of the Recognitions under the name of Clemens Romanus 34, which says that Theophilus, to whom St. Luke is supposed to inscribe his Gospel, at Antioch, did convert his house into a church. And the like is reported of the house of Pudens, a Roman senator and martyr, in the Acta Pudentis, that it was turned into a church after his martyrdom. He concludes this first century with the testimony of Clemens Romanus, in his genuine Epistle to the Corinthians 35, which says, that God had ordained as well appropriate places where, as appropriate times and persons when and whereby, he would be solemnly served, that all things might be done religiously and in order.'

14. In the next age he shews that Ignatius, in his Epistle to the Magnesians 36, exhorts them to meet together in one place, which he calls ròv vaòv eoû, the temple of God; and, in his

32 L. 2. c. 17. See before, s. II. p. 21. n. 5.

33 See Rom. 16, 3. 5; Coloss. 4, 15; 1 Cor. 16, 19; Philem. 1, 2.

34 L. 10. n.71.(Cotel. v. 1. Ρ.596.) Intra septem dies, plus quam decem millia hominum, credentes Deo, baptizati sunt, et sanctificatione consecrati; ita ut omni aviditatis desiderio Theophilus, qui erat cunctis potentibus in civitate sublimior, domus suæ ingentem basilicam ecclesiæ nomine consecraret.

35 Ep. 1. ad Cor. n. 40. (ibid. p. 168.) Κατὰ καιροὺς τεταγμένους τάς

τε προσφορὰς καὶ λειτουργίας ἐπιτελεῖσθαι, καὶ οὐκ εἰκῇ ἢ ἀτάκτως ἐκέλευσεν γίνεσθαι, ἀλλ ̓ ὡρισμένοις και ροῖς καὶ ὥραις· ποῦ τε καὶ διά τινων ἐπιτελεῖσθαι θέλει, αὐτὸς ὥρισεν τῇ υπερτάτῃ αὐτοῦ βουλήσει· ἵν ̓, ὁσίως πάντα γινόμενα ἐν εὐδοκήσει, εὐπροσδεκτα εἴη τῷ θελήματι αὐτοῦ.

36 N. 7. (Cotel. v. 2. p. 19.) Mŋde πειράσητε εὐλογόν τι φαίνεσθαι ἰδίᾳ ὑμῖν· ἀλλ ̓ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ μία προσευχὴ, μία δέησις, εἷς νοῦς, . . . . Πάντες οὖν, ὡς εἷς, εἰς ἕνα ναὸν συντρέχετε Θεοῦ, κ. τ. λ. [al. ὡς ἕνα ναὸν, κ. τ. λ.]