A33359:119
Diocesan churches not yet discovered in the primitive times
Diocesan churches not yet discovered in the primitive times, or, A defence of the answer to Dr. Stillingfleets allegations out of antiquity for such churches against the exceptions offered in the preface to a late treatise called A vindication of the primitive church, where what is further produced out of Scripture and ancient authors for diocesan churches is also discussed.Diocesan churches not yet discovered in the primitive times, or, A defence of the answer to Dr. Stillingfleets allegations out of antiquity for such churches against the exceptions offered in the preface to a late treatise called A vindication of the primitive church, where what is further produced out of Scripture and antient authors for diocesan churches is also discussed.
London: printed for Thomas Parkhurst, 1682
Diocesan Churches not yet discovered in the Primitive times.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
To prove that there was but one Bishop in the Region of Hippo, he tells us, That the Clergy there called in the Inscription of an Epistle, Clerici Regionis Hipponensium, speaking of the Bishop of Hippo, do call him their Bishop, and not one of their Bishops, &c.
But the Clergy so called, may be only the Clergy of Hippo, and so they are in the Title of the Epistle Clerici Hippone Catholici: and well may they of Hippo be called the Clergy of the Region, both because they were in that Region, and were the Clergy of it [Greek or Hebrew]. But if the expression should be extended to more or to all in the Region, their calling him Episcopus noster, will be no proof that they had no other Bishop, but him at Hippo. For that ⟨p. 35⟩phrase Episcopus noster or Episcopi nostri, all along in this Epistle, doth not denote the Bishop of that particular Church to which they belonged (as he would have it) but a Bishop of their party or persuasion. So they call Valentinus nostrum Catholicum Episcopum, who yet was not Bishop of Hippo. So they call them Episcopos nostros, whom they desired the Donatists to meet once and againw, and thrice in another page, where our Author finds Episcopos nostrosx. He may have many more instances hereof in that Epistle. If there was so many Bishops in Hippo or in that Region, as the Clergy call Episcopos nostros, he must grant many more Bishops in that Region than I need desire. So that this Phrase however it be understood, is a medium unhappily chosen: if it be taken in my sense it is impertinent and can conclude nothing for him; if it be taken in his own sense, it will conclude directly against him.
But the Clergy so called, may be only the Clergy of Hippo, and so they are in the Title of the Epistle Clerici Hippone Catholici: and well may they of Hippo be called the Clergy of the Region, both because they were in that Region, and were the Clergy of it . But if the expression should be extended to more or to all in the Region, their calling him Episcopus noster, will be no proof that they had no other Bishop, but him at Hippo. For that