A55307:139
The Samaritan showing that many and unnecessary impositions are not the oil that must…The Samaritan shewing that many and unnecessary impositions are not the oyl that must…
The Samaritan showing that many and unnecessary impositions are not the oil that must heal the church together with the way or means to do it / by a country gentleman who goes to common-prayer and not to meetings.The Samaritan shewing that many and unnecessary impositions are not the oyl that must heal the church together with the way or means to do it / by a country gentleman who goes to common-prayer and not to meetings.
London: printed for Tho. Simmons, 1682
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.
Touching the Practice of the Church after the Apostles, till the end of the Second Century, I must say, That I can find no Evidence of Diocesan Episcopacy, or of any Churches bigger than some single Congregations among us at this day. I think the Churches of Corinth, Ephesus, Antioch, &c. single Congregations, and that they all Communicated at one Altar; and that there are many Congregations in England as numerous, and some much more numerous than they. Yea, I will add (after all that hath been said of late to the contrary) that I am not convinced, that the Church of Carthage in Cyprian's days, which was Two hundred and fifty Years after Christ, was any bigger than some of our Parochial-Congregations. In an Epistle to the Clergy of Carthage, he tells them, That from the beginning of his Episcopacy, he determined to do nothing by his own ⟨p. 99⟩private Judgment, nor without their Counsel, and the Consent of his People. A primordio Episcopatus mei statuerim, nihil sine Consilio Vestro, & sine consensu Plebis meae, privata sententia gerere. Ep. 6. ex Edit. Goulartii.
What doth St. Cyprian mean by His People, in these words? Doth he mean the whole, or Major Part of a Diocese, in the Modern sense of the Word? Did he assemble his Diocese, and take their Consent in all things that did concern them? Credat Judaeus Appella. Many Passages of like nature might be produced from this great Saint and Martyr, and are by Learned Men, which I will not repeat.
What doth St. Cyprian mean by His People, in these words? Doth he mean the whole, or Major Part of a Diocess, in the Modern sense of the Word? Did he assemble his Diocess, and take their Consent in all things that did concern them? Credat Judaeus Appella. Many Passages of like nature might be produced from this great Saint and Martyr, and are by Learned Men, which I will not repeat.