Five disputations of church-government and worship

Gregory Thaumaturgus was as by force made Bishop of Neocesarea: and yet his whole Diocese or City had but seventeen Christians in it at his entrance, though when he died he found upon enquiry but seventeen Pagans, so great a change was made by the Gospel and by Miracles: But by this Diocese of seventeen souls we may conjecture what the Churches were in those times (though we should allow others to be an hundred times as great, they would not be so great as the tenth part of many Parishes in England.) See the truth of this passage in Greg. Nissen Oratio in Greg. Thaumatur. twice over he recites it. And Basil. Mag. l. de Spir. Sanc. c. 19. And Roman. Breviar. Die 15. Novemb. And the Menolog Graec. mentioned before Greg. Neocesar. works Printed ad Paris 1622. But I shall return to some before Gregory.

Gregory Thaumaturgus was as by force made Bishop of Neocesarea: and yet his whole Diocess or City had but seventeen •hristians in it at his entrance, though when he died he found upon enquiry but seventeen Pagans, so great a change was made by the Gospel and by Miracles: But by this Diocess of seventeen souls we may conjecture what the Churches were in those times (though we should allow others to be an hundred times as great, they would not be so great as the tenth part of many Parishes in England.) See the truth of this passage in Greg. Nissen Oratio in Greg. Thaumatur. twice over he recites it. And Basil. Mag. l. de Spir. Sanc. c. 19. And Roman. Breviar. Die 15. Novemb. And the Menolog Graec. mentioned before Greg. Neocesar. works Printed ad Paris 1622. But I shall return to some before Gregory.

The next that I shall cite is Tertullian, that well known place in his Apolog. c. 39. [Corpus sumus de conscientia Religionis & Discipline unitate & spei feeder. Coimus in coetum & Congregationem ut ad Deum quasi manu facta precationibus ambiamus ⟨p. 94⟩orantes. — Cogimur ad div•narum literarum Commemorationem —Certè fidem sanctis vocibus pascimus, spem erigimus, fiduciam figimus, disciplinam praceptorum nihilominus inculcationibus densamus: ibidem etiam exhortationes, Castigationes, & censura Divina: nam & judicatur magno cum pondere ut apud certos de Dei conspectu; summumque futuri judicii praejudicium est siquis ita deliquerit, ut à communicatione Orationis, & conventus, & omnis sancti commercii relegetur. Praesident probati quiq, seniors, &c.] If I be able to understand Tertullian, it is here plain that each church consisted of one Congregation, which assembled for Worship, and Discipline at once or in one place, and this Church was it that had Presidents or Seniors to guide them both in Worship and by Discipline. So that if there were any more of these Assemblies in one particular Political Church, then there were more Bishops then one, or else others besides Bishops exercised this Discipline: But indeed its here plainly intimated that Bishops were then the Guides of Congregations (single,) and not of Diocesss consisting of many such.