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St. Clement's Epiftle to the Corinthians ; The Chief Prieft, faith he, bas his proper Offices, and to the Priests their proper place is affign'd, and to the Levites belongs their proper Miniftration, & hauxos ävenC, but the Lay-man is confined to Lay-matters. This Diftinction of Laity, and Clergy, which our Enemies are fo offended at, was in ufe in all other Ages of the Church, as is plain from almost all the Epiftles of St. Ignatius. Thus to give an Example or two more in the early, pure Ages in Cyprian's 30th Epiftle, Cum Epifcopis, Pref byteris, Diaconis, Confefforibus, pariter, ac adftantibus Laicis. So Epift. 59. p. 135. Viderint Laici boc quomodo curent Sacerdotibus major labor incumbit. In other Epiftles he calls the Laity, as diftinguished from the Clergy, Plebs, and Populus, as in Epift. 55. Cum Trophimo pars maxima plebis abfcefferat. So in Epift. 49. Cæteros cum ingenti populi fuffragio recepimus. So before him Tertullian. de prafcript. Hæret. c. 31. Hodie Presbyter, qui cras Laicus, nam & Laicis facerdotalia munera injungunt. So de fuga in perfecutione c. 11. Sed quem Diaconi, Presbyteri, & Epifcopi fugiunt quomodo Laicus intelligere poteft, qui ratione dictum fugite de Civitate in Civitatem. So de Monogamia 11. Si non bac Difciplina præcedit in Laicis. And as this Diftinction is of the firft Age of Chriftianity; fo it is juft, and founded in the Conftitution of the Church, which, as I have fhewed by a Cloud of

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Cap. XL. where Dr. Fell writes moft judiciously, and learnedly on the Place: λaunos ar0gwx, nulla tam addi&a, tam mifera fervitus eft, quàm Sendov Th ¿ærðko¿• Aliàs viri do&iffimi Salmafius, Seldenus, ut alios minorum gentium criticos præteream Calvini aut Erafti placitis addi&os, nunquam tam graviter in arte, quàm profitebantur, lapfi effent, ut dicere fuftinerent olim Presbyteros fuiffe Laicos, & Laici vocem, quatenus Clero contradiftinguitur, ferius in Ecclefia obtinuiffe. Ignatii loca non affero, fiquidem novatores quando ejus auctoritate premuntur (e expediunt, dicendo ddewisegqov eum, aut interpolatum.

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Witneffes, is a Society, in which, by Chrift's Appointment, the Clergy are Superiors, and the Laity, or People Subjects: And as it is no Diminution of the Clergy and the Spiritual Dignity, to be reckon'd, as indeed they are, a part of the People, as the People are diftinguifh'd from the Prince; fo it is no Diminution of the Dignity of Emperors, Kings, and Princes, and Temporal_Magiftrates to be reckon'd among the Laity or People, as the People are diftinguish'd from the Clergy, whom Chrift hath fet over them in his Kingdom.

VI. I might, to juftifie my felf, proceed to examine St. Hierom, and St. Auguftine, as particularly as I have done St. Ambrofe, but hoping I have faid enough in my Vindication, I will only tell you, that they both interpret the 16th Verfe of the 45th Pfalm, of the Apoftles, and Bishops, in which it is written, Inftead of thy Fathers, thou shalt have Children whom thou mayft make Princes in all the Earth. Pro Patribus tuis nati funt tibi Filii, confitues eos Principes fuper omnem Terram. Upon which words, faith the former, O Church! the Apoftles were thy Fathers, because they begat thee, but now because they are departed this World, thou haft in their place thy Sons the Bishops whom thou haft conftituted,and thefe are alfo thy Fathers, because thou art govern'd by them. And they are Princes of the Church in all Parts of the Earth, whither foever the Gofpel is come. So the Latter, What doth this mean, inftead of thy Fathers thou shalt have Sons? The Apoftles were fent as Fathers unto thee, and inflead of the Apoftles Sons are born to thee, who are made Bishops. This is the Catholick Church, whofe Sons are made Princes in all the Earth. Optatus Milevit. calls Bifhops Apices & Principes of the Ecclefiaftical Oeconomy, Lib. 1. p. 15. And fo Symeon Theffal de Græcorum Ordinat, which is in Morinus de facris Ecclefia ord. Pars II. p. 106.

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Kai of dexiegas dè, &c. and Bifhops [or chief Priefts] upon the account of their Power, and Principalities are anointed with the Grace of the holy Spirit Saith the Scripture, thou shalt make them Princes over all the Earth. And he (the Archbishop) fanctifies him [the confecrated Bifhop] as the ancient Chief Pricits, Melchifedeck, Aaron, and Samuel, and as thofe Hierarchs of Grace, &c, But to carry this Spiritual Senfe of this place unto a much higher Original. Eufebius Cæfarienfis in his Commentary on PJ. xlv. 17. faith, Aquila renders it thus: Infiead of thy Fathers thou shalt bave Sons; But Symmachus thus: Inftead of thy Fathers thou haft bad Sons. But this is the meaning of the place: Thy Sons, who are born in thee, and from thee, fhall be to thee for Fathers. For thou fhall have thofe for thy Fathers, whom thou thy felf haft begotten. But you will underftand how this was fulfilled, if you confider how the Gentile Strangers coming to the Church, and regenerated in her, be.. come her Sons, and growing great Proficients, are conftituted her Fathers, being promoted to places of Government in her, and chofen to the Sacerdotal Office. And in what fenfe thou art to have them for Fathers is more plainly expreffed in thefe Words: Whom thou shall make Princes in all the Earth. In which words the Prophet fpeaks to the Church upon the Earth, which reaches from one end of it to the other, and which makes her own Sons her Fathers, and Princes. I was willing, Sir, to add this more ancient Teftimony of Eufebius to that of St. Hierom, and Auguftin in the Latin, to fhew you, that this fenfe of thofe words in Pfalm 45. was in all appearance the fenfe

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The place is thus paraphrafed by Apollinarius: Ani πατέρων τοὶ σέθεν ἡβωσι του ἢ κατατήσειας όλης χθονός

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of the Catholick Church. And the Parliament in Queen Elizabeth's time feems to have been no Stranger to thefe Notions, which 8 of Eliz. in the Preamble to the A&t, declares the State of the Clergy to be one of the greatest States of this Realm. And before the Conqueft every one knows the Bifhop fat with the Count in the County-Court to adminifter Ecclefiaftical Law, and Justice, according to the Canons, as he did the Secular, according to the Cuftoms, and Laws.

Sir, I hope I have now faid enough to shew you that my speaking of Bishops as Princes is not novel or uncouth to any, but fuch as are not converfant in the ancient Records of the Church, and if there be any good Church men, as you fay, among your Friends, who think I have written too loftily of the Epifcopal Office, in my former Letter to you, I pray you to fhew them this for my Vindication. Many of them, who are true to their own Order, and never betray'd the Church in their Sermons, or Writings, yet with great numbers of the People, have been fet wrong in their Apprehenfions of the Church, and Church power by fome Gentlemen of your Profeffion, who have written otherwife of the Church, than as of a Society founded by Chrift Jefus in a manner independent on the Powers of the World: And have fo explain'd and magnified the Ecclefiaftical Supremacy of Kings, as is not confiftent with it in reality, or in theConceptions of Men. You cannot but call to mind what I told you fome faid upon occafion. Really, Sir, one would wonder that Men born and bred Chriftians fhould fay things fo reproachful to the Priesthood, fo difhonourable to Chrift our High Prieft in Heaven, fo derogatory and opprobrious to the Power of the Keys, which he hath committed to his Priefts, and fo repugnant to the Conftitution of the Catholick Church. Certainly, Sir, thefe Men had no right Idea of the

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two Powers, Spiritual and Temporal, Ecclefiaftical and Regal, nor of their different Origins, and mutual Subordination of the one to the other. Solvimus que Junt Cæfaris Cafari, faith St. Ambrofe, We pay unto the Emperor the things which belong to the Emperor, and we give unto God the things are God's. Is it the Emperor's Tribute that is demanded, we deny it not? Is it the Church of God? That ought not to be given up to the Emperor, for the Temple of God cannot be his Right; which no Man can deny to be fpoken to the Emperor's Honour, for what is more honourable for him, than that he should be a Son of the Church? For a good Emperor is within the Church, but not above it, and Jeeketh help of the Church, and doth not refufe it. This, as we fpeak with Humility, fo with Conftancy we declare it; and tho' fome threaten us with Fire, and Sword, and Deportation, yet we being Chrift's Servants have learn'd not to fear, and no Terrors are formidable to those who do not fear. Fuftinian the Emperor confeffeth, That the greateft Honours God of his Mercy hath conferred upon Men are Sacerdotium & Imperium, the Priefihood, and the Regal Office, the former to adminifter in divine things, and the latter to prefide in human Affairs, and long before his time, ó'Alcaμã Tippy, & dans "Or, The Abrahamical old Father, the truly Holy Hofius put the Emperor Conftantius in remembrance of the Distinction of thefe two Powers, and the

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Concio de Bafilicis non tradendis Hereticis, aut Gentilibus, ad Mediolanenfem populum. So the Civil Law of the Empire. Quot Divini Juris eft nullius in bonis eft. Ulp. 19. ult. de rerum divis: Nullius funt facra, & religiofa, & fanta res per Pontifices Deo confecrata, veluti ades Sacra. Inftitut. Lib. 11. T. 1.

N. VI. Tit. VI. Quommodo oporteat Epifcops.

In his Epiftle to Conftantius the Emperor. Opera Albana Edit, Paris, MDCXXVII. p. 840.

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