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that the office of Apostolic government, as it was formerly given to certain Bishops, may still be given where it has not yet been bestowed, and is to be left untouched with such Bishops as have already received it. If any one be desirous to see a reformation of the Pastoral body, I do not oppose him. The Church still holds, as it has always held, the power of regulating this authority; but with this limitation, that none are to be excluded from the Christian magistracy to whom God has already given it, for such persons correspond to those elders so frequently mentioned in the Bible as associated with the Priests and Levites in important matters, being the representatives of the whole people.

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CHAP. XX.

THE AUTHORITY OF BISHOPS OVER FRESBYTERS IS PROVED BY THE UNANIMOUS CONSENT OF THE WHOLE WORLD.

I CONSIDER, that what has been maintained by all Churches throughout the world down from the times of the Fathers and Apostles, must be an Apostolical canon and immutable. It is no light matter to abrogate observances sanctioned by so great and universal consent: the departure from it, independently of the rashness of the proceeding, will entail much greater mischief on the Church than most men suspect, and such as it will not be possible hereafter to remedy. Among the

ancient Canons, which owing to great antiquity have been ascribed to the Apostles, we read the following*.

"It behoveth the Bishops of every nation, duly to recognize him who is chief among them, and to look upon him as their head, and to attempt nothing of great or extraordinary import without his concurrence: individually, each is to busy himself solely with what concerns his own district and its dependencies. But not even within their own Dioceses may individual Bishops do any thing which is not sanctioned by the concurrence of all: for thus will unanimity be preserved, and God will be glorified through the Lord in the Holy Ghost.”

This Canon was re-enacted, with some slight

2 Τοὺς ἐπισκόπους ἑκάστου ἔθνους εἰδέναι χρὴ τὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς πρῶτον, καὶ ἡγεῖσθαι αὐτὸν ὡς κεφαλήν· καὶ μηδέν τι πράτδεν πέριττον ἄνευ τῆς ἐκείνου γνώμης· ἐκεῖνα δὲ μόνα πράττειν ἕκαστον ὅσα τῇ αὐτοῦ παροικίᾳ ἐπιβάλλει καὶ ταῖς ὑπὸ αὐτὴν χώραις. ̓Αλλὰ μήδε ἐκεῖνος ἄνευ τῆς πάντων γνώμης ποιεῖτω τι· οὕτως γὰρ ὁμόνοια ἔσται, καὶ δοξασθήσεται Θεὸς διὰ Κυρίου ἐν Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι.

variation of expression, in the Council of Antioch, as follows.

"The Bishops in the several Dioceses must know that their Metropolitan is charged also with the care of all the province, for in consideration of the great concourse of people from all parts of each province to the metropolis, for the purposes of business, it has seemed fit that he should have precedence in honour over the other Bishops, and that these, agreeably to the ancient Canon of our

5 Τοὺς καθ' ἑκάστην ἐπαρχίαν ἐπισκόπους εἰδέναι χρὴ τὸν ἐν τῇ μητροπόλει προεστῶτα ἐπίσκοπον, καὶ τὴν φροντίδα ἀναδέχεσθαι πάσης τῆς ἐπαρχίας, διὰ τὸ ἐν τῇ μητροπόλει πανταχόθεν συντρέχειν πάντας τοὺς πράγματα ἔχοντας, ὅθεν ἔδοξε καὶ τῇ τιμῇ προηγεῖσθαι αὐτὸν, μηδέν τε πράττειν πέριττον τοὺς λοίπους ἐπισκόπους ἄνευ αὐτοῦ, κατὰ τὸν ἀρχαῖον κρατήσαντα τῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν κανόνα, ἡ ταῦτα μόνα ὅσα τῇ ἑκάστου ἐπιβάλλει παροικίᾳ, καὶ ταῖς ἐπ ̓ αὐτὴν χώραις, ἕκαστον γὰρ ἐπίσκοπον ἐξουσίαν ἔχειν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ παροικίας, διοικεῖν τε τὴν ἑκάστῳ ἐπιβαλλούσαν εὐλάβειαν καὶ πρόνοιαν ποιεῖσθαι πασῆς τῆς χώρας τῆς ὑπὸ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πόλιν, ὡς καὶ χειροτονεῖν πρεσβυτέρους, καὶ μετὰ κρίσεως ἕκαστα διαλαμβάνειν· περαιτέρω μηδὲν πράττειν ἐπιχειρεῖν δίχα τοῦ τῆς μητροπόλεως ἐπισκόπου· μηδὲ αὐτὸν ἄνευ τῆς τῶν λοίπων γνώμης.

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