AS A PRIESTLY VESTMENT.

279

Jewish Priests was commanded by GoD himself, was copied from the Jews by the Pagans, adopted in the Christian Church before the year 200, and has been continued by most Christian nations until the present time.

CELIBACY.-The early Church relying on the language of St. Paul to the Corinthians, (1 Cor. vii. 1-11,) very soon came to place a high estimate upon the practice of virginity. Thus Ignatius, A. D. 107, says: "If any one be able to remain in chastity, to the honor of the LORD of all flesh, let-him do so without boasting. If he boast he is undone. If he desire to be esteemed above his Bishop, he is corrupt.' So Justin Martyr, A. D. 150, writes: " Many, both men and women, of the age of sixty or seventy years, who have been disciples of CHRIST from their youth, continue in immaculate virginity." Towards the close of the second century, the ardent but unstable Tertullian, though himself a married man, was loud in his praises of virginity, in which he was followed, to a considerable extent, by Cyprian.

But virgins had not yet been formed into separate communities, even in the third century, as appears from Cyprian's Treatises. And it was one ground of complaint with him, that they sought to attract attention by their dress,§ attended marriage parties,|| public exhibitions, as other women, thereby endangering themselves, and becoming snares to others. Nor was the vow of virginity then considered binding, for even Cyprian says of the virgins, " if they can not, or will not remain virgins, let them marry.'

Nor was celibacy at this period required even in the clergy. Eusebius, A. D. 325, collected and published what he could find relative to the marriage of the Apostles, and he tells us,

* Ep. Pol. c. 5. § Cc. 5, 7.

** Ep. Pomp. 4, or 62.

† Apol. i. c. 18.
NC. 10.

De Habitu Virginum.

T C. 11.

on the authority of Clement, of Alexandria, that Peter and Paul were married, that Philip was married, had children, and gave his daughters in marriage. This is also corroborated daughters_in_marriage.* by Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus, A. D. 195, who adds, that two of the daughters of Philip were never married.† So he tells us that Domus, the sixteenth Bishop of Alexandria, was son of Demetrianus, the fourteenth Bishop of that city.‡ Indeed, the evidence is abundant, that for ages after celibacy was recommended, it was not required.

CHAPTER XXIII.

SUCCESSION OF BISHOPS.

HAVING seen that in every Church there was one Apostle. or Apostolic Bishop, who alone possessed the power of ordination, and having seen that this arrangement was designed to be permanent, it follows necessarily, that there ought to be an uninterrupted succession of such Bishops. It is important, therefore, for us to inquire whether there is sufficient proof that such a succession has been kept up, and if so, where it is to be found, and what is the evidence of its existence. This will require us to dwell a moment upon the early prac tices of the Church in this particular.

The first Apostolical Canon, which is acknowledged by all historians to describe the "customs of the Church in the East, in the second and third centuries,"§ directs that "a Bishop should always be ordained by two or three Bishops." And

*Hist. iii. 30.

† Ep. Pol. in Euseb. v. 24.

Circ. Ep. Coun. Antioch, in Euseb. vii. 30.

§ Mosh. B. I. cent. Par. ii. c. 2, and Dr. Murdock's note.

HSS. Patr. Apos. II. 437.

BISHOPS ORDAINED BY THREE BISHOPS.

281

it was further ordained at the council of Arles, 314, that at the ordination of a Bishop, there should never be less than three Bishops, and that seven should be present, if they could be procured. And the council of Nice, the first general council, all the Bishops of the Roman empire having been summoned, decreed, A. D. 325, that the ordination of Bishops should be done by all the Bishops of the Province, if they could be convened, but that no ordination should be performed by less than three Bishops.† This canon has ever since been regarded as the law of the Church, so that a consecration, or ordination of a Bishop by a less number than three Bishops, though it might be valid, would be uncanonical and irregular, if not schismatical.

If, now, we turn over the pages of the historian, we shall find the practice of the Church has been in accordance with these principles. References to a few cases are given as examples. Thus when Narcissus, Bishop of Jerusalem, had retired from his office, about A. D. 199, "the Bishops of the neighboring Churches proceeded to ordain Dius, Bishop of that city." So also, after the restoration and death of Narcissus, Bishop of the same city, Alexander, Bishop of Cappadocia, was translated to Jerusalem, 237, "with the common consent of the Bishops of that neighborhood." Cornelius, the twentieth Bishop of Rome, was consecrated A. D. 250, by sixteen Bishops then at Rome, two of which were from Africa.|| So when the heretic Novatian desired to be ordained Bishop, 252, he sent "fictitious pleas to three Bishops," and under false pretences procured consecration. St. Cyprian, Bishop of

Walsh. Lives Popes, p. 35. Dup. Ecc. Writ. Cent. iii. p. 118.

Ep. ad Anton. 55.

Ep. Corn. Bp. Rom. in Euseb. v. c. 43.

Cyp.

Carthage, "was ordained by a great number of Bishops." And furthermore, he tells us, that in compliance with “ divine tradition and Apostolical usage," "the custom was established, and ought to be diligently maintained," that "for the due celebration of ordinations the Bishops of all the adjoining provinces should be convened." About 256, Basilides and Martialis, Bishops of Leon and Astorga, in Spain, were deposed by a council of Bishops, and Felix and Sabinus consecrated in their stead. In the year 269, Paul of Samosata, Bishop of Antioch, was deposed by a council held at Antioch, and Domnus, the son of Demetrianus, the predecessor of Paul, was consecrated in his room. Among the Bishops present were Firmilian, of Cesarea, Gregory, of Neo-Cesarea, Athenodorus, of Pontus, Helenus, of Tarsus, Nicomas, of Iconium, Hymenus, of Jerusalem, Maximus, of Bostra, and others. These, and many other facts that might be quoted, leave no manner of doubt that the practice of the Church in the primitive ages, in regard to the consecration of Bishops, was in strict accordance with its principles.

To prevent all mistakes, and all schismatical ordinations, consecrations were generally performed at a Synod of Bishops, of which two were held annually in the primitive Church.¶ The continuance of this practice was enjoined by a council of Eastern Bishops, held at Antioch, 341,** and by the Bishops of England, at the council of Hereford, 673.ft At these the Bishop of the principal city, or the one oldest in office, called Patriarch, Metropolitan, or Primate, presided, and was generally the consecrating Bishop.tt The number of such Sees in the

Coun. Nice, Can. 6. Antioch, Can. 9. Laodicea, Can. 12.

2 Arles,

Can. 5, 6, etc.

RECORD OF ORDINATIONS PRESERVED.

283

third and fourth centuries, mentioned by historians, were four; Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch, for their size, and being civil Metropoles; and Jerusalem for its antiquity and honor.

There is, however, still another important question : allowing that there has been this care in regard to the succession, has the record of it been preserved? And is there proof, now existing, worthy of confidence, sufficient to establish it? On this point there can be no doubt. Thus Irenæus, the disciple of Polycarp, who was the disciple of St. John, as we have already seen, assures us, that in his day, A. D. 175, they could enumerate those appointed Bishops by the Apostles and their successors, even to his day." 99* And Tertullian, about 200, says, that all orthodox Churches in his day, "could show the series of their Bishops, so running down from the beginning by successions from the first Bishop, as to be able to show that he "was one of the Apostles, or Apostolic men."† And both writers appeal to this fact, as evidence that they were in possession of the truth. The great ecclesiastical historian of the primitive Church, Eusebius Pamphilius, Bishop of Cesarea, gives the "successions of the Apostles," as he found them recorded in the archives of the Churches.‡ We give the successions of the four Patriarchal Sees; of Rome, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Antioch, as given by Eusebius, who copied them from the records of the Church and authors extant in his time.§ The list comes down to 305, when his history closes.

Adv. Hær. iii. c. 3.

Hist. B. iii. c. 3. Int. B. viii.

Præs. Adv. Hær. c. 32.

§ Very many of these records, though now lost, were preserved in his day, in the library at Jerusalem, founded by Alexander, Bishop of that city, about A. D. 250, to which Eusebius had access, and from which he drew many of his materials for his history. (B. v. 20. See also i. 1, Intd. ii. iii. 3, 4.