"Audacia — Crcditur a multis fiducia." — [Juven., xiii. 109, 110.]
But if this will not do, yet Ignatius hits the nail on the head, and is ready at hand to make good whatsoever the doctor will have him say, and his testimony takes up the sense of the two next following sections, whereof the first is as follows: —
"Hinc dicti Ignatiani ratio constat in epistola ad Eomanos, ubi ille Antiochifo episcopus se r^g Iv "S-xjoiu. sxxXrjaiag 'Troi'x'sva, pastorem ecclesia; qua) est in Syria appellet, cum ad Antiochiam, scil. ut ad metropolin suam tota Syria pertincrct. Sic et author epistola; ad Antiochenos, exKXrjsicc Qibu na^ot/iousr] h ivola rp iv ' Avrio^n'cf, earn iuscribens totam, Syriam ejus TTUPor/iiav esse concludit." •
IJut yet I fear the doctor will find he hath need of other weapons and other manner of assistance to make good the cause he hath undertaken. Tlie words of Ignatius in that epistle to the Romans are, [cap. ix.] IMiTi.a&veusrg h Tr\ i^yjl ijfJ'Uv r^g Iv Sus/a ixy.Ariai'ug rjrig dvr i/MOU TOitLhi y^^rjrai rui Kuoiw. Because he recommends to them that particular chiu'ch in Syria, which,
A PKEFACE TO THE READER. 55
by his imprisonment, was deprived of its pastor, therefore, without doubt, he -was a metropolitieal archbishop: " Titj^re, tu patulse," etc. But the doctor is resolved to carry his cause ; and therefore, being forsaken of all fair and honest means from whence he might hope for assistance or success, he tries (as vSaul the witch of Endor) the counterfeit, spurious title of a counterfeit epistle to the Antiochians, to see if that will speak any comfortable words for his relief or no. And to make sure Avork, he causes this gentleman so to speak as if he intended to make us believe that Syria was in Antioch, not Antioch in Syria; as in some remote parts of the world, they say, they inquire whether London be in England or Eng- land in London. What other sense can be made of the words as by the doctor transcribed ? 'EzxXriaia ©sou 'za^or/.oixsri Iv 2uff/'a rrj hj ^ Kvrtoy^iia' — " To the church of God dwelling in Syria, which is in Antioch." Now if this be so, I shall confess it is possible we may be in more errors than one, and that we much want the learned doctor's assistance for our information. The words themselves, as they are used by the worshipful writer of that epistle, will scarce furnish us with this learned and rare notion : they are at length, lyvanoi 6 zai QsopCpog (for so he first opens his mouth with a lie), Jx^X'/icr/'a ^Xsyi,(MSV/i VTro Qsov, sKXsXsy/Msv/i iro Xpiotou rra^oiTioxiari iv luuia, -/.al 5-jwr?j 'S.oiaro^j STtuwijJav XrxZaxxsri rij ev Airio^Bicc. What is here more expressed than that the latter passage, " In Antioch," is restrictive of what went and before was spoken of its residence in Syria, with reference to the name of Christians, first given to the disciples in that place, 1 know not ; and therefore it is most certain that the apostles instituted metropolitan archbishops ots^ Usi diT^ai !
But to make all sure, the learned doctor will not so give over ; but, sect. 11, he adds that the epigraph of the epistle to the Komans grants him the whole case; that is, 'E/txX9jcr/a ^ng rrooxdQrirat h tottw ^ws/ou 'Pw,aa/wv " Ex qua," saith he, " ecclesia) Eomana?, ejusque episcopo super ecclesiis omnibus in urbicaria regione, aut provincia Eomana contentis, prtefectu- ram competiise videraus."
Although I have spent some time in the consideration of men's conjec- tures of those suburbicarian churches, that, as is protended, are here pointed to, and the rise of the bishop of Kome's jurisdiction over those churches, in a correspondency to the civil government of the prefect of the city, yet so great a critic in the Greek tongue as Casaubon, Exer. xvi. ad An. 150, having professed that expression, 'Et toVw yjjmm 'Foj/j.aioov, to be " barbarous" and "unintelligible," I shall not contend about it. For the presidency mentioned of the church in or at Rome, that it was a presidency of jurisdiction, and not only an eminency of faith and holiness, that is intended, the doctor thinks it not incumbent on him to prove, — those with whom he hath to do are of another mind, — although by this time some alteration might be attempted, yea there was, as elsewhere shall be showed. And so much for Ignatius' archiepiscopacy.
The example of Alexandria is urged in the next place, in these words : "Idem de Alexandria, de qua Eusebius, Marcum, 'ExxX^jtr/'ag 'rrpurov W aurrig A}.i^avdpiiag euaryjsaedai, Ecclesias (in plurali) primum in Alexandria in- stituisse. Has omnes ab eo sub nomine rrjg =v' AXi^avd^iicc '^raoor/Jag, admini- strandas suscepisse Anniauum, Neronis anno octavo idem Eusebius aftirmat; quibus patet primariam Alexandria et patriarch alem cathedram fixam esse, ad quam reliquae provincial illius ecclesite a Marco plantata), ut ad metro- politicam suarn pertinebant." Doubtless; for, — 1. There is not any pas- sage in any ancient author more clearly discovering the uncertainty of many things in antiquity than this pointed to by the doctor in Eusebius ;
66 A PREFACE TO THE READER.
for, first, the sending of Mark the evangelist into Egypt, and his preach- ing there at Alexandria what he had written in the Grospel, is but a report. Men said so, but what ground they had for their saying so he relates not. And yet we know what a foundation of many assertions by following writers this rumour or report is made to be. 2. In the very next words the author affirms, and insists long ujwn it in the next chapter, that Philo'a book 'riPi rcy (3lou ruv ' AcfUTiruiv^ was written concerning the Christians con- verted by Mark's preaching at Alexandria, when it is notoriously known that it treateth of the Essenes, a sect among the Jews, amongst whose observances many things were vain, superstitious, and foolish, unworthy to be once applauded as the practice of any Cliristian in those days ; that same Philo, as far as can be gathered, living and dying in the Jewish re- ligion, having been employed by them with an apology to Rome in the days of Caligula. But, 3. Suppose that Mark were at Alexandria, and preached the gospel there (which is not improbable), and planted sundry churches in that great and populous city of Jews and Gentiles ; and that, as an evangelist, the care of those churches was upon him in a peculiar manner ; nay, and add farther, that after his death, as Jerome assures us, the elders and presbyters of those churches chose out one among them- selves to preside in their convocations and meetings; — if, I say, all this be supposed, what will ensue? Why, then, it is manifest that there was fixed at Alexandria a patriarchal chair and a metropolitical church, ac- cording to the appointment of Jesus Christ by his apostles ! " Si hoc non sit probationum satis, nescio quid sit satis." If some few congregations live together in love, and communion, and the fellowship of the gospel in a city, he is stark blind that sees not that to be an archbishop's see. The reason is as clear as his in the Comedian for the freedom of his wife : — "Sy. Utinam Phr3'giam uxorem meam una mecum videam liberam. Dem. Optimam mulierem quidem. St/. Et quidem nepoti tuo, hujus filio, hodie primam mammam dedit htee. JDem. Herclo, vero, serio, siquidem primam dedit baud dubium quin emitti fequom siet. il/ic. Ob eam rem? Dem. Ob eam." And there is an end of the contest. The doctor, indeed, hath sundry other sections added to those foregoing ; which as they concern times more remote from those who first received the apostolical institu- tions, so I must ingenuously profess that I cannot see any thing whereon to fasten a suspicion of a proof, so far as to call it into examination, and therefore I shall absolve the reader from the penalty of this digression.