bury. Were it not that locomotion is so much more practicable now than in ancient times, and that the Primates of all England are far more resident in London, and engaged in the concerns of the Metropolis, than in the sedes of their own dioceses, the suggestion of an Archbishopric of Westminster, so impertinently made by Dr. Wiseman, would be a far more severe rebuke of our ecclesiastical and civil progress than it now is. But whether the recommendation of National, Provincial, and Diocesan Synods be Utopian or not, it is of great value to distinguish between the ecclesiastical and civil elements of their construction, and to form a correct standard, by which we may not only measure our shortcomings, but be able also, in any national Apostacy from the Church and the complete separation of civil and ecclesiastical functions, to be able to understand what is strictly ecclesiastical, to strengthen what remains, and bring to light what has been hidden by any ill-defined union of the Church and State.

In such a case National Synods would of course be out of the question, and Primacies would no longer be metropolitan by civil appointment, but by ecclesiastical adaptation of the precedent cases of Timothy and Titus ; an adaptation, however, not to be unduly pressed, seeing that no transition from the Church of the Circumcision to that of the Uncircumcision now requires minute Apostolic directions, and that a Primacy inter pares well expresses, that the Church has long been perfect and complete in all the Will of God, with Holy Scripture canonically

settled, and herself thoroughly organized, and holding forth the Faith which has overcome every perversion and denial of its Articles. The largest Synods would be such assemblies as the Church herself convened before Constantine, "when the Bishops of several adjacent Churches did use to meet upon emergencies (concerning the maintenance of truth, order and peace; concerning settlement and approbation of pastors, &c.), to consult and conclude upon expedients for attaining such ends. This probably they did at first in a free way, without rule, according to occasion, as prudence suggested; but afterwards by confederation and consent, those conventions were formed into method, and regulated by certain orders, established by consent, whence did arise an ecclesiastical unity of government, within certain precincts.

Thus in the case about admitting the lapsi to Communion, St. Cyprian relates, when the persecution (of Decius) ceased, so that leave was now given us to meet in one place together, a considerable number of Bishops, whom their own faith and God's protection had preserved sound and entire (from the late apostacy and persecution), being assembled, we deliberated of the composition of the matter with wholesome moderation, &c.-Cyprian, Ep. 52 (Ad Antonian.). Which thing also Agrippinus of blessed memory, with his other co-episcopi who then governed the Church of Christ in the African Province and in Numidia, did establish; and, by the well-weighed examination of the common advice of them all together, confirmed it.-Cyp. Epist. 71 (ad Quint.). Thus it was

the custom in the Churches of Asia, as Firmilian telleth us in these words: 'upon which occasion it necessarily happens, that every year, we, the elders and rulers, do come together to regulate those things which are committed to our care; that if there should be any things of greater moment, by common advice they be determined.' Cyp. Epis. 75."* These early assemblies, and afterwards the Imperial or Ecumenical Councils, established such victorious results, that if after the separation of the State from the Church, any Ecclesiastical Synods of Bishops were requisite for the defence of the Faith, they would only now have to rehearse the Articles of Creeds; for as the Apostles gave testimony once for all to the Lord, so did the earliest Bishops in their convocations bear witness, for the use of all ages, to the testimony of the Apostles.

The Diocesan Synod of the Bishop and his chosen Presbyters would, however, be more practically employed, and the Episcopate itself far better understood. Then would that truth be evident, which civil statutes and acts of uniformity necessarily tend to hide, viz., that every Bishop may frame or authorize his own Liturgy, salvâ fide Catholicâ, and provided that the Holy Sacraments be duly administered, for his own Diocese; and also that no new decree of any Synod whatever has any force, but through the Bishop; and that until the Bishop recognizes its

* Barrow on the Unity of the Church, sect. 6.

+ The conscientious participation also of the laity: "Sub populi assistentis conscientiâ."-St. Cyprian, Ep. 78.

propriety and thinks it applicable to his own flock and diocese, no new Canon can enter there. "The validity of Synodical Decrees (as spiritual) doth proceed from the obligation to each singular bishop; as if princes in confederacy do make any sanction, the subjects of each are bound to observe them, not from any relation to the body confederating, but because of their obligation to their own prince consenting."* Nor would this isolate a diocese, for the twofold relation of every bishop to the whole Church, in behalf of his own flock, as well as to that flock in particular, would still remain. Whenever occasion required he would be ready to act as a bishop of the whole Church; he would apply himself to confer, as of old," with other bishops for preservation of the common truth and peace, when they could not otherwise be well upheld, than by the joint conspiring of the pastors of divers Churches."+

Hence would more clearly be seen the Episcopate as an Apostolical Order responsible to Him that holdeth the Seven Stars in His right hand, and, surviving the alliance of the Church and State, it would be a more visible and practical protest against the Popedom of Rome. In the Church of Rome bishops are titular only: Episcopacy there is not an order of the Apostles but a delegacy of the Pope. If it were not for the Bishop of Rome himself, their whole Church might be called Presbyterian, for in their seven orders the Episcopate has no rank, and the titular bishops, whether in partibus fidelium or infi* Barrow on Unity, Argument 12. + Ibid. sect. 8.

delium, are merely commissaries of the Pope, and derive all influence from him alone. Hence it comes to pass that these commissaries of Rome are in this country unceasing in their invectives against our Island Churches, and in proclaiming the supremacy of Rome as the very article of saving faith, which it is heresy even for statesmen to contradict, called by Bellarmine hæresis politicorum. And seceders from the Church, or Popish recusants, who when in communion seemed disciplined in holy love and were ministers of blessing, have been found quickly after their secession to stand on the Mount Ebal of Rome, and bring railing accusation against their deserted mother, and do the strange and unauthorized work of denunciation and judgment. The Church of Rome, which they would fain make their mother, they certainly find to be their mistress; and those captious complainings of imperfection in their real mother, which with Ham-like indelicacy and unnatural rebellion they allowed themselves freely to utter, cannot now be uttered against their new mistress. All this is at once suppressed, and the slightest misgiving now is sin, the very sin which Rome declares to be the root of all others; and feeling this wondrous calm after having so long indulged disobedience, all misgivings now being entirely suppressed in thought and word, they are tempted to fancy they have found a blessed gift of "Catholic peace:"-a peace, indeed, described by Tacitus; " auferre. . . . rapere falsis nominibus, imperium; atque, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant."* * Agricola, 30.