or repel any approaching Difeafe; but thefe have often faved fick Souls, which were going to Deftrution inflicting upon fome a milder Punishment, and not permitting others to fall; and this not only by Doctrine, and Inftruction, but by the help of their Prayers; for they do not only regenerate us, but have Power to remit Sins. Is any fick among you (faith he) let him call for the Presbyters of the Church, &c. Now our Parents by Nature, if any of their Children offend the fupream Powers, and Poientates, they cannot help them; but Priefs, though they cannot reconcile Kings, and Princes to us, yet they often propitiate God when he is angry at us. So in his third Book of the Priesthood: But if any Man will exactly confider what a Bishop doth in things pertaining to God, he will find nothing will require greater, or more exact Care, and Study, than they. For what manner of Perfon ought be to be, who makes Interceffion for the whole City? but why do I fay the whole City, and not rather the whole World? and prays God to be propitious to the Sins of all Men, not only of the living, but of thofe, who are departed this Life? I truly never thought the great liberty of interceding by Mofes, and Elias to be fufficient for fuch Supplication. For in truth, as the whole World is committed to his Truft, he comes unto God, as the Father of all, befeeching him to put an end to Wars in all the World, and to make Tu mults ceafe every where; and that Peace, and Hap piness may fucceed in their place, and that all manner of private, or publick Calamities may be speedily removed. Wherefore how ought be to excel thofe in

• Παρρησίαν.

Note that it was the common Doctrine of Chriftianity that the Care of the Catholick Church was committed jointly, as well as feverally, and in whole, as well as in part to the Apoftles, and their Succeffors the Bishops. In which the Government of the Church differs from the Government of the World,

I

4

all

all things, for whom he makes Interceffion to God. Thus this great, and holy Chriftian, before he was a Prieft, wrote of Sacerdotal Interceffion. So Ads viii. When Peter faid to Simon Magus, Repent of thy Wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the Thought of thy Heart may be forgiven thee; Simon, who knew what belonged to the Office of an Apostle, as a Priest, answered, Pray ye for me to the Lord, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me. He had feen the new Converts of Samaria receive the Holy Ghoft by the Prayer of Peter, and John, and Impofition of their Hands, and therefore he looked upon them as Men, who had fpecial power of Interceffion for Sinners with God, and faid, Pray ye, that is, make ye Atonement for me to the Lord, and expiate my Sin, that none of thefe things come upon me. And that they, and the Prefbyters under them, were the Churches Liturgs, and Órators in all publick Affemblies, and upon all Occafions, and officiated for them in things pertaining to God, is alfo evident from the Writings of the New Teftament, tho' they give but a fhort, and that far from a full, and perfect account of what was done in the Church. They prayed, as I obferved before, at the Confirmation of the Difciples of Samaria, and were the Advocates, or Orators upon whofe Supplications they received the Holy Ghoft. They prayed in a Congregation of about an hundred, and twenty at the Election by Lot of Matthias, to be ordained in the place of Judas. Peter, and John prayed in that Affembly, where the place was fhaken, in which they met together. The Apoftles prayed at the Ordination of the feven Deacons, when they laid their Hands upon them. Other publick Liturgs, or Minifters at Antioch, called Prophets from their prophetical Vocation, miniftred to the Lord when the Holy Ghoft faid unto them, Separate unto me Barnabas, and Saul, unto the Work

whereunte

k

g

h

roberennto I have called them. So in the folemn Meeting of the Elders at Ephefus, Paul kneeled down, and prayed with them after he had made his Exhortation to them. To conclude, St. Paul in his Epiftle to Tim. 2. Chap. 1. exhorts him in the first place, that he, and all Minifters under him, as the Peoples Orators, fhould have conftant, publick Offices of Devotion, confifting of Supplications, or Deprecations for averting hurtful things, Sins, and Dangers. Secondly, of Prayers, or Obfecrations for obtaining Mercies, and Blethings, and good things, of which they stood in need. Thirdly, of Interceffions, or Interpellations for others. And, Laftly, of Thanksgiving for Mercies receiv'd, and all thefe in the greateft extent of Charity for Men of all Conditions, and Ranks. First of all therefore I exhort that [in your publick Devotions] Supplications, Prayer, Interceffions, and Thanksgiving be made for all Men. Which fhews, that as Chriftian Minifters, like the Jewish, are taken from among Men: So alfo that like them too, they are Advocates, and Orators at the Throne of Grace, or that they are ordained for Men in things pertain ing to God. So, like the Jewith Prielts, they used to blefs, or pray for the People, as is evident from the many Apoftolical Prayers, and Benedictions in the New Teftament, in which they bleffed the People, as Melchifedeck bleffed Abraham. Such are thefe Salutations, Grace be to you, and Peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jefus Chrift. Grace, Mercy, and Peace from God our Father, and Fefus Chrift our Lord. Grace to you, and Peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jefus Chrift. Grace, and

Grot. Sicut Imperatores Romani mandata daré Prafidibus folebant: ita Paulus in Timothæo mandata dat Epifcopis.

Η Δεήσεις.

! Ευχαρισίας,

Προσώχας.

* Ενταξεις.

Peace

Peace be multiplied unto you, thro' the Knowledge of God, and of Fefus Christ our Lord. Grace be with you, Mercy, and Peace from God the Father, and from the Lord Fefus Chrift the Son of the Father in Truth, and Love. And the Grace of our Lord Fefus Chrift, the Love of God, and the Fellowship (or Communion) of the Holy Ghost be with you all, Amen. You know, Sir, that the lefs is bleffed by the greater, and that a Bleffing therefore is but an authoritative Prayer of a Superior for an Inferior, as of a Prieft for the People, or any fingle Perfon among them, tho', like Abraham, he may be a temporal Prince. And when the Superior in any relation bleffes the Inferior, he bleffes him in God's Name, and as one who had power with God to obtain a Bleffing for him, as in thofe other Benedictions of the Apoftle, The Peace of God, which paffeth, or furpaffeth all Understanding, keep your Hearts, and Minds thro' Jefus Chrift, and, The Grace of ourLord Fefus Chirft, and the Love of God, and the Communion of the Holy Ghoft be with you all, Amen. Such-like is the Salutation, or Bleffing of the Clergy of Rome to the Church of Corinth, in the beginning of St. Clement's Epiftle, Grace be to you, and Peace from the Almighty God by Jefus Christ be multiplied. And in the end: The Grace of our Lord Jefus Chrift be with you, and with all others, who are called by God thro' him. So in the Salutation of St. Polycarp's Epiftle: Mercy unto you, and Peace from God Almighty, and the Lord Fefus Chrift our Saviour be multiplied. So in St. Ignatius's Epiftles, as in that to the Church of Smyrna: All Foy (to you) through the immaculate Spirit, and thro' the Word of God. As in their Abfence they bleffed their own, and other People when they wrote to them: So when they were prefent they orally bleffed them, and the People were wont to receive their Bleffings with all Veration, as from the Oracles of God. Hence

St. Am

n

St. Ambrofe obferves how indecent it is for a Bishop to curfe, whofe Office it is to blefs; and compares the Mouth of fuch a Bifhop to a Fountain, that fends out bitter Waters, and sweet. In particular they looked upon them as Interceffors between them, and God, and that their Prayers, and Interceffions, and Bleffings were very powerful with him to avert Judgments, and obtain Mercies, as the Emperor Valentinian writes in his Letter to the Arian Bifhops, who had perfecuted the Orthodox, that met in Council in Illyricum: Do not (faith he) perfecute thofe who minister to God with all Care, and Dili. gence, by whofe Prayers Wars are made to ceafe in all the World, and the Affaults of apoftate Angels is repelled. And as by Prayer they endeavour to drive away the deftroying Demons: So they introduce the publick Miniftration according to Law. Afterwards he calls them the Stewards, or Procurators of the Great King: For fo (faith he) our Imperial Majefty always commanded, that the Labourers in the Field of Chrift, and the Stewards of the Great King Should not be perfecuted, or oppressed, or vexed, or driven from their Flocks. This brings to remembrance what Cofmas Indico-pleuftes faith of the Levitical Law, and Priesthood, which was the Miniftry of the Law, that they were the Guards, and Fortreffes of the Jewish Nation, and of what St. Ambrofe writes in his fhort golden Tract of the Sacerdotal Dignity to the College of Bifhops. It is fit, faith he, that the Sacerdotal Dignity fhould be underflod by you, that you may the better maintain, and preferve it, and that the Words of the Pfalmift may not be ap

m De Sacerdotio Cap. IV.

"Theodor. Eccl. Hift. Lib. IV. Cap. VIII.

ο Τὰς διοικητὰς * μεγάλο βασιλέως.

~

* Geographia Chriftiana, Lib. V. p. 206. Sia Toto & Poμ Q προσετέθη, ἵνα φυλαχθῆ δι' αὐτὸ καὶ ἡ ἱερατείας φερόμενου To 20v. Cap. II.