TRACTS FOR THE TIMES.
Chorepiscopi, which he was able to bring into effect, and which lasted till the reign of King James. Twenty-six such bishops were appointed; the bishop of the diocese having the power of presenting two persons to the king, who might choose either of them, and present him to the archbishop of the province for consecration. These suffragans exercised such jurisdiction as their principal gave them, or as had formerly been committed to suffragans; their authority lasting no longer than he continued their commission to them. "These were believed," says Burnet[1], "to be the same with the Chorepiscopi in the primitive church; which, as they were begun before the first council of Nice, so they continued in the Western Church till the 9th century, and then a decretal of Damasus being forged, that condemned them, they were put down every where by degrees, and now revived in England. The suffragan sees were as follows; Thetford, Ipswich, Colchester, Dover, Guilford, Southampton, Taunton, Shaftsbury, Molton, Marlborough, Bedford, Leicester, Gloucester, Shrewsbury, Bristol, Penrith, Bridgwater, Nottingham, Grantham, Hull, Huntingdon, Cambridge, Pereth, Berwick, St. Germain's, and the Isle of Wight."
After the disuse of suffragans in the reign of James I. there was a fresh project for establishing them on the Restoration. Charles, in one of his declarations, promises to increase the number of bishops, in accordance with Archbishop Usher's plan for episcopal government. However, his intention was not put into execution, doubtless owing to existing circumstances, which reasonably interfered with it.
The following extract is made from Bingham, Antiqu. ix. 8. "One great objection against the present diocesan episcopacy, and that which to many may look the most plausible, is drawn from the vast extent and greatness of most of the northern dioceses of the world, which makes it so extremely difficult for one man to discharge all the offices of the episcopal function……The Church England has usually followed the larger model, and had very great and extensive dioceses; for at first she had but seven bishopricks in the whole nation, and those commensurate in a manner,
- ↑ Hist. Reform, ii.
