[69] Nonnulli præpositi sunt qui in vitam & mores eorum qui admittuntur inquirant, ut qui turpia committant iis communi cœtu interdicant, qui vero ab istis abhorrent, ex animo complexi meliores quotidie reddant, Orig. lib. 3. Contra Celsum.
[70] Basil in Psalm 33. Ubi quatuor gradus Ministrorum constituit, quod scilicet alii sint in Ecclesia instar oculorum, ut Seniores; alii instar linguæ, ut Pastores; alii tanquam manus, ut Diaconi, &c.
[71] Optatus lib. 1. advers. Parmen. mentioning a persecution, that did for a while scatter the Church, saith, Erant Ecclesiæ ex auro & argento quam plurima ornamenta, nec defodere terræ, nec secum portare poterat, quare fidelibus Ecclesiæ Senioribus commendavit. Albaspinæus that learned Antiquary upon that place acknowledged, That besides the Clergy, there were certain of the Elders of the people, men of approved life, that did tend the affaires of the Church, of whom this place is to be understood.
[72] Et nos habemus in Ecclesia Senatum nostrum, cœtum Presbyterorum; cum ergo inter cœtera etiam senes Judea perdiderit quomodo poterit habere concilium, quod proprie Seniorum est? Hier. in Is. 3.2.
[73] Aug. writing in his 137. Epistle to those of his own Church, directs his Epistle, Dilectissimis Patribus, Clero, senioribus, & universæ plebi Ecclesiæ Hipponensis.
So again. Aug. lib. 3. contra Cresconium, cap. 56. Peregrinus Presbyter, & Seniores Ecclesiæ Musticanæ regionis.
Again, Sermo. 19. de verbis Domini. Cum ob errorem aliquem a Senioribus arguuntur & imputantur alicui de illis, cur ebrius fuerit? &c.
Again, Epistola Synodalis Concilii Carbarsussitani apud eundem, Aug. enar. in Psalm 36. Necesse nos fuerit Primiani causam quem plebs sancta Carthaginensis Ecclesiæ Episcopum fuerat in oculis Dei sortita, Seniorum literis ejusdem Ecclesiæ postulantibus audire atque discutere.
[74] Gregor. Magnus. lib. 11. ep. 19. Si quid de quocunque Clerico ad aures tuas pervenerit, quod te juste possit offendere, facile non credas, sed præsentibus Ecclesiæ tuæ Senioribus diligenter est perscrutanda veritas, & tunc si qualitas rei poposcet, Canonica districtio culpam feriat delinquentis. We should have added before, that in actis purgationis Cæciliani & Fælicis; We read Episcopi, Presbyteri, Diaconi, Seniores. Again, Clerici & Seniores Cirthensium. Sundry Letters were produced and read in the conference: one directed, Clero & Senioribus: another, Clericis & Senioribus. The Letter of Purpurius to Sylvanus, speaketh thus, Adhibete conclericos, & Seniores plebis Ecclesiasticos viros, & inquirant diligenter quæ sint istæ dissensiones.
[75] Sutlivius de Concil. ab 1. cap. 8 saith, that among the Jews Seniores tribuum, the Elders of the Tribes did sit with the Priests in judging controversies of the Law of God. Hence he argues against Bellarmine, that so it ought to be in the christian Church also, because the priviledge of christians is no less then the priviledg of the Jewes.