conceaue of it they shew themselues in theyr colours and doe call it plainely a Senate neither respecting the wisedom which themselues doe ascribe vnto the Apostles nor the foresayd example of the purer West Churches And indeede although at Geneua the name of the Consistory be most in vse yet I gesse that Beza would gladly bring it to be chaunged and called a Senate And I doe partly so thinke because in his printed Booke of excommunication he hath left out the reason why the Apostles called it not Senate but Eldership which reason is in his written Booke that Erastus confuted Besides also oftentimes in his notes vppon the new Testament hee tearmeth the forme of that gouernmēt by the name of Ecclesiasticall Senate And namely where they dreame it was commaunded by Christ in these wordes Dic Ecclesiae tell the Church Constat hic agi de Ecclesiastico Senatu it is manifest saith he that here Christ speaketh of the Ecclesiasticall Senate In another place also he saith tell the Church that is the Eldership and here in effect tell the Ecclesiasticall Senate So that to my vnderstanding he confoundeth Eldership and Senate making them both one Which peraduenture will bring himselfe within the compasse of his own words against Castalion To translate Presbyterium Eldership Senatum a Senate doth argue a greate vanitye of witte and is indeede a prophane innouation But to let that passe by hooke or crooke it must be a Senate which tickleth and pleaseth some of our reformers insomuch as in their Latine discourses of Discipline there is little but Ecclesiasticall Senate and Senatours Christus pro more Iudaeorum Ecclesiam Ecclesiasticum Senatum appellauit Christ after the custome of the Iewes called the Ecclesiasticall Senate the Church Againe Ecclesiasticall Senate is an assembly of Elders c. And againe Cum hic Senatus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Paulo appellatur Presbyteros esse hos Senatores necesse est Seeing this Senate is called by Paul an Eldership it followeth of necessity that the Elders must be Senatoures I omitte some old English names which haue beene giuen to this Minion as Congregation Assembly Segniory c. and some Latine names also as the Epitome of the Church and Diaconia Presbyterorū the Deaconship of Elders because they are now growen as it seemeth to bee too base Rather let vs call it with Iunius if I conceaue his meaning materfamilias the huswife of the Churche in Christes absence or with Maister Beza Tribunal Christi the Tribunall seate of Christ. But yet for all these wordes I greatly doubt it that such honourable titles will not long be continued For if Maister Beza his interpretation of Christes speaches Dic Ecclesiae doth proue to be authenticall then they must be enforced in my opinion to call their gouernement by a name of no great estimation amongest those that professe Christ. For let the place be considered and hee maketh Christ in effect to say Tell the Church that is tell the Senat Archisynagogorum of the Archrulers of the Synagogue who had the power and iurisdiction that is there spoken of in their handes By which exposition if Christ had beene pleased to haue spoken properly without vsing of any figure when he saide Tell the Church he should haue said Tell the Synagogue and the word Church in that place must needes be so expounded Whereby it followeth that if Christes authority by Bezaes exposition may be regarded they ought by theyrowne collections and interpretations to call their seuerall Senates so many Synagogues Besides Maister Beza saith that Synedrium and Synagogue were both one in Christes iudgement and there is nothing more reasonable in theyr writings then to call theyr Senats Synedria which sheweth that at the least they may aswell by Christs testimony call them Synagogues if they list I would not haue troubled you with this tedious discourse of the seuerall names of this pretended regiment but that you might vnderstand how their tongues are deuided about such a trifle and thereby also perceaue the infancy or new birth of this fancy of theirs in that as yet they are not agreede howe to name the Childe If it fall out that it get the name of Senate what an honourable stile will this be Senatus populusque Romanus the Senate and people of Sainct Giles in the Fieldes and so of all other parishes in England CHAP. VII Of their vncertainty concerning the places where this pretended regiment should be erected MAister Cartwright and all his English followers that I haue read doe affirme it moste confidently that by the commaundement of God by the institution of Christ by the rules of Gods word and by the practise commandement of the Apostles There ought of necessitie to be an Eldership in euery parish in euery Congregation Church by Church in euery particular Congregation and not only in Cities but in all Churches in the Countrye and vplandish townes wheresoeuer there is a Pastor without the which Eldership euery such church or Congregation is to be accounted maymed vnperfect no entyre body 10 want the exercise of the principall offices of charity to be destitute of no small part of the Gospell of true Religion of Christs gouernment of the piller of truth and of all those priueledges profits which are assigned by them vnto the enioying of it Hereunto is fit to be added what they haue further written concerning this worde Church and howe they describe their said Parish The Church sayth Cartwright is eyther taken in the Scriptures for the whole body of the Catholique church or for one particular congregation or for the faythfull company of one house This one particular Congregation when it hath an Eldership placed in it they terme it the body of one particular Church and a perfect and vnmaymed body of Christ wherein the ministers of the word and the Elders are the eyes and the Deacons the handes without the which members though it may liue a while they confesse yet saie they it so pineth and wanteth that in the ende it will become a deade corpes vppon the grounde And for the quantitie of this body the dimensions of it or the description of such a particular Congregation or Parish as they speake of thus M. Cartwright squareth it out Euerye competent congregation and particular bodye of a church should haue hir parts in neighbourhood of dwellings wel trussed one with another Againe a Parish well bounded is nothing else but a number of those families which dwelling neere together may haue a commodious resorte and be at once taught with one mouth With these points of our English Eldership I meruell how their associates in other Countries will bee satisfied By the Discipline in Fraunce concluded vppon by fiue generall Synodes of the reformed Churches of that Realme It was agreed vpon that request should be made to the
some Prophets some Euangelistes some Pastors and Doctors for the repayring of the Saintes for the worke and the Ministerie and for the edification of the body of Christ. And againe vppon these wordes A Bishop must be vnreproueable c. hee meeteth with the common obiection for the equalitie of Ministers because euery Minister is called a Bishope sometimes in the Scriptures and sayth that the word Bishoppe notwithstanding it be oftentimes vsed by S. Paule for euery pastor of the church of God who haue a kinde of ouersight ouer theyr seuerall charges and so may suo modo after a sort bee called Superintendents and Bishops c. yet heere it signifieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Primarios illos ecclesiarum pastores c. Those chiefe pastors to whom the ouersight of the liues and manners of the other ministers is committed whom according to the force of the Greeke appellation we in these dayes do call Superintendents Hitherto then it appeareth as I take it what is both the practise of the reformed Churches in Germany and the iudgemēt also of the chiefe learned men there since Melanchthon Bucers times concerning Bishops or Superintendents with their preheminence charge and authoritie Some there are indeed beyond the seas who followinge the immoderate proude and slaunderous humor that Melanchthon Camerarius spake of before haue vttered their great mislike of the Germaine Superintendents and that with lesse modestie a great deale then doth well become them In reproofe of one of them Gerlachius a learned man of Tubing writeth in this sort Licet titulos ordinum c. Although thou beholdest with disdaine as it were from aboue the titles of orders after the fashion of hypocrites and of the Anabaptistes yet with a vaine perswasion of knowledge foolish arrogancye whereby thou contemnest our countrymen in respect of thy selfe and dost chalenge especiall knowledge to thee and thy fellowes onely Plus turges quà m omnes Doctores et Superintendentes nostri Thou swellest more with pride then all our Doctors and Superintendents And what commeth into thy minde that thou shouldest cauill at the degrees of ministers as though it were not lawfull to ordayne such degrees for the building and gouernment of the Church Did not God himselfe in the old Testament appoint a chiefe Bishop Priests and Leuits And in the new Testament gaue hee not some Apostles some Prophets some Euangelists and some Pastors and Doctors Had not the primatiue church accordingly Bishops Priestes and Deacons And againe a little after in the same booke whilest thou a proude man girdest so often at the title of Superintendent I affirme that thou reprehendest the Apostle Paule himselfe who hath giuen this name to a distinct order of ministers of the church And our Auncestors following this Apostle haue thought it meete that for the edifying of the church and for orders sake there should be certaine Superintendentes that is ouerseers not onely of the flocke but of the nisters in like manner Thus farre Gerlachius who if hee were in England knewe into what an extremitie the like persons are growen vnto in the same case amongst vs It would peraduenture moue him For nowe there is no remedye with our ministers of that consorte but they must all bee equall They cannot endure it no the meanest of them to haue anye of their owne coate their Superior They are fallen into the contradiction of Chors and doe tell both Moyses and Aaron that they take to much vpon them All Pastores saye they are and ought to be of equall authoritie in their seuerall Parishes and no one to haue power ouer another Euery parish Priest with them must bee a Bishop and haue as full iurisdiction in his Parochiall dioces as it is lawful for any Bishop in the world either to haue or to execute For orders sake they are content that in their Classicall prouinciall or Nationall assemblies some one minister bee chosen from amongst thēselues to be the moderator for the propounding of matters gathering of voices c. But his office preheminence is to continew no longer then whilest those assemblies last Otherwise or for any further authoritie either of Bishops or Archbishops whether they haue abolished popery reformed religiō maintained the gospell abandoned superstitiō or whatsoeuer they haue done or yealded vnto they holde it altogether vnlawfull do raile against them all against their callings and against all that defend them and that with more then heathenish scurrilitie Cartwright is the chiefe man that began this course in Englande and you shall see howe pretily his schollers follow him Archbishops Bishops sayth he are new ministeries neuer ordayned by God The first step to this kind of Bishopricke beganne at Alexandria and not at Syon The name and office of an Archbishop is vnlawfull his function is of the earth and so can do no good but much harme in the church he is a knobbe or some lumpe of flesh which being no member of the body doth burthen it and disgrace it Whereupon foorth come his schollers crying out amaine that Archbishops Bishops are superfluous members of the body of Christ and that they mayme and deforme his body making it by that meanes a monster That they are vnlawfull false bastardly gouernors of the church That they are the ordinances of the Diuell That they are in respect of theyr places enemies of God that they are petye Popes pety Antichristes Bishops of the Diuell and incarnate Diuels that none euer defended this gouernmēt of our Bishops but Papists and such as were infected with Popish errours That the Lawes that mayntaine the Archbishops and Bishops are no more to bee accounted of then the Lawes that mayntaine Steves and that the true church of God ought to haue no more to do with them and their Synagogues then with the Synagogue of Sathan All which Consistorian and modest assertions aswell for the equalitie of Ministers as against the calling of Bishops being ioyned together are wholy opposite to all that which hitherto I haue writt̄e touching this matter Euen as though they should haue cast downe their gauntlets proclaymed an vtter defiance to all the Churches that euer were established in the world for much aboue three thousande yeares the Churches whilest the law continued the churches in Christs time the Churches in his Apostles times the Churches throughout all christendome for a thousand fiue hundred yeares against all the generall Councels all the auncient fathers all ecclesiasticall histories against al the chiefe reformers of religon in this latter age against all the learned mens iudgements before mentioned and against all the reformed churches whersoeuer in christ̄edome that eyther haue BB. or Superint̄edents God forgiue th̄e this great sin of pride presumption deliuer th̄e out of the number of those of wh̄o it is said that their mouthes speake proud things that they dispise gouernment that they
exhorting ruling prouision for the poore and attendance vnto them all which no man in his wits wil deny to be perpetuall and in these expressely they which haue the giftes are commaunded to abide and to content themselues with them Wherefore c. These men you see must either haue their Widdowes or else all is marred And haue them they will if distinguishing similitudes diuiding sillogismes and logicke will get them And besides you may perceiue what most vehement patheticall and peremptory men they are in this behalfe Howbeit you shall finde that other men nay whole Churches for all this heat are of another opinion and withall such men and Churches as neither the defender discourser nor sermoner nor all the priuate disciplinarye conuenticles in England will presume in any sort to compare themselues vnto them Maister Beza doth not thinke the hauing of Widdowes to be such an ordinary and perpetuall institution as it hath beene pretended For at Geneua not such a Widdow if you would giue a pounde for her And yet that platforme is either perfect by this time or else there hanges some curse ouer it But this I am sure of that he who durst take vppon him to tell them in Geneua that by their omission of these Widdowes they haue cruelly wounded the body of Christ they had like desperate ruffians cut of one of his members and that in these respectes the forme of their Disciplinary regiment is maimed and deformed might peraduenture repente him of it Indeede either I am very much deceiued or els this dreame of widdowes beginneth to vanish The very principall nay the onely place vz. Hee that sheweth mercy with cheerefullnesse wherevpon they haue hitherto builte to proue them to be such Church-officers as they haue imagined them to be is boldly and with mayne strength wrested out of their handes notwithstandinge that Maister Caluin M. Beza and M. Cartwright had layde as fast hold vpon it as they could Or peraduenture I might rather say that the two which bee aliue seeing their tenure was nought haue willingly giuen it ouer The Champion I meane that hath done this great deede is Maister Trauers Who writeth of this pointe after this sorte That which followeth of him that sheweth mercy nullum certe munus ecclesiae indicare puto c. I thinke it meaneth not any certaine office but what duety the whole Church ought to shew in relieuing the poore Thus farre and further Maister Trauers in his Latine booke as if you will peruse the place you shall perceiue But you must remember that I doe referre you to his Latine booke and not to the Englishe translation of it Why some may say is it not faithfully translated Shall we thinke that such zealous men as had to deale therein would serue vs as the Iesuites doe It is wee know a practise with that false hypocriticall broode to leaue out and thrust in what they list into the writinges of the ancient Fathers that thereby in time nothing might appeare which shoulde any way make against them But wee will neuer suspect nor belieue that any man who feareth God and least of all that any of that sorte which are so earnest against all abuses and corruptions shoulde play vs such a prancke Surely yee doe well to iudge the best and I my selfe was of your opinion But nowe I am cleane altered How were some of Vrsinus workes vsed at Cambridge And it is true that some other Bookes haue beene handled very strangely else-where But concerning the present point this is the trueth The translator of Trauerses Booke hath quite omitted the wordes which I haue alleadged and all the rest that tendeth to that purpose euen seuenteene lines together So as if you see but the Englishe Booke you shall not finde so much as one steppe whereby you might suspect that euer Maister Trauerse hadde carried so harde a hande ouer the pretended Widdowes If the translator had receaued any Commission from the author to haue dealt in that sorte with his Booke yet it shoulde haue beene signified eyther in some Preface or in some note or by some means or other but to leaue such a matter out and to giue no generall warning of it I tell you plainely it was greate dishonesty and lewdenesse It were better for them to giue ouer their platformes in the plaine field then to seeke to maintaine them with such apparaunt falshoods Well let them take their course and yet all theyr sleightes will not preuaile But the Translator or Councellor or peruser one or moe or how many soeuer they were but all of them sottes if they thought by such their corruption to bolster vp the credite of theyr Widdowe Church-gouernours For it is euident in my iudgement that eyther most of their owne men doe beginne to come to Maister Trauerses opinion before mentioned or else that generally it is helde by them that the first ordaining of Widdowes was but for a time neuer meant to be an ordinary and perpetuall institution to continue for euer In Geneua as I saide there are no such Widdowes Scotlande in their approued Booke after the Geneua fashion doth not once thinke of them The Synodicall constitutions for the Presbyteriall platforme of all the French Churches doe make no mention of them The generall Councell of Hage and so all the Low Countries haue wholly forgotten them in their decrees and Canons In the platforme and newe Communion Booke which was offered once or twise to the high Courte of Parliament in Englande concerning these Widdowes there is nothing but silence Whereas also there hath beene great paines taken of later yeares amongest the Disciplinary brotherhoode and many meetinges and Synodes helde about another more particular draught of Discipline for this Realme till at the last they haue subscribed vnto it to bee a necessary platforme for all places and times yet you shall not finde that they haue spoken so much as one word of those Widdowes Whereuppon I conclude that their cause is desperate and so I leaue both them and their patrons with all their contrarieties vncertainties and wranglings about them and will come to the consideration of another materiall point vz. what charge this Consistoriall deuise doth bring with it to euerie parish CHAP. 20. Of the charge to bee imposed vpon euery parish by meanes of the pretended Eldership BY the common account of our disciplinarie deuises there are diuers ecclesiasticall persons to be maintained in euerie Parish Nowe there is but one in most places the Parson or the Vicar and God knoweth in manie parishes their intertainment is full bare But admit of the Consistoriall Senate in euery parish and then consider howe they shall bee charged First the current assertion is That in euerye Congregation there must bee a Pastor but the learned Discourser sayth there should bee two at the least Then they must haue a Doctor And for Elders they maie bee moe or fewer as the circuite of the Parish is
him and wholy agreeth with Erastus mind vz. that therby Moses meaning was as it is word for word set downe by the prophet Ezechiel that the priests should teach the people out of the law what was holy what vnholy what cleane what polluted and that as Malachy saith the priests are and ought to be the interpreters of the law Now if maister Beza maister Cartvvright and the rest will stand to maister Caluins iudgement who is so excellent an interpreter of the scriptures what shall become of their eldership Neither Moses the Chronicles Ieremie nor Ezechiel can helpe thē and to haue Erastus expositions thus iustified and theirs reiected I suppose they will not indure it Their only shift then plea must needs be as I take it that first wher they extolled M. Caluin so highly for his interpretation of the scriptures their meaning was alwaies to except themselues and secondly as concerning their offer that they are yet content if we wil to refer it to M. Caluins iudgement whether there ought to be an eldership or not in euery parish Marrie for the proofes that must vphold it for the time of the institution of it and for such matters therin they will leaue him as neuer meaning to be iudged by him in those points which is as though the eye and the eare should say the one that it could see better the other that it could heare better then he himselfe that made both the eye and the eare Wel I am fully persuaded that if M. Caluin were now again at Geneua but for 3 or 4 daies and should find M. Beza with al his partakers Cartvvright Iunius the rest so mightily plunged for the maintenance of his deuise as that they shuld be driuē some of thē to run into Egypt some into the wildernes to mount Sinay some they know not whither and al of them to run so far out of his paths he would be greatly offended much amased at the matter could he take it in any good part that Beza specially being a man whō he had made such choise of to be a principal defender of the cōsistoriall discipline should by his intermedling with the gouernment of other churches haue pulled so many men vpon him as that for the defense of his own at home he should be driuē to seeke the first institution of it in Leuit. 10. v. 10. either there to hunt it out or to giue it ouer in the plaine field Surely there is great reason he should But what is that to me otherwise then that you thereby might be informed what constant hold their pretended holy elderships haue hither to found in the old testament and how they agree in the interpretation of such scriptures as should sustaine them Lastly as touching maister Caluins own opinion for the institution of his eldership after the captiuitie of the Iewes there doth not come into my memorie at this present any especiall place alleaged by him out of the scriptures to that purpose Neither do I find in him so much as that God did euer command this Sanedrim which hee speaketh of to be euer erected Only he sayth Hoc legitimū fuit Deoque probatū regimē They are a lavvful regimēt allovved of God Allowed of God not commanded I know that Cartvvright some others do bring for the cōtinuance of their pretēded elderships after the captiuitie certain places out of Ezra Nehemiah wher ther is mētion made of the cheefe of the fathers and of elders likewise of certain that stood by Ezra whē he preached to the people but the places are so apparantly wrested as no man that readeth them can be so dull but he must needs discerne it But I meruaile what maister Caluin meaneth when attributing to the Sinedriū or councel erected by the Iewes after their returne from Babylon Censuram morum doctrinae The censure of maners and doctrine In another place where he speaketh of the sayd constitution or erecting of it hee affirmeth that the 70 elders which vvere from time to time chosen to be of the Sanedrim vvere of the stocke of Dauid and of their former kings I hope they will not say that consequently their counterfeit elders ought all of them to be of the blood roiall But breefely for this matter of the Sanedrim or courts of iustice after the captiuitie I cannot iudge them to be any other then such courts and assemblies as were before ordained by Moses and had to do as well in ciuile caules as ecclesiasticall as it may at large appeare to those that will take the paines to read some part of doctor Sutclifs bookes whither for this time if they list I send them And so leauing any further to trouble you with this disciplinarie harmonie drawne by the eares out of the old testament I will come to the new Many things haue bene spoken of throughout the whole course of this booke which might be fit for this place as their iarring and disagreement in euery chapter almost hitherto which alwaies doth rise because that euery one of them in effect if he account himselfe to bee any body will writh and expound the scriptures as occasions serue and his affections do moue him The most of those places in the new testament that maister Caluin dooth expound of pastors and preachers only Beza Iunius Cartvvright and others of the disciplinarie mould and no men els do wrest and violently draw them vnto their Aldermen They forsooth are prophets to vvhom the spirits of other prophets must be subiect they are bishops for the feeding of Christs flocke Of their office it is sayd that he vvho desireth a bishopricke desireth a good vvorke That which S. Paule speaketh of himselfe as that he is a minister of the gospell and a vvitnesse appointed of those things vvhich he had seene vvhen the Lord appeared vnto him as he vvas going to Damascus Iunius will needs extend to these consistoriall companions Hereof you may see more in the sixt chapter where they ascribe vnto them all those names that since the Apostles times haue only bene giuen to the ministers of the word Maister Caluins authoritie is little regarded in this behalfe euen of those men who account him the best interpreter of the scriptures that euer was in the world these 1500 yeares Cartvvright being pressed sometimes with maister Caluins authoritie in expounding certaine places to be meant of pastors and ministers of the word where he will needs thrust in amongst them his Aldermen doth vse this wrangling shift viz. that although M. Caluin say that such ministers are there vnderstood yet he saith not that they only are there vnderstood By the which maner of euasion what can be spoken that may not be peruerted I do not remember that the scriptures do say in anie place that Christ had onelie twelue Apostles and then by Cartvvrights shift we may say he had as manie as we list
this side of the seas amongst vs. If Maister Caluin but especially maister Beza could haue been content to haue contained themselues within the limites either of Geneua or Fraunce to haue intermedled raigned there only and to haue vrged their platforme and deuise no further they might the better for vs in England haue been borne withall But nowe seeing they haue not so done who can be offended that I should make mention of it to the end that if they dealt amisse therein theyr examples and proceedinges might haue the estimation which indeed they deserue I omit how in K. Edwards time certaine malecontents grew vp in the Church of England because sundry matters might not bee ordered as they were at Geneua maister Caluin hauing written sundry letters into England to some suche like effect In Queene Maries time assoone as certaine of our Countreymen were come to Franckforde they were assaulted with the orders of Geneua Quarrels arising about the communion booke and forme of the seruice of England in Kinge Edwardes time there were particulars collected out of it by Knox Whittingham and such as had already tasted of that intoxication and sent to Geneua to bee censured by M. Caluin Who vpon the receit of them returned his answere concerning the sayde Booke compiled confirmed before by such men and such an authorititie as he ought to haue reuerenced In Anglicana Liturgia qualem describitis multas video fuisse tolerabiles ineptias I see that in the English forme of seruice as you describe it there were many tollerable foolleries When Knox and Whittingham had gotten this letter they published it to the Congregation Which being read it so wrought in the heartes of many sayth the discourser of the troubles at Franckford that they were not before so stoute to maintaine all the partes of the Booke of England as afterwardes they were bent against it If you haue Caluins Booke of Epistles I pray you reade it Although Beza thought it meete to be published in print yet shall you finde it to containe no one point of substance in it able to perswade a childe So as thereby you may iudge of their giddinesse who were moued so greatly with it When some of the sayd parties Whittingham diuerse others of a more violent humor came first to Franckford they fel also presently into a very especiall liking of the Geneua discipline as finding it to containe such rules and practices as did greatly concurre with their owne disposions In England poperie was restored and much crueltie vsed whereby they were constrained for the sauing of their liues to leaue their Countrye their liuings and theyr friendes In which case a man may easily gesse how acceptable these pointes were vnto some kinde of humors vz. that if Bishops and Princes refused to admit of the Gospell they might be vsed by their subiects as the Bishop of Geneua was vsed that is deposed and that euerie particular minister with his assistants according to the platforme of that discipline was himselfe a Bishop and had as great authoritie within his owne parish as any Bishop in the world might lawfully challenge euen to the excommunicating of the best aswell the Prince as the Pesaunt And indeede accordingly these positions as afterward it will appere were so pleasing to Whittingham and his consortes as it had beene a very meane forme of discipline I suppose that hauing such principles annexed vnto it wold at that time haue beene refused by them Howbeit many there were and that of the learnedest of those that then departed the Realme as Doct. Cox Doct. Horne M. Iewell with sundrie others who perceauing the trickes of that discipline did vtterly dislike it So as when they came afterwardes to Franckford they wholy insisted vppon the platforme of England and in short time obtayning of the Magistrates the vse thereof they did chose either D. Cox or D. Horne as I gesse or some such other as had beene of especiall account in K. Edwards time to be as it were their Superintendent For the bringing of which matter to passe one maister Clanbourge a chiefe magistrate in that Citie hauing shewed them some especiall fauour complaint was made thereof as it seemeth to M. Caluin Whereupon the sayde M. Clanbourg did write to him as it should appeare that he was induced to yeald to such a choyse the rather because the sayd Superintendent had some such like superior place in England before he came thither Vnto the which point maister Caluin that he might thrust his oare into euerye mans boat to disgrace the sayd platforme of England as much as lay in him and to incourage the factious company at Franckforde that were besotted with his pretended discipline did returne this answere If Beza hath set out his letter truely I would one point had beene omitted which was suggested vnto you I doubt not by that one partie I thinke he meaneth the sayd superintendent For otherwise it would neuer haue come into your cogitation as though he had still kept his whole estate in England to haue established his former ministerie there with you in a perpetuall possession of the authoritie therof Peraduenture there is nothinge that from the beginninge his meaninge is since the Englishemen came thither hath stired vp more contention or at the leaste displeasure so hath kindled strife then this emulation in that the greater part did thinke themselues to be thrust from their equall degree and to bee contumeliously excluded from the common societie if the Church which had receaued intertainment with you meaning the companie that had receiued his forme of discipline before the saide learned men came to Franckford should receaue their lawes from the other parte or side Within some short time after this that the sayd order of the English Church was established as you haue hard at Franckford diuerse of those men who had beene earnest for the Geneuian discipline deuided themselues from that Church as Whittingham Gilby Goodman and others and went to Geneua Where to the great discredit of the estate of the Church of England in Kinge Edwardes time to the greate griefe of such godly men and afterwardes worthy Martirs as remayned here in Queene Maries time in England and to the greate discouragement of sundry weake professors then also in England they reiected the whole forme of our English reformation the booke of common praier our seruice the order of our sacramentes and of all thinges els in effect there prescribed and conformed themselues altogether to the fashions of the Church at Geneua Where they had not beene longe when they had sucked and disgested the whole doctrine before mentioned to be as the appendants necessarily annexed to that forme of newe discipline and which was afterwardes enlarged by Beza as I take it Hotoman others of the disciplinarian humor in their bookes intituled De iure magistratuum c. Vindicia contra tirannos Franco-gallia c. The generall summe
haue not wanted the common affections of men Much trouble there was before their saide deuise was receaued which made them afterwardes the fonder of it We haue a saying that the Crow thinketh her owne birde the fairest and so doe men and women for the most part their owne children Nature doth therein beare sway with the best But especially she sheweth her force most in the fruicts of a mans mind For as our mindes ought to be more deare vnto vs then our bodies so are the fruites of our minds of greater account with vs then the fruites of our bodies Few men that we heare of will giue their liues for their children but many wee see will do it most readily in the maintenance of their opinions Which thinges considered I cannot but in some sorte excuse maister Caluin and maister Beza in seeking all manner of waies all shewes all shiftes all aduauntages that possibly they could either finde or deuise whereby they might iustifie in some sorte the birth and bringing vp of their misconceaued offpring The chiefest ouersight was in my opinion that other learned and wise men doe not well obserue these manner of naturall and common affections in them but were carried after them as it were with a whirlewind to like as they liked to say as they said and to doe as they did If maister Caluin and maister Beza affirmed it why it was inough I haue heard it credibly reported that in a certaine Colledge in Cambridge when it happeneth that in there disputations the authority either of Saint Augustine or of Saint Ambrose or of Saint Ierome or of any other of the ancient Fathers nay the whole consent of them all alltogether is alledged it is reiected with very great disdaâ—ne as what tell you me of Saint Augustine Saint Ambrose or of the rest I regard them not a rush were they not men Whereas at other time when it happeneth that a man of an other humor doth aunswere if it fall out that he beinge pressed with the authority either of Caluin or Beza shall chance to deny it you shall see some beginne to smile in commiseration of such the poore mans simplicity some grow to be angry in regard of such presumption and some will depart away accounting such a kinde of fellowe not worthy the hearing Were not this a pretty and pleasaunt Interlude or Comedy to behold such Parasites playing their partes so Disciplinarian-like And all these follies and dependances that the people haue doted so much after some kinde of Ministers that the inferior sort of those ministers haue taken all for currant coine that hath beene paide them by their superiors and that they the superiors haue beene also so farre ouercaried with the credite of the saide two persons all these follies I say did proceed from this fountaine that neither the people nor their rash seducers did in time put the holy Apostles rule in practise vz. try all thinges and keepe that which is good But it is better late then neuer Since men of all sorts haue entered more carefully into the triall of all the saide pretences together with the very substaunce of that their pretended holy platforme the furious rage of that floud hath beene pretily well diuerted And the very chiefe Captains themselues being vrged of necessity a litle to fall on searching haue found that which I feare they are sorry for and are become as it seemeth like men greatly amased to be at their wits end And now to this purpose I will tell you a wonder If Cartwright and his adherents were to beginne the course againe that they haue runne I am perswaded they would neuer tread so much as one steppe in it But nowe they haue engaged their credits they must shift thinges of aswell as they can and where their wards serue them not beare-of the blowes that shall fall vppon them with their heads and shoulders In the yeare 1572. as you haue heard in the former Chapter the first admonition was offered to the Parliament as containing a perfect platforme of the worthy pretended Discipline to haue beene established within this Realme Within a yeare or two after Cartwright taking in haÌ„d the defence of that platform did alter it in some points especially where it seemed to ascribe too much vnto the people And then if it bee true which is reported that one desiring vppon a time conference with him about these manner of causes he answered what neede you to talke with me you may haue my Bookes they are Est and Amen I doubt not but he would haue sworne vppon conuenient occasion that the admonitioners platforme so qualified by him was a most perfect patterne for all Churches Howbeit within a while after it proued not so For about the yeare 1583. where before the platfourme of Geneua as it was lefte at large in Cartwrigts Bookes had beene followed now there was a particular draught made for England with a newe forme of common Praier therein prescribed The yeare ensuing 1584. the seuen and twentith of her Maiesty out starteth this Booke with great glory at the Parliament time and forthwith the present gouernment of the Church with all the orders lawes and ceremonies thereof was to be cut-off at one blow and this new booke or platforme must needes be established But it preuailed not Shortly after that Parliament the saide booke and platforme was found amongest themselues to haue some thing amisse in it And the correcting of it was referred to Trauerse Which worke by him performed came out againe about the yeare 1586. when there was an other Parliament in the nine and twentieth of her maiesties raigne But it was then as I suppose seuered from the saide book of Common praier and become an entire worke of it selfe And then also at the saide Parliament there wanted not diuerse solicitors for the admittance of it Afterwardes a new conference was had againe about this seconde corrected booke For still there were some things out of square in it In the yeare 1588. at an assembly in Couentry these doubts which were growen were as it seemeth debated and so were many other Cartwright himselfe being present But which of the saide doubts in their platfourme were then resolued I find it not This appeared that some of them remained which they were not able to resolue vpon For although they then concluded that the platforme it selfe was an essentiall forme of Discipline necessary for all times subscribed vnto the practise of the greatest part of it without any further expecting the magistrats pleasure yet in theyr subscriptions they excepted some fewe points which were reserued to be discussed by certaine brethren in an other assembly Where this assembly was kept I canuot certainely affirme But it appeareth vppon deposition that the next yeare after there was one held in Sainct Iohns Colledge in Cambridge Where Cartwright being againe present and many moe besides diuerse imperfections in the saide
But I will come to their first skippe which is in effect from the yeare aboue mentioned 1541. vnto the Apostles time backward For as I remember I haue read it in one of their bookes that in all the auncient fathers you shall finde a little but as it were of the ruines of it But the ruines of it in all the auncient fathers What lucke had they that the building of so gorgeous a peece of worke stoode not in their daies as now it standeth in Geneua that they might haue seene the bewtie and the glory of it If it were so ruinate before the times wherein the ancient fathers liued then surely it will followe in spite of whosoeuer saith nay that it is of greater antiquitie then all the fathers were of But I maruaile howe it grewe into such ruine before their times For to my vnderstanding the Apostles times were next before the time of the auncient fathers The learned discourser will help vs for this plunge out of the bryers The ecclesiasticall offices saith hee namely of Pastors Doctors Gouernours and Deacons were exercised in the primatiue and pure Church vntill the mysterie of iniquities working a way for Antichristes pride and presumption changed Gods ordinance c. And when was that The mistery of iniquitie began to worke in the Apostles dayes Was it then Peraduenture hee meaneth that immediatly after the Apostles times there was some age wherin there liued no ancient fathers and that then this mischiefe was wrought I would it had pleased him to haue deuised such a prouiso in the behalfe of those most notable men manie of them very godly and holy Martirs But the discourser was as it seemeth a plain man he will lay the fault where it was as indeed it is reason that euery man should beare his owne burden Heare him therefore againe Our fathers of olde time were not content with the simple order instituted by Christ and established by his Apostles but for better gouerning of the Church thought good some offices to adde thereunto some to take away some to alter and change and in effect to peruert and ouerthrow all christian and Ecclesiasticall pollicy which was builded vppon the foundation of the Prophetes and Apostles Iesus Christ being the chiefe corner stone A strange conceite that all the auncient fathers should thus conspire to thrust Christ out of his kingdome and to ouerthrowe all Christian pollicy What not a man amongest them as learned and as godly affected as either Caluin Beza or this discourser Not one in those ages that would stand to Christes Discipline A pittifull case But I promise you for my parte I rather doubt of the discoursers credite in this point then that I will thinke there should be such dishonesty in the auncient Fathers Nay I durst certainly sweare it that if there had beene any such gouernment of Christ in their daies they would haue beene as carefull for the continuance of it as any of the purest platformers in Christendome Trauers in his Booke of Ecclesiasticall Discipline maketh eight degres of the declination of this new pretended regiment to haue growne before the Councell of Nice procured as he saith cunningly by Sathan but yet so that as he addeth there are euidences to be shewed of sondry partes of it in the writinges of the auncient Fathers c and that also in this age it is exercised in Fraunce the low Countries and in Scotland All out of square from the Apostles times till Geneua was illuminated Some blinde euidences there may be found he saith for sundry parts of that Discipline whereby a man may conceaue that there was once such a thing in being Wel yet if that were true the auncient Fathers deserue some little commendation in that they were content to leaue some scroules or shiuers of it vnto their posterity To the same purpose also in another place the same party confesseth that the ordinary offices as he tearmeth them in the Apostles times haue beene nowe of many yeares out of vse either in part or altogether afore the last restoring of the Gospell in this age A great leap as I think from the Apostles time to this ourage If I had framed the scope of my second Chapter after this mans pleasure I might as you see haue safely set it downe with Trauerse consent that from the Apostles times till maister Caluin was fully placed in Geneua the now pretended order forme of Ecclesiasticall Discipline was not to haue beene found in all the world Maister Cartwright though he say in his first Booke that the Eldership did most florish in Constantines time and defendeth the same in the secōd part of his 2. reply sauing that he leaueth out the word most with such shifting and falshood as I durst make any learned mā iudge of his dealing therein yet I say in his Table to the first part of his second reply and also in the second part therof he acknowledgeth in effect to my vnderstanding that of the Elderships declining there are to be found in the Fathers but certaine traces and marks whereby we might come to the knowledge of it and vnderstand that certaine Churches as at Alexandria went out of the way As if he should haue sayd looke how a man seeketh for a Hare in the snow and seldome findeth her till he come to her forme so you must seeke for the Eldership as now it is vrged in the auncient Fathers still pricking after it till hauing runne past all them you come to the forme of it in the Apostles times Or as if he had said the best vse that a man can haue eyther of the auncient fathers or of the Ecclesiasticall writers is this concerning the Geneuian Discipline that a man by them may learne when men goe out of their right way but how to get in againe when we are once out if you wil haue any direction for that point you must either goe to Geneua or to him or to some of his fellows There goeth the Hare away for the Fathers cannot helpe you But belieue me such is my dulnes as I doe not wel discerne how these words of Cartwrights will stand well together with those of the Elderships flourishing in Constantines time seeing now in the auncient Fathers we haue so little of it vz. onely as it were some few markes traces or footesteps of a thing which had beene and was gone before their times For as concerning the state of the Church in Constantines time there are whole Cart-loads of most pregnant euidences in the auncient Fathers of it yet but traces as he saith or empty steps in them for his Eldership In effect as if he had saide the Geneua Discipline flourished most when it was not One that hath sent vs a printed Book out of Scotland taking vppon him to know belike the mindes of all the Scottishe Ministers that seeke for the pretended Discipline as concerning the time how
shall we thinke that they heard of it and conspired together to ouerthrow Christes institution It may be said that peraduenture they heard of it and reproued it but could not reforme it Very well But where be then their admonitions petitions supplications and libels against it Where be their suspensions excommunications and giuings ouer to Sathan Not a word of that abuse in Saint Iohns Gospell written after the supposed defection but especially could he haue pretermitted such a high point in the booke of his Reuelations Or had he so many Reuelations of other matters of lesse importance forsooth and was such an ouerthrowe of Christes kingdome kept from him The Disciplinarian shiftes in this case to make the best of them can be but slaunderous and desperate But to graunt to all of them the acceptation of the Apostles times after the largest accompt there is surely nothing lesse to be found in those times then the Geneua platforme For then as particular congregations professed the Gospell you should haue found a Priest or minister of the worde and Sacramentes placed in them In Citties where there were diuerse such congregations or wherevnto sondry congregations of the country did appertaine then you shoulde haue found some Timothy a Bishop to gouerne them After that diuerse Citties had receaued the Gospell or some whole Countrey it was not long but some Titus was placed as Archbishop ouer them The twelue Apostles were in those times as twelue Patriarchs for all the world who planted directed visited commaunded and appointed the foresaid Church gouernours and what else they thought meet for the benefit of the church If I were presently to leaue this life and should speak what I thought of the present forme of Ecclesiasticall gouernement at this time in the Church of England I would take it vppon my soule so farre as my iudgement serueth me that it is much more Apostolicall then any other forme of gouernment that I know in any other reformed Churche in the world As for these men that talke so much of the Apostles times they are indeede but brablers Their deuised regiment hath not any resemblaunce at all of that which was in the Apostles times They haue peruerted in deede the true meaning of certaine places both in the scriptures and in the auncient fathers for a shew to serue their turnes as after it shall appeare and other proofes from those times they haue not any But you will say this is denied It is so and of that else-where Howbeit in the meane while that cannot hinder my purpose to search out the pretended antiquity of it For it is confessed by them that the Apostles practised no other form of Ecclesiasticall gouernment in their times then Christ himselfe in his time did ordaine and assigne vnto them to be practised afterwards And what forme was that Forsooth they say it was the very same forme of Church regiment that was amongest the Iewes and that Christ when he said Dic Ecclesiae tell the Church did translate the same being called Sanedrim Councell or Senate into the Church to be the onely lawfull gouernment thereof vnto the end of the world So as here then we must fetch another friske about to search for the antiquity of the Iewish Senate Maister Caluin after hee had deuised the Geneua platforme and leapt ouer more then a thousand and fiue hundred yeares for the strengthning of it by those wordes of Christ tell the Church vppon occasion he further saith that as farre as his auncient records will serue him the foresaide Iewish Sanedrim was deuised by the Iewes after theyr returne out of captiuity which was vppon the pointe of fiue hundred yeares before Christ Scimus c. wee knowe that from the time that the Iewes returned out of the captiuitye of Babilon the censure of manners and of doctrine was committed to a chosen Counsell which they called Sanedrim in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hoc legitimum fuit Deoque probatum regimen c. This was a lawfull regiment and allowed of God And againe to cutte of all childishe cauilles how to shift this place as that Caluin saith not that it was then first instituted the sam e Caluin speaketh hereof more plainely where intreating of the seuenty Elders Numbers 2. that were chosen to assist Moyses he hath these wordes Certum quidem est c. it is very certaine that when the Iewes were returned from the captiuity of Babylon because it was not lawfull for them to create a king they did imitate this example in erecting of their Sanedrim Here is then the time as plainely set down again as needeth vz. after the Captiuity the cause why they ordained it vz. because they might haue no King and the patterne they did imitate vz. Moyses choosing of seuenty Elders to assist him in his gouernment But all this will not yet serue the turne For besides many other exceptions which are taken to Maister Caluins extraction of the Iewes Sanedrim out of Christs wordes tell the Church this is one that if they will needes inforce such a gouernment vppon the Church as was amongst the Iewes then they meane belike to wrest from the Prince the ciuile sword and to deale themselues in ciuile causes by their owne authority which they haue so much condemned in others though they meddle not otherwise with them then by the Princes appointment for that the Iewes-sayd gouernment or Sanedrim had to doe as well in ciuile causes as in any other that were Ecclesiastical Their aunswere to this exception is that in deede the gouernement they speake-of had to deale in Christs time with ciuile causes de facto but not de iure and that the Priests Iudaicis rebus confusis through their pride and ambition had crastily and corruptly procured such vnlawfull authority vnto themselues to the defacing and hinderaunce of the Lordes institution by Moyses at the first See how they carry vs from post to piller Maister Caluin is no body with Beza Now we must yet further backeward vz. from the restitution of the Iewes out of Babilon to Moyses his time almost a thousand and fiue hundred yeares Surely maister Caluin should haue been as well acquainted with Moyses doings as Beza is for that he hath written Commentaries vppon all his fiue Bookes which Beza hath not If Caluin in sifting the Text so painefully as he hath done cold finde no such matter in Moyses as Beza pretendeth it doth greatly preiudice in my opinion his lighter conceite But heare his wordes We must omnia reuocare ad institutionem Domini per Mosem loquentis vt quid iure factum sit intelligamus Call euery thing to the institution of the Lorde speaking by Moyses if we will haue a true vnderstanding of this gouernement and of the right authority thereof Very well Here then wee must haue a newe issue We must set vp as I said the Church-gouernement which the Apostles practised the Apostles practised
of Bishops and so we may call them From whom Trauerse if he be the author of the defence of ecclesiasticall gouernment of the booke of ecclesiasticall discipline first dissenteth then secondly also frō himselfe For in his said defence hee is most peremptorie and bringeth diuerse reasons for it vz. That ruling Elders are not comprehended vnder the name of Bishop yet in his other booke he saith generally of all their Elders both Ministers and Rulers They are said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to gouern rule ouersee Now if their dutie set downe in the scriptures be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their office is surely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must needes comprehend them aswell as the Ministers of the word But that I may omit their thwarting thus the streame runneth from Cartwright and Iunius fountaines The titles of Christs vicars and of good prelates do both agree saith Cartwright vnto the Elders which onely gouerne And Iunius thus in effect The scriptures do call both Ministers Elders indifferently sometimes Prophets as The spirites of the Prophets are subiect to the Prophets sometimes Episcopos id est inspectore◠Bishops that is ouer-seers as Take heed to your selues and to all the flocke whereof the holy Ghost hath made you ouer-feers to feed the Church of God c. sometimes rulers or laborers rulers as We beseech you brethren that you know them which labour among you and are ouer you in the Lord sometimes ductores seu duces leaders or captaines as Obey them that haue the ouer-sight of you and submit your selues for they watch for your soules as they that must giue account c. sometimes pastors as He therefore gaue some to be Apostles some Prophets and some Euangelists some Pastors and teachers sometime Elders as When they had ordained them Elders in euery Cittie c. sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ministers as Where Paul saith thus of himselfe that I should bee a Minister of Iesus Christ toward the Gentiles ministring the Gospel of God c sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ministers as I am Paule whom thou persecutest but arise and stand vpon thy feete for I haue appeared vnto thee for this purpose to appoint thee a Minister and a witnesse both of the things which thou hast seene and of the things in the which I wil appeare vnto thee sometime deacons that is Ministers as Who is Paule Who is Apollo But the Ministers by whome yee beleeued c. And againe the same Iunius in the booke before noted of both their kinds of Elders Sunt salterrae sunt lux mundi in sua ecclesia singuli They are the salte of the earth they are the light of the worlde euery one of them in their seuerall Churches If Augustine Ambrose Ierome Chrisostome and all the rest of the ancient Fathers were now aliue and should vnderstand to what purpose these scriptures were thus alledged would they not wonder that euer any men should lyue that durst with such boldnes and so little shew of truth so abuse the word of God themselues their readers and all the world Nay I am perswaded that if M. Caluin himself that first deuised these officers were now aliue he wold be greatly ashamed of this corruption so notorious an abuse But God hath dealt with them already according to his wonted custome in such a case For they are wonderfully diuided and doe confound themselues in their expositions of the seuerall places as when I come vnto that point it shall in some sort appeare But of all these confused number of names for their Elders if I were asked vpon which I gessed they would in time most properly insist I feare it wil proue to be that of Arch-synagogians or of Arch-rulers of their saide gouernment deduced as they confesse from the synagoge For saith the Counter-poison God hath ordained for the rulers of the synagogue Churchrulers or Elders Likewise Cartwright The chiefe of the synagogue are the same which wee call Elders ancients of the church And Beza also Archisynagogi dicuntur qui particularium ecclesiarum negotia administrabant propterea censētur ecclesiae nomine Mat. 18.17 They are called Arch-rulers of the synagogue who did manage the affaires of particular churches are therefore in Math. 18. tearmed by the name of the church But the said Cartwright passeth Their Synagogues saith he being the same that our churches in euery one of them beeing not one but many princes the vrging of that example bringeth diuers chiefe gouernors or Archbishops intocuerie particular church His meaning is as I take it that if they be vrged too farre so constrained to speake their consciences which peraduenture as yet they would bee loth to do they must thē of necessitie deale plainly with vs tell vs roundly that all the Elders which they looke for esteeme them as wee list that haue no such diuine insight into them they are indeed and must be our chiefe gouernors our Archbishops and our Princes Surely such artizans meane persons as should occupie these roomes in most parishes if they had their platforme might well haue been contented with his former titles giuen vnto them of Christs vicars Gods prelats though they had wanted these But it would be remembred that if such as are vnder the Ministers bee of this great honor what are we to think of the Ministers themselues that are so far aboue them I had forgotten to tell you how Cartwright affirmeth though falsly that the word priesthood is sometime taken in the ecclesiasticall writers for this kinde of Elders Whereby I coniecture that their graund pastors especially in such cities as haue many parishes vnder one consistorie must be if not summi sacerdotes the high priests yet at the least principes sacerdotum the princes of Elders or rather reges regum kings of kings But by what titles they will maintaine their owne greate preheminence aboue their Elders I do not greatly regard it This is strange that after so many disputations and libels against the names of our Archbishops to prooue them Antichristian or vnlawfull wee hauing but two of them in all England they would now if they might be suffred impose vpon vs seuen or eight Archbishops in euery parish What a wringing wresting is there of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Beza Cartwright and others as being for the imperiousnes of it vnmeet to agree with the Ministers of the Gospell And yet now their new deuised Elders worthy men for the most part I warrāt you may euery one of them lawfully be called an Archbishop I would gladly know for my learning why 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ioined to this worde Bishop should be rather an vnlawfull name for some Minister than whē it is ioined to all their own Synagogians
to their consultations what course they were best to take for their owne credits proceed to the qualities wherewithall they affirme that their Elders by the worde of god must needes be indued Chap. XV. Their vncertaintie where to find the particular offices of theyr Aldermen FOr my better enterance into this poynt followinge I will beginne with some of their owne groundes Thea gouernment of the church saith Martin must be by these officers and offices alone and by no other which the Lord hath set downe and limited in his word And the demonstrator Corah Datha◠and Abiram were punished hauinge no warrant of that they tooke in hand A very good caueat for their Elders Let vs then see what those particular duties are which they ascribe vnto them But here you must vnderstand that euery parish is to be deuided into seuerall Tribes according to the number of their Elders euery Elder hauing one of them assigned vnto his charge And their office is if any thinge be done amisse priuatly within their compasses to reproue or correct the offenders priuatly but if the offender be obstinate or the offence publick they must bring them to the Eldership Secondly they must know euery house and particular person in the parish that they may enforme the ministers of their estate If any straūger come to dwell within their seuerall tribes they must signifie the same vnto the pastor that hee may examine his religion Thirdly if any infants are to be baptised they must likewise giue the pastor notice therof Fourthly at the time of the communiō they must all ioyntly see that no excommunicate persons come into the church likewise helpe and assist the pastor at Geneua the Elder ministreth the cuppe take heede that none come to the Lords table whose religion and honesty should not be knowen vnto them and with whom the pastor and Doctor should not haue dealt before In general tearmes their whole duety is to helpe to informe and to aide the pastors and Doctors to haue a vigilant eye to the obseruation of all such ceremonies lawes and orders as they themselues with their fellow Senators should constitute and ordaine Now surely it were a goodly fight I haue occasion often to repeate it to see the noblemen and gentlemen of England discharginge all these duties in their owne persons and especially ministringe the cuppe at the holy communion In what reputation shoulde the ministers be that shoulde haue such eyes such aiders such informers What would the people thinke you say when they should see these noble men and gentlemen come to the Pastors with their caps in their hands seuerally saying May it please you Sir there is a stranger come lately to dwell within my Tribe another there is a childe to be Baptised within my tribe another this and that fellow are obstinate persons within my Tribe and altogether if they know any that presumed to come to the Communion Oh Sir here is a fellow you haue not spoken withall and when I say the people shoulde see these things c. on the other side likewise perceaue and heare their Ministers as I imagine giue a nodde with their heads and aunswere vnto them very well yee haue done your duties and we commend you for it bring this take away that c would they not fall downe think you and worship these Rabbies But you must remember alwaies that they hate superiority Equality that is it which pleaseth them Indeede they talke of an equality amongst themselues but otherwise they affect no small superiority ouer all men besides Well it is meete we should now consider what proofe they haue for all these particular dueties out of the word of God And here I pray you first of all remember that Beza is brought to this issue that whether there were any such Elders at all euer instituted by Moises from whom they fette them or not he hath nothing else to say but probabile est it is probable there were such And muche to the same effect it is that he bringeth for their seuerall offices For speaking of them especially besides that he nameth onely this one office as finding no others in the old Testament vz. that the duety of the chiefe rulers of the Synagogues was non admittere ad Synagogas quos Hierosolomitanum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indicasset not to admit them to the Synagogues whome the Councell at Ierusalem had cast out he bringeth but this simple demonstration for the proofe of it Horum proculdubio partes fuerunt out of doubt it was their partes thus to doe Proculdubio probabile est out of doubt it is probable Notable proofes Whosoeuer will take the paines to reade that parte of his Booke de Presbyterio shall finde little else in it but his probabilities and groundlesse assertions Sauing that he further saith there is mention made in the new Testament of gouernors and ruling Elders which we deny with all the ancient fathers to haue any relation to their deuised Elders and thereupon whatsoeuer hath beene thought meete to be the office of rulers is ascribed belike at Geneua vnto them The treatise is surely vnworthy such a mans as maister Beza would be accounted And vppon the like conceipt also our Englishe Reformers haue taken vppon them to set downe all the former duties mentioned of their Elders not that they find them in the word of God but because they fit their turnes and doe account them necessary to set vp their own kingdom For proofe whereof I wil only trouble you with one mans authority but that shall be authenticall both with the brotherhood of England and also with them of Geneua where the book for the excellency of it hath been reprinted The author of that booke hauing at large described the said duties with a kind of so forth alia huiusinodi so as they may adde more when they list the force of truth doth wringe from him these words First that all these said duties speciatim in Scripturis non exprimantur are not specially expressed in the Scriptures Why then let your Elders remēber your former rule least for vsurping such offices as they haue no warrant for out of the word of God they perish with Corah Dathan and Abiram Yea but saith he though the Scriptures doe not expresse them yet that there should bee suche Archrulers with these offices as were in veteri Iudoeorum Ecclesia in the old Church of the Iewes it greatly tendeth ad ordinem decorum vtilitatem fructum Ecclesi◠to the order decency profite and fruit of the Church And what if this be denied or who shall iudge whether they be so profitable or not or when will they prooue that the duties mentioned did belong to the Archsynagogians And yet for all these vncertainties or as Cartwrights terme is meere beggeries he proceedeth to another Consistorian demonstration There are no other Elders mentioned in the Scriptures to whont these so
it containeth in it not the iudgement onlie of any particular man but is the full resolution of Cartwright and all his crue here in England contained in a certaine booke of Discipline whereunto the chiefest of theÌ„ haue subscribed The presbyterye saith that booke is an assembly or senate of elders By the name of elders are ment ministers of the word and those that are properly called Elders They meane such as in their place I haue spoken of Here then you haue that Deacons are of the presbyterie and that they are not of the presbyterie Chuse which side you will belieue I thinke they are bewitched If I might aduise you beleiue them both alike But some will peraduenture saie that it maketh no great matter whether side hath the truth that the point betwixte them is of no importance and that I am too blame to make so much of nothing Whereunto I answere that if there bee anie who shall so conceaue he is not well acquainted with the depth of this matter For indeed it worketh a meruailous alteration in the Deacons office Admitte them to haue their places and voices in the Consistories and then their authoritie is growen to bee verie great Then they haue equall right with their pastors and Doctors to ordaine ministers by imposition of their handes Then the forgiuing and retaining of sinnes doth appertaine vnto theÌ„ Then they are become the Apostles successors and doe carry the keyes of the kingdome of heauen aswell as any of the rest For in Consistorio standum maioris partis sententiae In the Consistorye men must stande to the sentence of the greater part One mans voice there is as good as an others And so in all other matters that do belonge to the Consistorie and which are to be executed there iointly by them all together the Deacons beare swaie haue a stroake with the best of them Wheras on the otherside if they be excluded out of the Consistorie as Beza our men would haue theÌ„ then they haue nothing at all to doe with any of these matters but are restrained draweÌ„ into a more narrow coÌ„passe must content theÌ„selues to be either proctors of hospitals or else collectors distributers of the peoples deuotioÌ„ to the poore And therein also they are subiect to great controlment For as the lawes certaine grounds of Geneua affirme therfore also coÌ„monly so held elsewhere DiaconoruÌ„ administratio pastorum inspectioni est obnoxia the deacons administration is vnder the ouersight of the pastors It is true thâ—t Beza is pleased to allow the deacons a little more scope theÌ„ hitherto I haue mentioned And that is that in the celebratioÌ„ of the Lordes supper they may by their office carrie the cup to the communicants M. Cartwright goeth a little further and telleth vs also that they maie likewise distribute the bread In all reformed Churches almost saith he the Deacons do assist the minister in helping of him to distribute the cup in some places also the bread If none would be angrie with me I would gladlie aske this question vz. why the Deacons might not aswell helpe the minister to baptise and to distribute the worde as well as the Lordes supper But as I saide before of the Noblemen Elders so do I also of our worshipfull Deacons What a sight were it to see a Iustice of peace peraduenture in his veluet cloake his chaine of golde and such correspondent attire as is agreeable to that calling deliuering to the people that I maie speake of so holie a sacrament sacramentallie the most blessed bodie and blood of our Sauiour Christ And yet I allow the sight as reasonable as to see the proctor of a Spittlehouse executing of that charge Peraduenture it will here be said againe that if there be anie deformitie in the beholding of either of these sights it is not in them but in the beholders For they are ecclesiastical persons as soone as they are made Deacons And then why doth it not belong vnto them to deale in ecclesiasticall causes It is wel obiected That point indeed would not be omitted It is generallie agreed vpon amongst them I confes that their new found halfe-partie Deacons are ecclesiasticall persons For our Counter-poisoner saith That whosoeuer are called as you must vnderstande their Deacons are to beare office in the Church with due examination and triall and with the consent of those to whom it appertayneth and are with fasting and prayers or with prayers onely and with imposition of handes separated or put a part to that office they are al Ecclesiasticall persons and not lay men as they terme them Surely if our Noble men were once become Elders and our chiefest Gentlemen Deacons and so both the sorts of them Ecclesiasticall persons what a clergy should we haue in England Now there is no one calling in the whole common wealth that is growen to be more contemptible with many then the calling of Clergy men But that would soone be recouered when such men of estimation should bee in the account of Ecclesiasticall persons There was an old saying Soluat Ecclesiae let euery man pay to the Church Which now is altered and made aunswerable to the humor that now raigneth Soluat Ecclesia let the Church-men pay for it And indeede if we had suche Elders and Deacons to be of the number of vs that are Church-men and Ecclesiasticall persons we might surely pay wel for it At the least if their tenths subsidies should be in all respects rateable to ours And there were no reason that the Pastors and Doctors men so farre in degree aboue the Elders and Deacons should finde lesse fauour then their inferiours or be more deepely charged except their liuings were in true value according to their degrees But this would be the mischiefe of it that the Disciplinary platformres haue so far ouershot themselues already as certainely they haue marred all these their former speculations For they haue made the Deacons office but annual And I am perswaded that if our noble men worshipfull Gentlemen were but for one yeare to all respects become Ecclesiasticall persons they would hardly be drawen to continue in that calling the next yeare after It was neuer heard of in the Church of Christ for the space of a thousand and fiue hundred yeares that the deacons office should be annuall Imposition of handes by the Presbytery to an office for a yeare In what Apostle in what Euangelist in what History may we finde it A man shalbe an Ecclesiasticall person to day and to morrowe without any fault committed by him he shall become a lay man againe Maister Beza seeing the absurdity hereof doth indeuour to salue it as well as he can And wot yee howe Surely he saith in effect that few men will bee willing to â—arry long in that office and that therefore they are glad to haue them as they may and to frame their lawes accordingly But
Except Maister Bezaes collection prooue to bee authenticall and then their number will bee greate You haue hearde that wee must haue the forme of the Iewes Sanedrim or Counsell in euerie Parish And in that sayth Beza there were twentie foure Ecclesiasticall Iudges By which account abating the Pastor and the Doctor there ought to bee two and twentie Elders in euerie parish You shall heare Bezaos wordes and how heegathereth that there was such a number There is mention made in the Apoca. of a throne vppon the which Christ sitteth and of the foure and twenty Seates about it whereupon foure twentie Elders sate who were cloathed in white rayment and had on their heades Crownes of golde Now sayth Beza concerning the said number mentioned of ecclesiasticall Iudges 24. numero fuisse c That they were in number 24. that is to saie two of euery Tribe it seemeth it may be gathered out of the Apocalyps where certum est it is certaine that those heauenly visions were framed or accommotated to the forme of the Israeliticall Church Where by the way it would be obserued what a glorious church-regemēt we are in time to looke for Our Elderships must be framed after the fashion of the Elderships which were amongst the Iewes And if we doubt of the state and forme of the Iewes elderships we must haue recourse to the Apocalips where the glorie of Christ his Saints in the kingdome of heauen is set forth And agreeablie to those heauenly thrones we must set vp thrones for our 24. Elders in euery parish For this Beza is certaine of that the heauenlye visions in the Apocalyps were agreable to the forme of the ecclesiasticall regiment in Israell But as touching the number of his elders he is not as yet for any thing I perceaue so throughly resolued And therefore we are at libertie till wee heare to the contrary from him to place moe or fewer in euery parish as we list At Geneua they haue but 12. Elders And they either haue or had once in Edenburgh as many Likewise euery parish must haue certaine Deacons They had once in Edenburgh as I remēber 16. Deacons And concerning widdowes if they will vrge vs with the examples of the Apostles times and withall in like manner presse vs with their own expositiōs then there must be a College of widdowes in euery parish So the grounds of Geneua diuinitie tell vs so doth Beza likewise if I vnderstand them And all these how many i◠euer it shall please our reformers to impose vpon euery parish pastor or pastors Doctor Elders Deacons widdowes must all of thē be found by the same parish For the ministers of the worde there was neuer doubt made amongst thē but that they ought to haue their maintenaunce of the parish and so likewise must the poore widdows But as touching the rest there hath been made some questiō It was a good deuise of Beza that princes noblemē might be elders so was it of our learned Discourser that the worshipfull gentlemē of euery parish might be chosē Deacons The rby indeed the parishes might saue charges For if they be able to liue of themselues then they must not burden the parish in Cartwrightes opinion but serue vpon their own charges The Elders at Geneua being all of them states-men I meane such as be of their Senates men conueniently able to liue of thēselues haue no allowance for any thing that I can find But where the Elders are poore men so as their attending vpon their offices might greatly hinder them then M. Cartwright hath decided the question affirmeth by S. Paules Rule as he saith that they ought to bee plentifully maintained by the Church How far this word plentifully will be extended I know not But a man may gesse The humble motioner would haue the Pastor and Teacher in euerye parish to haue allowed vnto thē two hundred pounds yearly in chiefer places more and in none lesse then two hundred markes By which rate I imagine that their Elders being so great men by their office and the gouernors of the parish cannot well be alowed vnder fortie pound a peece yearely The deacons that carrie the purse if they be not well looked vnto will bee their owne caruers but surely their stipend will be for euerie one of them aboue fortie markes As for the Widdowes they cannot well liue to attende the sicke and wash the Saincts feete with lesse then twentie nobles a yeare how many of them so euer they are All which summes being cast together will prooue a rancke charge to be imposed vpon euery parish But yet this is not all For how shall the pastors doctors wiues and children liue when their husbands and parents are deade This is also foreseene Prouision must be made not only for the ministers sustentatiō during their liues but also for their wiues and children after them For we iudge it a thing most contrarious to reason godlines equitie that the widow and children of him who in his life time did faithfully serue the church of God should after his death bee left comfortles of all prouision In what sort these widdows are to bee relieued I finde not anye particulars of it But they maie not bee of the number of the Church officers except they be threescore yeares of age or haue some priuileges by their late husbands for those roomes And as touching the childrē of ministers this order is required for thē that the men childrē may haue the liberties of the cities adiacent where their fathers labored freely graunted thē that they be sustained at learning if they be foūd apt therto and fayling thereof that they bee put to some handicraft or exercise in some vertuous industrye and likewise for the women children that they be vertuously brought vp honestly doted when they come to maturity of yeares at the discretion of the Church c. Not at the peoples discretiō who must bear the charge but as it shall please their Elderships to taxe them Furthermore and besides the officers and charges mentioned it is also ordered by the new Booke of our Englishe Discipline that there ought to be in euery parishe a Colledge or certaine number of young Diuines such as are meet for the exercises to Diuinity and especially to expound the Scriptures whereby they may bee trained vp by preaching And all these must be likewise maintained diuitum liberalitate by the liberality of the richer Here you see is charge vppon charge But indeede it were a notable matter to haue a Colledge of young Prophets in euerie parishe In the Vniuersities there are Schooles for reading of Lectures and for disputatiōs but as our platformers tell vs these their parish Schooles of Diuinitie are chiefly for preaching They must preach priuatly amongst themselues by course and hauing an auncienter Diuine with them I suppose it will fall to the Pastors lotte they are
themselues are excepted Whereof it commeth that the very same proiect is made to the Lordes of her Maiesties most honourable Councell which was deuised by Beza for Scotland vz. that in place of the Bishops there might be present in the parliament house some wise and graue Ministers of especiall gifts learning sorted out of all the land to yeld their Councell according to Gods heauenly lawe euen as the ciuill Iudges are readie to giue their aduise according to the temporall law and for matters of greater difficultie But would they sitte there as the Iudges doe and haue no voices I take it they would scorne that greatly For I nothing doubt but if they were there they would account themselues the wisest in the companie And therefore it was more substantially considered of by him who penned a Supplication to her Maiestie and wished That foure and twentie Doctors of Diuinitie to be called by such names as it should please hir highnes might be admitted into the Parliament house and haue their voyces there in steade of the Bishops And would they bee called Lords if it pleased her Maiestie for the honour of that house to appoynt it so Their wordes doe import so much and I make no doubt of it but that to gratifie her highnesse they would bee content to humble themselues so farre In the hope which they haue conceiued to ouerthrow the state of Bishoppes and to haue their deuise allowed of and established in the lande they inueigh most bitterly against the Bishoppes and the Conuocation house misliking that the dealing in ecclesiasticall causes should bee committed vnto them in sorte as now it is affirming that the liberties of the Parliament are thâ—reby betrayed and that it appertaineth to that Court to order matters of religion But what if the Bishops were excluded and none admitted into the Conuocation house but such as they woulde chuse from amongst themselues how then Indeed saith the Supplicator If the Conuocation house were such as it ought to bee c. then were it not lawfull for the Parliament to establish any thing in the matters appertaining to the pure worship of God but by theyr direction Which is this in effect if I vnderstand them that the Parliament should prouyde theyr new pretended gouernours of sufficient maintenance and set vp theyr Eldershippes and then enact it likewise that whatsoeuer they should ordaine in their assemblies and meetings for the time to come concerning Church causes should be in full strength and for euer obeyed vntill it might please them to make some alteration Which is the point that Knox aymed at in his Exhortation to England wherein for the good instruction of her Maiesties subiectes he sendeth them from Geneua these Allobrogicall rules That the pretended discipline ought to bee set vp that all Princes ought to submit themselues vnder the yoke of it that what Prince King or Emperour shall disanull the same he is to be reputed Gods enemie and to be helde vnworthie to raigne aboue his people and then sayth if such order were once established as there he prosecuteth and the discipline well executed accordingly theyr yearely comming to the Parliament for matters of religion shall bee superfluous and vayne And this also is playne by Cartwrights newe forme of discipline subscribed vnto by himselfe and his fellowes Which forme they haue auowed vppon theyr oathes to bee such as that they purposed to haue beene suitors to her Maiestie for the generall establishing of it In which their purpose if once they may preuayle there shall neuer Parliament bee troubled againe in matters of religion otherwise then as I sayde for making of lawes that the people may obey their orders For the whole gouernement is there ascribed vnto their Elderships other assemblies insomuch as the ciuill Magistrate is not once mentioned in it It is well knowne how vehement they haue been and still continue against the now Lord Archbishop of Canterbury in that he is one of her Maiesties most honourable priuie Councell accounting it vnlawful for a Bishop or Minister of the worde to holde anie such roome and authoritie And yet notwithstanding it is greatly allowed of liked that Beza in Geneua should be one of the Councel of that state there one of the threescore and they admit not anie into theyr Consistory so much as the meanest of their Aldermen but hee must bee eyther a Syndicke or one of the Councell of threescore or one of the Councell of two hundreth Now I cannot possibly be brought to thinke that the worde of God should deale so partially but that it may bee as lawfull heere as there if it please her Maiestie to haue a Bishop to bee one of her most honourable Councell It is apparant in the former Chapiter what little account they make of generall Councels The best are censured by them and reprooued It is not well borne by Cartwright that the Councell of Nice should be tearmed a famous Councell And for other Councels or Synodes they are scarcely reckoned to bee worthie the mentioning If you presse one of that forte with the authoritie of them all though hee be not thirty yeares of age hee will not sticke to make a tush at them and tell you that himselfe is of another opinion No decrees made by them will bind these fellowes And as touching our owne nationall Synodes and Parliaments they are prosecuted with the greatest contempt The reformation of religion made by that authoritie is tearmed a deformation The articles of religion are misliked in diuers points The Iniunctions Aduertisements Canons Orders Ceremonies and all thinges in a manner are despised by them For they are but mens preceptes forsooth euery man must trie them and keepe or allowe what he list at the least if hee will but pretend that hee dooth it of conscience Howbeit if they may haue once authoritie to establish their Elderships and to meete together in theyr classicall prouinciall or nationall assemblies there to make such lawes and orders as they shall thinke good then see I praye you how they chaunge theyr song Touching my departure from that holy assembly without leaue c. Icraue pardon Holy assembly It was a Conuenticle in London about the yeare 1584. I am ready to runne if the Church commaund according to the holy decrees and orders of discipline Holy decrees and orders The matter was for his going into the Lowe Countries with the Earle of Leicester and for his absence from his benefice To the determination of a nationall Synode men shall stande as it was at Ierusalem except it bee in a great matter of fayth or a great matter expressely against the Scriptures It was agreede vppon in the Northampton classis that concerning any matters of doctrine or about the sense of any place of Scriptures the brethren within that compasse must stande to the determination of that clâ—ssis And these are the
speeches will pretende scriptures But when they haue so done tell them that they peruerte the scriptures to serue their turnes and that thus and thus they must vnderstand them according to the iudgement of all the auncient fathers their aunswere in effecte is this What tell you vs of the auncient fathers Caluin and Beza are the beste expounders of the scriptures Maister Cartwright is a rare birde a worthy wight and as it were Christ himselfe amongest his Apostles They haue taught vs as wee teach they are our fathers who haue begotten in vs a loue and a likinge of the Geneua Discipline and them will wee followe In truth it is pitifull to consider vnto what a height of pride many men are growen It is lesse subiecte to offence to reiect the authoritie of Saint Ierome Saint Augustine or anye of the rest nay to refuse them alltogether then to reiecte the iudgementes eyther of Caluin of Beza or of Cartwright For Maister Caluin and maister Beza I doe thinke of them and of their writinges as they deserue But yet I thinke better of the auncient fathers I must confesse it And for maister Cartwright it is true that hee hath many good partes in him but the ouer-weening which he hath of himselfe and which many besides haue of him is like a lumpe of dowe that sowereth both him and them all You haue heard of what accounte his writinges are with his sectaries insomuch that one of them saith in effecte both for himselfe and for his brethren that without Cartwrightes bookes they cannot come to the knowledge of the truth Cartwrights bookes the way to the truth To speake my conscience they are the waye to manye grosse errors and seditious fancies Of all his bookes I woulde thinke that should beare the price which containeth the iustification of all his deuises and is the last frutes of that Worthies wit I meane his second reply Touching the which booke you shall heare maister Doctor Whitakers opinion from whence especially if some one or two ioyned with him the layer out of men in colours as it hath been sayd will not hastily appeale Thus hee writeth Quem Cartwrightus nuper emisit libellum eius magnam partem perlegi Ne viuam si quid vnquam viderim dissolutius ac penè puerilius Verborum satis ille quidem lautam ac nouam supellectilem habet rerum omnino nullam quantum ego iudicare possum Deinde non modo peruersè de principis in rebus sacris at que ecclesiasticis authoritate sentit sed in papistarum etiam castra transfugit a quibus tamen videri vult odio capitali dissidere Verum nec in hac causa ferendus alijs etiam in partibus tela a papistis mutuatur Denique vt de Ambrosio dixit Hieronimus verbis ludit sententijs dormitat plane indignus est qui a quopiam docto resutetur That is I haue read a great part of that booke which maister Cartwright hath lately published vz this second reply I pray God I liue not if euer I saw any thing more loosely written and almost more childishly It is true that for wordes hee hath great store and those both fine and new but for matter as farre as I can iudge he is altogether barren Moreouer he doth not onely thinke peruersly of the authoritie of Princes in causes ecclesiasticall but also flyeth into the Papistes holdes from whome he would be thought to dissent with a mortall hatred But in this point he is not to be endured and in other partes also hee borroweth his argumentes from the Papistes To conclude as Ierome said of Ambrose hee playeth with wordes and is lame in his sentences and is altogether vnworthy to bee confuted by anie man of learning If anie shall heere obiect that maister Whittakers was not Doctor when hee writ in this sorte My aunswere is this Hee writ this letter about the same time that he beganne to write against Campian when hè had attained alreadie vnto suche ripenesse of iudgement as there is no more daunger hee should nowe be altered in this that hee hath written of Cartwrightes booke then that he should alter heereafter from that trueth which he maintained about the same time against Campian And it is true that hee neuer gaue a righter censure of anie booke in his life Maister Cartwright must content himselfe with it and so must his followers He dependeth himselfe too much vppon Caluin and Beza and so do many amongest vs vppon him Such admiration of mens persons and of their learning must needes be very dangerous It hath euer been the cause of schisme And there was neuer more mischiefe like to grow of it then there is now For I know not how it commeth about but you shall seldome finde any who hath once tasted of the Disciplinary potion that is not forthwith possessed as it were with a wonderfull opinion not onely of the chiefe confectioners and fauourers of it but likewise of themselues And for all other men Fathers Councels newe or olde they little esteeme them if they make any thing against them I might heape vp in this place a number of obseruations which haue been made many hundreth yeares since as concerning suche like courses taken by many and howe they neuer gat to themselues any true reputation thereby but the contrary But I will spare them therein Onely I cannot choose but tell them that the auncient fathers were as wise and learned men as they are that the olde generall Councelles ought to be of as great credite with any but madde men as their conuenticles or Synodes that although wee ought to depend onely vpon the worde of God yet for the interpretation of it we may as safely follow the iudgementes of the auncient fathers of the first generall Councels and of some other learned men as of any of their chiefe patrones and maisters that howsoeuer our owne men doe thinke of themselues yet they are no better then other men Nay there are many equall to the best of them and many who are farre their superiours And I take it that he sheweth himselfe to be their best friendes who by telling them their wantes can bring them to some humilitie In which respect Maister Cartwright is to thanke Doctor Whittakers for signifiyng his iudgement touching that his great bundell of shreddes which some rashe and fond men doe so greatly admire It is most certaine that although the flattering of Parasites doth seeme to bee pleasant yet the woundes of a louer are much more profitable CHAP. XXX How falsly they alleadge the auncient fathers for their pretended parish Bishops and Elders BY that which hath been said in the 5. chapter it appeareth vnto you what litle help they are to look for in the ancient fathers toward the setting forth of the Geneua plat forme They talke of certaine steps traces of that hare in them but more they confesse in some places that they cānot find And yet notwithstanding
at another time and when they haue forgotten themselues they will of purpose I feare it to abuse the worlde stand very much vppon the auncient fathers and bragge of their authoritie exceedingly As Cartwright doth in these words most vntruly We propound nothing saith he that the scriptures doe not teach the writers both olde and newe for the most part affirme and the examples of the primitiue Churches confirme Did euer any manne regard Cartwrightes credite who considering what hath beene noted out of his bookes in this whole processe doeth not pittie him with all his harte to heare him so farre to forget himselfe Hee is a manne of good learning which maketh mee to woonder at him It is surely great pittie that euer hee was so maried vnto his Eldershippe For it hath vtterly ouerthrowne all the good partes that bee in him The best lawyer that is when hee giueth himselfe to shiftes and to feed his clyentes with quirkes refusing not to brabble in anye cause be it neuer so false he looseth his estimation and with the grauer sort is little regarded Howe truely Maister Cartwright affirmeth that he and his fellows do propound nothing but that the old writers for the most parte doe affirme and the examples of the primitiue church confirme I trust it hath in part already appeared vnto you in sundry places but especially in the 5. as I saide and in the 27. Chapters I haue heard some Councellers at lawe vse the verye like course of speach when notwithstanding the cause hath falne out most directly against them yet they haue cried out Oh my Lord wee haue these and these olde euidences to shewe such and such depositions doe make for vs verye manifestly wee haue yet many witnesses to bee examined and thus they will proceed with many cracking wordes as though there had beene nothing which had made against them Is Cartwright able trowe you to finde his Parish Bishops and his counterfeit Lay-Elders which two pointes are in effecte all in all with him in the auncient fathers and primitiue Church Hee maye say as truely that the Sonne shines at midnight But yet hee sayth that Ignatius and Cyprians Bishops were but as our pastors or parsons arein euery parish For his vnministering Elders hee alledgeth the same Ignatius and Cyprian and for a surcharge hee bringeth in also Tertullian Hierome Possidonius and Socrates where they make mention of priests I was once purposed to haue set downe the places themselues which they so violently peruerte to bolster out such theyr apparaunt falshood and to haue aunswered them But then I remembred howe effectually that had beene done allready by diuers learned and woorthie menne and of late more fully and largely by two especiall persons whose books one of them is in printing and the other presently comming to the presse and therevpon I altered my mind in that point And yet something thereof agreeably to the course which hetherto I haue obserued that may peraduenture amaze some of them Vppon some occasion falling out maister Cartwright affirmeth that if the now Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury had read the ecclesiasticall stories hee shoulde haue founde easiely the Eldership most florishing in Constantines time vz. in hauing then such Bishops and Elders as hee fancieth to himselfe For he must bee so vnderstood To whome replie being made that he should bring but one ecclesiasticall historie that affirmed so much after some three or fower yeares hee brought two vz. the historie of Magdeburge and Eusebius His testimony out of the first he setteth down in these words The centuries must needes haue told him that the same orders and functions of the church were in that time which were before And what would he inferre hereof Surely if hemeane honestly and doe not dally with the word before refering it further then the Centuries meant it which was but to the age that succeeded the Apostles he could not haue directed a man to any history now extant that doth more directly confound his assertion For there the authors of that history doe most plainely affirme that by and by after the Apostles death necessitas coegit personarum gradus aliquos constituere et conseruare necessity compelled the fathers then liuing to ordaine certaine degrees of persons in the church and to conserue them This is most directly against Cartwrights assertion although for mine own part to note it by the way I thinke the Apostles knowing the necessitie mentioned had taken that order before But to follow the said historie There were three degrees then ordained say the said authors vz. Episcopatus presbyterium Diaconatus the degree of Bishops of priesthood and of Deaconship For the proofe whereof they cite Ignatius Eusebius Theodoret c. and the very place of S. Ierome where he sheweth how for auoiding of schisme one was chosen amongst the ministers to haue preheminence ouer the rest and to whome the name of Bishop was peculiarly then attributed And as concerning the priests or Elders they doe shew it out of Eusebius Nicephorus Irenaeus Iustine c. that their office was to preach the Gospell and to administer the sacraments c. The Centuries thus we see will not serue M. Cartwrights turne to the iustifying of the florishing estate of his Eldership in Constantines daies I wil therfore come vnto his sec̄od authority which he bringeth out of Eusebius It is manifest saith he that the churches were gouerned vnder Constantine by Bishops Elders and Deacons by that which is recited of an infinit number of Elders and Deacons which came to the Councel of Nice with the 250. Bishops It is manifest indeede And it is also as manifeste that there were at that time both Archbishops and Patriarches But there were at that Councel both Bishops Elders and Deacons And what then I know that many men haue wrested many places directly contrarie to the authors meaninge but I doe not remember anie one place within the compasse of my small readinge that is more grosly peruerted then this place is For M. Cartwright running still his old biace would haue men to thinke that by Bishops Eusebius meant so many parishe-ministers and by priests or Elders his said counterfaite Aldermen And his authoritie is so greate amongest his sectaries who professe their Gleaninge after him that what-so-euer he bringeth they take it vpon his credit and so runne on with a conceite that not onely all other authorities brought by him out of the auntient Fathers mentioned are truely by him expounded and applyed but that also euen this place of Eusebius is to bee vnderstood as here he woulde haue it Wherein surely they are much to blame to depend so much vpon any mans credit If they them-selues had euer read either the Fathers or the ecclesiasticall histories they coulde neuer possibly haue beene miscarried so palpably A frinde of mine hauinge some talke not many yeares since with Maister Cartwright about this place of Eusebius
name to all ministers of the vvord and sacraments vvithout distinguishing thereby any one of them from another or vvas it not euer vvithin the time limited taken and vsed only in the said distribution for one amongst the ministers of the vvord and sacraments that gouerned the rest both of the ministers and people vvithin their circuits limited vnto them This question with the rest was sent to maister doctor Raynolds in Oxford to the intent he might returne his opinion of them which he forbare at that time to do in respect of certain other businesse that he had in hand Howbeit maister doctor Robinson his especial most familiar friend being acquainted as it seemeth with the sayd questions hath written in this sort vpon another occasion not dissenting therein as I take it from maister doctor Reynolds I haue sayth he mainteined it in the pulpit that the titles of honour vvhich vve giue to bishops are no more repugnant to the vvord of God then it is for vs to bee called vvardens presidents prouosts of colleges And in my iudgement they may vvith as good conscience be gouernours of their diocesse as vve being ministers may be gouernours of colleges of ministers Neither do I thinke that this vvas a late deuised policie For I am persuaded that the angell of the church of Ephesus to vvhom S. Iohn vvriteth vvas one minister set ouer the rest For seeing there vvere many pastors there vvhy should S. Iohn vvrite to the angell of the church of Ephesus and not rather to the angels if there had bene no difference amongst them And if this presidencie had had that fault vvhich is reprooued in Diotrephes as S. Ierome proueth that the Ievves had not corrupted the originall text before Christ his comming Quod nunquam dominus Apostoli qui caetera crimina arguunt in Scribis Phariseis de hoc crimine quod erat maximum reticuissent So I may say neither vvould our sauiour vvho by his seruant reproueth those disorders vvhich he found in the seuen churches haue passed ouer this great fault in silence Therefore as Titus vvas left to reforme the churches throughout the vvbole Iland of Crete so I am persuaded that in other places some of that order of pastors and teachers vvhich is perpetuall in the church euen in the time of the Apostles had a prelacie amongst their bretheren and that this preheminencie is approoued by our sauiour And if vve come any lovver though the vvord Episcopus signifie that care vvhich is required of all in scripture be applied to all that haue charge of soules yet I do not remember any one ecclesiasticall vvriter that I haue read vvherein that vvord doth not import a greater dignitie then is common to all ministers Neither do I thinke that any old vvriter did vnder the name of Bishop meane the pastor of euery parish VVhen the emperors vvere persecutors vve read of seueral elders but neuer of more then one bishop at once in Rome the like is to be sayd of other great cities and the churches neere adioining And to meet vvith that offence vvhich is taken at the name of Archbishop because that name is so appropriated to Christ in scripture that it is no vvhere giuen to any other I take it that there is no substantiall difference betvveene archbishop and archbuilder Either therfore the Apostle offended in taking too svvelling a title vvhen hee called himselfe an archbuilder or cheefe builder or it must be graunted that this title may in some degree be giuen to men vvithout derogation to Christ. And thus farre doctor Robinson with whom if maister doctor Reinolds do agree I see not whither the factioners will turne them for as I take it they will not reiect his opinion They haue bragged much of him indeed and of his iudgement in sundrie of their writings as though he were wholy on their side and that they held nothing but he would iustifie it Howbeit they haue done him therin I doubt not exceeding great iniurie For requitall wherof I would wish him neuer to seeke any other reuenge but to turne them to his booke against Hart where hee hath written his mind as touching this point now in hand In the Church of Ephesus sayth he though it had sundrie elders and pastors he vseth these two words in one signification as by the sentence going before it is manifest to guide it yet amongst those sundrie vvas there one cheefe vvhom our sauiour calleth the angell of the church and vvriteth that to him vvhich by him the rest shâ—uld â—novv And this is he vvhom aftervvards in the primitiue church the Fathers called bishop For c. the name of Bishop common before to all elders and pastors of the church vvas then by the vsuall language of the Fathers appropriated to him vvho had the presidentship ouer elders Thus are certain elders reproued by Ciprian Bishop of Carthage for receiuing to the communion them vvho had fallen in time of persecution before the bishop had aduised of it vvith them and others Here then you haue two for Oxford touching the language of the ancient fathers when they speake of bishops Now you shal haue a Cambridge mans opinion no moe but of one I tell you at this time marry he shall be such a one as the brotherhood if they bee of the painters mind before mentioned in the chapter may well bee compared with the other two seeing his iudgement is layd in equall ballance there both with Caluins and Bezaes and that without any disparagement vnto them you know whom I mean it is maister doctor Fulke who in his confutation of the Rhemish notes vpon the new testameÌ„t writeth thus Amongst the clergie for order and seemly gouernment there was alwaies one principall to vvhoÌ„ by long vse of the church the name of Bishop or superintendent hath bene applied vvhich roome Titus exercised in Creta Timothie in Ephesus others in other places Therfore although in the scripture a bishop and an elder is of one order and authoritie in preaching the vvord and administration of the sacraments as Hierome doth often confesse yet in gouernmeÌ„t by ancient vse of speech hee is onely called a Bishop vvhich is in the scriptures called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ro. 12. 8. 1. Tim. 5. 17. Heb. 13.17 that is cheefe in gouernment to vvhom the ordination or consecration by imposition of bands vvas alvvaies principally coÌ„mitted c. VVhich most ancient forme of gouernment vvhen Adrius vvould take avvay it vvas noted amongst his other errors Hitherto doctor Fulke so as hereby I trust it may appeare to maister Cartvvrights reproch and to all their shames that shall pretend any authoritie froÌ„ the ancient fathers to impugne the right honorable lawful calling of Bishops not parsons in euery parish but Bishops in their diocesse and prouinces appointed in the Apostlestimes for the right order and gouernment of
not past an hower before they had in an other company depraued peraduēture most egregiously And maister Beza you must imagine hath bene an old courtier and knoweth wel what policie meaneth Plaine dealing certainly is best but often-times it falleth out that it is not the readiest way for hammering and busie farre reaching heads to compasse their purposes If this excuse do seeme too simple let any that list make a better No man doth wish it more heartily as I thinke then my selfe that maister Beza should thinke well of the present church-gouernment established in England so he do it plainly faithfully and directly which will not happen I feare it in hast Neither haue I alleaged his former words to that purpose as though I tooke all that for gold which he can make to glister The point I prosecute is this that you might perceaue how they begin to leaue off from vrging the Geneuian platforme with such important necessitie as formerly they haue done But most of all it pleaseth me to see how maister Cartvvright draweth homeward For as the Anabaptists by their madnesse kept maister Caluin within some good compas and as maister Beza hath bene compelled in some sort to retire himselfe from his former eagernesse so assuredly the phrenetical giddinesse of these our new vnbrideled schismatickes who for pretended puritie are many degrees beyond al the Sauoyan disciplinariās hath wrought a miracle to my vnderstanding vpon M. Cartvvright For heare him how for feare of falling into flat Donatisme he was fain to plead against one that had bene his scholer in the behalfe of the church of England so bitterly before by himselfe impugned The ordinarie assemblies sayth he of those vvhich professe the gospell in England are the churches of Christ which he proueth in this sort Those assemblies vvhich haue Christ for their head and the same also for their foundatiō are Gods churches Such are the assemblies of England therefore c. Againe they that haue performed vnto them the speciall couenant vvhich the Lord hath made with his churches of pouring his spirit vpon them and putting his vvord into their mouthes are the churches of God but such are the assemblies in England therefore c. Hereunto may be added sayth he further the iudgement of all the churches of Christ in Europe all vvhich giue the right hand of societie in the house of God vnto the assemblies vvhich are in England Againe to prooue that the church of England is the church of God notwithstanding it want the pretended discipline he vseth this distinction that as it is in mans body so is it in this matter there are certaine parts essentiall and such as vvithout the vvhich a man cannot stand and some seruing either to his comlinesse or to his continuance And of this latter sort he maketh the discipline and lastly he writeth thus To say that the church of England is not the church of God because it hath not receaued this discipline me thinks is all one vvith this as if a man vvould say It is no citie because it hath no vvall or that it is no vineyard because it hath neither hedge nor ditch Thus farre maister Cartvvright In which his manner of speech you find a very great alteration from his ancient stile And as concerning the necessitie whereof I intreat the wind you see is turned There is no more necessity in England of the Geneua platforme then that euery citie in this realme should be walled about And besides the pretended discipline is become not to be any longer of the essence of the church but as appertaining to the comlinesse of it But how these things will accord with the premises namely his subscriptiō before mentioned to the new booke of discipline where the same discipline is made to be essentiall or whether maister Cartvvright hath changed his iudgement againe since he writ that answer to Harrison I will leaue it to be discussed by them that know his vnreuealed mind better then I do In the meane time that which he hath graunted I thinke it meet to take hold of And this I will adde vnto it that if maister Cartvvright would but conferre with some that haue skill in fortification to know of him whether an old thicke wall of lime and stone made many hundred yeares since or a new sleight wall slubbered ouer and wrought with vntēpered morter some few yeres ago whether I say of these 2 walles are of better defence for any citie I should be in good hope that he would in short time leaue the disciplinarie walles of Geneua and content himselfe with the ancient fortifications of the church of England and the rather because he seeth as I sayd in the former chapter what a giddie and itching humor his nouelties haue bred in the vnstayed sort of many fantasticall people CAP. XXXV Of the pretended commoditie that the elderships vvould bring vvith them and of the small fruits that they bring sorth vvhere they are THat which hath bene sayd of the commendation of this pretended regiment may fitly be applied to this place But now further of the commodities which they say it would bring with it inseparable consequents belike thereof I will trouble you only with three mens testimonies who it seemeth haue collected together that which is thought fit to be published to this purpose If vve had this gouernment God vvould blesse our victuals and satisfie our poore vvith bread hee vvould cloath our priests vvith saluation and his saints should shout for ioy It is best and surest for our state and there is nothing comparable to the establishing of it for her maiesties safetie It vvould make men to increase in vvealth and that they vvould not easily be dravvne after any great man to sedition and rebellion That her Maiesties person hath bene so oft in danger that we haue had some dearth of late yeares and that the Spaniards attempted to inuade this land they ascribe it to the want of this their gouernment It vvould cut off contentions and sutes of lavv c. by censuring the partie that is troublesome and contentious and vvithout reasonable cause vpon euill vvill and stomacke should vex and molest his brother and trouble the countrie If this gouernment vvere restored then you should see learning nourished young and olde called from blindnes to light from wickednes to vertue and pietie Then many woulde change their studies from Law Phisicke Musicke scholing c. and manye would leaue their trades and parentes would thinke theyr cost well bestowed and diuerse waies comforted to preferre their children to the studie of Diuinity Then there woulde be an vnity of the Church Then should the Papist quaile the Anabaptist waile and the Atheistes be amazed There could not bee so many seduced hanged aud quartered as there are Then no licences could steale away mens daughters the people should finde out the trueth and perfection of
Ibid. A. 6.7 Historie of the church of Scotland The Hist. of the church of Scotland pag. 527. AdmoÌ„ 2. pa. 46. Adm. 2. p. 46. Cap. 15. pa. 75. T.C. l. 2. p. 68 De discip eccles p. 460. Cap. 18. De excom p. 46.49 Beza de excom pa. 52. De excom p. 57. A. S. pa. 87. T.C. l. 1. p. 183. Praef. ad lib. de excom Polit. pag. 129. Beza de excom pag. 104. Beza de excom pag. 104. T.C. l. 2. p. 17. Beza de excom pag. 104. 105. â—eâ—a de excom pag. 106. Beza de excom pag. 104. Beza de excom pag. 106. Pag. 109. Thes. 83. T.C. li. 1. p. 175. Pag. 118. 119. Def. of eccles Dis. p. 148. 174. Archbish. Conf. cap. 5. Artic. 21. Dan de potest eccles cap. 2. Beza annot Iohn 1. Vos autem non sic 1. Pet. 5. Luke 2a Dan. de potest eccles cap 3. Ibidem New parliam men Humble motio pag. 52. Beza de tripl episc Found amongst Fields bookes Conuocation Suppl pag. 45. Admon 2. p. 57 Exhort to Engl. pag. 91. c. Ibid pag. 99. A Councellor Their Synods must bind Gelibrand to Field Fen. to Field Admon 2. pa. 31 Iohnson Littletonsworne Commission Acts of secret Counceil printed 1590. Suppl to her Maiestie Petition to her Maicst pag. 13. Humb motion pag. 62. Purseuants Lawes of Geneua fol. 15. Lawes of Geneua fol. 71. Subscription Humb. motion Lawes of the VniueÌ„rsitie Beza in vita Calu. Lawes of Geneua fol. 3. Ibid. fol. 9. Ibid. fol. 81. The oath exâ— officio Cal. Farello epist. 71. Ibidem Ibidem Ibidem Ibidem Ibidem Ibidem French dis cap. of the consist Thinges vsed in Popery Adm. 2. T.C. T.C. lib. 2. in the epist. The degree of Doctor T.C. lib. 2. in the epist. Iunij Acad. The name of a Bishoâ— Beaa de excom pag. 11â— A new Ministerie T.C. l. 2. p. 439. Pag. 152. Pag. 153. Pag. 141.152 Pag. 153. Beza T. C. lib. 2. pag. 31. â— Beza con Sar. pag 143. Beza con Sar. pag. 116. Canon Law The 3. Dial. of white Diuils Quire Gilby in his dialog Dan. de potest eccl cap. 24. ibidem Fathers T.C. l. 1. p. 112 Beza con Era. lib scrip fo 12 Beza ibi fo 24 ibidem ibidem fol. 27. ibidem fol. 25. Beza Epist. â— D. W. T.C. lib 2. pa. 620. 517. T.C. lib. 1. pa. 113. 110. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist. ad Tralli T.C. l 2. p. 622. D. W. Ireneus lib. 4. cap. 63. T.C. l. 2. p. 482 T.C. l. 2. p. 155. Annot. Beza in Act. 14. 1 Tim. 5. v. 22 1. Tit. D. W. T.C. li. 1. p. 114 Bezae annoâ— 1. Tim. 5.19 T.C. l. 2. p. 621 T.C. l. 1. p. 114 D W. Ierome ad Euagrium T C l 1 p. 107 Hier proem in Matt T C l 1 p 103. The iudgemâ—t of the most reuerend Epist ad Ia Lauson Scoc. D W Iuell Sadeil de legit vocat miâ—ist c T C l 2 p. 572 T C l. 1 p 63 T.C. l 2 p 458 Part. 1. cont Turrian pâ—g 64 Mat. 4. Ierom ad Nep Ierom in Esay 60. Ier. ad Euagr. Ier. ad Marco Doet Iesuit Tom. 4 p. 525. D.W. a T C. lib. 2. pa 513. b T.C. lib. 2. p. 5 111. c T.C. lib. 1. pa 88. d T C. lib 2 pa. 493. e T. C lib 2 pag 494. f TC l. 1. p. 94 g T.C. lib. 2. p. 491. h T.C. li. 1. p. 93 i T.C. li. 1. p 9â— pag. 144 T. C. lib. 2. pag. 502.303 T.C. li. 2. p. 313 D.W. T.C. lib. 2. pag. 641. â—82 492. 447. c. Beza in his reuerend iudgement Tert. de baptis T.C. lib. 1. pag. 114. D.W. T.C. l. 1. p. 154 D. W T C. lib. 1. pag 29.32 T. C. lib. 2. pag 87. c. T.C. l. 2. p. 105 T.C. l. 2. p. 107 D W. pa 199. T.C. l 2 p 269. T.C. lib 3 pag 89.90 D.W. T.C. l 2.534 D.VV. T.C. lib. 2. pa. 507.508 T C l 1. p. 97. Ibidem The iudgemâ—t of the most reuerend T C l 2 p. 511. pag. 11. â— W. p. 412.413 T.C. l. 2 p. 524 525 526 D W T.C. l. 2 p 562. T C l. 2 p. 484 T C l 1 pa 93 Instit. lib 4 ca â— Sect 750 Instit lib. 4 c 4 Sect 12 T C l 1 p. 53 T.C. l. â— p. 256 T. C l. 1. p. 93. T.C. l. 2 p 556 T C l 2 p 622 T. C l. 2. p. 565. T C l. 3 p 91 T C l 2. p 622 Epiph. li 2 To. â— heres 6â— T.C. l. 2. p. 56â— â—piph here 69 T C. l. 1. p. 560. T. C. li. 1. p. 113 T. C. li. 1. p. 41 T C. l. 2. p. 528 T. C. l. 2. p. 580 T. C. lib. 1. pag 19.110 August contra Pelag. L. 2. c. 4. Ibidem ca 10. Ibidem cap. 10 Ibidem cap. 1 T.C. lib. 1. p. 7. D.W. T.C. li. 2. p. 313 T.C. li. 2. p 114 T.C. li. 1. pa. 23 T. C lib 2â— pag. 423. T.C. lib. 1. p. 74 T C. lib. 2. pag. 392. T.C. lib. 1. pa. T.C. lib. 1. pa. T C. lib. 1. pag. 199. To. 1 pag. 20. T.C. lib. 1. pag. 117. T. C lib 1. pag. 118. T.C. lib. 1. pag. 196. a Sect. 1. obs 1. ad conf Boh. b Sect. 14. ob 4. ad con Bo. c Sect. 14 ob 2. ad con Au. d Sect. 15. ob 1. ad con Wir e Sect. 16. ob 1. ad con Bo. f Sect. 16. obs 2. ad con Bo. g Sect. 16 ob 1. ad con wir h Sect. 13. obs 2. ad con Bo. i Sect. 17. obs 1.2.3 ad con August Polit. pag. 13. Conf. Helu Defence of Ecclesiasticall discip pa. 86. Caluin Farello pa. 412. Beza Epist 12 Regist. pa. 30. Practise of Prelates D. 2 Epist. ad mise Carion Nauclerus Psal. 118. Math. 21 Marc. 12. Luke 20. Rom. 9. 1. Pet. 2. Page 37. Page 34. Page 37. Page 87. Page 112. a Chap. to F. 1585. b M. R. to F. c Wake to F. 1587. d Gelli 10 F. 1586. e Fen. against Bridges 120. f Far. to Lit. 1586. g Gellibr to Field Snape to Bar. bon 1590. Hart to Field Trauers def pag 32. Lord to Fen. â—589 Farmer to Little 1586. C. Garton to Field M. Cholm to Field 1582. T.C. lib. 1. pag 7. T.C. lib. 3. pag 42.45 T.C. li. 1. p. 113.100.99 T.C. lib. pag 183. D.W. pag 652. Cent. 2 de gub eccl Chap. 7. Ibid. Euseb. lib. 1. de vit Consta. 1 Pag. R.B. sea paos 50. Socrat. lib. 1. cap. 8. T.C. Lett. 18. Mart. 15.90 T.C. l. 1. pa. 99. T.C. l. 1. p. 100. A Question D. Robins answ exhib to the L. Archb. of Cant. Revel 2.1 Act. 20.17.28 Ieromin 6. cap. Esay Tit. 1.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 1â— 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Pet. 5.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Cor. 3.10 D. Rainol pa. 535. Act. 20.17 Reuel 2.1 Cip. Epi. 13. D. Fulk confut Annot. Tit. 1. v. 5. Defen of the
Engl. trans p. 163. Conf. of the Rhem. pa. 46 Ibid. pa. 210. Ibid. p. 339. Defence of the Engl. trans pa. 185 Ibid. Exod. 4 2â— Gal. in Exâ— 3. â—el in Exâ— 3. Simâ—in Ex. 3. De poliâ— Iâ— ca. 5. T.C. l. 1. p. 32 T.C. l. 1. p. 33. T.C. l. 3. pa. 40. Beza de presb pag. 104. c. Cap. 5. pa. 81. T.C. lib. 3. p. 4. c. Bez. de pres p. 102. c. Cal. math 18. T.C. lib. 3 pa. 40. I.B. polit p. 101. Ezr. 1.5 2.68 10.8 Nehe. 8.4.7.9 Cal. in Math. 18. Cal. in Nu. 2. v. 16. Sutcl de presb c. 9. Sutcl of disc ca. 4. sec. 1. 1. Cor. 14.32 Act. 10.28 Phil. 1.1 Tit. 1.7 1. Tim. 3.2 Rom. 15.16 Act. 26.16 Apoc. 1.20 2.1 c. Cha. Gal. in Apocal. ca. 2. Iuni. annot ibid. Bez. Annot. Apo. 2.1 I.B. de polit pag. 160. I.B. ibid. Col. 2.9 Math. 18. Geneu translat b Beza de presb pag. 50 c Beza ibid. d Sneca de dis p. 461. e Beza de presb pag. 46 f Sneca de dis pag. 460. g Sneca ibi pag. 458. h Beza de presb pag. 57 i Gallas coÌ„t Alex. k Calu. inst lib. 4. cap. 12. sect 4. l Beza de presb pa. 53. m Beza ibid. pag. 49. n Snec de dis pag. 457. a Cal. est Anabap. Cal. epi. 55. b Bez. annot Math. 18. c Gal. cont Alex. d Sneca de dis pag. 460. e T C. l. 2 p. 66 f Beza annot Ma. 18. de pres pag. 47. g Gal. coÌ„ Alex h Snec de dis pag. 458. i Cal. in Ma. 18 Instit. lib. 4. ca. 12. sect 3. Epist. 55. â—al con Alex Cal. epist. Neo com 55. Beza de presb pag. 51 Gal coÌ„t Alex. Alex. coÌ„ Gal. Beza Gal. con Alex. August tract in Iohn 18. Hier ad Tit. 1. August cont Faust. l. 32. c. 19 Hil de Trinit lib. 2. Hil. de Tri. l. 1â— a Gilby pag 3. b Gilby pag. 5 c T.C. l. 2. Epist d Ad. 2. pag. 5. e Ad. 2. pag. 6. f Ad. 2. pag. 3. g Ad. 2. pag. 59 h Ad 2. pa 38. i T.C. l. 1 pag. 6 k Ad. 2. p. 66. 59 l Gilby pag. 9â— m Gilby p. 34. n T.C. l pag 7 o T.C. l. 1 pag 16 17. p Motion from Scot. pref A. 4 q Gilb p 131 158 r Gilbe pa. 32 s Gilby pa 161 a Gilby pa 51 b Gilby pa 46 c Adm. 2 pa. 3. d Gilby p. 111 e Ibidem f Gilby p. 112 g Adm 2 p 16. h Adm 2. pa 6 Luke 18 Luke 16 Barrowes dis-couery pa 145 b pa 6 c p. 19 d pa 19 e pa 98 f p. 109 g p 45 h Bar Gren against Giffor pag 134 i p. 140 k p. 174 l p. 134 m p. 174 n p. 151 o p 150 p Bar Grenwâ— 134 q p. 7 r Bar 149 s 145 t 187 v p. 108 w p 50. x p. 50. y p. 99 z pag. 142. Luke 6. 1. Tim 1 a practise of prel D. 2. b motioÌ„ p. 46. c motion p 84 d motion p 69 e L. disc pag 8 f Count. p 29. g motion p. 4â— h Ibidem p 34 i Ibidem p. 84. k Epist before the supp A â— l Mart. iunior thes 14. m T.C. li. 1 pag. 3. n motion 49 o Regist. pa. 68 p Briefe dis against R B. serm pag 15. Rennecherus in psal 2 p. 72. Rennecherus ibidem pag 74 Ibidem pa. 78 Ibidem pa 37 Rennecher in 2. psal p. 71. Beza de exco pag. 4 I B. Beza de pres pa 1. 24 def pa. 122 def pa. 127 Ibidem a Bar. p. 241 b Bar GreÌ„ 169 c Bar 92 d Bar Gren. 79 e Barrow 190 f Bar Gren. 79 g Bar. GreÌ„ 75 h Bar. GreÌ„ 7 i Bar 142 k Bar. 151 l 〈…〉 m 〈…〉 n 〈…〉 p Bar Gren 75 q Bar GreÌ„ 261 s Bar 220 Rh. Test. act 23. a Glby pa. 77. b Admon 1. pa. 25. c Hay any pa. 13. d Gilby pa. 90. e Admon 1. pa. 2. f Adm. 1. pa. 24. g Gilby pa. 2. h Gilby pa. 2. T. C. lib. 1. pa. 35. lib. 2. pag. 325.121.221.225.226.229 c. T. C. lib. 284.193.213 c. Bar. Discoue pag. 195. Bar against Giff. pag. 76. Eccl. disc of France Calu. instit lib. 4. cap. â— sect 9.10 Bertr de ec cap. 3. P. Mar. de eccl cap. 2. CoÌ„ment de sta relig par 1. fol. 121. T. C. lib. 2. pa. 53. The new booke of dis a T. C. l. 2. in the preface b T. C. ibid p. 3. c T. C. l. 1. pa. 6. 48. d T. C. l. 2. pa. 247. e Register pa. 68. f T. C l. 1. pa. 220. g T. C. table Preface to the Demon. h Beza to Sarnicius epis 14. i Defenc. of eccl dis p. 7. k Defence 8. l Ibid. pa. 33. m Ibid. pa. 33. Confess fidei minist Gal. Act. 25. Act. 30. Def. of eccl Discip. p. 21. Cal. instruct ad v. Anaba Bez. de pres pa. 119. Beza contr Sarrau pa. 111. Beza ibid. pa. 127. Beza cont Erast. fol. 1. Ibid. Epis. 24. Th. Cartw. to Harrison a Motion pa. 31. b Pa. 27. c Pa. 59. d Pa. 75. e Pa. 76. f P. 33. g Pa 74. h Pa. 64. i pa. 37. k pa. 84. l pa. 59. m pa. 68. n pa. 91. o pa. 91. p pa. 76. q pa. 77. r pa. 78. s pa. 79. t pa. 91. u C. l. 2. Epi. A letter Mar. 10. 1574 Marche 16. 1574. 26 August 1574. a Ser. 3. b Ser. 4. c Ser. 4. d Ser. 4. e Ser. 4. f Ser. 1. in Psalm 76. g Ser. 1. h Ser. 3. i Ser. 1. in Psal. 76. k Serm. 5. l Ser. in Psal. 76. m Serm. 1. n Serm. 5. o Serm. 6. p Ser. 1. in Psal. 76 q Serm. 1. in Psal. 76. a Serm. 1. b Serm. 2. c Serm. 2. d Serm. 3. e Serm. 3. f Serm. 6. g Serm. 6. h Serm. 6. i Serm. in psalm 76. k Serm. in psalm 76. l Serm. 6. m Serm. 1 in psal 76. n Serm. 5. Admo 1. pag. 13. Ibidem T.C. lib. 1. p. 194.