verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to labour vsed by him not in this place onely signifieth properly great and grieuous labour And therefore they are far wide that thinke Paul meant in thys place the bare preaching of Gods word and take this to be the ods betweene theyr Elders that some teach the people others gouern only and that for a while onely and therein supplying also and applying themselues to the Ministers of the word More proportionable to those times and proper to this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such Elders are to be vnderstood as were at that present among them as Titus and Timothy and Tithitus Marke Luke and such like Paul his legates and ioynte labourers which in deede feared no daunger refused no labour wherby they might aduance and diuulge the blessed doctrine of the sacred trueth Of Timothy Paul testifyeth in the last Chapter of the first to the Corinth when as he thus writeth If Timothy come vnto you see that hee be without fear among you for he worketh the worke of the Lord euen as I doe By which we may perceiue that Timothy was not without feare nor yet without daunger neyther that without cause A while after speaking of Stephanus and Aechaicus and Fortunatus who had giuen themselues to minister vnto the Saints he sayth And bee yee subiect vnto such and to all that helpe with vs and labour After which sort I also expound that place in the first to the Thessalonians the first chapter the twelfth verse VVe beseech you brethren that ye know them that labour among you and are ouer you in the Lord and admonishe you In all which places the Apostle vseth the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to labour by the which he vnderstandeth no ordinary vulgar or trifling exercise but an extraordinary vehement difficult and troblesome labour And therefore Paul his meaning is that how much greater trouble and more troblesome turmoyle the Elders vndertake in their office they are so much the more worthy to be graced with the greater Honors So that Paul in these wordes respecteth the singular care of some not the single preaching of all Writing to Timothy he defineth a Bishopricke to bee a worke of the which it followeth that the greater the Bishoprick is the greater is the labour the greater is the work If he which is ouer one onely Church shall finde himselfe somewhat to doe what shall we say of them vnto whome the care of many Churches is committed So was it with Titus and Timothy and diuerse other Bishops and Elders of that order The whole sum therefore of our assertion resolueth into thus much that among the Bishops or Elders in the Scripture which gouerned Churches vnder the Apostles there were diuerse degrees in deed by what names soeuer ye please to call them of the which some were ouer one Church only and that vnder the direction of an other and some againe ouer many Churches suppliant to none of the same order as it is wel knowen of Titus and Timothy and the rest I know there are many who in the secret preiudice of their foreseasoned opinions wil not sticke to say that Titus and Timothy and the rest of that forme were Euangelistes and inuested with an extraordinary kinde of a not immitable authority To whom I aunswere that I haue heard so in deede and read it to but without reason or proofe at al of any credit For where as Paul writeth to Timothy and chargeth him that he doe the worke of an Euangelist 2. Tim 4.5 1. Cor. 16.10 it doth no more conclude that Timothy was an Euangelist so properly called then that other place of Paul to the Corinthians He doth the work of God euen as I doth proue that he was an Apostle That that order is of God which appoynteth superior Elders Bishops And that but of man where all Pastors and Elders are alike Chap. XIIII WEe haue shewed before what was the extraordinary calling and the efficacy thereof which was to bee found in Titus and Timothy To the which I adde that all auncient and autentike writings held Titus and Timothy for Bishops vnto whome the Elders of inferiour orders were suppliant and subiect In whose footings our fathers insisting which next succeeded the Apostles reteyned in vse that forme of gouernement which they receyued of the Apostles Now a dayes there bee some of this beliefe that there were onely these two degrees of Ministers left vs by the Apostles namely Pastors and Doctors who cutting short that difference of Pastors which I haue noted and casting of that auncient decency of Church gouernement which I haue proued doe christen a new a forrayne and a forged kind of Presbitery and with much boldnes stand forth to auouch that this theyr newe deuise is diuine that other continuing a lawful discent frō the Apostles time is but humaine Wherefore here beloued it is time to looke about vs. For they easely auoyd all that wee haue already auowed of the Apostles Euangelists and Pastors when they aunswere that the gouernement Apostolique was but temporanie and momentary and determined with the Apostles and Euangelists themselues long since deceased so that now there is no more any one Apostle before another But that the trueth of this question may the better appeare we must now haue an especiall eye to all those giftes which were especially pregnant in the Apostles and Euangelists that thereby we may know what was proper to the Apostles and theyr times and what common to all Pastors vnto the worlds end To which end the first thing we are to reuise in the Apostles is that theyr extraordinary calling for they had it immediatly from God then also theyr generall Embassee and commission without restraint or limitation Thirdly that in all things which concerned theyr function they had a neuer-errant director the spirite of trueth who suggested vnto them whatsoeuer they before had heard of the Lord or should otherwise be requisite for them to know And the last thing is theyr power Apostolique Of these the first three were necessary for laying the ground-worke of Churches vppon the which others should build the which vnlesse they had been semented as it were with the more sure ioynts and strongest sinewes of Gods spirite what soeuer should haue ben raysed reared thereuppon by others must needs haue reeled and ruined together with the same As for the gift of miracles I stand not vpon that seeing that was bestowed vpon many other of the faithfull also as it pleased God Of all these gifts they could communicate nothing vnto theyr successors besides the Ministery of the Gospell The which seeing it was inherent in the power Apostolique they surrendered that also to theyr subsecutors and that because it is a thing necessary not only for the increase but also for the continuance of Churches For without the word preached the Sacraments administred and the Church gouerned there can no Church well continue Wherefore as
thousand Of the which foure and twenty were appointed to bee ouerseers of the workes for the house of the Lord and sixe thousand were ordayned Rulers and Iudges in all Israell And least any man shoulde thinke that they were Iudges onely in Ecclesiasticall causes as some now a dayes would hold men in hād forcing the Scriptures to that forme of gouernement they see in some Churches let the six and twenty Chapter of the same Booke be wel read and aduisedly perused and he shal find that the Isharites Chenanas and his brethren men of might were deputed officers and Iudges for the businesse without ouer Israell Of the Hebronits Hesabias and his brethren men of might a thousand and seuen hundred were appointed Officers for Israell beyond Iordan westward in all the businesse of the Lord and for the seruice of the King And in the same Chapter it is sayd that Dauid appoynted the kinse-men of Iedijas men of might two thousand seuen hundred Princes of families ouer the Rubenites and the Gadites and the halfe tribe of Manasses for euery matter pertaining to God and the King To these I may adde that which I read in the nineteenth of the 2. of the Chronicles of king Iehosophat who intending the restauration of Gods worship and the reformation of the common wealth appointed Iudges Leuits and Priests and Princes of the families of Israell for the iudgement and cause of the Lord. And where as some thinke by that in the last verse of this Chapter That the Priests and Leuites were onely deputed ouer Ecclesiasticall causes because it is there written Behold Amarias the Priest shall be the chiefe ouer you in all matters of the Lord and Zebadias the sonne of Ismaell a ruler of the house of Iuda shall be for all the Kings affaires c. As if he had there put some difference betweene matters ciuill and Ecclesiastitall It is an errour growen as I haue sayde of a certaine fore-seasoned opinion of that gouernment which we see now in the Church or Rome and some other reformed churches For who seeth not that in this place the kings affaires and in the sixe and twenty of the former booke the seruice of the King doth not signify al one with ciuil matters and politique affaires but what so euer pertayned to the Kings right Such as were first described by Samuel and afterwards eyther imitated or augmented by the consent of the people as it often commeth to passe of the which ther was nothing prescribed by Moyses But what the businesse of the Lord was the tenth verse going before declareth by particulars For the Priests were interpreters of the law as well ciuill as ceremoniall and the King so appointing they were also the ordinary Iudges thereof These things I doe therfore remember that all men may know what is lawfull for the Ministers of the Gospell who succeede the Leuiticall Ministery in ciuill causes vnder a christian Magistrate not that I would wishe them intangled therewith any otherwise then the necessity of time and causes may require and that we may also know that those precepts of our Sauiour were giuen to no other end then that as I haue sayd that misconceite of his kingdom should not be strengthned in the mindes of his Disciples Least they should thinke the power which was giuen them were annexed with such autority as that they might alter at their pleasure and innouate publique estates by theyr peculiar power Chap. XXV Theyr error confuted that thinke no ciuill affaires of the common wealth ought to be committed to the Bishops and Pastors of the Church NOw a dayes this common error hath inuaded the mindes not onely of the common sort but of some part of the learned also so that there are manye of that side very strongly opinionate that the ciuill affaires of the common wealth doe nothing at all appertaine to Bishops and Ministers no more then if they were neyther cittizens nor any suppliment of the common wealth Curriers Diers Weauers Beere-brewers Smithes Fullers Marchauntes and Pedlers furnish the common house and giue their voyce in things concerning the common wealth neyther can I dissalow the same in a common wealth but that the Pastors of Churches shoulde stande excommunicate out of their generall assemblies it is a thing vtterly against the equal right of al Cittizens Seeing they liue vnder the same lawes obey the same Magistrate beare the same burdens of the common wealth Seeing in such publique assemblies they doe consult as wel of theyr liues and goods and what so euer else vpon the which not onely theyr owne estate but the publique good of theyr Churches also doth depend seeing I say they doe consult of these no lesse then of cloth and wooll and fish and felles importing and transporting any other commodities is ther any light of reason or light reason why godly Ministers ought to haue lesse care of the common wealth then common Burgomaisters If they can alledge no reason what colour can they set vppon theyr mishapen ground Why they aboue all others should be excluded the ciuill assemblies or Parliaments prouincial whom it chiefely concerneth to see least the flocke committed to theyr charge be layd open to Wolues In those things which concerne the safety of theyr soules nay but in those things also which touch the security of theyr bodies Are they not appointed of God watchmen and ouerseers as it were in a hie tower or heedeful centrenel as they which are to see from far what mischiefes are like to insue that they may admonish as well the people as the Magistrats themselues of such things as are to be auoided The which in deed they cannot doe so long as they are kept fasting from the conscience and conference of such thinges as are done in the common wealth If the Church could stand safe though the cōmon wealth fell to decay or if the one might rise by the ruines of the other I had the lesse to say but when as Church and common wealth are imbarked in the same vessell saile together in the same danger how should the deuout minister be lesse solicited for the safety of the common state then are the common Burgesses who for the most part iudge one thing cōmodious for the Church an other for the common wealth another for themselues and their own estate These are in office but for a year they neuer forsake theyr charges These may prouide many waies for themselues theyr own estate with the detriment of the Church danger of the commō wealth they can by no means preserue themselues or theirs vnlesse both Church common wealth together be preserued These consult that the common wealth sustaine no domage in corne and cattell in wares and marchaundise least themselues at any time should want their sweet return They doe not a little regard these things but besides these theyr especial care is that iustice faith godlines and true religion decay not in the
notwithstanding most certayne was none of the Apostles Phillip likewise may be taken for one of this order and many other who laboured with the Apostles in the work of the Gospel And seeing it is so plain a case that these all were called immediatly from God and that as we read God gaue vnto his Church Euangelists who shall wee say were those Euangelists if not these Resolue then that those seuenty Disciples were Euangelists and those Euangelistes inferior to the Apostles For why they were giuen as Legats or Lieutenants vnder those graund Capitains to vndertake with like authority theyr taske and theyr turnes And yet besides these the Apostles tooke vnto them diuerse others as fellow laborers with them But in them ther was not that valour as was in those whom the Lord himselfe did choose and infuse with an Apostolike spirite We haue read of Barnabas Iude and Sylas theyr great trauel and no smal autority in the Church In which respect they came neare and were next in deede vnto the Apostles themselues But how might this haue beene if so be the spirit of God had not wholly possessed them as it did the Apostles But we knowe how that they all met that were at the election of Mathias the same day in the same place with the Apostles themselues when the Lord poured forth of his spirite a visible shape And albeit Barnabas was no Apostle none of the twelue yet can we make no lesse of him then an Euangelist one of the seuenty As for Marke and Luke albeit theyr authority in the Church were great and theyr desertes great for their perfect and well penned Histories of the Gospell yet are they not to be reputed with the seuenty Euangelistes by reason theyr calling was by men vnto the Ministery Tertullian in in his fourth booke against Marcion writeth thus Luke saith hee not an Apostle yet Apostolique not a maister but a scholler as he was lesse then his Maister so likewise was he so much the more lesse then an other for that he was follower of a lesse Apostle As for Marke Papias in his Commentaries as Eusebius reporteth in his thirde booke hath left vs this testimony Marke the interpreter of Peter wrote in deede very diligently what so euer hee remembred yet not altogether in that order as they were spoken and performed by the Lorde Neyther in deede did hee heare the Lorde himselfe neither was hee any follower of his but afterwards as I haue sayd became the companion of Peter c. VVherefore Marke did not amisse in this that he diuulged in writing such things as before hee committed to memory seeing aboue all thinges he chiefely regarded this one thing that neyther hee would omitte any thing he heard to be true neyther committe any thing hee knew to bee false Thus saith hee of him And it is well knowen that hee was inferiour vnto Barnabas also in authority for hee was his follower and in a manner his scholler as he was also Pauls and Peters and that in no other order then were Titus and Timothy And yet notwithstanding the name and credite both of Marke and Luke for their faithfull register of the Apostles preceptes is such and so reuerend as that their Gospels are recorded among the canonical scriptures and are equaled in authority with the more exquisite labours of Mathew and Iohn And reason too For in their Euangelike recordes whome had they for theyr patternes or their patrones but the Apostles and Euangelistes So that whereas the Gospell of Ma hew may seeme to bee onely Mathewes and that of Iohn to bee Iohns onely these theyr Gospels may be reputed the Gospels not of Mark and Luke but of all the Apostles and Euangelists In the which thing verily they are worthy great commendations that they sauoured no whit at all of men as commonly they doe which pen Histories but they so nearely and narrowly followed the very spirit of the Apostles and Euangelistes as if the Apostles themselues had beene rather the penners then perusers of so greate a worke Wherefore Luke is for good cause commended of Paul in the second to the Corinth the eight chapter and eighteenth verse when as he saith VVe haue also sent that brother whose praise is in the Gospell throughout all Churches But by these you may easely conceiue who were properly Euangelistes and who not Of Prophets Chap. V. AS wee reckon none in order with the twelue Paul onely excepted so with the seuenty find we not any that may be compared And albeit we doubt not that God could haue added to the 70. others also no way their inferiors yet seeing we haue no record of sacred writte to auouch the same it were hard for man to affirme that there were any such But now when as besides the twelue Apostles and those seuenty Euangelists we read of other also who in like manner haue been honoured with the first fruits of the holy Spirite by what name or title shall they be called or by what addition shal we distinguish thē from the rest Of the number of an hundred and twenty men there remayn fix and thirty stil whom seeing we neither account with the twelue Apostles nor yet with the seuenty Euangelistes it remayneth that wee adorne them with the name of Prophets For this it is which Peter doth insinuat vnto the people out of the Prophet Ioel in his Apology for himselfe and his fellowes namely That the spirite of Prophesie promised of olde to be giuen out in the later dayes was then poured forth vppon that assembly whom then they heard preaching and prophesying in diuerse tongues to theyr great astonishement Wherefore those thirty sixe men which neyther are ascribed into the company of the twelue Apostles nor yet are recounted in the society of the seuenty Euangelists were those first Prophets whom God gaue into his Church after our Sauiour was receyued vp into Heauen In which order as it might very wel be was Ananias of Damasco reputed and Agabus both of them renowmed Prophets Iudas and Sylas are also called Prophets and for that cause are they sent by the Apostles to Antioch to exhort confirme the brethren And I am of opinion that these and such like were properly called Prophets not Metaphorically seeing they did foresee thinges to come by the spirite of God and by the same spirite reuealed things secret and recondite And albeit the interpreting of the Scripture bee a kinde of prophecying yet is that kinde more proper to the Doctor then the Prophet and more truely may a man account Doctors interpreters of the Scripture then Prophets But doubtlesse God restored to his Church in those latter dayes that true kinde of Prophecy which in Israell was familiar from the beginning and in singular wisedom did erect three kindes of Doctors in his Church and gaue them to his new people Apostles Euangelists and Prophets And these were the first Elders and Bishops of the Church of Ierusalem That the
But that churches were for a time without Priests or Elders it is more manifest out of the epistle to Titus the fourteenth of the Acts then that it can be denied But how long they were so I wil not define In this matter I suppose the Apostle had not at anye time so great a regarde of the time as of the persons and their perfections For it was not for the wisedome of the Apostles rashly to lay their hands of any or to appoint them ouer the church whom God had not anointed with those graces which are required in a Pastor of the church Wherefore when as the churches which were newly conuerted to the faith did consist but of nouices there was no remedy but they must stay a time vntill they had made triall of their dispositions and taken notice of their abilities vnto whom the church-gouernment was to be committed In the meane while all things were moderated by the vigilant ouer-sight of the Apostles and Euangelists and such as they intertained to their succours as helpers and fellow-labourers No doubt the Apostle Paul is like vnto himselfe in all his Epistles therefore it was not hap-hazard that in the Epistle to the Philippians only he saluteth Bishops Deacons in none of the rest By the which as we are put out of all doubt that the church of the Philippians had their Elders and Deacons so are wee left in suspence for any of the rest If so be as els where we are to gather of his stile the state of the church Here therefore it behoueth the reader to be very attent that wil learn to know what churches had their Priests and what not Is it likely that hee which ordinarilie accustometh to greet so louinglie in all Epistles all that hee knew to be indued with any vertue so willingly to commēd al that he knew to be of any desert in the church and also so freely to note all that he knew to be in any defect I say is it likely that of all other he would haue left the Bishops and elders vnsaluted in the epistle to the Rom. he saluteth many whom albeit he cal his fellow-laborers yet ar they no wher said to haue borne any sway in the church of Rome He remembreth Aquila the church which was in his house who was now at Corinth then at Ephesus sometimes again at Philippos neither forgetteth he Andronicus Vrbanus wherof the one he commendeth as notable among the Apostles and the other he confesseth as his fellow laborer These and all other whom hee knew resiant at Rome hee deygneth with titles of condign prayses because they labobored together with the Apostles And therefore no doubt if so be any of them had beene the proper Pastor of that Church he would surely haue taken some knowledge or made some remembraunce of it As we reade that he did in his Epistle to the Philippians of Epaphroditus and to the Colossians of Epaphras and Archippus Moreouer when Paul came to Rome we read how he was receiued of the brethren and of the Elders the which thing might euen as well haue beene there if there had beene any such Elders there as in the fifteenth of the Actes and the one and twenty also it is well noted how he was intertayned of the Elders But by these it may appeare what the state of the Church was at Rome when the Apostle did write vnto them The like may bee declared out of either Epistle to the Corinthians that I name not any other namely That they had not theyr proper Pastors or peculiar incumbents when those Epistles were written For who knoweth not that Paul did write vnto new born Churches which eyther were then but in the mould or as yet in theyr nonage Who besides Timothy and Titus Apollo Lucas Stephanus and Fortunatus Achaicus and such like whom the Apostle did send to them in common had no other Elders nor yet any other Bishop but the Apostle himselfe And although the Churches were not without order yet ther was not that order as afterwards they had when they were not set in order vnder Elders that had taken orders In meane season the Apostles Euangelists and other religious teachers did visit them by turns as theyr opportunity serued And hence is it that Paul and Apollo doe excuse themselues vnto the Corinthians that they did not visite them so often as they could haue wished The which was also very well noted of Ambrose and Epiphanius Epiphanius aduersus hereses in the 75. heresie hath these wordes When the Gospell was young the holy Apostle wrote according as the matter then stood For where there were Bishops appointed he wrote to Bishops and Deacons Neyther could the Apostles appoynt all thinges at the first In deed the greatest neede was of Priests and Deacons for by these two all Ecclesiasticall functions may be discharged But where there was not any man found worthy a Bishopricke there they remayned without a Bishop But where neede was and there were that were worthy of it there were appointed Bishops But where there was no great multitudes ther were not found among them that might be made priests so they contented themselues with one Bishop in that place c. And he addeth So the Church receiued the fulnes of hir functions for euery thing had not all things at the first but in processe of time those things were prouided which were requisite to the perfection of things necessary Ambrose vpon the 4. of the Epistle to the Ephesians writeth thus In al things the writings of the Apostle doth agree with the order which is now in the Church because these things were written about the beginnings of the Church For he calleth Timothy also a Bishop whom he had ordayned a Priest because the first Priestes were called Bishops that one going away the next might succede him Thus sayth Ambrose And therefore the writings of the Apostles are to be vnderstood according to the seasons in the which they were written In deede the Apostles layd the foundations but others raised the worke Paule planted Apollo watered And therefore so soone as with the time the Church increased and the number of beleeuers multiplyed they were not sufficing for the multitude whome the Lorde himselfe had sent for which cause the Apostles took vnto themselues fellow-laborers in the Ministery first Deacons then Priests or Elders Of whō we are now to speake Of Priests or Pastors and Bishops Chap. IX THe Apostle Saint Paul next after Euangelistes placeth Pastors and Doctors but whether he ment by them two distinct orders or but one only there is the question and that because whosoeuer is a Pastor ought also to be a Doctor but it is not so conuersiuely on the other part For it may be that he is a Doctor which not any where is a Pastor This is once that as by the three former names of Apostles Prophets and Euangelists the Apostle seemeth to note
vpon iust account to haue liued rich against whom he hath pronounced the woe of his eternall curse they all shall perish euerlastingly and they onely which shall bee found among the poore in spirit vnto whom the kingdome doth appertaine shall liue eternally The precept of Euangelike pouertie which Christ followed and left in charge to be folowed of vs is this namely Lowlines of minde which is the most peremptorie contemner of al visible things The pore in spirit is he which beareth not a hautie spirit neyther honereth after dishonest desires which liueth content with his estate and committeth his whole life vnto God if hee haue nothing or if it be little which hee hath he is not solicited with disquiet cares but trusteth in God his maker of whom he hopeth for his daily bread Againe if he be rich his spirit is not exalted by reason of his riches but well remembreth that he brought nothing vnto this world neyther shall carrie any thing away hee knoweth that riches are but wash and waxe wayward that they may easily bee translated from him that they may many waies perish with him he acknowledgeth that he hath receyued them of the Lord neither to be kept in ward nor to be spent in wast All which partes of spirituall pouertie the Apostle requireth in his first to Timothie the sixt chapter where he admonisheth Timothie to exhort the rich vnto this pouertie Charge them that are rich saith he in this world that they be not high minded that they trust not in vncertain riches but in the liuing God which giueth vs abundantly all things to enioy that they doe good and be rich in good workes readie to distribute Heere haue we that pouertie which our Sauiour requireth to be in rich men which as you may see doth nothing at all inuert the vse and proprietie of earthly thinges This I say is that pouertie the mother of vertue which all the holy Patriarches and Prophets with all the Apostles first Christians and last of all which all the godly haue alwayes obserued and our Sauiour himselfe both in word and deede both in plentie and pouertie taught to be obserued But is not this the verie Atheisme of Iulian the recreant and the onely Saracisme of the enemies of Christian religion when they haue robbed and rifled the Churches of their wealth and dignities to insult ouer the poore Ministers and to say they ought to be poore after the example of Christ and his Apostles As for that they fetch in the vncertaine sound of a certain voice heard in the time of Constantine it is to be vnderstood if it be to be beleued of Arrius and his inuenomed doctrine not of the forged donations of Constantine .. The wealth and riches which Constantine vouchsafed could not bee offensiue to the Church seeing they were neither so great as they make them nor yet seduced the Bishops and Elders from their Ecclesiasticall functions as they would haue them But then the husbanding disposing of them was after such a sort as might easely cleare the Bishops from all suspition of auarice Chap. VI. That the honour which is giuen to the Pastors of Christ his Church is ioined with a certaine Religion towards God THat the Priests and Leuites vnder the olde law were exceedingly well prouided for that according to Gods owne ordinance and institution it is a thing better knowne then that any man can make any question of it The same is as plain a case also for the Ministers of the Gospell vnder the new Testament and that by the same authoritie and for the same reasons were it not for the sacrilegious impiety of some who while as they say they seeke to shun one occasion of euill in the Church they bring vpon the same many miserable extreems Neither is want lesse to be feared then abundāce to breed the bain of the church In what things our Fathers as we thinke offended we see verie clearely but where wee offend our selues we wil not grope with our hands Lynces in other mens faults Moules in our owne That there is an honor due vnto Parents Lawyers Tutors physitions it is most manifest neither is there any man that is not a bad man that will denie it How much rather are all Christians deuoted vnto the Ministers of the Gospell seeing they alone doe beare the person the burden of these all For they are both Fathers Tutors Lawyers and Physitions therfore how much more they excell in worthines so much more worthy to be preferred in worship Besides all this the reuerence which is giuen to these and such like is onely of curtesie common ciuilitie and respecteth man onely and our duties to men but the honor which is due vnto Gods Ministers respecteth God himself his heuenly ministery They are the seruants of God his legates the dispensers of the mysteries of God are sent of God to discharge an heuenly embassie for God in the person of Christ whō whosoeuer contemneth contemneth the Lord Iesus God the Father their iudge and reuenger The countenance or contempt of God his seruantes toucheth God himselfe verie nearely who is alwaies most honored or dishonored in his Minister Wherefore that prerogatiue in the Church with the which not man so much as God him selfe is honored is sacred and religious and hath the promise of reward not onely in this life but in the life to come Mathew the tenth and the fifteenth chap. He which receiueth you receiueth me he which receiueth me receiueth him that sent me He which receiueth a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shal receiue a Prophets reward and he that receiueth a iust man in the name of a iust man shal haue a iust mans reward whosoeuer shall giue drinke to one of these little ones euen a cuppe of cold water onely in the name of a Disciple verely I say vnto you he shall not lose his reward The Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Philippians calleth those presents which were sent to him an odour that smelleth sweet a sacrifice acceptable and pleasant to God So that in the poore whose wants we releeue Christ is worshipped but in the Ministers whose calling we maintain Christ is honored The Leuitical sacrifices haue had their end but the Euangelical sacrifices shal haue no end vntil the worlds end The Euangelike sacrifices are the confessiō of faith vnfained thāks giuing and all the trophees of prayse which wee erect and direct vnto the glorie of God as also the chearefull bountie and charitable good workes wee shew foorth vnto the comfort of men For which cause the Apostle to the Hebrues exhorteth all men that they would continually offer the sacrifice of prayse vnto God through Christ that is the fruit of the lips which confesse his name and moreouer that they would not forget to doe good and to distribute for they are the sacrifices saith he with the which God is
Ministers a thing neuer so much in controuersie as at this day Of the which we will first heare what was the opinion of those fathers which liued in time next after the Apostles CHAP. XI The iudgement of the Fathers concerning the oblations of the faithfull I Wil first begin with Origen who liued vnder Seuerus about two hundred yeares after our Sauiour Hee vppon the eighteenth Chapter of Numbers in his eleuenth Homily writeth thus It is behooueful and it is also beneficiall that first fruits should be offered vnto the Priestes of the Gospell For so hath the Lord also ordained that they which preach the Gospell should liue of the Gospell and they which serue at the altar should also be partakers of the altar And as this is due decent so of the contrary part I account it both vnmeete and vndecent and vngodly also that he which worshippeth God and entreth into the Church of God and knoweth that the Priests and Ministers do wait at the altar and attend eyther vppon the word of God or the Ministerie of the church should not offer vnto the Priestes the first things of those fruits of the earth which God hath giuen by bringing forth his Sonne and sending foorth his raine Neither can I thinke such a mind to bee mindfull of God neither that hee thinketh or beleeueth that God hath giuen the fruits he hath receaued which hee so hordeth togeather as if they were none of Gods For if he beleeued they were giuen him of God hee would also acknowledge that in rewarding the Priests he therby honored God for his gifts And moreouer that these things the better to be obserued may bee taught by the word of God let vs heare what the Lord saith in the Gospell Wo be vnto you Scribes and Pharises ye hypocrites which tythe Mint that is pay tythe of Mint Cummin and Ane-seeds and let passe the greater things of the Law Hypocrites these thinges ought yee to haue done and not to haue left the other vndone c. The same authour proceedeth in the same booke How then dooth our righteousnes exceede the righteousnes of the Scribes and Pharisies if they dare not tast of the fruits of the earth before they haue offered the first fruits vnto the Priestes and the tythes are set forth for the Leuits and I doing none of these things doe so abuse the fruits of the earth as that the Priest knoweth not of them the Leuite is ignoraunt of them the altar of God doth not taste of them Ireneus the Scholler of Polycarpus in his fourth booke the foure and thirtie chapter writeth of the sacrifices and oblations of Christians the which thing hee also in many other places remembreth whereby the custome and opinion of the church at that time concerning that matter may the beter appeare The words of the holy Father are these VVherefore we ought to offer to God the first fruits of his creaturts as Moses saith Thou shalt not appeare emptie in the sight of the Lorde thy God that in what things a man hath shewed himselfe thankfull in those things he which is deputed ouer him might thank fully receaue that honour of him And that kind of oblation is a 〈…〉 ain allowed For there were oblations there and there are oblations heere also There were sacrifices among the old people there are sacrifices in the Church also but the manner of them is onelye altered seeing that nowe these are offered not of bond slaues but of free-men For there is one and the same Lorde but there is a seuerall forme of seruile oblations and a seuerall forme of them which are free that euen by these oblations also there might appeare some token of our liberty For there is nothing idle or endlesse with him without some signe or sense And for this cause indeed they did consecrate theyr tenthes but they which haue obtained their libertie doe dedicate to the Lords vse al things that they haue chearfully freely giuing those things which are of lesse account hauing indeed a greater hope that widowe and poore woman casting in heere all her substance into the Lord his treasurie c. Afterwardes in the same chapter hee addeth this Wherefore seeing the church offereth with singlenes for iust cause is the gift thereof accepted as a pure sacrifice before God Euen as Paule also writeth vnto the Philippians I was euen filled after that I had receiued of Epaphroditus that which cam from you an odour which smelleth sweete a sacrifice acceptable and pleasant vnto GOD. For wee ought to offer oblations vnto God and in all things to be found thankefull vnto God our maker offering the first-lings of those his creatures in a pure mind and faith without hypocrisie in a ferme hope and feruent loue And this oblation the church onely doth present pure vnto the Creator offering vnto him of his owne creatures with thankes-giuing c. And againe in the same chapter But we offer vnto him not as hee needed our offerings but to shew our selues thankefull vnto him for his bountie and to sanctifie his creatures For as God hath no neede of those th ngs which come from vs so we haue need to offer some thing vnto God Irenaeus calleth Almes and oblations good actions as also Cyprian calleth them good workes Paule beeing their Author who calleth them good deedes and distributions and good workes 1. Tim. 6.18 Tit. 3.14 Heb. 13.16 and Sacrifices with the which God is wel pleased Many other thinges of the like import might bee cited out of the same Authour But let vs attend vnto that of Cyprian in the like sense the wordes some-what altered who in his foure and thirtie Epistle writeth thus of the Readers whome hee had ordained Nowe you shall vnderstand that wee haue appointed for them the honor of an Elder that they should bee honoured with the same fees that the Elders are and that they should deuide the allowaunce for euerie moneth in equall portions The fees which were deuided euerie moneth vnto the Priestes hee calleth the honour of the Presbyterie But out of his sixtie Epistle wee may also make some estimate of what wealth the Church of Carthage was namely by a certaine contribution made by the Cleargie and layitie of that place For there were collected no lesse then an hundred sestercees which they sent to the Bishops of Mauritania to redeeme captiues beeing also readie to send more if need were The wordes of Cyprian are these VVee haue sent vnto you an hundred sestercees That is 2500. ducates at the least or vnles that may seeme to great a sum for that time 2500000 which were gathered heere in the Church ouer the which I am president by the fauour of God the contribution beeng made by the Cleargie and people that are amongst vs the which you shall dispose there according vnto your best indeuours And in his sixtie sixe Epistle he writeth thus The tribe of Leuie which attended vpon the
the same not that which is necessary but that which is voluntary Vppon which ground I hold this for a sure principle that that Priesthood or Bishop doth both against the honor and the honesty of the sacred ministery whosoeuer without commaund of supreme autority or constraint of extreme necessity shal take vppon him any seruice of war eyther as leader or as souldier But when such time and places betide as shall exact this at our handes we are vnwillingly to yeeld to vnwelcome necessity Theodoret in his second Booke the third chapter writeth of one Iames Bishop of the Citty of Nisib which of som is called Antioche Migdon that he was vppon occasion both Bishop and Captaine of the same his Citty the which by the helpe of God he manfully defended against Sapor King of Persia and deliuered the same as well with his prowes as his prayers The same Theodoret in his fourth booke the twelfth Chapter recordeth as much and much more of the warlike power and prowes of Eusebius Bishop of Samosis who mannaging himselfe with all manner warlike abilements ranged along throughout Syria Phenicia and Palestine wher he erected Priests and Deacons and performed such other Eccesiasticall pensions Neyther did I euer read of any that found himselfe offended with this action or thought his action offended against that Canon I doe not so thinke nor will I say so much of Theophilus and Cyrillus Bishops of Alexandria who tooke vppon them a secular principality ouer that Citty the Emperour not noting it but not commaunding it As for the Canon which Cyprian citeth I must needs confesse that I cannot attayne vnto the reason thereof onely this I am assured of that it was but a particular and a prouinciall decree seruing onely for that time and that place For no doubt to take charge of Widowes and Orphanes is an especiall worke of piety and commaunded of God in euery place of his Lawe and so that they incurre no small blame that deferre to take vppon them not the patrimony but the patrociny of such For good cause therefore was the old custome continued in the Chuch that Bishops should be the patrons of Widowes and the Fathers of Orphanes and that they especially before all others were to take charge of them without any shame to theyr calling without any breach of the Canons You shall heare how the Councell of Sardis doth allowe and recommend the same in plaine wordes For this is the speeche which Osiris then Bishop there made Much importunity and too much confluence with vnlawful sutes hath brought the matter to this passe that we haue not so much either fauor or credit committed vnto vs whiles there are some which cease not to repayr to the Court of the Bishop and especially they of Africa who as we know reiect and contemn the wholesome directions of our most holy brother and fellow Bishop Gratus Who do not only present diuers and sundry matters not materiall to the Church as many times it commeth to passe that widows orphans and the poore might be succoured but they doe further craue for certaine secular dignities and ciuill offices This bad order therefore stirreth vp not onely much muttering but many offences also Notwithstanding this is a commendable thing that Bishops should be a meanes for those which are oppressed with wrongfull violence as if so bee a widow be molested or an orphan defrauded and yet so that these parties haue some iust cause of complaint and some honest petition to praesent Wherefore if it so please you my beloued brethren let this be a decree that Bishops come not to the Court except happely they whom the Religious Emperour shall by his letters inuite But because oft times it commeth to passe that they which suffer wrong flye to the Church for succour and they also which doe wrong and are adiudged therefore to some I le or exile or in deede what sentence of iudgement soeuer they receiue they ought here to be relieued and without al doubt their pardon to be craued Therefore if it so please you as I haue sayd so let it bee decreed They all gaue a placet and let it be enacted This Canon containeth a certaine exposition of the sixt Canon of the Apostles and it teacheth vs what secular cares a Bishop or a Priest may vndertake and what not The Bishops in this point were imitators of their Fathers the Prophets which alwayes gaue their helping hand to widdowes orphanes and other afflicted people Doe we not read how fatherly and friendly the Prophet Elizeus greeteth the Sunamite after his entertainment 2. Reg. 4. VVhat wouldest thou that I should doe for thee is there any thing to he spoken for you to the King or to the Captaine of the host Nor neede this seem to any man any such a strange duety of religion that Bishops or other Ministers should repaire to Princes to intreate for the distressed Ambrose vndertaking an honorable Embassee for Valentinian the Emperour being yet a child to Maximus the tyrant spake thus in his case as himselfe reporteth to Valentinian in an Epistle VVhom sayth he ought Bishops rather to defend then orphanes For it is written Iudge the cause of the fatherlesse and defend the widow and deliuer him that suffereth wrong and in an other place Ye Iudges of widowes and fathers of fatherlesse As for that which is vrged from the example of the Apostles ther is no childe so simple so to conceiue therof as if when the Apostles had once chosen Deacons the care of the poore and the widow did no more pertayne to them I noted before how the necessity of the poore was commended to Paul and Barnabas after that and we reade how Paul also caried the beneuolence of the Corinthians and other Churches to Hierusalem Wherefore to conclude if it be lawfull as it is for bishops and Pastors and that according to the rules of charitye to imploye their labour in outward affaires and to detract some what from that time which otherwise were to be spent in reading of holy writ and other sacred trauels and that onely for our priuate necessities or our neyghbours what labour shall we thinke too much or what paines not to be performed in the commendable affaires of the King or common wealth for a publique necessity and a greater commodity Chap. XVII What a fee is and what are the conditions thereof NOw it remaineth that I make answere for those Church goods which are held in Fee of which terme before the irruption of the more barbarous nations into into the Romain Empire there was no wher any mention that phrase taking his original frō the Goths Vandals and Longobards What may be the etimology thereof and what is signified thereby the learned at large discourse discusse whose iudgements and opinions it were now too long to repeate But for our purpose this is enough and this is a cleare case that a Fee with the Lombards doth signify a priuiledge
and more-ouer he commandeth that the execution of their iudgements be done by his ciuil iudges By reason of the statute of Praemunire as they call it against the which whosoeuer offend they are punished with is a matter of verie great daunger in England for Church-men to inuade the office of the ciuill Magistrates and therefore there is kept a most circumspeact distinction betweene the affaires of the Ciuil and the Ecclesiastical Court If at anie time anie of the Bishops or anie other of the cleargie are thought meet men to vndertake any ciuill charge they doe it not by the especiall commaundement and commissiō of the King vnder the broad seale of England But those charges are alwayes accompanied with some honour so that they may be accounted rather a help then a hurt to the proceedings of the Gospell as are the offices and dignities of a priuie Counseller a Commissioner a Iustice of peace and such like Neither as I doe thinke will any man of sound iudgement say that those charges are eyther imposed vpon any Cittizen without the chiefe Magistrate or if they be so imposed that they can of any man be deposed or laide aside If any man except that this is more abhorring from the office of a Bishop then was of olde the charge of the poore from the which notwithstanding the Apostles did abdicate themselues because they could not attend vppon that and their owne charge too and therfore vrge that it is not possible for Bishops that they should discharge both charges well for which cause they ought to sequester themselues from the one I answer first that the Apostles did not so far foorth discharge themselues of the poore mans boxe that that they thought it not appertaining to them to haue any further care thereof for they alwayes continued patrons of the poore as doe the Bishops also whom we will not so intangle with ciuill causes that they forsake their owne but that as it especially concerneth their office vpright dealing and sincere charitie may bee maintained among them whose soules health is committed vnto them But how much a godly and diligent Bishop may doe in this matter Austine alone may serue for many examples who wrote so many excellent volumes when as yet he imployed no small part of his time in these troublesome affaires Whose words I will heere infer for that they inforce a sufficient confutation of this their cauill I call the Lord Iesus witnesse to my soule saith hee in whose name I boldly speake these thinges that for so much as concerneth my commoditie I had rather worke euerie day with my hand as it is vsed in wel ordered Monasteries and reserue the other houres free to read and to pray and to exercise my selfe in the Scriptures then to sustaine the tumultuous perplexities of other causes in determining secular controuersies by iudgement or in taking them vp by arbitrement To the which troubles the same Apostle hath appointed vs not of his owne will but of his that spake in him The which notwithstanding we read not that he himselfe susteined for indeed the course of his Apostleship stood not with it Neither did he say If therefore you haue any secular controuersies bring them before vs or appoint vs to giue iudgement of them but those which are least esteemed in the Church set them vp saith he And I speak to your shame is it so that there is not any wiseman among you which can iudge betweene his brother but the brother goeth to lawe with the brother that before infidels Wherfore those wise men which were resiant in some certaine place beeing faithfull and godly not those which discoursed this way and that way for the Gospel sake I say such would hee haue to bee the examiners of those matters For which cause it is no where written of him that he at any time attended vpon any such busines from the which notwithstanding we cannot bee excused albeit wee bee of the number of those which are least esteemed because he would haue those also set vp if wise men were wanting rather then that the controuersies should bee brought into the open and ordinarie Court The which labour notwithstanding we vndertake not without comfort in the Lorde for the hope of eternall life that we may bring forth fruit with patience Thus saith Augustine whose reasons in my iudgement may satisfie any reasonable man verely they satisfie mee neither can I finde anie thing to mislike in this action of his This is one generall maxime in the rules of Christianity That whatsoeuer wee reade in the word of God eyther forbidden beeing not euill of his owne nature or commaunded beeing of it selfe not good in those thinges Christian charitie dispenseth and disposeth of the matter as the time the place and the cause doth require Vnto the which whosoeuer doth refuse to subscribe he doth it of stubborne and froward hypocrisie not of any religion or deuotion he hath of the precept Neyther is the Diuines rule vnknown concerning those things which are bidden or forbidden in the word of God namely That some thinges are forbidden because they are euill and some thinges are euill because they are forbidden suppose for some especiall purpose And againe on the contrary part That there are some things commanded because they are good and some thinges therefore to bee accounted good because they are commaunded by God who requireth such thinges of men for some especiall causes Now those things which are of the first sort and section are vnder a constant and perpetual law and not to be changed by any means but there is not the like condition of the other sort neither do they bind anie man any further then the reason and occasion of the law doth require Examples of this matter wee haue in the obseruation of the Sabaoth and the vse of the Shew-bread of the which it was not lawfull for any man to eate but the Priests onely besides many other things of like nature which we read to be either commaunded or condemned In this our case it is no crime to be a King nor to be a Magistrate a capitall sinne And therfore the reason of the commandement abating the thing it selfe abideth free and it remaineth lawfull for Princes and other Magistrates to be of power to command the Bishops of the Church in a Christian common-wealth those things which would rather be an aide and an ornament then any hurt or impediment to their holy calling I speake of calling in generall not of any one mans calling which haplie may be hindred and shall haue neede of others which may helpe him but of all theirs which are in the same calling vnto whome there ariseth any honour and authoritie from the rest So that if all things be throughly examined and all commodities with all discommodities compared together which may any waies accrue vnto the Church and common wealth I doubt not but that which wanteth in one parte shall be requited