substance had euident reason and the Apostles in so doing staied the murmuring of the Disciples and freed themselues from al suspition of neglecting their widowes which was the cause of their dislike by praying them to choose out of themselues such as they best trusted to care for their tables distribute their store By the circumstance of the Text it seemeth that where the beleeuers liued in one place and had al things in common selling their lands possessioÌs goods they brought the price thereof and layed it downe at the Apostles feete to be distributed to euery man according as hee had neede the Apostles had put some in trust to bestowe the Churches treasure I meane the Disciples goodes who of like being Iewes regarded the widowes that were Iewes more then the Grecians widowes And hence arose the grudging of the Grecians that their widows were neglected The Apostles then excused themselues for that they might not leaue the preaching of the word and attend for tables to see their widowes indifferently vsed and willed the whole multitude to look out from amongst theÌselues such as were replenished with the holy ghost with wisdom best reported of for fidelitie and industrie to take the ouersight of that businesse This is all that can bee pressed out of this storie For answere hereof first by your owne doctrine the parties there chosen receiued not power to preach and baptise but to dispence the goods of the Church for the dayly prouision of the Saints who then liued together and yeelded all their abilitie to be vsed in common at the discretion of these parties appointed by themselues And though Philip did preach and baptise at Samaria and did the like to the Eunuch of Ethiopia yet you auouch he did that not as a Deacon but as an Euangelist both which titles indeede Saint Luke giueth him in the one and twentieth Chapter of the Actes Next if it be true that Epiphanius writeth of them these seauen were all of the number of those seuentie Disciples which Christ himselfe called while she liued on earth and sent to preach aswel as Matthias and Barnabas that were named to succeede in the roome of Iudas the traitor and then by this election they had no ordinarie function in the Church but an extraordinarie charge to prouide for the widowes since none of the 70. Disciples could beginne againe at the lowest degree and become Deacons Chrysostome reasoning what office they had by this imposition of handes saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã What dignitie these seauen had and what maner of imposition of hands they receiued it shal not be amisse to learn Was it the office of Deacons This now is not the Churches but this charge to looke to widows beloÌgeth to Presbyters and as yet there was no bishop but the Apostles onely Wherefore I thinke it was neither the name of Deacons nor Presbyters expressely and plainely which these seuen receiued If these seuen were expresly neither Deacons nor Presbyters as Chrysostome thinketh they were not and the Councel in Trullo ioyneth with him in the same opinion then can their election be no proofe that others ioyned with the Apostles in the choice of Presbyters or Bishops If with Ignatius Cyprian Ierome and others we take these seuen for Deacons such as serued in the Church and attended on the Lords table when the mysteries of Christ were dispenced yet the Apostles made this no perpetuall rule for all elections otherwise neither Paul nor any other Apostle could haue imposed hands but on such as the people named and elected which is euidently repugnant to the Scriptures as in place conuenient shall appeare Againe this singular example concludeth no more for electing by voyces then the choice of Matthias doth for retaining of lots For since two sortes of elections were vsed by the Apostles presently the one vpon the other who can determine which of those twaine was prescribed to the Church as of necessity to be continued Lastly examples are noprecepts and the reasons that mooued the Apostles to referre the choice of those seven to the liking of the multitude admit infinite varieties circumstances which being altered the effect must needes alter according to the cause And therfore no general rule can be drawen from a particular fact without a strong reason to maintaine the coherence much lesse may you leape from the choice of Deacons in the Apostles time to conclude the like of the election of Presbyters and Bishops which then did and now do greatly differ both in giftes and calling from the Deacons That the Ministers and Elders of Lystra and Iconium and of the Churches confining were ordained by Paul and Barnabas can be no question the Text doth cleerely aâouehit onely the signification of the Greeke worde ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã there vsed is forced by some to prooue that those Elders were chosen by the consent of others besides Paul and Barnabas because ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã say they is to choose by lifting vp of handes which was the vse amongst the Grecians for the people to doe in their elections The aduantage taken vpon the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is not so sound as they suppose For first if that were the right Etymologie of the word yet as most words in Greeke Hebrew besides the externall action and circumstance which they first importe do signifie the effects and consequents depending on that action and circumstance and are by translation generally and vsually applied to other things so this worde doeth signifie to elect and appoint though no handes bee helde vp because electing and appointing was the effect and consequent of lifting vp the handes To prooue this wee neede go no further then the tenth chapter of this verie Booke where Saint Luke without all contradiction vseth the word in such sorte and sense as I mention This Iesus of Nazareth God raised vp the third day and shewed him openly not to all the people ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but to vs witnesses chosen or appointed before-hand of God It were more then absurde to imagine that God did choose the Apostles to bee witnesses of his sonnes resurrection by lifting vp of handes God hath not hands to lift vp the Apostles neither were nor could be chosen by the peoples hands wherefore ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã doth signifie simply to choose and appoint though it âe not doone with holding vp of hands nor by the people Againe were the word in the 14. of the Acts vsed in that signification which they vrge as namely to consent or elect with holding vp the hands yet the Text doth manifestly restraine it to Paul and Barnabas that they did elect and appoint by stretching out their hands such Elders as the Churches then needed For ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is for a man to holde vp or stretch out his owne hand and not other mens hands and no example will euer be brought
Bishop cui si non exors ab omnibus eminens detur potestas tot in ecclesijs efficienâur schismata quot sacerdotes to whom if there bee not giuen a peerelesse power and eminent aboue all others there will bee as many schismes in the Church as there bee Priests thence is it that except the Bishop giue leaue neither Presbyter nor Deacon haue right to baptize The singularitie of one Pastour in euerie place preserueth the Peace and Unitie of the Churches and stoppeth Schismes and dissentions for which cause they were first ordayned by the Apostles And therefore is the conclusion generall both with Councils and Fathers that there coulde bee but one Bishop in one Citie where the Presbyters were many Cornelius Bishop and Martyr long before the Councill of Nice reporting to Fabius Bishop of Antioch the originall of Nouatus schisme saith This iollie inquisitor of the Gospell vnderstandeth not that there ought to be but one Bishop in that Catholike Church in which hee knoweth there are 46. Presbyters The great Nicene Councill tooke speciall care Ne in vna Ciuitate duo sint Episcopi that there should not bee two Bishops in one Citie Chrysostome when Paul writeth to the Bishops and Deacons of Philippi asketh this question What meaneth this were there many Bishops of one Citie and answereth By no meanes but by this title hee designeth the Presbyters for then the name was common in so much that a Bishop was called a Deacon or Minister Afterward each had his proper name and one was called a Presbyter the other a Bishop Theodorete Ne fieri quidem poterat vt multi Episcopi essent vnius Ciuitatis Pastores quo fit vt essent scilicet Presbyteri quos nominauit Episcopos In no case many Bishops could not be Pastours of one Citie Wherefore they were Presbyters whom he called by the name of Bishops Oecumenius Non quòd in vna Ciuitate multi essent Episcopi sed Episcopos vocat Presbyteros tunc enim nominibus adhuc communicabant Bishops Saint Paul nameth not that there were many Bishops in one Citie but the Presbyters he calleth Bishops for as yet the wordes were common to both The Latin Fathers giue the like testimonie Optatus Schismaticus peccator est qui contra singularem cathedram alteram collocat Hee is a schismatike and a sinner that against one Episcopall chaire erecteth an other Hierome Hic Episcopos Presbyteros intelligimus non enim in vna vrbe plures Episcopi esse potuissent Bishops heere wee vnderstand to bee Presbyters for in one Citie there could not bee many Bishops Ambrose referreth those wordes of Saint Paul to the Bishops that were with him and Timothie and not at Philippi With the Bishops which were saieth hee with Paul and Timothie who themselues were Bishops for had hee written to Bishops hee would haue named them and hee must haue written to the Bishop of the place as hee did to Tite and Timothie and not to two or three For as hee saieth elsewhere Aliquantos esse Presbyteros oportet vt bini sint per ecclesias vnus in Ciuitate Episcopus The Presbyters must bee some in number that there may be two in each Church and but one Bishop in a Citie This is a certaine rule to distinguish Bishops from Presbyters the Presbyters were many in euery Church of whom the Presbyterie consisted Bishops were alwayes singular that is one in a Citie and no moe except an other intruded which the Church of Christ counted a Schisme and would neuer communicate with any such or else an helper were giuen in respect of extreame and feeble age in which case the power of the latter ceased in the presence of the former And this singularitie of one Pastour in each place descended from the Apostles and their Scholers in all the famous Churches of the world by a perpetuall chaire of succession and doeth to this day continue but where abomination or desolation I meane heresie or violence interrupt it Of this there is so perfect record in all the stories and Fathers of the Church that I much muse with what face men that haue any taste of learning can denie the vocation of Bishops came from the Apostles for if their succession be Apostolike their function cannot choose but be likewise Apostolike and that they succeeded the Apostles and Euangelists in their Churches and chaires may ineuitably bee prooued if any Christian persons or Churches deserue to be credited The second assured signe of Episcopall power is imposition of handes to ordaine Presbyters and Bishops for as Pastours were to haue some to assist them in their charge which were Presbyters so were they to haue others to succeed them in their places which were Bishops And this right by imposing hands to ordaine Presbyters Bishops in the Church of Christ was at first deriued from the Apostles vnto Bishops and not vnto Presbyters and hath for these fifteene hundred yeeres without example or instance to the contrarie till this our age remained in Bishops and not in Presbyters Philip preached and baptized at Samaria but he could not giue the graces of the holy Ghost by imposition of hands to make fit Pastours and Teachers for the worke of the ministerie the Apostles were forced to come from Ierusalem to furnish the Church of Samaria with meete men to labour in the word and doctrine The like wee finde by Paul and Barnabas in the Actes who visited the Churches where they had preached and supplied them with Presbyters in euery place that wanted Paul left Tite to doe the like in Creete and Timothie was sent to Ephesus to impose handes notwithstanding the Church there had Presbyters long before Ierome where hee retcheth the Presbyters office to the vttermost of purpose to shew that hee may doe by the worde of God as much as the Bishop hee excepteth this one point as vnlawfull for Presbyters by the Scriptures Quid facit excepta ordinatione Episcopus quod Presbyter non faciat What doeth a Bishop saue ordination which a Presbyter may not doe He saieth not what doeth a Bishop which a Presbyter doeth not for by the custome and Canons of the Church very many things were forbidden Presbyters which by Gods word they might doe but hee appealeth to Gods ordinaunce which in his Commentaries vpon Tite hee calleth the diuine institution and by that hee confesseth it was not lawfull for Presbyters to ordaine any And why That power was reserued to the Apostles and such as succeeded them not generally in the Church but specially in the chaire Thence doth Chrysostome inferre verie precisely against your new Discipline that in Paules wordes to Timothie Neglect not the gift that was giuen thee with imposition of handes of the Presbyterie by the word Presbyterie in that place of Scripture must be vnderstoode Bishops not Presbyters and giueth this reason ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for Presbyters
Anicetus Pius Soter Eleutherius so naming 20. more in order vnto Syluester in whose time the great Councill of Nice was kept after him fiue others vnto Silicius qui bodie noster est socius which at this day is our fellow Bishop And so S. Austen If the rowe of Bishops succeeding one an other be to be considered how much more certainely and indeed soundly doe we reckon from Peter himselfe For next to Peter succeeded Linus after Linus Clemens after Clemens Anacletus then Euaristus Alexander Sixtus Thelesphorus Iginus Anicetus Pius Soter Eleutherius Victor and so 25. more vnto Anastasius next after Siricius Neither had these 4. Sees only their successions from the Apostles the rest of the Churches dispersed throughout the world had the like deriuation continuation of bishops from the Apostles or Apostolike men that these had Irenaeus taketh the example of the Church of Rome quoniam valdè longum est in hoc tali volumine omnium ecclesiarum successiones enumerare because it woulde bee ouerlong in such a Volume to repeate the successions of all Churches Otherwise he plainely saieth Agnitio vera est Apostolorum doctrina antiquus ecclesiae status in vniuersomundo secundùm successiones Episcoporum quibus illi cam quae in vnoquoque loco est ecclesiam tradidârunt The true knowledge is the doctrine of the Apostles and the auncient state of the Church in the whole world by the successions of Bishops to whom the Apostles deliuered the Church which is in euerie place Tertullian saieth as much and choketh all the heretikes of his time with that chalenge Edant origines ecclesiarum suarum euoluant ordinem Episcoporum suorum ita per successiones ab initio decurrentem vt primus ille Episcopus aliquem ex Apostolis aut Apostolicis viris habuerit authorem antecessorem Hoc modo ecclesiae Apostolicae census suos deferunt Sicut Smyrneorum ecclesia habens Polycarpum ab Iohanne conlocatum refert sicut Romanorum Clementem à Petro ordinatum edit proinde vtique ceterae exhibent quos ab Apostolis in Episcopatum constitutos Apostolici seminis traduces habeant Let them shewe the originals of their Churches let them number the order of their Bishops so deriued by succession from the beginning that their first Bishop had one of the Apostles or Apostolike men for his authour and antecessor After this maner by succession of Bishops running vp to the Apostles or their Scholers doe the Apostolike Churches bring in their accounts as the Churches of Smyrna hauing Polycarpe placed there by S. Iohn as the Church of Rome sheweth Clement ordained by Peter as the rest of the Churches exhibite what branches they haue of the Apostolike seede euen those that were first placed in the Bishops office by the Apostles Austen likewise Radix Christianae societatis per sedes Apostolorum successiones Episcoporum certa per orbem propagatione diffunditur The roote of Christian societie is increased and extended throughout the world by the seates of the Apostles and successions of Bishops The particulars are infinite if we should recken all the Churches that receiued Bishops from the Apostles and their folowers and the names of the men after so many hundred yeeres are somewhat buried in obliuion and razed with the generall rage of ignorance and barbarisme that hath seized on the best places and perished the best writers before our times It is not possible saieth Eusebius in his tune by name to reherse them all that were Pastours and Euangelists at the first succeeding after the Apostles in the Churches dispersed throughout the world yet those which are extant maâe proofe sufficient for the matter in question to wit that Bishops were placed by the Apostles to gouerne as well the Presbyters as the people of each place and succeeded the Apostles in imposing hands which Presbyters did not Of Timothie Tite Linus Clemens and Dionysius named in the Scriptures Eusebius writeth thus Timotheus is recorded in the stories to bee the first that had the Bishoprike of Ephesus as also Titus of the Churches in Creete Linus whom Paul in his second epistle to Timothie mentioneth as present with him at Rome was the first that had the Bishoprike of the Church of Rome after Peter And Clemens that was appointed the third Bishop of the Church of Rome is witnessed by Paul himselfe to haue bene his fellow labourer and helper Dionysius also the Areopagite who as S. Luke in the Acts noteth was first conuerted by Pauls sermon at Athens was likewise the first Bishop of the Church of Athens as another Dionysius a very ancient Pastour of the Church of Corinth writeth Of Caius Archippus Onesimus Polycarpus and others the like testimonies are extant in ancient writers Origen saieth Fertâr traditione Maiorum quod hic Caius Episcopus fuerit Thessalonicensis ecclesiae Our Elders haue deliuered vs by tradition that this Caius of whom Paul speaketh in the 16. chapter of his epiâââe to the Romanes was Bishop of the Church of Thessalonica Upon Pauls wordes to the Colossians Say to Archippus take heed to the ministerie which thou hast receiued in the Lord that thou fulfil it Ambrose writeth Hee warneth their ouerseer by themselues to be carefull of their saluation And because the epistle is written only for the peoples sake therefore he directeth it to the Church and not to their ruler For after Epaphras had instructed theÌ Archippus vndertooke the gouernment of their Church Ignatius saieth Eusebius being at Smyrna where Polycarpe was wrate an epistle to the Church of Ephesus mentioning Onesimus their Pastor And of Polycarpe he saieth There remained yet in Asia Polycarpus that liued with the Apostles and receiued the Bishoprike of the Church of Smyrna froÌ those that themselues sawe the Lord and ministred vnto him Irenaeus affirmeth as much Et Polycarpus non solùm ab Apostolis edoctus conuersatus cum multis ex cis qui Dominum nostrum viderunt sed etiam ab Apostolis in Asia in ea quae est Smyrnis ecclesia constitutus Episcopus quem nos vidimus in prima nostra atatâ hic docuit semper quae ab Apostolis didicerat quae ecclesiae tradidit Polycarpus not only instructed by the Apostles coÌuersant with many of them which saw the Lord but also by y c Apostles made Bishop of the Church of Smyrna WHOM WE SAW WHEN WE WERE YONG he alwayes taught that which he learned of the Apostles and deliuered it vnto the Church If Christian Churches writers may deserue credite with vs we haue the sincerest and eldest cleerely witnessing and confirming vnto vs that the Apostles when they saw their time placed of their Scholers folowers one in euery Church which they planted to be Bishop and Pastor of the place and that the successions of Bishops so placed by the Apostles dured in all the Apostolike Churches euen to the times
speciall charge of imposition of hands and this their singularitie in succeeding and superioritie in ordaining haue bene obserued from the Apostles times as the peculiar and substantial markes of Episcopal power and calling I knowe some late Writers vehemently spurne at this and hardly endure any difference betwixt Bishops and Presbyters vnlesse it be by custome and consent of men but in no case by any order or institution of the Apostles whose opinions together with the authorities on which they builde I haue according to my small skill examined and find them no way able to rebate the full and sound euidence that is for the contrarie for what more pregnant probation can be required then that the same power and precepts which Paul gaue to Timothie when hee had the charge of Ephesus remained in all the Churches throughout the worlde to certaine speciall and tried persons authorized by the Apostles themselues and from them deriued to their after-commers by a generall and perpetuall succession in euery church and citie without conference to enlarge it or Councill to decree it the continuing where of for three discents the Apostles saw with their eyes confirmed with their handes and Saint Iohn amongst others witnessed with his pen as an order of ruling the Church approoued by the expresse voyce of the Sonne of God When the originall proceeded from the Apostles mouth and was obserued in all the famous places and Churches of Christendome where the Apostles taught and whiles they liued can any man doubt whether that course of gouerning the Church were Apostolike for my part I confesse I am neither so wise as to ouer-reach it with policie nor so wayward as to withstand it with obstinacie Against so maine and cleere proofes as I dare vndertake will content euen a contentious minde when hee readeth them are pretended two poore places the one of Ambrose the other of Ierome the first auouching that in the beginning the Episcopall prerogatiue went by order before it came by way of election vnto desert the other resoluing that Bishops are greater then Presbyters rather by the custome of the Church then by the trueth of the Lords disposition Both these authorities I haue throughly discussed and laide forth the right intent of those Fathers not onely by comparison of other Writers but euen by their owne confession lest any shoulde thinke I drawe them to a forraine sense besides their true meaning for when Ierome and Austen alleage the vse and custome of the Church for the distinction betwixt Bishops and Presbyters if it be vnderstoode of the names and titles of honor which at first were common to both and after diuided by the vse of the Church as Austen expresseth we can absolutely grant the places without any preiudice to the cause if it be applied to their power and function in the church it is most true that Ierome saith Presbyters were subiect in such fort as the Primitiue Church obserued rather by custome then by the trueth of the Lords ordinance For Presbyters in the Primitiue Church as appeareth by Tertullian Ierome Possidonius and others might neither baptize preach nor administer the Lords supper without the Bishops leaue especially in his presence which indeede grewe rather by custome for the preseruation of order then by any rule or commandement of the Lord. By the word of God a Bishop did nothing which a Presbyter might not do saue imposing of hands to ordaine That is the onely distinction in the Scriptures betwixt a Bishop and a Presbyter as Ierome and Chrysostome affirme other differences which the church kept many as to impose hands on the baptized and conuerted to reconcile penitents and such like were rather peculiar to the Bishop for the honour of his calling then for any necessitie of Gods Law If any man vrge further out of Ierome that there was no Bishop at all nor chiefe Ruler ouer the Church and Presbyterie of each place in the Apostles times I answere him with the resolution of one of the greatest patrones of their newe discipline Non ita desipuisse existimandus est vt somniaretneminem illi coetui praefuisse Icrome is not to bee thought to haue beene so vnwise as to dreame the Presbyterie had no chiefe Ruler or President It is a perpetuall and essentiall part of Gods ordinance that in the Presbyterie one chiefe in place and dignitie shoulde gouerne eache action or meeting And againe Tales Episcopos diuinitùs quasi ipsius Christi voce constitutos absit vt vnquam simus inficiati that such Bishops as were Pastours in euerie Citie and chiefe of their Presbyteries were appointed from heauen and as it were by the voyce of Christ himselfe God forbid wee shoulde euer denie This saieth hee on the behalfe of the newe Discipline On the other side I say God forbid I should vrge any other but such as were Pastours ouer their Churches and Gouernours of the Presbyteries vnder them If wee thus farre agree what cause then had those turbulent heades I speake not of them all which to ease their stomackes or to please their maintainers iested and railed rather like Stage-players then Diuines on those whome the wiser sorte amongst them can not denie were ordained by God and appointed by the voyce of Christ himselfe If their reasons bee not the stronger and weightier howsoeuer they flatter themselues in fluaries let them remember who saide hee that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me They will haply saue themselues for that our Bishops differ from the Apostolike Bishops in manie thinges as namelie theirs succeeded in order ours by election the dignitie was in the Apostles times common to euerie Presbyter in his course nowe it is proper to one with them it dured for a season as a weeke or a moneth with vs for life except by iust cause any deserue to bee remooued lastly they had but prioritie of place and authoritie to moderate the meetings and consultings of the rest ours haue a kinde of imperie ouer their fellow-Presbyters These bee precisely the points wherein one of the best learned of that side contendeth the ancient and Apostolike institution of Bishops was changed by processe of time into an other fourme established by custome and confirmed by consent of men these be his own words I haue not altered or inuerted the sense or sentence If any of these differences were true yet are they no causes to discredit the custome of the Primitiue Church in electing her Bishops to hold their places so long as they gouerned well for the same writer pronounceth of these very things setting the last aside neque in istis quicquam est quod reprehendi possit neither in these things is there ought that can be misliked but in deede there is not one of al these diuersities that can bee iustly prooued either by Scripture
seuenth yeere of their Empire and Irenaeus testifieth that he came to Rome vnder Anicetus the tenth Bishop there declared the trueth which he had receiued from the Apostles Did he through ambition retaine the place to which the Apostles called him longer then he shoulde and so altered the Apostolicall kinde of gouernement I had rather chalenge the Consistorians for mistaking Ambrose then Polycarpe for inuerting the Apostolike Discipline The Church of Smyrna called him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Apostolicall and Propheticall Teacher of their times Irenaeus saith of him Hic docuit semper quae ab Apostolis didicerat quae ecclesiae tradidit sola sunt vera hee alwayes taught those things which he learned of the Apostles which he deliuered vnto the Church and they onely are true And if he were not a man of farre more authoritie and certainer fidelitie then any that contradict him yet haue we al the Churches of Christendome their successions of Bishops from the Apostles and all histories and monuments of antiquitie to concurre with him that Bishops liuing in the Apostles daies made by the Apostles hands continued their places til they died neither is there any man liuing that is able to shewe one example to the contrary Let the Christian Reader then say whether it be not a vaine and false surmise which some in our age so mightily maintaine that the Bishops which the Apostles ordained to rule the Presbyteries dured for some short space changed by course that superioritie going round in order to euerie Presbyter the election of Bishops to gouerne the Churches and Presbyters committed to their charge so long as they did it carefully was mans inuention and no Apostolike institution The domination of bishops wil be their last refuge otherwise in elections of Bishops to continue whiles they do their duties the best learned of them confesse there is nothing that can or should be reprehended onely they repine that a Bishop shoulde haue iurisdiction ouer his Copresbyters And heere they are plentiful with places of Scripture as if we went about to make Bishops Lords and Masters ouer the Church and all the rest to be their seruants They alleage the words of Christ Great men exercise authoritie you shall not doe so and of Peter Feede the flocke not as Lords or commanders ouer Gods inheritance but to what purpose I see not Meane they by these places to prooue that the Apostles had no superioritie nor authoritie in the Church of God or that Pastours haue no power ouer their flockes It were more then childish to impugne one trueth by another They themselues do agnise that the Apostles had superioritie and authoritie by Christs owne commission aboue and ouer all other degrees to erect and order the Churches where they preached and they yeelde Pastours authoritie ouer their flockes to commaund in the name of the Lord. Then neither these places nor any other in the Scriptures doe barre Pastoral power ouer the flocke nor distinction of degrees betwixt the Teachers Superior and inferior degrees if Christs wordes did exclude no man might admit them or defend them as lawfull If the Apostles to whom and of whom Christ there spake did not withstanding his speech retaine diuersities of degrees in the Church it is euident our Sauiour did not forbid Superiority but Imperie not Pastorall but Regall authoritie not Fatherly but Masterly preeminence and that in respect aswell of the people as of the Presbyters Peter calling the people Gods heritage and before and after naming them the Lords flocke And how should it possibly be otherwise for since the holy Ghost requireth the faithfull to obey their Leaders and to bee subiect to them no Scriptures do crosse the authoritie and inspection which the guiders of Christes Church shoulde haue ouer their flockes and God by his eternall Lawe comprising Pastours vnder the name of Fathers and assigning them the honour due vnto Parents we may not by colour of any wordes bereaue them of obedience and reuerence no more then of maintenance which are the parts and effects of Fatherly power and honour So long then as wee giue Bishops no charge but Pastorall no power but paternall wee are not in danger of violating either our Sauiours or his Apostles precept and consequently this kinde of superioritie may not bee called or supposed to be Dominion nor Imperie without wrong to the spirite of trueth that hath confirmed it as needefull and healthfull for the house of God euen from the first foundation of the worlde They will easily grant fatherly moderation and Pastorall power vnto Bishops ouer the people but not ouer the Presbyters on this they set vp their rest that no Pastour shoulde haue power ouer others of the same calling and hope assuredly to haue the victorie But they must first reconcile their owne contrarieties they will triumph else before the conquest for ech Presbyterie as themselues confesse must haue a President by Gods essentiall and perpetuall ordinance I aske now whether God giue any man a bare title without any trueth and a Regiment without all authoritie or whether in Gods Lawe deedes and wordes concurre and he be called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a President that is appointed and authorized by God to execute that office The mouth of God intendeth not for mockeries as mans doth and therefore the name neuer goeth without the thing he is iust in his speach and wil not vtter the worde that shall delude the hearer If then by Gods Law there must be Presidents ouer Presbyteries ineuitably there must be Gouernours and Superiours ouer them If some must moderate the meetings of Presbyters and execute their decrees of force they must haue power and authoritie ouer Presbyters and so it is mainly consequent out of their owne positions which they most refuse Againe when Paul left Timothie at Ephesus to impose hands to receiue accusations against Presbyters and openly to rebuke such as sinned did hee not giue him power ouer Presbyters and euen the selfe same that is challenged at this day to belong to Bishops if it were lawful and needful at Ephesus for Timothy to haue that right and authority ouer the Presbyters that were ioynt-Pastors with him how commeth it now to be a tyrannical and Antichristian power in his successours Timothie they will say was an Euangelist and coulde haue no successours If none could succeede him in that power how come their Presbyteries to haue it will they be Euangelists what Lay Elders and all and shall the Presbyteries of the whole world succeede Timothie in his charge at Ephesus That were newes in deede if this authority to impose hands to receiue accusations and rebuke sinnes must remaine in the Church for euer as it is euident it must then was it no Euangelisticall authoritie but a generall and perpetuall function in the Church of Christ that might and did admit others to succeede
Timothie in the same place and power and the rest of the Apostolike Churches had the like order as appeareth by their successions of Bishops fet euen from the Apostles and their followers Of Timothies successours if any man doubt the Councill of Chalcedon will tell him the number of them A sancto Timotheo vsque nunc 27. Episcopi facti omnes in Epheso sunt ordinati from blessed Timothie vnto this present the 27. Bishops that haue bin made haue bin al ordained at Ephesus Other Apostolike Churches as Tertullian saith had the like order of Bishops so deriued by succession from the beginning that the first Bishop had for his Author and Antecessor one of the Apostles or some Apostolike man which had continued with the Apostles So the Bishops of Cyprus in the third generall Councill of Ephesus did witnesse for their Iland Troylus say they Sabinus Epiphanius and the most holie Bishops that were before them and all that haue beene euen from the Apostles were ordained by such as were of Cyprus If Timothies commissioÌ dip too deep for the Presbyters store howbeital the ancient fathers with one consent make that Epistle a very paterne for the Episcopall power and calling yet the authoritie which so many thousand learned and godly Bishops haue had and vsed with the liking and allowance of all Churches Councils and Fathers euen from the Apostles times should to no reasonable man seeme intollerable or vnlawfull except we thinke that the whole church of Christ from her first planting til this our age lacked not onely religion but also vnderstanding to distinguish betwixt Pastorall moderation tyrannical domination to which humor if any man encline I must rather detest his arrogancie then stand to refute so grosse an absurditie I wil therefore set downe in a word or two the summe of that power which Bishops haue had aboue Presbyters euer since the Apostles times if the Disciplinarians thinke it repugnant to the worde of God I woulde gladly heare not their opinions and assertions which I haue often read and neuer beleeued but some quicke and sure probations out of the sacred Scriptures and those shall quiet the strife betwixt vs. The Canons called Apostolike alleaged by themselues as ancient say thus The Presbyters and Deacons let them doe nothing without the knowledge or consent of the Bishop He is the man that is trusted with the Lords people and that shall render account for their soules Ignatius Bishop of Antioch almost thirtie yeres in the Apostles times agreeth fully with that Canon and saith Do you nothing neither Presbyter Deacon nor Lay man without the Bishop neither let any thing seeme ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã orderly or reasonable without his liking ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for it is vnlawfull and displeasant to God Ang againe ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Without the Bishop let no man do anything that pertaineth to the Church The ancient councils of Ancyra Laodicea Arle Toledo and others acknowledge the same rule to be Christian and lawfull yea no Councill or father did euer attribute any such power to the Presbyters as by number of voyces to ouer-rule the Bishops in euery thing as our late reformers haue deuised rather to retriue the world to their pleasures then to imitate any former example of Christes Church or to reuerence the rules that are deliuered in holy Writ If then wee seeke for right Apostolike Bishops they were such as were left or sent by the Apostles to bee Pastours of the Churches and Gouernours of the Presbyteries in euerie Citie that beleeued so long as they ruled well and in their steade as their successours to receiue charge of ordaining others for the worke of the Ministerie and guiding the keies with the aduise and consent of such as laboured with them in the worde and doctrine These partes if I be not deceiued are fully proued in their conuenient places thither I remit the Reader that is desirous to see more It sufficeth mee for this present that no parte of this power can bee iustly challenged as tyrannicall or intollerable by the groundes of Diuine or humane Lawes and therefore the obiecting of domination is a superfluous if not an enuious quarrel of theirs declaring they either do not or will not vnderstand the matter for which we chieflie contend Touching Synodall decrees and Princes Lawes for Ecclesiasticall causes since they must of force be committed to the care and conscience of some that shall execute them I haue examined who are the meetest men to be put in trust with those matters in whom there can be iustly no suspition nor occasion of tyrannicall dealing so long as Dioecesanes and Metropolitanes are limited by written Lawes in eche case what they shall do and euery man that findeth himselfe grieued permitted to appeale from them to Synodes or Princes one of the which must needes take place howsoeuer the Church be either in persecution or peace I haue like wise shewed the necessitie and antiquitie of Dioeceses of Synodes of Primates or Metropolitans as also whether the people by Gods Lawe must elect their Pastors afore they can be rightly and duly called Of these things and many such questions pertaining to the gouernement of Christes Church I haue made speciall and full discourses not omitting any point that was worth the searching In all which as throughout the whole booke when I obiect anything that is or may bee saide on their behalfe that maintaine these newe found Consistories I haue caused it to bee printed in another letter and distinguished from the rest of the Texâ with this maâke as it were to enclose it What I haue performed the Christian Reader shall best perceiue if he take the paines to peruse it All mens humors I do not hope I do not seeke to satisfie Such as are deceiued with ignorance of the truth may haply by this be some what occasioned if not directed to a further search singular conceits that are in loue with their owne deuises swelling spirites that endure no superiors couetous hearts that hunt after spoiles when all is saide will haue their dreames if they can not haue their wils these diseases are so desperate they passe my skil if it were a great deale more then it is My purpose was and is the peace of Gods Church so farre as it may stand with the trueth of his worde and fellowship of his Saints that haue gone before vs with wonderfull graces of his spirite as well for the greatnes of their learning as holinesse of their liues and to that ende haue I so tempered and delayed my stile that I might not iustly offend such as are otherwise minded vnlesse the refusing of their priuate fansies will prouoke the heate of their displeasures I haue alwayes had before mine eies the most of them are brethren for the trueths sake howsoeuer some of them fall to open enmitie for this humour of Iewish Synedrions and Lay
Presbyteries Let them reade if they bring better I am willing to learne but I like no selfe-set assertions as if all the worlde were bound to the very breath of our mouthes or dash of our pennes without any other Text or interpreter If I haue saide ought that is not allowed by the word or not witnessed by the continuall and vniuersall practise of Christes Church I desire not to be beleeued I looke for the like measure if any man replie not to heare the coniecturall and opinatiue ghesses of some that liued in our age but such effectuall reasons and substantiall authorities as may presse the gaine-sayer and settle the consenter God make vs zealous for his not for our wils and so guide our labours that we may lessen the troubles and not ripen the dangers of Sion seeking rather how to amend then how to multiplie the rendes and breaches of Ierusalem Amen CHAP. I. The originall and domesticall Discipline of the Church before the Lawâ CHAP. II. The Leuiticall and Nationall regiment of the Church vnder the Law CHAP. III. The personall and perpetuall kingdome of Christ after he tâââe flâsh CHAP. IIII. The Synedricall Iurisdiction which some men thânkâ ouâ Sauiour in the Gospel restored and recommended to his Church CHAP. V. The Apostolical preeminence and authoritie before and after Christes scension CHAP. VI. What Dominion and titles Christ interdicted his Apostles CHAP. VII Who ioyned with the Apostles in election of Elders and imposition of hands CHAP. VIII The Apostolike power in determining doubts of faith and deliuering vnto Satan CHAP. IX What parts of the Apostolike power and charge were to remaine in the Church after their decease and to whom they were committed CHAP. X. VVhat the Presbyterie was which the Apostles mention in their writings and whether Lay Elders were of that number or no. CHAP. XI VVhat Presbyterie the Primitiue Churches and Catholike Fathers did acknowledge and whether Lay Elders were any part thereof or no. CHAP. XII To whom the Apostles departing or dying lest the gouernement of the Church whether equally to al Presbyters or chiefly to some and how farre the conceits of late VVriters herein varie from the ancient Fathers whose wordes they pretend to followe CHAP. XIII That some chiefe euer since the Apostles times haue beene seuered from the rest of the Presbyters in euery Citie by power of ordination and right of succession whom the Fathers before vâ did and we after their example doe call Bishops CHAP. XIIII The fatherly power and Pastourall care of Bishops ouer Presbyters and others in their Churches and Dioeceses CHAP. XV. To whom the elections of Bishops and Presbyters doth rightly belong and whether by Gods Lawe the people must elect their Pastours or no. CHAP. XVI The meetings of Bishops in Synodes and who did call and moderate those assemblies in the Primitiue Church THE PERPETVAL GOVERNEMENT OF CHRISTES CHVRCH Chap. I. The originall and domesticall Discipline of the Church before the Lawe WHat need there is of order and gouernement as in all assemblies of men that will liue together so namely and chieflie in the Church of Christ the wisedome of God hath many wayes witnessed vnto vs both by the proportion of those naturall and ciuill societies to which the Church is compared and by the perfection of that felowship which the Saints haue had amongst themselues in all ages and places euen from the foundation of the world where the true worship of God hath preuailed The first roote of all humane consort and communion I meane priuate howses hath not the Lord distinguished by diuers degrees and prerogatiues of husband parents and master aboue wife children and seruants and yet linked them all together in mutuall correspondence with dueties according The branches that thence rise as Cities Countries and kingdomes haue they not their Lawes to prescribe and Magistrates to execute things needfull for their common estate God ordaining powers and deliuering the sword for the defence of the simple and innocent and repressall of the wicked and iniurious Were wee willing or constant in that which is good Discipline were not so requisite but because the corruption of our nature is such that we are soone deceiued of our selues sooner seduced by others and soonest of all auerted and peruerted with feare and desire to settle the vnsted fastnesse of our hearts and bridle the vnrulinesse of our affections the Lord hath prouided for all societies the line of direction and rod of correction as well to guide the tractable as to represse the obstinate least disorder endured should breed confusion the forerunner of all ruine Since then the Church of Christ is the house of God the Citie of the liuing God and the kingdom of his beloued sonne shall we thinke that God is carefull for other s and carelesse for his owne or that confusion ought to be lesse doubted and feared in heauenly then in earthly thingâ God is no where author of confusion but of peace especially in his Church in which hee commandeth all things to be decently orderly done Where no man doeth gouerne what order can bee kept where no man doeth moderate what peace can be had yea what greater dissipation can befall the Church of God then for euery man to intrude where he list and obtrude what hee will without restraint or reproofe Wherefore God hath appointed Stewards ouer his houshold watchmen and leaderâ ouer his flocke Labourers in his haruest husbandmen in his tillage diuers administrations as well for the preseruation as edification of the Church which is the body of Christ and so farre foorth answereth the frame of mans body that as there so in the Church God hath set some to be in stead of eyes eares tongue and handes that is to be principall members for the guiding and directing of the whole which without them is maimed and vnable to prouide for the safetie and securitie of it selfe Neither may we thinke that order and discipline is needfull for the people in Gods Church and needelesse for the Pastours that were to gard the feete and leaue the head open to a more deadlie wound but rather as the more principall the part the more perilous the disease so the more disordered the Pastours the likelier the people to perish by their dissentions The house cannot stand which the builders subuert The haruest is lost where the labourers doe rather skatter then gather If the eie lacke light how darke is the body If the salt be vnsauourie where withall shall the rest he seasoned The folowers cannot goe right where the guides go astray and forces distracted bee they neuer so great are soone defeated Discord and disorder in the Pastours rent the Church in pieces where as peace and agreement in the Teachers confirme and establish the mindes of the hearers If they striue that sit at sterne the ship of Christ cannot hold a straight and safe course in the
hands on them writeth thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Hands were laied on them with prayer This is that which the Grecians call ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the hand of man is laied on but God worketh all and his hand it is that toucheth the head of him that receiueth imposition of hands if they be laied on as they ought Where ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they laied handes on them standeth for the Actiue to ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they receiued imposition of hands and equiualent with both is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which is expounded by these two circumstances ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the hand of man is laid on and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the hand of God toucheth the head of him that is ordered Againe debating the wordes of S. Paul to Timothie Neglect not the gift which was giuen thee by prophesie ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã with the imposition of handes of the Presbyterie he saieth Paul speaketh nothere of Elders but of bishops ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã For Elders laid not hands on a Bishop which Timothie was Where ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is vsed by Chrysostome to import expresse these words of S. Paul ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã impositioÌ of haÌds The very same exposition of the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is often vsed in the ecclesiasticall historie When Moses was to be made bishop of the Saracens before the Romane Emperour could haue peace with them and was brought to Lucius an Arrian and bloudy persecuter then bishop of Alexandria to bee consecrated by him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã hee refused imposition of hands with these words to Lucius I thinke my selfe vnwoorthy for the place of a bishop but if the state of the common wealth so require ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Lucius shall lay no handes on me for his right hand is full of bloud and so his friends led him to the mountaines there to receiue ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã imposition of hands of those that were banished for the trueth Likewise wheÌ Sabbatius the Iew that was made priest by Marcianus a bishop of the Nouatians began to trouble the Church with obseruing and vrging the Passeouer after the Iewish maner Marcianus misliking his owne errour ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for imposing handes on him said It had bene better for him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to haue laied his handes on thornes then on such priests And so Basil expressing the words of S. Paul to Timothie Lay hands hastilie on no man saieth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Wee must not be easie or ouer readie to impose hands There can then be no question but as amongst the prophane Grecians ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã did signifie to lift vp the hand in token of liking because that was their maner in yeelding their consents so amongst all ecclesiasticall writers ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is to laie hands on an other mans head which the Church of Christ vsed in calling and approouing her bishops and Presbyters to whom she committed the cure of soules And in this sence shall we finde the word euery where occurrent in the Greeke Canons of the auncient Councils as by fiue hundred examples more might bee shewed if these were not enough which I haue produced Whose liking and laisure serueth him to make triall hereof let him reade the Councils and Fathers here quoted though not discussed for breuities sake least in a matter more then plaine I should bee tedious and spend both paynes and time more then sufficient The Canons called the Apostles which I alleage not as theirs but as agreeing in many things with the auncient rules and orders of the Primitiue Church the 1. 2. 29. 35. 68. The Councill of Ancyra ca. 10. 13. The Councill of Neocaesaria ca. 9. 11. The great Councill of Nice ca. 4. 16. 19. The Councill of Antioch ca. 9. 10. 18. 19. 22. The Councill of Laodicea ca. 5. The generall Councill of Constantinople ca. 2. 4. The great Councill of Chalcedon ca. 2. 6. 15. 24. The Councill of Africa ca. 13. 18. 50. 51. 56. 90. 95. Basili epist. 74. 76. Nazianz. in epitaph patris Chrysost. de sacerdotio li. 2. 4. Epipha haeres 75. Gregorius in vita Nazianz. and so the Greeke historiographers Euseb. li. 6. ca. 20. Socrat. li. 1. ca. 15. li. 2. ca. 6. 12. 13. 24. 26. 35. 44. li. 3. ca. 9. li. 4. ca. 29. li. 5. ca. 5. 8. 15. li. 6. ca. 12. 14. 15. 17. li. 7. a. 12. 26. 28. 36. 37. Theodoret. li. 4. ca. 7. 13. li. 5. ca. 23. Sozome li. 3. ca. 3. 4. 6. li. 4. ca. 8. 12. 20. 22. 24. li. 5. ca. 12. 13. li. 6. ca. 8. 13. 23. 24. 38. li. 7. ca. 3. 8. 9. 10. 18. li. 8. ca. 2. Euagrius li. 2. ca. 5. 8. 10. li. 3. ca. 7. All which places and infinite others prooue the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to bee taken amongst y e Greeke Diuines as I haue sayd for imposition of hands and to be an act proper to the bishops not common to the people therefore by no means to import a collecting of the peoples voices or gathering their consents although I denie not but sometimes it signifieth simply to choose by whom soeuer it be done one or many S. Paul so vseth the word commending Luke vnto the Corinthians We haue sent the brother whose prayse is in the Gospell ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not onely so but also hee is chosen of the Churches to bee a companion with vs in our iourney or to goe with vs to cary this grace or contribution which is ministred by vs. In collecting and conueying the liberalitie of the Gentiles vnto the Saints at Ierusalem S. Paul would not entermeddle alone least any should distrust him or misreport him as couetously detaining or fraudulently diuerting any part of that which was sent but he tooke such to goe with him and to he priuie to his doings as the Churches that were contributers liked allowed those he calleth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã y e messengers of the Churches they were chosen by the churches theÌselues not by the Apostle because he would auoid all suspicion blame in this seruice and prouide for the sincere report and opinion of his doings euen with men I finde the worde likewise vsed once or twice in epistles that are attributed to Ignatius where ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is to choose some Bishop that shoulde be sent as a Legate to Antioch in Syria to procure and confirme the peace of that Church and not to choose one that shoulde be Bishop of Antioch For as yet Ignatius their Bishop was liuing who wrote that Epistle and what had the Churches of Philadelphia and Smyrnato doe with the choosing of a newâ Bishop for the Church of Antioch But as other Churches vsed in any contention or vnquietnesse of their neighbours to send some their Bishop some an Elder or Deacon
that word I vnderstand the very ordering of Timothie as if Paul had said Looke that the grace bee not in vaine which thou receiuedst by imposition of handes when I created or made thee an Elder If seposing a litle the names of men wee eramine the grounds of both interpretations or remember but your owne positions we shall soone perceiue which is the likelier That the Presbyterie wined with Paul in laying handes on Timothie no reason euicteth onely the ambiguitie of the word which hath those two significations leadeth some writers to that surmise on the other side that Paul himselfe laid hands on Timothie without others to conioine with him besides the wordes of Paul which are plaine enough for that purpose the excellencie of Timothies functioÌ were he Euangelist or Bishop and sufficiencie of Pauls hands do strongly enduce Your selues say Timothie was an Euangelist that is one which attended and helped the Apostle in his trauels for the Gospell to appoint who should folow the Apostle in his voiages pertained not to the Presbyterie of any one Church but lay wholy in the Apostles own choice liking as appeareth by his refusing Marke taking Silas when Barnabas departed from him because he would not take Marke into his company Againe the power gifts of an Euangelist or Bishop so farre exceeded the degree of Presbyters that they could not be deriued froÌ them but from the Apostles As therefore Timothie could not haue the calling neither of an Euangelist nor of a Bishop froÌ the Presbyterie but froÌ the Apostle so was he to receiue imposition of hands the signe seale of his calling froÌ the Apostle not from the Presbyterie Lastly since Paul saith his hands were laid on Timothie what needed the helpe of other mens hands Were not Pauls hands sufficient without assistance to giue him the grace either of aprophet Euangelist bishop or pastor The first prophets Pastors to whom the Apostle committed the churches of the Gentils from whose hands did they receiue their gifts notfrom Pauls TheÌ if Pauls hands were able to make the Pastors and prophets wheÌ as yet there was no Presbyterie had he now lost his Apostolike power that he could not do the like to Timothie But Chrysostome and others affirme that moe besides Paul lâiâd hands on Timothie Chrysostome cleane excludeth the Preshyterie by saying The Presbyters could not impose hands on a bishop those are his words before alleaged Theodoret saieth PresbyteriuÌ hic vocat eos qui ApostolicaÌ gratiam acceperunt Paul here calleth them the Presbyterie which had Apostolike grace that is episcopall as himselfe expoundeth it Theophilact followeth Chrysostome and taketh the Presbyterie for the bishops saying Aduerte quantum valeant Pontificum manuâ impositae Marke what force the imposing of handes by bishops hath Ambrose inclineth to one rather then to many his words are Gratiamtamen dari ordinatoris significat perprophetiam manuum impositionem That the grace of the ordainer was giuen he signifieth by prophesie and imposition of hands As yet then we haue no proofe by the Scriptures that in elections of Elders the people concurred with the Apostles nor that in imposing hands the Presbyterie ioyned with them the places cited to that intent prooue no such thing Matthias was chosen by lots the seuen Deacons your selues say had no charge of the word and Sacraments at Lystra and Iconium Paul and Barnabas laied hands on such as they found meete to be Elders and Timothie being superiour to Presbyters was offorce to haue the gifts grace of his calling not from them but from the Apostles hands I haue not racked nor wrested the places from their naturall sense nor the words from their proper significance ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã with ecclesiasticall writers to him that will not purposely shut his eyes against the truth is to impose hands ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is the office and calling of an Elder as well as the number of Elders and that sense Caluin not only coÌfesseth to agree wel with the text but resolutely vpholdeth it in his institutions as the right meaning of S. Pauls words the Presbyterie must goe seeke for some other hold for the imposition of their hands The fathers Greeke and Latin repell that as an ouersight or conceit in our late writers How then were elections made and imposition of hands giuen in the Apostles time I confesse I had rather read other mens iudgements herein then write mine owne so as they take the pains soberly to prooue that they say and not peremptorily to auouch what they like the which if it might be obserued in the Church of Christ would a great deale the sooner appease and decrease the âârifes that now afflict the mindes and quenth the zoales of most men not knowing where to rest or what to beleeue yet least our silence should animate others to fall further in loue with their fansies I will not be grieued to expresse what I suppose was the authenticall and Apostolicall manner of electing Elders and imposing hands and first of imposing of hands whence it was deriued and to what end it was vsed The laying of handson anothers head was an auncient rite amongst the Iewes vsed in making their prayers for any and beating witnesse with or against any confirmed and ratified by God himselfe Iacob when he blessed the children of Ioseph laied his hands on their heads Moses was willed by God to put his hands vpon Ioshua before all the Congregation and in their sight to giue him his charge that he might bee ruler of the Lordes people Euery man by the lawe of Moses was to lay his hand on the head of his sacrifice that he presented vnto God The two Elders that falslie accused Susanna laied their handes on her head whiles they gaue euidence against her The some of God when he came in flesh did not reâect that ceremonie but did rather strengthen it When little children were brought vnto him he laied his handes on them and blessed them The sicke and such as were possessed with deuils were healed by the laying on of his hands and to the faythfull he gaue that power that they should lay their hands on the sicke and recouer them The Apostles receiuing it from their master not onely vsed it in curing of diseases and in their publike blessings prayers and supplications for any man that his labour might succeed to the glorie of God and good of others but also retained it in the calling and confirming of such as the spirite of grace would make meete for these uice of Christes Church and in conferring the gifts of the holy Ghost on them Paul laied handes on the father of Publius when hee cured him of his feauer and bloudie fluxe Ananias laied handes on Paul when as yet hee was not baptized that hee might receiue his eye-sight When the holie Ghost commaunded to separate and
accipiat satisfactionis suae modum Let him come to the Presidents by whom the keies are ministred vnto him in the Church and receiue of them that haue the ouersight of the Sacraments the maner of his satisfaction It seemed vnpossible that by repentance sinnes should be remitted saith Ambrose but Christ graÌted this to his Apostles from the Apostles it descended to the Priests function Loe saith Gregory the Apostles which feared the district iudgement of God are made iudges of soules Their places now in the Church the Bishops keepe They haue authoritie to bind loose that are called to that degree of regiment A great honour but a great burden followeth this honour Let the Pastour of the Church feare vndiscretely to binde or loose but whether the Pastour binde iustly or vniustly the Pastours sentence is to be feared of the flocke The Councils generall prouinciall reserue both excommunication and reconciliation to the iudgement conscience of the Pastout Bishop and by no means impart either of them to the people or laie-Elders The great Council of Nice Touching such as are put from the Communion whether they be Clergie men or Laie by the Bishops in euery place let this rule be kept according to the Canon that they which be reiected by some be not receiued by others but let it be carefully examined that they be not cast out of the church by the weaknes waspishnes frowardnes or rashnes of the bishop And y â this matter may the better be enquired of we like it wel y â twise euery yere there should be kept a Synode in euery Prouince y â all the Bb. of the Prouince meeting together may examine those matters such as haue cleerly offended their bishop let theÌ be held iustly excoÌmunicat by all vntil it shall seeme good to the bishops in coÌmon to giue an easier iudgement of them This was the ancient and vniuersall rule of Christes Church for the Pastour or Bishop to haue the power of the keyes to admit and remooue from the Sacraments such as deserued it and for the examination and moderation of their doings neither people nor laie-laie-Presbyters were ioyned with them but a Synode of Bishops in the same Prouince euerie halfe yeere heard the matter when any found himselfe grieued with the censure of his Bishop and they according to the right of the cause were to reuerse or ratifie the former iudgement yea the Bishop had power at the time of death or otherwise vpon the vnfained repentance of the partie to mitigate the rigour of the Canons as appeareth in the 12. and 13. of the same Councill It shall be lawfull for the Bishop to deale more gently with them And againe generally for euery excommunicate person that is readie to depart this life and desireth to bee partaker of the Eucharist let the Bishop vpon triall giue him the Communion And so the generall Councill of Chalcedon We determine the Bishop of the place shall haue power to deale more fauourablie with such as by the Canons should stand excommunicate The Councill of Antioch If any be depriued the Communion by his owne Bishop let him not be admitted to the Communion by others afore he appeare and make his defence at the next Synode and obtaine from them another iudgement except his owne Bishop or Dioecesan bee content to receiue him This rule to be kept touching laie-men Priests Deacons and all others within the compasse of the Canon The Councill of Sardica If a Bishop be ouer caried with anger which ought not to be in such a man and hastily mooued against a Priest or Deacon wil cast him out of the church we must prouide that he be not condemned wheÌ he is innocent nor depriued the Communion And the Bishop that hath put him from the Communion must be content that the matter bee heard that his sentence may be confirmed or corrected But before the perfect exact hearing looking into the cause hee that is excommunicated may not chalenge the Communion The third Councill of Carthage Let the times of repentance be appointed by the discretion of the Bishops vnto y â Penâents according to the difference of their sinnes And that no Presbyter reconcile a penitent without the liking of the Bishop vnlesse necessitie force in the absence of the Bishop And if the fault be publike blazed abroad and offend the whole Church let hands be imposed on him before the railes or Arch which seuereth the people from the ministers Concerning those which worthily for their offences are cast out of the assemblie of the Church Augustine then Legate for Numidia sayd May it please you to decree that if any bishop or Presbyter receiue them to the Communion which are worthily throwen out of the Church for crimes committed he himselfe shall be subiect to the same chalenge that they were declining the lawful sentence of their owne bishop Sozomene declaring after what penitentiall maner the excommunicate persons in the Primitiue Church stood in an open place whence the whole assemblie might see them addeth that in this sorte euery one of them abideth the time how long soeuer which the bishop hath appointed him A thousand other places might bee noted both in Fathers and Councils to shewe that from the Apostles to this day no late person was euer admitted in the Church of Christ to ioyne with the Pastours and Bishops in the publike vse of the keies and therefore the fathers haue exceeding wrong to be made fauourers and vpholders of the late discipline and laie Presbyterie Cyprian confesseth the people consented and concurred with him in the receiuing of Schismatikes such lewd offenders to the church and Communion vpon repentance His words to Cornelius be these O if you might be present here with vs when peruerse persons returne from their schisme you should see what labour I haue to perswade patience to our brethren that suppressing their griefe of heart they would consent to the receiuing and curing of these euil members I hardly perswade the people yea I am forced to wrest it froÌ them before they wil suffer such to be admitted It is an easie matter to make some shewe of contradiction in the writings of the ancient fathers diuers occasions leading them to speake diuerslie but it will neuer be prooued they thought it lawfull for Laie men to chalenge the publike vse of the keyes in the Church of Christ. The causes of excommunication and times of repentance were wholie referred to the iudgement of such as had the chiefest charge of the worde and Sacramentes as wee mayperceiue by the former authorities yet in notorious and scandalous offenses when the whole Church was grieued or when a schisme was feared the godlie fathers did both in remoouing and reconciling of such persons âtaie for the liking and approbation of the whole people to concurre with them not to warrant or confirme the sentence that
I woulde bee farre from contradicting them but nowe I cannot admit them nor in this case the first authors of them by reason I finde no such Elders expressed or testified in any father or writer of the Primitiue Church Elders I finde Lay Elders I neuer finde and by the name of Elders or Presbyters the ancient fathers do meane such Teachers and Labourers in the word as with their counsell and consent did aduise and direct the Bishop of eche Church and Citie in cases of doubt danger and importance when as yet neither Synodes could assemble nor Christian Magistrates be found to helpe and assist the Church against the deadly poyson of heresies and cruel rage of persecutors which those dayes did vsually offer Examine your owne witnesses if they say not as much as I affirme I am well content to yeelde the whole Ignatius is the first that is alledged for Lay Elders and the first if his testimony may be taken that wil vtterly ouerthrowe the Lay Presbyterie He often mentioneth the Presbyterie but chiefly in his second Epistle where he writeth thus to the Church of Trallis Be subiect to the Bishop as vnto the Lorde hee it is that watcheth oueryour soules as one that shall account vnto God you must therefore whatsoeuer you enterprise doe nothing without the Bishop but be subiect also to the Presbyterie as vnto the Apostles of Iesus Christ. You must likewise by all meanes please the Deacons of the mysteries of Iesus Christ. The Bishop is the figure of the father of all the Presbyters as the Senate of God and a knot of the Apostles of Christ. without these the chosen Church is not nor the company of Saints not the assemblie of the holie What is the Bishop but one that hath power ouer all as much as is possible for a man to haue a resembler in power of Christ that is God What is the Presbyterie but a sacred assemblie the Counsellers and Coasseâsours of the Bishop Presbyters or Elders we see heere with all their titles Lay Elders we see none To presume vpon the anââiguitie of the worde that they were Lay is so childish aproofe that it should not come in wisemens heads yet lest wee should be carried with that wilfull persuasion which I see many possessed with marke what Elders they were of whome Ignatius spake He calleth them in this Epistle ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a knot or company of Apostles or Messengers of Christ and in the next hee saieth As the Lord did nothing without his father so must not you without the Bishop ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã whether you be Presbyter Deacon or Lay man To the Chrch of Philodelphia he writeth thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Presbyters Deacons and the rest of the Clergie together with all the people obey the Bishop And so euery where ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let the Lay men be subiect to the Deacons the Deacons to the Presbyters the Presbyters to the Bishop And expressing their office with Saint Peters wordes hee saieth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã You Presbyters feed the flock that is with you till God shew who shall be ruler or Bishop ouer you for I now hasten to gaine Christ. Presbyters then with Ignatius were Pastours and part of the Clergie and so farre from being Lay men that all Lay men were subiect vnto them as vnto the Apostles of Christ and not ioyned with them in the same Presbyterie to gouerne the Church Hierome the next of your witnesses for I take them not as their ages but as their testimonies ioyne neerest together writing on Esay saith Et nos habemus in ecclesia Senatum nostrum coetum Presbyterorum We haue in the Church our Senate euen the assemblie or companie of Presbyters And againe Commâni Presbyterorum consilio regebantur ecclesiae The Churches were at first gouerned by the common aduise of the Presbyters Thââ Elders at first did gouerne the Church by common aduise iâ no doubt at all with vs this is it which is doubted and denied by vs and shal neuer be proued by any that those Elders were Lay men which so gouerned the Church What Elders Ierome meant is soone discerned by his owne words Idem est ergo Presbyter qui Episcopus An Elder or Presbyter then is the selfe same that a Bishop is and before there were factions in religion by the Diuels instinct and the people began to say I hold of Paul I of Apollo and I of Cephas the Churches were gouerned with the common aduise of Presbyters But when euery one thought those whome he baptized to be his owne and not Christs it was decreede in the whole worlde that one of the Presbyters chosen shoulde bee set aboue the rest to whome the whole care of the Church should appertaine Ierom auoucheth that Bishops and Presbyters were at the first all one and saith the Church was guided by their common aduise vntill the Presbyters beganne to chalenge such as they had baptized for their own and not for Christs He writeth then of such Elders as did baptize and feede the flocke and differed from Pastours and Bishops neither in dispensing the worde nor Sacraments but onely in wanting power to impose hands For so debating the very same matter in his Epistle to Euagrius hee saith Quid enâm facit excepta ordinatione Episcopus quod presbyter non faciat What doth a Bishop saue ordering or imposing hands which a Presbyter may not doe Then Presbyters with Ierome did preach baptize administer the Lords supper as well as Bishops and were indeed Teachers and Pastors by whose counsell at the first the Churches were gouerned And of such Ierome saieth Bishops must knowe they are greater then Presbyters rather by custome then by the trueth of the Lordes disposition and ought to gouerne the Church in common Let any man that hath care of his conscience or credite read the places in Hieromes Epistle to Euagrius and in his Commentaries vpon the first to Tite where hee sheweth what Elders did and shoulde gouerne the Church and if this that I say bee not more then euident I will hazarde mine before God and man Ambrose is an other that speaketh to the same effect Amongst al Nations age is honorable Unde Synagoga postea ecclesia seniores habuit quorum sine consilio nihil agebatur in ecclesia Wherefore the Iewish synagogue and after the Church had Seniours or Elders without whose counsell nothing was doone in the Church The which by what negligence it is out of vse I knowe not vnlesse it be by the slouth or rather pride of thé Teachers whiles they alone will seeme to bee somewhat Heere likewise is mention of Elders without whose aduise nothing was doone in the Church but by Ignatius and Ierome we saw before they were not Lay men but Cleargie men by whose counsell the Churches were gouerned Had
one wife And againe Eucharistiae sacramentum non de aliorum manu quà m Praesidentium sumimus we take not the Sacrament of the Eucharist at any others then at the Pastours or Rulers hands Handling this assertion Nónne Laici Sacerdotes sumus Wee that are of the Laitie are wee not Priestes he saieth Differentiam inter ordinem plebem constituit ecclesiae authoritas honor per ordinis consessum sanctificatus à Deo A difference betwene the order of Priests and the people the authoritie of the church hath made and the honor sanctified of God by the setting together of their order And shewing how many degrees he accounted in the Cleargie he saith Quùm ipsi authores idest ipsi Diaconi Presbyteri Episcopi fugiunt quomodo Lâicus c. When the first men that is the Deacons Presbyters and Bishops flee how shall the Lay forbeare fleeing when the Leaders flee which of the Souldiours will stand Hee is an euill Pastour Christ confirming it that fleeth when hee seeth the woolfe and leaueth his sheepe to the spoyle Which is neuer more doone then when in persecution ecclesia destituitur à Clero the Church is forsaken of the Cleargie Porrò si eos qui Gregi praesunt fugere quum lupi irruunt nec decet imò nec licet qui enim Pastorem talem malum pronunciauit vtique damnauit ideo Praepositos ecclesiae in persecutione fugere non oportebit Then if it bee neither seemely nor lawfull for the Rulers of the flocke to flee when the woolues rush in for hee that pronounced such a one an euill sheepeheard did doubtlesse condemne him the ouerseers of the Church may not flee in persecution By this wee may plainely perceiue there were in Tertullians time no Leaders Rulers nor Ouerseers of the flocke and Church but Pastours and Cleargie men and those either Deacons Priests or Bishops Lay Elders are farre from Tertullians wordes and further from his meaning Why his hooke De Bâptisââ should be alleaged for Lay Elders I can not so much as gesse Some men are so infected with the fansie of Lay Elders that they no sooner reade the word Presbyter but they straight dreame of their Lay Presbyterie Otherwise if we would seeke for a place to crosse their newe discipline we could not light on a better Dandi baptismum ius habet summus Sacerdos qui est episcopus Dehinc Presbyteri Diaconi non tamen sine episcopi authoritate propter ecclesiae honorem quo saluo salua pax est alioquinetiam Laicis ius est To giue baptisme is the right of the chiefest Priest which is the Bishop After him the Presbyters and Deacons not yet without the Bishops authoritie for the honour of the Church that is the honour allowed him in the Church the which being obserued peace is preserued otherwise it were lawful for lay men to doe it Heere find we the Bishop to be the chiefest Priest without his leaue the rest not to baptize With his leaue the Presbyters and Deacons might but not Lay men saue in cases of extremitie then as hee thinketh anie Lay man might The trueth of his opinion I am not heere to discusse the tenour of his reporte I haue no cause to distrust I finde it confirmed by others that in the presence of the Bishop the rest might not baptise as also that none of these three degrees were Lay men Admit the Bishop to be the chiefest the Elders and Deacons without his authoritie to doe nothing and remooue Laie men from the number of Bishoppes Elders and Deacons the platfourme of your Lay Presbyterie must needes fall Augustine much misliked the fond and lewd excuses that some in his time made when they were rebuked for their sinnes Cùm arguuntur à senioribus When they are reprooued by thee or their Elders for drunkennes rapine and killing of men in tumults they answeare what should I doe being a Secular man or a souldier haue I professed to bee a Monke or a Cleargie man Heere is the bare name of Elders but whether they were Lay men or Clearkes heere is no mention If this admonition and reprehension were priuate the Elders may hee the one or the other as you will Euery Christian man hath libertie to reprooue and admonishe his Brother priuatelie for anie sinne committed and it best becommeth age and grey hayres to mislike the disorders and enormities of yoonger and raâher heades and then the words of Austen are when they be reprooued by their Elders But if the rebuke were open then Seniores were the elder sort of such Cleargie men as had the charge and ouersight of other mens liues and manners and sate in iudgement with the Bishop to exhort chastice and censure licentious persons That Lay men in Austens time intermedled with the keyes or sacraments I vtterly deny and therefore the worde Elders cannot import that which then was not The keyes whereon Excommunication dependeth and the Sacraments from which offendors are excluded were then the Pastours charge and not the peoples It is more then ignorance for those that woulde seeme learned to imagine that Austen euer heard or thought any Lay men had an interest in the open and ordinarie vse of the keyes and disposition of the Sacraments The Iudges that Austen acknowledged in the Church were no lay Elders as plainly appeareth by his words before alledged neither had lay men any iudgemeÌt seats prouided for them in y â church sed sedes Praepositorum ipsi Praepositi intelligendi sunt per quos ecclesia nunc gubernatur But the seates of the Rulers and the Rulers themselues saith Austen are vnderstoode by whome the Church is nowe gouerned And lest you should doubt who gouerned the Church in his dayes Bishops or Lay Elders noting vpon the 106. psalme three tentations that euery religious and faithfull man amongst the people of God might haue tryall of hee saith Fortassis dignus eris cui populus committatur constituaris in gubernaculis nauis recturus ecclesiam Ibi quarta tentatio Tempestates maris quatientes ecclesiam turbant Gubernatorem Quarta ista nostra est Quanto plus honoramur tanto plus periâlitamur Tentatio ergo gubernandi tentatio periculorum in regenda ecclesia nos potissimum tangit Happely thou shalt be found woorthie to whom the people may be committed to sit at the helue of the ship to gouerne the Church There is the fourth tentation The storms of the Sea that shake the Church trouble the Gouernor This fourth is ours The higher our honor the greater the danger The tentation then of gouerning the tentation of troubles in ruling the Church chiefly concerneth vs yet are ye not free For brethren though you sit not at the same sterne yet saile you in the same ship Pastours then in S. Austens time and no Lay persons did gouerne the Church and rule the flocke and by them iudgement was giuen and
his presence and very often to expound the Gospell in deed against the maner and custome of the Churches of Africa whereupon some Bishops were offended with him This is the whole narration of Possidonius touching S. Austens Presbytership which was no laie function as we see by the sequele neither giuen him by any Laie Elders but motioned and vrged by all the people and consummated by Valerius that ordered him without the helpe or assistance of any other to ioyne with him Cyprian I reserued to the last though in yeeres he were first because hee is largest as being alleaged no lesse then sixe times howbeit the number of allegations doe not helpe foorth the matter but the trueth and force of them is more to bee regarded Of these sixe there is one place of some importance the rest are soone answered Cyprian writing to the Presbyters and Deacons of Carthage where hee was Bishop saieth Ad id quod scripserunt mihi Compresbyteri nostri Donatus Nouatus Curdius solus rescribere nil potui cùm à primordio Episcopatus mei statuerim nihil sine consilio vestro sine consensu plebis mea priuatim sententia gerere To that which Donatus Nouatus and Curdius our Compresbyters wrate vnto vs I alone could answere nothing forsomuch as I haue resolued with my selfe euen from my first entrance into the Bishoprike without your counsell and the consent of the people to doe nothing vpon my priuate opinion If the Presbyters to whom Cyprian wrate had bene Laie Elders it were somewhat to the purpose but Cyprian neuer heard of any such They were Clergie men to whome hee wrate and Clergie men of whome hee spake They sate with him in the Church with them hee treated in common of the Church affaires their counsell and aduise hee vsed in all things This if you reade Cyprian cannot bee strange vnto you if you peruse but the places which your selues haue quoted you will confesse it Writing to the whole Church of Carthage of one Numidicus that in persecution was scorched with fire ouerwhelmed with stones and left for dead amongst many that were slayne and yet after found halfe aliue by his daughter and recouered Cyprian saieth Know yee brethren your selues to be admonished and instructed by this fauour of God Vt Numidicus Presbyter ascribatur Presbyterorum Carthaginensium numero nobiscum sedeat in Clero c. That Numidicus the Presbyter should bee adioyned to the number of the Presbyters of Carthage and sit with vs amongst the Clergie for this as wee see was the cause of preseruing him that the Lord might adde him to our Clergie and adorne with glorious Priests the perished honour of some of our Presbyters The Presbyters or Elders then of Carthage were the Clergie that sate with the Bishop and with him consulted of matters concerning the good of the Church To Lucius bishop of Rome he saieth The Lord by persecution shewed which was his Church who was his Bishop qui cum Episcopo Presbyteri Sacerdotali honore coniuncti who were Presbyters ioyned with the Bishop in Priestlie honour which the true people of Christ. And againe Presbyteris Diaconis non defuit Sacerdotis vigor c. To the Presbyters and Deacons there wanted not the vigor of Priesthood to compresse those that being vnmindfull of discipline and rashly running on began to communicate with such as were fallen in persecution These Presbyters Elders were ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Counsellers and Coassessors to the Bishop as Ignatius remembreth they ruled the Church in common as Hierome auoucheth and without their counsell was nothing done in the Church as Ambrose asserteth and they had euen the honour and vigor of Priesthood as Cyprian witnesseth Of these speaketh Cyprian in euery epistle of laie Elders no âillable can bee found in all his writings These Elders be as rare as the other be rife the one euery where the other no where to be prooued or pretended If the people must consent before any thing may be done why not also the late Elders Nay if the peoples assent must be sought to euerie thing what needed laie Elders Where the whole multitude should be asked why dee you take a part to exclude the rest Laie Elders are not the people but part thereof all both old and yong are comprised in that name and yet Cyprian maketh this rule of consulting the people in euery thing neither generall for others nor necessarie for himselfe He doeth not say that he and others by Gods Iawe were bound to doe nothing without the people but that hee from the beginning determined in all things to take the counsell of the Presbyters and consent of the people And why he was vehemently impugned from his first ingresse to the bishoprike all occasions were sought to drawe the people from him many aduantages by reason of his absence from the place in time of persecution were taken against him to disgrace him and crosse him in all his doings To strengthen himselfe and retaine the Ioue of his Clergie and people towards him what better way could hee take then in all his enterprises to depend on the counsel of the Clergie consent of the Laitie for by that means he stood assured that neither Schisme could arise nor faction preuaile against him You aske where I finde that I say Euen in Cyprian himselfe and that not once or twise That I could not come to you before Easter the malice and perfidiousnesse of some of the Presbyters hath brought to passe whiles mindfull of their conspiracie and retaining their former venime against my being Bishop yea rather against your suffrages and election they begin a fresh their auncient maner of impugning vs and renew againe their sacrilegious deuises with their woonted lying in waite for vs. Against our counsell they rebell and all Priestly authoritie and power is destroyed by their factious conspiracies Is it not sufficient that I haue now bene two yeeres banished from your presence and separated from your sight that teares fall night and day from me because my lucke was not as yet to salute you or embrace you whom you made Bishop with so great loue and zeale A greater griefe oppresseth my languishing minde that in so great a distresse and neede I can not my selfe come vnto you whiles I beware least at our comming through the threats and secret practises of perfidious persons a greater tumult rise among you His epistle to Cornelius largely rehearseth and lamenteth their erecting an other Bishop after him their maintaining a faction against him their reiecting his letters and despising his threates their peruerting and intising to take part with them as many as they could with sundrie other practises and conspiracies too long to recite We saieth he in the verie time of persecution wrate our letters but we were not regarded after often consulting we not onely with our consent but with our commination decreed that our brethren
should shew themselues penitent no maÌ hastilie giue peace to such as did not penitence yet they sacrilegious against God caried headlong with a wicked rage against the Priests of God forsaking the Church and lifting vp particidiall armes against the Church doe all they can to accomplish their intent with a diuelish malice that Gods mercy should not cure in his church such as are wounded And againe What danger is not to bee feared when some of the Presbyters neither remembring their place neither thinking there is a Bishop ouer them with the reproch and contempt of the chiefe chalengâ the whole vnto them The disgraces of my office I can dissemble and beare as I alwayes haue But now is no time to dissemble when our brethren are deceiued by some of you which seeke to be plausible without regard of restoring them to the health of their soules What maruell if Cyprian thus besieged thus impugned and banished from his Church and charge did not onely purpose and professe to doe nothing without the full consent of the Clergie and people but persisted in that course which he sawe to bee safest for himselfe and surest against his maligners to decrease their number and defeate their expectance but whether hee were bound by Gods lawe so to doe and all others tied to the same rule that is the greatest part of this doubt If it were but a priuate moderation and prouision for his owne securitie no man is obliged by his example to doe the like If it bee a generall fourme of gouerning the Church prescribed by the holie Ghost then neither might Cyprian nor any man els swarue from that direction without transgressing the will and worde of God then all Councils both Prouinciall and Generall that assembled and concluded in the Primitiue Church without the liking and agreement of the people did wilfullie breake the commaundement of the liuing God and all Christian Princes that in former Ages by their lawes and Edicts intermedled with matters of the Church without the knowledge and consent of their subiectes presumed without warrant and offered open wrong to the kingdome of Christ yea Cyprian himselfe was the first that cassiered his owne confession and when cause so required yea sometimes without cause excluded and ouer-ruled the peoples iust desires One example may seruc for the present your owne allegations will afterward more at large euince as much Vix plebi persuadeo imo extorqueo vt tales patiantur admitti iustiâr factus est fraternitatis dolor ex eo quòd vnus atque alius obnitente plebe contradicente mea tamen facilitate suscepti peiores extiterunt quà m prius fuerant With much adoe perswade I the people yea rather extort from them to suffer such to bee admitted and the griefe of the brethren is the iuster for that one or two being by my facilitie receyued the people striuing agaynst it and contradicting it waxed worse then they were before Cyprian admitted some to the Church after repentaunce when the people withstoode it and gainesaied it and were iustlie grieued with his ouer much remissenesse Wherein Cyprian did not violate the duetie which hee ought to God nor tyraânize in the Church with the contempt of his brethren but relented from his purpose to doe nothing without the peoples consent for reasons then moouing him or of his owne iuclination leading him to hope their amendment that were thus admitted with fauour and facilitie to the Church of God See whether your owne examples do not prooue as much The first place you alleage is this In ordinandis Clericis fraâres charissimi solemus vos antè consulere mores ac merita singulorum communi consilio ponderare In ordering of Clerkes most deare brethren our maner is to consult you first and to weigh the behauiour and desertes of euery one with common aduise This vse notwithstanding where iust occasion serued he ordered Clerkes without their consents and so much is expressed in the very next wordes Sed expectanda non sunt testimonia humana eumpraecedant diuina suffragia but the witnesse of men must not be expected when Gods approbation is precedent The conclusion is That where one Aurelius a youth had twise in stockes and torments professed Christ Cyprian his Colleagues that were present with him for hee was not then at Carthage had made the said Aurelius thought yong in yeeres a Reader in the Church and so much he signifieth by his letters to the Presbyters Deacons and people of Carthage not doubting but they would embrace him though they gaue no consent to his ordering Hee deserued a further degree of Clericall ordination but in the meane time it hath pleased vs hee should begin with the office of a Reader Know you therefore most beloued brethren that I and my Colleagues which were here with me haue ordered him a Reader which I know you will gladlie accept and wish many such to be ordered in our Church Cyprian was absent from his owne Church by reason of persecution then raging and without the consent either of his Clergie or people he did order Aurelius and sent him with letters to bee receiued as a Reader in the Church of Carthage The like he did for Optatus Saturus Caelerinus and Numidicus as your owne authorities doe witnesse for as by them you prooue Cyprian was woont to take the good report and testimonie of the people concerning such as should bee admitted to the Clergie and with common aduise to examine their woorthinesse so by the selfe same places I she we that Cyprian brake that custome when hee sawe time and cause require and without the consent of his people or Clergie ordered such as hee found to be meete for that calling Whereby wee collect that the consent of the people and Clergie is no essentiall point in ordering Ministers without the which they may not bee called but a very Christian and commendable course to keepe off all notorious and enormous persons from that function and the surest way to saue the Bishop from communicating with other mens sinnes whiles hee trusted not his owne iudgement or knowledge but vsed the eyes eares and consciences of the whole Church for the better view search and triall of their integritie grauitie and industrie to whome the flocke of Christ was to bee committed This which I say will appeare to bee true euen by your owne authorities Because many of the Clergie of Carthage were wanting and those fewe that remained did skant suffice for the dailie worke of the Ministerie for which cause it was requisite to haue moe Know you saieth Cyprian writing to the Presbyters and Deacons of his Church that I haue made Saturus a Reader and Optatus a Subdeacon whom a good while since by common aduise we appointed to bee next placed in the Clergie I haue then in your absence done no new thing but that which long agoe tooke a beginning with all our aduises
vpon vrgent necessitie I haue finished In the like case writing to the Presbyters Deacons and whole people of Carthage he saieth of Caelerinus that openlie professed Christ and valiantlie endured the rage and furie of the heathen persecuters Exult and reioyce with vs at the reading of our letters by which I and my Colleagues which were present signifie vnto you that Caelerinus our brother is receiued into our Clergie not by the voyces of men but by Gods acceptance because it was neither lawful nor seemely that he should be without ecclesiastical honor whom the Lord so honoured with the excellencie of his heauenly glory He and Aurelius were appointed for a time to be Readers but now know you that we haue assigned vnto them the honour of the Presbyterie to haue the same allowance with the Presbyters to sit with vs wheÌ they come to ripe perfect yeeres Of Numidicus we spake before why he was taken by Cyprian into the number of the Presbyters of Carthage and that without the consent or knowledge of the people or Clergie I suppose it to be cleare by these examples which are your owne that as Cyprian for his discharge did take the liking and aduise of the Clergie and people for the better examining of their liues and behauiours that were to serue in the Church of Christ so when he found such as in his conscience he knew to bee fit and woorthie hee and other Bishops his Colleagues imposed hands on them without expecting the assent or agreement of the people or Presbyters of Carthage where he was bishop These be the Fathers which your selues picked out to muster before her Maiesties presence as pregnant witnesses for the Laie Presbyterie and these if you suffer them to tell on their tales most clearelie refute your Laie Elders Other places I know are alleaged or rather abused to the same purpose but the mistaking of them is so palpable that children will not be deceiued with them for what if the word Presbyter in Greeke signifie an aged man as well as a Priest hath it any sound or shew of reason where the Councils and Fathers vse the word Presbyteri you should straight enforce they were laie Elders To innouate the discipline receiued and established euer since the Apostles times you should haue better grounds then these you will otherwise hardly discharge your credites before men howsoeuer you will your consciences before God For my part though I compare not with their giftes which first began and now maintaine this deuise yet by perusing their proofes I finde that the preiudice of their owne opinion rather enclineth them to this conceite then the weight either of Scriptures or Fathers For were they not ouer willing to embrace this fansie where there is one place for them to stumble at the ambiguitie of the worde there are an hundred faire and plaine testimonies to recall them and direct them to the ancient and true discipline of Christes Church So that in this question whether there were any Laie Elders to gouerne the Primitiue Church no diligent or indifferent examiner of the Fathers can long erre the case is so cleare that vnlesse we affect rather our wils then the trueth we cannot be led away The summe of all that is sayd touching Laie Elders resteth in three pointes which I wish the learned aduisedlie to consisider and the rest carefully to remember First it cannot bee prooued either by Scriptures or Fathers that in the Apostles times or after any laie Elders were part of the Presbyterie or that any such were authorized or acknowledged to bee Gouernours in the Church of Christ. Secondlie if there were such Censors of maners appointed by the whole Church to remooue the vnrulie and banish them from the fellowship and companie of the faythfull least their offensiue behauiour should be a shame and slaunder to the Gospell yet no Text nor title can be shewed in Scripture Councill or Father that they gouerned the power of the keyes imposition of handes or any other ecclesiasticall duetie which concerned the dispensation of the worde and Sacramentes In those things they were to obey and not to rule their Pastours Thirdlie though the ouersight and restraint of euill disposed and disordered Pastours were then committed to such Elders for want of beleeuing Magistrates to take care thereof yet since by the lawe of God the gouernement of such causes as well as of ciuill affaires belongeth to Christian Princes and they haue straighter charge higher power and better meanes to represse such disorders and refourme such abuses in Pastours and others whatsoeuer pretence may bee made for Laie Elders and Gouernours in time of persecution they must vtterlie cease and giue place where the Magistrate receiueth the fayth and vpholdeth the Church His power not onely includeth but excludeth theirs since they bee Gouernours by consent of priuate men and the Magistrate hath his power and sword deliuered him immediatelie from God to which all men Pastours Laie Elders and whosoeuer must be subiect not onely for feare of vengeance but for regard of Gods ordinance As for the Iewish Synedrion to which some men flie for helpe it cannot bee as I haue touched before eyther Rule or Refuge for the Laie Presbyterie God erected that as the plot-forme of the Iewes common wealth and made their Elders ciuill Magistrates to execute the Iudiciall part of Moses lawe as well without as vnder the king And therefore as they might not alter it so wee must not vrge it in Christian kingdomes it contradicteth the trueth and freedome of the Gospell to tye all Christian common wealthes to the paterne of Moses pollicie yea that position if it bee stiffelie stood too maymeth all Monarchies and reduceth them to popular or at least to Synedricall Regimentes the consequents whereof are so desperate and dangerous to all Christendome that I trust of your selues you will forbeare and if need bee disclayme that assertion It is agreed on both sides there was a Presbyterie in euery Church but those you say were Clergie men Not in euery Church but in euery Citie there were Presbyters assisting and aiding the Bishop and those were Clergie men The Churches in villages and countrey townes had neither Bishop nor Presbyterie but were subiect to the Bishop of that Citie within whose precincts the villages were and had a Presbyter or Priest ordained by the Bishop or sent from the Bishop to teach them and yeeld them diuine Seruice and Sacraments And where the Bishops of the Cities were content to ease their owne trauell and supplie their absence or sickenesse that in certaine countrey Townes bishops should bee appointed whom they called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã these countrey Bishops were so restrained by the Canons that without speciall leaue of the Bishop of the Citie to which they were subiect they might execute no part of Episcopal power and prehemânence and in short space after were abolished for presumption and intrusion vpon
the bishops office since which time euery Citie diocesse adioyning had but one Bishop The Council of Sardica for y â West disliked prohibited the making of Bishops in villages small Cities Licentia danda non est ordinandi Episcopum aut in vico aliquo aut in modica Ciuitate cui sufficit vnus Presbyter None must be permitted to ordaine a Bishop either in a village or smal Citie where one Presbyter wil suffice The Councill of Laodicea did the like for the East ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã None must place Bishops in townes villages those that are alreadie placed must do nothing without the consent of the Bishop of the Citie As then there were no Bishops but in Cities so was there no Presbyterie to attend and assist the Bishop but in the same place where the Bishop had his chiefe charge and Church And therefore your vrging of Presbyteries in euery parish and village is a thing vtterly dissonant from the regiment of the Primitiue Church In each populous Citie there was a Bishop to gouerne the people committed to his charge and a Presbyterie that is a number of Priests to helpe the Bishop in all sacred actions and aduise him in all Iudiciall and ecclesiasticall proceedings and these are called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Priests of the Citie by the ancient Councils of Ancyra and Neocesaria The villages and countrey Townes as they were conuerted to the faith and by reason of the number that beleeued needed a minister of the word and Sacraments to bee a resident amongst them and were able and willing to maintaine one so repaired they to the Bishop of the Citie next to them and desired of him a fit man to serue their necessities and became subiect both the people and Priest to that Bishop who first gained them to Christ or who first erected and ordered their Churches By which meanes each Bishop had not onely his principall Church and chaire in that Citie where hee was Pastour which the ancient Councils and Stories call ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but had the care and ouersight of the Townes and villages round about that Citie which they call ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã doeth not import a countrey parish as our age abuseth the word and whereon some vnwiselie haue collected that euery such parish had and should haue a Bishop but the greatest Cities with their suburbes and the chiefest Churches in the world were so termed as appeareth by Eusebius calling Alexandria Corinth Ierusalem Ephesus Lions Carthage Antioch and such other famous Cities and Churches by the name of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the like is extant in the same writer li. 4. ca. 1. 4. 5. 15. 19. 23. li. 5. ca. 22. 23. 27. li. 6. ca. 1. 8. li. 7. ca. 28. and in many other places And so much the very composition of the wordes importeth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã containing not only the citizens but all such borderers strangers as dwelt neere and repaired to any chiefe Church or Citie and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã comprising all the villages and Churches that were dispersed in diuers places but vnder the regiment of one Bishop Ierome sheweth that in his time and long before not onely a citie but also a Prouince or Region belonged to eche Bishop in which though Presbyters and Deacons baptized with his leaue yet he alwayes imposed hands and examined and confirmed their baptisme Tuin eo quod recipis Laicum vnam animam recipiendo saluas ego in recipiendo Episcopum non diâam vnius ciuitatis populos sed vniuersam cui praeest Prouinciam ecclesiae socio You in admitting a Lay man to repentance saue one soule by receiuing him I in receiuing a Bishop ioyne to the Church I say not the people of one Citie but the whole Prouince or Dioecese which is vnder him Then Bishops had not onely the people of one Citie but of one Prouince or Countrie committed to their charge and subiect vnto them and their diâceses did reach euen to farre townes and villages where Presbyters and Deacons had cure of soules vnder them as Ierom else-where remembreth Non abnuo hanc esse ecclesiarum consuetudinem vt ad eos qui longè in minoribus vrbibus per Presbyteros Diaconos baptizati sunt episcopus ad inuocationem Spiritus sancti manum impositurus excurrat I deny not saieth Ierome but this is the custome of the Churches that the Bishop shall go euen to those that a farre off in lesser Townes were baptized by Priestes and Deacons and impose handes to inuocate the holie Ghost on them But this imposition of hands on parties baptized Ierome saith was reserued to the Bishop rather for the honor of his priesthoode then for necessitie of their saluation Otherwise if the holie ghost come only at the Bishops prayers lugendi sunt qui in vinculis aut in castellis aut in remotioribus locis per Presbyteros Diaconos baptizati ante dormierunt quà m ab Episcopis inuiserentur Their case saith he were lamentable that being baptized by Priestes and Deacons in villages castels and places farre distant die before the Bishop can visite them No Bishop might order or confirme but in his owne diocese to do any such thing in an other mans diocese was no custome of the Church but repugnant to all the Canons of the Church There belonged therefore to the Bishops not onely the Cities where their chiefe Churches were but also Uillages Townes Castles and remote places in which Priests and Deacons discharged diuine seruice and Sacraments and those places the Bishop vnder whome they were did at certaine times visite to examine the faith of the baptized and the manner of their baptisme lest to Churches and Chappelles farre distant heresie might haue the easier accesse by the bishops absence Cleargie men then there were in euery diocese that ministred the word and sacraments in villages and smaller Townes but none were of the Presbytery that assisted and aduised the Bishop in Ecclesiasticall causes saue onely the Clergie and Priests of that Citie where the Bishop had his Church and Seate The rurall Bishops for such you confesse there were had they no Presbyteries to assist them in ecclesiasticallactions and censures They needed none for they were Bishops in word but not in deede they enioyed the name not the power and preeminence of Bishops but were in all things restrained as other Priests were and subiected to the Bishop of the Citie in whose circuite they were The Councell of Antioch saieth of them Those that are in Townes and Villages called rurall Bishoppes though they haue receiued imposition of handes as Bishops yet it seemeth good to this sacred Synode they shoulde acknowledge their degree or measure content themselues with the care of their own churches not to presume to impose hands on a Priest or Deacon without the Bishop of the Citie
ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to which both himselfe and his charge are subiect The Councell of Laodicea commanded the rurall Bishops to doe nothing without the liking of the Bishop of the Citie So that they were in all things ruled and gouerned by the Bishops of their Cities vnder whom they were and not directed by any Presbyters of their owne If it seeme strange to any that the ancient Councels shoulde endure the name title of a Bishop to be giuen to whome the power and office of a bishop was not giuen he must consider for what causes they first permitted rurall Bishops to be made The one was to supplie the wants that often happen in the absence or sickenesse of the Bishop In which cases being but vicegerents in some things there was no reason they should haue the same power and prerogatiue the right Bishops had without their leaue or liking For that had beene to erect another Bishop in the same Diocese besides and against the true Bishop and not to place a substitute vnder him The next cause was to content such as were Bishops amongest Schismatikes who woulde rather persist in their factions then returne to the catholike church with the losse of that honour and calling they had before And therefore to such the Bishop of the citie might either allowe the name and title of Bishops if it so pleased him or else appoint them the places and charges of rurall Bishops And so the councell of Nice decreed If any of the Nouatians will returne to the Catholike Church either in Village or Citie where there is already a Bishop or Priest of the Catholike Church it is cleere that the Bishop of the Church shall haue the authoritie and dignitie of the Episcopall function and hee that was reputed a Bishop amongst the Nouatians shall retaine the honor of a Priest vnlesse it please the Bishop of the Church to imparte with him the honour of that title If hee like not so to doe let some place of a rurall Bishop or Priest be prouided for him that hee may seeme to continue in the Clergie and yet not be two Bishops in one Citie Touching Presbyteries then though they were needefull for greater cities where they might well be maintained yet in villages and smaller Townes there was neither vse of them nor prouision for them by reason the countrie churches were smal and could not finde many and the parties that liued in such places were subiected to the bishop of the diocese and in all things directed by him The citie of Rome at the first had vnder one Bishop 46. Priests 7. Deacons 7. Subdeacons 42. Acoluthes Exorcists Readers and Sextens 52. in the whole 155. all founde through the goodnesse and grace of God at the charges of the church there besides 1500. widowes and afflicted persons in like sort sustained by the oblations of the people The number of Priests so encreased afterward that Ierome saith of them Diaconospaucitas honorabiles Presbyteros turba contemptibiles facit The scarcitie of Deacons maketh them to bee more esteemed the multitude of Priests causeth them to be lesse regarded In Constantinople the number of the Clergie was growen so great y â the church was not able to maintaine theÌ therefore the Emperor by his laws was forced to limite how many there should be of euery degree and so he appointed 60. priests 100 deacons 90. subdeacons 110. readers 25. singers 100. sextens in summe 485. Clergie men to attend the seruice of the Church vnder the bishop The number of Clergie men that were in other Cities is not so precisely described but the proofe of their Presbyteries is euerie where occurrent The Presbyteries of Alexandria from Marke the Euangelist to the killing of Proterius after the great Councell of Chalcedon and of Antioch from the preaching of Paul to the burning of the saide citie by the Persians are often remembred in the Ecclesiasticall histories and diuerse Presbyters of either Church that were famous men and writers in the Church of God named by Eusebius Ierome and Gennadius as in the Church of Alexandria amongst others Clemens Origen Heraclas Pierius in the Church of Antioch Geminus Malchion Lucianus Chrysostome and diuerse uch The Church of Carthage had Tertullian and Cyprian who being after made Bishop of the same Citie and forced to bee absent wrate many Letters to the Presbyters and Deacons of Carthage In the Church of Lions in France was Irenaeus a Presbyter vnder Pothynus whome he succeeded in the Bishopricke At Hippo Saint Austen was first a Presbyter vnder Talerius and being Bishop himselfe had vnder him a number of Presbyters that were Colleagues and Clearkes Ignatius remembreth the Presbyteries of Smyrna Philodelphia Philippi Magnesia Trallis and Ephesus in his Epistles to the same Churches Of other Cities and ages the like might be shewed but because it is a thing rather vrged then doubted by you I will spare that paines as superfluous He that readeth either the Councels or the Stories of the Church shall soone perceiue euery Bishop had Presbyters and Deacons in the same Citie with him and vnder him We be far from denying there were Presbyteries in euery Church but that they consisted onely of Cleargie men neither do we beleeue it nor can you prooue it Wee neuer learned to prooue the negatiue we affirme they were Clergie men and that we proue you thinke there were also Lay men amongst them which wee denie that must you prooue Your want of proofe in that point maketh our assertion good You haue all this while scanned the Fathers and ouer-looked the Councels bring now but one for lay Elders we giue you the rest Their generall silence is a full inference against you which aâouch they had such and can not shewe where they mention any such Yet this will I doe name me but one father or Councell that speaketh of the office and duetie of Presbyters and you shall presently see he meaneth Clergie men Or if that please you not looke to the maner of ADMITTING Presbyters into the Church their SITTING SERVING and CONVERSING in the Church their MAINTAINING by the Church and their REMOVING from the Church and you shall cleerely finde there were no Presbyters ioyued with the Bishop in any Ecclesiasticall affaires but Clergie men They were ordained by imposition of hands and so were not Lay Elders they sate with the Bishop in the chancels apart from all Lay men they baptized and consecrated the Lords Supper and so might not Lay men they liued vnder stricter rules then Lay men did as not to haue strange women about them not to change Cities not to resort to spectacles or vittailing houses not to trauell without letters of licence and such like which al lay men were free from they were maintained at the charges of the Church and so were not Lay men and when they
were depriued of their honor and office they were suffered to communicate amongst Lay men These were the Presbyters of the Primitiue Church other then these no Councell no Father doeth any where mention that were vnited or associated vnto the Bishop and these in sight coulde bee no Lay men Proofes if you require I protest without vaunting a whole volume might soone be made of them Some you had more you shall haue if they seeme tedious I must be pardoned your importunitie hath thereto forced me Of Origen Eusebius saieth the Bishops of Ierusalem and Cesaria manus illi ad Presbyterium imposuerunt had layed handes on him to make him one of the Presbyterie Cornelius saith Nouatus was aduanced to the Presbyterie by the fauour of the Bishop qui manus ipsi ad sortem Presbyterij imposuit that laied hands on him to giue him the lot of the Presbyterie The fourth Councell of Carthage sheweth the manner how a Presbyter shall be ordained with imposition of handes Presbyter quum ordinatur Episcopo benedicente manum super caput eius teneâte etiam omnes Presbyteri ast antes manus suas tuxta manum Episcopâ super caput illius teneant When a Presbyter is ordained the Bishop blessing the partie and holding his hand on the parties head let al the Presbyters that are present hold their hands on his head neere the Bishops hand Of Sabatius when hee was aduanced to the dignitie of a Presbyter Marcian said Satius fuisseâ sispinis manum imposuissem quam quòd Sabbatium ad Presbyterium euexi I had beene better haue layed my hands on thornes then on Sabbatius when I made him Presbyter Ordination theÌ with the Latin Fathers importeth as much as laying on of handes doth with the Greeke and was an essentiall ceremonie taken from the Apostles words and vsed from the Apostles times in making of Presbyters and calling any to be of the Presbyterie which if your Elders must receiue they be no Lay men if they must not they be no Presbyters More authorities that Presbyters were made with imposition of hands if any desire let him reade the 13. Canon of the Councill of Ancyra the 9. Canon of the Councill of Neocefaria and likewise of the Councill of Antioch the 6. of the Council of Chalcedon the 10. of the Council of Sardica the 27. and 56. of the Affricane Councill In sitting in the Church the Presbyters were like wise seuered from the people For they had a place enclosed from all the Laitie where the Lords table standing in the middest the Bishops chaire and the Presbyters seates were round about This place Sozomene calleth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Sacrarie which diuided the Bishop and Presbyters from the people and of this Cyprian saieth Let Numidicus be ascribed to the number of the Presbyters of Carthage and sit with vs amongst the Cleargie The councill of Laodicea calleth it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by reason it was somewhat higher then the rest of the church that all the people might beholde it and saith The Presbyters must not go and sit in their stalles before the Bishop come but enter in with the Bishop vnlesse the Bishop be sicke or from home The Canon Law calleth it Presbyterium the place for Presbyters Into this place when Theodosius the Emperour would haue entred to receiue the communion S. Ambrose then busie in diuine seruice sent him this word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã These inclosures O King onely Priests may enter they are shut vp and exempted from all others The Deacons might not sit amongest the Presbyters but stand as the generall councill of Nice telleth vs much lesse was there any place there for Laie Elders The seruice of the Presbyters in the Church declareth also there were no Laie men amongest them For they blessed baptized and ministred the Lordes Supper in the absence of the Bishop and assisted him being present in those actions It is come to the hearing of this sacred and great Synode saith the council of Nice that in some places and cities the Deacons deliuer the sacraments to the Presbyters This neither the Canon nor custome alloweth that they which haue no power to offer the sacrifice should giue the bodie of Christ to theÌ that offer I heare saith Ierom that some are growen so senslesse that they preferre Deacons before Presbyters What meaneth the seruant of tables and widowes to extoll himselfe aboue them at whose prayers the bodie and blood of Christ are consecrated To all Lay men the Deacons might deliuer the Sacraments to Presbyters they might not the Presbyters therefore were no Lay men And if Presbyters were therefore better then the Deacons because they did offer the sacrifice at the Lords table which the Deacons might not it is euident the Presbyters were no lay men Besides this the Presbyters were tied to many rules to which no Lay man was tied For example no Presbyter might go from his owne Church and Citie to any other place by the great council of Nice ca. 15. and the council of Antioch ca. 3. but Lay men I trust might change their dwellings Againe no Presbyter by any means might haue any strange woman in his house that was not his mother sister aunt or such like but Lay men in that case were left to their libertie There are a number of such rules to which all Presbyters were bound and from which all Lay men were free The councils therefore neuer comprised any Lay mân vnder the name of Presbyters For their maintenance the case was first ruleâ by Saint Paul as I haue touched before and after duly obserued in the primitiue Church as we may perceiue by the allowance yeelded to Presbyters in Cyprians time by Cornelius letters reporting the number of Presbyters that were maintained in the Church of Rome likewise by y â Emperors Laws limiting what number should be maintained in the Churchs of Constantinople This mainâenance since all the Elders of ãâã âie Church had ãâã Lay men neither by the Canons of the Church had nor by Gods law could haue it is certaine the ancient Councels and Fathers did not attribute the honor and place of Presbyters to lay Elders And wheÌ Presbyters were depriued of their office and function for any fault committed they might vpon their submission be receiued amongest Lay men to the communion as Cyprian and Athanasius testifie but in no wise be restored to the degree and calling of Presbyters and consequently they might bee Laie men when they coulde not be Presbyters by the Canons But why labour I so much to exclude Lay Elders from the Presbyters of the Primitiue Church when as you haue neither reason nor authoritie to include them It may suffice any sober minde that where Presbyters are so many thousand times named in Councels Fathers and Stories and so sundrie Rules and Canons extant describing and limiting euerie part of
their vocation and conuersation you haue not for all this so much as one circumstance to prooue there were Lay Elders amongst them nor a sentence or syllable of anie ancient Writer to iustifie your assertion If we mistake the vse of the word Presbyter many learned-men haue mistaken it before vs. There is no man lesse willing then I am to decrease the fame or discredite the iudgement of any late Writer that hath otherwise well deserued of the Church of God but an euident truth I must prefetre before the opinions and commendations of men be they neuer so learned if they be otherwise mindes And in this case the trueth is so âleere that I must needs say not their learning but their affection carried the to the contrarie part For who that hath but opened the Fathers doth not find that Presbyters were Clergie men not Lay men and in the middle betweene the Bishops and the Deacons vnderneath the one and aboue the otherâ and that the verie worde Presbyter without any other addition amongst Ecclesiasticall Writers doeth distinguish a Clergie man from a Lay man Ignatius which you somuch esteeme because hee nameth the Presbyterie so often doeth hee noti diuide the Church into Lay men Deacons Presbyters and Bishops This partition standing good Lay men were neither Deacons nor Presbyters ãâã the part must be ãâã ãâã the rest much lesse might Presbyters be Lay men to whom as wel the Deacons as all the Laitie must be subiect Tertullian obiecting to the heretikes that their order and gouernement was rash light and vnconstant for proofe thereof saieth hodie Presbyter quicras Laicus amongst you to day a Presbyter to morrowe a Lay man If one man might be both as you make your lay Presbyters to be that coulde not bee absurde and strange in heretikes which was perpetuall as you thinke and generall in the Church of Christ. He also maketh the same partition of the Church that Ignatius doth into Lay men Deacons Presbyters and Bishops and expressing the same parts in two words he calleth them Grex duces ecclesia Clerus the flocke and the Leaders the Church or assemblie and the Clergie and else-where ordo plebs the order and the people and Ecclesiae ordo Laici the order of the Church and the Laitie And shewing that Presbyters were no Lay men but chosen and taken out of Laie men and so made Clergie men hee saieth Nisi Laici ea obseruent per quae Presbyteri allegantur quomodo erunt Presbyteri qui de Laicis alleguntur vnlesse Lay men obserue those things which must be respected in the choice of Presbyters howe shall any Presbyters be chosen out of Lay men Presbyters were of the order of the Church Lay men were not yea Presbyters were opposed to Lay men in the diuision of the Church and to bee taken from the number of laie men before they could come within the order of the Church to be Presbyters Your lay Presbyters then make a plaine contradiction to the Fathers wordes and a confusion of the parts which they distinguish The Fathers in those places by Presbyters meant Priestes In deede they could not meane your laie Presbyters whom they neuer knewe but had there beene laie Presbyters in their times as you imagine there were how ârâuolous confused and repugnant to themselues were not onely these partitions and conclusions of theirs but euen the Rules and Canons of all the Councils for what worde doeth any Councill or Father vse for a Priest but Presbyter Nay what one worde could they haue to distinguish those that had charge of the word and Sacraments from Bishops and Deacons but onely by calling them Presbyteros Wherefore all Councils prouinciall and generall do by that name without any other adiection seuer them from Bishops and deacons and wheresoeuer we find Presbyteros in any ecclesiastical writer we presentlie know they were neither laie men nor deacons For proofe hereof take what Councill or Father you list that maketh mention of them and see whether you shall not confound all their writings if you obserue not this rule The Councill of Nice decreeing that none shoulde immediatly vpon their baptisme be admitted to the office of a Bishop ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or to the Presbyterie giueth this reason The Apostles precept is euident that he should not be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã newly conuerted to the faith or newly inserted into the Church For there is need of time that he should be catechised and after baptisme another time of long triall In which time if any fault be proued against the man ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã let him bee kept from the Clergie By these wordes hee which was admitted to the Presbyterie was admitted to the Clergie and he that was kept from the Clergie was likewise kept from the Presbyterie Then had laie men no places in the Presbyterie Againe speaking of such as were Bishops amongst the Nouatians and content to returne to the Catholike Church the same Councill saith Let the Bishop prouide such a one ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the place of a Presbyter that he may seeme still to remaine in the Clergie The Nicene Councill made account if hee were a Presbyter hee must needes be a Clergie man they neuer heard of Presbyters in the Church of Christ that were Laie men The Councill of Antioch If any dissolue the rule of the great Nicene Councill for the feast of Easter let them be excommunicated thus wee decree touching Laie men But if any ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of the Gouernours of the Church either Bishop Presbyter or Deacon where a Deacon is expressely contained in the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã vsed by Paul celebrate Easter with the Iewes he shalbe depriued of his office and banished from the Church Laie men had neither the same preferment nor punishment that Presbyters had For Presbyters were Rulers of the Church lay men were not Presbyters were depriued of their Ministerie and remooued from the Church Laie men were onelie excommunicated Presbyters then were no laie persons Sometimes one penaltie serued for both Laie men and Presbyters and yet then were they seuered by two diuers names If any be excommunicated by his Bishop let not others receiue him till he be reconciled to his owne Bishop or make his answere at a Synode This definition to be in force for Lay men Presbyters Deacons and all others vnder the Canon The Councill of Laodicea The sacred or priestly men from the Presbyter to the Deacon and so along the Ecclesiastical order must not enter into tipling houses Then Presbyters were sacred and within Ecclesiasticall orders and before any such might be lay men you must haue a new Metamorphosis for them The Councill of Affrica Presbyters and Deacons depreheÌded in any greeuous crime which necessarilie depriueth theÌ of their function shal neuer haue haÌds imposed on theÌ as Poenitents or lay persons
All lay persons vpon repentance might be reconciled with imposition of hands No Presbyters depriued for anie grieuous sin might be reconciled with imposition of hands therfore no Presbyter was a Lay person The fift general Council kept at Constantinople He that taketh a second wife after baptisme or marrieth a widowe or a woman diuorced or a bond woman cannot be either Bishop Presbyter or Deacon or in any other sacred order No lay Elders were tied to these rules all Presbyters were there was great oddes then betwene lay Elders and Presbyters If you trust not these Councils for y â vse of the word Presbyter the lawes imperiall will direct you The Christian Emperors giuing many priuiledges to Clergie men doe likewise expresse who shall enioy them Presbyteros Diaconos Subdiaconos Cantores Lectores quos omnes Clericos appellamus Presbyters Deacons SubdeacoÌs Singers Readers al these we cal Clergy meÌ all these accordingly had the prerogatiues immunities of Clergie men by the Romane lawes Now if no laie Elder could claime anie Clericall priuiledge in the Romane commonwealth vnder the name of Presbyter as vndoubtedly he could not I much maruell how by force of y â very same word in y â Fathers who vse it as strictly as the Emperours do Lay men should claime to haue y â gouernment of y â church But indeed it is a meere conceit of our age transforming Clergy men into lay men contrary to y â words meaning aswel of Fathers as of laws and canons rather then they will loose their holde of the Laie Presbyterie which they haue framed after their owne fansie and not by the direction or deposition of any Council or Father For they all with one consent vse the worde Presbyter as the ciuill Lawes and sacred Canons do In what sort Ignatius Tertullian Cyprian and Athanasius vse the word Presbyter we haue seene before the rest doe fully concord with them Irenaeus We must obey those Presbyters in the Church which haue their succession from the Apostles and with the order of their Presbyterie yeelde wholsome doctrine to the information and correction of others Such Presbyters the Church doth nourish Origen There are in the Church of Christ that loue the chiefe places and labour much first to be Deacons not such as the Scripture describeth but such as deuoure widowes houses vnder pretence of long prayer And such Deacons couet to attaine the chiefe chaires of those that are called Presbyters And some not there with content practise many ways to be called bishops by men which is as much as Rabbi Howbeit he that exalteth himselfe shal be humbled Which I wish al would marke but specially the Deacons Presbyters and Bishops which thinke these things are not written to them A Deacon being already in sacred orders coulde by no meanes become alay Elder the roumes therefore which they aspired vnto were the chaires of Clergie men these were called the Presbyters of the Church Of these he saith else-where Though I bee taken for a right hand and bee called a Presbyter and seeme to preach the true word of God yet if I do anything against the Discipline of the Church or rule of the Gospell the whole Church with one consent must cut mee off being their right hand and cast me from them Then were Presbyters not only right hands in the Church but also preachers of the word and that not some but all All Bishops and all Presbyters or Deacons do teach vs and in teaching do reproue sharply rebuke Quatuor genera capitum sunt in ecclesia Episcoporum Presbyterorum Diaconorum fidelium There be foure sorts of men in the Church saieth Optatus Bishops Presbyters Deacons and the beleeuers Out of which of these foure will you fetch your laie Elders From the beleeuers Then were they no Presbyters will you comprise them in Presbyters Then were they no Late men For Optatus in the same place chargeth the Donatists with subuerting of soules for making Presbyters to be Lay men Inâenistis Diaconos Presbyteros Episcopos fecistis Laicos Agnoscite vos animas ouertisse you founde Deacons Presbyters and Bishops you made them Lay men Acknowledge then you subuerted soules If you doubt I force his wordes against his meaning heare what himselfe saith touching those foure parts of the Church Quid commemorem Laicos quitunc in Ecclesia nulla fuerant dignitate suffulti Quid Ministros plurimos Quid Diaconos in tertio quid Presbyteros in secundo sacerdotio constitutos Ipsi apices principes omnium aliqui Episcopi instrumenta deâinae legis impiè tradiderunt What shall I reckon Lay men which were then aduanced with no dignitie in the Church What neede I repeate the Seruitours of the Church The Deacons in the third the Presbyters in the second degree of Priesthoode The chiefe and toppe of all euen many Bishops wickedly deliuered the instruments of Gods Lawe to the fire Lay men had no degree nor dignitie in the Church much lesse the honour or office of Presbyters For they were plainely Priests Had you but one such place for Lay Elders as heere is against them we would neuer striue with you about them Nazianzene telling howe the goodnes and prouidence of God brought that learned and famous man Basil ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to the sacred seates of the Presbyterie ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the order and course that should be obserued in spirituall climing saieth Hee first read the sacred bookes to the people and expounded them not disdaining this place of the Chancel and so came to the chaire of the Presbyters and after of the Bishops The Seates then of the Presbyterie in Nazianzens time were not onely sacred and seuered from the people but the right orderly way to ascend vnto them was first to passe through other Ecclesiasticall Degrees and Offices as Cyprian calleth them and so to rise to the highest and noâ for Laie men to sit in them as fellowe Presbyters with the Bishops No Presbyteris quidem adesse permittitur in mysterijs quum tamen ipsi quoque sacrorum administri sunt The Presbyters themselues are not permitted to be present in the mysteries and yet they doe administer the Sacraments saith Iulius to the Bishops at Antioch I am a Bishop saieth Hilarie to Constantius continuing in the Communion of all the Churches and bishops of France though I be in banishment ecclesiae adhuc per Presbyteros meos communionem distribuens and still distributing by my Presbyters the communion of the Church or to the Church Presbyteri Episcopi vna est or dinatio vterque enim sacerdos est The ordering of a Presbyter is the same that a Bishops is saith Ambrose for both are Priests Aut igitur ex Presbytero ordinetur Diaconus vt Presbyter minor Diacono comprobetur in quem crescit ex paruo
aut si ex Diacono ordinatur Presbyter nouerit se lucris minorem sacerdotio esse maiorem Either let a Deacon be made of a Presbyter saith Ierome that he may be proued to be lesser then a Deacon to whose place he riseth as from the lower degree or if a Presbyter be made of a Deacon then is he inferior to the Deacon in gaine but in Priesthoode superior Quod Aaron filios eius hoc Episcopum Presbyteros esse nouerimus What Aaron and his sonnes were that we must remember the Bishop and Presbyters are There is but one Lord one Temple one Ministerie And answering this obiection of Iouinian that Bishops Presbyters and Deacons were appointed by the Apostle to be the husbands of one wife and to haue children he saith In appointing the ecclesiastical order because the church of the Gentiles was yet raw the Apostle gaue lighter Precepts to those that were lately conuerted lest being terrified at the first they should not be able to endure it And expounding the same wordes of Paul to Tite he saieth The Apostle commaunding this to Bishops and Presbyters that they should be the husbands of one wife no doubt released it vnto others Al Lay men might take a second wife but no Presbyter by Ieroms constructioÌ there were therefore no Lay men that were Presbyters in his time When 6. of the bishops came from Tyrus to examine matters against Athanas. the Presbyters of Alexandria perceiuing their malice protested against their proceedings wrate their Letters vnto them subscribed with their names in this wise I Dionysius Presbyter send these letters I AlexaÌder Presbyter and so with 18. more names 14. of them hauing the title of Presbyters 4. of Deacons Whereupon Athanas. saith Literae nomina Clericorum ciâitatis haec sunt The letters names of the Clergy men of the city are these The Clergy of Mariot wrate in this maner To he holy Synode of Bishops of the catholike church al the Presbyters Deacons of Mariot send greeting Then al the Presbyters of Mariot were Clergy men by Athanas. own words as also the Presbyters of the citie The Comment vpon Mat. ioyned with Chrysostoms in applying y e parable of y â talents affirme that Presbyters haue 5. talents Deacons 2 the people 1. The 5. talents of the Presbyters he reckoneth thus Bene viuendo solicitè praesidendo ecclesiae verbum veritatis syncerè praedicaÌdo baptizando offereÌdo Good life careful ouerseeing the Church sincere preaching the word of truth baptizing according to Christs rule offring an vndefiled sacrifice praying for the sins of the people But if a Presbyter or Deacon be found a sinner he is accounted as a lay man that hath but one talent Good life is that talent which is common to al meÌ be they lay or Clergy but Presbyters had 4. other talents proper to their calling so linked together that they may not be seuered To whom theÌ preaching baptising offring at the Lords table do belong to theÌ also careful ruling gouerning the church doth appertain Now your secular Elders if they be Presbyters they must vndertake al 5. talents if they be lay they must neither preach baptize nor administer the Lords supper nor consequently be Presbyters or gouerne the Church For all Presbyters receiued those 5. talents or seruices in the church from their lord master but no lay man receiued them at Gods hand I conclude therefore no lay men were Presbyters in Chrysostoms age How many bishops saith S. August do I know that are most holy godly men how many Presbyters how many DeacoÌs such like Ministers of the diuine sacraments And speaking of his own Presbytership saith Nothing is in this life specially in this time more hard laborious dangerous theÌ the office of a bishop or a presbyter or a deacoÌn but w t God nothing more blessed if it be in such sort discharged as our chiefe ruler willeth The way I could not learne either in my childhood or youth when I began to learne violence was offered me for my sinnes what els should I thinke that the second place of gouernement shoulde be committed vnto me who yet knewe howe to holde an oare and nowe finding what is necessary for him which ministreth the worde of God and Sacramentes to the people I am not suffered to attayhe it for want of âyme Presbyters in Austens time had their office in the Church to minister the Sacraments and propose the word to the people and to such Presbyters was the second place of gouernement committed Lay Elders had neither to do with the one nor with the other part of that charge Socrates recording that the Councill of Nice inclined to make a Lawe for the restraining of Clergie men from their wiues saieth It seemed good to the Bishops to bring a newe Lawe into the Church ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that consecrated men I meane Bishops Presbyters and Deacons shoulde not sleepe with their wiues which they had married whiles they were lay men But Paphnutius standing vp contradicted with a loude voice that this heauie yoke ought not to bee layed on the sacred men It shall not neede to proue vnto such as be learned that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is to be consecrated a Priest vnto God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is the plainest worde the Grecians haue for a Priest and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for one that is consecrated to that seruice Those Socrates most euidently diuideth into these three Bishops Presbyters and Deacons and saith by way of restraint ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã I meane namely and specially these three degrees The purpose was that they shoulde not sleepe with their wiues which they had married ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã when as yet they were Lay men that is as Sozomene expoundeth it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which they had married before they were consecrated Now set this together and you shal find they were laie men ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã before they were consecrated and therefore ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã once being consecrated they ceased to bee Lay men any longer but Bishops Presbyters and Deacons were ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã men consecrated they were ergo no Lay men Much more might be saide but this may suffice for those that haue not wedded their iudgements to their appetites as for such nothing wil serue except it please their humors and therefore I leaue them You prooue that Lay Elders were not called by the name of Presbyters in the Primitiue Church but that no such were admitted to gouerne the Church you doe not prooue Giue me leaue to tell you what I prooue repell it if you can I prooue that you greatly deceiue your selues and abuse the fathers when you make the world beleeue they had Lay Presbyters ioyned with the Bishops to gouerne the Church for it is apparant by their writings they had
no Presbyters but Clergie men and of such their Presbyteries consisted and not of any Laie men whom they particularly and perpetually exclude not onely from the name but also from the order office seates power and honour of Presbyters Though they were not knowen by that name yet were they called Seniores the Elders of the Church as Tertullian Ierome Ambrose Austen and Gregorie doe witnesse yea though wee should graunt the Church had no such laie Elders in Ieroms and Ambroses dayes yet they both confesse there were such in the first Age of the Church and that the Church should be gouerned by their aduise and counsell Their wordes are so plaine they cannot be shifted And thence I make this demonstration Laie Elders in Ambroses time were out of vse as himselfe affirmeth through the slouth or rather pride of Bishops but Clergie Presbyters were not out of vse in Ambroses time there were therefore laie Elders in the first Churches without whose aduise nothing was done besides the Presbyters that continued in Ambroses dayes this Argument is insoluble You are vsed to make fewe good Arguments that take this to bee so strong The force of these places I haue examined before and there shewed that they were wrested cleane against the intent of the writers but because I am to end the discourse of laie Elders and so to relinquish them to their inuenters I will not bee grieued to recapitulate the strength of your authorities and search out the surenesse of this last syllogisme The first thing that I obserue in your authorities is this that with your owne proofes you ouerthrow your owne purpose To conuince that laie Elders dured in the Church til Gregories time which was 600. yeeres after Christ you produce amongst others S. Ambrose who saieth that in his time 230. yeeres before such Elders were out of vse If there were no such Elders in Ambroses age how could they dure till Gregories dayes that liued more then 200. yeeres after him This knot is more insoluble then your syllogisme Another of your witnesses I meane S. Ierome in the verie same place that you cite laieth the whole plot of your laie Elders in the dust for both touching the persons that ruled the Church and the time which they continued be crosseth all your assertions The persons by whose common aduise the Church at first was gouerned were Presbyters and those by your owne confession were no laie men Or if you make any bones to confesse so much S. Ierome will auouch nolesse I must alleage his wordes once againe and some of them in Latin because you shall the more sensiblie see your errour and the rest not distrust my translation Antequam fierent studia in religione diceretur in populis ego sum Pauli ego Apollo ego autem Cephae communi Presbyterorum consilio ecclesiae regebantur Postquam verò vnusquisque eos quos baptizauerat suosesse putabat non Christi in toto orbe decretum est vt vnus de Presbyteris electus superponeretur caeteris ad quem omnis ecclesiae cur a pertineret Schismatum semina tollerentur c. Before there were factions in religion and the people began to say I hold of Paul I of Apollo and I of Cephas the Churches were gouerned by the common aduise of the Presbyters But when euery man thought those whom he had baptized to be his owne and not Christes it was decreed in the whole world that one chosen out of the Presbyters should be set aboue the rest to whom all the care of the Church should appertaine and the seedes of diuision rooted out These wordes are so plaine they neede no demonstration to helpe them Before Schismes grew in religion the Churches were gouerned by the common aduise of Presbyters but when the baptizers drewe the people into factions Bishops were throughout the world elected and aduaunced aboue Presbyters to take the whole care of the Church They were both Presbyters and baptizers that gouerned the Church before Bishops were decreed ergo they were no laie Elders This were enough but Ierome to shew what Presbyters they were alleageth foure places of the Scripture and thereby prooueth they were Teachers and Pastours I must set downe his words but as short as I can that men may be perswaded or ashamed of their errour in this part committed The very next words in Ierome ensuing the former are these Putat aliquis non Scriptur arum sed nostram esse sententiam Episcopum Presbyterum vnum esse relegat Apostoli ad Philippenses verba dicentis c. Doeth any man thinke this is not the position of the Scriptures but ours that a Bishop and Presbyter are both one Let him read the words of the Apostle to the Philippians where he saieth Paul and Timothie to all the Saints that are at Philippi together with the Bishops and Deacons In one Citie there could not be many Bishops as we name them but because they called the same men Bishops that were Presbyters therefore he speaketh of Bishops as of Presbyters without any difference In the Acts the Apostle at Miletum sent to Ephesus and called the Presbyters of that Church to whom he sayd Looke to your selues and to all the flocke where the holie Ghost hath made you Bishops to feed the Church of God Here marke diligently how calling for the Presbyters of Ephesus only he afterward termed them Bishops In the epistle to the Hebrewes the care of the Church is equally deuided amongst many for he saieth to the people obey your Rulers and bee subiect to them they are those that watch ouer your soules And Peter in his epistle saieth The Presbyters that are amongst you I beseech my selfe being your fellow Presbyter feede yee the Lordes flocke that is with you These things I bring to shewe that anciently Presbyters were all one with Bishops and that in tract of time to plucke vp the rootes of dissention all the charge of the Church was committed to one The Presbyters that gouerned the Church in the Apostles times did ATTEND and FEED the flocke and WATCH OVER SOVLES as those that should giue account for them and had all those qualities that the Apostle required in Bishops The same charge and the same grace conclude the same function And therefore if any were Clergie men in the Apostles times these Presbyters were not Laie men But these gouerned the Church as Ierome saieth Laie men therfore they were not by Ieromes owne confession that did then gouerne the Church The persons we see who they were now for the time how long they continued Gouernours of the Church Before schismes did arise the Church was gouerned by their common aduise but schismes and diuisions grewe euen in the Apostles times as it is euident by Pauls owne report and by Saint Iohns like wise Wherefore Ieromes wordes doe not inferre that Presbyters ruled the Church any longer then the Apostles times nor so long neither
If I seeme to take a nice aduantage of the time let Ierome expresse his owne meaning In his epistle to Euagrius debating at large that bishops and Presbyters were all one in the Apostles time and alleaging both the same and sundry other proofes for his intent he addeth Quod autem postea vnus electus est qui caeteris praeponeretur in Schismatis remedium factum est ne vnusquisque ad se ârahenâ Christs ecclesiam rumperet Nam Alexandriae à Marco Euangelista vsque ad Heraclam Dionysium Episcopos Presbyteri semper vnum exse electum in excelsiori graducollocatum Episcopum nominabant That after one was elected and aduanced aboue the rest this was to remedie Schismes least euery man drawing the Church of Christ to himselfe should rent it in pieces So at Alexandria from Marke the Euangelist to Heraclas and Dionysius Bishops there the Presbyters alwayes chose one of themselues and placed him in an higher degree and called him a Bishop Laie Elders Ierome neuer knew any to bee Gouernours of the Church the Pastours and Teachers that vnder the Apostles gouerned the Church by common aduise were forced for the preuenting and repressing of schisines to transferre the whole care of the Church to one whom they called a Bishop this began at Alexandria euen from Marke the Euangelist Ieromes testimonie you haue heard Now choose whether Ambrose shall contradict him and giue him the lie or rather be reconciled and expounded by him Ambrose saieth the Church had Seniores quorum sine consilio nihil agâbatur in ecclesia Elders without whose counsell nothing was done in the Church These say you were laie Elders If wee aske you how you prooue they were Laie you be at a non plus They were Pastours and Teachers say we If you aske how we prooue our assertion wee first shew you the iudgement of Ambrose else where that in matters of faith or any ecclesiasticall order Laie men should not iudge and gouerne Priestes which yet the Gouernours of the Church must doe I speake still of the priuate regiment of Elders not of the publike power of the Magistrate Next we shew you the verdict of Ierome confirming his resolution by many places of the Scriptures that the Churches at the first were gouerned by Presbyters which were Pastours and Teachers Made we no further proofe then this I conuent your owne consciences which of our auouries standeth on the surest ground yours that leaneth onely to your owne wils and wordes or ours that besides the confession of the same father hath a most euident attestation of another father as ancient and learned as the former You would seeme to be religious and wise craze not your credites with a non obstante that your fansies must preuaile whatsoeuer Councils or fathers say to the contrary For the rest we need no better expositor then Ierome in the very place which your selues alleage Nos habemus in ecclesia Senatum nostrum coetum Presbyterorum We haue in the Church our Senate euen the assemblie of Presbyters Els where he saieth Iudices dòmâs Israel non sunt alij nisi Episcopi Presbyteri Diaconi The Iudges ouer the house of Israel are none other but the Bishops Presbyters and Deacons And these three wordes when they come together import the order and degrees of ecclesiasticall offices Episcopus Presbyter Deaconus non sunt meritorum nomina sed officiorum Bishop Presbyter Deacon are not names of desertes but of offices and those Clericall not Laicall Fit Clericus per solitos gradus Presbyter saieth Ierome of Nepotianus He became a Clergie man and so a Presbyter by the accustomed degrees And againe Qui pascitis greges Episcopi Presbyteri omnis ordo ecclesiâsticus You Bishops and Presbyters and all the ecclesiasticall order which feed your flockes If therefore Gregorie call the Presbyters Seniores ecclesiae the Elders of the Church in respect of the rest of the Clergie or if Austen write vnto them Clero Senioribus to the Clergie and Elders or if Tertullian writing to the Ethnikes who vnderstood not the order and offices of the Church say in commendation of the Christian meetings Praesident probati quique Seniores The Rulers of our assemblies are certaine approoued Elders what inference can hence be made that they ment laie Elders since they vse neither words nor circumstances but such as will agree to the grauer wiser and Elder sort of the Clergie otherwise called Presbyters Yea Ambrose himselfe will tell you that amongst the Clergie the Presbyters were called Seniores the Elders as next in honour age and iudgement to the Bishop Speaking of ecclesiastical officers and ministers he saith Viduarum ââ virginum domos nisi visit and gratia Iânââtos adire non est âpâis hoc cum Senioriâas hoc est cum Episcopo vel sigrauior est causa cum Presbyteris Quid necesse est vt demus obtrectandi locum Secularibus There is no cause for the yongers to resort to the houses of widowes virgins except it bee to visite them and that with the Elders I meane with the Bishop or if the matter be vrgent with the Presbyters What need wee giue occasion to secular or Laie men to backbite How thinke you were there not Elders amongst the Clergie and those the same men that were otherwise called Presbyters Yet my demonstration is vnanswered Your mistaking of Ambroses both meaning words is a very simple kinde of demonstration you do not marke the Text which you bring Ambrose doeth not say the Church had once Elders which now are vanished but nothing at the first was done in the Church without their aduise which now is out of vse whiles the Pastours wil seeme alone to be wise The men remained that were before but lesse regarded and lesse consulted then at first And so your demonstration is nothing els but a misconstruction of your Authors words Since you leaue me no better handfast in Ierome and Ambrose for laie Elders I will requite you with the like for Bishops which is this that as the Church at first was gouerned by Presbyters without laie Elders so was it likewise without Bishops If I forgoe the one you must also forgoe the other and then gaine you litle if Bishops must be remooued from the gouernement of the Church as well as late Elders And this is so cleare that no cunning can obscure it I did all this while looke when you would reuiue your spirits with this Mythrâ date you were euen at last cast with your laie Elders But if wée cannot iustifie the state of bishops by the Scriptures and Fathers better then you doe laie Elders we will quietly disclaime them Ieromes wordes are wonderfull plaine that Bishops in the Apostles times did not differ from Presbyters and are nowe aboue them rather by the custome of the Church then by the trueth of the Lorde disposition and ought
to rule the Church in common I am so farre from reiecting or declining Ieromes authoritie in this point though he seeme very fauourable to you that if you will stand to his censure I will doe the like but before wee wade deeper let vs laie foorth the state of the question that we may thereby perceiue what the sacred Scriptures and auncient Fathers doe confesse or confute CHAP. XII To whom the Apostles departing or dying left the gouernement of the Church whether equally to all Presbyters or chieflie to some and how farre the conceites of late writers herein varie from the auncient Fathers whose wordes they pretend to follow THat order and discipline are not onely profitefull but also needfull in the Church of God and as well amongst Pastours and Teachers as learners and hearers might many wayes be confirmed if it were not on all sides concorded They that most dissent in the kind of gouernement doe first agree on the vse of gouernment they would els not striue for that which might still be wanted and neuer missed in the Church of Christ. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Order saieth Nazianzene is the mother and preseruer of all things The vtilitie and necessitie whereof as in all states and creatures so specially in the Church of God and in the Pastours and Gouernors thereof hee that liketh at large to examine let him read Nazianzens oration plentifully and purposely written of that Argument Onely I aduise with him that vnder a shew of religion and zeale No man bee wiser then hee should no man vprighter then the lawe clearer then the light straighter then the rule nor forwarder then the commandement If order and discipline be necessarie for all persons and ages in the Church of Christ the gouermnent of the Church must not cease with the Apostles but dure as long as the Church continueth that is to the worlds ende and consequently so much of the Apostolike power as is requisite for the perpetuall regiment of the Church must remaine to those that from time to time supplie the Apostles charge and succeed in the Apostles roomes Afore we enter to intreat of the first institution of Bishops we must carefully distinguish these there points The things which must be deriued from the Apostles to their helpers and successours in all Ages and Churches the persons to whom they were committed and the times when If we wander in these wee shall neuer get any certaine resolution of the matter in question What the things are which must abide for euer in the Church I shewed before it shall suffise now to rehearse them namelie power to preach the word and administer the Sacraments the right vse of the keies and imposition of hands for the placing of fit men to vndertake the cure of soules and remoouing of vnfaithfull and vnfit men from infecting and offending the Church These must not faile in the Church so long as there is a Church for the want of any one of them is the confusion if not subuersion of the Church These foure partes in this chapter for breuities sake I often reduce to two branches which are Doctrine and Discipline Comprising in doctrine the deuiding of the word and dispensing of the Sacraments and referring the rest I meane the publike vse of the keies and imposition of hands to the discipline or regiment of the Church The parties to whom these ecclesiasticall duties might possiblie be committed wee then also numbred and found foure sortes of them the people the laie Elders the Presbyters the Bishops The people must needs be excluded from intermedling with Pastorall duties for if all should be Teachers who should be hearers if there were none but shepeheards what should become of the flocke Hee that hath put a difference betwixt the Stewards and the household the labourers and the haruest the watchmen and the Citizens the builders and the stones the Sower and the ground the husbandmen and the tillage the leaders and the folowers euen the same Lord hath prohibited these degrees to bee confounded which he hath distinguished Are all Apostles are all Prophets are all teachers I thinke not If the whole bodie were the eie where were the hearing if the whole were hearing where were the smelling Intrusâân vpon men is iniurious vpon God is sacrilegious The examples of Korah whome the earth swalowed of Vzzah ââriâen to death and Vzziah plagued with the leprosie for affecting and inuading the Priests office are well knowen Chrysostome saieth of the last Hee entered the Temple to vsurpe the Priesthood and hee lost his kingdome He entred to become more âener able and hee became more execrable So euill a thing it is not to abide within the boundes that God hath appointed vs either of honour or knowledge What I say of the people I say likewise of laie Elders for so much as they are but a part of the people and looke what the whole is prohibited euery part is interdicted If Laie men may intermeddle with ecclesiasticall functions why not the people If the people may not why should the Elders since both are Laie If they renounce the execution and chalenge the superuision of ecclesiasticall dueties they flie from one Rocke and fall on another they cleare themselues from the worde and entangle themselues with the sword Gouernours of the Church that bee neither ministers nor Magistrates I yet conceiue none if any mans skill bee so good that hee can describe vs a gouernement betwixt both that shall wrong neither I would gladly giue him audience Howbeit wee need not trouble our heads with the maner of gouernement that laie Elders must haue distinct from the Priestes and Princes calling before we haue better proofe for the persons that shall enioy this priuiledge When you make it appeare there were such officers in the Church of Christ wee will then intreat you to bound out their office by the word of God or writings of the auncient fathers till then wee stand resolued there were neuer such Gouernours nor gouernement established by the Apostles nor acknowledged by their after-commers in Christes Church The places pretended both in Scriptures and Fathers for such Elders wee haue leasurablie perused and examined and wee finde not so much as the footesteps of any Laie Elders Presbyters we find and Rulers but no reason to leade they were laie Presbyters or Rulers Against theÌ we find all the Christian ancient Councils lawes and fathers y t euer mentioned any Presbyters If I shuffle any writers wordes or dazel the Readers eies shew me the place I will yeeld to mine errour In the meane time I take him to witnesse that is Iudge of all secrets I endeuoured to walke soundly and simplie without swaying or leaning to either side more then the euidence of the trueth enforced me Two sortes are left for I still professe that laie Elders were neuer admitted to meddle with any such
matters to whom the Apostolike power and charge which must alwayes remaine in the Church may be communicated and imparted and those are Presbyters and Bishops By Presbyters I meane those whom all the Catholike Fathers and Councils with one consent call Presbyteros placing them in the middle betweene Bishops and Deacons when they deuide the Clergie into Episcopos Presbyterosâ Diaconos Bishops Presbyters and Deacons Laiâ Elders I ouerskip as meere strangers to all antiquitie So that when I speake of Presbyteries I vnderstand thereby the assemblies of such Presbyters as were Clergie men and in euery Citie assisted the Bishop in the seruice of God and aduised the Bishop in all other affaires of the Church Thus much I premonish least the often vse of the word Presbyter in this chapter should either perplexe or vnsettle the Reader The times must like wise be remembred The Apostles both in teaching and gouerning the Churches when they were present had helpers when they were absent had substitutes after their finall departures or deathes left successours So that the things originally descending from the Apostles and continuallie remayning in the Church are the charge of the worde and Sacraments and the power of keyes and handes the persons to whom they were committed either Presbyters or Bishops the times when the presence absence departure or death of the Apostles If wee neglect or confound these partes wee shall but roaue in the aire at the right gouernement of the Church if wee obserue them wee shall force the Question to an Issue that will not deceiue vs. And first for the worde and Sacraments It may not bee deuied but as the worde and Sacraments are the most essentiall seedes of the Church so the handling and sowing thereof in the Lordes ground must bee the generall and principall charge of all Pastours and Presbyters that eyther feede or rule the flocke of Christ. for whether they be Apostles Euangelists Prophets Pastours or Teachers I meane such as Paul reckoneth to the Ephesians for the worke of the Ministerie or as the holy Ghost in other places calleth them Bishops and Presbyters this power is common to them all Without the worde and Sacraments the Saintes are not gathered the Church is not edified faith is not perfited heauen is not opened wherefore in preaching the worde and administring the Sacramentes the Scriptures know no difference betwixt Pastours and Teachers Bishops and Presbyters Had not our Sauiour deliuered both in one ioynt Commission to his Apostles when he willed them to goe and teach all Nation baptizing them Paul sheweth that preaching the worde was of the twaine the greater and woorthier part of his Apostolike function Christ sent mee not to baptize but to preach the Gospell not that hee might not or did not vse both but the latter was the chiefer So Iohn preached the baptisme of repentance not deuiding the offer of the worde from the confirmation of the Sacrament but ioyning them both together as coherent and consequent the one to the other for God doeth not send his messengers to make emptie promises but ratifieth the trueth of his speach with the seales of his word which are the Sacraments And therfore hee that hath charge from God to preach the one hath also leaue to performe the other Whom God hath placed in his church that by his mouth we should beleeue by his hands also we may bee baptized as appeareth by Philip conuerting and baptizing not onely the Eunuche but the whole Citie of Samaria and for that cause S. Austen iustly calleth as well Presbyters as Bishops Ministers of the word and Sacraments A newe distinction is lately deuised that Pastours in Saint Paul were such as had not onely the word and Sacraments but also the Church and charge of soules committed vnto them and Teachers those that laboured in doctrine but receiued no charge neither of Sacramentes nor soules In deede Ambrose taketh them for Catechizers of Infants and at Alexandria there were moderators of Schooles resembling our Uniuersities for the training and instructing of such as in time were likely to profit the Church of God but these were not ecclesiasticall functions in the Church they were profitable members of a common wealth that so did but no necessarie workemen in the ministerie And though there were such for a season at Alexandria yet all other Cities and Churches had not the like and they that gouerned those Schooles and taught the Catechumes there as Pantenus Clemens and Origen were Laie men and neuer vsed at Alexandria to teach the people in the Church as appeareth by Demetrius wordes then Bishop of Alexandria finding great fault with the Bishops of Ierusal in and Cesaria for suffering Origen after hee had bene Catechist at Alexandria to expound the Scriptures before the people in the Church His wordes are these It was neuer heard nor euer suffered that Laie men should teach in the Church in the presence of Bishops With no face could the Bishop of Alerandria haue disliked Origens fact if it had bene vsuall in his owne Church and the Bishops that wrate in defence of the matter doe not auouch it was a generall or perpetuall rule in the Church of Christ for a Catechizer to teach in the Church but alleage three instances where they sawe the like vsed and confesse they knew no more Wherefore vnlesse their examples and reasons were stronger and surer I preferre the iudgement of Ierome Augustine Chrysostome Theodorete and others before this late conceite who thinke the Apostle expressed one office by two names to shew what things belonged to the Pastorall charge Austen Pastours and Doctours whom you greatly desired I should distinguish I thinke to bee all one as you doe not that wee should conceiue some to be Pastours others to bee Doctours but therefore he subioyned Doctours to Pastours that Pastours might vnderstand doctrine pertained to their office Euery Pastour is a Doctour saieth Ierome Pastours and Doctours saieth Chrysostome were they to whom the whole people were committed and they were inferiour to those that went about preaching the Gospell because dwelling in more quietnesse they were employed onely in one place Paul calleth them Pastours and Doctours saieth Theodorete which were deputed and fastened to a Citie or village Oecumenius by Pastours and Teachers Paul meaneth Bishops to whome the Churches were committed But grant Pastours and Doctours were distinct offices in the Church as you imagine what gaine you by it You may thereby prooue an inequalitie of ecclesiasticall functions you prooue nothing els Obey your Ouerseers saieth Paul and bee subiect to them they watch ouer your soules to giue account for them Obedience and subiection to the Pastour is due from the whole flocke and all degrees thereof which are no Pastours but Teachers as you say were no Pastors they were therfore inferiour to Pastors and subiect to their ouersight Now take your choice if Pastors
were all one with Doctors you haue lost one of those offices which you affirme to bee perpetuall in the Church if they were distinct from them they were superiours vnto them and so betwixt ministers of the word for such were Teachers by Saint Pauls rule you establish a difference of degrees Thus much for the worde and Sacraments the dispensing whereof no doubt was common to all Apostles Euangelists Prophets Pastours and Teachers and so to Presbyters and Bishops not withstanding the moderatioÌ and ouersight of those things were still reserued to the Apostles as well absent as present euen when the power and charge thereof was imparted to others The discipline and gouernement of the Church I meane the power of the keies and imposing hands are two other partes of Apostolike authoritie which must remaine in the Church for euer These keyes are double the keie of knowledge annexed to the word the keie of power referred to the Sacraments Some late writers by vrging the one abolish the other howbeit I see no sufficient reason to counteruaile the Scriptures and Fathers that defend and retaine both The keie of knowledge must not bee doubted of our Sauiour in expresse wordes nameth it Woe be to you interpreters of the lawe for yee haue taken away the keie of knowledge yee entered not in your selues and those that were comming in you forbade The keie of power standeth on these words of Christ to Peter I will giue thee the keies of the kingdome of heauen and whatsoeuer thou shalt binde on earth shall be bound in heauen and whatsoeuer thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heauen And likewise to all his Apostles Whatsoeuer ye binde in earth shall be bound in heauen and whatsoeuer ye loose on earth shall be loosed in heauen And after his resurrection in like maner to them all Receiue ye the holie Ghost whose sinnes soeuer yee remit they are remitted vnto them and whose sinnes yee retaine they are retained And least we should vnderstand these places of the preaching of the Gospell as some new writers doe Saint Paul hath plaine wordes that cannot be wrested to that sense Speaking of the incestuous Corinthian that was excommunicated and deliuered vnto Satan he saieth Sufficient for that man is this rebuking of many so that now contrary wise yee ought rather to forgiue him and comfort him least hee bee swallowed vp with too much sorowe To whom you forgiue any thing I also forgiue for if I forgaue ought to any I forgaue it for your sakes in the sight of Christ. As Paul deliuered this offender to Satan and shut both the Church and heauen against him so now vpon the detesting and forsaking of his sinne hee restored him to the peace of the Church communion of the Lordes table and hope of Gods kingdome from which before hee was excluded And this Paul did not by preaching the word vnto the penitent for as then hee was absent from Corinth but by forgiuing him in the sight of Christ and his Church as by his Apostolike power hee might Both these keyes the one of knowledge the other of power Ambrose mentioneth in his 66. Sermon and likewise Origen in his 25. tractate vpon Matthew adding a third keie where hee saieth Blessed are they that open the kingdome of heauen either by their word or by their good worke for liuing well and teaching rightly the word of trueth they open the kingdom of heauen before men whiles they enter themselues and prouoke others to follow The meaning of these late writers it may bee is not wholie to cast away the keie of power but onely to drawe the wordes of Christ spoken to Peter and the rest of his Apostles rather to the preaching of the Gospell then to excluding from the Sacraments and yet to the Church or Presbyterie they reserue the power of the keies that is ful authoritie to excommunicate notorious and rebellious sinners These men foresee that if the power of the keies bee giuen to the Apostles and their successours then haue laie Elders who doe not succeed in the Apostles roumes and functions nothing to doe with the Apostles keies Because this was enough to marre the Laie Preâââterie therefore the Patrones thereof conueie the wordes of Christ to another sense and builde the ground-worke of excommunication vpon the 18. chapter of Saint Matthewes Gospell where the Church is named and not the Apostles But this deuise is both a preiudice to the Apostles and a Preamble to the laie Presbyterie which all the Catholike Fathers with one voyce contradict as I haue before at large declared Omitting the Laie Burgesses of the Church as hauing no interest in the Apostles keies it resteth in this place to bee considered to whom those keies were committed whether equallie to all Presbyters or chieflie to Pastours and Bishops The like must bee done for imposition of handes whether that also pertained indifferently to all or speciallie to Bishops Before wee make a full resolution to these questions we must search the time when Bishops first began and by whom they were first ordained and authorized In which inquisition wee will begin with the report and opinion of the auncient Fathers and so descend to the positions and assertions of such as in our age impugne and gainesay the vocation and function of Bishops Epiphanius report is this The Apostles could not suddenlie settle all things There was present need of Presbyters and Deacons for by those two the necessities of the Church might bee supplied Where there was none found woorthie of the Bishoprike the place remayned without a Bishop But where there was neede and fitte men found for the Episcopall function Bishops were ordained Euerie thing was not perfect from the beginning but in processe of time things were fitted for the furnishing of all occasions the Church in this wise receiuing the perfection of her gouernment Ambrose somewhat differing from Epiphanius saieth Apostolus Timotheum Presbyterum a se creatum Episcopum vocat quia primi Presbyteri Episcopi appellabantur vt recedente eo sequens ei succederet Sed quia coeperunt sequentes Presbyteri indigni inueniri ad primatus tenendos immutata est ratio prospiciente concilio vt non ordo sed meritum crearet Episcopum c. Paul calleth Timothie created a Presbyter by himselfe or with his owne handes a Bishop because the first Presbyters were called Bishops so as the first departing the next succeeded him But for that the Presbyters which followed beganne to bee found vnwoorthie to beare the chiefe regiment the maner was chaunged a Councill prouiding that not order but desert should make a Bishop appoynted by the iudgement of many Priestes least an vnfitte person should rashlie vsurpe the place and bee an offence to many Ieromes opinion is euident by his words which I repeated before in effect hee affirmeth thus much Before there were factions in religioÌ a Presbyter a
Bishop were both one the care of the Church was equallie deuided amongst many but when the Teachers and Baptizers began to drawe disciples after them it was decreed throughout the world that to stop the rising of Schisines and diuisions one of the Presbyters should bee elected and exalted aboue the rest to whom the whole care of the Church should pertaine and hee was called a Bishop or Ouerseer And so by the custome of the Church rather then by the trueth of the Lordes disposition Bishops are greater then Presbyters with whom they should rule the Church in common I haue not altered or neglected any word in Ierome that is materiall Some of our time whom for their learning and paines in the Church of God I otherwise reuerence though I follow not their iudgement in this point collect out of Ambrose and Ierome that in the Apostles times Bishops did not differ from Presbyters onely there was in euerie place a President of the Presbyterie who called them together and proposed things needefull to bee consulted of and this kinde of Prioritie went round to all the Presbyters euery man holding it by course for a season which some thinke was a weeke euen as the Priestes of the lawe had their weekely courses to serue in the Temple This kind of moderating the Presbyteries by course for a weeke or a moneth they take to bee Apostolike all other sortes of regiment vsed after in the Church they suppose to be mens inuentions and therefore they call the one fourme of gouernement diuine the other humane I could with that in men of great giftes affection and preiudice did not often ouer-rule learning and iudgement but the greatest men in Christes Church excepting alwayes the Apostles haue enclined some to priuate opinions some to knowen errours and therefore later writers must thinke it no dishonour to haue their reasons weighed before they be receiued for my vnderstanding I would gladly learne where I shall reade that Bishops in the Apostles times gouerned by weekes or yeeres that this kind of Prioritie went by course in euery place to all the Presbyters I see it alleaged out of Ambrose but I finde no such thing affirmed by Ambrose He saith Primi Presbyters Episcopi appellabantur vt recedente eo sequens ei succederet the first that is the chiefest or eldest Presbyters were called Bishops so as hee departing or leauing the place the next succeeded him He doth not say the first departed at the weekes or yeeres end nor the next succeeded and so round euerie man in his course but when the first departed or left his place as by death depriuation desertion translation persecution continuall sickenes or any other occasion they did not choose another to succeede him but the next in order and standing to him that departed tooke his place By this you may imagine that the Apostles at the first in euerie place where they came tooke care to order the Presbyteries in such sorte that euerie man might bee placed according to the measure of the gifts and graces which he had receiued of the holie Ghost and withall appointed the eldest or first to moderate their meetings vntill further order should be taken and when the place was voide by death or otherwise the next to succeede him without anie other or further consent or election of the people or Presbytery But what can be more against Ambroses wordes and sense then that a weekelie or monethly gouernement went round about to all the Presbyters by course since he affirmeth that not all but onely the first Presbyters were Bishops If all were Bishops by course how could onelie the first haue that place if all were first who was second or third By primi Presbyteri the first Presbyters he doth not meane all the Presbyters that were in the first age of the Church vnder the Apostles for then they should all be Bishops and none Presbyters which is a contradiction in the verie wordes but by primus and sequens the first and the next he meant those that were so placed in order by the Apostles Let Ambrose himselfe tell you so much Hic enim Episcopus est quiinter Presbyteros primus est vt omnis Episcopus Presbyter sit non tamen omnis Presbyter Episcopus Denique Timotheum Presbyterum ordinatum significat sed quia ante se alterum non habebat Episcopus erat Vnde quemadmodum Episcopum or dineâ ostendit Neque enim faâ erat aut licebat vt inferior ordinaret maiorem Nemo enim tribait quod non accepit Hee is a Bishop which is first amongst the Presbyters so that euery Bishop is a Presbyter but euery Presbyter is not a Bishop for example Paul signifieth that he made Timothie a Presbyter but because he had none other before him hee was a Bishop Whereupon Paul she weth him howe hee should ordaine a Bishop for it was neither meete nor lawful that the inferiour should ordaine the greater or superiour No man can giue that which he hath not receiued Euerie Presbyter was not a Bishop saieth Ambrose ergo that office went not round by course along all the Presbyters Againe Timothie was therefore a Bishop because he had none other before him but if they went round by order Timothie had many weekes another aboue him and afore him and then Timothie was no Bishop but when his course came Thirdly if euery Presbyter were a Bishop in his turne how fond a reason were this which Ambrose maketh that Timothie must be a Bishop before he could impose handes to ordaine a Bishop since it is not lawfull for an inferiour to ordaine his superiour and no man could giue that which he had not receiued For if that office went by order euerie man receiued Episcopall power to impose handes in his course and consequently might giue it Wherefore it is no part of Ambroses meaning or saying that the Episcopall honour and dignitie was in the Apostles times imparted to all the Presbyters of euerie Church in their turnes eche of them enioying it a weeke or a yeare it is a dreame of yours and so farre from all proofe and likelihoode that for your learning and credites sake you shoulde not father it on Ambrose What Ambrose prooueth for vs against the maine groundes of your newe Discipline in place where wee will not forget To returne to the ancient Fathers and sincerely to views their reportes without shortening or lengthening them for either side Epiphanius speech is in partcleere in part obscure I obserue three points in him that appeare to be true and accord with the iudgement of the rest of the Fathers The first is the Apostles coulde not at the newe planting of the Churches settle and dispose all thinges in such perfection as in time they did So saieth Ambrose Postquam omnibus locis Ecclesiae sunt constitutae officia ordinata aliter composita res est quà m coeperat After that Churches were established in all
places and offices distinguished or digested they tooke an other order then at beginning And why The first regarde the Apostles had was to gaine vnbeleeuers to Christ the second to gouerne such as were gained And these two respects might best be perfourmed by two contrarie courses To encrease the Church the more workemen the better For when the Haruest is great if the Labourers bee fewe the roumes can not be filled To guide the Church the fewer the better except it bee with counsell to aduise For diuerse men haue diuers minds and diuers meanings and in a multitude of Gouernours emulation and dissention are no rare springs Wherefore no maruell though the Apostles tooke besides themselues as many helpers as they coulde to conuert the worlde vnto Christ and yet tooke not vnto themselues as many Rulers as they coulde in euerie place to gouerne the beleeuers By order of nature men must bee gotten together afore they neede bee gouerned and so in the building of the Church the number of Preachers at the first was more requisite then the choice of Gouernours And for that cause Epiphanius second position is verie true That Presbyters and Deacons the one to labour in the worde and dispence the Sacraments the other to releeue the poore and attend to diuine Seruice were euerie where appointed by the Apostles These were sufficient to beginne the Churches and these were fittest to increase the Church And therefore in many places the Apostles left none other but these If you aske who then gouerned the Churches in those beginnings I answere the flocke was both augmented and directed by the Presbyters that laboured in the worde The chiefe gouernement to impose handes and deliuer vnto Satan rested yet in the Apostles who often visited the Churches which they planted and ordained Presbyters as they passed to supplie the wantes of euerie Church The third point in Epiphanius reporte is this that although it be not extant in the Apostles writings that in euerie place where they came at first they left Bishops yet the Scriptures do witnesse that Paul furnished some places with Bishops as Ephesus and Creete with Timothie and Tite Thus farre I see not what you can refell in Epiphanius Perchance you will deride Epiphanius simplicitie that coulde not discerne betwixt an Euangelist and a Bishop for as you maintaine Timothie and Tite were Euangelists and not Bishops and had an extraordinarie and no ordinarie calling You can not charge Epiphanius with ignoraunce in this behalfe but you must doe the like to the eldest and best learned Fathers of the Primitiue Church namely Eusebius Ambrose Chrysostome Ierome Oecumenius Primasius and others which affirme as Epiphanius doth that Timothie was a Bishop ordeined by S. Paul but thereof anon as also whether an Euangelist might bee a Bishop or no which conclusions of yours though they be most feeble and vnsure yet they be lately taken up for Oracles That which may be doubted in Epiphanius is this The cause why Bishops wanted in some places was saith he the lacke of fit men to beare the office It may be some will thinke it strange that amongest so many Prophets Pastours and Teachers as were in most of those Churches which Paul planted not a fit man could be found for the Episcopal function and yet afterward meete men were found for all the Churches in the worlde but as that which Epiphanius saith might be some cause of wanting Bishops at the first so if I be not deceiued there were other causes that mooued the Apostles not straight wayes to place Bishops in euerie Church where they preached which I will specifie when the testimonies of Ambrose and Ierome be throughly perused Ambrose at first sight seemeth somewhat to dissent from Epiphanius in that he thinketh the Churches had both Presbyters and Bishops left them by the Apostles and the Presbyters were placed in an order according to the deserts and worthines of eche man by the Apostles and others that founded the Churches and this rule deliuered that as the first and chiefest Presbyter who was Bishop in name and superiour in calling to the rest failed so the next should succeede in his roume and enioy the Episcopall chaire and power after his departure And when some Presbyters did not answere the expectation which was had of them but scandalized the Church that course of standing in order to succeede was changed and Bishops were chosen by the iudgement and liking of many Priests to cut off vnworthie and offensiue men from the place I could admit this report of Ambrose but that he expresseth not when and by whome this change beganne he saieth Prospiciente Concilio A Council fore seeing or prouiding that not order but merite should create a Bishop but what Council If he meant a Councill of the Apostles which is not expressed but may well bee intended for the wordes stand indifferent to any Councill no testimonie can be weightier for Bishops then this of Ambrose which is brought against them If he meant others after the Apostles deaths what authoritie had they to change the Apostolike gouernment or by their decree to bind the whole world But this I reserue till Ieromes witnesse bee repeated and examined Ierom in his words before cited auoucheth three special things first that til dissentions sprang in the Church Bishops and Presbyters were all one and the Churches were gouerned by the common aduise of Presbyters amongst whom the care of the Church was equally diuided Next that to roote out schismes rising verie fast through the Preachers and Presbyters factions by a decree throughout the whole worlde one of the Presbyters was chosen in euery Church and set ouer the rest and to him the whole care of the Church did euer after appertaine Thirdly that this subiection of the Presbyters vnder the Bishop and maioritie of Bishops aboue Presbyters grewe rather by the custome of the Church then by the trueth of the Lords disposition for they should rule the Church in common These wordes of Ierome may be either verie true according to the time that they be referred vnto or verie false If you so conster Ierome that all the while the Apostles liued Bishops were al one with Presbyters and had no more charge nor power in the Church then Presbyters you make Ierome contradict the Scriptures himselfe the whole aray of all the ancient Fathers and Apostolike Churches that euerwere since Christs time for all these affirme and proue the contrarie But if you so expound Ierom that the Apostles for a time suffred the Presbyters to haue equall power and care in guiding the Church themselues alwayes sitting at the sterne and holding the helue whiles they were present in those parts of the worlde till by the factions and diuisions of so manie gouernors the Churches were almost rent in peeces and thereupon the Apostles forced did set an other order in the Church then was at first and with the good liking of all the
Churches either troubled with contentions or iustly fearing the like euents in time to come did commit eche place to one Pastour leauing the rest to consult and aduise with him for the health and peace of the people and by this example taught the whole Church what perpetuall rule to obserue after their deaths Ierome saieth as much as I can or doe desire I come nowe to the quicke let the Christian Reader marke this issue well in Gods name and what side bringeth soundest and surest proofes there let the verdict go Ierome prooueth by many Scriptures that a Presbyter and Bishop were names indifferent and often vsed to the same persons Paul calling for the Presbyters of Ephesus saide vnto them Take heede to your selues and to all the flocke in which the holie Ghost hath set you ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ouerseers or Bishops to feede the Church of God Inscribing his Epistle to the Philippians he saieth To all the Saintes which are at Philippi with the Bishops and Deacons And so to Tite I left thee in Creete to ordaine Presbyters in euery Citie if any be vnreprooueable for a Bishop must be vnreprooueable Peter like wise writing to the Iewes dispersed saieth The Presbyters which are amongst you I beseech which am also a Presbyter feede the flocke of God committed to you ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ouerseeing it not constrainedly but willingly All the Presbyters that fed the flocke are in these places called Bishops I grant it fully the words are cleere What hence conclude you ergo the offices were then all one Nay ergo the names then were common Otherwise how thinke you by this argument Peter calleth himselfe ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a fellow Presbyter with the rest are therefore the Apostleship and the Presbytership both one office Of Iudas Peter saieth in the Acts ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã his Bishoprike let an other take Will you grant that an Apostle doth not differ from a Bishop Admit you the one and I will receiue the other Names may be common though offices be distinct There were then at Ephesus and amongst the dispersed Iewes no Bishops but such as were Presbyters and they many not one Distinguish the times and the Scriptures will agree There was a time as Ierome telleth you when the Churches were gouerned by the common aduise of the Presbyters In this time spake Paul to the Presbyters of Ephesus in this time wrate Peter to the Presbyters amongst the Iewes After this the factions of the Teachers caused the Apostles to establish an other kinde of gouernement and to commit the chiefe care of eche Church which they had planted to some chosen person that should ouersee the flocke as Pastour of the place the rest being his helpers to disperse the word and aduisers to gouerne the Church If you prooue that you say somewhat to the matter If I prooue it not better then you doe your Laie Elders I am content to renounce the one as I doe the other Will you prooue it by the Scripture I will so prooue it as you shall not refuse it vnlesse you reiect both the Booke and Church of God What will you prooue That the Apostles in their life time did institute one Pastour to take the chiefe care of one Church and consequentlie the change which Ierome speaketh of from the common and equall regiment of Presbyters to the particular and preeminent moderation of the Churches in eche place by Bishoppes was not made after the Apostles were dead but whiles they liued and then of force by their decree for during their times none might interpose themselues to change and alter the fourme of the Church Discipline setled by them without their leaue and allowance If it were euer decreed by them it would bee founde in their writings and that it can not Besides had it beene their doing it might iustly be called Gods disposition and ordinance which Ierome saieth it may not Their doctrine in deede doeth plainelie appeare by their writings their successours doe not For howe should the Apostles declare by their pennes who succeeded them after their deaths Is not the whole Church of Christ a lawful and sufficient witnesse in that case If wee beleeue not the Churches that were directed and ordered by the Apostles preaching and presence nor their Schollers that liued with them and next succeeded in their rouines who that wise is wil beleeue our bare surmises seelie coniectures of things done 1500. yeeres before we were borne Yet if the Scriptures do not signifie so much we wil loose it But before I enter to proue it I wil search out the right cause why the Apostles did not not in euery place where they came presently erect Bishops to gouerne the Churches which they planted The reasons why the Apostles did not at the first preaching of the Gospell commit the Churches to the regiment of Bishops I finde were these three First they reserued the chiefe power of imposing hands and punishing notorious offendors to themselues whom Christ made bishops ouerseers of his Church For though to feede leade and attend the flocke they tooke the Presbyters to be their helpers yet the weightiest matters of the church as giuing the graces of Gods spirite and deliuering vnto Satan they retained in their owne handes so long as they were in those places or parts of the worlde The second is that which Epiphanius noted that although there were many endued with excellent gifts to preach the word yet the Apostles would trust none with the chiefe charge of the Churches till they had fully seene and perfectly tried as wel the soundnes of their mindes as greatnes of their gifts Thirdly lest they should seeme to seeke the aduancing of their followers more then the conuerting of vnbeleeuers they suffered the Churches to take a triall what equalitie of many Gouernours would doe and when the fruites thereof prooued to be dissention and confusion the Apostles were forced to commit the Churches at their departures to certaine tried approoued men to be chiefe Pastours of the seuerall places and the Churches were all as willing to receiue them finding by experience what continuall schismes and heresies grew by the peruersnesse of Teachers and could not be repressed by the confused gouernment of the Presbyters which were many in number and equall in power None of these things are expressed in the Scriptures If the fathers alone did witnesse them say we not much more for Bishops then you do for Lay Elders but you shall see the grounds of their reports testified euen in the Scriptures That the Apostles at the first planting of the Churches kept to themselues the power of imposing hands and deliuering vnto Satan which the Fathers call Episcopall power is no newes in the Scriptures they could not loose that vnlesse they lost their Apostleship withall you must shew by the Scriptures where they committed this power to the Presbyters of euery place or else our assertion
standeth good that they retained it to themselues For of their hauing it there is no doubt of their committing it to the Presbyters of euery Church there is no proofe And therefore the Fathers doe vtterlie denie that the Apostles deliuered that power to any but to Bishops Their proofes be stronger then you take them for howsoeuer you will shift them There were Presbyters at Ephesus besides Timothie and in Creete besides Tite and yet Paul left the one at Ephesus to impose handes and the other in Creete to ordaine Presbyters in euerie Citie If without them the Presbyters of either place might haue doone it superfluous was both Paules charge they should do it and direction how they should do it But his committing that power and care to them prooueth in the iudgement of the ancient Fathers that the Presbyters without them coulde not doe it Euangelists you say they were and not Bishops Admit they were Then as yet neither Ephesus nor Creete had anie that might impose hands and yet had they Presbyters And consequently this power to impose handes was at that time reserued from the Presbyters to the Apostles and their deputies Saint Paul saieth most apparantly the Presbyterie might impose hands for Timothie receiued from them imposition of handes I haue tolde you alreadie that take the worde how you will you can prooue no such thing thence If it signifie there the degree of a Presbyter which Timothie then receiued as Ierome expoundeth the place it commeth nothing neere your purpose If you take it for the assemblie then gathered when Timothie was ordained Chrysostome telleth you they were more then Presbyters for otherwise they could not lay hands on Timothie to make him a Bishop Chrysostome you thinke erred in not expounding the place as you doe Then giue Saint Paul leaue to tell you that hee was present in the Presbyterie when Timothie was ordained and that he imposed hands on Timothie But this I haue handled before to which I referre you I onely nowe put you in minde that place will be are no such conclusion And as the Apostles reserued imposition of handes from the Presbyters to themselues so did they keepe the deliuering of offendours vnto Satan in their owne power If any obey not our sayings note him by a letter saith Paul and keepe no company with him To what ende should they note him by a letter vnto Paul vnlesse Paul had reserued the punishing of such offendours vnto himselfe Shall I come vnto you with a rodde or in the spirite of meekenesse If I come againe I will not spare such as haue heeretofore sinned and not repented I trust this be plaine enough to prooue that the Apostles kept the punishing of sinnes to themselues and referred them not ouer to the Presbyters The Apostles hauing of this power doth not exclude the Presbyters from hauing the same for at Corinth Paul not onely willeth the Church to excommunicate that incestuous sinner but rebuketh them for not doing it before he wrate Paul doth not reprooue them for not deliuering that sinner vnto Satan but for not sorrowing that he might haue beene put from among them Had they written of this notorious offence when they wrate of other things to the Apostle that he might haue considered of the offendours punishement they had doone their dueties they could maintaine factions and swell one against another through pride of their gifts but they did not sorrow to see so grieuous a crime committed and continued in the eyes both of beleeuers and Infidels nor so much as signifie the same by their letters as desiring to haue such a one excluded from their Christian fellowship This the Apostle chargeth them with hee goeth no further They shoulde haue noted him by a letter vnto Paul and kept no companie with him til the Apostle had decreed what to do with him All this doeth you no good for the Apostles neither were nor could be Bishops I am sure all the Fathers with one mouth affirme the Apostles both might be and were Bishops Cyprian Apostolos idest Episcopos Dominus elegit The Lord himselfe chose the Apostles that is the Bishops Apostoli Episcopi sunt The Apostles are Bishops saieth Ambrose Romae fuerunt primi Petrus Paulus Apostoli ijdem ac Episcopi At Rome the first were Peter and Paul both Apostles and Bishops saieth Epiphanius Iames saieth Chrysostome had the office of a Bishop at Ierusalem And so Eusebius Iames was the first that after the ascention of our Sauiour had the Episcopall seate at Ierusalem Ierome himselfe that is thought to speake much against the state of Bishops saith Peter after the Bishopâike of Antioch helde the Sacerdotall chayre at Rome And againe Iames called the Lordes brother after the Lordes passion was straight ordained Bishop of Ierusalem by the Apostles Theodoret. Paul sheweth plainely that Epaphroditus had the Episcopall function committed to him by calling him an Apostle What neede wee more I remembred you before Peter himselfe calleth the Apostleship a Bishopship And why not if ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã be to ouersee the Lords flocke who better deserued that name then the Apostles They were more then Bishops So were they more then Presbyters and yet Saint Peter coulde tell howe to speake when hee called himselfe ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a Presbyter as well as others Bishops are ouerseers but of one place Apostles of many Bishops were fastened to one place not by the force of their name but by the order of the holie Ghost who sent Apostles to ouersee manie places and settled Pastours to ouersee one but hee that is ouerseer of twentie Cities is ouerseer of euerie one And therefore the Apostles were Bishops and more then Bishops euen as Iohn was more then a Prophet and yet a Prophet Confound you their offices I keepe them distinct in that I say euerie Apostle was a Prophet a Bishop and a Presbyter but not euerie Presbyter Bishop or Prophet was an Apostle They were all the Ministers of Christ feeders of his flocke and stewardes of his mysteries but the Apostles in a greater measure of grace higher manner of calling and mightier force of Gods Spirite then the rest And whatsoeuer becommeth of the names it can not be denyed but the Apostles had that power of imposing handes and deliuering vnto Sathan which they after imparted vnto Bishops And therefore whiles they remayned in or neere the places where they planted Churches there was no such need of Bishops the Apostles alwayes supplying the wantes of those Churches with their presence Letters or Messengers as the cause required But when they were finally to forgoe those parts then began they to prouide for the necessitie and securitie of the Churches and left such fitte men as they had with Episcopall power as their substitutes to guide the Churches which they had founded The second cause why Bishops were not euery where trusted
with the Churches at the first erecting thereof is that which Epiphanius remembreth and Paul toucheth in many places I trust to send Timotheus shortly vnto you I haue no man like minded who will faithfully care for your matters For all seeke their owne and not that which is Iesus Christes And to Timothie This thou knowest that all they which are in Asia bee turned from me At my first answering no man assisted mee but all forsooke mee Demas hath forsaken mee and embraced this present worlde Wherefore Epiphanius surmise that the scarcitie of tried and approoued men was some cause why euerie place was not furnished at the first with a Bishop is neither vnlikelie nor vnpertaining to the purpose The third reason I take to be this that as Presbyters to labour in the word and augment the Church were presently needefull the haruest being no lesse then the whole world and Bishops to moderate the number of Teachers and to ouersee as well the feeders as the flocke were not so requisit whiles the Apostles who tooke care of those things themselues preached in or neere the places so the wisedome of God woulde not impose that fourme of gouernement on the Church but after long triall and good experience what neede the Churches should haue of it This course he obserued with the people of Israel not straightway to associate the seuentie Elders vnto Moses but to let them alone vntill Moses was wearied with the burden and the multitude grieued for want of dispatch and Iethro seeing the Iudge afflicted with paines and the people discontented with delayes aduised an other way which the whole assemblie liked God confirmed and Moses executed In like manner Christ suffered his Church to trie whiles his Apostles yet liued what equalitie and plentie of Gouernours would worke in euerie place and when it fell out in proofe vpon the Apostles absence that so many leaders so many followers so many Rulers so many factions out euerie Church in sunder the Apostles were forced the world as Ierom faith decreing it that is the faithful throughout the world being therewith contented and thereof desirous to commit their places and Churches not to Presbyters in common and equall authoritie but to their Disciples and followers whome afterward they called Bishops in a superioritie leauing vnto them as vnto their successors the chiefest honor and power of imposing handes and vsing the keyes and resting specially on their care and paines to ouersee both Teachers and beleeuers though the Presbyters were not excluded from helping and assisting them to feed and guide the flocke of Christ. This you say but Ierome saith It was not the Lords disâosition by his Apostles but rather a decree and custome of the Church that first made Bishops to differ from Presbyters Ierome saieth it was decreed throughout the world to change the equalitie of Presbyters into the superioritie of Bishops by whome it was so decreed hee doeth not mention in this place but if I prooue as well by the Scriptures as by Ierome himselfe and the rest of the Fathers that this change began in the Apostles times and was both seene and approoued by them I euince it to bee an Apostolike ordinance Then must it also be diuine which Ierome denyeth What Ierom meaneth by the trueth of the Lords ordinance I wil after examine I must prooue in order I shall else but confound both myselfe and the Reader In the meane time I make this reason out of Ierome When the schismes of Presbyters beganne dangerously to teare the Churches in peeces then were the Churches committed to the chiefe and preeminent charge of one but those schismes and factions troubled all the Churches euen in the Apostles times vnder them therefore beganne the change of gouernement which Ierome speaketh of At Corinth indeede there were contentions who were baptized of the greatest men which Ierome doeth exemplifie but the factions must be more generall and deadly that should cause an alteration of gouernement throughout the world So there were euen in the Apostles times To those of Corinth he saith When you come together in the Church I heare there are dissentions amongest you and I beleeue it in part for there must be heresies euen among you that they which are approoued amongst you might beknowen And wheÌ he saith there must be heresies amongst you to manifest the good from the bad he meaneth not only at Corinth but euery where which came to passe accordingly To the Romanes he saith Marke them diligently which cause diuisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which yee haue learned and auoyde them Amongest the Galathians were some that intended to peruert the Gospel of Christ and to carrie them into an other doctrine bewitching them that they shoulde not obey the trueth To the Philippians Beware of dogges beware of euill workemen many walke of whome I tolde you often and tell you now weeping that are enemies of the crosse of Christ whose ende is damnation whose God is their bellie and glorie to their shame which minde earthly things With the Colossians were some that burdened the Churches with traditions euen with the commaundements and doctrines of men and holding not the head aduanced themselues in those things which they neuer sawe and rashly puft vp with fleshly mindes beguiled the simple with a shew of humblenesse and worshipping of Angels At Thessalonica the resurrection of the dead was impugned and some troubled the people with visions with fained messages and forged letters in the Apostles name as if the day of Christ were at hand It came to passe in euery place which Paul foretolde the Presbyters of Ephesus This I know saith he that after my departure shall grieuous wolues enter in amongst you not sparing the flocke Yea of your owne selues shall rise men speaking peruerse thinges to draw Disciples after them Neither were the Gentiles onelie subiect to this danger but the Iewes also as Peter forewarned them There shalbe false teachers amongst you which priuily shall bring in damnable heresies euen denying the Lord that hath bought them many shal follow their damnable waies through couetousnes with fained wordsshal they make marchandise of you And so Iohn Euen now there are many Antichrists many false prophets and deceiuers are gone out into the world To preuent these deceiuers and represse these peruerse Teachers Paul was forced whiles he liued laboured in other places to send speciall substitutes to the Churches most endangered and by their paines ouersight to cure the soares heale the wounds which these pestilent and vnquiet spirits had made So at Ephesus when the teachers and doctors began to affirme they knewe not what euen prophane and doting fables whose word did fret as a canker and crept into houses leading captiue simple women laden with sinnes and led with diuers lusts and others hauing itching eares gate them teachers after
their owne lusts and turned their eares from the trueth to fables Paul sent Timothie thither to stay these prophane and vaine bablings to commande that they taught no strange doctrine to impose hands on such as were fitte to receiue accusations against sinnefull and vngodly Presbyters and to rebuke them openly according to their deserts to reiect yong and wanton widowes and to see true Labourers in the word honored and cherished and finally to ouersee the whole house of God and euerie part thereof as well Teachers and Presbyters as Deacons widowes and hearers And not onely instructed him how he shoulde behaue himselfe as a Gouernour in the Church but charged him before the liuing God and his elect Angels that hee obserued those things without respecting persons or any inclining to partes Likewise in Creete when many vaine talkers and deceiuers of minds subuerted whole houses and loaded the Church with Iewish fables and commaundements of men Paul left Tite there to redresse things amisse to stop their mouthes that taught things which they ought not for filthie lucres sake to stay foolish questions and contentions about the Law to reiect heretikes after one or two admonitions and sharply to rebuke with all authoritie not suffering any man to despise him as also to ordaine good and religious Presbyters and Bishops in euerie Citie that shoulde be able to exhort with wholsome doctrine and improoue gainesayers And here first did Paul by writing expresse that he placed substitutes where need was with Episcopall power and honour to guide and rule the Church of God These examples make nothing to your purpose for first they did none of these things but with the aduise and consent of the Presbyterie which Bishops do not Next they were Euangelists and no Bishops and in that respect might haue this speciall deputation from the Apostle It may bee your learning will serue you to say that Paul left both these to rule the Church in Creete and at Ephesus for a weeke and in their order as the rest of the Presbyters did but such tests if you dare aduenture them will cracke both your cause and your credite Paul belike prayed Timothie to stay at Ephesus to call the Presbyterie together and to aske voyces and to doe iust what pleased the rest to decree but if you elude and frustrate the wordes of the Apostle with such additions not onelie besides but against the Text you can deceiue none saue such as will not beleeue Saint Paul himselfe if hee shoulde speake against the Lay Presbyterie For our partes wee take the wordes as they stand and so did the Catholike Fathers before vs being persuaded that Paul had witte enough to discerue to whome hee shoulde write for the performaunce of these things and not to mistake Timothie for the Presbyterie If Timothie had nothing else to do but to consult what pleased the Presbyters to determine in euerie of these pointes howe childish an ouersight was it for Paul to skip the whole bench of them and to charge and adiure him to see these preceptes inuiolably kept without sparing or fearing anie man For thus you must expound or rather imprison and fetter euerie worde that Paul speaketh in those three Epistles Commaunde with all authoritie receiue not an accusation against a Presbyter but vnder two or three witnesses rebuke them that sinne reiect heretikes after two warnings refuse yoonger widowes staie vaine contentions and vnprofitable questions ordaine Elders in euerie Citie impose handes hastily on no man that is as you interprete call the Presbyterie together and aske them whether they be contented it shall be so or no. And so I adiure and charge thee before God and Christ and the elect Angels that thou obserue these precepts inuiolable and vnblameable that is obserue them if the Presbyterie will consent and agree vnto thee else not But I thinke you dare not stand to these mockeries of the Scriptures and therefore you will rather flie to the second part of your answere that they were authorized to do these things as Euangelists and not as Bishops We expressed so much that they were Euangelists and no Bishops Euangelists you should say and Bishops for when they left following the Apostles and were affixed to certaine places with this power and authoritie which I haue mentioned what els could they bee but Bishops They assisted the Apostles present and supplied their absence and did continue the Churches in that state in which the Apostles left them Nowe if the Apostles in respect of this power and care were Bishops when they staied in any place much more the Euangelists If the same âidelitie and authoritie be still needful and therefore perpetuall in the Church of God they did these things not by their Euangelisticall calling which is long since ceased but by their Episcopall which yet doeth and must remaine for if this power and preheminence descended from them to their successours it is euident this commission and charge was Episcopal since no part of their Euangelship was deriued to their after-commers We cannot endure to haue them called or counted Bishops In deed if succession of Episcopall power came from the Apostles to them and so to their successours we shall soone conclude that Bishops came from the Apostles and therefore you doe wisely to resist it but by your patience you must endure it the best Stories and Writers of the Primitiue Church doe make them Bishops and likewise Pauls precepts to them the very paternes of Episcopall charge and duetie Timothie saieth Eusebius ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is by the stories reported to bee the first that tooke the bishoprike of Ephesus as Tite also did of the churches in Creete Ierome whose wordes you strongly presse to prooue there were no Bishops in the Apostles times but such as were equall with Presbyters and not superiours vnto them saieth Timothie was ordained Bishop of Ephesus by blessed Paul and Tite Bishop of Creete preached the Gospell there and in the Islands round about Ambrose Paul by his epistle instructeth Timothie now created a Bishop how he ought to order the Church And so of the other The Apostle had consecrated Tite to be a Bishop and therefore he warneth him to be carefull in ecclesiasticall ordination Chrysostome Paul saieth in his epistle to Timothie Fulfill thy ministerie when he was now a Bishop for that Timothie was a Bishop Paul declareth by his writing thus vnto him Laie hands hastilie on no man And againe which was giuen thee by the imposition of handes of the Presbyterie for by no meanes Presbyters could ordaine a Bishop And shewing how Euangelists might become Bishops he saith Why doeth Paul write onlie to Timothie and Tite where as Silas and Luke were also his Disciples and endewed with marueilous vertues Because hee had nowe deliuered to them the gouernement and charge of the Church the others as
yet he did carrie about with him Epiphanius the diuine speach of the Apostle teacheth who is a Bishop and who a Presbyter in saying to Timothie a Bishop Rebuke not a Presbyter but exhort him as a father How could a Bishop rebuke a Presbyter if he had no power ouer a Presbyter as also Receiue not an accusation against a Presbyter but vnder two or three witnesses Theodoret. Titus was a notable Disciple of Paul ordained by Paul Bishop of Creete and authorized to make the Bishops that were vnder him Vincentius Lirinensis writing vpon some words of Paul to Timothie saith O Timothie that is O Priest O Teacher if the diuine grace hath made thee meete for witte exercise and learning be thou Beseleel that is a most skilfull workeman of the spiritual Temple Augustine instructing all Pastours by Paules words to Tite addeth Was it saide in vaine to the seruant of God now eminent amongst the members of the chiefe Pastour Shewe thy selfe an example of good workes to all Gregorie Paul admonisheth his scholler Timothie now Prelate of a flocke saying Attend to reading til I come Primasius Timothie had the grace of prophecie cum ordinatione Episcopatus together with the order of a Bishop And that grace was the blessing which Timothie at the time of his making Bishop receiued by the imposition of Paules hands Oecumenius interlacing the words of Paul to Timothie saieth Neglect not the gift which is in thee That is either Doctrine or the office of a Bishop for it was the grace of God that being yoong hee deserued to be made a Pastour Which was giuen thee by prophecie for by the commaundement of the holie Ghost Bishops were made and not at all aduenture With imposition of hands of the Presbyterie By Presbyters hee meaneth Bishops for Presbyters did not ordaine him being a Bishop Yea which of all the auncient Fathers doeth not with Tertullian confesse that the Epistles of Paul to Timothie and Tite were made concerning the ecclesiastical state or doth not with Chrysostome Ambrose and Oecumenius apply the words precepts of the Apostle written to them as spoken to all Bishops You say Euangelists could be no Bishops y e whole Church of Christ with one resolution said they were bishops whatsoeuer Paul speaketh to them pertaineth to all Bishops and Pastors and of al others Ieromes confession is most cleere in that behalfe Howe then coulde Ierom doubt but the vocation and function of Bishops was an Apostolike ordinance and consequently confirmed and allowed by the wisedome of Gods spirit in his Apostles Saint Iohn in his Reuelation will assure you that the Sonne of god willed him to write to the seuen starres and Angels of the seuen Churches of Asia that is to the seuen Pastours and Bishops of those seuen places Whereby it is euident that not onely the Apostles were liuing when one superiour gouerned the Churches but the Lord himselfe with his owne voice confirmed that kinde of regiment I do not feare lest with Origen you will wrest the place to the Angels in heauen say that in euery Church there were two Bishops one visible another inuisible S. Augustine hath learnedly quenched that error If the Lord woulde haue had those words vnderstood of the Angels of the higher heauens and not of the Rulers of the Church hee woulde not haue afterward added But I haue some what against thee because thou hast left thy first loue remember therefore whence thou art fallen and repent This can not be spoken of the heauenly Angels who always retaine their loue whence they that fell are the Diuell and his Angels Therefore by the diuine voice vnder the name of an Angell the Ruler or ouerseer of the Church is praised And againe The Angels of the Churches in the Apocalypse ought not to be vnderstoode to be any but the Bishops or Rulers of the Churches If Iohn in his time sawe those seuen Churches gouerned by seuen Pastours or Bishops then was the common and equal gouernement of Presbyters before that time changed If Christ called them Starres and Angels of the Churches they were no humane inuention after the Apostles were dead and buried You see Ierome saieth the regiment of Bishops came not into the Church by the truth of the Lords disposition You doe not alleadge Ierom because you admit or regard what he saith you onely snatch at some words in him which seeme to serue your humours otherwise you receiue no part of his report In the place which you bring against Bishops Ierome saieth that at the first when Presbyters gouerned Ecclesiae cura aequaliter inter plures diuidebatur the charge or care of the Church was equally diuided amongst many You say no there was neuer any such time it were lacke of wisedome so to thinke Your wordes be Neque enim ille quum diceret Ecclesias initio fuisse communi Presbyterorum consilio gubernatas ita desipuisse existimandus est vt somniaret neminem ex Presbyteris illi coetui praefuisse Ierome when hee said the Churches were at the first gouerned by the common aduise of the Presbyters may not be thought to haue bene So FOOLISH as to dreame that none of the Presbyters was chiefe of that assemblie Ierome saieth the care of the Church was equally deuided amongst them you say it were a dreame and a follie so to suppose And thus is Ierome rewarded for bearing witnesse to your Presbyterall regiment Againe Ierome saieth that vpon the primarie dissentious of Presbyters it was decreed in the whole world Vt omnis Ecclesiae cura ad vnum pertineret that the whole care or charge of the Church should pertaine to one This you cannot digest for if this bee true your laie Elders had nothing to doe with Church matters since Bishops began Ieromes whole tale therefore your selues reiect as vntrue onely you hold fast the latter ende which you vnderstand not and thence you would prooue that the gouerning of the Church by Bishops was mans inuention contrarie to Gods institution In all reason when you impugne the two partes of your owne witnesses deposition wee might refuse the third but wee will not presuming that Ierome would not so grossely contradict himselfe as to say the superioritie of Bishops aboue Presbyters was and was not an Apostolike ordinance Ieromes wordes then that the Bishops maioritie aboue Presbyters came rather by the custome of the Church then by the trueth of the Lordes disposition may bee two wayes construed First that by the trueth of the Lordes disposition hee meaneth a precept from Christes mouth and by the custome of the Church hee vnderstandeth a continuation of that regiment euen from the Apostles For Veritas is often taken with the auncient Fathers for a trueth written in the Scriptures consuetudo for a thing deliuered by hand from the Apostles which otherwise thep call a tradition And
so though there bee no precept from Christ in writing for that kind of gouernement yet the perpetuall custome of the Church prooueth it to be an Apostolike ordinance Another sense of Ieromes wordes may be this At the first for a time the Presbyters with common aduise and equall care guided the Church vnder the Apostles paulatim verò ad vnum omnem sollicitudânem esse delatam but after Bishops were appointed the whole care thereof was by litle and litle deriued vnto one and so at length by custome Presbyters were vtterly excluded from all aduise and counsell whereof Ambrose complaineth and Bishops only intermedled with the regiment of the Church This maner of subiection in Presbyters prelation in bishops grew only in continuance of time not by any ordinance of Christ or his Apostles At first y â Presbyters were left as in part of the charge of y â part of the dignitie This seemeth to be the right intent of Ieroms speach by the words y â follow for to reuoke the soueraigntie of Bishops ouer Presbyters to the trueth of y â deuine ordinance he saith Nouerint in communi debere Ecclesiam regere imitantes Mosem qui cum haberet in potestate solus praeesse populo Israel septuagintaelegit cum quibus populum iudicaret Let the Bishops know that according to the trueth of the Lordes disposition howsoeuer the custome of the Church now be to the contrarie they should rule the Church in common with the Presbyters after the example of Moses who when it laie in his power to be Ruler alone ouer the people of Israel he chose seuentie to helpe him iudge the people What they ought to doe that was the trueth of the Lordes disposition now they ought to doe as Moses did What to haue all Gouernours equall no but when they might rule alone to ioyne with them others in the fellowship of their power and honour as Moses did Moses did not abrogate his superioritie aboue others but tooke seuentie Elders into part of his charge This saieth Ierome was the trueth of the Lordes ordinance although by the custome of the Church as it then was which grewe paulatim not when Bishops were first ordained but by degrees in decurse of time they had the whole charge of the Church without aduising or conferring with the Presbyters For the Presbyters might neither baptise without the Bishops leaue nor preach in the Bishops presence which subiection Ierome saieth was not after the trueth of the Lords ordinance howsoeuer the custome of the Church had then strengthened it This to be Ieromes true meaning in this place his owne words else-where doe fully prooue which are these Vt sciamus traditiones Apostolicas sumptas de veteri Testamento quod Aaron filij eius at que Leuitae in Templo fuerunt hoc sibi Episcopi Presbyteri Diaconi vendicent in Ecclesia To make vs vnderstand that the Apostolike traditions were taken out of the olde Testament what Aaron and his sonnes and the Leuites were in the Temple that let the Bishops and Presbyters and Deacons chalenge to themselues in the Church The high Priest I hope was superiour to his sonnes not onely as a Father but as hauing the chiefest place and office about the Arke and after in the Temple And as it was there so the Apostles ordained saith Ierome that Bishops and Presbyters shoulde differ in the Church of Christ. Scanne this place a little I pray you and tell mee whether Ierome auouch that Bishops shoulde bee superiour to Presbyters by the tradition and ordinaunce of the Apostles or no If that point bee cleere adde these wordes of Master Beza which are verie sounde to Saint Ieromes to make vp the Syllogisme Certe si ab ipsis Apostolis esset profecta haec mutatio non vererer illam vt caeteras Apostolic as ordinationes diuinae in solidum dispositioni tribuere If this change to theregiment of Bishops proceeded from the Apostles I woulde not doubt throughly to ascribe it to diuine disposition as I doe other ordinances of the Apostles but Ierome expressely confesseth it was an Apostolike ordinance ergo without any staggering or doubting it must be acknowledged by you that it was Gods disposition Thus much for Ierome Nowe for Ambrose before wee goe to further proofe because some strange fansies of this fresh Discipline are fastned on him let vs likewise examine what he saith for either side There is one thing in Ambrose barely surmised but no way prooued and that is eagerly caught vp by the Disciplinarians and made a shipmans hose for their newe deuises there are foure other points in the same places that haue surer ground and more agreement with the rest of the Fathers and those are positiuelie repelled as friuolous and false by the principles of this pretended Discipline Ambrose imagineth for no proofe can bee made thereof either by Scripture or Storie that the first Bishops were for a while made by order as they sate in the Church so as the place falling voyde by the death or departure of the first the next succeeded in his roume This course was afterward changed into elections but when or by whome hee neither doth nor can tell from this supposall these three conclusions are drawen but all three farre from Ambroses speach or meaning First that this prioritie of place went rounde the Presbyterie euery man taking it in order for a season when his course came Next that the Priour or President for the time which they call a Bishop or Superuisour for his weeke differed not in degree from the rest but onelie in this honour to haue the chiefe place Thirdly that his office was to call the rest together and to guide their meetings that they shoulde bee orderlie and to propounde matters for the whole Presbyterie to consult and conclude with the consent of the greater number himselfe hauing but a voyce as one of the rest neither negatiue nor affirmatiue in any thing but as the most part did resolue This is the Bishop which they haue framed vs out of Saint Ambroses wordes and this Bishop they are content shall be perpetuall in the Church of Christ and an essentiall part of Gods ordinaunce This is the right description of the Maior and Aldermen of a Citie or Bailiffe and Burgesses of a lesser Towne with vs in England but this is no description of a Bishop in the Church of Christ. For howe long will it bee before ye be able to prooue I say not all but any one of these assertions What Scripture euer mentioned what Father euer imagined any such Bishop The fathers you will say were all infected with humane inuentions and Gods institution hath euer since the Apostles time beene neglected in all the Churches and of all the persons in the world till of late I heare what you say and did I not reade it with mine eyes I shoulde thinke they were deepely asleepe
that dreame so well of themselues but since it is printed I would gladly see how it can be prooued Ambrose you say leadeth you so to thinke for he affirmeth that euery Presbyter was a Bishop when it came to his course and their courses went round by order Ambrose contradicteth it as plainely as hee can speake and saieth that not euery Presbyter was a Bishop but he onely was a Bishop which was primus inter Presbyteros the first or chiefest amongst the Presbyters Nay first in order in whose place when he departed the next succeeded They were capable of the Bishoprike as they stood in order Now that order must goe either as they were eldest in standing or worthiest in gifts Which of these two orders did the Presbyters keepe can you tell Not I. Nor Ambrose neither He supposest that to sit in the Church and in other their assemblies they had an order and so no doubt they had but whether they were placed by the Apostles according to their merites or kept their places by senioritie as they were ordained or cast lots amongst themselues for auoiding of ambition and contention neither Ambrose neither any man liuing could or can tell But the first alwayes was the Bishop and consequently they differed not in degree but in order How now masters will you crosse S. Pauls words so flatlie who saieth that God hath ordained first Apostles secondly Prophets thirdly Teachers Are these diuers degrees or no What els And were not all these when they taught in any place of the Presbyterie They were Then did the Presbyters differ not in order onely but in degree also We speake not of Apostles Euangelists and Prophets when wee say the Presbyters differed one from an other onely in order and not in degree but of Pastours that had their charge in that place where they liued The question is not of whom you speake but of whom Ambrose spake we examine his words not yours and he cleerly accounteth them all to be Presbyters For example Timothie that you say was an Euangelist Ambrose reckoneth him for a Presbyter and saieth he was a Bishop though hee were a Presbyter because there was none other before him And had not Ambrose specially named him I hope you will exclude neither Apostles nor Prophets nor Euangelists from the number of Presbyters wheresoeuer they were present Nowe choose you whether you will say all these were no Presbyters Saint Peter expresselie saying the contrarie or els admit that in the order of Presbyters there were diuers degrees of ecclesiasticall functions and so your distinction of ordo and gradus to be nothing neere Saint Ambroses meaning for hee by ordo vnderstandeth the ORDER OF their DESERT or SENIORITIE and either of those orders doeth euidently admit many diuers degrees of ecclesiasticall callings If Ambrose doe not affirme it we doe I can soone admit you to affirme what you list for when you haue done except you prooue it I will not beleeue it but I see no cause why you should ground that distinction on Ambroses wordes In place conuenient you shall haue leaue to say what you can to maintaine your distinction in the meane time I would haue you marke that you take Ambroses meere ghesses which can not bee iustified for your greatest grounds For tell me when euer or where euer were Bishops chosen by order as they were eldest Againe was Timothie chosen Bishop by his standing at Ephesus or did Paul leaue him there for the great affiance hee had in his sincere and vpright dealing When the Apostle first wrate to Timothie how to behaue himselfe in the house of God and on whom to impose handes did Paul will him to take them as they stoode in order or to choose men answerable to those conditions which hee prescribed The first rules that were giuen in the Scriptures for the creation of Bishops and Presbyters were by choice not by order before those how can Ambrose or any man els prooue that Bishops were ordained in order as they stood without choice Now if you could shew any such thing which I am assured you cannot yet this change from order to choice is the manifest commaundement of Gods spirite witnessed by Paul both to Tite and Timothie and therefore your kinde of going in order to make Bishops was and is repugnant to the Apostles generall and Canonicall rule of choosing the fittest men to be Bishops which euer since hath dured in the Church of Christ as a special and expresse part of Gods ordinance confirmed by the Scriptures But doe you your selues admit this imagination of Ambrose which you fortifie against Bishops are not you the first men that checke your owne witnesse and thereby shewe that though you alleage Ambrose you doe not beleeue Ambrose in this verie point which you bring him for A great learned man of your side saieth and in my iudgement saieth truely Aliud est electionis mandatum quod immatum non tantùm in Diaconis sed etiam in sacris functionibus omnibus seruaâum oportet aliud electionis modus The commaundement of election which must bee kept vnchanged not onely in Deacons but in all sacred functions is one thing the maner of electing is another thing Then is there a commaundement no doubt of Christ by his Apostle it could not otherwise bee inuiolable that to all sacred functions men should bee taken by election and not by order of standing If Ambrose spake of the time before this commaundement when that was no man knoweth And therefore I haue reason to say it was neuer prescribed in the Scriptures nor vsed in any Church or age that we read but onely surmised by Ambrose because he did not finde who were Bishops in euery Church before Paul wrate to Timothie and Tite to make choice of meete men to be Bishops and Presbyters Least you mislike that I say Ambrose roaueth at some things which can not be prooued and need not be credited tell mee your selues what you say to these reportes of Ambrose in the same place Primùm omnes docebant omnes baptizabant Inter initia omnibus concessum est euangelizare baptizare Scriptur as in ecclesia explanare Nunc neque Diaconi praedicant in populo neque Clerici vel Laici baptizant At the first all men did teache and all men did baptize At the beginning euery man was suffered to preach baptize and expound the Scriptures in the Church Nowe neither Deacons preach to the people neither doe inferiour Clerkes or Laie men baptize Beleeue you that all men or Laie men did preach and baptize at the first spreading of the Gospell I know you doe not your positions are most direct against it Yet Ambrose auoucheth it and the proofe he bringeth for it is as slender as the report Because Peter commaunded Cornelius and those that were with him to bee baptized and there came with Peter none from Ioppe but certaine brethren hee
concludeth that those were Laie men because they are called brethren and did baptize Cornelius and the rest Peter looking on and willing them to doe it How weake this collection is I doubt not but you quickly finde and the wordes which you bring are the next to these and proceed from the verie same perswasion that this did which was that all things at the first erecting of the Church were permiâed and confused the paucitie of the persons and necessitie of the times so requiring and then it skilled not who were Presbyters and who were Bishops Yet if you presse Ambrose I will not reiect him for hee saieth no more but that the next Presbyter was to succeede after the place was voyde But that eyther they went round by course or did gouerne by weekes or monethes or that a Bishop should not differ from a Presbyter by power to ordaine others which are the things that you affirme to bee Gods ordinaunce in any of these if you prooue that Ambrose maketh with you wee will giue you the whole Besides this Ambrose hath foure speciall pointes in these verie places which you alleage against Bishops so contrary to your newe discipline as high noone is to midnight The FIRST is where hee shutteth your laie Presbyters out of doores in saying A Presbyter and a Bishop haue all one ordination for either is a Priest and so neither is Laie The NEXT that hee saieth Paul made Timothie the Euangelist both a Presbyter and a Bishop neither of which your discipline can abide that either Euangelistes should bee Bishops or that Paul should at any time consecrate Bishops The THIRD It is neither right nor lawfull saieth hee for a Presbyter which is an inferiour to ordaine a Bishop which is a Superiour and consequently your Presbyters may not impose hands on a Bishop as Chrysostome also telleth you The last is that where you say the people must haue the election of their Bishop or Pastour by Gods lawe Ambrose saieth it must be done by the iudgement of many Priests and not by the verdict of the people or laie Presbyters Thus see you that the auncient Fathers Ierome and Ambrose which are alleaged so constantlie not onelie for the Laie Presbyters but for the equalitie and Idemtitie of Bishops and Presbyters in the Apostles tyme come nothing neere your newe discipline The names were common but their callings different the wordes were not then seuered as nowe they bee but euen then Presbyters might not impose handes to ordaine Ministers that was reserued to some speciall and chiefe men trusted with the gouernement of others as well Teachers as hearers and appointed to succeede in the Apostles places as shall appeare in the chapter next ensuing with more euidence CHAP. XIII That some chiefe Pastours in and euer since the Apostles times haue bene distinguished from the rest of the Presbyters by the power of ordination and right of succession and placed in euerie Citie to preserue the externall vnitie and perpetuitie of the Church whom the auncient Fathers did and we after them doe call by the name of Bishops BEfore I demonstrate the vocation and function of Bishops to be Apostolike the ambiguitie of the name of Bishop and communitie of many things incident and appertinent both to Bishops and Presbyters vrge mee to lay downe and deliuer certaine peculiar markes and partes of the Bishops power and office whereby they are alwayes distinguished from Presbyters neuer confounded with them either in Scriptures Councils or Fathers Prerogatiues there were many appropriate vnto them by the authoritie of the Canons and custome of the Church as reconciling of penitents confirmation of Infants and others that were baptized by laying on their handes dedication of Churches and such like but these tended as Ierome saieth ad honorem sacerdotis potiùs quà m ad legis necessitatem to the honour of their Priesthood rather then to the necessitie of any lawe The things proper to Bishops which might not bee common to Presbyters were singularitie in succeeding and superioritie in ordaining These two the Scriptures and Fathers reserue onely to Bishops they neuer communicate theÌ vnto Presbyters In euery Church and Citie there might be many Presbyters there could bee but one chiefe to gouerne the rest the Presbyters for need might impose handes on Penitents and Infants but by no meanes might they ordaine Bishops or Ministers of the word and Sacraments Neither are these trifling differences or deuised by me The external vnitie and perpetuitie of the Church depend wholy on these As to auoyde schismes Bishops were first appointed so to maintaine the Churches in vnitie the singularitie of one Pastour ouer each flocke is commended in the Scriptures And as Bishops preserue the vnitie of each Church in that there may bee but one in a place so they continue the same vnto perenuitie by ordaining such as shall both helpe them liuing and succeed them dying Cyprian hath written an whole booke to prooue that the vnitie of each Church resteth on the singularitie of the Pastour whither I remit him that is desirous to read more at large as also to his first booke and third epistle intreating of the same matter and written to Cornelius The effect of all is contained in these wordes Who is so wicked and perfidious who so mad with the furie of discord that beleeueth the vnitie of God the Lords vesture the Church of Christ may bee torne in pieces or dare teare it Himselfe in his Gospell warneth and teacheth vs saying There shall bee one flocke and one shepeheard And doeth any man thinke there may bee in one place either many shepeheardes or many flockes In the foresayd Epistle speaking of himselfe not of the Bishop of Rome as fondly and falslie the Papistes conceiue hee saieth Heresies haue sprung and schismes risen from none other fountaine then this that Gods Priest is not obeyed nor ONE PRIEST in the Church acknowledged for the time to bee iudge in Christes steade to whom if all the brethren would be subiect according to the diuine directions no man would after the diuine iudgements after the suffrages of the people after the consent of other Bishops make himselfe iudge nowe not of the Bishop but of God Ierome saieth as much The dumbe beastes and wilde herdes doe follow their leaders the Bees haue their kings the Cranes flie after one like an Alphabet of letters One Emperour one Iudge of each Prouince Rome as soone as it was built could not haue two brethren to be kings Iacob Esau fought in one wombe Euery Church hath but one Bishop one chiefe Presbyter one chiefe Deacon and each ecclesiasticall order resteth on their Rulers In a shippe is but one that directeth the helue in an house but one Master in an armie neuer so great the signe of one Generall is expected Yea the very safetie of the Church dependeth on the dignitie of the chiefe Priest or
in the Apostles time did not impose handes on a Bishop Yea saith he ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Presbyters then coulde not impose handes on a Bishop Chrysostome doeth not reason from his owne age vnto the Apostles and conclude because they might not doe it in that world wherein he liued by a custome of the Church ergo they coulde not doe it in Paules time that were a verie senselesse and vnsauerie collection but he vrgeth that in Paules time Presbyters might not ordaine a Bishop and therefore those words must be vnderstoode of Bishops which by the Apostolike rules might impose handes whereas Presbyters might not The verie same point he repeateth and presseth when he giueth a reason why Paul in his Epistle to Timothie went from describing Bishops straight to Deacons omitting cleane the order of Presbyters ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The difference betwixt Bishops and Presbyters is not great for they also were admitted to teach and rule the Church and what Paul saide of Bishops that agreeth vnto Presbyters Onely in laying on of hands Bishops go beyond them and haue that Onely thing more then Presbyters Theodoret. The Presbyterie Paul calleth heere such as had receiued Apostolicall or Episcopall grace for by Theodorets opinion Bishops were then called Apostles and Presbyters called by the name of Bishops Oecumenius Lay handes hastily on no man ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Paul treateth of imposing hands for he wrate to a Bishop Ambrose rendreth the same reason why Paul mentioning Bishops and Deacons did cleane ouerskip Presbyters and noteth the same difference betwixt Presbyters and Bishops that Chrysostome doth Timothie because hee had none other before him was a Bishop Wherefore Paul sheweth him how he shal ordaine a Bishop Neque enim fas erat aut licebat vt inferior ordinaret maiorem Nemo enim tribuit quod non accepit For it was neither lawfull nor permitted that the inferiour should ordaine the greater No man giueth that which he hath not receiued That Timothie was a bishop is confessed by the rest of the Fathers I alleaged them before Paul calleth him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã his Copartner in the Gospell and ioyneth Timothie with himselfe in writing to the Corinthians Philippians Colossians and Thessalonians thereby to shew that he had receiued Timothie not only into the fellowship of his Ministerie but giuen him part of his authoritie and made choice of him to abide at Ephesus to establish and confirme the Church when hee thus wrate vnto him Wherefore Timothie had not this prerogatiue by order or senioritie hee was no Presbyter of Ephesus but there left with Episcopall authoritie which hee had by the laying on of Paules handes before he stayed at Ephesus But howsoeuer hee came by it by Paules choice or otherwise Ambrose acknowledgeth hee was a bishop and therefore superiour to Presbyters because hee was inuested with power to ordaine bishops which Presbyters had not His wordes be full Neque fas erat neque licebat vt inferior ordinaret maiorem It was neither lawfull nor agreeable to religion for fas is that which is consonant to the seruice of God as ius expresseth that which is right amongst men for the inferiour to ordaine the superior to wit that a Presbyter should ordaine a bishop We greatly care not who should ordaine Bishops for as we thinke there neede none in the Church of Christ but touching Presbyters that is Ministers of the worde and Sacraments the fourth Councill of Carthage is verie cleere they may be ordained by Presbyters Their wordes are these Presbyter quum ordinatur Episcopo eum benedicente manum super caput eius tenente etiam omnes Presbyteri qui presentes sunt manus suas iuxtamanum Episcopi super caput illius teneant When a Presbyter is ordained the Bishop blessing him and holding his hand on the parties head let all the Presbyters that are present hold their hands neere the Bishops hand on his head that is ordered Presbyters are sufficient to create Presbyters and they may discharge all Ecclesiasticall dueties in the Church for Bishops let them care that like them The Councill of Carthage doeth not tell you that Presbyters might ordaine Presbyters without a bishop looke better to the wordes such Presbyters as were present must holde their handes on the parties head neere the bishops hand but without the bishop they had no power of themselues to impose handes Nowe to what ende they imposed handes whether to ordaine and consecrate as well as the bishop or because the Action was sacred and publike to consent and blesse together with the bishop this is all the doubt If they had power to ordaine as well as the bishop and without the bishop all the Fathers which I before cited were vtterly deceiued For they say no. Yea Ierome that neither coulde forget nor woulde suppresse being one himselfe anie part of their power knewe not so much For hee confesseth that bishops might ordaine by imposing handes Presbyters might not And therefore though they held their handes neere the bishops hand yet did they not ordaine as the bishop did Howe knowe you to what ende they ioyned with the Bishop in imposing handes The action was common to both and no difference is expressed in that Councill betweene their intentes Unlesse you bee disposed to set Councills and Fathers together by the eares you must make their imposition of handes to bee a consent rather then a consecration and so may the authorities of all sides stand vpright otherwise by an action that admittteth diuers endes and purposes you ouerthrowe the maine resolution not onelie of other Councils and Fathers but of the same Synode which you alleadge for that giueth Presbyters no power to ordaine without the bishop but to conioyne their handes with his Many things were interdicted Presbyters by the Canons which were not by the Scriptures but you must shew vs that Presbyters and Bishops differ by the word of God afore we can yeeld them to be diuers degrees If Presbyters by the worde of God may ordaine with imposing handes as well as Bishops howsoeuer by the custome of the Church they bee restrained or subiected vnder Bishops they bee all one in degree with Bishops though not in dignitie for all other things as Ierome auoucheth are common vnto them but if that power be graunted by Gods Lawe to Bishops and denied to Presbyters then struggle whiles you will you shall finde them in the ende to be distinct and diuers degrees That Bishops may ordaine the Apostles words to Timothie and Tite exactly prooue Lay hands hastely on no man for this cause I left thee in Creete that thou shouldest ordaine Presbyters in euery Citie You must now prooue by the sacred Scriptures that Presbyters may ordaine as well as Bishops if not they bee distinct degrees that haue by Gods Lawe distinct powers and actions Our proofes are cleere Neglect not the gift which
was giuen thee with imposition of handes of the Presbyterie and this right for Presbyters to impose handes ioyntly with the Bishop dured no long time in the Church as wee shew by the fourth Councill of Carthage I haue often tolde you that place of Saint Paul concludeth nothing for you it hath so many answeres Ierome giueth you one Chrysostome an other and Saint Paul himselfe a third If you like not with Ierome Ambrose and Primasius to take the Presbyterie for the function which Timothie receiued which Caluin well alloweth nor with Chrysostome Theodoret and the rest of the Grecians to applie it to Bishops for so much as Presbyters by their iudgements could not impose handes on a Bishop yet remember Saint Paul was present and did the deede and therfore without some succeeding and supplying the Apostles roââe as Timothie and Tite did your Presbyteries haue no warrant to impose hands And so much is euident by that verie Councill which you bring for the Bishop must first blesse the party and impose hands on him and then the Presbyters there present must lay their hands neere the Bishops in signe of consent But without the Bishop no Presbyters did blesse or impose hands to ordaine any that euer we reade either in Scriptures or Stories And because you shall not say I speake without Booke as I see many do in our dayes marke well these examples and tell mee what you thinke of them The Councill of Hispalis vnderstanding that a Bishop in ordaining Presbyters and Deacons because hee was pained with sore eyes onely laide his handes on them and suffered a Presbyter standing by to reade the wordes of their consecration and to blesse them reiected the whole action as vnlawful with these wordes Propter tantam praesumptionis audaciam poterat iudicio praesenti damnari si non fuisset morte preuentus sed ne sibi licentiam talis vltra vsurpatio faciat decreuimus vt qui ab eo non consecrationis titulum sed ignominiae elogium perceperunt à gradis sacerdotalis vel Leuitici ordinis quem peruersè adepti sunt depositi aequo iudicio adijciantur Tales enim merito iudicati sunt remouendi quia prauè inuenti sunt constituti The Presbyter that did it if he were liuing might for so bolde a presumption haue beene condemned in this present iudgement but because he is preuented with death lest the same vsurpation should enterprise to do the like we decree that they which receiued of him no title of consecration but a monument of reproch shall be remooued and abiected by a righteous iudgement from the degree of sacerdotall and Leuiticall order which they haue peruersely gotten for such are woorthely adiudged to bee cast off because they are found to be wrongfully made The Bishop being present and imposing handes and not able to reade for the impediment of his sore eies a Presbyter blessed them that is pronounced the words of their consecration this the Council calleth bold presumption and vsurpation against the Ecclesiasticall rule and remooued the men as peruersly and vnlawfully made What thinke you would they haue saide if they heard of Presbyters that had taken vpon them as men doe in our dayes to impose hands and blesse and giue sacred orders not onely in the absence but in defiance of all Bishops Colluthus was a Presbyter in one of the Churches of Alexandria and falling away from the Bishop there for some mislikes ordained certaine Presbyters himselfe being but a Presbyter For this Colluthus was conuented in the generall Councill before Hosius and the rest of the Bishops and commaunded to carrie himselfe for a Presbyter as hee was before and all those that were ordained by him to returne to their former state It after fell out that one Ischyras pretending himselfe to be a Presbyter of Colluthus making accused Macarius of sacrilegious violence offered vnto him then ministring at the Lords Table as he said and hauing the mysticall cup in his hand an hundred Bishops assembled at a Council in Egypt or neere that number to conuince Ifchyras of alie prooue that Ischyras was no Presbyter and so could not bee assaulted whiles hee was handling the diuine mysteries Their wordes be these Quo pacto igitur Presbyter Ischyras aut quo tandem authore constitutus Numquid scilicet à Collutho idenim restat Atqui Colluthum in gradu Presbyterij mortuum omnâmque eius manuum impositionem rescissam omnésque ab eo constitutos in Laicorum ordinem redactos esse sub nomine Laicorum ad Synaxim admissos adeò apud omnes constat vt nemo ea de re dubitandum putet Howe then is Ischyras a Presbyter or by whome was hee made What by Colluthus That is all which can be saide But Colluthus himselfe died in the degree of a Presbyter and all his imposition of handes was reuersed such as were made by him were cast backe into the order of Laymen and admitted to the Communion as Laymen which is so cleere that no man euer doubted of it They conclude that Ischyras if he were made by Coluthus could be no Presbyter for so much as Coluthus was a Presbyter and no Bishop and all his impesition of handes frustrated and all the persons ordained by him neither accounted nor admitted into the Church but vnder the name of Laymen And this reuersing of Coluthus orders and agnising none that hee ordained but for Laymen was so cleere a case and vncontrolled with all men that no man euer made anie scruple of it You shaldo well considerately to reade the place it importeth the vniuersall consent of the Primitiue Church to haue beene this that no Presbyter could ordaine a Presbyter but those that receiued imposition of handes from any such were throughout the Church of Christ esteemed and reputed meere Laymen and not otherwise accepted to the Lords Table Maximus that was very familiar and inward with Gregorie Nazianzen whiles he liued at Constantinople and obtained at his handes to bee taken into the Cleargie and placed with the Presbyters of that Citie finding that Miletius Bishop of Antioch and others had translated Gregorie from Nazianzum to Constantinople without a ful Synode somewhat contrarie to the Canons procured Peter bishop of Alexandria to send some bishops of Egypt that did consecrate him bishop of Constantinople When this came to be debated in the second generall Councill the whole Synode not only reiected Maximus as no bishop but al that tooke any imposition of handes from him in what degree of the Clergie soeuer they were by reason they found him a Presbyter and no Bishop and so without all power to impose handes Concerning Maximus and his disorder at Constantinople we resolue that Maximus neither presently is nor hereafter shall be made á Bishop neither any that receiued imposition of handes from him shall remaine in any degree of the Cleargie all that was doone either to him or by him being wholly frustrate or
disallowed If Presbyters might impose handes Maximus was lawfully called to that degree by Gregorie Nazianzen and then had the Councill no cause to mislike such as were ordained by him but they lay this for their ground that he was neuer a lawfull bishop and therefore all that he did in imposing handes was vtterlie voide By this I trust you see it pertained onely to Bishops to ordaine by imposition of hands and not to Presbyters you haue the cleere decision of the Primitiue Church that Presbyters might not ordain Presbyters much lesse might they lay hands on bishops Their meaning is that Presbyters without a Bishop coulde not impose hands but with the Bishop they might and did as the Councill of Carthage which wee brought you confirmeth And as they might not do it without a Bishop so the Bishop might not doe it without them It is wel yet we haue obtained thus much that without a bishop there can be no imposition of hands to make Presbyters how thinke you then must there be bishops in the church of Christ or no and are they all one with Presbyters or a seuerall degree from them They both concurre in ordaining and neither may impose hands without the other You must for sake this fort as well as you did the former for in that CouÌcil of Carthage which you cite neither is there any nuÌber of Presbyters prefired nor their presence required only this is prescribed if any be present they shall approue the bishops doings with laying their hands next his The bishop imposeth not hands either in their names or at their perils if any thing be done against y e Canons but as he alone blesseth consecrateth y â person that is ordered to the seruice of God so if ought be otherwise then well he alone is in danger for it The Councill of Hispalis saith Episcopus Sacerdotibus ac Ministris solus dare honorem potest solus auferre non potest The Bishop alone may giue Priests and Deacons their honor but he can not alone take it froÌ them Neither had Bishops alwaies such store of Presbyters eyther present or pertaining to theÌ as you imagine In greater churches they had greater numbers in smaller they had ofteÌ two somwhere one somtimes none yet for all this defect of Presbyters the Bishops there did not refraine to impose hands without them The number of Presbyters in many places were two in a Church as Ambrose writeth sometimes but one In the third Council of Carthage when it was agreed that the Primate of that Citie might take the Presbyters of euerie Diocese and ordaine them Bishops for such places as desired them though the Bishop vnder whom the Presbyter before liued were vnwilling to spare him Posthumianus a Bishop demaunded What if a Bishop haue but one only Presbyter must that one be taken from him Aurelius the Bishop of Carthage answered One Bishop may ordaine many Presbyters but a Presbyter fit for a Bishopricke is hardly found Wherefore if a man haue but one onely Presbyter and fit for the roume of a Bishop he ought to yeelde that one to be ordained Posthumianus replied Then if an other Bishop haue a number of Clearks anothers store should relieue me Aurelius concluded Surely as you helped an other church so he that hath many Clearks shal be driuen to spare you one of them to be ordained by you Three things are euideÌt by the purport of this speech first that some bishops had oftentimes but one Presbyter and he might be taken from them Next that a Bishop hauing no Presbyter left might make many when he would if he had fit men of his owne for the place Thirdly that if hee wanted meet men another Church should allow him according to his losse some to be ordained by him A Bishop then hauing no Presbyter left to ioyne with him might alone ordaine both such of his owne church as were meet and such as were sent him from other places Againe when any thing was done in ordering of Ministers against the Lawes or Canons not the Presbyters but onely the bishop was punished for imposing his hands and transgressing the discipline of the Church Nowe had the Presbyters bene Agents in ordaining as well as the bishop no reason to let them goe free that were parties to the contempt as well as the bishop but for that his handes did ordaine and authorize theirs did nothing but allow his fact which by dissenting they could not hinder therefore the Lawes and Canons as they did charge the Bishop and not the Presbyters to see those rules obserued that were required for the making of Ministers so they did chalenge the Bishop and no man else for violating the same with imposition of his handes if ought were otherwise then well And for that cause both Laws and Canons speake singularly to one not plurally to many when they represse disorders in creating Presbyters Deacons to shew there was one chiefe and principall Actor amongst them in those cases whose fact it was the rest only following witnessing his doings For the Clergie of the Paulianists when they returned to the Church if they were without fault and blamelesse the Councill of Nice thus decreed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let them receiue imposition of hands from the Bishop of the Catholike Church The Councill of Antioch Euerie Bishop shall haue power in his Dioecese ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to ordaine Presbyters and Deacons If any Bishop saieth the Councill of Chalcedon shall for money ordaine either Bishop Presbyter or Deacon or any other reckoned amongst the Clergie he shall being conuicted thereof endanger his owne degree And againe None neither Presbyter nor Deacon nor generally any within the Ecclesiasticall order must be ordained ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is affixed to no certaine place If any be so made the sacred Councill hath decreed their ordination shall be voide but it shall not returne to the reproch or detriment ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã of him that imposed handes If thou speake of Paulinianus saieth Ierome against the errors of Iohn of Ierusalem thou seest him subiect to his owne Bishop liuing in Cyprus and comming nowe and then to visite vs not as any of your but of another Bishops Clergie eius videlicet à quo ordinatus est euen his of whome hee was ordained Wee permit not any Clergie man of what degree soeuer saieth the Emperour dare aliquid ei à quo ordinatur to giue any reward to him of whome hee is ordained And so generally for the breach and neglect of any of the Emperiall Lawes prescribed for the ordering of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons the Presbyters were not punished which ioyned with the Bishop but qui ordinat or qui ordinationem imponit the bishop that ordained them was punished because it lay in him alone by with-holding or unposing his handes to frustrate or finish the whole action Wherefore I see
no cause why some Writers in our dayes should discredite the report and reason which Epiphanius maketh against Aerius that a Presbyter could not be equal with a Bishop for so much as the order of Bishops engendreth Fathers vnto the Church and the order of Presbyters ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã not able to beget Fathers by the regeneration of baptisme begetteth children vnto the church but not fathers or teachers and so no possibilitie to make a Presbyter that hath not receiued power to impose handes equall with a Bishop For what doth Epiphanius auouch in these words which Athanasius Ierom Chrysostome and Ambrose do not like wise auouch or what saieth he more then the Primitiue Church in her generall and Prouinciall Councils decreed against Colluthus Maximus and others and obserued without alteration euer since the Apostles died If wee reiect this assertion of Epiphanius that onely Bishops should impose handes to ordaine and not Presbyters wee reiect the whole church of Christ which interpreted the Scriptures in this behalfe as Epiphanius did and confirmed the verie same resolution with the continual practise of all ages and countries where the Gospell hath bene preached and beleeued for by power to ordaine the christian world hath alwayes distinguished bishops from Presbyters as it is easie to be seene by all the monuments of antiquitie that are extant to this day either of Councils Stories or Fathers And as by imposing oâ haÌds so by succeeding in the chaire haue Bishops euer since the Apostles times beene seuered from Presbyters in the Church of Christ which to all that doe not eagerlie seeke to captiuate the trueth to their owne desires is an argument vnrefellable that the first placing of Bishops aboue Presbyters was Apostolike Tertullian saith Constabit id esse ab Apostolis traditum quod apud ecclesias Apostolorum fuerit sacrosanctum It is certaine that came from the Apostles which is sacredly obserued in the Churches of the Apostles And Austen Quod vniuersa tenet ecclesia nec concilijs institutum sed semper retentum est non nisi authoritate Apostolica tradituÌ rectissime creditur That which the whole Church keepeth and was not appointed by Councils but always retained that is most rightly beleeued to haue descended from the Apostles Now that in the Churches planted by the Apostles their coadiutors one hath bene seuered from the rest of the Presbyters and placed aboue the rest in the honour of y t Episcopal chaire before there were any general Councils to decree that maner of gouernment so continued euen from the Apostles persons hands to this present age the perpetuall succession of bishops in those principall Churches where the Apostles their helpers preached and gouerned like wise in all other churches of the world following their steps will strongly and fully confirme If the Apostles placed bishops with their own hands if departing ordying they left bishops to succeede them if their Disciples and Schollers embraced vsed that course to set bishops aboue Presbyters for sauing the church from schismes left it to their after-commers I trust there are few men so deepely drowned in their owne conceits or wholy addicted to their fansies but they will acknowledge the first distinction institution of bishops from and aboue Presbyters was if not commanded imposed by the Apostles precepts on the Church yet at least ordained deliuered vnto the faithfull by their example as the best way to maintaine the peace and vnitie of the Church and consequently the custome of y â church which Austen speaketh of that the bishops office should be greater theÌ the Presbyters the the decree of the whole world which Ierome mentioneth were deriued from the Apostles and confirmed by them and may not be reuersed and reâealed after 150. yeers vnlesse we chalenge to be wiser and better able to order and gouerne the Church of Christ then the Apostles were Eusebius the first and best collector of auncient and Ecclesiasticall momunents Egesippus and Clemens being lost deriueth the successions of bishops in the foure principal churches of the world Ierusalem Antioch Rome and Alexandria from the Apostles age vnto his owne time by which as by a line we may be directed to see what maner of Episcopall successions the rest of the Churches had from whom the first originall of bishops descended I wil set them downe as it were in a Table euen from the Apostles their followers vnto the time they met in the great Councill of Nice about 320. yeeres after Christ and then examine more exactly whence they tooke their first beginning In the Church of Ierusalem Iames the Apostle Simeon Iustus Zacheus Tobias Beniamin Iohannes Mathias Philippus Sânnecas Iustus Leui Ephrem Ioseph Iudas Marcus Cassianus Publius Maximus Iulianus Caius Symmachus Caius Iulianus Capito Maximus Antoninus Valens Dolichianus Narcissus Dius Germanion Gordius Narcissus iterum Alexander Mazabanes Hymeneus Zambdas Hermon Macarius Maximus Cyrillâs Iohannes Iuuenalis In the Church of Antioch Peter the Apostle Euodius Ignatius Heros Cornelius Eros Theophilus Maximinus Serapion Asclepiades Philetos Zebinus Babilas Fabius Demetrius Paulus Samosatenus Domnus Timeus Cyrillus Tyrannus Vitalius Philagonius Eâstathius Paulinus Miletius Flauianus Porphyrius Alexander Iohannes In the Church of Rome Peter and Paul Linus Anacletus Clemens Euaristus Alexander Sixtus Thelesphorus Higinus Pius Anâcetus Soter Eleutherius Victor Zepherinus Calixtus Vrbanus Pontianus Antârus Fabianus Cornelius Lucius Stephanus Xistus Dionysius Felix Eutichianus Caius Marcellinus Marcellus Eusebius Meltiades Syluester Marcus Iulius Liberius Damasus Siricius Anastasius In the Church of Alexandria Mark the Euangelist Anianus Abilius Cerdo Primus Iustus Eumenes Marcus Celadion Agrippas Iulianus Demetrius Heraclas Dionysius Maximus Theonas Petrus Achilles Alexander Athanasius Petrus Timothius Theophilus Cyrillus These Catalogues of the Bishops of Ierusalem Antioch Rome and Alexandria Eusebius pursueth vnto the beginning of his owne time leauing off at Hermon Bishop of Ierusalem Tyranous bishop of Antioch Marcellinus bishop of Rome and Peter Bishop of Alexandria the rest are supplied out of others as in the See of Alexandria Achilles Alexander Athanasius and Peter out of Socrates Vitalius Philagonius and Eustathius out of Theodoret as also Macarius for Ierusalem In the See of Rome Marcellus and those that follow out of Optatus and Augustine The foure bishops of these Churches that met and sate in the Councill of Nice were Syluester for Rome by Vitus and Vincentius his Presbyters Sozomene faieth it was Iulius Alexander for Alexandria Macarius for Ierusalem and Eustathius for Antioch as appeareth by their subscriptions vnto the saide Council Now when these successions beganne and who were the first Authors and ordainers of them let vs see what proofe can be brought That Iames the Apostle was the first bishop of Ierusalem Clemens Egefippus Eusebius Ierome Chrysostome Epiphanius Ambrose and Augustine confirme Clemens in his sirt Booke
Hypotyposeon writeth thus Peter Iames and Iohn after the Assumption of our Sauiour though they were preferred by the Lord before the rest yet did they not chalenge that glorie to themselues but made Iames the Iust Bishop of Ierusalem Eusebius The feate of Iames the Apostle which was the first that receiued the Bishopricke of the Church of Ierusalem from our Sauiour himselfe and the Apostles whome also the diuine Scriptures call the Lordes brother is kept to this day and euidently shewed to all men by the brethren which haue followed him in ordinarie succession Ierome Iames the Lordes brother surnamed Iust straight after the Lordes passion ordained Bishop of Ierusalem by the Apostles wrate one onely Epistle which is one of the seuen Catholike Epistles Egesippus that liued neere to the Apostles times in the fift Booke of his Commentaries speaking of Iames saieth James the Lords brother surnamed Iust receiued the Church of Ierusalem in charge after the Apostles Chrysostome writing vpon these wordes of the fifteenth Chapter of the Actes After they held their peace Iames answered saieth Hic erat Episcopus ecclesiae Hierosolymitanae This Iames was Bishop of the Church of Ierusalem Epiphanius Iames called the Lordes brother was the first Bishop in Ierusalem Ambrose Paul sawe Iames the Lordes brother at Ierusalem because he was made Bishop of that place by the Apostles Augustine The Church of Ierusalem Iames the Apostle was the first that gouerned by his episcopal office From Iames to Macarius that sate in the Councill of Nice were forty bishops of Ierusalem succeeding eche other in a perpetuall discent and sitting eche for his time in that chaire in which Iames the Apostle sate wheÌ he taught gouerned the Church of Ierusalem Their order and succession froÌ Iames is collected by Eusebius Epiphanius out of elder former Writers which now are perished by the iniurie of time The succession of Bishops at Antioch and Alexandria began in the Apostles time as we find testified by ancient incorrupt witnesses Euodius was the first that succeeded at Antioch after Peters departure of whom Ignatius that was next to him writeth in this wise to the Church there Remember Euodius your blessed Pastor ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which first receiued from the Apostles the chiefe ouersight or regimeÌt of vs. So saith Euseb. Of those that were bishops at Antioch Euodius was the first that was appointed Ignatius the next who not only conuersed with the Apostles but also saw Christ in the flesh after his resurrection when he appeared to Peter the rest of the disciples His own words as Ierom alleageth them are Ego verò post resurrectionem in carne âum vidi quando venit ad Petrum ad eos qui cum Petro erant I sawe Christ in the flesh after his resurrection when he came to Peter those that were with Peter said to them handle me see A spirit hath not flesh bones as you see me haue Of him Origen saith Ignatium dico episcopum Antiochie post Petrum secunduÌ I meane Ignatius the 2. bishop of Antioch after Peter Ierom maketh Ignatius to be the third bishop of the church of Antioch froÌ Peter the Apostle reckoning Peter for the first after whom succeeded Ignatius in the second place as Eusebius writeth Ignatius so much spoken by most men to this present day ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã was the second that enioyed the Bishopricke in the succession of Peter at Antioch Touching the Sees of Antioch Alexandria and Rome Gregorie saith Petrus sublimauit sedem in qua etiam quiescere praesântem vitam finire dignatus est ipse decorauit sedem in qua Euangelistam discipulum misit ipse firmauit sedem in qua septem annis quamuis discessurus sedit Vnius atque vna est sedes cui ex authoritate diuina tres nunc Episcopi praesident Peter aduanced the âeate of Rome where he thought good to rest and end this present life he also adorned the seate of Alexandria to which he sent his disciple Marke the Euangelist he fastned the seate of Antioch in which he rested seuen yeares though with purpose to depart It is one seate and of one Apostle in which three Bishops now sit by diuine authority For the first bishop of Alexandria Ierom Eusebius concurre with Gregory Marcus interpreâ Petri Apostoli Alexandrinae ecclesiae primus episcopus Marke the Interpreter of Peter the Apostle the first bishop of the church of Alexandria who dying 6 yeeres before Peter left his church place vnto Anianus as Euseb writeth Nerone 8. regni annum agente ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Nero being in the 8 yeere of his raigne Anianus a very godly man euery way admirable first vndertooke the publike administration of the Church of Alexandria after Marke the Apostle Euangelist And as the succession at Antioch began in Euodius that was ordained by the Apostles so at Alexandria they continued the same course from Marke downeward by Ieroms owne confession Alexandriae à Marco Euangelista vsque ad Heraclam Dionysium Episcopos Presbyteri semper vnum ex se electum in excelsiori gradu colloâatum episcopum nominabant At Alexandria froÌ Mark the euangelist vnto Heraclas Dionysius the Presbyters did alwayes choose one of theÌselues whoÌ being placed in an higher degree they called their bishop Of the succession at Rome Irenoeus saith Fundantes igitur instruântes beati Apostoli ecclesiam Lino episcopatum administrandâ ecclesiae tradiderunt Succedit ei Anacletus post cum tertio loco ab Apostolis Episcopatum sortitur Clemens qui vidit ipsos Apostolos contulit cum eis The blessed Apostles Peter and Paul founding and ordering the Church of Rome deliuered the ouersight or charge of gouerning the Church to Linus Anacletus succeeded him and in the third place after the Apostles Clemens which sawe the Apostles themselues and conferred with them vndertooke the Bishops office Next to this Clement succeeded Euaristus after Euaristus Alexander and then in the sixt place from the Apostles was appointed Sixtus then Telesphorus then Higinus then Pius after whoÌ was Anicetus Next to Anicetus succeeded Soter now wheÌ Irenaeus wrote in the 12. place from the Apostles Eleutherius hath the Bishoprike And likewise Optatus Negare non poteâ scire te in vrbe Roma Petro primo Cathedram episcopaleÌ esse collocatam c ergo Cathedra vnica sedit prior Petrus cui successit Linus Lino successit Clemens Clementi Anacletus c. Thou canst not deny saith he to Parmenian but thou knowest that in the city of Rome the episcopall chaire was conferred first to Peter c. In that chaire which was but one sate first Peter whom Linus succeeded and after Linus Clemens after Clemens Anacletus after Anacletus Euaristus then Sixtus Thelesphorus Iginus
that they wrate and testified thus much Neither speake they of these things by hearesay they liued with the Apostles Scholers receiued from their mouthes the things which they witnesse to posteritie and their successors in most churches they same with their eies conferred with them Irenaeus that in his youth was Polycarpus Scholer saieth Habemus annumerare eos qui ab Apostolis instituti sunt Episcopi in Ecclesijs successores eorum vsque ad nos St recondita mysteria scissent Apostoli quae seorsim latenter ab reliquis perfectos docebant hijs vel maxime traderent ea quibus etiam ipsas ecclesias committebant Valde enim perfectos irrâprehensibiles in omnibus eos esse volebant quos successores relinquebant suum ipsorum locum magisterij tradentes We can reck on those which were ordained bishops in the churches by the Apostles and their successors euen to our age If the Apostles had knowen any hid mysteries which they taught to the perfect secretly and apart from the rest they would most of all haue deliuered those things to such as they coÌmitted the Churches vnto For they greatly desired to haue them perfect and vnreprooueable in all things whom they left to bee their successours deliuering vnto them their owne place of teaching Egesippus liued at the same tyme somewhat elder then Irenaeus and trauelling to Rome vnder Anicetus he conferred with Primus Bishop of Corinth and diuers other Bishops as he went and found them all agreeing in one and the same doctrine ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã In euery succession and in euery Citie saieth he as I trauelled they kept that trueth which the Lawe and the Prophets and the Lord himselfe preached And the Church of Corinth persisted in the right way vnto the time of Primus Bishop of Corinth And shewing how the Church of Ierusalem came first to be troubled with heresies he saieth After that Iames the Iust who was both an Apostle and the first Bishop of Ierusalem was martyred by the same kind of death that the Lord was Simeon the sonne of Cleophas vncle to Iames was made Bishop whom all preferred for this respect because he was an other of Christes cosins as the former was That Church men called a Virgin for as yet she was not infected with false doctrine but Thebulis because he was not made Bishop was the first that corrupted her Dionysius equal in age with Egesippus and Bishop of Corinth straight after Primus in his epistle written to the Athenians putteth them in minde that Dionysius the Areopagite conuerted to the faith by S. Paul was their first Bishop and Publius another of their Bishops martyred by the persecuters of those times their Church restored by Quadratus an other of the Apostles disciples that next succeeded Publius in the Bishoprike Clemens Alexandrinus who liued in the next age to Saint Iohn the Apostle reporteth out of former stories that S. Iohn returning from his banishment to Ephesus went to the Churches round about being thereto requested and in some places made Bishops in other places chose such into the Clergie as the holy Ghost signified vnto him and that euen then the Bishop was ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã set ouer and aboue all both Clergie and people Methodius saieth that the Apostle Peter directed Eucharius one of the 70. disciples with Valerius and Maternus to preach the Gospell in Germanie and France and Eucharius planting a Church at Treuers held the Bishoprike of that Citie 23. yeeres and then dying Treuericae ecclesiae culmen Valerio derelinquit relinquished the chiefe dignitie of the Church of Treuers to Valerius who after fifteene yeeres left the Pastorall charge to Maternus After Maternus had held the regiment of preaching the word 40. yeeres one Auspicius sate in his place And so along by lawfull successions many singular and excellent men for holinesse and grace namelie Serenus Felix Manscetus Clemens Moses Martinus Anastasius Andreas Rusticus Fabricius Fortunatus Cassianus Marcus and many others About Irenaeus time who succeeded Pothynus Bishop of Lions in France that was martyred when he was 90. yeeres of age we finde Thraseas Bishop of Smyrna after Polycarpe Apollinarius Bishop of Hierapolis after Papias another of Saint Iohns Scholers Banchillus Bishop of Corinth after Primus and Dionysius Polycrates Bishop of Ephesus succeeding some of his kinsmen in the same seate Theophilus Bishop of Cesaria to haue bene renowmed the most of them writers in the Church of Christ. Of his time Tertullian saieth Percurre ecclesias Apostolicas apud quas ipsae adhuc cathedrae Apostolorum suis locis praesidentur c. Surueie the Apostolike Churches where the very chaires of the Apostles are to this day succeeded or continued Is Achaia neere to thee There thou hast Corinth If thou be not farre from Macedonia thou hast Philippos and Thessalonica If thou trauell into Asia thou hast Ephesus If thou lie neere to Italie thou hast Rome In Cyprians time who was Bishop of Carthage the Bishop of Cesarea was Theoctistus and after him Domnus then Theotecnus and Agapius the Bishop of Laodicea was Heliodorus that succeeded Thelimydres and after Heliodorus followed Socrates Eusebius Anatolius Stephanus and Theodotus The Bishop of Tyrus was Marinus before whom were Alexander and Cassius and after whome came Tirammion and Paulinus yea the successions of Bishops in these and other Churches dured from the Apostles not only to the Councill of Nice but a thousand yeeres after Christ and in many places to this present day For where S. Iohn the Euangelist wrate to the Pastours of the seuen Churches in Asia to wit of Ephesus Smyrna Pergamus Thyatira Sardis Philadelphia and Laodicea their successours sate in the Councill of Nice retaining the same place and office of Bishops which their predecessours had in the Apostles time and there subscribed with the rest Menophantes Bishop of Ephesus Eutychius Bishop of Smyrna Serras Bishop of Thyatira Artemidorus Bishop of Sardis Cyrion Bishop of Philadelphia and Theodotus Bishop of Laodicea together with the Bishops of Athens Thessalonica Hierapolis and many other places that had their first Bishops from the Apostles hands In the 4. 5. and 6. generall Councill which was kept 676. yeeres after Christ the Bishops that succeeded in the same seates did like wise subscribe and so hath the succession of Bishops in many places of Christendome continued from the Apostles times to this present age In some countreys where Christianitie is decaied their succession of Bishops is interrupted otherwise throughout the Christian world no example before our age can be shewed that euer the Church of Christ in any place or time since the Apostles died had any other form of gouernment then by Bishops succeeding and ruling as well the Presbyters
as the people that were under them Our answere is easie and readie to all that you haue brought first the Bishops of the Primitiue Church which succeeded one another in euery place were all one with Presbyters as Ierome telleth you and then we graunt without exception all that you haue alleaged out of these ancient Fathers and Writers Next âhen they make any difference betwixt Bishops and Presbyters as sometimes they doe by Bishops they vnderstand all Pastours and Ministers of the worde and Sacraments and by Presbyters they meane the laie Elders which wee seeke to restore Thirdly if you could prooue that Bishops were aboue other Ministers of the worde and Sacraments yet that superioritie was nothing els but a power to call the rest together to propose matters in doubt vnto them and to aske their voyces and consents by which the Bishops of those times were directed and from which they might by no meanes diuert to their owne wils and pleasures I know how easie readie a thing it is with you to say what you list if you may be trusted without any further triall but if it please you substantiallie to prooue these things which you afffirme or but any one of them you shal find it is a matter of greater difficultie and longer studie then you take it for Did you pleade before the poorest Iurie that is for earthly trifles they would not credite your worde without some witnesse and in matters of religion that touch the peace safetie of the whole Church of Christ do you looke your voluntarie should bee receiued without all authoritie or testimonie to warrant it if your follie be such as to expect so much at other mens hands their simplicitie is not such as to yeeld it In deed to my conceiuing the summe of your answer is very like the form of your discipline for neither of theÌ hath any proofe possibilitie nor cohereÌcie Toprooue the Bishops calling to be different from the Presbyters that yet helped in the word and Sacraments I shew that Bishops ordained ministers which Presbyters by the iudgement and assertion of the Primitiue Church might not doe and that in euery Church there were or might be many Presbyters according to the necessitie of the place but no more then one Bishop in euerie Church did or might succeed the Apostles in their chaires Hence I conclude that Bishops euer since the Apostles times were distinguished from those Presbyters that assisted the Pastour of each place in the word and Sacraments You answere that either Bishops were all one with Presbyters or if there were any difference betwixt them Presbyters then were laie Elders In which words you close not onely a monstrous falsitie but a manifest contrarietie For in effect you say Presbyters were Bishops and no Bishops Presbyters were no Laie men and yet Laie men If Presbyters were Bishops they were no Laie Elders if they were Laie Elders they were no Bishops You must therefore choose the one and refuse the other as false and repugnant to the former Take which you will the choise must be yours what you will answere The Bishops which succeeded the Apostles were the Pastors and ministers of euery parish the Presbyters were the Laie Elders that together with the Bishop gouerned the Church in common Could you make any proofe for laie Elders either in Scriptures or Fathers you had some shew to mistake Presbyters for laie Elders but I haue alreadie perused the weakenesse of your ghesses and withall made iust and fullproofe for the contrarie that the Primitiue Church of Christ had no Presbyters but ministers of the worde and Sacramentes If you bee loth to turne backe to the place heare what the great Affrican Councill saieth wherein sate besides S. Augustine 216. Bishops In the former Councill saieth Aurelius We thought meete that these three degrees tied to a kind of continencie by reason of their consecration I meane Bishops Presbyters and Deacons ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã as becommeth Bishops Priests of God Leuites seruiters about the diuine SacrameÌts shold be continent in all things All the Bishops answered we like wel that all which stand or serue at the aultar should bee continent Then Presbyters were consecrated and Priests to God and approched to the aultar and ministred the diuine Sacraments The Imperiall lawes say as much Touching the most reuerend Presbyters and Deacons if they be found to giue false euidence in a pecuniarie cause Sufficiat pro verberibus tribus annis separari à sacro ministeria it shall suffice for them in stead of whipping to be three yeeres separated from the sacred ministerie but if in criminall causes they beare false witnesse clero nudatoâ legitimis poenis sub di praecipimus wee commaund them to bee degraded of their Clergie and subiected to the penalties of the lawe Then Presbyters in the Primitiue Church were both of the Clergie and sacred ministerie as the very lawes of the Romane Empire doe testifie Ierome on whose words you so much depend saieth Hac vt ostenderemus apud veteres eosdem fuisse Presbyteros quos Episcopos All these places prooue that in ancient times Presbyters and Bishops were all one And againe Episcopi Presbyteri Diaconi debent magnoperè prouidere vt cunctum populum cui praesident conuersatione sermone praecedant Quia vehementer ecclesiam Christi destruit meliores esse Laicos quà m Clericos The Bishops Presbyters and Deacons ought greatly to prouide that they excell all the people which are vnder them in conuersation and doctrine because it vehemently destroyeth the Church of Christ to haue the Laie men better then the Clergie men And Augustine Quicunque aut Episcopus aut Presbyter aut Laicus c. Whosoeuer either Bishop Presbyter or Laie man doth declare how eternall life may be gotten hee is worthily called the messenger of God Then if Bishops were no Laie men no more were Presbyters You must therefore send your laie Elders to the New-found land the Christian world neuer heard of any such ecclesiasticall Gouernours before some men in our age began to set that fansie on foote As for Presbyters that were Clergie men and ministers of the word we shew you both by the Scriptures and stories they were many in one Church and yet was there in euery Church and Citie but one of them that succeeded the Apostles as Pastour of y â place with power to impose handes for the ordaining of Presbyters and Deacons Those successours to the Apostles the Church of Christ euen from the Apostles age hath distinguished from other Presbyters by the two proper markes of episcopall power and function I meane Succession Ordination and called them bishops Thus much is mainlie prooued vnto you by all those Apostolike Churches that had many Presbyters as helpers in the word and neuer but one Bishop that succeeded in the Apostolike chaire At Alexandria this succession began from Marke the Euangelist and
first Bishop of that church after whose death Peter and Paul yet liuing Anianus was elected by the Presbyters there and placed in an higher degree ouer the Presbyters and called a Bishop They be Ieromes owne words that I presse you with Alexandriae à Marco Euangelista Presbyteri semper vnum ex se electum in excelsiori gradu collocatum Episcopum nominabant At Alexandria from Marke the Euangelist the Presbyters alwayes electing one of themselues placing him in an higher degree called him a Bishop The like he saieth was done in the whole world Postquam vnusquisque eos quos baptizauer at suos esse putabat non Christi in toto orbe decretum est vt vnus de Presbyteris electus superponer etur caeteris ad quem omnis ecclesiae cura pertineret After euery man began to take those whom he baptized to be his owne not Christs it was decreed in the whole world that one of the Presbyters should be chosen and set aboue the rest to whom the whole or chiefe care of the Church should pertaine There were many Presbyters in euery Church and out of them one was chosen and set aboue the rest of the Presbyters to represse schismes He doeth not say that euery place had one Presbyter and no moe which was called a Bishop but one chosen out of the Presbyters which were many was placed in euery Church throughout the world not ouer the flocke only but ouer the rest of the Presbyters also which preached baptized as well as he and consequently were ministers of the word and Sacraments and no laie Elders as you dreame Wherefore to tell vs that the Bishops which succeeded the Apostles in their chaires were the Presbyters and ministers of euery parish is a very iest Not onely S. Ieromes wordes but all the Apostolike Churches and auncient stories most plainly conuince the contrary At Antioch euen as at Alexandria there were from the Apostles times a number of Presbyters and labourers in the word yet the succession continued alwayes in one no moe Ignatius the next bishop of Antioch after Euodius who receiued the first charge of that Church from the Apostles hands when he was caried prisoner to Rome writeth vnto the Church of Antioch willing the Laitie to obey the Presbyters and Deacons and adding you Presbyters foede the flocke that is with you till God shewe ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã who shall be your Ruler or Pastour after my death The like he doeth to the Churches of Trallis Magnesia Tarsus Philippos Philadelphia Smyrna and Ephesus in euery of his epistles to them remembring the Bishops Presbyters and Deacons that guided them and naming Polycarpus Onesimus Demas Vitalis and Polybius as Bishops of Smyrna Ephesus Magnesia Philippos and Trallis apart from the Presbyters of the verie same Churches yea what Church of account was there in Christendome that had not at one and the same time both Bishops and Presbyters Irenaeus was Presbyter vnder Pothymus Bishop of Lions At Antioch was Geminus vnder Zebenus and Malchion vnder Paulus Samosatenus and Diodorus Heliodorus Theodorus Isaac Mochinus and infinite others vnder the Bishops of that See So at Alexandria were Pantenus Clemens and Origen Presbyters vnder Serapion Asclepiades and Demetrius Bishops And so Dionysius vnder Heraclas and Pierius vnder Theonas And vnder the foresayd Dionysius when hee was Bishop of Alexandria were Maximus Dioscorus Demetrius Lucius Faustinus and Aquila Presbyters Tertullian Cyprian and Cecilâus were Presbyters in the Church of Carthage Saint Augustine was a Presbyter vnder Valerius Bishop of Hippo and vnder Augustine was Eradius that succeeded him and other moe Chrysostome was first Presbyter vnder Flauianus Bishop of Antioch and after made Bishop of Constantinople Of Vigilantius a Presbyter in Spaine Ierome saieth Imaruell the Bishop in whose charge or Diocesse he is reported to be a Presbyter doeth not breake that vnprofitable vessell with the Apostolike rod euen with an iron rod. Of Ierome S. Austen saieth Although by the names of honor which now haue preuailed in the vse of the church a Bishops place be greater then a Presbyters yet in many pointes Augustine is lesse then Ierome The Presbyteries of Caesarea Edissa Massilia Vienna Millan of infinite other churches might be likewise proued but why should I stand so long in a case as cleare as sunne-shine to those that haue any tast of learning or vse of reading They can light on no ancient Councill nor story of the Church but they shall find the Clergie of each Citie distinct from the Bishop subiect vnto the Bishop Yea no Presbyter might depart from the Church where he was ordained without the consent of his Bishop nor be receiued in another Church by the Bishop there without the liking licence of the Bishop whose Presbyter he was first as appeareth by the Councils of Nice can 15. 16. of Antioch ca. 3. of Chalcedon ca. 8. of Africa ca. 55. neither might any man be made a Bishop by the Canons except hee were first a Presbyter and so did rise by euery degree vnto the heigth of the Bishops calling All which a thousand other rules and Canons doe exquisitely prooue that euery Citie had besides their Bishop and vnder their Bishop as well Presbyters as other Clergie men so without all contradiction Presbyters were distinct froÌ Bishops a degree beneath Bishops wheresoeuer they be reckoned in order together as Deacons Presbyters Bishops But aunciently as Ierome saieth Presbyters and Bishops were all one Those names did not differ at first by reason the Episcopall power and honour was in the Apostles and Euangelists but when those succeeded that were neither Apostles nor Euangelists then began they to be called Bishops Eosdem olim vocabant Episcopos Presbyteros âos autem qui nunc vocantur Episcopi nominabant Apostolos At the first faieth Theodorete they called the same men both Bishops and Presbyters and those that are now called Bishops they named Apostles In proces of time they left the name of Apostle to those y t were in deed Apostles they called them Bishops whom before they termed Apostles And so Ambrose Apostoli sunt Episcopi Post Episcopum plus esse intelligitur qui prophetare dicitur qui ordo nunc potest esse Presbyterij The Apostles are now the Bishops After the Bishop he is greatest that is said to prophesie which now may bee the order of Presbyters Ierome commenting vpon these words of Dauid Thy children shalbe in stead of thy fathers saieth The Apostles O Church were thy fathers because they begate thee and nowe for that they bee departed this world thou hast in their stead children which are the Bishops created by thy selfe for they are now thy fathers
because thou art gouerned by theÌ S. Augustine vpon the same words saith in like maner The Apostles begate thee they are thy fathers Is the Church forsaken by their departure God forbid In stead of thy fathers are children borne vnto thee The Apostles were fathers in stead of the Apostles Bishops are appointed Those the Church calleth fathers yet those she begate and those she placeth in the âeates of her fathers If we should grant you that a difference was obserued in the primitiue Church betwixt the Presbyters and Bishops as well for ordination as succession yet that difference grew onely by the custome and vse of the Church and not by any diuine precept or ordinance And so much is affirmed both by S. Austen and S. Ierome in those very places which you alleage for the Church as they say and not Christ or his Apostles placed Bishops in the seates and roumes of the Apostles WheÌ S. Austen and S. Ierome doe say that the Church createth and placeth Bishops in the Apostles seates they do not meane as you misconster their wordes that the Church hath altered the fourme of the Apostolike gouernement which she receiued and of her selfe deuised an other kinde of regiment by Bishops that were to charge the Church of Christ with a voluntarie defection from the Apostles discipline and an arrogant preferring of her owne inuention before Gods ordinaunce With which though some in our times can bee content to chalenge the whole Church of Christ and euen the Apostles Coadiutors and Scholers yet Augustine and Ierome were farre from that humour Their meaning is that albeit the Apostles bee departed this life who were worthilie accounted Fathers because they were called immediatelie by Christ himselfe to conuert and congregate his Church yet the Church is not destitute for so much as shee hath power from Christ to create and appoint other of her children in their places which are Bishops Thinke not thy selfe forsaken saieth Austen to the Church because thou seest not Peter and Paul by whom thou wast begotten of thine owne ofspring a fatherhoode is growen vnto thee In steade of the fathers children are borne vnto thee thou shalt make them Rulers ouer the whole earth Hee saieth not the Bishops are strangers or intruders on the Apostles possession but they are lawfull children and rightlie placed in their fathers roumes whose heires and successours they are though their vocation be not immediate from God as the Apostles was And if Saint Austens iudgement in this case may preuaile hee applieth the next wordes of the holy Ghost to warrant the placing of Bishops as Gouerners ouer the whole earth And so doeth Ierome Thou shalt make them rulers ouer all the earth Christ hath appointed his Saints ouer all people for in the name of God is the Gospel spred into all the quarters of the earth in which the Rulers of the Church that is Bishops are placed And because you shroud your opinion vnder the shadow of S. Ierome and S. Austen heare what account they make of this position that by Gods law there should be no difference betwixt Presbyters and Bishops Ierome rehearsing these wordes out of Iohn of Ierusalems letters Nihil interest inter Presbyterum Episcopum c. There is no such great difference betwixt a Bishop and a Presbyter their dignitie is all one maketh this answere Hoc satis imperitè in portu vt dicitur naufragium This is ignorantly enough spoken a ship wracke in the hauen as the Prouerbe goeth that is an errour in the first entrance Else-where instructing Marcella against the fantasticall nouelties of the Montanists and shewing wherein Montanus dissented from the Catholike Church Ierome saieth Apud nos Apostolorum locum Episcopi tenent apud eos Episcopus tertius est atque ita in tertium id est penè vltimum locum Episcopi dè uoluuntur With vs the Bishops haue the place of the Apostles with them a Bishop is the third degree and so the Bishops are tumbled in the third that is almost the lowest place And giuing his censure of this and the rest of Montanus conceits he saieth Haec sunt quae coargutione non indigent perfidiam eorum exposuisse superasse est These things need no refutation to expresse their perfidiousnesse is enough to ouerthrow it S. Augustine maketh this report of Aerius The Aerians haue their name from one Aerius who being a Presbyter is said to haue taken displeasure that he could not be made a Bishop and falling into the Arrian heresie added certaine opinions of his owne to wit amongst others Presbyterum ab Episcopo nulla differentia debere discerni that a Presbyter should not be distinguished from a Bishop by any kind of difference Ierome saith it is a shipwracke Austen saith it is Aerianisme to say that there should be no difference betwixt Presbyters and Bishops Austen therein folowed the report of Epiphanius and enquired no further into the reason of Aerius speech For matters of fact what particular opinions heretikes held Austen haply might trust Epiphanius or Philastrius that wrate before him of the same argumeÌt but whether their opinions were repugnant to the doctrine of the Church or no S. Austen had learning iudgement enough to discerne that matter He is inexcusable if contrary to his owne knowledge conscience he pronounce a truth to be an error vpoÌ an other mans credite And therefore neuer make S. Austen a pupill vnder age to be miscaried with Epiphanius false information He concurred in iudgement with Epiphanius Philastrius and repelled that assertion of Aerius as repugnant to the doctrine and vse of the whole church And that confirmeth Epiphanius opinion touching Aerius positions which were not Christian Catholike as some men in our dayes begin to maintaine but rather arrogant erronious Indeed Epiphanius is somewhat vehement reiecteth Aerius assertioÌ in this verie point as ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ful of follie nugacitie error a foule fal of one subuerted by the diuel S. Austen putteth him his followers in the ranke of false teachers for that besides the Arrian heresie into which hee fell hee added certaine positions of his owne against fasting vpon set days keeping of Easter rehearsing the names of the dead at the Lords table distinguishing of Bishops from Presbyters which things the whole Church of Christ obserued no man euer impeached but Aerius and his Disciples Thinke you that Aerius was worthely condemned by Epiphanius for denying prayer for the dead not rather that Epiphanius himselfe erred in that point I distinguish y e publike actions of y e whole primitiue church froÌ the priuat constructions of this or that father The church had her set daies of fasting celebrated the memoriall of Christs resurrection gaue thanks to God in her open praiers at the Lords table for her martyrs others that died either constantly for the christian faith or
that was you shal heare his owne confession in the same place and thereby perceiue that many of the points which I haue before prooued are so sound and sure that no man learned can with any trueth resist them Habebant ergo singulae Ciuitates Presbyterorum Collegium qui Pastores erant ac Doctores Nam apud populum munus docendi exhortandi corrigendi quod Paulus episcopis iniungit omnes obibant Quibus docendi munus iniunctum erat eos omnes nominabant Presbyteros Illi ex suo numero in singulis ciuitatibus vnum eligebant cui specialiter dabant titulum Episcopi ne ex aequalitate vt fieri solet dissidia nascerentur vnicuique ciuitati attributa erat regio quae Presbyteros inde sumeret veluâ corpori ecclesiae illius accenseretur Euerie Citie had a College of Presbyters which were Pastours and Teachers for they all had the function of teaching exhorting and reproouing in the Congregation which Paul enioyneth vnto Bishops To whome the office of teaching was allotted they were all called Presbyters These in euerie Citie chose one of their owne number to whome they gaue the speciall title of a Bishop lest by an equalitie as is vsually found diuisions shoulde arise To euerie Citie was appointed a certaine region which tooke their Presbyters from the Citie and was counted part of the bodie of that Church First then Presbyteries consisted of Pastours and Teachers and were not had but in Cities Next lest equalitie shoulde breede confusion ouer these Presbyters in eche Citie as well as ouer the flocke was a bishop who in Dignitie and Authoritie was aboue them Thirdly euery Bishop had his region or Dioecese besides his Citie and the Presbyters that were designed for such Countrey Parishes as were within his Circuite were fette from the Citie and reputed to bee of the bodie of the Episcopall Church And all these thinges not onely were in the Primitiue Church as I haue alreadie prooued but they were also agreeable to the word of God as Caluin himselfe confesseth You should take all He telleth you that a Bishop should haue no dominion ouer his brethren but as a Consul in the Senate shoulde propose matters aske voyces goe before others in aduising warning exhorting and moderate the whole action with his authoritie and execute that which is decreed by common consent And this kinde of regiment hee saieth the Fathers acknowledge first entred humano consensu by the consent of men according to the necessitie of the times though it were verie ancient as at Alexandria euer since Marke the Euangelist I honour Caluin for his wonderfull giftes and paines in the Church of God and could easily be enduced to embrace his iudgement were it not that in this case a manifest trueth confirmed by the Scriptures Fathers and by himselfe enforceth me to the contrarie Ieromes wordes I haue examined before they do not import that bishops first beganne by humane deuise and policy Ignatius Irenaeus Egesippus Clemens Alexandrinus Dionysius of Corinth Origen Tertullian Eusebius Methodius and Ierom himself affirme the first bishops were made in the Apostles times and by the Apostles handes Saint Iohn in his Reuelation writeth to the seuen Pastours or chiefe moderatours of the seuen Churches in Asia Whiles Saint Iohn liued as Eusebius recordeth there succeeded at Antioch Ignatius after Euodius at Alexandria Abilius after Amianus at Rome Clemens after Anacletus and Linus at Ierusalem Simeon after Iames. Yea Saint Iohn with his owne handes made Polycarpe bishop of Smyrna as Irenaeus Tertullian Eusebius and Ierome affirme and that next after Eucharius as Socrates noteth he did the like in many other places as Clemens Alexandrinus writeth I can by no meanes forsake so many ancient and assured witnesses whereof some liued with Polycarpe and were his Schollers to followe the mistaking of a few wordes in Ierome by whomsoeuer Yea Caluin himselfe saith Nec humanum est inuentum sed Dei ipsius institutum quod singulis suas assignamus ecclesias Paulus ipse Archippum Colossensium episcopum commemorat It is not mans deuise but the very ordinance of God that we assigne to euery man his Church Paul himselfe mentioneth Archippus Bishop of Colossus That is Pastour of Colossus and so we grant eche Church ought by Gods law to haue a Pastour We must aske further whether by Gods lawe eche Church must haue one or many If one wee haue our desire if many there must yet be one chiefe to auoyde confusion Equalitie as Caluin noteth breedeth factions Ierome saith To suppresse the seedes of dissention one was set aboue the rest otherwise there would be as many schismes as there be Priests Beza maketh it an essential and perpetual part of Gods ordinance to haue one chiefe in eche Presbyterie His wordes are Essentiale fuit in eo de quo hic agimus quod ex Dei ordinatione perpetua necesse fuit est erit vt in Presbyterio quispiam loco dignitate primus actioni gubernandae praesit cum eo quod ipsidiuinitus attributuÌ est Iure This was essential in the matter we haue in hand that by Gods ordinaÌce which must alwais indure it hath bin is and shal be needeful that in the Presbyterie one chiefe in place and dignitie should moderate and rule euery action with that right which is allowed him by Gods lawe And in this he saieth right for a multitude vngouerned must needs be confused which should be farre from the Church of God and gouernement there can be none where all are equall When the shepeheardes leade into diuers pastures whom shall the sheepe follow when sundrie lords make sundrie lawes which shall the subiect obey Sure if no man can serue two masters no Church can endure two Pastours Whiles they consent they haue but one minde though many men when they dissent which in all persons is casuall and in all places vsuall then will there be as many sides as there be leaders You were as good set two heads on one bodie as two chiefe rulers ouer one companie If you confesse there must by Gods law be one chiefe Pastour in one church then the chiefe Pastour of eche Citie is the bishop which we seeke for and he by your owne positions is authorized as Pastour of the place by Gods ordinance This you shall neuer auoyde doe what you can Eche Church in the Apostles times had many Presbyters that laboured in the word The Scriptures do plainely witnes it In the Church of Ierusalem Act. 15. v. 6. and 23 of Antioch Act. 13. v. 1 of Ephesus Act. 20. v. 17. and 28 of Rome Rom. 16 of Corinth 1. Corinth 14. v. 29 of Philippi Philip. 1. v. 1 of Thessalonica 1. Thess. 5. v. 12 of other Churches the like is affirmed Hebr. 13. v. 17 Iames 5. v. 14 1. Pet. 5. v. 1. Now by Gods essentiall and
perpetuall ordinance as your selues confesse there must be one chiefe and Pastour of ech Church and Presbyterie to guide aswel the Presbyters that are Teachers as the flocke that are hearers with that power which Gods Law alloweth vnto Pastours Tell me now I pray you what difference betwixt chiefe Pastors established in euery City by Gods law as you are forced to grant and Bishops succeeding the Apostles in their Churches chaires as the Fathers affirme If you mislike the worde Bishop it is Catholike and Apostolike if you mislike the office it is Gods ordinance by your owne assertion We grant the name of a Bishop and regiment of a Pastor are confirmed by the holie Ghost but you yeeld more to your chiefe Pastours and Bishops then the word of God alloweth them as namely you suffer them to continue for life where they should gouerne but for a moneth or a weeke you alotte them Dioeceses which should be but parishes you giue them not onely a distinction from Presbyters but a iârisdiction ouer Presbyters who shoulde bee all one with Presbyters and subiect to the most voyces of the Presbyters all which things wee say are against the Scriptures You frame Churches to your fansies and then you straight way thinke the Scriptures doe answere your deuises If we giue Bishops any thing which the ancient and Catholike Church of Christ did not first giue them in Gods name spare vs not let the world knowe it but if we preferre the vniuersall iudgement of the Primitiue Church in expounding the Scriptures touching the power and function of bishops before your particular and late dreames you must not blame vs. They were neerer the Apostles times and likelier to vnderstand the Apostles meanings then you that come after fifteene hundred yeres with a new plot of Church gouernment neuer heard of before All the churches of Christ throughout the world could not at one time ioyne in one and the selfe same kind of gouernment had it not bene deliuered and setled by the Apostles and their Schollers that conuerted the world So many thousand Martyrs and Saints that liued with the Apostles would neuer consent to alter the Apostles discipline which was once receiued in the Church without the Apostles warrant Wherefore we conster the Apostles writings by their doings you measure the Scriptures after your owne humours Whether of vs twayne is most likelie to hitte the trueth As for your repining at the things which we giue to bishops we greatly regard it not so long as the Scriptures doe not contradict them wee smile rather at your deuises which say that a bishop should gouerne for a weeke and then change and giue place to the next Presbyter for an other weeke and so round by course to all the Presbyters What Scripture confirmeth that circular and weekely regiment of yours By what authoritie do you giue it the name of a diuine institution when it is a meere imagination of yours without proofe or trueth She we one example or authoritie for it in the newe Testament and take the cause Succession by course was ordained by God after the example of the Priests of Aaron Did the sonnes of Aaron loose their Priesthoode when their courses were ended No but they serued in the Temple by course and so were Bishops appointed by Gods ordinance to guide the Presbyterie Is this all the ground you haue vpon this slender and single similitude to make Gods ordinance what please you If such reasons may serue we can sooner conclude the perpetual function of bishops then you can the weekly for not onely the high Priest kept his honour during his life but likewise euery Priest that was chiefe of his order Indeede their courses being ended they departed home but they lost not their dignitie But what rouing is this in matters of weight Will anie wise men be mooued with such ghesses Make vs good proofe out of the Scriptures or leaue tying Gods ordinance to your appetites Ambrose is the man that affirmeth it If you come once to Fathers I hope we haue tenne to one that affirme otherwise If Ambrose did say so wee coulde not beleeue him against all the rest of the Fathers yea and against the Scriptures themselues election of Bishops being prescribed by Paul to Timothie and Tite and not succession in order but I denie that Ambrose saith anie such thing He saieth the next in order succeeded He nameth neither change nor course It is your owne deuise it is no part of Ambroses meaning Anianus the next after Marke that was Bishop of Alexandria sixe yeeres before Peter and Paul were put to death was hee made by order or by election Ierome saith expresly A Marco Euangelista Presbyteri semper vnum ex se electum c. they of Alexandria euer since Marke the Euangelist did alwayes choose their Bishop hee neuer succeeded in order Neither did Anianus gouerne for a weeke or a yeere hee sate Bishop there two and twentie yeeres as Eusebius writeth and Abilius the next that was chosen after his death sate thirtene yeeres more before hee died and then succeeded Cerdo and the rest in their times all chosen and all sitting in the Pastorall chaire so long as they liued The like you may see in the first Bishops of Rome who kept the Episcopall chaire during life and not by course Linus sate twelue yeres Anacletus twelue Clemens nine Saint Iohn the Apostle liuing and ordering the whole Church whiles the three first Bishops of Rome and of Alexandria succeeded by election and gouerned without chaunging for the terme of their liues Wherefore it is euident this vp-start fansie is far from Gods ordinance If you trust not me marke how your owne friends I wil not say your selues do crosse and confute your owne inuentions You say It is Gods disposition that the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or chiefe of your Presbyterie should go by course and that order you call Diuine they say it is accidentall and no part of Gods ordinance Accidentale fuit quod Presbyteri in hac ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã alij alijs per vices initio succedebant It was accidentall that the Presbyters did in this chiefdome at the first beginning succeede one an other by course You tell vs the electing one to continue chiefe of the Presbyterie was an humane order but they assure vs that election in all sacred functions is the commaundement of God and may not be altered Aliud est electionis mandatvm quam immotaÌ non tantùm in Diaconis sed etiam in sacris functionibus omnibus seruatam oportuiâ aliud electionis modus The commandement of election is one thing which must be obserued not onely in Deacons but in all sacred functions the maner of election is an other thing The precept cannot be immutable vnlesse it be diuine and Apostolike others haue no such power to command Now for my learning I would faine know this ruling by
of the Church of Sardis Amongst the bishops of this church Melito was renowmed a man both learned and godly but what predeccessors or successors he had in the ministery of the church is not recorded Beza saith Angelo idest ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã queÌ nimirum oportuit inprimis de hijs rebus admoneri ac per cum caeteros Collegas totámque adeo ecclesiam To the Angel that is to the chiefe President who should haue the first warning of these things and from him the rest of his Colleagues and the whole Church By the person that speaketh vnto the Pastours of those seuen Churches name which he giueth them I collect their vocation was not only confirmed by the Lord himselfe but their commissioÌ expressed He speaketh that hath best right to appoint what pastors he would haue to guide his flocke til he come to iudgement euen Christ Iesus the prince of Pastors The name that he giueth them she with their power and charge to be authorized deliuered them from God for an Angel is Gods messenger and consequently these seuen eche in his seueral charge and city are willed to reforme the errors abuses of their Churches that is both of Presbyters and people They are warned at whose hands it shall be required and by him that shal sit Iudge to take account of their doings Hence I inferre first their preeminence aboue their helpers and coadiutors in the same Churches is warranted to bee Gods ordinaunce Next they are Gods Messengers to reprooue and redresse thinges amisse in their Churches bee they Presbyters or people that be offendours Which of these two can you refuse Shall they be Angels and not allowed of God Can they bee his Messengers and not sent by him Hee woulde neuer rewarde them if hee did not send them Being sent of God shall they bee charged with those things which they haue no power to amend Is the Sonne of God so forgetfull as to rebuke and threaten the Pastour for the Presbyters and the peoples faultes if he haue no further power ouer either but to aske voices At whose handes doth God require his sheepe but at the shepeheards Hee cannot be Angell of the whole Church but he must haue Pastor all authoritie ouer the whole Church The rest of the Pastours you will will say had the same charge with him In their degree they had but why doth the sonne of God write onely do one of them if all were euen both in power and charge You are woâââââie eagerlie to aske why the Apostle writing to the Churches neuer mentioned any bishop if there had beene Bishops in the Apostles times which obiection though it be neede lesseâd he answered because it is negatiue yet Ambrose and Epiphanus tell you the Churches at the beginning were not setled moroffices exactly diuided yea the Apostles themselues for a time kept the Episcopall power in their owne hands and in some places Paul nameth the Bishop as Archippus Bishop of Colossus But on the other side we presse you with the affirmatiue aske you howe the Sonne of God could write precisely to one Angel in euery of those seuen Churches if there were many or none And what reason to charge him aboue the rest if hee had no Pastourall power besides the rest It is therefore euident the Churches of Christ before that time were guided by certaine chiefe Pastours that âââerated as well the Presbyteâs as the rest of the flocke and those the Sonne of God ââ knowledgeth for Starres and ãâã that is for the Messengers and Stewardes of the Lorde of hosteâ at whose ãâã the rest shoulde aske and receiue the knowledge of Gods diuine will and pleasures And as they were chiefe Pasâors so were they chiefâ ãâ¦ã the Church of Christ God by his Lawe comprising them vnder that name and commaunding not onelie reuerence and maintenance but obedience also to be giuen vnto them This case is so cleere it can not be doubted The Church saith Austen calleth the Bishops her Fathers The bishops are thy Fathers saith Ierome by whome thou art ruled Origen That Teachers are called Fathers the Apostle Paul she weth when hee saith I haue begotten you in Christ Iesus by the Gospell Hee is a good father saith Ambrose which can teach frame the Lord Iesus in vs as Paul saieth my little children with whom I trauel againe til Christ be fashioned in you Can I be a father saith Chrysostome not lament I am a father in affection towards you and languish with loue Heare how Paul crieth out my little children with whom I trauel againe And therefore worthely saieth hee are the Priests to haue more honour then our owne parents They are these to whome the spirituall births are committed If they be Fathers they must be honoured and the chiefest parte of their honour is obedience Disobedience of children is punished in Gods Lawe by death and shall it be no siâne in vs to disobey the Fathers of our faith Their flocke you thinke must obey them but their brethren and fellow Presbyters must not As though the rest of their flocke were not their brethren as well as the Presbyters or as if among brethren there might be no superioritie Omnes nos fratres sumus Quamquam inter fraires fas est vt vnus praescribatac caeteri obtemperent We are all brethren saieth Chrysostome speaking to his Clergie how be it amongst brethren it is lawfull that one should prescribe and the rest obey And speaking of the returne of the Bishop when himselfe was a Presbyter at Antioch he saieth Benedictus Deus qui caput corpori reddidit Pastorem ouibus Praceptorem discipulis militibus Ducem ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Blessed be God that hath restored the head to the body the Pastour to the sheepe the Master to the Schollers the Captaine to the souldiers the high Priest to the Presbyters Basill writing to the Church of Neocaesarea vpon the death of their Bishop saieth Thy fairest beautie O Citie is decayed the Church closeth her eyes the solemne assemblies looke heaullie ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the sacred Synedrion or Presbyterie desire their head they that are in dignaie their leader the people their ruler Be subiect to thy Bishop saith Ierome instructing Nepotianus in the dueties of a Presbyter and reuerence him as the father of thy soule If I be a Father saith the Prophet where is mine honour What Aaron and his sonnes were that vnderstand a Bishop and his Presbyters to be If any saieth Ambrose speaking of Presbyters and Ministers obey not his Bishop hee swarueth from the right way through pride Austen being newly made Presbyter and desiring some longer respite of the bishop before he vndertooke the execution of his office saieth Will you mee to perish O father Valerius I beseech you by the goodnesse and mercie of Christ euen by him that hath inspired so
great loue in you towardes vs that wee dare not offend you for the gaine of our soule Some of the Presbyters saieth Cyprian to his Clergie neither remembring the Gospel nor their place neither thinking on the judgement of the Lorde to come nor on the BISHOP THAT IS SET OVER THEM which was neuer doone vnder any of my predecessours with contempt and reproch of their Ruler take vpon them to doe anything euen to communicate with those that fall in time of persecution Let those rash and vnwise among you know that if they persist any longer in such actions I will vse that admonition which the Lord willeth mee in suspending them from the ministerie of the Lordes Table and at my returne make them answere before vs and the whole people for their dooings Some ripe youthes will thinke all these Fathers were infected with humane deuises in attributing so much vnto bishops but the grauer sorte will remember these learned and godly men were as like to knowe what in Christian duety they were to yeelde or to aske as the plotformers of our time that affirme the bishop must be subiect and obedient to the greater part of his Presbyters and do nothing but what they determine The bishop then or President of the Presbyters for I stand not on names whiles I discusse their powers is by Christs owne mouth proneunced to bee the Angell of the Church that is the chiefe Steward ouer Gods housholde and ouerseer of his flocke and the authoritie that hee hath in the Church is Pastorall and Paternal euen the same that hath continued in the church since the beginning of the world This fatherly kinde of regiment began in the Patriarks dured in the Priests and Prophets of Moses Lawe was deriued to the Apostles and so descended to the chiefe Pastours of Christs church to this day who are to be honored and obeyed in the word and Sacraments as Fathers of all their children This power and honour I trust is so tolerable and Christian that you dare not spurne against it If you did not giue it onely to them and take it from all others wee would not gaine say it so much as we doe That which is common to euery Pastour in regard of those that are vnder them cannot be denyed the chiefe to whose ouersight and charge the whole church in euerie place is committed If you thinke the name of Pastour cannot be common to many in one and the same Church then the bishop must be Pastour alone for he is the Angel of Gods Church If the pastorall charge may be common to many then must he haue it chiefly and aboue all because he is Gods Angell and superior to all You remember your owne positions it is Gods essentiall and perpetuall ordinance that one shoulde be chiefe as well ouer Presbyters as people He cannot be chiefe in the Presbyterie but he must be chiefe in the Church and consequently if the Presbyters be Pastours he is chiefe Pastour We giue him no power but to moderate the meetings and execute the decrees of the Presbyters That we are well content the Bishop shall enioy but further we giue him none Blessed are your Presbyters that must haue their betters to execute their decrees but I pray you sirs for Gods decrees who shall execute them Must the Presbyters voyces be asked before Gods Lawes shalbe executed Take heede not of tyrannicall but of Satanicall pride if Gods will shal not take place in your Churches till the Presbyterie be assembled and agreed You haue prouided a president to execute your owne pleasures now let God haue one amongst you to execute his Execution in all things we reserue to him that is chiefe for as to consult and decree a number is fittest so to execute that which is decreed one is the surest lest if execution be committed to many their excusing themselues one on another or dissenting from eche other do hinder the whole You beginne to be wise The honour to determine you keepe to your selues the paines to execute you lay on your chiefe Ruler to make him the gladder to be rid of his office that another by course may succeede in his roume And so where by Gods ordinance you must haue one chiefe you take such order with him that he shal neuer be willing to stay long in it Wee doe it to preuent ambition in such as woulde seeke for the highest place You decrease the ambition of one that shoulde be highest and increase the pride of an hundred that should be lowest for where wee haue one bishop in a Diocese tied to the Lawes of God the Church and the Prince you woulde haue three hundred in a Diocese in some more all of equall power and set at libertie to consult and determine of al matters at their pleasures We subiect our Presbyteries to the Lawes of God the Church and the Realme as well as you doe your Bishops and giue them no leaue to resist or reuerse the decrees of any superiour powers You doe well For when the God of heauen hath declared his will or the Church by her prouinciall or generall Councils determined doubts and made rules or Christian Magistrates by their Lawes redressed and ordered things amisse besides the loâse of your paines it were more then pride for your Presbyters in their assemblies to consult afresh and bring the selfe same things againe to the question What is decreed by superiours must not by inferiours be debated whether it shall take place or no but be rather obeyed with readinesse So that in all cases determined by the Lawes of God the Church or the Prince consultation is both superfluous and presumptuous execution is onely needefull and that must be committed to some persons that may precisely be chalenged and punished for the contempt if that which is commanded be not performed now whom appoint you to execute the decrees of God the Church and the prince The whole Presbyterie Then vpon the not execution of Gods or mans Lawe by any one Prebyter all must be punished aswell innocent as nocent diligent as negligent The blame must lie on all where the charge is in common Were you but once or twise well followed for other mens faultes you woulde soone ware weary of this generall and confused execution And though you woulde not yet neither the equity nor prudency of Gods or mans Lawes endure that wandering kinde of execution they note and specifie the persons that shall haue the charge and ouersight to execute their decrees that vpon any neglect or defect the right offendours may be chalenged And since to auoide confusion and preuent delayes you committe the execution of your owne decrees to the care and circumspection of your President what cause can there be why the lawes of God the Church and the Prince should not like wise be executed by the bishop or chiefe Pastour of eche place There can be no doubt but the Canons of Councils and Lawes of Christian princes
touching Church causes from the Aposiles age to ours haue bene committed to Episcopall audience and execution the question is for Gods Law who shoulde be trusted with the execution thereof And who rather say we then hee that is authorized by God to be the Angel of his Church and steward of his house at whose mouth the rest should aske the Law and be rather subiect vnto him then perch ouer him The execution of Gods Lawe by no meanes wee grant to the Bishop for then wee yeelde him all but in that case though ech Presbyter be inferiour to him yet the whole Presbyterie is aboue him and may both ouer-rule him and censure him That is as much as if you had said when the sheepe list to agree I will not say conspire they must leade their sheepeheard and when the children are wilfull they must rule their father Otherwise if the bishop be Pastor and father to eche Presbyter hee is the like to the whole Presbyterie consequently they must heare obey him as Gods Angel so long as he keepeth within the bounds of his message Nay euery Presbyter is a Pastour and Father as well as the Bishop and equall with him neither hath hee by Gods Lawe any right ouer them but onely by mans deuise Fie on this wauering Sometimes the Bishop shall bee chiefe ouer the Presbyterie by Gods essentiall and perpetuall ordinance Sometimes againe euerie Presbyter shall bee equall and euen with him and hee not chiefe ouer them and when you are a little angrie hee shall bee subiect vnto them and bee censured by them This tapesing to and fro I impute rather to the rawnesse of your discipline not yet digested then to the giddinesse of your heades This it is to wander in the desert of your owne deuises without the line of Gods worde or leuell of his Church to direct you But can you shewe vs by what authoritie you claime this power of your Presbyteries aboue and against their Bishops if by Scriptures produce them if by Fathers then shrinke not from them when they tell you on the other side what power the Bishop had should haue ouer his Presbyters Wee haue both Scriptures and Fathers but specially Scriptures First the Apostles Peter and Paul acknowledge the Presbyters to be Pastours and giue them the feeding ouerseeing and ruling the flock Next the Presbyterie did excommunicate the incestuous Corinthian and imposed hands on Timothie Thirdlie they are the Church which if a man heare not he must bee taken for a Publicane and an Ethnike by Christes commandement Fourthly the common wealth of Israel had apparantly that kind of gouernment which Christ and his Apostles did not alter Lastly the fathers confesse the Churches at first were gouerned with the common counsell of the Presbyters and without their aduise nothing was done in the Church These be the fortes of your late erected Consistorie if these be taken from you you haue no place left whither your maimed discipline may retreat and these are most easilie razed to the ground in order as they stand For FIRST the same power which you claime by Peters and Pauls words vnto Presbyters as Pastours in respect of the flocke committed to their trust you must yeeld vnto Bishops as chiefe Pastors in comparison both of Presbyters and people and so you prooue against your selues for the Bishop is as well chiefe in the Church where he is Gods Angel as in the Consistorie where hee gouerneth the Presbyterie NEXT you cannot conuince that the Presbyterie did either excommunicate the malefactor of Corinth or lay hands on Timothie I haue cleared the inferments of both places before And if you could conclude any such thing which you cannot yet most apparantly the Apostle Paul with his owne mouth adiudged the one and with his owne hands ordained the other THIRDLIE what is meant by the Church in those wordes of Christ if he heare not the Church let him bee as an Ethnike vnto thee I haue alreadie discussed I need not reiterate If you will with the Fathers apply that censure to excommunication you must with the Fathers vnderstand by the Church the Bishops chiefe Rulers of the Church FOVRTHLIE neither had the Iewes that kind of gouernment which you would establish in the Church neâdid our Lord and Master or his disciples euer prescribe to the Gentiles the iudiciass part or fourme of Moses Iawe more then they did the ceremoniall if Moses policie be abrogated Moses Consistor is may not be continued The Judges cease where the lawe faileth the change of the lawe ceremoniall worketh as the Apostle reasoneth a chaunge of the Priesthoode and euen so the disanulling of their penall iudgements dischargeth all their Iudges and Consistories And were it otherwise what winne you by that against Bishops If your Presbyters must be the Iewes Elders your Presidents must answere to their chiefe Priestes and then haue you spunne afair threed for where you thought to diminish the power of Bishops ouer Presbyters you triple it by this Argument It must be death to disobey the chiefe Priest in all points and parts of Gods Iawe Would you stand to your tackling I would neuer wish a better reason against you for the power of bishops then your owne comparison but you vse to giue backe so fast when you bee pressed that my labour would be but lost to follow you In deede Cyprian doeth vehemently vrge that precept of Deuteronomie and many others of the olde Testament for obedience to be yeelded to himselfe and other Bishops as well by Presbyters as people he that will may see the places LASTLIE for Fathers as your fashion is you take a paring of one or two of theÌ where they speake to your liking but reiect both the same and all other ancient writers whenthey mainlie depose against your new discipline That the aduise of Presbyters was at first vsed in the regiment of the Church Ierome and Ambrose seeme towitnesse but that they might ouer-rule or censure the Bishop they neuer said nor meant The safetie of the Church as Ierome thinketh standeth on the dignitie of the chiefe Priest or Bishop to whom except there be giuen a power without any equal and eminent aboue all there will bee as many schismes in the Churches as there be Priests And so Cyprian Thou makest thy selfe Iudge of God and of Christ which sayd to his Apostles and thereby to all Rulers that succeed the Apostles in being ordained their substitutes he that heareth you heareth me and hee that reiecteth you reiecteth me For whence haue heresies and schismes heretofore risen and dailyrise but whiles the Bishop which is but one ruleth the Church is despised by the proud presumption of some and that one Bishop he calleth the Leader of the people the Pastour of the flocke the gouernour of the Church the Bishop of Christ and Priest of God Infinite are the testimonies of the Catholike Fathers against the
power which you giue to your Presbyters but because you turne them all ouer the barre as tainted with humane pollitie and neglecters of Gods ordinance let vs see whether wee can say more for the power of Bishops ouer Presbyters by the Scriptures then you haue done for your Presbyteriall censures which in my iudgement are very flenderlie and weaklie prooued All that wee can say for the power of Bishops aboue Presbyters out of the Scriptures is this That the holie Ghost by the mouth of S. Paul hath giuen the Bishop of each place authoritie to ordaine such as be woorthie to examine such as be faultie and reproue and discharge such as be guiltie either of vnsound teaching or offensiue liuing Thus much he saieth to Timothie and Tite and in them to their successours and to all other Bishops of Christes Church for euer The places bee plaine and neede no long discoursing till we heare your answere Of admitting Presbyters Paul saieth to Timothie Lay hands hastily on no man neither be partaker of other mens sinnes And to Tite For this cause I left thee in Creete that thou shouldest ordaine Elders in euerie Citie such as I appointed thee Of conuenting them hee saieth Receiue no accusation agaynst a Presbyter but vnder two or three witnesses those that sinne rebuke openlie that the rest may feare Of dismissing them hee saieth I prayed thee to abide at Ephesus to commaund certaine that they teach no strange doctrine Their mouthes must bee stopped that teach things they ought not for filthie lucre The Presbyters that doe their dueties let them bee counted woorthie of double honour Staie foolish questions and contentions An heretike after one or two warnings reiect These things speake and exhort and rebuke with all authoritie See no man despise thee I charge thee before God and the Lord Iesus Christ and the elect Angels that thou obserue these things ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã without carying any preiudice or inclining to either part The wordes bee singular the charge is vehement the parties were Bishops to whome the Apostle wrate the case therefore is cleare that the Bishops power ouer Presbyters in these pointeâ is ratified by the expresse commandement of the holy Ghost You be mightily deceiued This power belonged to Euangelists not to Bishops and therefore it dured but for their time and exceeded not their persons to whom the Apostles ârate See you how easilie the very foundations of your Prelacie are shaken and ouer throwen If your replie be sound you say somewhat to the purpose but if it be false absurd repugnant to the very Text and refuted by your own positions then take you heed what answere you will make to God for disturbing his Church despising his ordinance and deriding his messengers that himselfe hath placed and authorized with his own mouth And here I must pray the Christian Reader aduisedlie to marke what is said and answered on either side This in deed is the maine erection of the Episcopal power and function if our proofes stand or subuersion if your answere be good For if this faile wel may Bishops claime their authoritie by the custome of the Church by any diuine precept expressed in the scriptures they cannot But if these rules be deltuered by the Apostle to Bishops as we say they are and not to Timothie and Tite in respect of their Euangelship as the Presbyterists affirme then can there be no question but this new discipline is a very dreame and the auncient and Primitiue Church of Christ held the right and Apostolicall fourme of gouerning the house of God according to the prescript of his word Out reioinder therefore is as foloweth No power proper to Euangelists is or ought to be perpetual in the Church of Christ their calling was both extraordinarie and temporarie but power to ordaine fit ministers to conuent and discharge vnfit is and ought to be perpetuall in the Church of Christ. This therefore was no power proper to Euangelists which S. Paul in these places prescribed vnto Tite and Timothie Againe your Presbyters may not claime Euangelisticall power since your Presbyters are no Euangelists but your Presbyteries claime this power which Paul here committeth to Timothie and Tite euen to ordaine examine censure and depriue Pastours and Teachers ergo this power was not proper to Euangelists Let all this bee nothing if Saint Paul in expresse wordes say not as much I charge thee saith he to Timothie in the sight of God and before Iesus Christ that thou keepe this commaundement without spot and vnrebukeable VNTIL THE APPEARING of our Lord Iesus Christ. For Timothie to obserue these things vntill the comming of Christ in glory was vtterly vnpossible hee was to die long before these preceptes therefore are deliuered to him and those that should succeed in his place vnto the ende of the world Ergo Timothies power and function in this behalfe must be perpetuall in the Church of God and not faile before the day of iudgement With great vigilancie and prouidence saieth Ambrose vpon this place doeth the Apostle giue percepts to the Ruler of the Church for in his person doeth the safetie of the people consist He is not so circumspect as fearing Timothies care but for his successours that after Timothies example they should obserue the ordering of the Church Now let the Christian Reader iudge whether this were a temporarâe function in Timothie that died with his person or a perpetuall charge to him and his successors for euer Surely Timothie was an Euangelist Timothie was no Bishop You say he was no Bishop Eusebius Ierome Ambrose Chrysostome Theodoretus Epiphanius Oecumenius Primasius affirme he was a Bishop and in that respect S. Paul by this epistle directed him and all other Bishops in him how to impose handes on Presbyters and receiue accusations against them yea the whole Church of Christ since the Apostles times without exception hath so constred and obserued the Apostles words in suffering none but Bishops either to ordaine or degrade Presbyters yet all this with you is nothing your bare fansie must ouer beare both fathers were they neuer so learned and Churches were they neuer so auncient And though you auouch this power must not exceed their two persons to whom S. Paul wrate yet you are so liberall and beneficiall to your Presbyteries that against all trueth and authoritie you make them succeede Timothie and Tite in their Euangelisticall power And so according to your maner you will haue this power to be proper and yet common to be extraordinarie and yet vsuall to cease with their persons and yet to dure for euer with your Presbyteries Fire will better agree with water then you with your selues except you leaue this rolling too and fro at your pleasures We say the Euangelists had this power for a time the Presbyteries for eâer What you say no wise man will regard vnlesse you make better proofes then I yet
see you doe You haue not a word nor a tittle in the Scriptures for the power of your Presbytefies and yet you pronounce so peremptorilie and resolutelie of theÌ as if there were nothing els written in the newe Testament but the power of your Presbyters Did not the Presbyterie impose hands on Timothie to make him an Euangelist did not they watch and feede the flocke in the Apostles times did not the holy Ghost make them ouer seers of the Church what would you haue more Of laie men your Presbyteries either wholie or chieflie consist then they also be Pastours and Bishops and watch feed the flocke the holy Ghost hath set them ouer the Church they also impose hands as wel as the best And to say the trueth what thing is there so peculiar to Pastors which you do not communicate to your Presbyters for wheÌ you be vrged y â Presbyters in the Apostles times were by dutie to doe those things which belonged properly to Pastorall care and ouersight and therefore laie men were no part of thâse Presbyteries you answere roundlie that laie Elders in the Consistorie do watch and feed and ouerlooke the flocke as well as Pastours and so not onely their power but also their charge is the very same as you say that the holy Ghost gaue vnto Pastors and yet they no Pastours And touching hands laied on Timothie by the Presbyterie you answere your selves for when you alleage that the Presbyterie did impose handes on Timothie wee aske you whether all the Presbyterie had right and power to impose handes or onely some of them If all then Laie Elders must either impose handes which Caluine conclusiuely denieth hoc postremo habendum est solos Pastores manus imposuisse Ministris this wee must vnderstand that onely Pastours imposed handes on Ministers or be no part of the Presbyterie If some onely imposed handes and yet the Presbyterie is said to doe that which not all but some fewe or one of them did In like maner Paul saieth the Presbyterie laied handes on Timothie when himselfe did the deede who was one of the Presbyterie And thus much Caluine likewise auoucheth Paâlus ipse se non alios complures Timotheo manus imposuisse commâmorat Paul witnesseth that himselfe and none others laied handes on Timothie And strange it is to see you build the maine foundation of your Presbytericall power on a place that hath so many sound and sufficient answeres as this hath First Ierome Ambrose Primasius and Caluine tell you the worde Presbyterie signifieth in that place the degree and function which Timothie receiued not the Colledge and number of Presbyters Next Chrysostome Theodorete Oecumenius and Theophilact tell you that Paul by the Presbyterie meant the Bishops their names at first being common for that Presbyters might not laie handes on a Bishop such as Timothie was Thirdlie the Scriptures tell you that the Apostles Euangelists Prophetes and the seuentie disciples were of the Presbyteries in the first Church and they might well impose hands on Timothie without any Presbyters Fourthlie Saint Paul telleth you as Caluine well obserueth and vrgeth that himselfe and none others laied handes on Timothie Lastlie your selues say Timothie was an Euangelist which function and vocation the Presbyterie of no particular Church could giue him but onely the Apostles What power had the Church of Iconium or Ephesus to make Euangelists I meane such as should accompanie the Apostles and assist them in their trauailes If you trust neither Scriptures nor Fathers for shame trust your selues and your owne positions Howe shall other men beleeue your assertions when your selues doe not beleeue them If Timothie were an Euangelist they must be Apostles and no Presbyters that imposed handes on him If the Presbyterie of any particular Church imposed hands on him Timothie must be a Bishop and haue a locall charge in some Church which you impugne vnder pretence of his Euangelship Choose which yyu will so you choose some what and stand to it whrn you haue chosen it Were they Presbyters or no that imposed hands on Timothie If they were yet they did it iointlie with Paul and so without the Apostle or his successor Presbyters may not impose hands and then must Timothie be a Bishop when Paul wrate vnto him for Presbyters could not make him an Euangelist Were they no Presbyters but Apostles or others of higher calling Then maketh this place nothing for the power of Presbyters either to ordaine or depriue ministers of the word and Sacramentes and setting this aside what one iote finde you in the Scriptures concerning your Presbyteries The conclusion is We shew you substantiall and full proofe that TIMOTHIE AND HIS SVCCESSOVRS are charged by Paul to obserue these precepts of the holy Ghost in the Church of Christ for euer touching the admitting of fit ministers and remouing of vnfit Thence we inferre this power must be perpetuall in Bishops for they succeed Timothie in the Church the Presbyteries doe not On the other side you claime this authoritie from Bishops to your Presbyteries but you cannot prooue either their succession from Timothie or ioint commission with Timothie by any sentence or syllable in the Scriptures That they should feede and watch the flocke you vrge and we graunt in teaching and exhorting they were ioyned with Timothie by reason the labourers must of force be many where the haruest was so great as in the Apostles times but in ordaining and gouerning the Teachers as there was no need of many so is there no precept for many least by the multitude of Rulers order should be rather confused then preserued Wherefore as Timothie was placed at Ephesus and Tite in Creete to ordaine moderate and rebuke as well Presbyters as people so was Archippus at Colossus so were the seuen Pastours in the seuen Churches of Asia to whom the sonne of God wrate by S. Iohns penne so in all the Apostolike Churches were Apostolike men throughout the Christian world left to guide and gouerne the Churches of Christ with like power and to leaue the same to their successours for euer And this our construction and exposition of of S. Pauls words to Timothie the learned and ancient fathers confirme with one consent and the Catholike Church of Christ hath continued and performed in all ages and places since the Apostles deaths Meane you that Bishops alone might doe what they would without the knowledge or consent of their Presbyters My meaning is soone understood You establish one chiefe in your Presbyteries by Gods essentiall and perpetuall ordinaunce to execute that which you decree whom you call your President How farre I ioyne with you you shall quickly perceiue To auoyd tumults and dissentions God hath authorized one in each place and Church able to haue maintaine a Presbyterie who with Pastorall and fatherly moderation should guide as well the Presbyters that assist him as the people that are subiect to him according to the lawes of God and
man the execution whereof is chieflie committed to his charge that is the Leader and ouerseeâ of all the rest whom wee call a Bishop His power I call a moderation and not a domination because the wisedom of God hath likewise allowed and prouided Christian meanes as well to bridle him from wrongs as to direct him in doubts That is right the power which we giue to our Presbyteries Did you not put laie men instead of Pastours to bee Presbyters and make them controllers where they should bee but aduisers your Presbyteries might haue some vse in the Church of God though farre lesse now then when they first began but your disdaining Bishops and taking from them that which the Apostle giueth them and your exâolling Presbyteries the most part whereof if not all be laie Elders to determine all cases and censure all persons in the Church which the Scriptures neuer speake of are the spottes and staines of your discipline which you will neuer wash away Presbyteries wee acknowledge were in the Apostles times and in the Primitiue Church seruing to religious and needfull vses but no such Presbyteries as you pretend neither erected to any such end as you conceiue nor endued with any such soueraigne power as you imagine I finde many vses of Presbyteries ordained in Cities by the Apostles and after by them conioined in one Church with the Bishop whereof some are extinguished by the alteration of times others remaine in force to this day The first was the conuersion of the world vnto Christ. In great Cities where none yet beleeued how long would it be before one man should gain any great number vnto the faith persecutions especiallie growing so hote that none might publikely shew himselfe to bee a Christian without danger of life Wherefore the holie Ghost disposed and appointed many labourers in euerie Citie to carie the knowledge of the trueth from house to house As at Ephesus Paul at one tinie furnished twelue with the gifts of Gods spirite for the spreading of the Gospell in that place at Rome hee saluted twentie that were of his acquaintance besides those he knew not who planted themselues and their households in that Citie to winne the multitude to the obedience of the faith And so wheresoeuer the Apostle erected any Church they did store it with as many meete men to teach the worde as they could finde that the trueth of Christ might disperse it selfe not onely throughout their Cities but into the Townes and countries that bordered neere them The next vse of Presbyteries was to continue such as they had conuerted by instructing exhorting and encouraging the beleeuers from house to house and from man to man to stand fast in the doctrine receiued and neither to shrinke at the bloudie stormes of tyrants nor to giue eare to the wilâe charmes of Satan nor folow the deceitfull baites of this world but constantly with trueth and holinesse to serue God in spite of all aduersaries that exalted themselues against the knowledge of Christ. And as the people did encrease so did the paines in each place and consequently the number of Presbyters one man being no more able to serue the necessities of a great Citie then to beare the burden of the earth on his backe Wherefore the spirite of wisedome so guided the Church that to procure the conuersion and attend the saluation of men there was euery where as occasion required store of Pastours and Teachers and yet to mainetaine vnitie and keepe both Preachers and people in peace there was in each Church and Citie one chiefe amongst them that as principall Pastour of the place looked into all their doings staied them from dissentions rebuked the vnrulie and with the helpe of the rest reiected the vntollerable least many Teachers by chalenging vnto themselues such as they had conuertes should rent the faithfull into as many Churches as there were Presbyters in euerie Citie for which cause each place were it neuer so great had but one Church and one chiefe Pastour or Bishop elected to succeed in the Pastorall charge and chaire aboue the rest that were his brethren in office children in honour helpers in labour and assessours in counsell and iudgement The third vse was the trapning vp and trying of men that were meete to haue the care of soules committed vnto them and the regiment of the Church reposed on them At first the wonderfull power of the holy Ghost supplied all wantes and defectes of learning and knowledge so that by the laying on of the Apostles handes men afore vnfit were made meete ministers of the newe Testament but because these giftes were not alwayes to continue or not in so plentifull maner as at the Prime tide of the Gospell the Apostles setled in euery Church and Citie needing their seruice and able to giue them maintenance by reason of the populousnesse of the place a Presbyterie that is a conuenient number of Deacons to serue about diuine matters and mysteries and of Pastours to intend for the word and Sacraments from whence as from a fountaine both the Cities themselues might at all times after haue sufficient men to furnish their owne turnes and to helpe the smaller Townes and Uillages within their circuite which for the slendernesse of their state could neither maintaine Presbyteries nor nourish vp meete men to supplie their neede vpon the death of the former Incumbents This to vs that haue Uniuersities for that purpose founded by the bounteousnes of Christian Princes and other benefactours may seeme superfluous but the Church of Christ after her first supplie made by the Apostles handes had no meanes to continue the succession of fitte and able Pastours in each place but onely her Presbyteries in greater Churches and Cities that were her nurceries of learning and Seminaries of sound religion and holy conuersation which stored both the Cities where they were supported and the countrey round about that was vnder the charge and ouersight of the Bishop of each Citie The fourth vse of Presbyteries which you much grate on but neuer rightlie hit was the aduising and assisting the Bishop or Pastour of each Church and Citie in all doubts and dangers At first there were no Councils to make Canons nor Christian Princes to establish lawes for the good guiding and ordering of the Church but each place was left to direct it selfe Least therefore the Bishops onely will should bee the rule of all things in the Church the gouernement of the Church was at first so proportioned that neither the Presbyters should doe any thing without their Bishop nor the Bishop dispose matters of importaunce without his Presbyterie The Presbyters sate not with the Bishop as equall in power with him much lesse as superiour aboue him when the more part consented agaynst him you would faine haue it so but the Church of Christ from the Apostles to this present neuer vsed or endured any such presumption As Christ saith Ignatius doeth nothing without his
father so doe you nothing without the Bishop whether you be Presbyter Deacon or Laie man And againe Presbyters bee subiect to your Bishop Deacons to your Pesbyters and Laie men to both My soule for theirs that obserue this order the Lord will be alwayes with them The Canons reporting the ancient discipline that obtained in the Church from the Apostles times say Let the Presbyters and Deacons doe nothing without the consent of the Bishop for the Bishop is hee to whose charge the people are committed and who shall render an account for their soules Tertullian that liued in the next age after the Apostles prooueth that in his time neither Presbyter nor Deacon might baptize without the Bishops leaue The right to giue baptisme hath the high Priest which is the Bishop then the Presbyters and Deacons Non tamen sine Episcopi authoritate propter ecclesiae honorem quo saluo salua pax est but not without the Bishops authoritie for that honour the Church yeeldeth to Bishops which being preserued peace is maintained Emulation is the mother ofschismes The Councill of Ancyra that was elder then the Councill of Nice sheweth It was not lawfull for Rurall Bishops to ordaine Presbyters or Deacons nor for the Presbyters of the Citie to doe any thing out of their charge without the licence and letters of the Bishop The Councill of Laodicea expressing the Bishops preeminence saieth The Rural Bishops that are alreadie made must doe nothing without the consent of the Bishop of the Citie Likewise the Presbyters must do nothing without the liking of their Bishop The Councill of Arle in Constantines dayes Presbyteri sine conscientia Episcoporum nihil faciant The Presbyters may do nothing without the knowledge or consent of the Bishop Ierome giueth the same reason for it that Tertullian doeth if the chiefe Priest should not haue power eminent aboue all without partner there would be as many schismes as there be Priests Inde venit vt sine Episcopi missione neque Presbyter neque Diaconus ius habeant baptizandi Thence is it that without the Bishops leaue neither Presbyter nor Deacon may baptize If Presbyters by the discipline of the Primitiue Church were to obey their Bishop and might doe nothing no not baptize without the bishops leaue how farre were they froÌ ouer-ruling censuring their bishop by number of voices which you attribute to your Presbyters This was that custome of the Church which Ierome confessed was against the Diuine disposition If this were the custome of the Primitiue Church then were their Presbyteries nothing like your Consistories neither did the Bishop as a Consul in the Senate aske voices and execute what the most part decreed but as a Pastour he gouerned ouer-looked as well the Presbyters as the people and without his consent and liking the Presbyters might doe nothing no not haptize nor administer the Lordes supper neither doeth Ierome say that this custome of the Church was against the diuine disposition hee is so farre from condemning it that he saieth the safetie of the Church dependeth thereon but Ierome willeth the Bishops to remember that though the whole care and ouersight of the Church bee now giuen to them and taken from Presbyters for preuenting of schismes yet they should vse them with honour and consult with them for the good of the Church because by the trueth of the diuine disposition afore schismes began they were trusted in common with the regiment of the Church That disposition which hee calleth diuine wee seeke torestore By pretence of those wordes you proclaime your owne deuises vnder the title of Gods ordinance Otherwise the charge that Paul giueth Timothie maketh stronglie for Bishops against your Presbyteries but that we interprete his wordes by the practise of the Church and thereby conceiue that though the chiefe power and care were committed to Bishops yet their Presbyteries were not excluded for as then Bishops had no meanes to bee directed or assisted but onely their Presbyteries Afterwards when vpon the generall preuailing of the Gospell on the face of the earth Synodes began to assemble and the Pastors of diuers Churches vsed by letters and meetings to conferre about such orders and rules as they thought needfull to bee obserued in all their Churches the Presbyteries of euery particular place had more leasure and leaue to play by reason prouinciall Councils vndertooke the debating and resoluing of those doubts and difficulties that before troubled the Presbyteries And as you tie your President to the execution of such things as your Presbyters shall decree so the Primitiue Church of Christ had greater reason and better ground to binde her Bishops to see those things perfourmed which were concluded by generall assent of the Bishops and Pastours of any Prouince Where you may see vpon what occasion the power of Presbyteries first decreased not that Bishops wrongfully encroched on their liberties and violentlie ouer-mastered them but what things were before handled and debated in the Presbyteries of each place came nowe to be discussed and concluded in the Synodes and full assemblies of all the Bishops and Pastours of one kingdome or Countrey So that Synodes in consultation and determination of all ecclesiastical griefes and causes were preferred by the Primitiue Church of Christ as Courtes of greater iudgement higher power better experience and more indifferencie then Presbyteries and if malice doe not blinde you you will confesse the same Was it possible to finde in any Presbyterie so many graue wise learned and sufficient men as in a Prouince In Presbyteries affections and factions mightilie preuaile by reason men that liue together vpon liking or disliking soone linke togither In Synodes where all were strangers to themselues and to the parties no such thing could be feared In Presbyteries it was easie for the Bishop to haue his forth for that the rest were subiect vnto him and might many wayes be displeased by him if he would seek reuenge In Synodes they were all his brethren and equals no way in danger to him and therefore the more likelie to bee sincere and indifferent Iudges And as for authoritie I trust your selues doe not meane in euery Parish to erect a Pope and a Colledge of Cardinals from whom there shall be no appeale of whose wrongs there shall be no redresse whose censures must stand indissoluble that were of all tyrannies the most intollerable In all Christian societies the whole of like power and calling is greater then any part and a Prouince must bee respected before a Parish Wherefore Presbyteries must yeeld to Synodes and the Bishop of each place is more bound to regard and execute Synodal then Presbyterall decrees This whiles you marke not you imagine the whole Church of Christ conspired against Presbyters to suppresse them to change the Apostolicall forme of regiment where in deed the decrees of Councils and lawes of Christian princes moderating and determining all those doubts and
questions which before were examined in Presbyteries caused them to bee lesse needed and lesse regarded then before and charged the Bishop with the executioÌ of all lawes and Canons without assembling or consulting his Presbyters superiour Courts not submitting their acts to the iudgement of inferiour officers Wherefore when you raile at Bishops as vsurpers and tyrants ouer their brethren you forget that after so many hundred yeres all things being setled and guided by lawes which your Presbyteries neither may reuerse nor can correct your Elders were as good spare their paines as loose their labours More lawes we need not better you cannot make no man that hath his right wits will choose to liue vnder the discretion of the Presbyters rather then vnder the prescript of written lawes Frustrate them when you will to make worke for your Consistories and you shall find greater difference betwixt the equitie and certaintie of the Canons and the affectionate and inconstant headinesse of your Presbyters We would change no lawes but such as are Popish and where now the Bishop alone doeth all we would ioyne the Presbyterie with him The lawes that vpheld the Popes superstition or vsurpation are alreadie abrogated thanks be to God the rest that agree with the Canons of the Primitiue Church if you seeke to dissolue I would wish you did publish the new that men might see them before you did exauthorate the olde least you make the people as lawlesse as your Presbyters It is easier to euert or disturbe then to plant or establish a Church or common wealth If you take not the same lawes againe I dare warrant your childrens children to the fourth generation shall see neither order nor peace in your Churches And as for ioyning Presbyters with the Bishop to execute lawes that is the way to multiplie Bishops and where we haue one to make vs twentie but that is not the way to haue lawes more speedilie or sincerely executed In a multitude diuersitie of opinions breedeth delaies hindereth execution in one it cannot and if each man be subiect to affections I hope the more the worse But what reason we whether one or many shall execute the lawes when it is not in our hands to limite the law-makers to our choice They that haue power from God to make lawes haue like wise authoritie libertie to choose whoÌ they wil charge w t the executioÌ of their lawes and therefore in Gods name let both Councils and Princes choose what persons they thinke meetest to see their Canons and Lawes obserued so long as they transgresse not the rules of pietie and equitie Our chiefest care is for the right execution of Gods law which we would not haue committed to the Bishop without his Presbyters Giue the Bishop that right and authoritie which Gods law alloweth him and the ioine with him whom you can What right is that You heard before he must haue Pastorall and Paternall power either wholie if by Gods lawe there may be but one Pastor in one Church or chieflie if there may bee more in the same place to aduise and assist hun in gouerning the flock More authoritie by Gods law we claime not for Bishops then to be Pastours of the places which they gouerne And Pastorall authoritie since you giue to euerie Rector in his Church what reason haue you to denie it to euery Bishop in his Diocesse We giue no man Pastorall power ouer the Presbyteries and as for Diocesses wee say they are intrusions on other mens cures If by Gods lawe you assigne one Church to one man as Pastour of the same then all the members of that Church be they Presbyters or people must be subiect to him as to their Pastour and he must haue Pastorall authoritie ouer them whatsoeuer they be And therefore this shift of yours that the Presbyters shall haue a President ouer them by Gods ordinance but no Pastour is a meere collusion repugnant as well to the worde as Church of God for what doe the Scriptures call your President in respect of the Presbyters if not a Pastour Shew vs either his name or his power in the new Testament and if it be not equiualent with Pastorall wee will exempt your Presbyters from all subiection The power that Timothie receiued to restraine them from preaching false doctrine and to conuent and rebuke such Presbyters as sinned was it not Pastorall And that charge was to remaine by the Apostles words to him and his successors till the comming of Christ. Your Pastours that you would erect in countrey parishes shall they not haue Pastorall power ouer your laie Presbyters shall your laie Elders be sheepe without ashepeheard shal no man watch ouer their soules If your laie Presbyteries must haue a Pastour ouer them in each countrey parish how commeth it to passe that your Presbyteries in Cities may endure no Pastours aboue them Are they not all of one and the same institution by your owne rules Is there one order in the Scriptures for rusticall Presbyteries and an other for ciuill I thinke your selues ran hardly shewe any such distinction Wherefore when we giue bishops Pastorall authoritie as well ouer their Presbyters as ouer their people wee doe it by the warrant of Gods word that maketh them chiefe Pastours ouer their Churches which includeth both Presbyters and people and wee therein giue them no more then by your wils you would giue to the meanest Rectors of countrie parishes Pastours we are content they shalbe ouer their flockes but not ouer their coequals and copartners Then no man may take or leade their flockes from them so long as they teach and guide them right and consequently your Presbyters may vse no Pastorall power in any bishops charge without his liking For he is Pastour of the flocke and by Gods law they must heare and obey the voice of their shepeheard And as for the rest of the Presbyters if you make theÌ copartners with him that is not helpers but equals you distract the flocke and rent the Church into as many peeces as there be pastors One flocke cannot haue many pastors except they be subordinate one vnder another but many pastors of equal power must needs haue many flocks Wherfore one Church must haue but one pastor to whom therest be they Presbyters or others must by Gods Law be subiect and obedient whiles he rightly directeth them and woorthely rebuketh them otherwise against God and his trueth we must obey neither man nor Angell Yet to temper the Pastourall power of bishops that it might be fatherly as it hath beene alwaies in the house of God euen from the beginning and not Princely for feare of raigning ouer the Lords inheritance the Church of Christ did in certaine cases of importance not suffer the bishop to attempt any thing without the consent of his Presbyters or a Synode The fourth Councill of Carthage prohibiteth the bishop to heare and sententiate any mans cause without the presence of his Clergie as also
hearing of such griefes then âate the Presbyters with the Bishop onely as beholders and aduisers of his iudgement that the matter being publike might be handled with the more grauitie and sinceritie not withstanding to examine it or reuerse it pertained only to the assemblie of the bishops of the same prouince If none but Bishops may ex communicate how do your Iudges of the ciuill Law which are no Ministers take vpon them to do it They take not vpon them the power of the keies committed to the Apostles and their successours but inââicââ punishment for disobedience containing all those penalties that by lawe were ordained for such as contemned the keies of the Church by what name soeuer they call it be it a suspension condemnation or excommunication it greatlie skilleth not so long as they claime it not by Gods Law but by mans and yet if the sentence of the Canon wrappe all contempt within the band of excommunication I see no cause but lay Iudges may denounce the offendour to be within the compasse of the Canon for that is more then if they pronounced him wilfully obstinate and consequently to haue incurred the sentence of excommunication which the Canon decreeth And of all men you should not be so curious which giue your laie Presbyters power to consure their Pastour by number of voices and make excommunication to be the iudgement of the whole Church comprising as well the people as the Presbyters for our parts though we take the power of the keies to be common to al that haue Pastorall charge of soules in their degree yet to auoide the infinite showers of excommunication which would ouerslow all Churches and parishes and the intollerable quarrels and brabbles that would ensue if euerie Presbyter might excommunicate at his pleasure we praise the wisedome of Gods Church in suffering no inferiour to excommunicate without the Bishops consent and licence and for ought that I knowe we followe the same rule Surely had we two or three hundred excommunicatours where we haue one lightnings ââie not so fast about in a tempest as excommunications would in euerie diocese To increase the power of Bishops you make them Pastours ouer Churches but when it commeth to the discharging of Pastorall care they be furthest off but grant them to be Pastours they can be but ouer those Churches that are in Cities ouer whole shires they cannot be since they can not be present in so many places to do any Pastoral dueties Had we first deuised or else diuided dioceses for bishops you might well haue chalenged vs for making them larger then Pastorall care might extend vnto but your quarel in deede is not to the length or breadth of their dioceses which must wholy bee referred to the wisedome and consideration of the State you dislike that a Bishop should haue any Diocese at all or gouerne any Church besides that one wherein he teacheth and administreth the Sacraments which nice conceit of yours not onely condemneth the whole primitiue Church of Christ that assigned Dioceses vnto bishops but contradicteth the verie grounds and examples of that gouernement which the Apostles left behind them Did the Apostles appoint Dioeceses for Bishops that were newes indeede No such newes but that your owne Principles wil confirme the same for what order say you did the Apostles leaue behind them to gouerne the Church Did they trust one Pastour or Presbyter alone in eche place to doe as hee thought good Or else did they prouide direction and assistance in dangerous and doubtful cases to guide him and helpe him in the gouernement of the church The power of one man in ech church to doe what he will be he Pastour or Presbyter your selues affirme is Antichristian and diuelish And I thinke you say trueth if he will haue neither associats to restraine him nor superiours to ouerlooke him That were to plant a Pope in euerie parish with plenitude of power to do what pleaseth himselfe What you detest in Bishops I hope you will not endure in the Presbyter or Pastour of euery parish church in the Countrey that hee shall take vpon him alone to guide his flocke as hee seeth cause without consent or ouersight of anie man You may be sure we abhorre it as the poyson of all pietie and the very roote of Antichristes pride Meanes to auoyde it I see none but that euery rurall Pastour must haue either a Presbytery in the place with him or the Bishop of an other church appointed ouer him that may both direct him and rule him as he doth the Presbyters of his owne citie If he haue no helpe at home he must needes seeke it abroad one of the twaine is ineuitable Nowe for Presbyteries there is no possibilitie to haue either so many meete Clergie men or so much maintenance as will serue them in euery country parish fit Pastours for so many places putting one to a Parish coulde neuer yet be founde Whence then shall wee get so many thousand able Presbyters as to furnish âch parish with three or foureâ which are few enough and too few respecting the burden that they must be are in the sight of God and man Againe had we store of men which wee haue not nor no age before vs had from whome shall we haue maintenance for them and theirs From the people Halfe the realme of England employed to that vse will etten but serue The people nowe yeelde a tenth part vnto God and their Minister which proportion is so moderate that where the parishes are small the Pastour hath worke enough to liue thereon then must they consequently giue fiue parts of ten which is iust the halfe of allthey haue before there can be any shew of a Presbyterie in euerie parish I doe not aske you how wel the people that are God knoweth poore enough in many places with these nine parts which they haue will like to spare so much to the furthering of your fansies or howe a Christian Prince can bigest to haue all her subiects so disabled and halfe the realme allotted to support your conceits these blockes and a hundred such you neuer stumble at whiles you runne your selues out of breath to pursue the perfection and profit of your discipline but this I would know did the Apostles besides the reliefe of the poore which indeede is a diuine precept impose this charge on euerie parish by Gods commandement or did euer any Christian kingdome or common wealth since Christes ascension abide this yoke If they did shew the instance and claime your maintenance if you can shewe no such thing doe you not perceiue that your little fingers are heauier to Gods people then the Apostles loynes were and that your discipline is farre greeuouser to the faithfull then their doctrine The best is you may talke long enough before either Prince or people rich or poore will admit or endure this chargeable frame of your needlesse and proofelesse gouernement To amend these flawes which rend the
own Bishop The Councill of Aurelia All the Churches that haue beene or are daily builded in sundrie places wee decree according to the rule of the former Canons that they shall be in the power of that Bishop in whose territorie they stand As the vse of Dioceses was antient so the reason that first occasioned them was ineuitable euen by the paterne of the Apostolike Discipline For when country townes and villages first beganne to receiue the faith howe were they furnished with fit Pastours and how were their Churches gouerned but by the Bishop and Presbyterie of some citie adioyning Lay Presbyteries the church of Christ neuer had any yea the Scriptures permit none to rule Pastourall actions other Presbyteries those places were neither able to haue nor to maintaine What nowe was left but onelie to submit and incorporate themselues to the Bishop of some Citie neere them by whome their Churches might be both guided and supplied when any neede required euen as the churches in cities were If to auoyde schisines rising euery where by the multitude of Teachers and Pastours Bishops were in the Apostles times placed throughout the worlde in all the cities that accepted the Gospell to guide and moderate the Presbyters that were many shall wee thinke this order was needefull onelie for cities and needelesse for Townes and Uillages Were not the Presbyters of so many parishes as one shire doeth yeelde as like to trouble the Region with Schismes and heresies as the Presbyters of the citie You lacke sense if you thinke that dissention and errour could not creepe as well into Uillages as into Cities or that the Apostles prouided one kinde of regiment for cities another for country parishes If all the churches in one citie which at Rome were aboue fourtie in Optatus time were gouerned by one bishop why might not the Uillages and Parishes conftning round about the Citie be gouerned after the same maner So that for Dioceses as well the necessitie as the antiquitie of them is euident It was not possible in the Primitiue church to haue Presbyters to succeede in the rounâes of such as died in countrie parishes but from the bishop in whose Diocese the churches were He supplied their wants out of his owne church and Presbyterie which serued to store the whole Diocese Otherwise within his circuite none other bishop coulde ordaine a Presbyter nor without his leaue might any Clergie man depart his church The Councill of Antioch A Bishop may not inuade an others Citie that is not subiect to him nor Countrie not pertaining to him to ordaine anie neither hee appoint Presbyters or Deacons in places that are vnder an other Bishop vnlesse it bee with the liking or consent of the Bishop of that Region or Countrie The Councill of Nice If any Presbyters or Deacons or other Clergie men not hauing the feare of God before their eyes nor knowing the Ecclesiastical Canon leaue their owne Church they must not by any meanes bee receiued in another Church And if any shall with-holde a Clergie man belonging to another and ordaine him in his owne Church the Bishop from whome hee departed not agreeing his ordering shall be vtterly voyde This was the generall and perpetuall discipline of Christs church in al the coasts and quarters of the worlde as may appeare to him that will take paines to view these places The Councill of Constantinople 1. ca. 2. and 3. of Chalcedon ca. 8. of Carthage the first ca. 5. the second ca. 11. the third ca. 20. and 21. the fourth ca. 27. of Orleance ca. 22. of Sardica ca. 18. 19. of Taurine ca. 6. of Aurenge ca. 8. of Venice ca. 10. of Tours ca. 9. 11. And so the Mileuitane Council ca. 15. Affricane ca. 21. Aurelian the third ca. 15. the Epaunine ca. 5. the Valentine ca. 6. and Aruernine ca. 9. and 10. If these rules were vniuersally and anciently obserued that no Presbyter might remoue from one church to another nor departe from the church where he was first called without the consent of his bishop neither might any other man impose hands on him or admit him and inuest him into any church without the liking and goodwil of the bishop in whose diocese the church stoode and of whose Clergie the partie was by no means could any country parishes in the primitiue church haue any Presbyters but from some city that not without the liking and assent of the Bishop which forced all country townes and villages to matriculate and incorporate themselues into the church of some city by whose bishop their Presbyters liuing were gouerned and dying were supplied euen as the churches in cities were The reason of their doings is as euident as their fact for if Bishops were placed by the Apostles handes to ordaine Presbyters and containe them in their dueties lest in so great a number emulation might breede confusion which all the Fathers were fully resolued was the Apostles deede they must needes bee of opinion the Apostles meant to haue Countrey Townes and Uillages guided and assisted the very same way that they left for Cities and the same men that gouerned the one all things considered were the fittest to be trusted with the other If you obiect that the bishops of the Cities could imploy no pastorall care but where they were present I answere that all the Councils and Fathers of the Primitiue Church were not so ignorant as not to vnderstand what Pastorall ouersight a bishop might yeelde to townes and Churches farre distant from him though hee were not present to dispence the word and Sacraments amongest them To see them alwayes stored with a sound and able Pastor that should watch ouer their soules to take care that they were rightly taught and soberly guided to keepe both Presbyters and people from schismes heresies and open impieties to direct in dangers and determine doubts without troubling the whole prouince to meete vpon euerie particular occasion and contention these be good parts of pastorall vigilancie and very needefull effects of episcopall regiment which may be performed as well in a Diocese as in a Citie In any mans haruest he that laboureth himselfe and ouerseeth the rest doth more good then any other In eche mans house the steward that well ordereth and guideth the familie is more profitable then any of his fellowes In Gods house and haruest shall the ouerlooking of others be counted either needelesse or fruitlesse Saint Paul himselfe knewe not these curious positions when hee appointed Tite to take the charge and ouersight of the whole Iland of Creete and saw no cause why one man might not performe many Pastorall and Episcopall dueties to all that were in the same Countrie with him But what seeke I more examples when we haue the paterne from the Primitiue Church that first allotted Dioceses to bishops and the liking and approbation of all prouinciall and generall Councils that ratified and confirmed as wel the partition as distinction of territories and
charged eche mans interest in euery diocese to be preserued without infringing any mans bounds or encroching on anie mans right The need that you pretend of hauing Dioeceses aswel for the guiding as furnishing of country parishes by the Bishops and Presbyteries of the cities we easely auoyde for in euery parish with the Pastour we appoint lay Elders by whose counsel as Ambrose witnesseth al things should be doone in the Church and when the former Incumbent is dead were serue the electing of a new to the people of the same parish to whom by Gods Law it appertaineth And here we let you vnderstaÌd that you haue not so good warrant for the regiment of Bishops as wee haue for the election of Bishops and Pastours by the people The Scriptures are cleare with vs the fathers often and earnest the perpetuall vse of the Primitiue Church is so full with vs in this behalfe that no example can be shewed to the contrary Your Bishops therefore being not elected by the people are no true Pastours in the Church of God I know well you haue no other shift to auoid the necessitie of Episcopall regiment but by your laie Presbyteries and therefore you must cleaue to them or els admit the forme of gouerning the Church by Bishops to be Catholike and Apostolike which would gripe you to the very hearts But how farre both the word and Church of God are and euer were from mentioning or acknowledging any laie Elders to be imposers of hands and gouernours of Pastorall and Ecclesiasticall actions we haue alreadie seene and may not now regresse thither againe Faine would you fasten them on Ambrose but of all the Fathers hee is the vnfittest Proctour for your Lay Presbyteries hee brusheth them off as a man woulde thornes that hang at his heeles If you beleeue him not alleadging the Romanes Lawes against your Laie Elders beleeeue him speaking in an open Councill against them Sacerdotes de Laicis iudicare debent non Laici de Sacerdotibus Priestes ought to iudge of Lay men not Lay men of Priestes And condemning Palladius the heretike wee are ashamed saieth Ambrose that hee shoulde seeme to bee condemned of Lay men which chalengeth to be a Priest In hoc ipso damnandus est quòd Laicorum expectat sententiam cum magis de Laicis Sacerdotes iudicare debeant He Is WORTHY TO BE CONDEMNED EVEN FOR THIS VERY POINT that he expecteth the iudgement of Lay men whereas Priests ought rather to iudge of Lay men How sufficient the barre is that you lay against our Bishops and Presbyters because they are not elected by the people of eche place but named by the Prince and presented by the Patrone the Chapter nowe presently following shall fully declare CHAP. XV. To whom the election of Bishops and Presbyters doeth rightlie belong and whether by Gods lawe the people must elect their Pastours or no. The want of popular elections is one of the griefs you conceiue and exceptions you take against the Bishops of this Realme which quarell doeth not so much touch the office and function of Bishops as it doeth the Princes prerogatiue Did wee teach it were not lawfull for the people to elect their Pastour you might make some shew against vs now when we say no such thing but you rather thinke the Prince may not name her Bishops without the consent and election of the people you impugne not vs but directly call the Princes fact her lawes in question I take not aduantage of mans lawe thereby to decline the force of your reasons or authorities but to put you in minde that if there were any defect in the lawe it must not be ascribed to Bishops but imputed rather to the makers of the lawe Howbeit to tell you the trueth I thinke there will be found better reason for the making and maintaining the law then you will be able to bring for the repealing or altering the lawe for when superstition and blindnesse wholy possessed the peoples hearts as in time of Poperie how could the Prince haue restored Religion or reformed the Church if the people through the Realme had still bene suffered to choose themselues Pastours after their owne desires The first occasion of the lawe being good and godly what ground haue you to dislike the continuance thereof Cyprian saieth it is Gods ordinance that the people should ekct their Pastour and according to the diuine instruction the same is obserued in the Actes of the Apostles in the choise of Matthias and of the seuen Deacons Those examples I haue answered before It is not written that Matthias and his fellow were chosen by the multitude an Apostle might not be chosen by men his calling must be immediate from God Yea the wordes of the Text are Thou Lord which knowest the hearts of all men shew which of these twaine thou hast chosen to take the office of this administration and Apostleship So that thence can nothing be concluded As for the choise of the seuen in the Actes of the Apostles Epiphanius saieth Of the seuentie Disciples were the seuen ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that were set ouer the widowes The Councill gathered vnder Iustinian alleaging Chrysostomes wordes vpon that place concludeth of them in this wise We therfore denounce that the foresayd seuen Deacons must not be taken for those that serued at the mysteries but for such as were trusted with the dispensation of the common necessities of those that were then assembled together Ierome alluding to this place calleth a Deacon mensarum viduarum Minister the seruant of tables and widowes The fourth Councill of Carthage saieth The Bishop alone shall lay his hands on the head of a Deacon when he is ordered quia non ad Sacerdotium sed administerium consecratur because he is consecrated not to any Priesthood but vnto a seruice Your selues giue the Deacons no charge in the Church but the care of the poore as perswaded that these seuen receiued none other function at the Apostles hands You therefore by your owne rules are excluded from taking any hold of this election And in deed since they were not chosen to be Presbyters and dispensers of the worde and Sacramentes what consequent can you frame from their electing by the people to force the like to be obserued in Presbyters and Bishops You giue them power to preach and baptize against you therefore the argument is good The Primitiue Church gaue them leaue so to doe in cases of necessitie where Presbyters wanted otherwise neither doe we nor did they make them Presbyters and Ministers of the word and Sacraments Tertullian saith Presbyters and Deacons may baptize with the Bishops leaue Ierome saieth that Presbyters and Deacons in lesser farre distant Townes did baptize but not without the Bishops licence Wee appoint the Deacons saieth Gelasius to keepe their owne measure and to enterprise nothing agaynst the tenor of the Canons of our forefathers
punishments of his sinnes who art the occasion of them for remitting the former offences out of time thou shalt answere for those that are after committed as being the cause of them and likewise for those that are past as not letting him alone to lament and repent them And Ambrose Paul chargeth Timothie before God the father and Christ his sonne and the elect Angels Vnder this charge he commandeth those things to be kept which pertaine to ordination in the Church least easilie any man should get an ecclesiasticall dignitie but in quisition be first had of his life and maners that a meete and approoued Minister or Priest may be appointed neither any to be ordained whose faults deserue suspicion least the ordainer be defiled with his sinnes and offences for hee sinneth which ordaineth and trieth not Occumenius Where Paul saieth to Timothie I prayed thee to staie at Ephesus addeth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã there had Paul ordained him a Bishop Let no man despise thy youth for a Bishop must speake with authoritie Hee giueth precepts not to Timothie alone but to euery Bishop And vpon these words Lay hands bastilie on no man Paul treateth of ordinations for he wrate to a Bishop And so writing on the epistle to Tite he saieth Paul left Tite to make Bishops in euery Citie hauing first made him a Bishop Primasius likewise Timothie was a Bishop and Pauls disciple to him by writing hee giueth authoritie to correct all ecclesiasticall discipline and to ordaine Bishops and Deacons And againe Be not partaker of an other mans sinnes Paul saieth It is a communion with another mans sinnes when one is ordained and not examined As therefore in ordaining euill men he is partaker of their sinnes which ordaineth such so in the ordaining of the holy he is partaker of their righteousnes which did make choise of so good men The perill of ordaining Bishops and Presbyters by Pauls owne confession lieth ineuitablie on such as impose hands and therefore by Gods lawe they must haue power to examine who bee fit and libertie to refuse those that be vnfit For as without them there can bee none ordained so if rashly or corruptly they lay hands on any they be partakers of their sinnes Further with elections of the Scriptures doe not meddle saue that Timothie as the Fathers affirme by occasion of Pauls words was chosen Bishop by prophesie that is by the direction and appointment of the holy Ghost and not by voyces Oecumenius ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã By the commaundement or appointment of the spirite were Bishops at first made and not at randon So Theodorete Thou vndertookest this order by diuine reuelation Chrysostome Paul to stirre vp Timothie putteth him in minde who choose him and who ordained him as if he had sayd Thou wast chosen of God hee himselfe put thee in trust ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã thou wast not made by mens voices And Theophilact Anciently by the oracles appointment of the Prophets that is by the holy Ghost Priests were straight way ordained So was Timothie chosen to be a Priest Ambrose saieth Timothie was predestinated when he was taken by the Apostle to this end that he should bee ordained as iudged woorthie to be a Bishop This kinde of election I take was vsuall in the Apostles times the spirite of God directing them on whom they should lay their hands other election of Pastours and Teachers I read none specified in the sacred writings Popular election of Bishops I find afterward practised in the Primitiue Church but not mentioned in the Scriptures and therefore well may the peoples interest stand vpon the grounds of reason and nature and bee deriued from the rules of Christian equitie and societie but Gods lawe doeth not meddle with anie such matter nor determine more then I haue tolde you which is that such Bishops as ordaine them shall answere for them with the perill of their owne soules if they doe not carefullie looke into the abilitie and integritie of all that they authorize with imposition of handes to guide or teach the flocke of Christ. When I say the people can not chalenge by Gods lawe the right to choose their Bishop I meane no such thing is expressed and commaunded in the Scriptures excluding thereby the false conceites of some fanaticall spirites in our dayes which affirme our Bishops and Teachers to bee no true Pastours because they are not chosen by the particular voyces and personall Suffrages of the people and by consequent our Sacraments to bee no Sacramentes and Church no Church and so this whole Realme to bee drowned in confusion without assurance of saluation whose madnesse is rather to bee chastised by the Magistrate then to be refused by doctrine the authors being voyde not onely of learning which they despise but of reason to weigh what is sayde against them Otherwise I acknowledge each Church and people that haue not by lawe custome or consent restrained themselues stand free by Gods lawe to admit maintaine and obey no man as their Pastour without their liking and so the peoples election by themselues or their rulers dependeth on the very first principles of humane fellowships assemblees for which cause though bishops by Gods law haue power to examine ordaine before any may be placed to take charge of soules yet haue they no power to impose a Pastour on any Church against their wils nor to force them to yeelde him obedience or maintenaunce without their liking How farre authoritie custome and consent may preiudice and ouer-rule this libertie which Gods lawe leaueth vndiminished shall anone be handed when once we see what order the Primitiue Church obserued in her elections of Bishops and Presbyters The Churches of Christ had aunciently two wayes to bee prouided of Bishops and Presbyters the one Election the other Postulation When the Bishop of any Citie died whose Church had store of Clergie men to succeede the Bishops of the same Prouince that were neerest to the place by conference amongst themselues appointed a day to resort thither and aduertised both people and Presbyters thereof At which time the Clergie and Laitie assembling in the Church so many Bishops as conuenientlie might but vnder three they could doe nothing came thither and there heard both whom the Clergie named and whom the Citie liked If all or the most of euery sort agreed the partie was pronounced chosen another day prefixed to ordaine him the Bishops proposing his name and the time on the Church doores and requiring euerie man that could or would obiect any thing against him to bee then and there readie with his proofes and witnesses At their next repaire the Bishops that came to giue imposition of handes heard aduisedly what each man could charge him with and if in their consciences the elect prooued to bee such as the Apostle prescribed they ordained him in the eies of all men Pastour of that
Church and burdened him with the due obseruation of Gods and mans lawes If they found any iust impediment they reiected him as vnfit and proceeded to the like election of some other on whom both Presbyters and Citizens could accord Alexander Seuerus the Romane Emperour did commend and imitate the Christians maner in trying and examining their Presbyters and Bishops When hee would send saieth Lampridius any Rulers to the Prouinces or make Gouernours hee proposed their names exhorting the people that if any could obiect any crime they should make iust proofe and vsed to say it were a shame not to doe that in the Rulers of the Prouinces which the Christians did in proclaiming their Priests that were to bee ordained When the Cities had not store of Clergie men or not such as they liked they were forced to seeke a Bishop from another church and then did they goe to the Bishop of the chiefe or mother Citie in the same Prouince and of him desired to haue such a man for their Bishop or els some other whom the Metropolitane that is the Bishop of the mother Church or Citie should thinke fit for them This was called Postulation Upon their request the Metropolitane conferring with the Bishop whose Presbyter was desired and calling vnto him at the least two other Bishops tried and examined the partie liked after the same maner that others were and then ordained him or if hee were reiected some other likewise tried and approoued to bee Ruler of the Church that wanted a Pastour And as to keepe the people from faction the Presbyters from ambition the Bishops of the same Prouince were appointed to be present at the choise to see the election goe forward in Christian and decent maner without corruption canuasse or tumult so to restraine the Bishops that they should not disorder the action for hatred or fauour of any side the whole order of their proceeding was to bee intimated to the Metropolitane before they imposed handes and if any iust complaint were made of their partialitie the Metropolitane had power to staie them from going forward and with a greater number of Bishops to discusse and vpon cause to reuerse the Election The Councill of Nice willeth a Bishop to hee made by all the Bishops of the same Prouince and if any difficultie suffer not all to assemble yet at least three to meete and the rest by letters to giue their consent before the partie bee ordained Yea they made it a cleare case that if any were ordained without the knowledge of the Metropolitane hee should be no Bishop as also that if any diuersitie of iudgements grew amongst the Bishops the voyces of the most part should preuaile For the making of Presbyters there did not assemble so many Bishops since one was sufficient to laie hands on theÌ howbeit the same order was obserued in trying examining Presbyters that I mentioned before in Bishops the publike testimonie of y â people touching their conuersation was not omitted except the Bishops were so assured of their good behauiour that they would take it vpon the burden of their owne soules Let no man bee made a Clergie man saieth the third Council of Carthage nisi probatus vel Episcoporum examine vel populi testimonio vnlesse he bee allowed by y e examination of the Bishops or by the testimonie of the people And likewise The Bishop must not ordaine Clarkes without the counsel of his Clergie haue also theassent testimonie of the Citizens The people might not elect Presbyters the councill of Laodicea did vtterlie prohibite it The multitude must not make choise of such as shall bee called ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to be Priests for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã is either y â place where they sate or the office which they bare yet might they present such as they tooke to be meet men for that place to the Bishop and pray him to examine and allow theÌ according to his discretion yea they were desired by the Bishop to find out such amongst theÌselues as they supposed for learning and life to be fit for that calling though vnknowen as yet to the bishop and to offer them that hee with the helpe of his Clergie might trie them whether they were answerable to the Canons of the Church and worthie that function So was S. Austen violently caught by the people when Valerius exhorted them to looke out of themselues some meete men to be dedicated to the seruice of God and brought to the Bishop to be ordained The like violence was offered to many by the people as Austen confesseth Ierome toucheth this order of presenting by the people when hee saieth to Rusticus Cum ad perfectam aetatem veneris te vel populus vel Pontifex ciuitatis in Clerum elegerit when thou coÌmest to perfect yeeres and either the people or the bishop of the citie choose thee into the Clergie thereby noting that in cities some were assumed by the Bishop some offered by the people as meete men to bee taken into the number of Clergie men In countrey parishes when they wanted they desired a Presbyter or Deacon of the Bishop in whose dioces they were and he according to their necessities did furnish them out of his own Presbyterie or out of the store of some other Church in his diocesse and if he were not able to doe it they repaired to the Metropolitane who did furnish them out of the whole Prouince It happeneth often saieth Aurelius Bishop of Carthage in the Councill of Africa that Churches which want Deacons Presbyters or Bishops aske them of me and I mindfull of the Canons send to the Bishop vnder whom he is and acquaint him that his Clarke is desired of this or that Church and hitherto they haue not withstood but least hereafter it fall out that they denie me requiring this of them if I demaund any such thing of one of my fellow Bishops with two or three of your place ioyning with mee and he bee irreligious and not regard me your charitie must determine what I shall doe for you know that I sustaine the care of many Churches and ordinations They answere This seat hath had alwayes libertie whence soeuer to ordaine a Bishop that was desired of him at the instance of any Church One Bishop may ordaine many Presbyters but a Presbyter meete for a Bishoprike is hardlie found Three at least were requisite to impose hands on a Bishop but any one Bishop might ordaine Presbyters as the auncient Canons of the Church import Let a Bishop bee ordained by two or three Bishops but a Presbyter Deacon and the rest of the Clergie by one Bishop The Primitiue maner of electing Bishops we see wherein I obserue first that the bishops who were to impose hands had their warrant by Gods law to reiect the partie chosen if they found him vnfit either for learning or maners the wordes of
haue a good testimonie of those that are without If this were the reason why the people were called to the election of their bishops then the cause ceasing why should not the effect likewise cease If they can giue no testimonie as in our case they cannot what neeveth their presence If the authoritie of the people were requisite to place their pastour as when there was no belecuing prince happily it was in that respect also the Magistrate is more sufficient then the multitude to assure the election and assist the elect If consent be expected lest any man should be intruded upon the people against their willes the peoples consent is by the publike agreement of this realme yeelded and referred to the princes liking If iudgement to discerne betweene fit men and vnfit be necessarie I hope the grauitie and prudencie of the Magistrate may woorthely be preferred before the rashnesse and rudenesse of the many that are often ledde rather with affection then with discretion and are carried with manie light respectes and lewd meanes as with faction and flatterie fauour and fansie corruption and briberie and such like baites from which Gouernours are if not altogether free yet farre freer then the intemperate and vnrulie multitude And so take what respect you will either of DISCERNING ASSISTING or MAINTAINING of fitte passours and you shall finde the choice of ishops lieth more safelie in the princes then in the peoples hands The Clergy vsed to discerne and elect the people did like and allow their Pastours and to say the truth men of the same profession if they be not blinded with affections can best iudge of âch mans fitnes Indeeee the Canon Law ruleth the case thus Electio clericorum est coÌsensus Principis petitio plebis Clergy meÌ must elect the Prince may coÌsent the people must request the late bishops of Rome neuer left cursing and fighting til they excluded both prince people reduced the election wholy to the Clergie whom they might command at their pleasures but by your leaue it was not so from the beginning The forme of election prescribed by y t Roman laws 1000. yeeres since willed the Clergie the gouernors or chiefe men of the city to come together taking their oths vpon the holie gospel ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to decree that is to elect or name 3. persons of which y e ordainer was to chuse y e best at his discretioÌ The fullest wordes that the ancient Greeke Writers vse for all the partes of election ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to propose to name to choose to decree are in the stories ecclesiasticall applied to the people When Eudoxius of Constantinople was dead and the Arrianâ had chosen Demophilus in his place the Christians there is Socrates writeth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã chose one Euagrius Sozomene saieth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã they decreed Euagrius to be their bishop Nazianz. speaking of y e election of Eusebius saith the people were diuided into many sides ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã some naming one and some an other which word also Socrates vseth of the people in the choice of Ambrose and repineth that in his time ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the first naming of the bishop was permitted ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to the headie and vndiscreete multitude At the choice of Paulus to the Bishopricke of Constantinople Socrates saith the people were diuided into two partes and the Omousians ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã elect Paulus to the Bishopricke The Council of Nice was content that such as were ordained by Miletius shoulde be reârdered and placed in the countes of other bishops that died ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã if they were found worthie and the people elected them Upon the dââth of Auxentius at Millanâ ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the multitude saith Sozomene fell to âedition not agreeing on the election of any one When Nectarius was dead and Chrysostome chosen in succeââe him Sozomene saieth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the people and Cleargie decreeing it the Emperour consented Socrates saieth he was chosen ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã by the common decree of the Cleargie and people Upon the depriuing of Nestorius many âamed Philip ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but more chose Proclus and Proclus election had preuailed had not some of the mightiest pretended a Canon against him that being named Bishop of one Citie hee coulde not bee translated to another Which being heard and beleeued ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã forced the people to hold their peace So that in the primitiue church the people did propose name elect and decree as wel as the Clergie and though the Presbyters had more skill to iudge yet the people had as much right to choose their Pastour and if the most part of them did agree they did carrie it from the Clergie so the persons chosen were such as the Canons did allow and the ordainers could not iustly mislike If it seeme hard to any man that the people in this point should be preferred as farre forth as the Clergie let him remember the Apostles in the Actes when they willed the Church at Ierusalem to choose the seuen that vndertooke the care of the widowes did not make any speciall remembrance or distinction of the seuentie Disciples from the rest who were then present and part of that company but committed as well the discerning as electing of fit men in common to the whole number of brethren reseruing approbation and imposition of hands to themselues for calling the multitude of Disciples together they said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã consider of seuen men of your selues that are well reported of and full of the holie ghost and of wisedome whome wee may appoint ouer this businesse ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and they chose Steuen and the other sixe whome they set before the Apostles Since then the Apostles left elections indifferently to the people and Clergie of Ierusalem if you make that choice a president for elections what warrant had the Bishop of Rome to exclude them if their vnrulinesse deserued afterward to haue their libertie diminished or their âway restrained that belonged not to the Popes but to the Princes power and therefore he was but an vsurper in taking it both from Prince and people without their consents and christian Princes vse but their right when they resume elections out of the Popes hands by conference with such as shal impose hands on them within their âwn realmes name whom they thinke fit to succeede in the episcopal seate So did the ancient Emperors and Princes that were in the primitiue church as I haue shewed They neuer tooke the whole into their hands but onely gaue their consents before the election could take place It was a most tedious and trouble some worke for one man to name and elect all the Bishops in the Romane empire and therefore the Emperours left the Magistrates of each Citie to performe that
care together with the Clergie thereby easing themselues of infinite labour and danger yet where occasion so required they shewed what right they had to elect and name such as should gouerne the Churches When Nazianzene had resigned and relinquished the bishoprike of Constantinople to the Fathers assembled in the second generall Councill Theodosius the elder commanded the Bishops to giue him the names of such written in a paper as euery of them thought fit to bee ordained reseruing power to himselfe to choose one out of that whole number The Bishop of Antioch being the chiefest man then present put their names in writing whom hee and the rest thought fittest and in the last place set Nectarius to gratifie Diodorus Bishop of Tarsus that had commended him for his grauitie and person though otherwise vnknowen The Emperour reading the Catalogue of those that were written stood at the name of Nectarius and holding his finger there read them all ouer againe and at length choose Nectarius Euerie man marueiled and asked who this Nectarius was and of what profession and of what place And vnderstanding that hee was not yet baptized they marueiled the more at the Emperours iudgement Diodorus himselfe vnderstood not so much for had he knowen it hee duâst not to haue giuen his voyce to one vnbaptized to be made a Bishop The Emperour hearing that hee was not yet baptized stood in his resolution notwithstanding many Bishops laboured against it And so was Nectarius baptized and whiles he was in his christening vesture declared to be Bishop of Constantinople by the common decree of the Councill The people intermedled not with this choise the Bishops named euery man his friend whom he sought to preferre Nectarius came by chance to know whether Diodorus would any thing vnto Tarsus whither he was then trauelling who fell on the sudden in liking with him being an auncient and graue man but had no further knowledge of him and shewed him to the Bishop of Antioch praying him to remember the man when hee wrate the names for the Emperour The Bishop of Antioch derided the conceite of Diodorus by reason many woorthie men were nominated for this election and for fashions sake to please Diodorus placed Nectarius last The Prince not knowing the one nor the other fastened on his name and would not be remooued though by the Canons he could not haue bene elected and many Bishops bent themselues to alter the Emperours minde This election was made wholy by the Prince not onely without the Clergie and people but against both the Canons and the liking of the Bishops then assembled and yet the generall Councill tooke it to be their dueties to pronounce him and ordaine him Bishop of Constantinople according to the Emperours choise The Bishopâ you see deliuered the names which Princes nowe doe not obserue The Bishops you see knew not the man for had they knowen him they could not by the Canons haue named him and had the Emperour of himselfe knowen any other to bee fit besides those named in his paper he might as well haue chosen one of them as hee did Nectarius Howbeit I doe not gainesay but Princes should be wel aduised whom they choose and assured either by their priuate experience or by the publike commendations of others that the men are likelie to liue vnspotted and doe good in the Church of Christ. For since the holy Ghost hath pronounced that such as impose handes on any Presbyters or Bishops are partakers of their sinnes if they doe not throughly examine and refuse such as they find vnfit I must confesse that if Princes will not endure to haue the persons whom they choose to be tried by such as shall ordaine them they vndertake that burden themselues which otherwise lieth on the ordainers No power on earth may frustrate or abolish the precept which the holy Ghost giueth Laâe hands hastilie on no man if handes be hastilie laied on that is if men apparantlie vnwoorthie be called to the gouernement of the Church of God be it people Prelate or Prince that is wittingly the cause thereof God will not so be answered The suffering of wicked men to infeât or trouble the Church is euill the commanding of such to bee placed in the Church is worse I doe not speake as if Christian princes might not safely elect and name Bishops without danger or scruple onely they must remember as it is an honour in preheminence to choose those that shal guide the Church vnder them so is it aburden of conscience to prouide by the best meanes they can that no venemous nor vncle an thing so much as enter the house of God to defile it with his presence or disorder it with his negligence The ancientest lawes of our Countrey witnesse that Elections were free from force feare or intreatie of all secular powers and the kings of this Realme consented it should be so As ancient lawes of this Realme as those witnesse that the kings of England had the gift and collation of bishoprikes and other dignities of their aduourie before free election was granted And when Princes first yeelded that the Clergie should make free elections they restrained theÌ to these conditions that they should aske licence of the king to choose and when their election was made it was not good without the roiall assent The statute of Prouisors of benefices made at Westminster the 25. of Edward the 3. will tell you so much the wordes bee Our soueraigne Lord the King and his heires in case the Bishop of Rome doe intermeddle against the lawe shall haue and enioy for the time the Collations to the Archbishoprikes and other dignities electiue which be of his aduourie such as his progenitors had before that free election was granted sithence that the first elections were granted by the kings progenitors vpon a certaine forme and condition as to demaund licence of the king to choose and after the election to haue his roiall assent and not in other maner which condicions not kept the thing ought by reason to resort to his first nature By which it is euident the kings of England had right to conferre bishoprikes and other dignities before free elections were granted and when they graunted free elections should be made they did neuer dispossesse themselues of these two prerogatiues First that the kings licence must be asked to choose next the kings consent to make the election good yea Henry the first the Conquerors sonne sent the Pope word in great earnest that he would not lose the inuestiâure of his Churches not for the losse of his kingdom and so neither Clergie nor people had euer any right in this realme to choose their bishops since the kings of this land began to endow them with lands and liuings for the ease of their people and benefit of their Church but by the kings grant and with the kings leaue consent For Gods law prescribing no
this cause all the scruple is what kinde of Presbyters they were Lay Presbyters I reade of none therfore I can admit none to be of that Council Besides such of the seueÌty and such other Prophets as assisted Iames in the regiment of the church of Ierusalem are in all reason expressed by that name for since the whole church there is diuided into Apostles Presbyters and Brethren the helpers coadiutors of the Apostles were they Prophets or Euangelists that either came with Paul Barnabas from Antioch or were commorant with Iames the rest at Ierusalem must rather be contained in the name of Presbyters theÌ sorted with the general multitude for if they were of the many what men of more worthines were there to be honored with the title of Presbyters I hope the next degree to Apostles are not your Lay Elders S. Paul was then fowly ouershot to set first Apostles secondly Prophets thirdly Teachers and to reiect Gouernours which you take for your Lay Presbyters into the 7. place Howbeit vnles you make some fresher and better proofe for them then yet I see your Lay Elders are no where numbred by S. Paul for church gouernors As for Presbyters y â were beneath Apostles vnderstand by that name prophets euangelists pastors teachers or whom you will so no lay Elders we deny theÌ neither places nor voices in Synods so long as they haue right to teach or speake in the church for we esteeme Synodes to be but the assemblies conferences of those to whom the Churches of any prouince or nation for the word doctrine are committed And therefore to our Synodes are called as your selues know not only bishops but deanes archdeacons other clerks aswel of the principall cathedrall Presbytery where the episcopall seate church is as of the Diocese at large And though some Romish writers do stifly maintaine that none but bishops haue voices in Councils yet you see the ancient institution of our synodall assembly in this realme ouerthroweth their late new assertion Neither lacke we examples of the course which we keepe euen from the beginning The Synode of Rome called by Cornelius against Nouatus about the yeere of Christ 255 consisted of 60. Bishops and many Presbyters and Deacons as Euseb. noteth From the Synode of Antioch that deposed Paulus Samosatenus about the yere of our Lord 270. wrate not only Bishops but Presbyters Deacons as appeareth by their epistle In the Council of Eliberis about the time of the first Nicene Council sate besides the Bishops 36. Presbyters In the second Councill of Arle about the same time subscribed 12. Presbyters besides Deacons other Clergy meÌ The like may be seene in the Councils of Rome vnder Hilarius vnder Gregory where 34. Presbyters subscribed after 22. Bishops in y â first vnder Symmachus where after 72. bishops subscribed 67. Presbyters so in the third fift sixt vnder the same Symmachus Felix also bishop of Rome kept a Councill of 43. bishops 74. Presbyters after the same maner haue diuers other Metropolitanes assembled in their prouincial synods aswel Presbyters is bishops The council of Antisiodorum saith Let al the Presbyters being called come to the Synode in the city The 4. council of Toledo describeth y â celebrating of aprouinciall council in this wise Let the bishops assembled go to the church togither sit according to the time of their ordination After all the bishops are entred and set let the Presbyters be called and the Bishops sitting in a compas let the Presbyters sit behind them and the Deacons stand before them The Councill of Tarracon 1100. yeeres agoe prescribed almost the verie same order that we obserue at this day Let letters be sent by the Metropolitane vnto his brethren that they bring with them vnto the Synode not only some of the Presbyters of the Cathedral church but also of eche Dioecese And why should this seeme strange euen to the Romish crew when as in the great Council of Lateran as they call it vnder Innocentius the third there were but 482. Bishops and of Abbats and Priors conuentuall almost double the number euen eight hundred If Presbyters haue right to sit in Prouincial Synodes why are they excluded from generall Councils Many things are lawful which are not expedient I make no doubt but all pastours and teachers may sit and deliberate in Councill yet would it breede a sea of absurdities to call all the pastors and preachers of the world into one place as often as neede should require to haue any matter determined or ordered in the Church As therefore in ciuill policie when a whole realme assembleth not al y e persons there liuing are called together but certaine chiefe ouer the rest or chosen by y e rest to represent the state and to consult for the good of the whole common wealth so in the gouernement of the Church it were not only superfluous and tedious but monstrous to send for all the Pastors and Presbyters of the whole worlde into one Citie and there to stay them from their cures and Churches till all things needeful could be agreed and concluded It is more agreeable to reason and as sufficient in right that some of euerie place excelling others in dignitie or elected by generall consent shoulde be sent to supplie the roumes of the rest that are absent and to conferre in common for the directing and ordering of the whole Church And therefore Christian Princes in wisedome and discretion neuer sent for all the Presbyters of the world to anie generall Council but onely for the chiefest of euery principall church and citie or for some to be sent from euery realme far distant as legates in the names of the rest and by that meanes they had the consent of the whole world to the decrees of their Councils though not the personall appearance of all the Pastours and Presbyters that were in the world So to the Council of Nice the first christian Emperor sent for by his letters not all the Preachers Presbyters of the world but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the Bishops of euery place and there came from all the Churches through Europe Asia and Africa ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the best or chiefest of the Ministers of God each countrey sending not all their Bishops for then would they farrc haue exceded the number of 318. but ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the most speciall and selected men they had and though there were present an infinite number of Presbyters and Deacons that came with the Bishops yet the Council consisted of 318. Bishops and no more by reason the Emperour sent not for the Presbyters of each place but for the Bishops The like examples are to be seene in the three generall Councils that folowed where onely Bishops determined matters in question and the Presbyters that subscribed in the Councils
of Constantinople and Chalcedon supplied the places of Bishops as their Legates and substitutes which in the Council of Chalcedon is more fully expressed But what need we rip vp these things at large which pertaine not so much to our purpose we seeke nowe for the antiquitie and authoritie of Metropolitanes and those we find not onely receiued and established in the foure first generall Councils but confessed by them to haue anciently continued in the Church euen from the beginning And surely if you graunt Prouinciall Synodes to be ancient and necessarie in the Church of Christ which you cannot denie Metropolitanes must needs be as ancient and requisite without whom the Synodes of each Prouince can neither be conuocated nor moderated If to auoid Metropolitanes you would haue the prerogatiue of calling and guiding Synodes to run round by course which order you fansied before in Bishops our answere is easie we looke not what you can inuent after 1500. yeeres to please your owne humours but what maner of ecclesiasticall gouernment the Church of Christ from the Apostles times established and continued by the generall consent of the whole world and that we prooue was not onely in euery Church and diocesse to haue a Bishop chiefe ouer the Presbyters but in euery Prouince to appoint a Mother Church and Citie and the Bishop thereof to haue this honour and dignitie aboue the rest of his brethren that hee might by letters consult or call together the Bishops of his Prouince for any question or cause that touched the faith or peace of the Church and not onely moderate their meetings but execute their decrees and see them perfourmed throughout his Prouince This was the ancient and originall vse of Christes Church long before any Princes professed the trueth and when they began to vse their swordes for the doctrine and Church of Christ then did Synodes serue for the direction of Christian Princes and Metropolitanes had the execution as well of Princes lawes as Synodall decrees committed to their power and care throughout their Prouince This course if you disdaine or dislike you condemne the whole Church of Christ from the first encreasing and spreading thereof on the face of the earth to this present age and preferre your owne wisedome if it be worthie that name and not rather to be accounted selfe loue and singularitie before all the Martyrs Confessors Fathers Princes and Bishops that haue liued gouerned and deceased in the Church of God since the Apostles deaths How well the heigth of your conceites can endure to blemish and reproch so many religious and famous lights of Christendome I knowe not for my part I wish the Church of God in our dayes may haue the grace for pietie and prudencie to follow their steppes and not to make the world beleeue that all the seruaunts of Christ before our times fauoured and furthered the pride of Antichrist till in the endes of the world when the faith and loue of most men are quenched or decaied we came to restore the Church to that perfection of discipline which the Apostles neuer mentioned the auncient Fathers and Councils neuer remembred the vniuersall Church of Christ before vs neuer conceiued nor imagined We want not the witnesse of auncient Fathers and stories that reprooue the ambicious and tyrannous dominion of Metropolitanes and Archbishops Socrates saieth The Bishoprike of Rome as likewise that of Alexandria were long before his time growen froÌ the bonds of Priesthood vnto worldly dominion Nazianzene not onely lamenteth the mischiefs which follow these diuersities of degrees but heartilie wisheth there were no such thing that men might be discerned onely by their vertues His words are worth the hearing For this presidencie of Bishops all our estatetottereth shaketh for this the endes of the earth are in a ielousie and tumult both sencelesse and namelesse for this we are in danger to be thought to be of men which in deed are of God and to loose that great and newe name Would God there were neither prioritie of seate neither superioritie of place nor violent preheminence that we might be discerned onely by vertue But the right hand and the left and the midst the higher and lower seate the going before and going euen with haue to no purpose done vs much hurt and cast many into the ditch and brought them to be goates and those not onely of the inferiour sort but euen of the shepeheards which being masters in Israel knew not this You may soone find of the auncient Fathers that misliked the contention ambition and pride of many Bishops in the Primitiue Church but any that misliked their calling you cannot finde The sharper they were in reproouing their vices the sounder witnesses they are in allowing their office If either Socrates or Nazianzene had opposed theÌselues against the iudgement of the Nicene Council yea against the whole church of Christ before after them their credites would not haue counteruailed the weight of that antiquitie authoritie which the others caried but in deed neither of theÌ dispraiseth the wisedom of the Council or custome of the church only they taxe the vices of some persons ambitioÌ of some places which not content with the christian moderation of their predecessors daily augmented their power and their pride by all meanes possible Socrates saith the bishops of Rome and Alexandria were growen beyond the limits of their Episcopal function ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã vnto power dominion The fault he findeth in that place with Celestinus bishop of Rome was for taking from the Nouatians their churches and compelling their bishop to liue at home like a priuate man But herein Socrates leaned a litle too much in fauour of the Nouatians to mislike more then he sheweth cause why Would God the bishop of Rome had neuer worse offended then in so doing He toucheth Cyrillus bishop of Alexandria with like words for the same cause how iustly let the wise iudge If otherwise either of them aspired aboue the compasse of their calling I am farre from defending any pride in them or in whomsoeuer Nazianzene lighted on very tempestuous troublesom times heresie so raging on the one side discord afflicting the Church on the other that he thought best to leaue all and betake himselfe to a quiet solitarie kind of contemplation Of the councils in his time he saieth I am minded if I must write you the trueth to shunne all assemblies of Bishops because Ineuer sawe a good euent of any Councill that did not rather encrease then diminish our euils Their contention and ambition passeth my speach not that hee condemneth all Councils for what follie had that bene in so wise a man but he noteth the diseases of his time the Church being so rent in pieces vnder Valens that it could not be restored nor reformed in many yeeres after Euen so in the wordes which you alleage he traduceth not the vocation or
Council not excepted Who doeth maruell that amongst so many thousands of Bishops as the whole world yeelded in so many hundred yeeres there should bee some contentious and ambitious spirites Or who can performe that those very weedes shal not grow as fast amongst Presbyters as euer they did amongst Bishops Happily in a citie where the Magistrate seuerely represseth the dissention discord of Pastors some ten or twelue Presbyters may either be kept in tolerable peace or presently ouer ruled by the publike state but come once to the gouernment of the whole worlde as the fathers of the primitiue Church did and then tell me not what contentions and factions but what conflicts and vproares your paritie of Presbyters will breede Were the Pastours but of England Fraunce and Germanie to meete in a free Synode I wil not aske you when they would agree but if their tongues be like their pennes there wounde bee more neede of officers to part the fraies then of Notaries to write the Acts. Where the primitiue Church had one Theophilus and one Dioscorus we should haue twentie we may sooner flee their offices then their vices their affections will remaine when their functions bee altered Where all are equal there is as great danger of pride and contention as where one is superiour yea the prioritie of one man in euery prouince as we see confirmed by the practise and experience of the vniuersall Church of Christ since the Apostles times is sooner resisted and better endured then the waywardnesse and headinesse of so many Gouernours as you must and would haue in your changeable regiment of Presbyters The Lord make vs carefull to keepe the band of peace which he hath left vs and mindfull to shew that lowlinesse of heart which hee hath taught vs that wee waxe not so wise in our owne conceits as to despise all others besides ourselues and so resolute in our priuate perswasions that we enforce our deuises vpon the Church of God vnder the name of his holie and heauenlie preceptes euen so O Lorde for Christ Iesus sake ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Amen Errata In the Epistle pag. 7. lin 26. in the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for in the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã pag. 9. l. vltiââ chage for charge In the Booke p. 3. l. 15. th for in p. 4. l. 28. Princes for Priests p. 10. l. penult part for parts p. 38. l. 27. iudicall for iudiciall In margine Prouerb 5. for Acts 19. p. 67. l. 25. as they say for as you say p. 68. l. penult the Churches for in the Churches p. 78. l. 1. to the for to be lin 3. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the degree of a Presbyter and. p. 104. l. penultima Euangelist for Euangelists p. 122. l. 22. ought for out p. 148. l. 17. not erect for erect not p. 150. l. 17. of most part for of the most part p. 158. margine ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã p. 164 l. 28. thee for the. p. 185. l. 27. vinculis for viculis p. 188. l. 11. at the name of Socrates must be the figure of 4. l. 14. uch for such l. 20. Talerius for Valerius l. 23. Philodelphia for Philadelphia p. 193. l. 18. for and l. 19. for and l. 23. put out the double distinction p. 228. l. 36. out for cut p. 237. l. 2 1 cons. for 2 cons. p. 246. l. penult could not be for could be p. 252. l. 14. dured no long time for dured a long time p. 257. l. 13. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã p. 259. l. 24. 150. for 1500. p. 274. l. 13. Bishops for a Bishop l. 14. Pothymus for Pothynus p. 281. li. 19. vpbolding for vpholding p. 286. li. 33. nine Saint for nine Saint p. 316. l. vltima laie man Presbyter for laie man Presbyter p. 336. l. 1. in the 7. chapter p. 358 l. 34. ishops for Bishops p. 359. li. 12. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã p. 378. l. 31. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 32. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã for ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã p. 379. l. vlt. froÌ the first beginning ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã according to the vse anciently confirmed euery Metropolitane hauing libertie to take a copie of our actes for his owne securitie 1 Gen. 13. 2 Iohn 14. 3 Ephes. 4. 1 Math. 18. 2 1. Tim. 4. 1 Hiero. in epistolaâ ad Titum ca. 1. 2 Ambros. in 1. ad Tim. ca. 5. 1 1. Tim. 5. 1 1. Timoth. 5. 1 1. Timoth. 5. 1 Act. 20. 1 1. Pet. 5. 2 1. Corinth 4. 3 Tit. 1. 4 1. Timoth. 4. 1 1. Corinth 14 verse 22. 1 Act. 8. verse 5. 12. 2 Act. 8. ver 17. 3 Act. 14. ver 21 4 Act. 14. ve 23 5 1. Timoth. 5. 6 Tit. 1. 1 Ambros. in Ephes ad 4. 2 Hiero. mepistol ad Titum 3 August epist. 19 secunaum honoru vocabula quae tam acclesiaevsus obtinuit 3 August epist. 19 secunaum honoru vocabula quae tam acclesiaevsus obtinuit 4 Tertul de Baptismo Hiero aduersus luciferianos 5 Possidonius de vita Augustini 4â Leo epist 88. 6 Concil Cartha ginens 2. ca. 9. 7 Hicro ad Euagr. 8 Chrysost homil â1 in 1. ad Timotheum 9 De Ministrorum euangelii gradibus ca. 23. 1 Ibid. m. 2 Ibidem ca. 21. 3 Luc. 10. 4 De Ministrorum euangelii gradibus ca. 23. sol 156. 4 De Ministrorum euangelii gradibus ca. 23. sol 156. 4 De Ministrorum euangelii gradibus ca. 23. sol 156. 4 De Ministrorum euangelii gradibus ca. 23. sol 156. 1 De Ministrorum euangelii gradibus ca. 23. fol. 156. vt supra 1 Hiero. in epist. ad Euagrium 1 Euseb. lib. 2. ca. 24. 2 Idem li. 3. ca. 13. 3 Idem li. 3. ca. 21. 4 Euseb. Chronicon in anno 45. 5 Idem in anno 71 6 Ibid. in an 111. 7 Ibidem in annis 33. 63. 8 Ibidem in annis 63. 111. 9 Iren. li. 3. ca. 3 10 Euseb. li. 4. ca. 15. 11 Hiero. de scriptoribus ecclesiasticis in Polycarpo 12 Euseb. li. 3. ca. 35. 13 Tertull. de praescript aduers. haereticâs 14 Iren. lib. 3. ca. 3. 1 Euseb. li. 4. ca. 1â 2 Hiero. vt supra in Polycarpo Euseb Chronicon in anno 164. 3 Ibid. in anno 170 4 Iren. lib. 3. ca. 3. 5 Euseb. lib 4 ca. 15. Iren. lib. 3. ca. 3. 1 Math 20. 2 1. Pet. 5. 3 De Ministrorum euangelii gradibus ca. 6. 15. 3 De Ministrorum euangelii gradibus ca. 6. 15. 4 Ibidem ca. 20. 5 Hebr. 13. 1 Timoth. 5. 1 Timoth. 5. 1 Timoth. 5. 1 Concil Chalcedonens actio 11. 2 Tertul. de praescriptioâbus aduers haretic 3 Concil Ephesinum in suggestione Episcoporism Cyprs 1 Cano. Apost 38 2 Ignat. epist. 3. ad
THE PERPETVAL GOVERNEMENT OF CHRISTES CHVRCH Wherein are handled The fatherly superioritie which God first established in the Patriarkes for the guiding of his Church and after continued in the Tribe of Leui and the Prophetes and lastlie confirmed in the New Testament to the Apostles and their successours As also the points in question at this day Touching the Iewish Synedrion the true kingdome of Christ the Apostles commission the Laie Presbyterie the Distinction of Bishops from Presbyters and their succession from the Apostles times and hands the calling and moderating of Prouinciall Synodes by Primates and Metropolitanes the allotting of Dioeceses and the Popular electing of such as must feed and watch the flocke And diuers other points concerning the Pastorall regiment of the house of God By THO. BILSON Warden of Winchester Colledge Perused and allowed by publike authoritie 1. Cor. 14. Came the word of God first from you or did it spread to you alone Iren lib. 3. ca. 3. We can reckon those that were ordained Bishops by the Apostles in the Churches and their successours to this present which neuer taught nor knew any such thing as these dreame Imprinted at London by the Deputies of CHRISTOPHER BARKER Printer to the Queenes most excellent Maiestie An. Dom. 1593. TO THE CHRISTIAN READER IHaue bene very vnwilling good Christian Reader to enter into these controuersies of Discipline that haue now some space troubled the Church of England I remembred the wordes of Abraham to Lot Let there I pray thee be no strife betwixt thee and me nor betwixt my men and thine for we be brethren and did thereby learne that all strife betwixt brethren was vnnaturall I could not forget the saying of our Sauiour Peace I leaue with you my peace I giue you and so collected how carefull we should be to keepe the vnitie of the spirite in the band of peace Prophane writers could tell me by concord the weakest things growe strong by discord the mightiest states are ouerthrowen and that made me loath to increase or nourish the dislikes and quarels that haue lately fallen out in this Realme betwixt the Professours and Teachers of one and the same Religion yet when I sawe the peace of Gods Church violated by the sharpnesse of some mens humours and their tongues so intemperate that they could not bee discerned from open enemies I thought as in a common danger not to sit looking till all were on fire but rather by all meanes to trie what kind of liquor would restinguish this flame Another reason leading mee to this enterprise was the discharge of my duetie to God and her Maiestie for finding that some men broched their disciplinarie deuises vnder the title of Gods eternall trueth and professed they could no more forsake the defence thereofthen of the Christian faith and others defaced and reproched the gouernement of the Church heere receiued and established as vnlawfull irreligious and Antichristian for what lees are so sower that some hedge wines wil not yeelde I was mooued in conscience not to suffer the sacred Scriptures to be so violently arrested and ouer-ruled by the summons and censures of their newe Consistories as also to cleere this state of that iniurious slander as if not knowing or neglecting the manifest voyce of Christes spirite we had entertained and preferred the dregges of Antichrists pride and tyrannie These causes of great and good regard led mee to examine the chiefe groundes of both Disciplines theirs and ours and to peruse the proofes and authorities of either parte that by comparing it might appeare which side came neerest to the synceâitie of the Scriptures and societie of the auncient and vncorrupte Church of Christ. The which wholie to propose by way of Preface woulde bee exceeding tedious shortely to capitulate that the Reader may knowe what to looke for will not altogether bee superfluous The maine supportes of their newe deuised Discipline are the generall equalitie of all Pastours and Teachers and the ioyning of Lay Elders with them to make vp the Presbyterie that shall gouerne the Church On this foundation they build the power of their Consistorie that must admonish and punish all offences heare and determine all doubts appease and ende all strifes that anie waie touch the state and welfare of the Church Against these false groundes I shewe the Church of God from Adam to Moses from Moses to Christ and so downeward vnder Patriarkes Prophetes and Apostles hath beene alwayes gouerned by an inequalitie and superioritie of Pastours and Teachers amongst themselues and somuch the very name and nature of gouernement do inforce for if amongst equals none may chalenge to rule the rest there must of necessitie be superiours before there can bee Gouernours It was therefore a ridiculous ouersight in our new platfourmers to settle an ecclesiasticall gouernment amongst the Pastours and Teachers of the Church and yet to banish all superioritie from them Some finding that absurditie and perceiuing confusion of force must follow where all are equall and no Gouernour endured confesse it to bee an essentiall and perpetuall part of Gods ordinance for each Presbyterie to haue a chiefe amongst them and yet least they should seeme to agnise or admit the auncient and approued maner of the Primitiue Church retained amongst vs which is to appoint a fitte man to gouerne each Dioecese they haue framed a Running regencie that shall goe round to all the Presbyters of each place by course and dure for a weeke or fome such space for the deuise is so newe that they are not yet resolued what time this changeable superioritie shall continue With this conceite they maruelouslie please themselues in so much that they pronounce this onely to be Gods institution and this ouerseer or Bishop to be Apostolike all others they reiect as humane that is as inuented and established by man against the first and authentike order of the holie Ghost Thus farre wee ioyne that to preuent dissention and auoid confusion there must needes euen by Gods ordinaunce bee a President or Ruler of euerie Presbyterie which conclusion because it is warranted by the groundes of nature reason and trueth and hath the example of the Church of God before vnder and after the Lawe to confirme it wee accept as irrefutable and laie it as the ground-worke of all that ensueth But whether this Presidentship did in the Apostles times and by their appointment goe round by course to all the Pastours and Teachers of euerie Presbyterie or were by election committed to one chosen as the fittest to supplie that place so long as hee discharged his duetie without blame that is a maine point in question betwixt vs. Into which I may not enter vntill we haue seene what the Apostolike Presbyteries were and of what persons they did consist at the first erecting of the Church Certaine late writers men otherwise learned and wise greatlie misliking in the gouernement of the Church the Romish kind of Monarchie and on the
other side shunning as much popular tumult and Anarchie preferred a middle course betwixt them of Aristocracie thinking the Church would then bee best guided when neither one for danger of tyrannie nor all for feare of mutinie did beare the swaie but a number of the grauest and sincerest vndertooke the managing of all matters incident to the Ecclesiasticall Regiment And for that there was no possibilitie in euerie Church and parish to finde a full and sufficient companie of Pastours and Teachers to consider and dispose of all causes occurrent and the people as they thought would the better endure the proceedings and censures of their Consistories if some of themselues were admitted to bee Iudges in those cases as well as the Preachers they compounded their Presbyteries partlie of Pastors and partly of Laie Elders whome they named GOVERNING PRESBYTERS and by this meanes they supposed the gouernement of the Church would bee both permanent and indifferent To proclaime this as a fresh deuise of their owne would be some what odious and therefore they sought by all meanes as well with examples as authorities to make it seeme auncient for the better accomplishing of their desire first they tooke hold of the Iewish Synedrion which had Laie Elders mixed with Leuites in euery Citie to determine the peoples causes and that order being established by Moses they enforced it as a perpetuall paterne for the Church of Christ to folow To that end they bring the wordes of our Sauiour Tell it the Church if he heare not the Church let him be to thee as an Ethnike and Publicane Next they perused the Apostles writings to see what mention might bee there found of Elders and Gouernours and lighting on this sentence of Saint Paul The Elders which rule well are woorthie of double honour speciallie they that labour in the worde and doctrine they resolutelie concluded there were some Elders in the Church that gouerned and yet laboured not in the worde and doctrine and those were Laie Presbyters After this place they made no doubt but Laie Elders were Gouernours of the Church in the Apostles times and so setled their iudgements in that behalf that they would heare nothing that might be said to the contrary Thirdlie because it would bee strange that Laie Elders euerie where gouerning the Church vnder the Apostles no Councill storie nor Father did euer so much as name them or remember them or so conceiue the wordes and meaning of Saint Paul vntill our age they thought it needefull to make some shewe of them in the Fathers writings least otherwise playne and simple men should maruell to see a new sort of gouernours wrenched and forced out of S. Pauls wordes whome the Church of Christ in fifteene hundred yeeres neuer heard of before And therefore certaine doubtfull speaches of the Fathers were drawen to that intent as where they saie The Church at first was gouerned by the common aduise of Presbyters and the Church had her Elders without whose counsell nothing was done yea some of them were so forward and willing to heare of their laie Presbyters that wheresoeuer anie Councill or Father mentioned Presbyters they straightway skored vp the place for laie Elders This is the warpe and webbe of the laie Presbyterie that hath so enfolded some mens wits that they cannot vnreaue their cogitations from admiring their newe founde Consistories And in deede the credite of their first deuisers did somewhat amuse mee as I thinke it doeth others till partlie enclined for the causes aforesayd and partlie required where I might not refuse I began more seriouslie to rip vp the whole and then I found both the slendernesse of the stuffe and loosenesse of the worke that had deceiued so many mens eies As first for the Iewish Synedrion I sawe it might by no meanes bee obtruded on the Church of Christ. for the Iudiciall part of Moses law being abolished by the death of Christ as well as the ceremoniall the Tribunals of Moses must no more remaine then the Priesthood doth Moses Iudges were appointed to execute Moses lawe the punishments therefore and iudgements of Moses law ceasing as vnder the Gospel there can be no questioÌ but they do all such Consistories as Moses erected must needs be therewith ended determined Again they were ciuill Magistrates that Moses placed in euery Citie to iudge the people and had the sword to punish as the lawe did limite Leuites being admixed with them to direct them in the doubts and difficulties of the lawe Such Presbyteries if they frame vs in euery parish without the magistrates power and leaue they make a faire entrie vpon the Princes sword and scepter vnder the colour of their Consistories which I hope they will be well aduised before they aduenture Lastlie that laie Elders in Moses lawe did meddle with discerning or iudging betwixt trueth and falsehood things holy and vnholy persons cleane and vncleane or did intermeddle with the sacrifices or seruices of the Tabernacle I doe not read but rather the execution and superuision of sacred things and dueties belonged to the Prophetes Priests and Leuites So that laie Presbyteries vnder the Gospell can haue no agreement with the Synedricall Courtes of Moses much lesse anie deriuement from them vnlesse they will tye all Christian kingdomes to the Tribunals and Iudicials of Moses lawe and giue their Elders the sworde in steade of the word which God hath assigned to Princes and not to Presbyters The wordes of Christ in the 18. of Mathew Tell it to the Church which they vrge to that ende if they were spoken of such Magistrates as Moses appointed and to whome the Iewes by the prescript of his Lawe were to make their complaints then pertaine they nothing at all to the Church of Christ but were a speciall direction for those times wherein our Sauiour liued and those persons that were vnder the Law If they be taken as a perpetuall rule to strengthen the iudgement of Christes Church then touch they no way the Synedrions of the Iewes or any other Courts established by Moses Let them choose which they will neither hurteth vs nor helpeth them The place of Saint Paul at a glimce seemed to make for them but when I aduisedly looked into it I found the text so little fauouring them that in precise termes it excluded Lay Elders as no Gouernours of the Church for the Apostle there chargeth that all Presbyters which rule well should haue double honor His wordes be plaine The Presbyters that rule well ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let them bee thought woorthie of double honour Honour in this place is apparantly taken for maintenance as the proofes following doe import Thou shalt not musle the oxe that treadeth out thy corne and the workeman is worthy of his wages Now by no precept nor example will it euer be prooued that Lay Presbyters had in the Apostles times or shoulde haue by the word of God at any time double honour and
maintenance from the Church of Christ. Wherefore they must either giue all Lay Elders double maintenance as Saint Paul willeth which they doe not or shut them cleane from these wordes which yeelde double maintenance by Gods law to Presbyters that rule well What the meaning of Saint Paul is in this place though much might bee saide and is saide of others which I haue omitted yet to satisfie the Reader I haue laide downe foure seuerall expositions too long to bee heere inserted which I willingly permit to the censure of the wise whether euerie one of them be not more consonant to the true intent of Saint Paul then theirs is and as answerable to his wordes If Paul in plaine words did not disclaime Lay Elders as hauing no right to chalenge double maintenaÌce from the church nor other places contradict them yet were there no reason vpon the needlesse and iointlesse construction of this one sentence to receiue them for by what logicke prooue they out of this place there were some Presbyters that gouerned well and laboured not at all in the worde ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which is as much as specially or chiefly doth distinguish as they thinke the one sort from the other by a superior degree doth it not distinguish as wel things as persons and note so well diuers respects as diuers subiects for example if we should say Magistrates that gouerne well are worthy of double honor specially they that heare the complaints of the poore Were he not very fansiful that would hence coÌclude there are ergo two sorts of magistrats one that gouerneth wel another that heareth the complaints of the poore Againe out of these speches Counsellors that be wise are acceptable to their Princes specially such as are faithfull workemen are rewarded for their skill but specially for their paines Pastors that be vertuous are to be wished for but specially if they be learned wil any sober man inferre that fidelitie and wisedome skil and industrie learning and vertue do not meet in one subiect because specially goeth betwene them Nothing is more common then by this kind of speach to note as well two diuers qualities in one man as two sundrie sortes of men yea thereby to preferre a part before the general comprising that part As Teachers are to be liked for their learning specially for their knowledge in the Scriptures good men are to bee loued for their vertues specially if they be liberall In these speeches they will say the persons be diuers as well as the things for some Counsellors be wise that be not faithfull some workemen expert that be not painefull some Pastours learned that be not vertuous That prooueth true not by any force of these speeches but by the defect of the persons that want fidelitie industrie and integritie for the words rather imploy that both parts should be and therefore may be found in one man before he deserueth this adiection of specially As a Counseller must be wise and specially faithfull before he can be acceptable to his Prince A workeman must be painefull as well as skilfull before he deserue his wages A Pastour must not only be honest but also able to discharge his duetie before he should be greatly esteemed And so by Saint Pauls words they may conclude a Presbyter must not only gouerne well but also labour in the word before he may be counted to be specially or most woorthie of double honour other collection out of the Apostles wordes they can make none And that shall wee soone finde if wee resolue the Apostles wordes in such sort as the nature of the Greeke tongue permitteth vs. The words stand precisely thus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Presbyters GOVERNING WEL let them be counted worthie of double honour ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã SPECIALLY LABOVRING in the word and doctrine The participles as euerie meane scholer knoweth may be resolued not onely by the Relatiue and his verb but by many other parts of speech and their verbs which oftentimes expresse the sense better then the Relatiue As ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Thou shalt not musle thine oxe treading out thy corne that is whiles he treadeth out thy corne for after thou art not prohibited to musle him So in the sentence which we speake of Presbyters gouerning well are woorthy of double honor well gouerning is the cause of double honour neither is double honor due to Presbyters but with this condition if they gouerne well Then resolue the Apostles wordes either with a causall or conditionall adiunction which is plainly the speakers intent and we shall see howe little they make for two sortes of Presbyters Presbyters if they rule well are worthie of double honour specially if they labour in the word or Presbyters for ruling well are worthie of double honour specially for labouring in the word Here are not two sortes of Elders as they conceiue the one to gouerne the other to teach but two duties of eche Presbyter namely to teach and gouerne before hee can be most worthie of double honour Their owne rules confirme the same Those whome they cal Teachers or Doctours must they not labor in the word There can be no doubt they must Are they then most woorthie or so worthie as Pastors be of double honour who not onely labour in the word but also watch and attend the flocke to rule it well I trust not Then Pastors are most worthie and consequentlie more worthie then Doctors of double honor because they not only watch to gouerne wel but also labour in the word If any man striue for two sorts of persons to be contained in these wordes though there be vtterly no reason to force that collection we can admit that also without any mention of Lay Elders I haue shewed two interpretations how diuers sorts of Presbyters may be noted by these wordes and neither of them Lay to which I refer y e Reader that is willing to see more I may not here offer a fresh discourse of things else-where handled The briefe is Presbyters we reade and Presbyteries in the Apostolike writings but none Lay that were admitted to gouerne the Church Presbyters did attend and feede the flocke as Gods Stewards and were to exhort with wholsome doctrine and conuince the gainesayers and Presbyteries as themselues vrge did impose hands These be the dueties which the holy Ghost else-where appointeth for the president and the rest of the Presbyterie other then these except this place of which wee reason the Scriptures name none and these be no dueties for Laie Elders vnlesse they make all partes of Pastourall chage common to Lay Presbyters and distinguish them only by the place as if Pastors were to ouersee and feede the flocke in the pulpite and Laie Presbyt ers in the Consistorie Which if they doe they allow onely wordes to Pastours and yeeld to laie Presbyrers both Pastorall words and deedes giuing them authoritie to feede watch the flocke of Christ
more particularly and effectually then Pastours doe or may by their doctrine Such labyrinths they leape into when they seeke for those things in y e sacred Scriptures which were neuer intended But were the word of God in this point indifferent which for ought I yet see is very resolute against them the generall consent of alantiquitie that neuer so expounded S. Pauls words nor euer mentioned any laie Presbyters to gouern the Church is to me a strong rampire against all these new deuises I like not to raise vp that discipline from the dead which hath lien so long buried in silence which no father euer witnessed no councill euer fauoured no Church euer followed since the Apostles times till this our age I can be forward in things that be good but not so foolish as to thinke the church of Christ neuer knew what belonged to the gouernment of her selfe till now of late that the sonne of God hath bin spoiled of halfe his kingdome by his owne seruants and Citizens for these 1500. yeeres without remorse or remembrance of any man that so great wrong was offered him I can yeelde to much for quietnes sake to this I can not yeelde They must shewe mee their Lay Presbyteries in some ancient Writer or else I must plainly auouch their Consistories as they presse them to be a notorious if not a pernicious nouelty Ierome Ambrose and others are brought to depose that the first Church had her Senate and Elders without whose aduise nothing was done but how wrongfully the deuise of Lay Elders is fathered on them I haue declared in a special discourse I wil not heere repeate it onely this I say if any of them affirme that in the Primitiue or Apostolike Church Lay Presbyters did gouerne Ecclesiasticall affaires I am content to recall all that I haue written of this present matter if not it is no great praise nor good policie for them to abuse the names and wordes of so many learned Fathers to the vtter discredite of themselues and their cause in the end Since then the Church of Christ in and after the Apostles times was not gouerned by Lay Presbyters as this newe discipline pretendeth it resteth that we declare by whom both the Apostolike church and the Primitiue after that were directed ruled which I haue not failed to performe in many chapters as farre foorth as the Scriptures doe warrant and the vndoubted Stories of Christs Church do leade In the Apostles I obserue foure things needefull for the first founding and erecting of the Church though not so for the preseruing and maintening thereof and foure other points that must be perpetuall in the Church of Christ. The foure extraordinary priuiledges of the Apostolike function were Their vocation immediate from Christ not from men nor by men Their commission extending ouer all the earth not limited to anie place Their direction infallible the holie Ghost guiding them whether they wrate or spake and Their operation wonderful as wel to conuert and confirme beleeuers as to chastice and reuenge disobeyers Without these things the Church could not beginne as is easily perceiued but it may well continue without them for now God calleth labourers into his haruest by others not by himselfe Pastors take charge of those Churches that are already planted they seeke not places where to plant new Churches The Scriptures once written serue all ages for instruction of faith and the myracles then wrought witnesse the power and trueth of the Gospell vnto the worldes ende Wherefore those thinges had their necessary force and vse to lay the first foundations of the gospel before Christ was knowen but the wisedome of God will not haue his Church still depend on those miraculous meanes which serue rather to conquere incredulitie then to edifie the faithfull signes being as the Apostle saith not for such as beleeue but for such as doe not beleeue The other foure points of the Apostolike delegation which must haue their permanence and perpetuitie in the Church of Christ are the Dispencing the word Administring the sacraments Imposing of hands and Guiding the keys to shut or open the kingdome of heauen The first two by reason they be the ordinary meanes and instruments by which the spirite of God worketh ech mans saluation must be general to al Pastors and Presbyters of Christs Church the other two by which meete men are called to the ministerie of the word and obstinate persons not only repelled from the societie of the saints but also from the promise and hope of eternall life respect rather the cleansing and gouerning of Christes Church and therefore no cause they should be committed to the power of euery Presbyter as the word and sacraments are for as there can be no order but confusion in a common wealth where euery man ruleth so woulde there be no peace but a pestilent perturbation of all thinges in the Church of Christ if euery Preshyter might impose handes and vse the keyes at his pleasure How the Apostles imposed hands and deliuered vnto Satan and who ioyned with them in those actions I haue handled in places appointed for that purpose whereby we shal perceiue that though the Presbyters of eache Church had charge of the worde and Sacraments euen in the Apostles times yet might they not impose handes nor vse the keys without the Apostles or such as the Apostles departing or dying left to be their substitutes and successors in the Churches which they had planted At Samaria Philip preached and baptized and albeit he dispenced the word and sacraments yet could hee not impose handes on them but Peter and Iohn came from Ierusalem and laide their hands on them and so they receiued the holie Ghost The Churches of Lystra Iconium and Antioch were planted before yet were Paul and Barnabas at their returne forced to increase the number of Presbyters in each of those places by imposition of their handes for so the worde ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifieth with al Greeke Diuines and Stories as I haue sufficiently proued and not to ordaine by election of the people as some men of late had new framed the Text. The churches of Ephesus and Creete were erected by Paul had their Presbyteries yet could they not create others but Timothie and Tite were left there to impose handes and ordaine Elders in euerie Citie as occasion required Herein who succeeded the Apostles whether all Presbyters equally or certaine chiefe and chosen men one in euerie Church and City trusted with the gouernment both of people and Presbyters I haue largely debated and made it plaine as well by the Scriptures as by other ancient Writers past all exception that from the Apostles to the first Nicene Councill and so along to this our age there haue alwayes bene selected some of greater gifts then the residue to succeede in the Apostles places to whom it belonged both to moderate the Presbyters of ech Church and to take the
saieth Peter and not euerie Pastour or Deacon hath receiued the gift of Gods grace and not an office by mans choice so minister the same one to another for the benefite of each other If any man speake let him speake to comfort and edifie as the wordes of God if any man minister that is doe good not in wordes but in deeds to an other let it be according to the abilitie that God hath giuen him not according to the contributioÌs he hath receiued of other men that in all things euen in all our words deeds God may be glorified S. Paul with alonger circuit of words expresseth the same sense As all the parts of our bodies haue diuers actions tending all to the vse and profite not of themselues but of others so euery man saieth hee and not onely Teachers and Elders according to the grace giuen by Gods spirite and not by mans election should be soberly content with their measure and vse to the good of others whether it were prophesie teaching and exhorting which consist in woordes or gouerning and seruing with diligence relieuing and helping with cheerefulnesse which consist in deedes for all the members of Christes bodie though they can not teache exhorte and guide yet may they serue relieue and shewe mercie and these are the giftes of Gods Spirite not so miraculous but as precious in his sight as the former and proceed from the most excellent gift of Gods spirite passing all gifts which is vnfained loue and charitie The Text may more kindly and currantly be referred to the publike offices of the Church First then you must point vs foorth seuen such offices for here are seuen diuers parres Next you must prooue that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã these gifts of the spirite belong to the officers of the Church onely and not to the rest of the faithfull Thirdly we must know whether these offices must be diuided or may be combined in one person if they bee distinct no Prophet may teach or exhort no Teacher may exhort or prophesie if they may meete and agree in one subiect then are they no offices but graces and he that hath one may haue all and so are you further from your purpose then you were be fore Lastly make them euen ecclesiasticall functions if you list how then can you chalenge them or any one of them to laie persons Clergie men may not gouerne the Church You must leaue that error for your credites sake as crossing the Scriptures which maketh Pastours to be Shepeheards Watchmen Ouerseers Rulers and Guiders of the flocke and infringeth your owne positions who say that Pastours doe rule and gouerne the Church If he that ruleth must do it with diligence the Pastours by these words are appointed to bee watchfull as those that shall answere for the soules of their flocke and not the laie Elders If it be a priuate gift to whom doeth it appertaine To euery man that hath charge or familie The father with diligence is to guide his children the master his seruants the husband his wife He that hath cast away the care of his household is worse then an Infidel To feed them and not to rule them and traine them in the feare of the Lord is grossely to neglect them He that ruleth not well his owne house by S. Pauls prescription must not bee trusted with the Church of God It is therefore a speciall vertue and grace of Gods spirite to rule well the persons committed to our charge Let it be gift or office priuate or publike it maketh nothing for laie Presbyters There remaineth yet one place where Gouernours are named amongst ecclesiasticall officers and that is 1. Cor. 12. The answere is soone made if we bee not contentious Teachers are there expressed but Pastours omitted and therefore well might Gouernours be mentioned in stead of Pastours If this content you not I then denie they be all ecclesiasticall functions that are there specified Powers gifts of healing kindes of tongues what functions shall we call them in the Church of Christ They were ornaments to the Pastorall and Propheticall calling And so was gouernement To gouerne is a duetie and no gift To gouerne wiselie is a great gift of the holy Ghost more needfull for the Church then tongues healing or miracles To the gouerning of the Church belonged more then censuring of maners or examining of witnesses wisedome to preuent dangers to direct doubtful cases to discerne spirites to calme strifes many other weightie graces were requisite for the gouerning of the Church This is therefore a principall gift of the holy Ghost but not a different office from those that goe before The Apostles Prophets Teachers in the Church had they not power to doe miracles to cure the sicke to speake with tongues if these three be no diuers offices but graces and all three found in euery Apostle in many Prophetes and Teachers why should not gouernement being reckoned in the midst of them be a gift likewise of the holy Ghost bestowed on such Prophets Pastours and Teachers as pleased the spirit of trueth and grace to vouchsafe that honour To make vs vnderstand that we must not confound the functions in the Church with the gifts of the spirite much lesse mistake the one for the other let vs number the gifts of the spirite that are noted in this one Chapter and see whether the publike functions of the Church can any way be proportioned to them To one saieth S. Paul is giuen by the spirite the word of wisedome to another the word of knowledge to another faith to another the gifts of healing to another the operation of great workes to another prophesie to another discerning of spirits to another diuersities of tongues to another the interpretation of tongues Here are nine gifts of the holy Ghost numbred in the ende of this very chapter are named two more helping and gouerning that were not reckoned before To the Romanes are fiue different froÌ these rehearsed in all sixteene I trust there were not so many distinct offices in the Church The Apostle euen in this chapter setting downe eight degrees and dignities of spirituall gifts and placing them as it werein order cleane smitteth Pastors Deacons as being rather standing offices in the Church then miraculous gifts Many Pastours and Doctors were furnished with many of them the Apostles had them all and that in greater measure then any other which in offices could not be in gift might bee These were therefore neither vsuall nor perpetuall functions in the Church as Pastours and Deacons must bee but miraculous and extraordinarie gifts and graces during onely for a time and giuen in what measure and to what persons it best liked the holy Ghost for the ouerthrowing of Satans kingdome and gathering of the Saints together at the first planting of the Church What were Gouernours then in the Primitiue Church for my part I am not
people from Priests is neither prophane nor strange in the Scriptures There shall be saieth Esay like people like Priest And so saieth Osee as also Ieremie diuideth the Church into the Prophet Priest and People As for the name of Clergie men Ierome saieth Proptereà vocantur Clerici vel quia de sorte sunt Domint vel quia ipse Dominus sors idest pars Clericorum est Therfore are they called Clergie men or Clerkes either because they are the Lordes portion to serue the Church of Christ or for that the Lord is their portion part to liue on such things as are dedicated to the Lord. The Laie hee calleth Seculares Secular men which word is not so good as Laici the Laitie or people The name of Presbyter I vse not thereby meaning aged and ancient men of what calling soeuer they be as the word sometimes signifieth and wherewith I see many that fauour the Presbyterie deceiued and deceiuing others but I vse it for those whom the Apostles call ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Presbyters whence our tongue following the French long since deriued Priests who for their age should be Elders and by their office are ministers of the word and Sacraments and ouerseers of the flocke of Christ. And though there can be no doubt but very often in the Scriptures ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in Latine Seniores in English Elders are taken for Pastours Teachers and such as laboured in the word and dispensed the Sacraments yet some more zealous then discreet no sooner he are of the word Presbyter or Senior an Elder in Scriptures or Fathers but they straightway dreame of their laie Presbyterie which is the greatest ground of all their errour and lightest proofe that may possiblie be brought For which cause I am forced often to distinguish the ministers of the word from such as some men would haue to bee Gouernours of the Church by the name of Presbyter and not of Elder which in our tongue is more common to aged men then to Clergie men But howsoeuer they may play with wordes to make some the we that Elders were Gouernours of Christes Church in the Apostles times assuredly no man is able to ãâã that laie men were publike Gouernours to ordaine ministers or remooue sinners from the Lordes table while the Apostles liued and after their deaths the longer we search the further we are from finding any such Elders The whole Church by the very wordes of our Sauiour might exclude disobedient and froward persons from their felowship as Etânikes and Publicanes and bind them both in heauen and earth I haue answered alreadie that those wordes of Christ by the verââ confession of such as are the greatest defenders of this newe discipline were spoken of the Iudges and Magistrates of the Iewes And if by the credite and authoritie of the fathers wee will needes haue them spoken of Christes Church wee must then take the Church for the Pastours and leaders of the Church that haue receiued power from Christ to binde and loose in heauen and earth Lastly if we intend nothing els by those wordes Let him be to thee as an Ethnike and Publicane but refraine all company with him and eate no more with him then thou wouldest with an Ethnike and Publicane this charge pertaineth rather to the whole Church then to any laie Elders or Gouernours in the Church The Apostles wordes When you are gathered together put away from among you that wicked man are rather directed to the whole Congregation then to any laie Elders in the Church of Corinch as are also these that folow I wrate vnto you that you should not company together with fornicatours but nowe I haue written vnto you if any man that is called a brother bee a fornicator or couetous an Idoâater railer drunkard or extortioner with such an one eate not Must onely the laie Elders or all the multitude auoyd the companie of such enormous persons I beseech you brethren saieth Paul obserue those which cause diuisions and offences against the doctrine which you haue learned and decline them Should none but Elders and Teachers shunne Schismatikes and hainous malefactours or must the people and hearers doe the like If any man obey not our sayings keepe no companie with him that he may be ashamed yet count him not an enemie but admonish him as a brother Shall wee thinke the Apostle thought it sufficient for soââ fewe laie Elders to forbeare the company of such disordered persons or doeth hee will the whole Church with one consent to shunne all societie with such vnrulie ones that they may bee ashamed Then yet the whole Church might excommunicate and not Pastours onely With open reproouing by the word and excluding from the Sacraments such as notoriouslie sinned Pastours and Prophets might intermeddle the people and laie Elders might not it was no part of their charge but in banishing malefactours from all fellowship and companie both ciuill and sacred with the faithfull the Pastours were to direct the people to assist and execute that iudgement The Apostle doeth not leaue it to peoples liking as a matter indifferent till they haue consented but enioineth it as a necessarie duetie and commandeth them in the name of Christ Iesus to withdraw themselues from euery brother that walked inordinately For as S. Iohn warneth vs He that receiueth to his house the bringer of another doctrine or biddeth him good speede is partaker of his euill deedes And so is euery one that with countenance fauour or familiaritie doeth embolden the wicked to goe on in any other lewdnesse when by Christian dutie he should reproue such offenders if they persist renounce al societie with them yea where there wanteth a beleeuing magistrate the Pastours shall not doe wisely to proceed to any such rigour against wilfull and obstinate sinners without the knowledge and consent of the people for feare of contempt if the most part mislike or factions if the multitude be deuided If Pastours in such cases were to staie for the liking of the whole Church is it not more likely that the people did referre the hearing and censuring of all such matters to certaine chosen Elders of themselues rather then in a tumult confusedly without any Iudiciall forme determine such causes That if wee euict wee make no doubt that laie Elders were Gouernours in the Church of Christ as well as Pastours Indeed likelihoods and surmises were the best demonstrations that euer were made for your supposed discipline but if this hee all you will neuer euict any thing The people might well relie themselues on the credite and conscience of their Pastours and beleeue them in other mens cases whom they trusted with their owne soules Againe they might approoue and confirme their Pastours iudgement in an open assemblie without an vprore things were at that time handled in the Church religiously not tumultuously Lastly if the people did appoint certaine wise and sufficient
Bishop must bee vnreprooueable as Gods Steward holding fast the faithfull worde of doctrine that hee may be able to exhorte with founde doctrine and conuince the goinesayers No Teachers no Elders by this rule For they were Gods Stewards to exhort and conuince with found doctrine before they tooke that name Elders might not be appointed in any Citie but so qualified as is heere prescribed there was no place then in Creete for your newe founde Elders And as for Lay Gouernours of the Apostolike Church to bee mentioned by Saint Paul in the 1. to the Corinthians and twelfth Chapter the ancient and learned Fathers are further from admitting any such then I am howsoeuer our late writers bee lighted on them Nazianzene expounding the wordes of Saint Paul which our men imagine concerne Lay Gouernours sayth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Gouernements that is ouer-ruling the flesh Chrysostome maketh Helpes and Gouernements all one and saith It is a great blessing of God in matters of the Spirite to haue an helper and exhorter Ambrose saieth In the fift place is giuen the gift of vnderstanding For they bee Gouernours that with spirituall raines doe guide men Theophilact referreth it to the Deacons Helpes gouernements that is to receiue the sicke and guide and dispence the goodes of our brethren Then neither doe the Scriptures any where mention Lay Presbyters nor the Fathers expounding the places that are brought for them did euer giue so much as an inkeling of any such persons The words of Paul to Timothie be not only cleared from them by diuers sound interpretations but produced against them For they admit no Elders but such as were for their worke sake maintained at the costes of the Church and so were neuer anie Lay Presbyters The two other places name Rulers and Gouernours but expresse neyther what persons or thinges they gouerned neyther who they were that did gouerne whether Lay men or Pastours Lay men had Christian gouernements but ouer their families ouer the Church and house of God none had in the Apostles daies that wee reade saue Pastors and Teachers I meane such as did feede and watch the flocke committed to their charge And yet if wee shoulde graunt that in the Apostles time for want of a Magistrate to vpholde the discipline of the Church and punish the disorders and offences of loose brethren there were certaine graue and wise Elders ioyned with the Prophets and Pastours to admonish the vnrulie examine the guiltie and exclude infamous and scandalous persons from the common societie of Christians Is it anie consequent the like must bee vsed with vs in a Christian kingdome vnder a beleeuing Prince The Apostolike Churches were planted in populous Cities where they coulde not lacke meete men to sustaine that charge ours are dispersed in rurall Hamlets where there can bee no hope to finde so many fitte Gouernours as shall bee requisite To the first Churches came none but such as were willing and zealous without all compulsion to ours come all forces Atheistes Hypocrites and howe manie rather forced by Lawe then ledde with deuotion yea woulde God it did not often so fall out that in manie places the richer and wealthier men eyther regarde no Religion or secretely leane to the woorst Euerie Church with them had manie Prophetes Pastours and Teachers the number and neede of the people and tyme so requiring so that their Presbyteries might bee indifferently weighed without ouerbearing either side Wee haue but one in eche Parish and to exact maintenaunce for moe at the peoples handes in euerie Uillage woulde breede that sore which no playster would heale To giue that one a negatiue voyce in all thinges against the Laie Elders were to fill the whole Realme with infinite contentions and questions To giue him no voyce but as one amongest the rest is to shake the Church in sunder with euerie faction and fansie of the multitude Lastly those Churches vnder persecution had none that coulde iustly chalenge to rule the rest ours hath a lawfull Monarch professing the faith to whome by Gods Lawe the gouernement of all crimes and causes Ecclesiasticall doeth rightly belong and therefore the priuate and popular regiment of the afflicted Churches must cease since God hath blessed this realme with a publike peaceable and princely gouernement The greater and stronger power doeth alwayes determine and frustrate the lesser and weaker in the same kinde What neede we priuate men to punish vices when we haue princes to doe it What neede wee Suffrages of Lay Elders to reforme disorders and abuses in Pastors when wee haue open and knowen lawes to worke the same effect with more force and better speede In popular states and persecuted Churches some pretence may be made for that kinde of discipline In christian kingdomes I see neither neede nor vse of Lay Elders Howbeit for my part I doe not beleeue that Lay Elders were vsed in the Apostls times to gouerne the Church With imposition of hands remission of sinnes distribution of Sacraments I am right assured no iust proofe can be made they did or should intermeddle yea the ouersight of those things could not belong whiles the Apostles liued to Lay men and after their deaths the Churches planted by them and ages succeeding them neuer vsed nor acknowledged any Lay Elders Which is to me an inuincible demonstration that the Apostles left them none For would all the Churches in the worlde with one consent immediatly vpon the Apostles deaths reiect that fourme of gouerning the Church by Lay Elders which was setled and approoued by the Apostles and embrace a new and strange kinde of gouernement without precept or precedent for their so doing Howe others can perswade themselues that the whole Church of Christ felt so generally and presently to a wilfull Apostacie I knowe not for myselfe I confesse I had rather forsake the deuise and conceit of some late Writers were they in number moe then they are before I will proclaime so many Apostolike men and ancient and learned fathers to be manifest despisers of the Apostolike discipline and voluntarie supporters if not inuentors of Antichrists pride and tyrannie Wherefore if they shew me Lay Elders vniuersally receiued for gouernours in the Churches and ages next folowing the Apostles I wil agnise they came from the Apostles if there were no such after the Apostles I cannot beleeue they were in the Apostles times CHAP. XI What Presbyterie the primitiue Churches and Catholike fathers did acknowledge and whether Lay Elders were any part thereof or no. MAny men thinke and write that the first Churches and fathers after the Apostles retained and vsed Lay Elders for Gouernors and so witnes as they say obscurely Ignatius Tertullian Cyprian Augustine more cleerely Ambrose Hierome Possidonius and the Canon law and therefore I doe not well in their opinions to pretend the authoritie of Christes Church against them If all these Fathers or any of them did clearely mention or witnesse Lay Elders
weè not Ambrose opinion else where deliuered that in cases of faith and manners Lay men neuer did neuer might iudge of Priests of whome yet the Presbyterie might and did iudge what one worde is heere sounding for Lay Elders They were aged that were called to the regiment of the Church in former times and not one but many Ambrose misliketh that in his time some whiles they would seeme alone to rule had excluded or neglected the rest that were wont to bee ioyned with them in consulting and caring for the Church By this you may prooue that ancient good Bishops in guiding their flocks vsed the helpe and aduise of their Cleargie that Lay men were coupled with them to gouerne the Church you cannot prooue He doth not blame them for refusing Lay Elders to be their Colleagues but for affecting to be so wise that they needed not the aide and counsel of their brethren who were wont to aduise and assist their Bishops as well in doctrine as in discipline What Ambrose thought of Lay Iudges ouer persons and âaâses Ecclesiasticall his Epistle to Valentinian the Emperour will quickely resolue No man ought to thinke me obstinate sayth Ambrose when I auouch that which your father of sacred memory not only answered in words but established by his lawes in causa fidei vel ecclesiastici alicuius ordinis eum iudicare debere quinec munere impar sit nec iure dissimilis in a matter of faith or touching any Ecclesiasticall order hee ought to bee iudge that hath neither his calling diuers nor his right different Those are the very wordes of the rescript that is hee woulde haue Priests to be Iudges ouer Priests Yea if a Bishop bee to bee reprooued for any other thing and his manners to be examined this also would hee haue pertaine to the iudgement of Bishops When euer heard you most gratious Emperour in a matter of faith that Lay men iudged of Bishops Shall we then so bowe with flatterie that wee forget the right of Priestes and what God hath giuen to mee shall I commit to others If a Bishop must be taught by a lay man what to followe let the Lay teach the Bishop heare let the Bishop learne at a Lay mans hands Your father a man of ripe yeeres saide Non est meum iudicare inter Episcopos It is not for mee to sit iudge amongest Bishops you shall be olde by Gods grace and then shall you finde what a Bishop he is qui Laicis ius Sacerdotale substernit that casteth the right of Bishops vnder Lay mens feete Woulde hee call it pride in Bishops to refuse Lay men for their Consorts in censuring all persons and causes of the Church that greatly praised the Emperour for saying it was not his part to iudge amongest Bishops and highly commended the Law that barred all Iudges ouer Priests saue such as were pari munere simili iure of the same calling and right that Priests were The longer we seeke the further we are from finding Lay Elders Wee haue nowe a publike and Emperiall Law that with Ecclesiasticall causes and persons no Lay man should meddle but leaue them to Bishops as best acquainted with the Rules and Canons of the Church by which such men and matters must be guided Tertullian Austen and Gregorie admit all three one answere They vse the Latin word Seniores for those whom Hierome and others cal by the Greeke name Presbyteros such Elders as were Pastours and Priests Presbyter in Greeke saieth Isidore is in Latine Senior Presbyters and Elders being so called not for yeeres and olde age but for the honour and dignitie which they tooke when they entred that order This name the Translatour of the new Testament giueth them euen in those places where the Greeke calleth them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Seniores qui in vobis sunt obsecro consenior The Seniors that are amoÌg you I beseech being my selfe a Senior feede ye the flocke of God that is with you And againe Senior electae Dominae Senior Gaio charissimo The Senior to the elect Ladie and the Senior to the most deere Gaius and yet I trust Saint Peter and Saint Iohn were no Lay Elders At first Pastours and Teachers were vsually chosen by their age as to whome the rather for their wisedome and grauitie reuerence and honour should bee yeelded in the execution of their office and afterward when some of rare gifts though yonger in yeeres were elected to that charge they retained the name which vse had accustomed and so generally men of that profession were and are called Presbyters and Seniors which in English are Elders What proofe is this then for Lay Elders if Latine writers now and then call them Seniores which is common to all Pastours and Ministers of the worde and Sacraments The circumstances perchance will somewhat induce that those Fathers spake of Lay Elders They will the contrarie verie well but this they will neuer Tertullian opening to the Gentiles the manner of the Christian assemblies and what they did when they were gathered together saieth Wee meete in a companie that wee may ioyne as an armie in our prayers to God Wee meete to the rehearsing of the diuine Letters where with sacred woordes wee nourish faith wee stirre vp hope and fasten confidence and neuerthelesse confirme discipline by the often instructions of our teachers There are also exhortations reprehensions and diuine censures Iudgement is vsed with great deliberation as being out of doubt that God seeth vs. There haue wee an euident foreshewing of the Iudgement that shall one day come if any so offend that hee bee banished from the fellowship of our prayers assemblie and all holie companie The Rulers of our meetings are certaine approoued Seniours such as gate this honour not by rewarde but by good reporte for nothing that is Gods may be bought Praying reading of the Scriptures teaching exhorting reproouing in their publike assemblies were Pastourall dueties why shoulde not censuring bee the like The selfe same persons that were in one were Rulers in all these actions Againe the honour which they had to sitte before the rest in the Church and was so sacred that it coulde not be procured by rewarde but by good reporte sheweth they were Cleargie men and not Lay persons that did moderate their meetings The verie worde Praesidere with Tertullian is an euident distinction betweene the Pastours and the people Disciplina ecclesiae praescriptio Apostoli digamos non sinit praesidere The discipline of the Church and precept of the Apostle suffer not a man that hath moe wiues then one praesidere to be a Bishop which by reason of their function did sit before all others in the Church Quot digams praesident apud vos insultantes vtique Apostolo How many with the second wife are presidents and Bishops amongest you insulting on the Apostle that saieth a Bishop shoulde be the husband of
discipline exercised against wicked and dissolute liuers Cùm eis per quos ecclesia regitur adest salua pace potestas disciplinae aduersus improbos auâ nefarios exercendae c. When they that rule the Church may without breach of peace that is daunger of schisme exercise discipline vpon lewde and wicked offendours then are wee to bee stirred vp with the sharpenesse of those preceptes that leade to seueritie of repressing euill that directing our steppes in the way of the Lorde wee neither slacke vnder the name of patience nor rage vnder the shewe of diligence But Saint Austen in his hundreth thirtie and seuenth Epistle writeth Clero Senioribus vniuersae plebi ecclesiae Hipponensââ to the Cleargie Elders and whole people of the Church of Hippo where the Elders are reckoned by themselues as no part of the Cleargie If naming Elders by themselues make them no parte of the Cleargie by that consequent they be likewise no parte of the people for they be reckoned asimder from the people But these inferences haue no sufficient ground they must be eyther of the Cleargie or people and yet heere they bee named betwixt them The rules of ciuilitie are not alwayes bound to the rules of Logike They that haue preeminence aboue others may be saluted aparte from others though the generall salutation before or after by force of reason doth include them Wherefore if any man answere that Austen naming the whole Cleargie of his Church in that Epistle thought to make a more speciall remembraunce of the better sorte of them by the title of Elders it can not be refuted the wordes doe well endure it If any dislike that exposition let him take Elders in Gods name for the better sorte of the Laitie I meane for the Rulers and Gouernours of the people as if a man shoulde write to the Cleargie Aldermen and Commons of any good Citie for an Alderman is the right English for Senior in Latine when it doth not import an Ecclesiastical function and it is not vnlikely that Austen then absent and writing to the whole Citie diuided the superiour sorte of the Laitie from the Inferiour by that stile Howsoeuer you bestowe the worde it is euident by the whole course of that Epistle those Elders had no power in the Church more then the rest of the people Yea the hearing of the cause then in question about the accusation of Bonifacius a Priest for a foule crime obiected vnto him by an other of the Cleargie did so little concerne them that Austen heard the matter himselfe alone and tooke order in it as hee thought good and kept it from the knowledge of them all And in this Epistle giuing a reason why he did not remooue Bonifacius from his degree at the first examining of the matter hee saieth Nomen Presbyteri proptereà non sum ausus de numero Collegarum eius vel supprimere vel delere ne diuinae potestati sub cuius examine causa adhuc pendet facere viderer iniuriam si illius iudicium meo vellem iudicio praeuenire The name of his Priest I durst not suppresse or strike out from the number of the Colleagues lest I shoulde seeme to offer wrong to Gods iudgement vnder whose triall the matter yet dependeth if I shoulde preuent his iudgement with my censure Reade the Epistle if he attribute any more to those Elders then hee doeth to the lowest of the people and Cleargie if he did not take the whole cause into his owne hands and set an order in it without their consents or priuities I wil agnise your Lay Elders Happely you thinke Saint Austen did the Lay Elders wrong to keepe this cause from them and to deale in it without them I can not let you from so thinking but all that be well aduised will rather suppose Lay Elders had nothing to doe with such cases in Saint Austens time and that the good Bishop did not close up such horrible offences by wrongfull withholding the cause from the knowledge of the Elders to whome by order of the Church it then appertained but hee kept it from them and the rest with good conscience vsing his owne right ne atrociter inaniter contristando turbaret as himselfe saieth Lest hee shoulde trouble their mindes with a grieuous sorrowe to no purpose Gregories authoritie is quoted out of the Canon Lawe for name of Lay Elders which sure were verie strange that sixe hundreth yeeres after Christ the power of Lay Elders shoulde remaine in the Church and their name all this while not heard of but I thinke we shall finde no more heere then wee did before If saieth Gregorie anie thing come to thine eares of anie Clerke whomsoeuer which may iustly offend thee beleue it not easely sed praesentibus ecclesiae tuae Senioribus but in the prefence of the Elders of thy Church search out the truth diligently and if the qualitie of the matter shall so require let the offendour be punished according to the rigour of the Canons Elders of the Church I heare Lay Elders I heare not and by the Lawes Imperiall long before this established euen in Ambroses time a Clergie mans cause could not be examined and determined but by men of the same right and the same calling And of all others Gregorie is the vnfittest man to prooue that Lay Elders should haue the hearing and deciding of Cleargie mens causes who could not endure that any thing whatsoeuer pertaining to the Cleargie shoulde bee committed to the hands of Lay men Cauendum est à fraternââate vestra ne Secularibus viris at que non sub regula nostra degentibus res ecclesiasticae committantur Your brotherhoode must beware that Ecclesiasticall matters bee not committed to Secular men and such as liue not vnder our profession The punishement which by the very wordes must be Canonicall or according to the Canons sheweth that these Elders were the discreetest and wisest of his Clergy For what haue Lay men to do either with the knowledge or execution of the Canons What reason to charge theÌ with the Canons to whom the Canons were not written Hee meaneth therefore the Elders of his Church that is such Cleargie men as were of best account and greatest experience in his Church And so the Councell of Turon decreed Quem negligentia eijcit cum omnium Presbyterorum consilio reâutetur whom negligence maketh vnworthie of his place let him bee remooued by the aduise of all the Presbyters And Gregorie himselfe saieth Lest there be any dissention amongst brethren lest any discord be nourished inter Praepositos Subiectos betweene the Rulers of the Church and those that be vnder them in vnum conuenirâ Sacerdotes necesse est It is needful for the Priests to meete in one place together that they may discusse such causes as happen and wholsomly conferre about Ecclesiastic all rules so as things past may bee amended and an order set for thinges to
the interest you haue in them Thus haue we perused the proofes that are brought out of ancient Fathers to vphold the Laie Elders whether these bee great enduâementes to enforce your Laie Eldership I appeale to your owne consciences You haue not so much as one circumstance in any father to inferre they were Laie The names of Presbyteri and Seniores which in English are Elders or Priests you shewe whereof we neuer doubted but those names when they imply age are common to all men that are striken in yeeres when they note an office they are proper to Clergie men More then the doubtfull signification of the word Elders I professe before him that seeth the secretes of all mens hearts I see no inforcement in any Father yet produced On the contrarie though it might suffise me to stand on the Negatiue that no laie Elders can bee prooued yet because I seeke not to distinguish wordes but to searchout the trueth I haue prooued by other places out of the same writers that they had no such intent as you pretend vse your eies and not your fansies I am well content your selues shall be Iudges But the rest that remaine as Cyprian Socrates and Possidonius doe most clearely speake of Laie men Of Laie men they speake in deed for they speake of the whole people but of your Laie Elders they speake not a word This short answere might serue for all the places that are behind neither is there any cause to stand longer in discussing them were it not that I seeke rather to satisfie the Obiecters as brethren theÌ to repell them as aduersaries for whose sake I will rip vp the circumstances Agelius a Nouatian Bishop readie to die imposed hands on Sisinnius to be Bishop in his place being one of the Presbyters that were vnder him The people of the Nouatians misliking or complaining of the fact for that he rather laied not handes on one Marcian by whose meanes the Nouatians in the time of Valens enioyed quietnesse Agelius willing to ease the peoples griefe laied hands also on Marcian And when he was a litle recouered he entred into the Church and in his owne person said You haue Marcian to succeed mee and after Marcian Sisinnius This is the true report of Socrates words and in these what one letter for laie Elders Sisinnius was no laie man hee was a Clergie man long before this as Socrates himselfe recordeth As for the name of Elders or Presbyters besides that in all the Church stories it noteth an ecclesiasticall function and laie men by the Canons could not be made Bishops except they were first in orders this very chapter is a manifest testimonie that none were promoted to beare that name or haue that place but by imposition of hands I had occasion before to alleage the words of Marcian repenting that euer he laied his handes on Sabbatius and others to make them priests I will not now repeate them But the peoples dislike made Agelius recall his fact Of all examples this is one of the weakest and worst The Nouatians were Schismatikes from the Church of Christ and no members of it it skilleth not therefore whatsoeuer they or their Bishop did Next it was but a point of policie in Agelius to retaine the liking of his folowers for as they departed from the Catholike Church vpon a conceit so were they as like vpon a Spleene to returne thither againe and forsake the Nouatian Bishops Thirdly he might iustly feare and so preuent a Schisme amongst his owne least some adhering to Sisinnius and some to Marcian his Congregation should bee diuided which was no rare thing in the elections of Bishops Lastly if this example were woorth the standing on it is certaine that Agelius lying sicke in his bedde made first Sisinnius Bishop without the peoples consent and meaning to please the multitude he did as much for Marcian and when he came to the Church vpon his recouerie hee asked no consents for Sisinnius but tolde the people that according to their desire Marcian should bee next and Sisinnius should expect till Marcian was dead In all this proceeding there is no one part answerable to the Canons of the Church and as for laie Elders not so much as any suspicion of them The people had alwayes an interest in the choice of their Bishop and Elders as appeareth in Possidonius by their preferring S. Austen to be an Elder I doe not denie but after the Apostles and their followers were dead in whose dayes the holy Ghost named the most of the Pastours and Teachers the good will and liking of the people was greatly respected in the choice of their Bishops and when there wanted Presbyters and Deacons needfull for the Church the Bishop of the place vsed to admonish and exhort the people if they found any men amongst themselues meete for their good behauiour and to wardnesse to serue in the Church of Christ to bring them foorth or name them that he might accordingly consider of them whether by the Canons they were capable of that honour And when himselfe would preferre such as he knew to be sufficient for their learning he proposed their names to the people that their liues and conuerâactions in time past might be remembred and examined least any suspected or infamed for notorious crimes or otherwise prohibited by the Canons of the Church might secretely creepe to that degree This am I farre from refuting or impugning I wish it rather with zeale to be enioyed and with care to be obserued that none might be taken to serue Christ in his Church but such as are vnreprooueable and so welltried and reported of that neither the people of God might bee offended with their enormities nor the Church burdened with their indignities But what is this to the Laie Presbyterie Was Austen made a Laie Elder or did the Laie Elders preferre him to the Bishop to receiue imposition of hands or ioyne with the Bishop in laying hands on him Can any of these things bee thence so much as surmised view the place When Valerius Bishop of Hippo spake to the people of God and exhorted them about the prouiding and ordering of a Presbyter for the Citie the necessitie of the Church so requiring the Catholikes alreadie knowing the endeâour and learning of Saint Austen laied handes on him as hee sate amongst the people not fearing nor thinking what should folow and holding him fast brought him to the Bishop to bee ordered as the maner was in such cases all with one consent and desire praying it to bee done and finished and earnestlie following it with great zeale and outcries Valerius which ordered or imposed handes on him reioyced and gaue thankes to God that his prayers were heard which hee had often made that God would sende him such a man as might edifie the Church with the worde of God and with wholesome doctrine And to the same Presbyter hee gaue leaue to preach in the Church in
coÌfortably in it she like wise put a differeÌce betwixt her Bishops and Presbyters Which of these things can you chalenge as vnchristian and vnlawfull or what warrant had Aerius to reproue the whole church of God for so doing Iust as much as you haue now to defend him which is none at all He reprooued praying and not thanks giuing for the dead He reprooued the naming of the dead and would needes know to what end they rehearsed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the names of the dead To whome Epiphanius answereth As for the repeating of the names of the dead what can be better or more opportune then that they which are yet behind in this world beleeue the deceased liue and are not extinguished but are and liue with God and as the diuine doctrine hath taught that they which pray haue hope of their brethren absent as in a long voiage from them We also make mentioÌ of the iust as of the Patriarkes Prophets Apostles Euangelists Martyrs Confessors Bishops and of all sortes to separate the Lord Iesus from the order of men and to giue him his due honour and worship Thus farre Epiphanius speaketh soundly and giueth good reasons why the Church named her dead euen her hope of their welfare and faith of their life with God and separation of al men from the Lord Iesus the Redeemer and Sauiour of the world Chrysostoms liturgie sheweth what commemoration of the dead was vsed in the Greeke Church We offer this reasonable seruice that is the Eucharist of praise and thankesgiuing vnto thee O Lord for all that are at rest in the faith of Christ euen for the Patriarkes Prophets Apostles Euangelists Bishops Martyrs Confessours and euery soule initiated in the faith But chiefly for the most holy vndefiled and most blessed virgin Marie He that thinketh all the Patriarkes Prophets Martyrs Apostles and the virgin Marie were in Purgatorie had neede of purgation himselfe to be eased of his melancholy yet for these and specially for the blessed virgin the Church offered hir praiers and sacrifice to God It is therfore most euident y â church meant the sacrifice of thanksgiuing howsoeuer Epiphan Austen and some others to extend the prayers of the Church to all Christians departed doubtfully suppose their damnation might be mitigated though their state could not be altered But these priuat speculations were neither comprised in y â praiers of the church nor confirmed by them and for that cause Aerius is iustly traduced as frantikely impugning the religions and whole some customes of the primitiue catholike Church of which Saint Austen saith Siquid tota hodie per orbem frequent aâ Ecclesia hoc quin ita faciendum sit disputare insolentissimae insanâae est If the whole Church throughout the world at this day obserue any thing to reason for the reuersing of it is most insolent madnes If you thinke S. Austens censure too sharpe for the matter in question betwixt vs heare the iudgement of the general Councill of Chalcedon where were assembled 630. Bishops and marke what they determine of your assertion Photius Bishop of Tyrus had ordained certaine Bishops within his Prouince whom Eustathius his successour for some secret displeasure remoued from that degree and willed them to remaine Presbyters This case comming before the Councill of Chalcedon the resolution of Paschasinus and Lucentius was this ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã To bring backe a Bishop to the degree of a Presbyter is sacrilege Whereto the whole Councill answered ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã We all say the same the iudgement of the fathers is vpright You may do wel to make more account of the Martyrs and Fathers that were in the Primitiue Church least if you condemne all men besides your selues posteritie condemne you as void of all sinceritie sobrietie for my part what I finde generally receiued in the first Church of Christ I wil see it strongly refuted before I wil forsake it God forbid I should thinke there was neuer Church nor faith on the face of the earth since the Apostles times before this miserable age wherein though I acknowledge the great blessing of God restoring vs to the trueth of his Gospell farre aboue our deserts yet I cannot but lament the dangerous factions eager dissentions and headie contempts whereby the Church of God is almost rent in sunder whiles euery man will haue his deuise take place and when they want proofes they fall to reproches We make that account of the primitiue Church that Caluin and other learned men before vs haue done You do not No learned meÌ of any age haue shewed themselues like to the spiteful disdainful humors of our times And of all others you do Caluin wrong who though in some things he dissented from the Fathers of the Primitiue Church in expounding some places that are alleaged for this new discipline yet grauely wisely he giueth them that honor and witnes which is due vnto theÌ His words treating of this very point are these It shall be profitable for vs in these matters of discipline to reuiew the forme of the ancient or primitiue Church the which will set before our eies the image of the diuine ordinance for though the Bishops of those times made many Canons in which they seeme to decree more then is expressed in the sacred Scriptures yet with such warinesse did they proportion their whole regiment to that only rule of Gods word that you may easily see they had almost nothing in their discipline different from the word of God I could wish that such as seeme to reuerence so much his name would in this behalfe followe his steps He declared himselfe to beare a right Christian regarde to the Church of Christ before him and therefore is woorthie with all posteritie to be had in like reuerend account though hee were deceiued in some things euen as Augustine and other Fathers before him were The wisedome of God will haue no man come neere the perfection of the Apostles and therefore no blemish to him that wrate so much as he did to bee somewhat ouerseene in Lay Elders and other points of discipline being so busied as he was with weightie matters of doctrine and interpreting the whole Scriptures But such as haue had better leisure to examine this matter since his death persist still in the same opinion that he did But not in the same moderation they would else not charge the primitiue church of Christ with inuenting and vpbolding an humane bishop this is deuised by man and not allowed by God whereas Caluin granteth the ancient regiment of bishops was agreeable to the worde of God and rule of the sacred Scriptures If wee looke into the thing it selfe he meaneth the gouernment of the Primitiue Church we shal finde the ancient Bishops neuer intended to frame anie other forme of gouerning the Church then that which God in his word prescribed Now what kind of gouernment
course if it be diuine how is it accidental if it be accidentall howe is it diuine And the electing of a President or Bishop if it be humane howe is it commanded if it be commanded how is it humane This is the way to call sweete sower and sower sweete to make light darknesse and darkenesse to be light I must see better coherence then I do before I call this a diuine Discipline You mistake vs. we say it is Gods ordinance for a Pastour to gouerne the Colledge of Lay Elders but for one chiefe to gouerne the Colledge of Pastours we holde is mans inuention Would God you did not mistake your selues Your Presbyteries must consist either of lay men aloue or of clergy men only or of both indifferently If of Lay Elders only who shall succeede the Pastour in the ruling thereof when his course is ended for example as you say when his weeke is out His Presidentship must be perpetual which by your rules is against Gods ordinaÌce vnles you will haue the lay Elders in course to do pastoral duties rule pastor al which is more absurde and more against Gods Law then the former Wil you mixe your Presbyteries of both then yet by Gods law as your selues inforce it one Pastor must be chiefe of the rest of the Pastors and if by the Scriptures his superioritie must be perpetuall as after his election it must be what differeth this chiefe Pastour for his life from a bishop you would limit his gouernement to a weeke or a moneth but where doth Paul so shew vs that rule in Scripture or Father and set vp your Lay Presbyteries If not you walke in the wildernesses of your own fansies you would prescribe vs rules of your owne making in place of Gods ordinance which is dangerous to your selues and iniurious to others if it be not presumptuous against God Will you haue none chiefe Then breede you confusion and lay the Church open to be torne in peeces with euery dissention besides your selues auouch it is an essentiall and perpetuall point of Gods ordinance to haue one chiefe ouer the Presbyterie These be the brambles and briars of your discipline which force you to say and vnsay with a breath but we take your assertion as good against your selues and thence we frame you this argument It is an essential and perpetual part of Gods ordinance that one should be chiefe ouer the Presbyterie But the Presbyteries of eche Church and City where the Apostles preached consisted of Clergie men and Preachers I hope then it is Gods ordinance to haue one chiefe ouer the Preachers and Labourers in ech Church And if election be Gods commandement as you also confesse and consequently the Electee once lawfully placed must not be remoued without iust and apparant defects I trust the chiefe Gouernour of the Preachers and Presbyters of eche Church must continue whiles he liueth and ruleth well for as hee was chosen for his worthinesse so may he not be depriued till he proue vnworthy Now a chiefe Ruler or Pastour ouer the people and Presbyters of eche Citie elected by Gods commaundement to continue that charge so long as hee doeth his duetie commeth as neere to the bishops calling which we maintaine as your head to that which is aboue your shoulders If youthwart vs with Lay Elders we haue this faire Supersedeas for them First prooue them then place them where you will If you talke of going round by course it is the order of good fellowes at a feast it was neuer the order of gouerning in the Church of Christ. The Priestes of the olde Lawe were after a time eased of their paines but neuer changed their prerogatiues If you say they differ not in degree but in honour and dignitie from the rest I haue alreadie prooued that singularity in succeeding the Apostles and necessitie in ordaining distinguith them from Presbyters If you quarrell with their iurisdiction and dioceses the place now serueth to discusse those things forsomuch as wee finde their function was deliuered them by the Apostles and is restified in the Scriptures The shute Anker is if all this were so that the power of Bishops by Gods law should be nothing else but a right to call the Presbyters of eche place together and to aske their voices and performe what the most part decreââ and this to extend no further then their owne Churches and Cities This I thinke be your meaning if you cannot tie them to your fansies to binde them fast to their chaires that they shall not wagge and if they must needes be highest in the Session yet to make them lowest in the action and to doe one lie what shall please others to determine But your pleasures vnlesse you were more indifferent are little regarded the Church of Christ more then foureteene hundred yeeres before you were borne hath considered of their power and charge the Councils both prouinciall and generall are extant to decide the doubt But if you will trie their right by the Scriptures I am wel content so you take to your Presbyteries no more then you can iustifie to be theirs and leaue vnto Bishops that interest which wee prooue by the word to belong to their calling CHAP. XIIII The fatherly power and Pastor all care of Bishops ouer Presbyters and others in their Churches and Dioeceses I Take it to be a matter out of question confirmed by the Scriptures and confessed by the olde and newe Writers that the Sonne of God willed S. Iohn the Apostle in his Reuelation to write to the seuen chiefe Pastours of the seuen Churches of Asia calling them by the name of Angels By the diuine voyce saith Austen the Ruler of the Church of Ephesus is praised vnder the name of an Angel Angels he calleth Bishops saith Ambrose as wee learne in the Reuelation of Iohn Angels hee calleth those that be Rulers of the Churches saith Ierom euen as Malachie the Prophet doth witnesse the Priest to be an Angell And Gregorie The Preachers in the Scriptures are sometimes called Angels as the Prophet saith the lippes of the Priest should keepe knowledge and they should aske the Law at his mouth for he is the Angel or Messenger of the Lord of hostes The new Writers with one consent acknowledge the same The Angels saieth Bullinger are the Embassadours of God euen the Pastours of the Churches The heauenly letter is directed to the Angel of the church of Smyrna that is to the Pastor Now the stories witnes that Angel Pastor of the church of Smyrna to haue bin Polycarp ordained Bishop there by the Apostles themselues I mean by S. Iohn He was made bishop of Smyrna 13. yeres before the Reuelation of Iohn was written Marlorat Iohn beginneth with the Church of Ephesus for the celebritie of the place and speaketh not to the people but to the Prince or chiefe of the Clergy euen the bishop Seb. Meyer To the Angell
what corruptions are in men as wel as other Consistories Mans lawes wee leaue to such as are skilled in them we would haue our Presbyteries meddle no further then with rebuking and censuring of vice as Gods Law requireth To admonish those that erre reiect thâse that persist and rebuke those that sinne are Pastorall and not Presbyteriall dueties by the wordes of S. Paul And he that is Pastour hath both worde and sacraments committed vnto his care within his owne Church Wherefore without their pastour the Presbyters may not iudicially rebuke nor publikely excommunicate any man within his charge They may preach the word and so generally applie it in the pulpit they may dispence the Sacraments and so not deliuer them where they find men impeniâent but personally to conuent them or openlie to seuer them from the fellowship of the church that belongeth to the Pastour and not to the Presbyters Saint Paul committed that power and care to Timothie and his successours not to the Presbyterie of Ephesus The words are plaine Against an Elder receiue thou no accusation but vnder two or three witnesses those that sinne rebuke thou openly that the rest may feare I charge thee before God and the Lorde Iesus and his elect Angels that thou obserue these thinges without proiudice or partialitie that is without oppressing or fauouring any side She withus much for your Presbyteries and bring them in with full faile Paul made Timothie no Monarch at Ephesus to doe all this without the Presbyterie but appointed him to be chiefe in these actions and the Presbyters to ioyne with him Much lesse did Paul make him a voice-asker to knowe whether it should please the Presbyters to haue these things done or no. The charge is precisely and exactlie Timothies and not the Presbyteries the power therefore must be his and not theirs All this notwithstanding you affirme against the wordes of the Apostle and against the vse of the Primitiue Church that the Presbyters might ouer-rule and censure Timothie if he would not be quiet and in spite of Timothy doe in all these things as they saw cause and this you barely suppose without anie kinde of proofe But either shew what warrant you haue to claime this prerogatiue of Presbyters aboue and ouer their bishops and pastours or giue vs leaue to beleeue the whole Church of Christ expounding and practising those wordes of S. Paul as we doe before your slender and naked supposals The priuate vse of the keyes in appointing offendors vpon the acknowledging of their sinnes for a time to for beare the Lordes Table we denie not to Presbyters but the publike vse of the keies to exclude an impenitent and obstinate person from al fellowship of the faithfull as well sacred as ciuill that the Church of Christ allowed alwaies and only to bishops Origen saith By falling from trueth faith and loue a man geth out of the tents of the church though he be not cast our by the BISHOPS VOICE Cypr. writing to a bishop that was reproched by his Deacon saith Vse against him the power of your honour either TO DEPRIVE HIM or REMOOVE HIM from the communion The affection of a good Bishop saith Ambrose wisheth to heale the sicke to remooue cankred sores to cauterize not to cut off lastly that which can not be healed TO CVT IT OF with sorrow I maruel saith Ierom against Vigilantius the BISHOP in whose charge he is said to be a Presbyter DOTH NOT CRVSH this vnprofitable vessel with the Apostolike rod and deliuer him ouer to Satan for the destructioÌ of the flesh that the spirit may be saued There is no greater punishmeÌt in the Church saith Austen then that daÌnation which THE EPISCOPAL IVDGEMENT pronounceth yet the Pastor must needs seuer the sick sheepe from the whole lest deadly infection reach vnto others If saith Chrysost giuing y â people admonition of a certaine abuse crept in amongst theÌ we be despised we shalbe coÌpelled to bring these threats to effect to chastise you by the laws of the church Be angry who list I wil keepe them from the church a long space as Idolaters Beare with mee neither let any man despise the bandes of the church It is not maÌ that bindeth but Christ which hath giueÌvs this power made men masters of so great honor wee desire not to be brought to that extremity if we be we wil do our duetie If any man breake those bands I haue done my part thou shalt answer to him that COMMANDED ME to bind thee The Council of Nice willed Synodes to be kept twise euery yeere to examine whether any Lay men or Clergy men were excommunicated by the IMBECILITY PERTINACY OR INSOLENCIE OF THE BISHOP and such as were founde to haue OFFENDED THEIR BISHOP to stand excommunicate til the Synode released them The Council of Antioch likewise decreed that if any Lay man Presbyter or Deacon were excoÌmunicated BY HIS OWNE BISHOP no man should receiue him to the coÌmunion afore he were restored by his own Bishop or by a Synode The Council of Sardica in the same maner If any Deacon Presbyter or Clergy man be excoÌmunicated flie to another Bishop of his acquaintance that knoweth he is depriued of the coÌmunion BY HIS OVVNE BISHOP the other must not with reproch to a Bishop and his brother receiue that person to the coÌmunion The Council of Taurine to which Ambrose wrace decreed touching Exuperantius a Presbyter that had reproched Triferius his bishop was therfore by him put from the coÌmunion vt in eius arbitrio sit restitutio ipsius in cuius potestate eius abiectio hoc est vt quando velideÌ Exuper antius satisfecerit vel episcopo Triferio visum fuerit tuÌc gratiam communionis accipiat That his restitution should BE IN THE Bishops DISCRETION in whose power the reiecting of him was And therefore when Exuperantius the Presbyter should make satisfaction or Tâiferius the bishop be so content then he should be receiued to the communion The Council of Affrica taketh order for such as complaine against the iudgements of their owne bishops that they shalbe heard by the next bishops but if any man flie ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã THE CANONICAL SENTENCE OF HIS OVVNE BISHOP no man should receiue him to the communion By which it appeareth that Gregories words are very true where he saith THE BISHOPS now in the Church holdethe places of the Apostles THEY which haue that degree of regiment HAVE AVTHORITIE to bind and loose And Theophilacts THEY HAVE POVVER to binde and loose which haue the grace of a BISHOPS OFFICE as Peterhad The publike vse therefore of the keies to excommunicate from al Christian company belonged to the bishop as pastor of the place the Presbyters sate with him at first as assessors and consenters before Synodes vndertooke such causes but after when once Councils beganne to haue the
as if the whole Church ought not to be acquainted with sacred elections and to allowe them but for that a meane therein is to be obserued the prerogatiue being yeelded to assembly of Pastours and the second place to the liking of the godly magistrate and lastly the people to be certified openly of the whole matter and leane giuen theÌ if they haue any reason of dissenting to propose their causes orderly Which course being hitherto religiously and wisely obserued in this City when one Morellius a fanaticall spirite in fauor of the people presumed to reprehend his writing was worthily condemned both in this church and in many Synodes of France The choise of the seuen in the Acts maketh no perpetual nor essential rule for elections in the Church of God The Council of Laodicea did wel and wisely prohibite the people to haue the choise of such as should be called to the sacred ministery The Pastors elect the magistrates consent open report there of is made to the people and if they haue any iust cause to alleage against the parties chosen they must propose and prooue their exceptions and when Morellius woulde haue challenged more interest then this for the people in the election of their Pastours his opinion was condemned both by the censure of Geneua and by the Synodes of France All this is confessed by Master Bezaes owne testimonie Wee differ you thinke in some pointes from the manner of Geneua wee haue great reason so to doe They liue in a popular state we in a kingdome The people there heare the chiefest rule here the Prince and yet there the people are excluded from electing their Pastors If the multitude haue any cause to dislike their allegation is heard and examined by the Pastours and Magistrates but they haue no free power to frustrate the whole by dissenting much lesse to elect whome they like Nowe that our state hath farre better cause to exclude the multitude from electing their Bishops then theirs hath is soone perceiued The people there maintaine their Pastours our Bishops are not chargeable to the Commons but endowed by the liberalitie of Princes without any cost to the multitude Their Pastours are chosen out of the same Citie and their behauiour knowen to al the Inhabitants our Bishops are taken from other places of gouernement and not so much as by name knowen to the people which they shall guide With vs therefore there is no cause why the people should be parties or priuie to the choosing of their Bishops since they be neither troubled with the maintaining of them nor haue any triall or can giue anie testimonic of their liues and conuersations which were the greatest reasons that inclined the Fathers of the Primitiue Church to yeelde so much vnto the people in the choyce of their Bishops And lastly if Princes were not heades of their people and by Gods and mans law trusted with the direction and moderation of all externall and publike gouernement as well in Religion as in policie afore and aboue al others which are two most sufficient reasons to enforce that they ought to be trusted with elections if they please to vndertake that charge whereof they must yeelde an account to God yet the people of this realine at the making of the Law most apparantly submitted and transferred al their right and interest to the Princes Iudgement and wisedome which lawefully they might and wisely they did rather then to endanger the whole common wealth with such tumulets and vproates as the Primitiue Church tasted of and lay the gappe open againe to the factions and corruptions of the vnsettled and vnbrideled multitude Thinke you all corruptions are cut off by reseruing elections of Bishops to Princes Faceions tumultes I hope you will grant are by that means abolished and vtterly extinguished As for briâerie howsoeuer ambitious heads and couetous hands may lincke together vnder colour of commendation to deceiue and abuse Princes âares yet reason and duetie bindeth mee and all others to thinke and say that Princes persons are of all others farthest from taking money for any such respects The words of Guntchrannus Chlotharius sonne king of France more then a thousand yeeres agoe make me so to suppose of all Christian and godlie Princes who wheÌ Remigius bishop of Bourges was dead and many gifts were offred him by some that sought the place gaue them this answere It is not our princely maner to sel Bishopriks for mony neither is it your part to get them with rewardes lest wee bee infamed for filthie gaine and you compared to Simon Magus In meaner persons more iustly may corruption be feared then in Princes who of all others haue least neede and so least cause to set Churches to sale Their abundance their magnificence their conscience are sureties for the freedome of their choice And therfore I see no reason to distrust their elections as likelier to be more corrupt then the peoples It is farre easier for ambition to preuaile with the people then with the Prince And as for the meetnesse of men in learning and life to supplie such places Princes haue both larger scope to choose and better meanes to knowe who are fit then their people for since Bishops are not and for the most part cannot be chosen out of the fame Church or Citie what course can the people take to be assured of their abilitie or integritie whom they neither liue with nor whose doctrine or maners they are any whit acquainted with This difference betwixt our times and the former ages of the Primitiue Church whiles some marke not they crie importunely for the peoples presence and testimonie in the choice of Pastors neuer remembring the people before there were any Christian Magistrates must needes haue greater interest in the election of their Pastours then afterward they could haue and when godlie Princes beganne to intermeddle with Ecclesiasticall matters the peoples testimonie was still required because the parties chosen conuersed alwaies with them euen in their eies and eares whereby they coulde witnesse the behauiour of the electees to be sincere and blamelesse which in our dayes is cleane otherwise by reason the Uniuersities and other places of the Realme traine vp men meete for Episeopall charge and calling and not the same Churches and Cities where they shall gouerue Requiritur in ordinando Sacerdote etiam popâli praeseâtia vâsciant omnes certisint quod qui praestantior est ââ omni populo qui doctior qui sanctior qui omni virtute emâentioâ ille eligitur ad sacerdotium hoc attestante populo The peoples presence saith Ierome is required in ordaining a Priest or Bishop that all may knowe and bee sure that out of the whole people the better the holier the learneder the higher in al vertue euen he is chosen to the Priesthoode the people witnessing as much for that is it which the Apostle commandeth in the ordaining of a Priest saying hee must
any rashlie presumed to inuade that honor per ordinationeÌ regiam as ordained by the king not by the Metropolitane his Comprouincials no man might accept him or acknowledge him for a Bishop Neither hath the ancient Canon any other sense which saith ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã c. If any Bishop resting on worldly gouernors by their helpe get any Church let him be deposed excommunicated all that ioyne with him They do not exclude Princes froÌ naming electing of bishops no more then they do the people only they reiect violence forsomuch as a bishop by the rules of the holy Ghost must be throughly examined peaceablie ordained by such as shal impose hands on him and not pereÌptorilie intruded or imposed by any earthly force or power CHAP. XVI The meeting of Bishops in Synodes and who did call and moderate those assemblies in the Primitiue Church THe necessitie and authoritie of Synodes is not so much in question betwixt vs as the persons that should assemble and moderate those meetings The disciplinarians themselues if I be not deceiued are farre from making their Pastours or Presbyteries in euery parish supreme Iudges of doctrine and maners without all exception or reuocation and wee bee further for what if the Pastours or Presbyters of any place maintaine heresie or offer iniurie which are cases not rarelie incident but euery where occurrent eueÌ in those that beare the names of Christians shall impietie and iniustice so raigne and preuaile in the Church that none may withstand it or redresse it That were to make the house of God worse then a den of theeues for theeues feare the detecting and flie the punishing of their offences which many Presbyters would not if there were no way to restraine and ouer rule their pestilent and wicked purposes Wherefore as in ciuill affaires there are Lawes and Powers to vphold iustice and prohibite violence without the which humane societies could not consist so in the Church of Christ when it is without the helpe and assistance of a Christian magistrate there must bee some externall and iudiciall meanes to discerne errour and redresse wrong in case any particular person or Church be infected or oppressed otherwise there is no possibilitie for trueth and equitie to harbour long amongst the sonnes of men The remedie which the Primitiue Church had and vsed against heresie and iniurie she deriued as well from the promise made by Christes owne wordes as from the example of the Apostles in the like case Christ willing such of his Disciples as were grieued by their brethren after the first and second admonition to toll it to the Church addeth for the direction and confirmation of all religious assemblies and conferences Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the middest of them and whatsoeuer you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heauen and whatsoeuer you shall loose in earth shall bee loosed in heauen Whether the name of the Church in this place hee taken for the assemblie of Elders and Rulers vnder Moses lawe or of Pastours and Teachers vnder the Gospell to me it is indifferent this is euidentlie the order which our Sauiour willeth to be obserued from priuate admonition to goe to witnesses and from witnesses to assemblies So the worde ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã doeth most plainelie signifie and so the promise annexed doeth clearelie import where two or three are assembled together in my name I am in the midst of them Neither could any other course bee established in the Church for since an ende of controuersies must bee had amongst men least perpetuall contention bring finall confusion and plucke vp the verie rootes of all charitie and equitie from amongst men when neither priuate perswasion nor friendlie mediation can appease the parties contending what other order could bee prescribed but a Iudiciall hearing and determining of things in question Nowe Iudges must needes bee either single or assembled and single Iudges of force must either be Soueraigne and supreme Iudges or els vnder superiours appointed by the same warrant The Bishop of Rome claimeth a single and sole commission to heare and conclude all causes concerning either faith or right and were his proofe as good as his chalenge is proude it were woorth the discussing but the more he claimeth the more he sinneth by reason he taketh vnto himselfe without commission an infallible and ineuitable iudgement ouer all men and matters vpon the face of the earth that any way touch the trueth or the Church Princes are single and soueraigne Iudges of earthlie things and when they beleeue the defence and maintenance of the Church and fayth is by God himselfe committed to their power and care but Christ did not settle the sword to bee the generall and perpetuall rule to gouerne his Church for then without a Prince there could be no Church and consequentlie neither in the Apostles times nor three hundred yeeres after had Christ anie Church heere on earth since none of the Romane Princes that were lordes of the world publikelie maintained the Christian faith before Constantine Since we find no single nor supreme Iudges on whome the Church of Christ must alwayes depend for the debating and ending of ecclesiasticall strifes and contentions of necessitie there must either be none which were the vtter subuersion of all peace and order amongst the faithfull where there wanteth a Christian Magistrate or els the Pastours and Stewards of Christes Church to whome the care and charge thereof is committed must assemble together and with mutuall conference and consent performe those dueties to the Church in generall which otherwise they doe to each particular place and person for though Pastours be affixed to their places and charges yet that doeth not hinder the common care they should haue of all the members of Christes bodie and therefore when need so requireth they must as well imploy their trauell abroad as bestowe paines at home to direct or pacifie the household of faith This brotherlie kind of succouring and assisting each other in troubles and dangers is sometimes performed by letters but neuer so throughly and effectually as by meeting and assembling together when with deliberate and full aduise they may heare and determine what they thinke meetest for the safetie and quietnesse of the Church of God Their warrant so to doe is builded on the maine grounds of all diuine and humane societies strengthned by the promise of our Sauiour and assured vnto them by the example of the Apostles and perpetuall practise of the Church of Christ. By Gods lawe what obedience and reuerence the father may expect from his children the same or greater must all beleeuers yeeld to the fathers of their faith They are comprised in the same name and in the same commaundement with the fathers of our flesh and consequently must haue the same honour And if the fulnesse of each mans reward must be according to the excellencie
places forced the Bishops to assemble but once in the yeere so the Councill of Toledo determined for Spaine This holy generall Council decreeth that the authoritie of the former Canons standing good which command Synodes to be kept twise in the yere in respect of y e length of the way and pouertie of the Churches of Spaine the Bishops shal assemble once in the yere at the place which the Metropolitane shal appoint The 2. Council of Turon tooke the same order for France in cases of necessity It hath pleased this holy council that the Metropolitane the bishops of his Prouince shal meet twise euery yere in Synode at the place which the Metropolitan by his discretioÌ shal chuse or if there be an ineuitable necessitie then without all excuse of persons and occasion of pretences once in the yeere shall euery man make his repaire And if any Bishop faile so to come to the Synode let him stand excommunicate by his brethren of the same Prouince vntill a greater Synode and in the meane time let no Bishop of an other Prouince presume to communicate with him There is no Christian Realme nor Age wherein the vse of Synodes hath not bene thought needfull as well vnder beleeuing magistrates for consultation and direction as vnder Infidels for the stopping of irreligious opinions withstanding wicked enterprises and procuring the peace and holynesse of the Church as appeareth by the Councils that haue bene kept in all kingdoms and countries since the Apostles times when any matter of moment came in question which are extant to this day and likewise by the Synodes that euery Nation and Prouince did yeerely celebrate according to the rules of the great Nicene and Chalcedon Councils which can not be numbred and were not recorded Neither is the continuance of Prouinciall Synodes prescribed onely by Councils the Imperiall lawes commaund the like That all the ecclesiasticall State and sacred rules may with more diligence be obserued we require saith the Emperor euery Archbishop Patriarch Metropolitane to call vnto him once or twise euery yeere the Bishops that are vnder him in the same Prouince and throughly to examine all the causes which Bishops Clerkes or Monkes haue amongst themselues and to determine them so as what so euer is trespassed by any person against the Canons may bee reformed The lawes of Charles alleaging the Councils of Antioch and Chalcedon that the Bishops of euery Prouince with their Metropolitane should assemble in Councill twise in the yeere for the causes of the Church commaund that course to be continued and twise euery yeere Synodes to be assembled And vnlesse you giue the Pastor and Presbyters of euery parish full and free power to professe what religioÌ they best like to offer what wrongs they will to vse what impietie and tyrannie they themselues list without any restraint or redresse which were an heathenish if not an hellish confusioÌ you must where there is no christian magistrate as oftentimes in the Church of Christ there hath bene and may be none yeeld that libertie to the Church of Christ which euerie humane societie hath by the principles of nature to wit that the whole may guide each part and the greater number ouer-rule the lesser which without assembling in Synode can not be done We neuer meant to denie the authoritie or vse of lawfull Synodes we confesse they are a sure remedy against all confusion but this we dislike that you giue the power to cal Synodes from the Magistrate to the Metropolitane thereby maintaining a needelesse difference amongst Bishops and suffer none but such as you terme Bishops to haue voyces in Councils whereas euerie Pastour and Preacher hath as good right to sit there and by consent and subscription to determine as they haue What right wee yeelde to Christian Magistrates to call Synodes within their Territories shall soone appeare in the meane time you must tell vs who called Synodes in the Primitiue Church before Princes fauoured Christian Religion was it done by Magistrates who then were Infidels or by Metropolitanes And when Princes protected the truth did they moderate prouinciall Councils by their substitutes or was that charge committed to the Bishop of the chiefe and mother Church and Citie in euerie prouince you challenge to bee men of learning and reading speake of your credites who called in ancient times prouinciall Synodes or at any time who moderated them besides Metropolitanes If your Presbyteries by Gods essential and perpetual ordinance must haue a President to rule their actions for auoyding of confusion howe can Synodes be called gouerned without one to prescribe the time and place when and where the Pastours shall meete and when they are met to guide and moderate their assemblies perceiue you not that men liuing in diuers cities and countries and assembling but seldome haue more neede of some chiefe to call them together then those that liue in one place and euery day meete And if confusion and disorder in Presbyteries be pernicious to the Church is it not far more dangerous in Synodes Wherefore you must either cleane reiect Synodes and so make the Presbyters of eache parish supreme and soueraigne Iudges of all Ecclesiasticall matters or if you receiue Synodes you must withall admit some both to conuocate and moderate their meetings The Magistrate may callthem together and themselues when they are assembled may choose a director guider of their actions But when the Magistrate doeth not regard but rather afflict the Church as in times of infidelitie and heresie who shall then assemble the Pastours of any prouince to deliverate and determine matters of doubt or danger Shall error and iniurie ouerwhelme the church of God without any publike remonstrance or refusance In questions of faith cases of doubt matters of faction offers of wrong breach of all order and equitie shall eche place and Presbyterie be free to teach and doe what they please without depending on or so much as coÌferring with the rest of their brethren Cal you that the discipline of Christes Church and not rather the dissolution of all peace and subuersion of all trueth in the house of God I thinke you be not so farre besides your selues that you striue for this pestilent kinde of anarchie to be brought into the worlde our age is giddie enough without this frensie to put them forward Howbeit we seeke not what newe course you can deuise after fifteene hundred yeeres to gouerne the Church but what meanes the ancient and Primitiue Church of Christ had before Princes embraced the trueth to assemble Synodes and pacifie controuersies as well touching religion as Ecclesiasticall regiment and if in the Church stories you finde any other besides Metropolicanes that called and gouerned Prouinciall Councils name the men and note the places and we yeeld you the prize Metropolitanes were first established if not deuised by the Council of Nice before that we reade nothing of any Metropolitane
If that were their first originall they neede not be ashamed of it all Christendome these twelue hundred yeeres hath reuerenced and followed the decrees and iudgement of the Nicene Fathers the founders of your newe discipline compared with them in antiquitie and authoritie come a great way behinde them but if you looke better about you you shall finde that Metropolitanes are farre elder then the Nicene Council They are not deuised but acknowledged in the Councill of Nice by these wordes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let the ancient vsage continue still in Egypt Libia Pentapolis that the bishop of AlexaÌdria haue ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã power and authoritie ouer all these places Likewise at Antioch and in other prouinces ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Let the churches keepe their prerogatiues What those prerogatiues were which anciently belonged to the Metropolitane Churches and their Bishops though the Councill doeth not expresse them all yet these two are there mentioned In the 4. Canon ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The chiefe authoritie or ratification of things done must beloÌg in euery prouince to the Metropolitane and in this very Canon the next words are In al places or prouinces this is euident that if any man be made a bishop without the knowledge or consent of the Metropolitane this great Council determineth he must be no Bishop So that neither could Synodes be called nor Bishops ordained without y â Metropolitan by the Canons of the Nicene Council their power prerogatiue within their own prouince began not first in that Council but is there witnessed to be ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã an ancient vse as they speake in the 7. Canon ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã an ancient tradition The Councill of Antioch that assembled fifteene yeeres after the Council of Nice concluded as much as I do out of the Nicene Canons A Bishop must not be ordained without a Synode and the presence of the Metropolitane the Bishops of eache Prouince to make a Synode the Metropolitane by his letters must call together It is very requisite that in euery Prouince Councils be kept twise in the yeere to the which Presbyters Deacons and all others that thinke they haue wrong may repaire to receiue iustice from the Synode It is not lawfull for any to assemble Synodes of themselues without those to whom the in other Cities are committed For that is a perfect Council where the Metropolitane is present What power the Metropolitane had aboue the rest they likewise expresse The Bishops of euery prouince must agnise the Metropolitane to haue the ouerfight and care of the whole Prouince Wherefore wee thinke it meet that in honor he be afore them the rest of the bishops do nothing without him according to the canon of our fathers that hath anciently preuailed but onely such thinges as pertaine to their owne charge and Dioecese Further they shall enterprise nothing without the Metropolitane nor the Metropolitane without the consent of the rest The generall Councill of Ephesus affirmeth that Metropolitanes had their preeminence from the beginning of the Church It seemeth good to this sacred Occumenicall Council to reserue vnto euery prouince vntouched and vndiminished the rights which they haue had ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã froÌ the first beginning euery Metropolitan hauing libertie ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã to take the copie of our Acts for his owne security according to the vse anciently confirmed These 3. Councils confesse that Metropolitanes were no late nor newe deuise first authorized by the Council of Nice but their right and preeminence was an ancient vsage and Canon of the Church euen from the beginning Nowe that all Christendome euer after the Nicene Councill embraced this kinde of gouernement by Metropolitanes is a case so cleare that no shift can refuse it The second Councill of Arle in France that immediately followed the Councill of Nice saith Nullus episcopus sine Metropolitani per missa nec Episcopus Metropolitanus sine tribus Episcopis comprouincialibus praesumat Episcopum ordinare Let no Bishop presume to ordaine a Bishop without the permission of the Metropolitane nor the Metropolitane himselfe without three Bishops of the same Prouince For this is first euident that hee which is made a Bishop sine conscientia Metropolitani without the consent of his Metropolitane he ought to be no Bishop according to the great Councill of Nice And so for Synodes The Synode shall be assembled at the discretion of the Bishop of Arle and if any being summoned cannot come by reason of sickenes hee shall send another to supplie his place But if any shall neglect to be present or depart before the Councill be dissolued let him know he is excluded from the communion of his brethren and may not be receiued vnles he be absolued in the next Synode The Council of Laodieea in Phrygia Let Bishops be appointed to the regiment of the church by the iudgement of the Metropolitane and the Bishops adioyning being called to the Synode they must not neglect it but go thither and teach or learne what is requisite for the direction of the Church and the rest of their brethren The second Councill of Carthage in Affrica We all thinke good that the Primate of euery Prouince being not first consulted no man presume though with many Bishops in what place soeuer without his precept to ordaine a Bishop but if necessitie force three Bishops wheresoeuer with the Primates precept may ordaine a Bishop The fift Council of Carthage Wee thinke good that the Primates of euerie Prouince be written vnto that when they assemble Councils in their owne Prouinces they hinder not the day limited for the generall meeting The Mileuitane Councill Aurelius Bishop of Carthage saide This is a common cause that euery one of vs should acknowledge his order allowed him by God and the lower Bishops yeeld to those that are aboue them and not presume to doe anything without them Wherefore they which attempt to do ought without regard of their superiors must be accordingly repressed by the whole Synode Al the Bishops answered This order hath bin kept by our fathers and forefathers and by Gods grace shall be kept of vs. The Councill of Rhegium in Italie The ordination which the Canons define to be voyde we also determine to bee frustrate wherein since there were neither three present nor the Letters of the Comprouinciall Bishops nor the Metropolitanes good will obtained there was vtterly nothing that shoulde make a Bishop And againe Let no Bishop repaire to the Church which hath not her chiefe priest except he be inuited by the letters of the Metropolitane lest he be circumuented by the people The Council of Tarracon in Spaine If any Bishop warned by the Metropolitane neglect to come to the Synode except he be hindered by some corporal necessitie let him be depriued of the coÌmunion of all the Bishops
consist of the Pastors and some graue wise Lay Elders there dwelling to determine matters emergent within a circuite to be appointed vnto them and from them appeales to be made to the Synode of Pastours and Elders residing in some Principall and chiefe Citie within this Realme so that vnlesse the matter were of verie great weight the Pastours at large shoulde not bee troubled to assemble together and when they assembled their abode not to bee long for sauing of time and charge which men of their calling neither shoulde loose nor can spare lest wee busie them rather as Iudges of mens quarrels then Stewardes of Gods mysteries The chiefe ground of your Discipline is your owne deuise as may well appeare in that no part of it is ancient or was euer vsed in the Church of Christ and the ioyntes of it hang together like sicke mens dreames The Pastours and Lay Elders of euerie Church serued at first to fill vp your Presbyteries and now your bessels are so low drawen that you vse them for Synodes And where you could not abide that Bishops shoulde haue Dioceses nowe you be pleased that Presbyteries shal haue circuits and Ecclesiasticall regiment without their Church and Citie Metropolitanes were not long since the height of Antichristes pride and nowe you are forced for repressing of disorders and enormities in euery parish to allowe some chiefe and mother Cities and to yeelde their Presbyteries Metropoliticall iurisdiction ouer whole prouinces And all this your selues being priuate men take vpon you to deuise and establish without precedent to induce or authoritie to warrant your doings and yet you thinke it not lawfull for the Prince and the whole Realme to imitate the example of the Primitiue Church nor to followe the steppes of religious and godly Emperours that appointed Metropolitanes to call and moderate prouinciall Councils and for ease of all sides to examine such matters before hand as were not woorthie to molest and trouble full Synodes Wherein what else do you but shewe your inconstant and inconsiderate humours that woulde haue the Church guided by Presbyteries and Synodes parochiall and prouinciall and admit Presidents and chiefe Gouernours of either and yet cannot abide that Princes shoulde retaine the ancient and accustomed fourme of Ecclesiasticall regiment by Bishops and Metropolitanes settled so long agoe in the Church and euer since continued without interruption But I pray you what places or voices haue Lay Elders in Synodes what example or reason can you pretend for it If they may iudge in Presbyteries why not in Synodes Belike you woulde haue none but Bishops haue decisiue voyces in Councils according to the Romish order of celebrating Synodes If you were as farre from noueltie as I am from Poperie wee shoulde soone agree howbeit euerie thing vsed or beleeued in the Romish Church is not rashlie to be disclaimed You make it a resolute conclusion that Lay Elders were part of the Presbyteries in the Primitiue Church but when wee come to examine your proofes we find theÌ as weake as your imagination is strong Nowe though the Pastours of each parish when they are single might happilie neede as you thinke the aduise and assistance of Lay Presbyters yet that Pastours assembled in Synodes where their number is great their gifts of all sorts should stand in like neede of Lay Elders to leade or direct them is neither consequent to reason nor coherent with the rules of the sacred Scriptures for to whome hath the Lord committed the teaching of all Nations to pastors or to Lay Presbyters who by Gods law are appointed watchmeÌ in y â house of Israel Stewards ouer his familie Bishops ouer his Church and Leaders of his flocke Lay Elders or Christes Ministers If in the Church the sheepe must heare and follow their sheepeheardes as well for trueth of doctrine as holinesse of life by what commission bring you Lay Presbyters into Synodes where the Teachers and Pastors of an whole prouince or nation are assembled Shall your Lay Elders by Christs commandement be scholers in the Church and teachers in the Synode Or do the gifts and graces of preachers so change that in pulpit eache one must be beleeued and obeyed in Councill all ioyning together must'be restrained and directed by Lay Elders If you haue reason or authoritie for it let vs heare it if neither you trouble the Church of God with a pang of your wilfull contradiction and take vpon you to ouer-rule Christian princes and churches with greater surlines then euer did Patriarke or Pope In the Apostles Councill were not onely the Presbyters but all the brethren of the Church of Ierusalem and the letters of resolution were written in all their names and now you disdaine that anie Lay men should be present at your Prouinciall Synodes and Councils which you see the Apostles did not refuse To be present at Synodes is one thing to deliberate and determine in Synode is an other thing If you thinke that either Presbyters or Brethren were admitted to the Apostles Council to helpe and aide the Apostles in their debating or deciding the matter there questioned you be much deceiued The Apostles singled were sufficient to decide a greater doubt then that was much more then the whole assembly of the Apostles able to search out the truth thereof without their assistance The reason why al the church was admitted to be present to ioine with one accord in sending those letters I noted before not only the gainsaiers but the whole Church were to be resolued in a case that touched them all Otherwise aswell the people as the teachers of y â Iewes would sâil haue abhorred the GeÌtiles though beleuers as prophane persons vntil they had bin circuÌcisÄd which was the high way to euacuate the crosse of Christ and to frustrate his grace And therefore not for deliberation or for determination but for the satisfaction of contradictors and instruction of the rest was the whole Church assembled and vpon the full hearing and concluding of the question by the Apostles the rest ioyning with them acknowledged by their letters and messengers that it pleased the holie ghost the Gentiles shoulde not be troubled with circumcision nor the obseruation of Moses Law but that the partition wall betwixt them was broken downe by the blood of Christ and they which were Aliens from the common wealth of Israel strangers from the couenants of promise were nowe citizens with the Saints of the houshold of faith without the legall obseruances of Moses Law S. Luke himselfe witnesseth that to discusse the matter the Apostles and Elders assembled together and after great disputation on either side Peter and Iames concluded the cause whereto the rest consented Yet then Elders were admitted to deliberate with the Apostles in that Synode whereas you suffer none but Bishops to haue voices in Councils I make no doubt but Presbyters sate with the Apostles in Synode to consult of
Church Nowe if the execution of Lawes bee Dominion and Imperie in your conceite when as there is a present remedie by appeale to the Princes audience if anie wrong or hard measure be offred what will you call it to iudge by discretion as your Presbyteries doe ' which is the greater kind of Imperie to determine all matters as you list or to be limited in euery point by the Lawes of the Realme what you shall doe and if you transgresse neuer so little to giue account thereof to the supreme Magistrate ' If I vnderstand any thing it were more livertie for Bishops to bee referred to Synodes where they shoulde beare some sway then to be restrained to Lawes from which they may not shrinke The execution of your Presbytericall decrees you giue to the moderatour of your Presbyterie and yet you giue him no dominion nor imperie Why then are you so inconsiderate or so intemperate as to cal the execution of ecclesiastical Lawes by the Diocesane or Metropolitane a tyrannicall power and dominion ouer their brethren ' Would you haue no Lawes at all but euery case as it falleth out so to be censured at the pleasure of the Presbyters ' That were a right tyrannie in deede and not tolerable in any common wealth that hath a Christian Magistrate If you admit euery matter to be ruled by writtten Lawes and leaue appeales in all causes for such as find themselues grieued to the Prince which is obserued in this Realme the execution of Lawes is rather a burden imposed then an honour to be desired and but that some men must needes vndertake that charge it were more easie for Bishops to bee without it then alwayes to trouble and often to endanger themselues with the difficulties and penalties of so many Lawes as we haue and must haue to guide those causes that are committed to their Consistories They haue others to discharge it for them They must haue some to assist them except you wil haue Bishops to bestow more time in learning humane lawes then in meditating y t diuine Scriptures And therefore your inueighing at the Arches and other places of iudgement she weth you litle vnderstand what you say Were your Presbyteries or Synodes at their perils to handle and determine so manie so weightie causes as they are you woulde reuerence them as much as euer you disgraced them and see your own follie in impugning that which cannot be wanted But what stand I on these things which experience wil proue to be requisite in a Christian common wealth better then speech It sufficeth me that Metropolitanes were long before the Nicene Council accepted and vsed in the Church of Christ as necessarie persons to assemble the Synodes of eche Prouince vpon all occasions and to ouersee as well the election as ordination of Bishops within their charge This if you graunt necessitie will force you to yeeld them the rest as it did y t Councils Princes that were long before our times If you like not the wisedome and order of the vniuersal and auncient Church of Christ you must tell vs in your new platforme who shall call and moderate Prouinciall Synodes when occasion requireth or whether your Presbyters shall bee supreme Moderators of all matters without expecting or regarding any Synodall assemblies or Iudgements Synodes we admit some to gather and gouerne those assemblies but to preuent ambition we would haue that priuiledge to goe rounde by course to all the Pastors of euery Prouince You may doe well to change Deacons euerie day Bishops euery weeke Presbyters euery moneth and Metropolitanes euery quarter that the gouernment of the house of God may goe round by course And surely you misse not much of it Deacons and Presbyters dure with you for a yeere Bishops you thinke in the Apostles times were changed euerie weeke what space you wil appoint to Metropolitanes wee yet know not longer then one Synode I presume you wil haue no man to continue But what reason or example haue you for it ' Examples perhaps as you care for none so you seeke for none for if examples might preuaile with you wee haue the setled and approued order of the primitiue Church against you that Metropolitanes neuer went by course Yea the name it selfe doeth inferre as much for if he be Metropolitane that is Bishop of the Metropolis or Mother citie the mother Citie remayning alwaies one and the same the priuiledge of the Metropolitane could neuer change by course To aske you for reason which leane onelie to your willes and regarde no mens iudgements but your owne will seeme straunge yet heare the resolution of one that highly fauoureth your newe founde discipline who positiuely concludeth that this circular regiment by course as it is not able to resist ambition and adulation so it will breede contempts and factions in the Church of God His words be Dicamus ergo primatum illum ordinis per mutuae successionis vices ipsa tandem experieÌtia compertum fuisse non satis virium nec aà ambitiosos Pastores nec ad auditores alios quideÌ vanos alios verò adulatorio spiritu praeditos compescendos habuisse communicata videlicet singulis Pastoribus per vices huius primatus dignitate Itaqâe quod singulorum se cundum successionem commune fuit visum fuit aa vnum eum quidem totius Presbyterij iudicio delectum transferre quod certè reprehendinec potest nec debet quum praesertim vetustus hic mosprimum Presbyterum deligendi in AlexaÌdrina celeberrima ecclesia iam inde à Marco Euangelista esset obseruatus Alteram causam affert Ambrosius longè maximi momenti nempe quòd primatu sic ad singulos per vices perueniente singulis Pastoribus non semper ad hanc gubernationem suscipiendam sdoneis compertis it a fieret vt indigni inter dum praeessent quaeres tum Presbyterij contemptum secum trahebat tum aditum factionibus aperiebat Let vs then auouch that this Primacie of order going round by course of mutuall succession was at length by very experience found not to haue force inough to represse ambitious Pastors neither vaine and flattering Auditors whiles euery Pastour in his course enioyed this superioritie Therefore that which was common to all by succession it seemed good to transferre to one chosen by the iudgement of the whole Presbyterie the which neither can nor ought to be reprehended especially since this ancient maner to choose the chiefe of the Presbyterie was obserued in the famous Church of Alexandria euen from Marke the Euangelist Another cause of greatest waight without comparison doeth Ambrose alleage that this Primacie so going round to euery one by course some Pastours sometimes were found vnfit to vndertake this gouernment and thereby it came to passe that such as were vnwoorthie oft times ruled the rest which brought with it the contempt of the Presbyterie and opened a gappe vnto factions How farre Ambrose is mistaken I haue shewed before hee saieth