come Of Lay men the Councell of Hispalis sayeth Indecorum est Laicum vicarium esse Episcopi Seculares in ecclesia iudicare Vndâ— oportet nos diuinis libris sanctorum Patrâ—m obedire praecepâ—is constituentes vt hij qui in administrationibus ecclesiae Pontificibus sociantur discrepare non debe ant nec professione nec habitu It is an vnseemely thing for a laie man to be vice gerent to a Bishop and for Secular men to iudge in the Church Wherefore we must obey the bookes of God and the precepts of our fathers being holy men decreeing that they which are ioyned with the Bishops in the administrations of the Church should not differ from them neither in profession nor habite Iflaie Elders had bene currant in Gregories time and assisted the Bishop in Clergie mens causes as his Coassessors the Councill of Hispalis not long after him did open wrong to the trueth in saying it was against the booke of God and rules of their forefathers that laie men should bee ioyned with Bishops in any causes or matters of the Church but for any thing we yet see they spake the trueth and no more then was long before confirmed as well by the decrees of Councils as publike lawes of the Romane empire Si ecclesiastica causa est nullam communionem habeant Iudices â—iuâ—les circa talem examinationem sed sanctissimus Episcopus secundum sacr as regulas causae finem imponat If it be an ecclesiasticall cause saieth Iustinian the Emperour let not the ciuill or temporall Iudges any way intermeddle with the examination thereof but according to the sacred rules let the most holy Bishop determine the matter Nowe who were to be present with the Bishop when he sate in iudgement and assist him the fourth Councill of Carthage declareth in these wordes Episcopus nullius causam audiat absque praesentia Clericorum suorum alioquin irrita erit sententia Episcopâ— nisi Clericorum praesentia confirmetur Let the Bishop determine no mans cause without the presence of his Clergie otherwise the sentence of the Bishop shall bee voyde that is not confirmed with the presence of the Clergie With the Bishop sate no laie Elders in iudgement but his owne Clergie and those not all but the grauer and elder sort of them The Deacons and the rest of the Clergie beneath their degree might not sit with the Priests much lesse with the Bishop The Council of Nice saieth Sed nec sedere Diaconis licet in medio Presbyterorum The Deacons may not sit in the company or assemblie of Priests So that onely Clergie men and Priests sate with the Bishop in Church and Consistorie and their presence and aduise was required as we see by the Council of Carthage before the Bishop might giue iudgement against any man This course Gregorie willeth the Bishop of Panormus in Sicelie to obserue as neerest to the Canons and freest from all chalenge wheÌ„ he conuented any Clergie man not rashly to pronounce but aduisedly to deliberate with the wisest and eldest of his Clergie and then to proceed accordingly for Priests and Deacons the case is cleare the Bishop alone might not depriue them The Councill of Hispalis saieth Episcopus Sacerdotibus ac Ministriâ— solus honorem dare potest solus auferre non potest The Bishop alone may giue Priests and Deacons their honour but hee can not take it from them alone They may not be condemned by one neither may they loose the priuiledge of their honour by the iudgement of one but being presented to the iudgement of a Synode let them bee ruled and ordered as the Canon prescribeth Ouer the rest the Bishop alone might sit Iudge without the assistance of other Bishops but not without the Elders of his owne Church and Clergie for so the Councill of Carthage decreeth and Gregorie aduiseth If any Priestes or Deacons bee accused let the Bishop of the parties accused discusse their causes taking to him a lawfull number sixe in a Priests three in a Deacons of the Bishops adioyning such as the defendants shall require The causes of the rest of the Clergie the Bishop of the place alone shall heare and determine Laie Elders I trust are excluded by this Canon from deciding or debating the causes of any Priestes Deacons or other Clergie men and so are they by all the Canons that were euer made in any Councill Prouinciall or Generall since the Apostles times Lastlie the Canon lawe itselfe is produced for the name of laie Elders I might take iust exception against the Compiler of those decrees his corruptions and ouersights doe passe the number of his leaues Hieromes name is twise abused by him and twise alleaged by you without any regard whether those authorities bee found in his workes or make to your purpose The first is 16. quaest 1. § ecclesia which place is no where found in Hierome though his booke ad Rusticum bee extant prescribing the maner how a Monke should order his life Some of the wordes were patched out of his Commentaries vpon Esaie and the rest touching Monkes added which are not at all in Hierome The second place distinct 95. ecce ego is a lustie tale not of Hieroms but of some others in his name beginning with a forged inscription and ending with a presumptuous vntrueth and fraighted in the middle with vnsauourie rayling Hierome wrate in deede to Rusticus a French man but as yet no Clergie man that euer he wrate vnto him after he was Bishop of Narbon neither doe we reade it in any of his workes neither is it likely for so much as Leo Bishop of Rome more then thirtie yeeres after Hieromes death wrate Ad Rusticum Narbonensem Episcopum to Rusticus Bishop of Narbon And touching the matter of which this counterfeit Hierome talketh Leo writing vnto the Bishops of France and Germanie conuicteth this prater of manifest falsehood for where this forged Hierome saieth it was vsed in Rome in Africa in the East in Spaine France and Britaine and calleth them proud enuious and most iniurious Prelates that otherwise doe Leo with a Council of Bishops affirmeth it was not vsed but where men were altogether ignorant of the ecclesiastical rules and expresselie forbiddeth it by a Synodall consent as contrarie to the Canons Whosoeuer were the author of that sturdie epistle he turneth your laie Elders cleane out of doores for as hee affirmeth that Presbyters or Elders were at first Iudges of the Churches affaires and present at the Bishops Councils so hee saieth the same Elders must preache in the Church blesse and exhort the people consecrate Christ at the Altar restore the Communion visite the sicke At que omnia Dei Sacramenta complere and finishe all the Sacramentes of God I shall not neede to put you in minde that heere is no roume for Laie Elders the woordes bee so playne that if you but reade them I thinke you will quickely resigne all
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 questiō 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
or Father They are the conceits of some late Writers that as touching the office and function of Bishops would faine finde a difference betwixt the Apostles times and the next ages ensuing lest they should be conuinced to haue reiected the vniuersal order of the ancient and Primitiue Church of Christ without any good and sufficient warrant The consent of all ages and Churches is so strōg against them that they are hard driuen to hunt after euerie syllable that soundeth any thing that way yet can they light on no sure ground to builde their late deuises on or to weaken the generall and perpetuall course which the Church of Christ hath in all places kept inuiolable euen from the Apostles times A few wordes of Ambrose are set downe to beare all this burden but they are so insufficient and impertinent to this purpose that they bewray the weakenesse of their newe frame for Ambrose speaketh not one word either of going by course or of changing after a time only he saith Bishops at first were placed by order and not by election that is the eldest or worthiest had the place whiles he liued and after him the next in order without any further choice for that order which he speaketh of if any such were proceeded from the first planters of the Churches and went either by senioritie of time or prioritie of place allotted euerie man according to the gifts and graces which he had receiued of the holie Ghost This wee may freely grant without any repugnance or annoyance to the vocation or function of Bishops let the Disciplinists confesse there was a superiour and distinct charge of the President or chiefe from the rest of the Presbyters as well in guiding the keyes as imposing hands and whether they were taken to the office by election or by order to vs it is all one I hope the placing of the Presbyters in order according to their gifts in the Churches where the Apostles preached could not be without the Apostles ouersight and direction and so long whether they set such in order as were fittest for the place or whether they left it to the discretion and election of the rest we greatly force not Howbeit the wordes of Ierome are so expresse that Bishops were made by election euen in the Apostles times that I see not howe they should be reconciled with their collection out of Ambrose Alexandriae à Marco Euangelista Presbyteri vnum semper ex se electum in celsiore gradu collocatum Episcopum nominabant At Alexandria euen from Marke the Euangelist the Presbyters alwayes choosing one of themselues and placing him in an higher degree called him a Bishop Marke died sixe yeeres before Peter and Paul as the Ecclesiasticall storie witnesseth consequently the first Bishop of Alexandria was elected in the Apostles times yea that Church as Ierome saieth did alwayes elect there neuer succeeded any by order For the manner of their succeeding whether by order or by choice I make not so great account as for their continuance The Patrones of the late Discipline would make vs beleeue that in the Apostles times the Episcopall dignitie or regiment of the Presbyterie went round by course to all the Presbyters and dured a weeke or some such time for ghesses must serue them when other proofes faile them which assertion of theirs I knowe not whether I should thinke it proceeded of too much ignorance or too little conscience If the men were not well learned I should suspect ignorance if the case were not more then cleere I woulde not chalenge their conscience But being as they are and the case so cleere that in my simple reading I neuer sawe cleerer nor plainer excepting alwayes the certaintie of the sacred Scriptures let the Christian Reader iudge for I dare not pronounce with what intent a manifest trueth is not onely dissembled but stoutly contradicted and an euident falshoode auouched and aduanced to the height of an Apostolike and diuine ordinance by the chiefest pillars of these newe found Consistories It is lately deliuered as an Oracle that vnder the Apostles there were no Gouernors of the Presbyteries whom they and we call Bishops but such as dured for a short time and changed round by course and this is called the Apostolike and diuine institution How palpale an vntruth this is it is no hard matter for meane scholers to discerne The first Bishop of Alexandria after Marke was Anianus made the eightyeere of Neroes raigne and he continued two and twentie yeeres before Abilius succeeded him Abilius sate thirteene yeeres and dying left the place to Cerdo These three succeeded one an other Saint Iohn yet liuing neither had Alexandria any moe then two Bishops in 35. yeeres after the death of Marke Euodius made Bishop of Antioch fiue and twentie yeeres before the death of Peter and Paul suruiued them one yeere and after him succeeded Ignatius who outliued Saint Iohn and died in the eleuenth yeere of Traiane leauing the place to Heron after he had kept it fourtie yeeres so that in 66. yeeres the Church of Antioch had but two Bishops At Ierusalem Iames called the Lordes brother sate Bishop thirtie yeeres and Simeon that succeeded him kept the place eight and thirtie yeeres the Church of Ierusalem hauing in threescore and eight yeeres but two Bishops At Rome whiles Saint Iohn liued there were but three Bishops Linus Anacletus and Clemens which three continued two and thirtie yeres If this be not sufficient let them take the example of Polycarpe made Bishop of Smyrna by the Apostles themselues and continuing a long time Bishop of that Church and departing this life a verie aged man with a most glorious and most noble kind of Martyrdome The space he sate Bishop of Smyrna if it were not fourescore and sixe yeres for so long he had serued Christ as his answere sheweth to the Proconsul of Asia yet it must needes be aboue threescore and tenne yeeres for hee liued so many yeeres after Saint Iohn whose scholler hee was and by whome he was made Bishop of Smyrna and died as the whole Church of Smyrna in their letters entitled him at the time of his death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bishop of the Catholike Church at Smyrna This one instance is able to marre the whole plot of their supposed Apostolicall changeable regencie for no part of this Storie can be doubted Was he not made bishop of Smyrna by the Apostles Ierom Eusebius Tertullian and Irenaeus that liued with him and learned so much of him affirme it Liued he not Bishop of Smyrna so long time The whole Church of Smyrna gaue him that title at his death their letters be yet extant in Eusebius The Emperours vnder whom he died were Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus as Eusebius and Ierome do witnesse who beganne their raigne 64. after the death of Saint Iohn Polycarpe suffering the
assisted his father 500. yeeres taught his children which were then the Church to call on the name of the Lord and continued that charge 112. yeeres after his fathers death Enosh did the like to Seth and all the heires of the promise before the flood to their fathers God alwayes stirring vp the spirits of some excellent men to preach in his Church whiles their fathers yet liued and guided the number of the faithfull So Enoch pleased God and prophecied in his Church 300. yeeres first vnder Adam and after vnder Seth in whose time he was translated So Noah preached righteousnesse and repentance to the olde world beginning vnder Enoch the sonne of Seth and holding on six descents vntil the flood came the very same yeere that his grandfather Methusalem died After whose death and the drowning of the world Noah gouerned the Church 350. yeeres and left the regiment thereof as also the inheritance of the blessing and promise to Sem his eldest sonne that was saued with him in the Arke from the waters and blessed by him Sem succeeding his father in the couenant of peace confirmation of the promise and dignitie of the first borne gouerned the Church 350. yeeres vnder his father and 152. yeeres after him cuen till Abraham was dead Isaac dinune and Iacob 50. yeeres olde and might well for his age birthright and blessing be that Melchizedec king of Salem in Canaan that met Abraham returning from the slaughter of his enemies and blessed him that had the promises for he must be greater then Abraham that blessed Abraham as the Apostle inferreth and greater then Abraham could none be but one that had the same promises which Abraham had and that before him Nowe Noah was dead 13. yeeres before Abraham entred Canaan and Sem ten ascents before Abraham inherited the same blessing and promise that Abraham did During whose life and he ouer liued Abraham none of his of spring could haue the honour of the kingdome and priesthood from him much lesse could any stranger excell him or come neere him in the dignitie of his priesthood For first in his house was the Church God vouchsafing to bee called the God of Sem as he was after the God of Abraham and so blessing his Tents with righteousnesse of faith and heauenlie peace that Noah foreseeing it in spirite besought God to perswade and incline Iapheth his yonger sonne to dwell in the Tents of Sem. Next in his seed was the promised blessing the true cause of Abrahams greatnesse and that 360. yeeres before it was in Abraham and from him God lineally deriued it vnto Abraham by that blessing as from the father both of Christ and of Abraham Thirdly in his person was the prerogatiue of the first borne to bee chiefe ouer his brethren as well in religion as in ciuill regiment and consequently to be king and priest in the house of God Fourthlie by the length of his life he wel resembled the true Melchizedec who by his birthright is king and priest for euer ouer the sonnes of God for he came out of the Arke as from an other world no man liuing that knew his beginning he dured more then 500. yeeres euen twelue descents after the flood and so neither the beginning nor end of his dayes were knowen to the heires of promise Lastly successour on earth he left none by reason Abraham whom God called from his countrie kinred and fathers house to inherite the promise and blessing next after Sem and likewise Isaac and Iacob heires of the same promise with him soiourned as strangers and peregrines first in the land of Canaan where Sem yet liued and by force of his birthright and blessing continued a king and priest in his fathers house and citie which was then the Church of God and after in the land of Egypt vntill the departure of Iacobs posteritie thence amongst whose sonnes God diuided the honours and dignities of Sem appointing the scepter and seed to Iudah the priesthood to Leui the birthright to Ioseph and neuer conioyned them after in any but in Christ Iesus the onely priest that euer succeeded according to the order of Melchizedec which farre excelled the order of Aaron that had the kingdome and birthright seuered from it Whosoeuer Melchizedec was this was the gouernement of the Church so long as Sem liued which appeared in the person of Melchizedec to wit the father was ruler ouer his children and the first borne ouer his brethren as well in pietie as in policie and this priuiledge of the eldest brethren to be kings and Priests in their fathers house represented the choice that God made of his Saints in Christ his sonne to be a royall Priesthood to offer vp spiritual sacrifices acceptable vnto himselfe by Iesus Christ. From Iacob to Moses as the number of Gods children increased so the roiall priesthood vtterly ceased and the gouernement of the Church was much obscured by the perpetuall pilgrimage of Iacob and bondage of his ofspring till God by Moses wrought their deliuerance the Church in the meane time being guided first by Iacob then by Ioseph after by the heads and fathers of the twelue Tribes Iudah being alwayes the chiefest both in Egypt and Canaan and his fathers sonnes bowing vnto him according to the tenor of Iacobs blessing And so from Adam to Moses we finde a continuall superioritie of the father ouer his children and the first borne aboue his brethren approoued and established by God himselfe in the regiment of his Church and not any precept or precedent for equalitie CHAP. II. The Leuiticall and Nationall regiment of the Church vnder the Lawe WHen it pleased the goodnesse of God to extend the true knowledge of himselfe to the whole seed of Iacob to bring a people out of Egypt to be his peculiar he seuered from the rest the Tribe of Leui to attend the Arke and offerings which he commanded to teach their brethren the iudgements and statutes of their God For the Church being enlarged and spred ouer the whole nation the domesticall discipline that was before the lawe could not so well fit the gouernment of a people as of an household and therefore out of twelue Tribes God chose one to retaine the priesthood and haue the ouersight of all holy things and execution of all sacred seruice In which Tribe according to the number and order of the first fathers and families descended from Leui the sonne of Iacob God did proportion and establish diuers superiorities and dignities as well in answering the sentence of the lawe to the people as in seruing him at his altar and those not onely of Priests aboue Leuites but of priests aboue priests and of Leuites among themselues The first distinction was of Priests aboue Leuites that is of Aaron his sonnes aboue the rest of y ◠same Tribe who were restrained frō touching or seeing the holy things cōmitted to the
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 iâ—risdiction 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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