vnto the Church or vnto the bodie of Christ making it thereby both waies a monster There is a saying of Will Summer that whosoeuer pinched him he wold be sure to strike him that stood next him And I cannot more fitly resemble our reformers rashnes Things go not here as they would haue them which pincheth them therupon whilest they would be reuenged vppon those that hinder their plots then laying about them like mad men haue stroke one for another and so as in such cases it oft falleth out haue maimed verie sore their next and best friends For I do not remember that either Geneua France the low Countries or Scotland do so account of Doctors as our men do They recken them not among those officers that Christ hath appointed for the gouernment of the church They haue no places or voices but of curtesie in their consistories their Senates or glorious body of Christ is without them and yet they esteeme of themselues to be as perfect and entire bodies as comely of as beautifull a stature as our platformers their scollers can deuise and counterfeit anie But heare theyr owne wordes The Ecclesiasticall discipline of France speaketh in this sort The Elders and Deacons do make the Ecclesiasticall Senate wherein the Ministers of the word sit as chiefe And after thus of doctors as I take it The professors of diuinity may bee admitted into the consistory It is also thus decreed in the nationall councell held in Hage 1586. In all churches the consistorie shall be compounded of Ministers elders By Ministers they meane pastors as it appeareth there afterwards in the 74. article In Scotland likewise the managing of their discipline is wholy in the handes of their pastors and Aldermen They make mention indeed of doctors but yet so as their consistories may bee perfect inough without them And I see no other office assigned there vnto them then to be schoole-masters or to reade Lectures in the vniuersities I finde it reported in like sorte that at Geneua Beza is both pastor and doctor Furthermore Caluin is of opinion that the Doctor hath not to deale with the administration of Discipline And it is apparant by the lawes of Geneua of that schoole that sauing now it falleth out Beza is the Rector of the school otherwise the doctor as doctor for any thing I finde is not of the consistorie at the least I suppose that many are not For they saie that as things are now disposed they comprehend vnder this title of Doctors c. the order of schooles teachers of tongues and of humane sciences as well as teachers of diuinitie But Bertrand is plaine and direct The Doctors charge sayth he reacheth not to the charge of gouernment and execution of discipline c. Againe The Consistorie is composed made and consisteth of the Pastors and Elders Wherevnto also are admitted and receiued the doctors and Deacons so farre forth and in as much as they shall iudge it to bee expedient c. Sohnius also saith Doctores non habebant Ecclesiae inspectionem aut gubernationem The Doctors had not the ouer-sight or rule of the Church but were like to the catechisors and teachers of young-linges which were afterward appointed Danaeus declaring that the administration of their discipline doth onely belong to their Pastors and Elders telleth vs also and that from Geneua that for a neede they may take Deacons into theyr Consistories but doth not once so much as name the Doctor to be a man worthie of anie such fauour Vezelius likewise sendeth vs worde from Newstade that the Doctors office is not amongst the ordinarie functions which are to be perpetuall in the Church and that it doth rather appertaine to the schooles Franciscus Iunius a principall consistorian is also most resolute that the Doctor hath not to deale in the Ecclesiasticall gouernment but onely in the scholasticall and that his office is not otherwise an ecclesiasticall office but as schooles are Seminaria Ecclesiae the Seminaries of the Church and so schoole-masters ecclesiastical officers Whose dutie saith Bannosius is to teach youth not as Pastors do in their common language sed Graeco Latino Hebraeo but in Latine Greeke and Hebrue And for anie place in their Elderships he assigneth them none making their Consistories to consist onely of Pastors Deacons and Elders Now if these things be true which heere I haue reported is it not wonderfull with what faces Cartwright and the rest dare tell vs so confidently of such necessity of their pretended doctors as before I haue noted Do all the reformed Churches which they brag of dwell in such darknesse as that they deforme and mayme Christs bodie and knowe it not Nay peraduenture if they bee pressed ouer eagerly with these examples and testimonies they will not sticke to tell either Geneua or the best of them all another manner of tale Where it is obiected agaynst the great necessitie of Doctors which is pretended that some Churches haue them not aunswere is made that Sacraments are verie profitable and yet sometime the Church cannot haue them and that although they are not simplie and absolutely necessarie to saluation yet so necessarie they are as the contempt and wilfull neglect of them is damnable And there is theyr aunswere implying forsooth such a lyke necessitie of his Doctors as though none coulde bee saued that contemned this fancie of theirs Which aunswere is puffed vp with an hereticall humour of condemning all men that doo withstand them or if his dearest friend should speake for him the best sense that it can possiblie carrie is this that those who incounter with these Doctors are in his opinion but sillie and ignoraunt persons For otherwise if they knewe but as much as hee and his companions doo knowe and shoulde resist these officers there were then no remedie with them by his diuinitie but fall they must needes within the same daunger that remayneth for such as contemne the holy Sacramentes So as if hee escape the sayde imputation of that hereticall humour of condemning yet another marke thereof sticketh faster both vppon him and his fauourers then I feare they will easily shake off from them and that is pride and an ouer-weening of themselues and their owne learning But it is a shame that such insolencie is not more carefully repressed They haue rashly written they knowe not what and for their reputations with most ridiculous obstinacie euen agaynst Gods forbod all the world in effect impugning them yet they will needes looke bigge on the matter and blush not In their first admonitiō they themselues did most faithfully after their manner assure the high Court of parliament that the officers which had to deale in the Ecclesiasticall discipline by them at that time vrged so vehemently were Pastors Elders and Deacons And after To these three ioyntly the Ministers Seniors and Deacons is the whole regiment of
to their consultations what course they were best to take for their owne credits proceed to the qualities wherewithall they affirme that their Elders by the worde of god must needes be indued Chap. XV. Their vncertaintie where to find the particular offices of theyr Aldermen FOr my better enterance into this poynt followinge I will beginne with some of their owne groundes Thea gouernment of the church saith Martin must be by these officers and offices alone and by no other which the Lord hath set downe and limited in his word And the demonstrator Corah Datha◠and Abiram were punished hauinge no warrant of that they tooke in hand A very good caueat for their Elders Let vs then see what those particular duties are which they ascribe vnto them But here you must vnderstand that euery parish is to be deuided into seuerall Tribes according to the number of their Elders euery Elder hauing one of them assigned vnto his charge And their office is if any thinge be done amisse priuatly within their compasses to reproue or correct the offenders priuatly but if the offender be obstinate or the offence publick they must bring them to the Eldership Secondly they must know euery house and particular person in the parish that they may enforme the ministers of their estate If any straūger come to dwell within their seuerall tribes they must signifie the same vnto the pastor that hee may examine his religion Thirdly if any infants are to be baptised they must likewise giue the pastor notice therof Fourthly at the time of the communiō they must all ioyntly see that no excommunicate persons come into the church likewise helpe and assist the pastor at Geneua the Elder ministreth the cuppe take heede that none come to the Lords table whose religion and honesty should not be knowen vnto them and with whom the pastor and Doctor should not haue dealt before In general tearmes their whole duety is to helpe to informe and to aide the pastors and Doctors to haue a vigilant eye to the obseruation of all such ceremonies lawes and orders as they themselues with their fellow Senators should constitute and ordaine Now surely it were a goodly fight I haue occasion often to repeate it to see the noblemen and gentlemen of England discharginge all these duties in their owne persons and especially ministringe the cuppe at the holy communion In what reputation shoulde the ministers be that shoulde haue such eyes such aiders such informers What would the people thinke you say when they should see these noble men and gentlemen come to the Pastors with their caps in their hands seuerally saying May it please you Sir there is a stranger come lately to dwell within my Tribe another there is a childe to be Baptised within my tribe another this and that fellow are obstinate persons within my Tribe and altogether if they know any that presumed to come to the Communion Oh Sir here is a fellow you haue not spoken withall and when I say the people shoulde see these things c. on the other side likewise perceaue and heare their Ministers as I imagine giue a nodde with their heads and aunswere vnto them very well yee haue done your duties and we commend you for it bring this take away that c would they not fall downe think you and worship these Rabbies But you must remember alwaies that they hate superiority Equality that is it which pleaseth them Indeede they talke of an equality amongst themselues but otherwise they affect no small superiority ouer all men besides Well it is meete we should now consider what proofe they haue for all these particular dueties out of the word of God And here I pray you first of all remember that Beza is brought to this issue that whether there were any such Elders at all euer instituted by Moises from whom they fette them or not he hath nothing else to say but probabile est it is probable there were such And muche to the same effect it is that he bringeth for their seuerall offices For speaking of them especially besides that he nameth onely this one office as finding no others in the old Testament vz. that the duety of the chiefe rulers of the Synagogues was non admittere ad Synagogas quos Hierosolomitanum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indicasset not to admit them to the Synagogues whome the Councell at Ierusalem had cast out he bringeth but this simple demonstration for the proofe of it Horum proculdubio partes fuerunt out of doubt it was their partes thus to doe Proculdubio probabile est out of doubt it is probable Notable proofes Whosoeuer will take the paines to reade that parte of his Booke de Presbyterio shall finde little else in it but his probabilities and groundlesse assertions Sauing that he further saith there is mention made in the new Testament of gouernors and ruling Elders which we deny with all the ancient fathers to haue any relation to their deuised Elders and thereupon whatsoeuer hath beene thought meete to be the office of rulers is ascribed belike at Geneua vnto them The treatise is surely vnworthy such a mans as maister Beza would be accounted And vppon the like conceipt also our Englishe Reformers haue taken vppon them to set downe all the former duties mentioned of their Elders not that they find them in the word of God but because they fit their turnes and doe account them necessary to set vp their own kingdom For proofe whereof I wil only trouble you with one mans authority but that shall be authenticall both with the brotherhood of England and also with them of Geneua where the book for the excellency of it hath been reprinted The author of that booke hauing at large described the said duties with a kind of so forth alia huiusinodi so as they may adde more when they list the force of truth doth wringe from him these words First that all these said duties speciatim in Scripturis non exprimantur are not specially expressed in the Scriptures Why then let your Elders remēber your former rule least for vsurping such offices as they haue no warrant for out of the word of God they perish with Corah Dathan and Abiram Yea but saith he though the Scriptures doe not expresse them yet that there should bee suche Archrulers with these offices as were in veteri Iudoeorum Ecclesia in the old Church of the Iewes it greatly tendeth ad ordinem decorum vtilitatem fructum Ecclesi◠to the order decency profite and fruit of the Church And what if this be denied or who shall iudge whether they be so profitable or not or when will they prooue that the duties mentioned did belong to the Archsynagogians And yet for all these vncertainties or as Cartwrights terme is meere beggeries he proceedeth to another Consistorian demonstration There are no other Elders mentioned in the Scriptures to whont these so
man shall oppose against my exposition the authority of certayne of the aunciente fathers ad verbum dei prouoco I doe appeale to the word of God and I desire that the reasons which I haue broughte for it may be refelled How crancke hee is with the auncient fathers but not a word of M. Caluin And his reason as I take it was this bicause M. Caluins authority seruinge him much better for the credite of diuers Disciplinary positions then all the auncient fathers doe hee is more desirous for the continuance of his reputation then of all theirs A fourth matter there is also concerning these widdowes which is of the greatest importance and is yet no better agreed vpon then as you haue heard of the rest Be it that in the Apostles times there were such widdowes as they affecte yet the question is whether it be necessary that now there should bee such church-officers or new colleges of widdowes set vp in euery parish to looke to the poore that be sicke or not Some of their proctors doe wauer much in this point some are resolute for them some are as resolute to my vnderstanding against them First I pray you let M. Cartwright speak his pleasure Saint Paule reckoneth vp all the ordinary and perpetuall offices of the Church of the Doctor of the Pastor of the Deacon of the Elder and leaueth not out so much as the Widdow Againe Now there is not so great vse of these widdowes with vs c. Part of the necessity why they were first founded grew both by the multitude of strangers c. and by the great heat of those East countries wherevppon the washing and supplinge of feete was required Againe For asmuch as there are poore which are sicke in euery church I doe not see a better order can bee deuised c. if there can bee any widdowes gotten And againe I conclude that if such may bee gotten we ought to kepe that order in the church In good time It is a very substantiall conclusion And is he come to this If such can be gotten Hath God appointed such officers to be in euery parishe as cannot be gotten He told vs before in the behalfe of his Elders as you shall heare againe the thirde time that when men are called to a lawfull and profitable calling and especially to a publicke calling God doth powre his giftes on that person which is called so plentifully that he is as it were soddainely made a new man Whereuppon he inferreth that doe but once make choice of such Elders as he doth after and God will by and by make them fitte persons to execute their offices And may wee not then also affirme by the Analogy of the same doctrine that when God appointeth an ordinary and perpetuall office in his Church he doth also prouide either ordinarily or extraordinarily that there shall be alwaies some to vndertake it What prerogatiue haue his Elders aboue his Widdowes that God hauing appointed them both alike to beare a continuall office in his Church the one sort should be so miraculously prouided for euen vppon the soddaine and the other be suffered so farre to weare out as that they cannot bee gotten May it not be as truely saide sette vp the Eldership in euery parishe and God will prouide Widdowes as set it so vp in the most Clownish parish in England and God wil presently by inspiration make the poor husbandmen Carters Thatchers and Dawbers newly chosen to be Elders such meet and able men to gouern the church as the keies of the kingdom of Heauen may be safely committed into their hands Whether through these and such like other conceites or vpon what grounds els I know not but there is a second sorte of Disciplinary Widdowistes that are very farre growen past Cartwrights Ifs. One that writeth the defence of the godlye Ministers as hee intituleth them hath in that Treatise framed tenne argumentes of a wonderfull power as many haue supposed Wherein hee al'wayes comprehendeth the widdowes nameth them as necessary partes of the forme of that Church-gouernement which Christ and his Apostles haue appointed to be the ordinary and perpetuall platforme for the guiding and gouerninge of the Church vntill the ende of the world and maketh them by such force as his argumentes haue as necessary for the ordinary continuance of them as eyther Pastor Doctor Elders or men Deacons The learned discourser likewise agreeth with this Defence-maker where hauing spoken of Widdowes amongst the rest of their Church-officers and of all their offices he saith that beeing instituted by the spirite of God for the necessary vse of the Church which vse still continueth they ought also to be retayned amōngst vs. I may not here also omit the author of the Fruitfull sermon who expoūdeth so pretily the similitude which S. Paul vseth of that mysticall body whereof as I take it Christ is the head that he excludeth the whole Church from being any members of it except they bee eyther Pastors Doctors Elders Deacons or Widdowes A member saith he is such a parte of the bodye as hath receiued from the head some particular and necessary guifte to helpe and benefite the whole body and euery member therof And so he reckoneth vs his members as I haue sayd His meaning therein is this as I thinke that the rest of the body is but as it were a rude lumpe which is to bee framed and fashioned by the sayd members by euery one according to the office of it And after for the necessity vz. that euery one of his sayde members no moe no fewer should allwayes continue in the body he vseth these woordes If nature lacke any one member be it neuer so base if it bee but one toe shee is sorry shee is grieued she lamenteth shee iudgeth her selfe maimed yea shee would redeeme it with the perill of loosinge the rest such is her loue and desire to appear in her beauty perfection As though he should haue said that he and his fellowes are so far bewitched with the desire of their Eldershippes that rather then they will misse their Widdowes euen the meanest members of it they care not to hazard the being of the whole Church Vnto this fruictfull sermoner mentioned I will adde one of Fenners inuincible arguments because it enforceth the sayd similitude of the members of the body so syllogistically Whatsoeuer officers are ordinary mēbers of the Church are sette into the same of God for ordinary c perpetuall dueties with ordinary and perpetuall giftes wherein they are commanded to abide and wherewith the Church is commaunded to bee content Those are ordinary perpetuall and the best for no man may remoue the members of Christs body hauing ordinary giftes and actions for the perpetuall vse of the body But these of Doctors Pastors Elders Deacons Church-seruants are ordinarye members of the Church are set into the same of God for ordinary duties of teaching
Zanchius reporteth of Archbishops and Bishops into new and worse Latine names of superintendentes and generall superintendentes Erneste the Duke of Brunswick presently after the assembly of Augusta procured Vrbanus Regius to go home with him ecclesiarum in toto Ducatu Episcoparum ipsius gubernationi permisit and coÌ„mitted vnto his gouernment the Bishopricke or superintendencie of all the Churches within his Dukedome One Sydonius being thrust as it seemeth from the Bishopricke of Mersenburge as cleauing wholly to Popery was afterwardes vppon his leauing of the Pope and vpon promise made to maintaine the reformation of religion made in his absence restored to his bishopricke And after him succeeded as I take it in that bishopricke George the Prince Anhalt before mentioned being chosen thereunto as hee saith himselfe vniuerso capitali consensu by the consent of the whole chapter He had been brought vp in learning and was at the time of the saide election a Priest or Cannon in the Cathedrall Church of Mersenburge Of whom being bishop Henricus Stenius saith règebat ecclesias in Mersenburgensi diocaesi hee ruled the Churches in the dioces of Mersenburge And againe praesuit ecclesijs vniuersae ditionis Mysorum he gouerned the Churches of all the dominion of Mysya Agreeable aswell to these examples as to the saying of Zanchius before specified is that which Ia Haerbrandus a verie learned man and in his time Diuinitie reader of Tubinge writeth in his common places Debent gradus esse c. There ought to be degrees amongest Ministers c. as with vs in the Duchy of Wirtenberge there are subdeacons Deacons Pastors special superintendentes and ouer them generall superintendentes And in another place the same Haerbrand shewing his iudgement generally Saluberrimum esset c. It were a most profitable order for the welfare of the Church if euery particular prouince had her Bishoppes and the Bishops their Archbishop And Iacobus Andreas hee is muche of the same opinion as certaine Ministers of Heidelberge doe reporte vz where hee saith that it is a difficult matter to defend the peaceable estate of Churches except there be some chiefe ruler and Byshop amongest them to whome rerum summa deferatur the full ordering of matters may be referred To this purpose in like sorte Osiander writeth euen as though he had spoken of the Church of England Although in the Primitiue church when she flourished with myracles there were diuers degrees and orders of Ministers some Apostles some Prophets some Euangelistes and some Pastors and Doctors yet as now the state of the Church is the Ministers may be deuided into three orders or degrees vz Deacons Pastors and Superintendentes c. To the Pastors particular Churches are committed Nec dubitatur c. and it is not doubted but that euery one of them may rule the Church committed vnto him sine collegae concilio without the Councell of any fellow Those pastors we call superintendents who are so set ouer other pastors that they may visite the state of their Churches and punish both the Pastors and the people if any thing be done amisse or if any thing fall out that they cannot correct then they referre it vnto a higher court consisting of deuines and politick men who by the ciuile Magistrates authoritie or approbation doe amend such defects c. Hemingius also affirmeth that there are dispares dignitatis gradus in the ministery that partly by the law of Cod partly by the approbation of the Church that as Christ ascending into heauen gaue gifts vnto men Apostles Prophets Euangelists doctors and pastors so he gaue to the Church authoritie for edification that the Church by vertue of that power ordained ministers for her profite that the purer churches following the Apostles times ordained some Patriarchs some Bishops c. some Pastors and some Catechists c. That the reformed Churches haue their Bishops doctors Pastors and vnder them chaplains we call them curâ—tes as I thinke That the Churches in Denmarke doe acknowledge degrees of dignitie amongst Ministers that they iudge it meet that other Ministers should obey their Bishops in althings which tend to the edification of the church according to the word of God the profitable gouernment of the Church and that they iudge Bb s. to haue authoritie ouer other Ministers of the church ius non despoticum sed patrium Ieremia Hombergus a worthy man in the Churches of God about Styria Carinthia and Carniola but now remoued thence through the persecution which the Iesuits haue kindled in those parts affirmeth in his commoÌ„ places of diuinitie reuiewed allowed at Ratisbone with very direct termes that God himselfe hath appointed degrees of ministers in the church euen amongest those which haue a mediate calling vt concordia inter ministros coÌ„seruetur c. that concord amongst ministers might be preserued the workes of their ministery performed more easily and more decently And after he hath specified the common duties both of Bishops and ministers he setteth down those which he thinketh are peculiar to Bishops and to bee executed by them vz excommunication ordination and confirmation And with him agreeth the Diuinitie reader at Lauinge Phill. Haylbronner writing vpon the first Epistle of S. Paul to Timothy Where he sheweth that the Apostle appointed Timothy to be Bishop of Ephesus that accordingly there are and ought to be degrees and orders of ministers of the Church hauing described the common duties likewise of all ministers generally he saith thus Episcopus c. Besides the said common offices to Bishops was commended the publicke ouersight and gouernment so as it belonged to them to appoint fit ministers for the churches neere them also to heare the accusations and complaints which are made against the Pastors of theyr churches and to decide them c. Sic enim Paulus scribit Timotheo Ephesorum Episcopo for so Paul writeth to the Bishop of Ephesus lay thy hands rashly vppon no man and against a Priest admit not an accusation c. Of the same iudgement in like sort is Egidius Hunius the diuinitie professor at Marpurge in his commentarie vpon S. Pauls Epistle to Titus He affirmeth that the Apostle appointed Titus the generall superintendent for the gouernement ouer the Churches of that large and noble Iland of Crete that his dutie was to ordaine Pastors in euery parish and likewise to make Bishops that the Bishop or superintendent hath his dioces the Pastor his parishe or church as Paule commaunded Titus to place priestes in euery parish That thereby it appeareth God doth require that there should bee orders and degrees amongest Ministers vt alij praesint alij subsint that some may rule and some obey that this order is not newly deuised but receaued in the church from the Apostles times and that God himselfe made a distinction betweene Ministers and appointed degrees according to that hee gaue some Apostles
appeare what minde and iudgement Caluin still carried concerning Bishops so as they would admit the reformation of Religion contrary to Cartwrights shameles assertion that Caluin would haue shakē at the name of an Archbishop and haue trembled at the office of a Bishop For in the articles agreede vppon at that time by the saide learned men Caluin being amongest them for a reconciliation in the behalfe of the Protestants thus they declared theyr iudgements of this matter Vt omnia ordine fierent in Ecclesia c. That all things might be done orderly in the Church according to S. Pauls rule c. For the auiding of Schismes there was a profitable ordination that a Bishop should be chosen out of many Priests who should rule the Church by teaching the Gospel and by retaining the Discipline qui praeesset ipsis Presbyteris and who should gouerne the Priestes themselues Afterward also there were degrees made of Archbishops aboue them of Patriarches c. These ordinations if those that gouerne do theyr duty as preach ouersee the doctrine and manners of their Churches correct errors and vice practise Ecclesiasticall censures c. are profitable to preserue the vnity of the Church And againe in their additions to the sayde Articles As concerning ordination we especially approoue the auncient custome of the Church that those that are to be ordained should first bee tried instructed and vppon the publicke testimony of some godly and learned men c. admitted into the Ministery This difficult and necessary charge for the Church it is to bee wished reformatiō being made that the Bishops would take vpon them And we heare that our learned men haue expressely so yeelded ordination vnto those Bishops si praecedat reformatio if first there may be a reformation Likewise also in another treatise that was then made by Maister Bucer with the aduise of the said learned men and offered to the Emperour it is thus written Annitendum est c. We must indeuour that that forme and distribution of Ecclesiasticall gouernement which the Cannons doe prescribe to Bishops and Metropolitanes be restored and kept And after in the same Treatise Concerning names and titles and all those things wherewithall that externall power and dignity ought to be adorned and established and the lawfull obedience of such as be vnder them confirmed it will easily be agreed vpon Much more passed in those Colloquies and treatises to this purpose Caluin himselfe as it hath beene sayd being then present and in company whith those learned men And the reasons that moued them so to offer agree and protest at that time in this behalfe I thinke besides the former reasons mentioned were these and such like which Bucer a principall man then amongest them hath else-where sette down When speaking of Bishops and Metropolitanes and of their authoritye ouer the Churches and ministers within their Dioces and Prouinces hee saith thus Hoc consentiebat legi Christs fiebatque ex iure corporis Christi This was agreeable to the law of Christ and was done by the authority of the body of Christ. And in another place I am ex perpetua c. Now by the perpetuall obsexuation of all Churches euen from the Apostles times we doe see that it seemed good to the holy Ghost that amongest Priests to whom the procuration of Churches was chiefly cōmitted there should be one that should haue the care or charge of diuerse Churches and the whole Ministery committed vnto him and by reason of that charge he was aboue the rest and therfore the name of Bishop was attributed peculiarly vnto these chief rulers of Churches Nay he goeth further and sayth that in the Apostles times one of the Priests or Pastors was chosen and ordained to be the Captaine and Prelate ouer the rest who went before the rest and had the cure of Soules and the administration of the Episcopall office especially in the highest degree And this he proueth by the example of S. Iames Act 15. after concludeth in this sort The like ordination hath beene perpetually obserued in other Churches likewise as farre as we may learne out of all the Ecclesiasticall histories and the most auncient Fathers as Tertullian Cyprian Irenaeus Eusebius and others Hereby then it may appear vnto you what was thought of Bishops of their authority by the learned men of those times who sought as narrowly into that calling what was lawfull and what was vnlawfull and were aswell able to iudge thereof I may speake it I trust without offence as either Carwright or all his complices There were some busie bodies indeede a little before or about the time of the Colloquies mētioned who were very angry with the sayd learned men especially with Melanchthon for yeelding so much concerning Bishops Of whom he himselfe writeth in this sort Hoc malè habet scilicet quosdam immoderatiores c. This forsooth doth anger some immoder at men that the iurisdiction and pollicy Ecclesiastical is restored interpreting the same to be the restitution of the Romish souerainty And thus also to Luther you do not belieue into what hatred I am growen with them of Noricum and with certain others for the restitution of iurisdiction vnto Bishops Ita de regno suo non de Euangelio dimicant socij nostri Our fellowes doe so fight for their own kingdome and not for the Gospell Camerarius to the same purpose in like maner maketh this report Audiui quosdā c. I haue heard some accuse Phillip in that respect inhumanissimè most barbarously when one of them said that if he had beene hired with a great summe of money by the Romane faction to haue defended their state he could not in his opinion haue dealt more effectually for them then he did in maintaining of Bishops and that Phillip was not to be accounted a Patrone of his owne part but of his aduersaries and that a chiefe and a singular Patrone c. These things diuers other more slanderous they vttered without shame quorum magnopere postea paenituit puduit plaerosque Whereof many afterwards repented and were ashamed of them But notwithstanding all these and such like slaunderous hare-braines the grauer sort the best learned the godliest and the wisest men amongest the Protestants that then liued did follow and proceede as Phillip had begun euen accordingly as before I haue mentioned And since that time for any thing I can find to the contrary although the bishops still cleauing to the Pope and opposing themselues against all kinde of reformation further then it pleased them were thereupon euen of necessitie reiected as before I haue signified yet as soone as the saide learned men grewe to be able to establish their churches in any reasonable maner they ordained amongest themselues the very same offices in effect throughout the most of the reformed Churches in Germanie chaunging onely the old Greeke names as
you of vs or least those things which we haue written of Ecclesiasticall policie properly against that Antichristian tyrannie as necessitie required are taken by some in that sense as if euer we had meant to compel to our order those churches that thinke otherwise then we doo of it and the gouernors of them agreeing els with vs in the truth of doctrine agreeable to the word of God and that except they followed our order we accounted otherwise of them then their godlines and dignitie and mutuall brotherhood doth require c. Farre be this arrogancie from vs. Quis vllum nobis in vllam Ecclesiam imperium tribuit Who doth giue vs authority ouer anie church Far be it from vs that we should thinke so the substantiall matters be kept there ought nothing to be graunted to antiquitie nothing to custome nothing to the circumstances of places times and persons c. Againe in his booke against D. Sarauia hauing spoken of the tyrannie of Popish Bishops hee maketh this exception Neque tamen But wee doo not therefore accuse all Archbishops and Bishops now so called of tyranie For what arrogancie were that Nay so as they doo imitate the examples of the olde holy Bishops and indeuor as much as they can to reforme the house of God so miserably deformed according to the rule of Gods word why may we not acknowledge al of them now so called Archbishops and Bishops obey them and honor them with all reuerence So far we are from that which some obiect vnto vs most falsly and most impudently as though we tooke vppon vs to prescribe to anie Church in anie place our examples to be followed like vnto those vnwise men who account wel of nothing but of that which they doo themselues And to the same effect a little before If now the reformed Churches of England being vnderpropped with the authoritie of Bishoppes and Archbishops do continue as this hath happened to that Church in our memorie that she hath had men of that calling not onely most notable martyrs of God but also excellent pastors and doctors Fruatur sane ista singulari dei benificentia quae vtinam illi sit perpetua Let her truly inioy this singular blessing of God which I wish may be perpetuall vnto her Furthermore it should seeme that Zanchius as moderate and learned a man as euer fauoured the pretended Elderships was appointed some 12 or 16. yeres since to draw a confâ—ssion of religion for the Churches of France others as Melanchthon had done the Augustan confession for Germanie Accordingly hee drew it and in the same speaking of Bishops he vseth these wordes Non improbamius patres c. Wee doo not disalow the fathers in that after a diuers waie of dispensing the word and gouerning the Church they multiplied diuerse orders of Ministers seeing it was lawfull for them so to do as it is vnto vs and seeing it appeareth that they did it for honest causes appertaining at that time to the order decencie and edification of the Church And in the next article Hac ratione c. By this reason vz. that the nurseries of dissentions and of schismes may be taken away wee thinke that these thinges which were ordained before the Councell of Nice concerning Archbishops nay as touching the foure Patriarches may be excused and defended When this booke was perused and this clause found in it then forsoth a deuise was had for the staying of it vnder pretence that now it was thought more meete that there should be a harmonie made of all the confessions of diuers churches But Zanchius himselfe maketh this the chiefe cause if I vnderstand him why his booke dyd mislike some of them for that hee had written as before is mentioned of Bishops For so hee sayth Magnus quidam vir c. A certaine great man meaning Beza as it is supposed did write vnto mee of this matter as followeth Your confession was read by mee and N. others with great delight It is written most learnedly and in a most exquisite methode and if you except that which you adde towards the end touching Archbishops and the Hierarchie mihi summopere placuit it pleased mee exceedingly Vpon this occasion as it seemeth Zanchius printed his said confession with certaine annotations In the which annotations he sheweth three reasons for his allowance of Archbishops Bishops The first is grounded vpon the practise of the primitiue church presently after the Apostles times the second is for that hee thought it his dutie in the draught of his said booke to haue regard to those reformed churches which retaine both Bishops Archbishops and the third because all the reformed Churches generally although they haue chaunged the names yet in effect they doe keepe the authoritie as where they haue superintendents and generall superintendents Nay saith he where these new base Latine names are not admitted Ibi tamen solent esse aliquot primarij penes quos fere tota est authoritas yet there are in those places vsually certaine chiefemen that doe in a manner beare all the sway But I pray you be pleased that I may deliuer vnto you the maner of his setting down of his first reason and that in his owne words for they carry with them a notable condemnation of other mens great pride rashnes Cum haenc conscriberem fidei confessionem c. When I writ this confession of faith I writ all the thinges in it of a good conscience and as I beleeued so I freely spake the scriptures teaching men so to doe And my faith first of all and simply doth rely vpon the word of God then somewhat also vpon the common consent of the whole ancient Catholicke Church if the same bee not repugnant to the scriptures For I beleeue that what thinges were defined and receiued by the auncient Fathers assembled in the name of the Lord with a generall consent of them all and without any contradiction of the holy Scriptures the same surely although they be not of the same authoritie with holy Scriptures yet did they proceed from the holy Ghost Heereof it commeth to passe that those things which are of this nature neither would I neither dare I with a good conscience disallow them And what can be shewed more certainly out of histories out of the councels out of the writings of all the ancient fathers then that those orders of Ministers of the which we haue spoken haue bene ordained and receiued in the Church by the generall consent of all christian common-wealths And who then am I that should presume to reproue that which the whole Church hath approued This is true and religious humilitie Thus all graue and discreet godly men haue euerwritten Those that contemne all the learned Fathers that went before them doe open a windowe to their owne discredite by those that shall come after them That which this godly and great learned man ascribeth to the
the Church committed So as then these parochiall Doctors were cleane out of request And is not this the lightnes and fleshly minde which the Apostle renounceth in that they come thus vnto vs with yea and nay But as yet you see not all the vncertainties follies iarres squaringes and contradictions which I finde about this matter Iunius saith that of doctors some were prophets some were doctors Beza he holdeth that S. Pauls meaning was to diuide Prophets into Pastors doctors Whose diuisions or opinions cannot both bee true if the rules of diuisiō be duly obserued For by the first euery prophet is a doctor and by the second euery doctor is a prophet Furthermore as Iunius very cunningly will draw both a prophet and a doctor out of a doctor as Beza wringeth the doctor out of the prophet so Trauerse he can fetch him out of a Bishop Of Bishops saith he some are pastors and some are doctors By whose extraction euery Geneua school-master that teacheth but petits is now become a Bishop And peraduenture I doe espie his pollicie in it A great while it went vnchecked amongst them for an Ecclesiastical canon as though the king of Persia had made it that a Doctor was inferior to the Pastor and to holde the second place But since it was better considered of wisely foreseene that Cartwright some others might more safely take vpon them the office of doctors thē of pastors who are tied more strictly to the obseruation of diuers ceremonies they seeme to mee to bee quite come about and to assigne the first place mentioned vnto the Doctor so no maruaile if they make him a Bishop The office of teaching saith the learned discourser is the chiefe principal office in the church And afterward The office of a Doctor is to teach With whom the godly Sermoner seemeth to agree when he saith Mans soule hath two parts vz. reason or the minde and the hart or the affection By the fall of Adam there is darknes in the mind and rebellion in the hart Now the Lord to cure these diseases hath giuen remedie to his Church First a Doctor to teach vs and then a Pastor to exhort vs c. And Fenner-likewise doth place the Doctor before the Pastor But of this matter I haue no great regard whether soeuer goeth first as proud commeth after And peraduenture they haue some way to shift it I will not therfore stand greatly vppon it especially hauing some other of their Doctoral points to aduertise you of which are of greater importaunce For as yet they are not agreed for any thing I can find whether their Doctors in that they are Doctors bee Ministers to take as wee commonly speake the cure and charge of soules vpon them in particular parishes or not In the whole treatise of the discipline of Fraunce the rules and orders sette downe for making of Ministers doe belong altogether vnto such as our men tearme Pastors And the same course is also held in the seruice booke of Scotland But most plaine it is in the generall Synode of Hage vz. that Doctors are not such Ministers where hauing set downe after the newest fashion the foure functions left vs as they say by Christ vz. Pastors Doctors Elders and Deacons it presently followeth in this manner Nemo sine legitima vocatione c. No man ought to take vpon him to preach or administer the sacraments without a lawfull calling although he be a Doctor an Elder or a Deacon Whereby it appeareth as I said that their Doctors in some places beyond the seas are no Ministers without some further calling And yet our English reformers are generally of another iudgement making Ministers of the worde to comprehend aswell Doctors as Pastors as it appeareth in all their seuerall treatises I will not quote any other places than their subscribed new draught of discipline and their Captaines resolution that the officers mentioned Ephes. 4. were all of them assuredly Ministers of the word Lastly if they should bee able in time to compasse this point that their Doctors by vertue of that calling might goe for such Ministers yet a new controuersie thereupon ariseth not inferiour to any of the rest vz. whether it appertaineth to these kinde of Ministers of the word to be Ministers also of the sacraments Caluin thinketh that this is a part of the difference betweene the Pastor and the Doctor Quod Doctores nec disciplinae nec sacramentorū administrationi praesunt That Doctors haue neither to deale with the discipline ' nor with the administration of sacraments But Cartwright little esteeming Caluins iudgement in this matter is most earnest to the contrary who grounding himself as he would seem vpon diuers reasons examples and authorities giueth out these Oracles The Ministers of the word sacraments cannot be pulled in sunder It is a perpetuall ordinance that the same should bee the Ministers of the worde and sacraments These wordes are plaine inough to expresse a mans mind But you may not giue any faith vnto him For as I suppose hee hath altered his iudgement And yet if you will peruse the place you shall not finde him more peremptorie in any one point throughout all his writings In the new draught of discipline wherunto he hath subscribed it is thus defined The Church-officers are first the Ministers of the worde c. And those are Pastors Qui doctrinam sacramenta administrant Who administer doctrine and the sacraments or Doctors Qui versantur in sana doctrina docenda conuincendis erroribus Who are occupied in teaching of wholesome doctrine and in confuting of errors And thus his second sort of Ministers of the word is quite debarred and cut off from the administration of the sacraments Not to gratifie I suppose either Caluin or the truth but because it concerneth most their owne present estate For as the Doctor for their sakes began to be aduanced a steppe higher than he was before so is hee now likewise as I imagine in the same respect disburdened of that base office They can finde in their harts to preach but vrge them to administer the sacraments and their common answere is this we haue nothing to doe with that duetie it belongeth to the Pastors and we are Doctors The matter is they will not obserue the orders of the Church in the administration of sacramentes whereupon it is now come to passe that there may bee certaine Ministers of the worde who haue not authoritie to administer the sacramentes But let them goe They haue not written truth in the tables of their harts and therefore she hath forsaken them CHAP. X. Their Aldermen must be men of good calling AS concerning the number of these pretended rulers there will bee a more fitte place to speake of that hereafter Now you shall first knowe what manner of men they must bee In most parishes of England no doubt but
preaching their exhorting and confirming of the weâ—ke brethren their baptising of children the rest of the duties mentioned as they might be suffered and accepted of wheresoeuer they came Examples of such Deacons and offices as here I haue spoken of we haue in the scriptures deliuered to vs by S. Luke wher he setteth down the actions of Steuen and Phillip both of theÌ„ Deacons how they preached how Phillip baptized and what is sayd of any one of them must be vnderstood of the rest Vnto these examples and for the further proofe of these premises I might adde the generall consent of all the ancient Fathers and the ordinary practise of all Churches either in theyr times or since especially for the continuall practise of the Priestly part of the Deacons office But as in times of dispersion they could not execute the other part consisting in collections distributions so afterwards God blessed his Church in such sort that indeed it needed not For when great men Lords Princes Kings and Emperours had embraced the doctrine of Christ so as men had the Gospell brought as it were home to their doores and might frequent with commendation the publicke assemblies and practise of religion and withall follow their owne trades and particular callings more diligently when also the saide great men Lordes Princes and Emperours besides many other well disposed Christians had prouided for the ministers and for the poor sufficient maintenaÌ„ce for the one partly by the tithes which are due vnto them and partly by other gifts according to their places and for the other that is the poor by setting them on worke such as were able by prouiding of hospitals and such like meanes for those that were impotent that part of the Deacons office became to be in time superfluous And since they haue applied themselues to the more materiall part of their office whereby they might obtaine the other good degree of Priesthood With these points I thought good to acquaint you before I came to the Disciplinary conceits about Deacons For euen now as though there were no prouision made either for the ministery or for the poore they are most instant for I know not what kind of Deacons But as therin they haue cut off themselues from the truth so are they at great disagreement one with another Our Englishe reformers are all of them peremptory that we must haue suche Deacons as they imagin were in the Apostles times But the GeneuiaÌ„ ministers do think their platform of discipline to be the paragoÌ„ of the world although they haue no such Deacons in it There is in Geneua an Hospitall whereof there are foure Proctors and ouerseers and these foure are with them in steed of Deacons For otherwise they haue not so much as the name of Deacons there By which rule if we shall square the pretended discipline we haue such officers already as may serue our turnes for Deacons vz. Proctors of Spitle-houses maisters and ouerseers of hospitals as sufficient honest and fit meÌ„ to execute their places as ther is any I assure my self in Geneua But peraduenture the matter which they shoot at is this They would haue an Hospitall in euery parish And yet there is no such thing at Geneua In al their whole Territory they haue but one hospitall Wel let Geneua therin do what it list our men will needs haue another kind of Deacons what kind is that Surely no such kind as was in the Apostles times But they know not indeed what they woulde haue The Deacons which our men doe require must not inter-meddle for a 1000. li. with any part of the office that belongeth to a minister Their deaconship in no case may be reckned to be a step to the ministery How beit som other meÌ„ as wise as learned as they are do hold a contrary opinioÌ„ First all the ancient fathers are generally against them in both the points mentioned so is the practise of the church of God euer since the Apostles times All the learned meÌ„ in Germanie for ought I find that maintaine the Augustane confessioÌ„ are against theÌ„ Yea what if some of their chiefe Captaines be against them The Deacons in Fraunce were once within these fewe yeares allowed to catechise publickly in theyr reformed Congregations And as yet one parte of their office is to go through families and to catechise them at home priuately To bee a Catechist with our men is the especiall dutie of their Doctor whom they make a Minister of the worde So as then there is no more difference in that respect betwixt their Doctorall minister and the French Deacons sauing that the one doth catechise publicklie and the other priuatelie If all this bee nothing then let vs heare Beza the Consistoriall oracle who turneth himselfe into euerie mans colours Truth is mightie and driueth men to their shiftes when hauing rashly ouershot themselues they will still to maintaine their credits impugne it Heare him I praie you how hee plaieth his prize It is saith hee absurde to thinke that Deacons had the office of preaching committed vnto them But in his confessions thus The office of pastors and Doctors is to preach and saye prayers vnder which duties I doe comprehend the administration of the sacraments and the blessing of mariages according to the perpetuall vse of the Church although oftentimes Deacons did supplye these thinges insteed of the Pastors Againe The fathers and late writers who supposed that the office of preaching did belong to Deacons decepti sunt were deceiued But in his annotations vppon the 1. of Tim. 3.9 That the Deacons must holde the misterie of faith thus DiaconoruÌ„ enim erant nonnullae etiaÌ„ in docendo partes quoties necesse fuisset vt ex Stephano et Philippo apparet the Deacons had also some thing to do in teaching when it was needfull as by the example of Steuen and Philip it is manifest Againe in his booke against D. Sarauia finding himselfe as I suppose to be preiudiced by his said annotation or hauing beene reproued for it by Cartwright c. or fearing some inconuenience that might ensue thereof hee would gladlye get him some startinge hole Cartwright to auiode the example of Steuen the Deacon saith in effect that he was no preacher but an Apologizer But Beza hath not learned that euasion as yet He hath another which is indeed as good as none at all Stephen the Deacon saith hee although hee was most worthy to be apreacher yet in that he was only a Deacon in the Church of Ierusalem he is not sayde to haue taught in the Church but in the Synagogues of the Iewes As it is nowe constantly helde our Church assemblies are the same in effect that the Iewes Synagogues were So as then bee-like Deacons may not preach in Cathedrall churches which I resemble to the temple of Hierusalem but they maie preach in Countrie parishes One of the places which Beza
afterwardes to confer of the faultes or defects which are found in the young preacher and to tell him of them that he may amend them Certainely if these men had beene suffered to haue runne on foreward I feare they would haue runne madde What speculations be these All their Elders must be such men as Sainct Paul requireth a Bishop to be they must be able to preach in their Consistories and priuately And now you must haue in euery parish diuerse young men such as are meet for the exercises of Diuinity before they be admitted And where will they haue all these It was precisely saide of Maister Cartwright vz. thus in effect Neuer let that trouble you set vp the Eldership choose your Elders c. God wil make them fit for their charges vpon a soddain It had been verie prouidentlie handled of him if he had likewise taught the people that they should neuer haue sticked for anie cost which they were to bestow for the maintenance of the said Church-officers though they should bee twise as many because in bestowing their goods after that sorte God will make them rich and fill their tubbes their oile bottles their barns and their purses vpon the soddaine It was but a simple suite made by the author of the complaint of the comminalty that as the Papistes builte Seminaries to aduaunce the kingdome of the Diuell so there might be more Colledges and Seminaries of true Religion erected For now you see it is appointed that there shalbe such a Seminarie in euery parish And how the coiners of this deuise did euer grow into anie such conceite I cannot certainelie gesse except it bee because there is such a kinde of Schoole or Seminarie in Geneua Indeed when the State there had seazed vppon the Church-liuinges they erected a Schoole with some small allowance according as our English prouerbe runneth of taking away a goose and sticking down a feather The profit which they haue by the one exceedeth far the charge of the other If now our men could inuent such a way for euery parish peraduenture they might bee heard They talke indeede of a matter how to haue their Elderships with all the appertenannces thereunto belonging and yet not greatly to ouercharge any parishes But it is not after the fashion of Geneua There the Magistrates fleeced the church but they would haue all themselues the Bishops liuinges Cathedrall Churches Impropriations and rather then faile all the Abbaie landes and such thinges as did belong to all the rest of the houses of Religion If any parish in England should aske my counsell whether I thought they might safely enter into such a present charge for the maintenance of so many Pastor Doctor Elders Deacons Widdowes Ministers wiues their children and poor Students of Diuinities in hope that all the saide Church-liuings should be bestowed for their ease vpon such their Church officers I should say vnto them if I spake my conscience that I my selfe am far from anie such cogitation No no for al the outcries that the Disciplinarians make as in the next chapter you shall perceiue that all the Church-liuings might bee emploide to the maintenaunce of them and their Elderships well they may procure in some other age the further impouerishing of the Church but they shall be sure to be little the better for it CHAP. XXI Of their desire that those thinges which haue beene taken by Sacriledge from the Church might be restored againe to the maintenance of their Elderships EXperience they say is not a foolishe mistres but a mistres of fooles In the beginning of the late reformation of Religion in most places of Europe diuers notable mē did gretly ouershoote themselues It is Aristotles rule that one waie to come to the meane is to proceed ab extremo in extremum from one extremity to another And it may holde in the example by him alledged of making a crooked sticke to be straight but it is not to be allowed of in anie sort in the course of Diuinitie There it is reckned a point of great weaknes and so it is also with the prophane writers to run from one extremitie to another Manie examples I could bring of this weakenes as how in manie places men haue leapt from auricular confession to the contempt of all priuate conference with their Pastor from pharifaicall long praiers vppon a paire of beades three or foure times said ouer by tale at one time to little praier at all two or three words if so manie and farewel agreable to mens consciences euen as the Prouerb faith A short horse is soone curried from most gros and palpable Idolatrie and superstition vnto verie great securitie and prophanation Manie other such examples I might alledge of running from one mischiefe to another but there is none fitter then of the course which hath beene held in this verie matter whereof I intreate In times past men thought they could not giue too much to the church but now many suppose they cānot take too much frō the Church In times past there was so much giuen to the church that the k. of England was fain to make a lawe for the staie of so great liberality as Moses did when there was sufficient prouision made for the building of the temple but now mens harts are grown to such a contrary extremitie and are so far from incurring any danger in breaking that law for restraining thē as notwithstanding her most excellent M. hath cōtinued made her self very many notable laws that the church might keepe that which other men hath giuen her and for the binding of mē to pay their duties to the Church yet euerie man seeth how vnder pretence of concealements and by many other meanes the Church-goods are thirsted after and how the poore ministers are most pittifully defrauded in the paiment of such duties as do belong vnto them Insomuch by report as now in sondrie places if they shal but seek or sue to haue their own either they are greatlie misliked or presentlie are indited for common Barators or if they escape that out flieth a prohibition from one place a sequestration frō another and I know not what else nor from whence And the cause of these many other such extremities I doe not impute so much vnto the laitie as to sundrie men of the Clergie whose proceedings haue ben greatly by extremities It was an extremitie when Wickliffe affirmed that tithes appointed by God himselfe were merae eleemosynae meere almes But of all extremities that passeth where some now a daies would haue all taken from the Church that so Ministers might liue as they did in the Apostles times that is onelie vppon voluntarie contributions And this they thinke to be a part of the Apostolicall reformatiō which they seek for Wherunto I for my part might peraduenture yeelde if the laitie would be sworne before they tooke that from vs which we haue alreadie to deale with vs indeed for
followeth Timendum est c. It is to be feared least wee seeme ridiculous to your magistrats in requiring that of them which as yet wee haue not obtained of our owne We shall teach what the right vse is of church goods and who are the lawfull Stewardes of them that by our authoritie wee maie vrge those of Neocome Cur non potius exordium a nobis facimus But first why do not we begin with our selues Take heede therefore least in attempting to do you good that we doe not rather hurt your cause How much more forceable would that be which is in the booke that I procured to be printed when I was at Strasburgh For there the Princes as many as imbrace the gospel do promise the restitution of all which they haue in their possessions if once there were any godly concord agreed vpon Your magistrates are to be admonished by the example of those Princes that at the least vntill that time they would keepe them all wholy together vndisposed of or distracted in their owne hands You will aske me why I cease or hold my peace if I see the same mischiefe in Geneua that vexeth you Ego verònō cesso c. I do not truly cease openly in my sermons as oft as oportunitie serueth therunto Contestor Deum homines graue nobis imminere iudicium I do with griefe praier call God and men to witnes that a heauie iudgement hangeth ouer our heades I haue also affirmed diuerse times asmuch in our Senate neither doe I thinke that as yet I haue discharged my dutie seing I haue nothing preuailed But I do follow Ambrose who retayning the doctrine and the place of a pastor so as in defence of them he was ready to haue spent his life agros tyrannidi Imperatoris Valentiniani sinebat hee permitted the possessions of the Church to the tiranny of Valentinian the Emperor For our magistrates do suspect that the strife is but of emulation as though our griefe onely were that they haue wrong those thinges out of our fingers which now they possesse excepte peraduenture they giue it so out not because they thinke so but for that they would thereby discredit our words in that behalfe But yet notwithstanding we must so auoyd suspition that we doe not winke at sacriledge And againe the same maister Caluin in another epistle to Viretus doth signifie vnto him how he dealt with the magistrates of Geneua at one especiall time when there was speach about certaine stipends When I sawe howe hard they were in that matter acriter aurem illis vellicaui c. I made their eares to burn saith he as concerning the administration of Church-goods how in time they were to thinke what account they should make both to God and men Papam fuisse furem et sacrilegum videndum ne simus successores that the Pope was a thiefe and a church robber and they were to looke to it that they proued not his successors I did vse a preface that might cause attention vz. That the woundes of a friend were better c. and that they should not seeke any Balaam qui illis in maledictione benediceret who in their cursed estate should blesse them Hitherto maister Caluin whose wordes I haue set down at large that you might the better vnderstand the estate of the most worthy Reformation of the church of Geneua and how the discipline being there in her full prime and brightnes it is not possible that anye grosse enormities should continue in that Citie Indeed it is much and I meruaile how it is endured that maister Caluin should resemble the magistrates of Geneua to such cruell tyrannouse and sacrilegious persons Valentinian the Emperor and the Pope of Rome But most of all I wonder that maister Beza would publish such letters in print Being but written to priuate men the matter could not be great Marry now they are thus offred to all posteritie the testimonie of such tyrannous sacrilege will be euer had in memorie For which kind of dealing they are much beholden to Beza It was indeed handled of him politickly Of likelyhood the sacrilege mentioned doth continue there still But he being a prouident man thought it better that maister Caluin being dead should tell them of it then he himselfe being aliue and therefore subiect vnto their displeasures For otherwise maister Beza for his parte is as earnest against sacrilege as euer maister Caluin was and it may be for ought I do know or remember to the contrarie that hee hath dealt himselfe as roundly with them But sure I am of his iudgement which doth appeare in his treatise of his three sortes of Bishops where this question being propounded vnto him vz. Whether these thinges which had beene once vowed to holy vses might afterwardes bee otherwise employed he maketh this answere Concerning the goodes of the Church first of all we suppose great heed ought to be taken that none doth staine himselfe with handling the church goods For if God hath taken reuenge of such sacrilege euen amongst the very Idolaters what trow we will his iudgement bee against them which haue spoyled his Church and haue prophaned the thinges which were set a part for his true worship Moreouer it is euident that this turneth greatly to the reproch of the name of God and of his holy gospell as though for sooth papistrie hath beene abandoned not for the loue of the truth but to robbe the Church of her goodes as though new theeues haue entred into the roomes of the olde c. Viretus in like manner for his earnestnes in this pointe is neither short of Caluin not Beza The lesse authoritie that the ministerye and ministers haue the greater libertie haue sacrilegers theeues extortioners and other wicked ones Againe I know many which liked the gospell well when in the beginning their preachers cryed against the abuse that they sayd was in the Romish church and in priests and monkes They liked well also that the goods of the Church should be taken from Priests and Monkes to haue the gouernment of them themselues vnder colour that the Priests and Monkes abused them and that they should be put to better vse but God knoweth how euill they are bestowed vppon manye and in many places The worst is that those which haue not done herein as they ought and which dayly forget themselues more more cannot now a dayes so much as suffer the preachers to admonish reproue them to stir thē vp to bestow it where they ought to bestow it according to the order discipline c. And in another place These fellowes that will not restore the church-liuings may be likened to those Diuils which cry why art thou come to torment vs before our time And the same fellowes also say Qui nostra tollit inimicus est hee that taketh awaye ours is our enemie They regard not whether they haue gotten the goods that they possesse
hands the carefull charge or procuration of Churches as pertaining to their dutie Good Kings and Princes do maintain true religion and by the aduise of their priests vvhen any great defections happen do pull dovvn the false And where Cartvvright doth charge the Papists to constraine their Princes for the keeping of their decrees be they good or bad although it be true in deed that they do so and that those of his owne stampe likewise vvhere they raigne are nothing more fauourable vnto them as farre as their might will reach yet as he doth in this matter prefer himselfe and his adherents before them it is but a meere cauil For the Papists holding this ground that their Councels and Popes in such their decrees and conclusions as it pleaseth them to make cannot erre that being graunted it followeth of necessitie that euery Christian Prince ought to put them in execution and to punish those that shall oppose themselues against them So that vvhatsoeuer they do impose vpon the Church they affirme it is good euen as Cartvvright doth his discipline which he would intrude vpon vs both of them ioining in this point that as wel Cartvvrights new ministery as the popes priesthood will be the iudges of their owne decrees whether they be good or bad and then what leaue they to the Christian magistrat more the one sort then the other Surely this wall riseth very slowly as yet but peraduenture the third part will be higher thē the other two when you haue viewed them iudge Our meaning is not sayth Cartvvright vtterly to seclude the magistrat out of our church-meetings for often times a simple man as the prouerbe sayth the Gardiner hath spoken to good purpose c. He may be assistant and haue his voice in such assemblies Out of question you deale very bountifully with your soueraign But to helpe him in building this part of his wall I will set downe what is the vttermost that he yeeldeth to herein if hee haue not retracted the same as afterward it shall be considered The Prince may call a councell of the ministerie and appoint both the time and the houres for the same The ciuile magistrat is not vtterly to be excluded from such assemblies as do meet for the deciding of church-causes and orders he may be there assistant and haue his voice but he may not be either moderator there nor determiner nor iudge Neither may the orders or decrees there made be sayd to haue bene done by the Princes authoritie And therefore in times past the cannons of councels vvere not called the Emperors but the Bishops decrees Princes may be assistant in councels and ought to defend the same assembled if any behaue themselues there tumultuously or othervvise disorderly the Prince may punish him The Prince ought to confirme the decrees of such councels to see the decrees executed and to punish the contemners of them Thus hereof Cartvvright and now come in the papists It vvas lavvfull in times past for emperors to call councels to appoint both time and place for the same And maister Harding confesseth that princes may do so still by the aduise of the clergie Princes and their embassadors according to their estates haue most honourable seats in all councels may sit there as assistants giue their aduises make exhortations to the Bishops to be very circumspect and carefull and in the end may subscribe vvith them to the causes there decreed But they may not sit there as iudges moderators or determiners and therfore in their subscriptions they vvrōt not as bishops did definientes subscripsimus but consentientes Neither vvere the councels called Imperatoria but Episcopalia Princes may be assistant in councels Nay sayth Saunders they may be presidents ouer Bishops in councels ad pacem concordiam retinendam vt nullum fieri tumultum permittant tumultuantem vero custodiae mancipent and cause such assemblies to auoid all delaies All Christian princes ought to confirme the decrees of generall councels to see the decrees executed and to punish the contemners of them Compare these places with Cartvvrights words and tell me what great difference ye find betweene them But what if Cartvvright as I sayd haue retracted these points then it must needs be confessed that the Papists do yeeld more to Christian princes in causes ecclesiastical then the puritans CHAP. XXIIII Their disagreement in suppressing the authoritie of Princes in church-causes and in the aduancing of their ovvn IT appeareth in the latter end of the two and twentith chapter how by a fine distinction of raigning vnder Christ as he is onely God and vnder Christ as he is mediator they first would exclude all Christian princes from their lawfull authoritie in causes ecclesiasticall ascribing no more vnto them then as if they were heathens except it be to execute their pleasures and to maintaine them which they say is the dutie also of all the heathen rulers and secondly how by the same distinctiō they lift vp their own horns as if it were so many popes challenging euery one of them together with their elderships to be Christs immediat vicars for church-causes vpon earth In the substance of which doctrine although they do all agree yet when they come to the particular grounds whervpō they would gladly lay their foundations of it there they are distracted and do confound themselues I meane not to enter here any further into this matter then as cōcerning the sayd distinction with the seuerall branches thereof Cartvvright bestoweth soure leaues to prooue that no ciuile magistrat may be called the head of the particular church within his dominion And his cheefest reasons are drawn from the parts of the distinction mentioned Now when he laboureth so much vpon this word head hee knoweth that we meane thereby nothing els but a chiefe authoritie and he wrangleth of purpose that whereas his opinion is direct that no ciuile magistrat as he is a ciuile magistrat hath any office in the Church he might dazle the eies of his reader as though he could bee content to maintaine the right of the crowne and did only insist vpon the word head But to muster them together about the said distinction Cartvvright sayth that our Sauiour Christ as hee is the sonne of God only or as he is onely the Creator and preseruer of mankind coequall vvith his father he is the gouernour of kingdoms and common-vvealths and not as hee is the sauiour and redeemer of mankind But the humble motioner doth tell vs from Scotland another tale peraduenture vpon the credit of the brethren there Christ sayth he hath all povver and superioritie aboue all principalities either in heauen or in earth he is Lord of lords and King of kings and the Prince of kings in the earth he is Lord of all kingdoms and common-vvealths to dispose and rule them at his pleasure
sibi persuasit papa diaboli vicarius The pastors themselues shall not be Christ's vicars as he is priest vvhich office notvvithstanding the pope the diuels vicar tooke falsely vpon him The pastors he saith shall not be Christs vicars as he is a priest And thē ther is no remedie They shal not How shal they hold then immediatly of him as he is a prophet That is it They are his substitutes or vicars saith hee onely as he is a prophet Did any man euer say so before Surely not to my remembrance Maister Fenner in his diuinitie perused by maister Cartvvright and allowed of at Geneua can find but two kinds of offices appertaining to Christ vz. his priesthood and his kingly office and therfore he maketh prophesie a part of his priesthood It is much what also to the same purpose and directly contrary to I. B. that the diuinitie grounds printed at Geneua do affirme by the mouth of one Abraham Henric where they say Pastorū ministeriū vt olim sacerdotum c. The dutie of pastors as in times past of the priests consisteth in three things teaching administring of the sacraments publicke praier So as either I.B. must be content that ministers may be Christs vicars as he is a priest or else I see not how he will bestow them You will say peraduēture that they may be Christs vice-gerēts as he is a king but that as I sayd he will not indure If any might be Christs vicars sayth he as he is a king the Apostles Prophets Euangelists Ministers and Doctors might be his vicars At ne hi quidem quia rex est dicendi sunt vicarij But they neither are to be called Christs vicars as he is a king Well some place they must haue there is no remedie I dare say you would smile if it should so fall out that all our consistorian ministers will needs bee Christs substitutes in that he is a king Surely I must tell you it proueth so For as touching I. B. they reckon him I perceaue but a simple politian Christs kingdome it hath bene truly vrged is not of this world it is plea good enough against our bishops but it holdeth not to impaire the estimation of our petit consistorian kings A distinction will helpe thē at a pinch Christs kingdome is not of this world but it ought to be in this world Do you not here desire to know what this kingdome is That I may not keepe you long in suspence it is the Geneuian Eldership and euen the very same kingdome saith our counterpoizer vvhere of Christ spake many times after his resurrection by the space of sortie daies as the Iesuits themseluss are compelled to confesse See the seducer Who cōpelled the Iesuits to say so would not a man haue thought that this place had bene vrged by some protestants against the papists for the ouerthrow of some especiall points of poperie wher vpon after much paines the Iesuits bad bene driuen in spight of their heads to admit of the interpretatiō mētioned But it is clean contrary the Iesuits do abuse this place of purpose in the behalfe of the Antichristian Romish form of church regimēt so doth the Counterpoizer following the Iesuits therin for the setting forth of their Geneuian papacy or Regalitie I could adde here a number of strange sayings whereof you shall here anon in some other chapters following concerning this new presbiteriall kingdome But now it is more pertinent to make the point I haue in hand more apparant vnto you Christ as a king prescribed the forme of ecclesiasticall gouernment saith Cartvvright not as a priest nor as a prophet but as a king With Cartvvright his scholler Dudlie Fenner doth agree in this point setteth downe the first part of his kingly administration to be about the building and continuance of the church by the officers appointed Eph. 4.11.12.13 Maister Beza also he runneth the same course how Christ being a king the head of the church doth administer his kingdome Per legitime vocatos pastores by pastors lavvfully called And Sonnius in like manner affirmeth that Christ doth execute his kingly office in the collectiō of the church by the ministerie of the word and sacraments and by the internall gouernment of his spirit and the external of the ministerie Here is indeed very roiall preferment for al the ministers of the word But I meruaile how the ruling elders do hold their authoritie They are neither priests nor prophets of likelihood then they must be little kings Wel then Christ is the king the presbiterie is his kingdome his immediat vice-gerents they are all of them What Surely by the due course of degrees which are acknowledged the pastors must be all of thē as it were emperors the doctors kings the elders dukes and the deacons lords of the treasurie c. And for the authoritie of euery such kingdom it must needs fal out to be very soueraign For if euery presbiterie as it is before noted be properly to be called the body of Christ and the true portraiture of the catholick church that euery one of thē is of equall authoritie now that the officers in them are Christs immediat vice-gerēts within their own kingdoms who shall controll any of their doings or whither should a man appeale if he found himselfe iniuried I remember maister Bezas saying That euery eldership is the tribunall seat of Christ. Which is all one almost with the assertion of some Romish parasits that the pope and Christ haue but one consistorie They tell vs of appellations from an eldership to a classis from a classis to a prouinciall synod from a prouincial synod to a nationall from a nationall vnto a generall councell But as the papists do make euery appellation from the pope to be as absurd and all one as if the appeale were made from Christ so must it necessarily follow to be as vntollerable to appeale from any consistorie it being as it hath bene affirmed the tribunall seat of Christ and the officers in it Christs immediat gouernors And because it is pretended that the regiment they speake of is in the best perfection at Geneua I would gladly know whither a man might appeale vpon occasion from that eldership there The churches of Bern or Zuricke haue no more to do with the church of Geneua they will say then Geneua hath to do with them or an eldership in Scotland with another of the low countries But I haue taried too long vpon this matter in collecting vpon their contrarie assertions Therefore to conclude I would wish all christian and godly magistrats that haue as yet in their hands the lawfull authoritie in church-causes which belongeth vnto them by the word of God to keepe it stil vntill at the least these disciplinarie deuisers be fully resolued whether we must account thē priest prophets or kings priests if they be Christs substitutes as he is a
orders to this poynte in the newly subscribed booke of discipline Plurium sententiae verbo Dei consentaneae singulares omnes eius cansilij conuentus ecclesiae parere debent All Churches must obey the sentence of the greater part of that Councellor assembly vnder whose direction they are the same being agreeable to the worde of God And agayne It is made a part of theyr Aldermens office to see Vt quae à conuentibus piè decreta retulerint à ciuibus suis earum ecclesiarum studiosè obseruentur that those godly decrees which they shall bring from the assemblyes bee diligently obserued of theyr Cittizens of those Churches Lastly Conuentus sententia rata habeatur donec à conuentu maior is authoritatis secus iudicatum puerit Let the sentence of euery assembly bee ratified vntill it shall be otherwise iudged-of by an assembly of greater authoritie As a classicall to bee ouerruled by a prouinciall a prouinciall by a nationall a nationall by a generall And thus they write of theyr owne orders and assemblyes Which rules take them altogether as they lye if they bee true as I doe not greatly dislike them being well applyed then do these busie bodies among vs sin most directly against theyr own consciences in that they oppose themselues as they do against those things which the greater part of the national Sinode high court of parliament of this Realme hath allowed of beeing most agreeable to the worde of God before some generall Councell or assembly of more authoritie haue iudged otherwise and determined for the course that they haue proceeded in Generall Councell I am sure they haue none And for any other assembly that hath beene held and should haue greater authoritie in England than the nationall Synode of all our owne Churches and the high Court of Parliament let them name it In their writinges generally they exclayme against the high Commission or at the least against the Commissioners as many of them as bee clergie men affirming it to bee against the worde of God that any such should bee of that Commission And yet in Scotland it was agreeable with the Scriptures that fortie or fiftie at the least Ministers of the worde as I conceyue it shoulde bee verie great Commissioners from the King Anno 1589. to very manie great purposes euen for the purging of that lande from all sortes of enemies to the religion there professed Likewise earnest suite is made in the Supplication before mentioned to her Maiestie and found in Fields study that the foresaid foure twentie Doctors that should bee of the Parliament house might be likewise generall Commissioners vnder the great scale of England or the more part of them to beare and determine all and euery secte errour heresie contempt default and misdemeanour agaynst the worde of God and her Maiesties lawes of reformation of religion to depriue any Pastour not dooing or neglecting his duetie to examine witnesses and to imprison the bodyes of all such malefactors and to certifie their names to the Lordes of her Maiesties Councell that they may receiue further condigne punishment Besides there bee some that resemble the high Commission nowe in force vnto the authoritie which they challenge to theyr seuerall Elderships Whereupon one of them acquainted I doubt not with the desires of the rest sayth That if the high Commission were setled in fiue hundred places more than it is and shoulde gouerne by the worde of God and lawes of this Realme there would rise more profit thereby to religion than yet hath beene found by the Bishops He would haue it in fiue hundreth places Scotland is diuided into two and fiftie Eldershippes and of likelyhood they would haue fiue hundred in England And that as I take it is the mystery of his number of fiue hundred To conclude I finde another motion which liketh wel that if there were fiue hundred Elderships more or fewer established yet there might be in euery great Towne certaine Commissioners in causes ecclesiasticall appoynted to looke that the Elderships did their dueties if they did not to compel them therunto by ciuill authority So as therby it appeareth that although our Bishops other Clergie men may not be such Commissioners with vs in some few places yet their Pastors Doctors Aldermen may in euery parish or so many of them or I knowe not whom as it should please her Maiestie to assigne to euery greate Towne Surely the worde of God is much troubled with such kinde of choppers and chaungers of it euery giddy heade wresting and wringing it to serue his owne deuise Wee shoulde haue Commissions to thatch houses withall I see if they might be our directors They are offended with the authoritie that her Maiestie dooth giue vnto her Commissioners for causes ecclesiasticall as beeing vnlawfull in that by vertue of that commission they may sende sometimes for offendors to appeare before them by purseuants and commit them to prison as occasion shal fall out and theyr faultes misdemeanors and contempts shall require But at Geneua the like authoritie in effecte is lawfull in their Eldership For there the Consistorie hath a Beadle sergeant or purseuant or as you lift to tearme him appoynted by the ciuill Magistrates to attende vppon it whose office is to call such before the Consistorie as the Aldermen shall appoynt him And for imprisoning of any offendors and contemptuous persons there is notany matter almost for the which they may call a man before them but one parte of the punishment of it by the lawes of the Cittie is imprisonment As if any when hee appeareth in the Consistorie or els where be so hardie as but to speake euill of any of the Ministers or misname them he is to be imprisoned Besides as I haue noted it before theyr Elders are alwayes of the Councell of state and seldome or neuer but they will bee sure to haue one of the foure Syndickes to bee of that bench So as together they raigne lyke Lordes in theyr Consistorie and who dare say My Lordes why doe you so If they direct imprisonment is but a small matter I speake not agaynst that order there let them vse it as they thinke good Only I see not why the worde of God should bee so bountifull to them and is so sparing to vs. In that by the orders of our Church and the laws of the Realme there is required of Ministers a subscription to her Maiesties lawfull authoritie in ecclesiasticall causes to the Articles of Religion and to the Communion booke c. greate quarrels haue beene raysed and many exceptions are taken against it Insomuch as one a wise man I warraunt you dooth ascribe all the daungers that haue beene complotted against her Maiesties person by the traitrous Papistes the dearth of corne the cause that we haue had such watching and warding by souldiers and lastly that the Spanyards would haue inuaded this land
betwixt God and the Diuell A dunghill of such like sayings might be heaped together which they haue cast vp out of the froth of their zeale Where-vpon nowe Barrowe takinge his aduantage doth frame his argumente in this sorte It is not lawfull for the children of God to submit themselues to the gouernement of Antichrist nor to ioyne themselues to those congregations which haue in their seruice nothing but confusion and in the Lordes Supper put no difference betweene God and the Diuell But such is the gouernement of the Church of England and such are their congregations And therefore wee may not submitt our selues vnto that gouernement nor ioyne our selues to their congregations If now the minor were true which he assumeth from the Consistorians you see how the argument would follow So that as Penry some others haue done allready let all the sort of the other crue adde but Barrowes maiors vnto their owne minors and foorthwith in this first pointe they are become meere Barrowistes And as concerning the second point wherein as I sayd we disalow them it is their framing to themselues a new Church platforme Which doth thus farre agree with Cartwrightes that they must haue forsoothe in euerie assembly their Pastors Doctors Elders and Deacons and that the Church new framed after their fashion must haue all the authority that Cartwright doth challenge to his Elderships of dealing in all matters of maners and doctrine and in executing their censures against any person without exception whosoeuer The chiefe differences that are betwixt them are generally two The first is vz that whereas Cartwright could haue been contented to haue erected his Elderships in euery parishe taking them as nowe they are they say the parish assemblies are popish and vnlawfull they would haue them dissolued and they will haue their Elderships set vp amongest no people but first they must enter into a new couenant The other chiefe difference in like sorte I take to bee this that Barrow in all his platforme will haue the people to ioyne with their Elderships further then Cartwright doth allow of And for his opinion heerein hee relyeth altogether in effect vpon Cartwrightes grounds It is not vnknowen what a plausible course our English Disciplinarians haue taken that thereby they might the more easily drawe the people vnto them Hee that will peruse the first admonition which Cartwright maintained and consider withall the places of his bookes that are noted in the margent shall well perceiue howe earnestly they intitle the people to a wonderfull interest in Church matters They tell the people that they are greatly iniuried in this and that that they ought to choose their Ministers that imposition of handes should bee in their names that the censures of the Churche were to bee executed with the peoples consent and what must bee done almost but the people must haue an oare in it Howbeit all this great shewe of gratifying the people notwithstanding Cartwright by snatches heere and there doth so powder his matters that in effect hee giueth them onely an emptie bottell to play withall For his Eldership forsooth must go before the people in all their actions that is as though hee should haue said what the Elderships thinke meete those Angels those interpreters of God those tribunall seates of Christ the people in all reason ought to content themselues with it and to giue their consentes vnto it Now heereupon Barrow proceedeth Hee taketh Cartwrightes reasons in the behalfe of the people but denieth his shiftes to be currant whereby he would take that from them againe which hee had before giuen vnto him And thereupon doth raile vpon him and all the rest of that association for such their dealing and abusing of the people These reformistes saith Barrow for fashion sake giue the people a little libertie to sweeten their mouthes and make them beleeue they should choose their owne Ministers yet euen in this pretended choyce do they coozen and beguile them leauing them nothing but the smoakie winde of election onely Againe The counterfait reformistes they woulde exclude the Church from the censures assuming them onely into their owne handes either into the Priestes handes with his silly presbytery or Eldership which hee ouerruleth at his pleasure in euery particular congregation or else into their Synodes and Councelles which haue power ouer all Churches and euerie member and action thereof to excommunicate and absolue to make depose to ordaine and abrogate without the priuitie or consent of the Churches c. And thus they subuert the libertie of the Church and peruert the ordinance of Christ. And againe Howe vnnaturall are those members which thus separate and seclude themselues yea rather sequester and seclude the whole from them and arrogate and assume the publicke dueties and power of the whole into their owne handes as though God had giuen all giftes vnto them and they had no neede of others And thus puffed vp with preheminence of theyr owne place and excellencie of their owne giftes they despise all the rest as base ignoraunt vnworthye to bee in their consistorie to haue any voyces of consent or dissent there alledging them to bee tumultuous contentious factious vngouerned ignoraunt inclined to the worst c. And this is as I said the second especiall difference as far as I can see betwixt the Elder Consistorians and these new Schismaticks Wherinto how easily a man may fall that hath digested the Geneuian and Cartwrightian pretences made against our Bishops for the peoples interest I commit the consideration of it to your owne discretions So that as I saide I say againe and againe that if good order be not taken this schisme will daily increase and growe to be daungerous But doe I call it a schisme The worde is too milde They are indeed all the sorte of that infection a compounded masse of I knowe not how manie heresies but principally they are Donatistes in some respect and meere Anabaptistes in some other I haue thought vpon it a hundreth times and haue meruailed at it that the now L. Archbishop of Canterbury could foresee so directly what would be the issue of the first admonition If you would bee pleased to read his exhortation before his confutation of that admonition You shall find that what he hath there written long before this monster was hatched in England he could not if he were to write againe wel write otherwise then there he hath done sauing hee might say that the mischiefe which then he foresaw would come to passe by reason of the boulstring of it by those that should haue had more wit and iudgement is now apparantly beginning to shew it selfe to as many as haue eyes and wisdome to see Surely those men that haue bene made instruments heretofore to commend vnto the whole realme I know not what bookes and platforms tending directly to the vtter ouerthrow of the present gouernment of the church of England with the whole forme
certaine that the Barrowists woulde not and not they onely but euen some others of a little better credite then any of our English botchers who will needs haue the people to haue in effect as great an interest in the execution of the Church censures as all the rest both ministers and Eldermen Thus Vrsinus writeth hereof Fiat excommunicatio c Let excommunication be done by the consent and authoritie of the whole Eldership ecclesiae and of the Church not of the Church alone nor of the Ministers or presbytery alone For this power is not giuen by Christ to a few or to Ministers onely although the administration and execution of it is committed oftentimes to fewe or to one Minister sed toti ecclesiae but to the whole Church If he will not heare them and others tell the Church Potentes dominantur vos autem non sic Princes beare rule like Lordes but you may not do so The consent therfore of the Church is to be required 1. Because it is Christes commaundement 2. For the authoritie of the action 3. That no man bee iniuried 4. Least the Ministery should be changed into an Oligarchy or Popish tyranny Thus farre Vrsinus In whose iudgment you see the Eldership is to be charged alreadie though it be but newly set vp with the same faults that are imputed to our church-gouernment by the brotherhoode amongest vs that is with the alteration of Christes institution with Lordlinesse and with a Popishe tyranny c. So as by this deuise the people are to bee vnderstoode in the person of the Apostles as well as their Elders and the one hath no more authoritie to binde and loose then the other But nothing will content them long Giue them the head euery yeare will bring forth a new platforme It will not be inough for maister Beza to say Neque enim eis assentior qui non nisi totius ecclesiae c. I doe not agree with them who will not haue any man excommunicated but by the consent of the whole Church and of euery man particularly For Christ hath giuen this authoritie sani iudicij hominibus to men of sound iudgement that is to the colledge of Elders according to the manner of the Iewes Vrsinus and those that are of his opinion will aunswere that the rest of the Church are not of their wits that it is but his pride and his Elders presumption to take so much vppon them that they would be Lords ouer their brethren and for the place of Mathew that they know Christes meaning aswell as he and all that take his part Of the third ioynt office that Cartwright saith dothâ—belong vnto his pretended Elders to bee executed ioyntly with the ministers as it was touched in the beginning of the 16. chapter I shall haue a more fit place to speake in the 22.23.24 and 25. chapters following CHAP. XVIII Of the first institution of the old Deacons and of the disagreement about the new disciplinarie Deacons IN the apostles times when after Christes ascention they began to preach in Ierusalem such was the charitie of those that professed the Gospell that many of them solde all or the most part of that which they had and brought the price of it to the Apostles feete The especiall reason that moued them as I take it so to do was this The greatest part that at the first did followe the Apostles were of the poorer sorte Who vppon theyr newe embracing of that so comfortable a doctrine did giue ouer themselues to the carefull meditation and throughly learning of it leauing their trades though not altogether yet surely as I suppose for the most part vntill at the least that they grew to bee more fully instructed therein To the which purpose they kept asmuch together with the Apostles as possibly they could and had their holy assemblies their exhortations praiers and the administratioÌ„ of Baptisme secretly in priuat houses for fear of the Magistrats Now as I said the most of these being poore men and the Apostles themselues hauing nothing to liue vpon When any of the richer sorte did ioyne themselues to that meeting or congregation they sold such thinges as they had or thought meete and brought the price of it vnto the Apostles not onely for theyr owne maintenaunce but committed the distribution of it vnto them for the reliefe also of the rest that wanted and were not able to prouide for themselues those thinges that were necessary This charge as well for the saide religious exercises in their priuate assembly as for this distribution equally to be made as the occasions required the Apostles took vppon them more particularly for a short time then they did afterward vz. vntill the number of Christians in Ierusalem increased from 120. vnto fiue thousand at the least and did grow daily more and more so as they were as I thinke constrained to haue diuerse Congregations And then because they found it to be some hinderaunce vnto the execution of their generall Commission for the further dispersing of the Gospell they caused seuen men to be chosen such as were knowen to be of honest report and full of the holy Ghost and wisedome Vnto whom that businesse was more specially committed Who thenceforth might not onely according to their honesty and discretion take into their hands such money as shoulde be brought from time to time to the godly disposed for the purpose mentioned but also in the Apostles absence agreeably with the fulnes of the holy Ghost whereby they held the mysterye of faith in a pure conscience were to teach to comforte to moue to confirme in the faith the brethren in theyr particular congregations or meetings and likewise to offer their common praiers in al their names vnto the Lord and to baptise the children of the faithfull For the Apostles in appointing of these newe officers had as well regard to the Soules of the people as to their bodies And because at that time which was the infancy and first spring of the Church there were not such meete men as might be made Priests or as they tearme them now a daies preaching Elders it pleased the Apostles to haue them trained vp in that exercise and to make the office of Deacons a degree and a step to the fulnes of Priesthood Which is expressed by Saint Paul when he saith of Deacons qui bene ministrant gradum bonum sibi acquirent they that minister well shal purchase to themselues a good degree And this order or office of Deacons being thus as you haue heard first instituted at Hierusalent was afterward vppon the same occasions and for the same ends ordained in other Churches where alwaies they executed all the parts mentioned of their offices so long as the Churchâ—s continued wherein they were placed Or if it happened as it did after in IerusaleÌ„ that their Churches were dispersed so as contributions collections ceased yet they continued their