is the watch-tower of the vine-dresser not the top of honour for him that is proud If whilest I retain my Bishoprick I scatter the flock of Christ how is the dammage of the flock the honour of the Shepheard With what face shall we in the world to come hope for the honour promised by Christ if our honour in this world doth hinder Christian unity Thus farre the African Bishops Sed Cynthius aurem I returne unto and proceede in the proving of our Proposition laid downe before 3. In Christian Churches which were of Apostolicall foundation and others after them we finde two Bishops in a Church or Citie both in and after the Apostles dayes not one advanced before the other Which being duly considered we may invert that argument which is used by our Hierarchists for the maintainance of their Episcopall Monarchie You know who hath laid down this amongst his Postulata g Episc by div right part 1. §. 12. p. 50. We may not entertain so irreverent an opinion of the Saints and Fathers of the Primitive Church that they who were the immediate successours of the Apostles would or durst set up a forme of government different from that which was fore-designed unto them Let this be granted the position may easily be retorted on their own heads thus If the Apostles had instituted one Bishop onely in a Church and placed him in superiority of power and order above the Presbyters can we think that the Saints and Fathers of the primitive Churches or the Churches themselves would have so soon swerved from the rule and practise of their first founders and have set up or admitted two Bishops where the Apostles had ordained but one The truth of this assertion touching the plurality of Bishops in a Church may be easily proved by varietie of examples h Dissert de gub Eccles p. 302 303. Gersom Bucerus hath proved it by no lesse then ten examples out of Scriptures and others out of Ecclesiasticall history I will onely mention some few Narcissus and Alexander both Bishops of Hierusalem not by succession one after the other but both at the same time as is proved out of i Eccl. hist li. 6. ca. 9. 10. Eusebius Ignatius and Evodias both Bishops of Antioch at the same time the one ordained by Peter the other by Paul as the fore-mentioned * Gers Buc. p. 439. forraine Divine hath proved by the confession of Clemens Constit l. 7. c. 46. and Baronius tom 1. ad an 45. At Rome Linus and Cletus or Anacletus were Coepiscopi Fellow-Bishops in Peters dayes and afterwards as Platina l In vita Sancti Petri. hath acknowledged and before him Ruffinus in praefar ad lib. Recognit as m Pan. tom 2. l. 13. c. 4. Chamier hath observed out of him and the n Cent 1 part 2. c. 10. in Lino Centurists of Magdenburge after them both Liberius after his returne from exile was conjoyned with Felix in the Episcopall See at Rome by the decree of the Synod of Syrmium as I have learned from o Cat. test ver l. 4. col 255. Illyricus and Gonlartius out of p Lib. 4. c. 14. Sozomen which Synod was held no lesse then fiftie six yeeres after the Councell of Nice which first made a Canonicall constitution to the contrary prohibiting that there should be two Bishops in one citie as q Lib. 1. c. 6. Ruffinus hath set down that Canon yea later then this Austin was made Bishop of Hippo in the dayes of Valerius and joyned with him as his Colleague in the Episcopall honour and Function albeit Austin was very unwilling yet the x Dum id fieri solere ab omnibus suaderetur atque id ignare transmatinis Africanis Ecclesiae exemplis probaretur compulsus atqueâ—â—â—ctas succubuit Epi scapatus curam majoris loci ordinationem suscepit Posslid in vita Aug. c. 8. Quod quidem quia tanta ejus obaritate tantoque populi studio dominum id velle credidt nonnullis jam exemplis praecedentibus quibus mibi omnis excusatioiâ—laudehatur vehemeâ—ter timuiexcusare Aug. ep 34 â—d Pausin Primate of Numidia Megatius Calamensis and Valerius together with all the rest Bishops that were present perswaded him thereunto and by varietie of examples in the African and transmarine Churches proved it to be a thing so usuall that Austin was left without all excuse and yeelded to undertake coepiscopatus sarcinam as he cals it the burthen of Coepiscopacie with Valerius for the prohibition by the Nicene canon was not yet come to the knowledge of Valerius nor to the cares of Austin as he doth Å¿ Ep. 110. Quod cone liio Nieeno prohibitum saisse nesciebam nec ipse sciebat else where professe This is a truth so clear and which hath such varietie of instances for the confirmation of it that the * Neq fuit tanta valigie priscu illis Episcopis lâ—cum sibi interdum ascicere aliquem ex suarum Ecclesiarum Presbyteris qui ipse tum furisdictione ordine u uque pleno Episcopalis propriae porestatis tum etiam nomine in eadem Ecclesia simul esset diceretur Episcopus de rep Eccl l 2. c 9. n. 14. Archbishop of Spalato doth confesse The ancient holy Bishops made no scruple of making one of their Presbyters their companiâ—n who both in Jurisdiction and Order and full use of power properly Episcopall should be their Colleague and Fellow-bishop in the same Church Yea t Idem est juris in parte quod in toto in parvis quod in magnis sed in eodem episcopatu possunt simut esse duo episcopi Caus 7. q. 1. c. Non est autem C Peristi C. Quia vero Ergo consimiliter propter necessitatem vel utilitatem possent esse snnut plures summi Pontifices dial part 3. tract 1. lib. 2. c. 25. sol 202. Occham proving out of the Canon Law it selfe that there may be two Bishops in a Bishoprick or Diocesse doth thence inferre that by the same reason there may be also two Popes u Fideles propter necessitatem vel utilitatem sufficienter moventem constituendo plures Pontifices non facerent conditionem Ecclesiae deterivem sed meliorarent cam cap. 26. sol 203. ad septimum as the government of one and the same Church by more Bishops then one conduceth to the benefit thereof so the regiment of the Church Catholike by many Popes a Loc. cit cap. 15. paulo ante finem This he maintaines might be done in both without any rent or division in the Church without the breach of that unity which the Apostle doth require for among all those things which he reckons up as grounds of union and motives to the conservation of it b Ephes 4. One faith one Baptisme c. Vnum Apostolicum minimè ponit saith he the Apostle makes no mention of one Apostolicall either Pope or
THE ANGEL OF THE Church of Ephesus NO BISHOP OF EPHESVS Distinguished in Order from and superior in Power to a PRESBYTER As it was lately delivered in a Collation before the Reverend Assembly of Divines By Constant Jessop Minister of the Word at Fifeild in Essex Imprimatur CHARLES HERLE LONDON Printed by G. M. for Christopher Meredith at the Signe of the Crane in Pauls Church-yard 1644. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL WILLIAM TWISSE Dr in Divinitie the Reverend Learned Prolocutor and to the rest of the Religious and Grave Divines of this present Assembly summoned by the authoritie of the Lords and Commons in Parliament Right Reverend and honoured Fathers and Brethren I Never thought or intended to appeare in print in this learned and criticall age being conscious to my self of mine own insufficiencies I speak it not in an humble arrogancie as the Orator observed some did write treatises against vain-glory and then in a vain-glorious ostentation put their names thereto Muchlesse should I have presumed to handle this controversie which hath been so fully agitated by others both at home and abroad Not only by those amongst us who have distasted the Hierarchicall frame of government whose arguments have been by the Prelates answered for the most part no other way then by suspensions silencings deprivations and proceedings against them as disturbers of the Churches peace and contemners of the commands of Authoritie but also by almost all the Divines of note in the Reformed Churches in their Polemicall dissertations against Papists out of whose Magazine our Hierarchists have borrowed those weapons whereby they defend their own authority and oppose their enemies as is evident to any that shall compare the writings of the one and of the other and to say nothing of this as objected by the good old Non-conformitans to the Patrons of Prelacie is acknowledged by the Papists themselves witnesse that short marginall Annotation of the Rhemists In Iohn 20.17 The Protestants otherwise denying this preeminence of Peter yet to uphold their Archbishops do avouch it against Puritans The course of my studies when once I became a Smatterer in Divinitie was bent another way then to the handling of Controversies My principall and chiefest aime being this that I might through Gods blessing on mine endevours be fitted for a Pastorall employment whensoever the Lord in his due time should call me thereunto Wherein I desire in humility and thankfulnesse to say with St PAUL 1 Cor. 15.10 By the grace of God I am what I am As for this controversie in particular though I had some reason to have pried into it in regard of my fathers sufferings more then once under the Prelates in whose deprivation I and the rest of his posteritie have had our share of sufferings also yet knowing mine own inabilities to wade through it wanting time in regard of other studies more necessarie for the fitting of me for that calling wherin I was and observing my fathers own tēperature carriage who forbare discoursing of it in private or mentioning much lesse handling of it in publike meerly on this ground that he might fulfill his ministery in that remote barren in respect of the Word rude and ignorant corner of Wales to which the Lord by his providence removed him I did also forbeare the studying of it The practises of the Prelates which caused such commotions in Scotland at first and in the issue the abjuration of the Prelacie the proceedings against Dr Bastwick here in England for his Flagellum Latiatium episcoporum and those high challenges which were made in the Star-chamber Speeches about that time did first cause me to enquire into that tenure of Divine right by which our Bishops laid claim to their Preeminence The Oath in the Canons which came forth afterward did provoke me to set to the work a little closer which yet I entred on only for my own private information and satisfaction and after the considering of some places of Scripture I addressed my self to Bishop Halls Treatise on that subject conceiving that in him being the latest that did write and withall a man of note in the Church I should find the substance strength and sinewes of all those arguments which could be produced in that cause Whom when I did peruse the more I looked into his treatise the further off I was from receiving satisfaction by him in that Tenure of Divine right and from subscribing to his assertions Hereupon for my own private use I set down some short marginall animadversions and to speak the truth as farre as I am able to judge there is roome enough in the margent to answer the whole booke divers of which are now at the desire of some godly and learned members of your Assembly presented to publike view Sundry other Collections I had once but Sr Arthur Astons upholders of the Protestant Religion finding my papers when they rifled my house at Reading of what they could soon made an end of them by fire and with them of some Treat ses of my Fathers in this and other arguments which in regard of that employment in the Ministery which lay on me whilst I was in those parts I had not read over Being thus driven from my habitation and by losse of my Papers and Manuscripts disabled from dealing in that controversie I had quite laid aside the thoughts of it untill that comming before a Committee of your Assembly according to an order of the house of Commons I was by the Chairman of that Committee appointed to handle before you this Text and controversie out of it Which I perswade my selfe was done rather by way of Probation then out of any desire of Information from me who am far more fit to be informed and to receive then to give information or satisfaction Being thus east on a necessity of reviving my former notions and reviewing my marginall animadversions with some other observations which I had left I undertook the taske and presented before you those collections and arguments which you were pleased immediately to call for Let that I beseech you Fathers and Brethren now find a second which found a former acceptance at your hands and unto acceptation vouchsafe to adde a Patronage Something I have indeed now added which was not in my former papers delivered which I have done partly by the intimation of him by whose appointment I first did enter on the discussing of this question partly because I saw the great confidence of the Bishop with whom I principally deale in this vexatious dispute whose grounds I held it in some respect necessary to consider and examine If in these papers there be any thing which may be subservient to the glory of God and his great work which he hath in hand I have my desire and shall therein rejoyce desiring to returne all to him from whom every good gift proceeds Give me leave to close my Dedication with the same petitions which closed my Sermon in
your Assembly The God and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of mercies grant that his Spirit of peace and truth may be the President of your Assembly that the peace of God may rule in your hearts whereunto ye are called in one body and nothing may be done amongst you through strife vain-glory or contention but ye may seek the truth and speake the truth in love that so through his blessing on your endeavours studies conferences meditations the breaches may be made up which are in the Church and the Lord in his due time heale the breaches of our Land Kingdome and Nation which are exceedingly shaken which is the hearty desire and daily prayer of Fifeild March 6. 1643. The meanest of your Fellow-helpers in the work of the Lord Constant Jessop THE Angel of the Church OF EPHESVS NO BISHOP of Ephesus c. REVEL 2.1 To the Angel of the Church of Ephesus write IT is not unknowne unto you Reverend and beloved Fathers and Brethren what vexatious disputes have been between the Prelatists and Presbyterians concerning the Angels mentioned in the Inscription of this and the other Epistles a Sermon preached at Lambeth Apr. 17. 1608. Dr Downham hath undertaken to prove the Angels to be Diocesan Bishops and to justifie their function as lawfull and of divine institution and approbation but his b Gersom Bucer dissert de gub eccl An Answer to Dr Downham imprinted an 1609. A reply to Dr Downhams defence imprinted an 1013. The Diocesans triall by M. Paul Baines an 1611. Refuters both in Latine and English have as I conceive with submission to better judgements made it evident that notwithstanding the Doctors bold adventure Magnis tamen excidit ausis he hath come short of his undertakings Yea some of the members of this grave and learned Assembly have vindicated this place from those challenges which the humble Remonstrant made unto it by it to uphold the tottering cause of Prelacy A cause which not long agone in Scotland and lately in the Parliament of England and amongst you hath been and still is causa conclamata I doubt not but you are sufficiently satisfied in conscience and judgement otherwise you would not in so solemne a manner have vowed and covenanted with the Lord the extirpation of that Prelaticall forme of Government It may be the Prelates themselves see their owne ruine approaching and that the down-fall of their honour is at hand in which regard being either not willing or not able by Scripture and force of argument to uphold it they will now try whether it may be defended by the dint of sword As if they were the Successours of those Prelates mentioned by c Quibus adjice novum eleemosynae modum quod in mercenarios mâ—lites equites pedites borum plurima consumuntur ad pugnas inter Christi fideles concitandas continuè nutriendas â—t eos suae tandem subjicere valeant potestati Defer s pac part 2. cap. 24. pag. 358. Marsilius Patavinus who found out novum eleemosynae modum a new kinde of almes to expend those meanes which were given them for hospitalitie and charitie to the poor in the maintainance of souldiers troops of horses and companies of foot to the raising and prosecuting of warres between Christians that so they might at length subject them to their tyrannicall power Or else the sonnes of that Martiall Pope d Ealaeus in Iul. 2. cited by Dr Abbots 2. part of def of the Ref. Cathol p. 11. Julius the second who finding that his Buls and Excommunications would not prevaile went in his own person to warre against the French King and crossing the river Tiberis cast Peters keyes into the streame with indignation being resolved to try whether Pauls sword would helpe him I am not now to follow them or lead you into the fields where trumpets sound troops are mustered and instruments of death to fly abroad but to enquire by your appointment whether the Inscription of this and other Epistles afford any solid argument for the pretended preeminence and superioritie of a Bishop in Order Office and Power of Jurisdiction above a Presbyter A late Patron of Episcopacie is so confident that he tels us e Bishop Hall Episc by divine right p. 121. All the shifts in the world cannot elude it that St John was by the Spirit of God commanded to direct his seven Epistles to the Bishops of those seven famous Churches by the name of so many Angels And the f Franc. à Sanct. clara Apol. epâ—s c. 5. p 62. Argumentum deniqâ—isiud apud ortho loxos non minus frequens quam efficax de Epistolis Ioaxnis in Apocalypsi quas ad septem I cclesiarum A siaticarum Angelos seu Episcopos scripsit originem saltem Apostolicam invictè dabit Romish Apologist for Bishops is as confident as their English Patron for he hath very boldly delivered it that the argument drawn from this place will invincibly prove their originall to be at least Apostolicall You heare their positions Let us now consider what just ground there is for this their great confidence 1. The name Angel doth not import any such eminencie of Order or Superioritie of power as our Prelates plead for and would fain wrest from the words of the Text. You know Reverend and Beloved that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Angel is a name of Office not of Order a title importing Dutie not Superioritie in Power It signifieth a Messenger and in point of Embassage all that are Gods Ministers unlesse they have an immediate call from God and infallible inspiration neither of which I conceive our Prelates will challenge to themselves are equall They are all by their place and Office g Mal. 2.7 Messengers of the Lord of hosts It is their dutie to h Act. 20.27 20. declare the whole counsell of God and keep back nothing which is profitable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i 2 Cor. 5.19 We are Embassadours for Christ saith the Apostle of himself and all those which are entrusted with the dispensation of the Gospel And from this their function they have their denomination k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 euim utruÌ„que significat senem legatum teste Scapula 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This name of Office Angel the Lord is pleased here to make use of rather then any other for this reason as I conceive Though the whole Scripture be the Epistle of the Almightie God unto his creature as l Regist ep lib. 4. epist 40. ad Theod. Medicum Gregorie speaks yet here are now speciall Letters to the Churches from the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore his Amanuensis St John is commanded to direct them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To the Angel or Messenger to him that is the m Jer. 15.19 mouth of Jesus Christ to interpret and declare his will The direction is thus set down indefinitely not pointing out any singular or individúall person
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Bishops throne a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orat. 7. Gregorie Nazianzen indeed so stiles his Episcopall dignity to which he was advanced but withall he saith he could not well tell whether he should call it a tyrannicall throne or hierarchicall in his next Oration he cals it in plaine termes b Orat. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a tyrannicall preheminence and sets down both there in prose and afterwards in c Carm. de vita suâ— oper Graecol tom 2. p. 24. seq edit Par san 1630 Carm. de div vitae genâ—ad pseudoepisc verse the bloudy contentions and divisions which the ambition of Bishops affecting this Episcopall throne caused both in Church and State I would the same were not verified in our dayes and that we had not cause with him to complain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alas for our great sorrowes and occasions of griefe Thus much for the foundation of Episcopall Jurisdiction pretended to be laid by Christ himself We are in the next place to enquire whether it hath in the practise of the Apostles and their recommendation any more solid and firme erection The onely instance of this that is produced is the charge of the Apostle in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus wherein in my understanding saith our fore-mentioned d Page 105. Patron of Episcopacie the Apostle speakes so home to the point that if he were now to give direction to an English Bishop how to demeane himselfe in his place he could not speake more fully to the execution of his sacred Office In which assertion we may seâ— what is one speciall ground of this great confidence Those acts and offices which have beene by degrees limited to the. Bishops as distinguished from Presbyters and granted by the Custome of the Church those are singled out as if then by the Apostle limited and restrained to the Bishop Amidst all that is here spoken out of these Epistles we have not the least mention of those qualifications which St Paul requirech in a Bishop It is not the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the work of a Bishop but the dignitie and feigned Soveraignty for which they now contend and fight however they would faine beare the world in hand that Episcopacie is a sacred Order of Divine and Apostolicall institution so that we may truly apply that to ours which sometimes Martin Duther first and Marlorat after said concerning Popish Prelates e Perinde sunt qui statum episcopalem statum jactitant perséctionis quum interim nthil agant quam Satrap as pompa agere equitare bellos caballos nisi quod interdum templa consecrant aras Marl in 2 Pet. 2.18 ex Luth. Like unto them that speake great swelling words of vanitie are they which boast that Episcopacie is a state of Perfection when in the meane time the onely thing they aime at is to be equall to Peeres in pompe to ride on stately horses only now and then their Lordships doe consecrate a Temple or an Altar For if we should looke for the same conditions and qualifications in many of ours which St Paul commands to bee in those Bishops there mentioned by him we shall finde that we are f Hujusmedi conditiones siquu exactè consideret conferat cum nostrae aetatis episcopis videbitur in novo orbe in peregrina aliqua ecclesia quae Christum Apostolos penitus ignoraverit ve sari Salm. in Tit. 1. disp 1. ad 4 â—â—â— dub in a new world as Salmeron the Jesuite once spake and in a strange Church that never heard of Christ and his Apostles This by the way From all that is culled out of these Epistles the argument by which they must prove Episcopacie to have been erected by the Apostle laboureth with an usuall fallacie a shamefull begging of the question For first of all Timothy and Titus have been sufficiently un-bishopped not onely by him who hath written a particular treatise in that name but by all that have waded into this controversie Domestick and Forraigne Divines against English and Romish Hierarchists neither hath there been any sacriledge committed by those which have unbishopped them but they have been restored to the Dignitie of Evangelists from which the Prelates have sacrilegiously degraded them that so they might on the ruines of the fore-mentioned Evangelists honour build up their Episcopall Soveraignty I might be large in proving this that Timothy and Titus were Evangelists but the work is already sufficiently done by others Onely I will least our Hierarchists should say that this is the assertion of none but their opposites put them in minde what g Video Timetheum proculdubio Episcopum generalem i. e. Apostolum nulli certae sedi adbuc alligatum ab ipso Paulo vocari suum adjutorem de rep Eccl. l. 2. ca. 3. n 60. Antonius de Dominis hath observed concerning Timothie long after the first Epistle written to him even when the Apostle wrote his Epistle to the Romans which was about the time of his last journey to Hierusalem as is cleare by paralleling those two places of Scripture Rom. 15.25 Act. 24.17 18. to wit that he was out of doubt a generall Bishop i. e. an Apostle as yet confined to no certain seat So that if Spalatensis speake truth his Episcopacie of Ephesus is gone for he was not yet saith he confined to any certain See And as hee was not then when Paul wrote that Epistle to the Romans so neither was he when the same Apostle wrote his second Epistle to Timothie himselfe Consider the charge which the Apostle there gives him h 2 Tim. 4.5 Doe the worke of an Evangelist make full proofe of thy Ministery He doth not say Doe the worke of a Bishop then had our Prelatists some colour for their assertions but of an Evangelist now it is well knowne that the Apostle setteth the i Ephes 4. Evangelists as Persons whose calling was extraordinarie above the standing and ordinary governours of the Church Pastors and Teachers Those are by the Apostle there stiled Evangelists who did Evangelizare sine Cathedra as k in Eph 4. Ambrose speakes Preach the Gospel up and downe not being confined to Residence on any one peculiar charge We have St Paul professing that on him did lye the l 2 Cor. 11.27 Care of all the Churches and oft expressing his desire in his own person to come to them to confirme and strengthen their faith which when he could not do he sent these two not to mention any more sometimes to one Church sometimes to another but being now imprisoned at Rome and having once answered before Nero already knowing that he m Ac. â—0 should never see their faces any more as he said to those Elders of Ephesus that n â— Tim. 4.6 the time of his departure was at hand as he speakes to Timothy he puts him in minde of that Office
Prelate In a word the practise of governing a Church by more Bishops then one was for a while so common and usuall though by degrees it did begin in some places sooner to grow out of use then others that if Epiphanius his observation be right it was anciently proper to Alexandria alone to have one Bishop whereas other Churches and Cities had two His words are cleare and expresse for it x Haer. 68. de Milet. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For Alexandria had not anciently two Bishops as other cities had This testimonie of Epiphanius concerning Alexandria I first lighted upon in y in Aug. de haer haer Acrian Danaeus and since I met with it in him I have oft times wondred that in all the quotations out of the Fathers for Episcopacie our Hierarchists take no notice of it From the same Danaeus I have learned one thing more touching the forementioned Citie where the Episcopall Monarchie first had footing to wit that out of the same z Ibid. Church proceeded the Monastick life and divers other things which were the bane of the Church Perhaps in this regard our Prelates are ashamed of this their originall and would therefore fain bewitch the mindes of men with an opinion of another descent from Christs institution and his Apostles Dealing herein as wisely for themselves as the old Romans did who being ashamed of the spurious and incestuous birth of their first Founder Romulus pretended a Divine pedegree from Mars in a wood But for my part I love them both so well that I shall desire that as Bishops and Monks did rise so they may fall as they did come so they may go together and the Christian world be rid at once of them both which have proved Ecclesiae pestes the bane of the Church Before I passe from this one thing I must crave leave to adde it concerneth the Succession of Bishops which the Historians that did set it down so mention as if there were but one in a Church at once yet this doth nothing contradict what hath beene spoken touching their plurality Simul at one and the same time in the same Church For 1. Divers of those Historians in their expressions and narrations had reference to the custome of those times in which themselves lived For as much as in their dayes the custome of governing by many was changed into a government by one and the name common at first to all limited and restrained unto one hence they speake but of one though indeed as hath been shewed there were at the same time more Bishops then one in a Citie 2. When there were two or more equall in name and Office he that was the Surviver is reckoned as the Successor whereas indeed he was not Successor properly but onely a Colleague living longer then his fellow-bishop Thus doth a Exercit. 8. in Ignat. epist ad Mariam cap. 3. num 6. constant Linum Cletum ante Clementem â—bitsse quibus defunctis solus Clemens superstes solus etiam Episcopt nomen retinuit tum quia inter adjutores Apostolorum solus restabat c. Vedelius reconcile the difference which is between historians concerning those three Bishops of Rome Linus Cletus and Clemens shewing that the name of Bishop was given to the last of these who was the surviver in that Church where through the whole Chapter he discovereth the vanitie of those answers which are given by Bellarmine Baronius and others Lest our Hierarchicall Monarchie should thinke to elude this and blow it away as the fancie of a Disciplinarian of the Geneva cut I will back it with the suffrage of Antonius de Dominis the Archbishop of Spalato whom for his pains in patronizing the Episcopall cause they cannot but respect b De rep Eccl. l. 2. c. 3. n. 63. Quoniam ex his tribus Collegis saith he Because of these three that were Colleagues Linus died first Cletus next and last of all Clemens and each of them governed that Church with full authority hence it came to passe that some of the ancients reckoned Linus the first Bishop of Rome Cletus or Anacletus the second and Clemens the third as if they had been differenced in time one from the other and one succeeded the other when as indeed there was no proper succession at all 4. As most Churches had more then one Bishop so some for divers yeeres together long after the Apostles dayes had none at all but were instructed in the faith by Presbyters alone without a Bishop over them The c Forbes lren lib. 2. cap. 11. p. 159. Scortish pacificator in his Irenicum hath observed out of d Ibo Mail. li. z. de gest Scto c. 2. Johannes Maoior that the Primitive Church of Scotland flourished in the faith two hundred and thirty yeares at least without any goverment by Bishops being instructed in the faith and governed only by Priests and Monks The same is recorded before them both concerning that Church by e Scoticbron lâ— 3. ca. 8. ap lacob Armach de pri Eccl. Brit. p. 800 Johannes Fordonus who addes that the Presbyters did governe the Church ritum sequentes Ecclesiae primitivae following the custome of the primitive Church Adde unto this one thing more which is remarkable The Fathers in the second Councel of Carthage which was held an 428. did observe that f Concil Cartâ— 2. can 5. untill that time some places never had any Bishops at all and thereupon they did ordain ut tales in posterum non haberent that such places as had none before should not have any for future time From which Canonicall Constitution I may with g Diss de gub Eccles p. 307. Gersom Bucerus argue thus If those Fathers had conceived that the government by Bishops was appointed by the Lord Christ or his Apostles they could not they would not by an Ecclesiasticall Canon have established or permitted to the Churches the violation of Christs Institution or the Ordinance of his Apostles 5. When after the Apostles dayes the distinction between a Bishop and a Presbyter began yet that difference which was then put was no advancement to a distinct order but onely to an higher degree in the same order nor did it bring along with it any superiority in power or Jurisdiction over and above the Presbyters The truth of this position may be easily made manifest and confirmed by these particulars 1. The name of Bishop which together with the office was common to all the Presbyters was now limitted and appropriated unto him that was the eldest Presbyter The name being thus restrained there was a prioritie granted him to whom in respect of age and yeeres in respect of his longer standing in the Presbyteriall calling and consequently in regard of wisedome gravitie experience or Endowments reverence was due from his Colleagues being his Juniors and in that regard after a sort Inferiors That of Ambrose h in 1 Tim. c. 3. Is Episcopus