Marcte Sebotho Bishop of Augusta Everhardus Bishop of Reformes Vlricus Bishop of Saltsburg Conradus Bishop of Hildesheim Conradus Bishop of Halberstat Ludolphus Bishop of the same See Gunterus Bishop of Magdeburge Iosia Odolpleus Archbishop of Vpsal 〈…〉 in S 〈…〉 hland with sundry other Patriarkes Archbishops and Bishops many of them by reason of age or sicknesse others out of discontent others out of a desire of peace quietnesse and case from unnecessary cares and troubles others of them meerly out of conscience of the unlawfulnesse danger hurt and sinnes accompanying the very office of Bishops as then it is and yet is used have voluntarily renounced revived relinquished their Patriarkships Archbishoprikes and Bishoprikes and betooke themselves to a more retired religious quiet private godly life wherein they might serve God better and showe those manifold occasions of evill and temptations unto which their Episcopall function would expresse them both a hazard of their Soules If these many forraigne examples will no wayes moove your Lordships as seeming over strange we have many pregnant Domestique presidents of like nature which may perswade you to make good your promise and induce you to an imitation of them For I find that Robert Gemetiensis S. Edmund Boniface and Robert Kalwarby Archbishops of Canterbury Richard Beaueyes and William de sancta Maria Bishops of London Iohn Bokingham and Philip Ripingdon Bishops of Lincolne Richard Peche and Roger de Weseham Bishops of Coventre and Lichfeild Herman Bishop of Sherborne Shaxton Bishop of Sabisbury William Warmest Iohn Voysy and Miles Coverdale who being deprived in Queene Maries time cared not to returne to his Bishoprike in Queene Elizabeths setling himselfe in London and there leading a private life as an ordinary Minister Bishops of Exeter Iohn Carpenter and Master Hugh Latimer Bishops of Worcester the later of whom skipped for joy when hee had cast off his Rochet for that hee was eased of so heavy a burthen and blessed God that he had given him grace to make himselfe a Quondam Bishop Ralfe de Maydestan Bishop of Hereford Putta Quickhelmus and Haymo Bishops of Rochester the first of them becoming a Schoolemaster spent the residue of his dayes in that kinde of life and could never abide to heare of returning to his Bishoprike Dubricius Bishop of Carleon Sulghein Bishop of S. Davids Iohn Hunden Bishop of Landaffe Caducanus Bishop of Bangor Elguensis Bishop of S. Assaph Colman S. Cuthbert Egelrit and Nicholas de Farnham Bishops of Lindesfarne and Durham the later of whom first of all twise refused and then at last resigned his Bishoprike out of conscience Paulinus de Leedes who peremptorily refused out of conscience to accept the Bishoprike of Carlile though thereunto elected and earnestly intreated by King Henry the second to accept the place who offer◠him 300. Markes yearly revenue for the increase of his living there as did Sylvester de Everdon for a time to Walter Malclerke Bishop of Carlile Cedda Coena aliàs Albert Athelwold Thurstan William Wickwane Archbishops of Yorke who all voluntarily most out of conscience some out of choller others for their ease some for their age others for other causes best knowen to themselves resigned both these their Archbishops and Bishoprikes being so many domesticke presidents to your Lordships who have long since given over the maine part of your Episcopall function preaching now to doe the like according to your joint and severall Promises in case you cannot proove your Archiepiscopall and Episcopall lurisdictions lure divino and give a satisfactory Answer to these few papers which I presume you can never doe since not onely Hieron Ambrose Chrysostom Augustine Sedulius Remigius Primasius Theodoret Haymo Beda Rabanus Maurus Theophilact Isidor Hispalensis Alcuminus Oecumenius Gratian the Councells of Carthag◠4. Con◠22. to 26. of Aquisgran c. 8. 10. 11. Iuo Camotensis Peter Lombard Bruno and other ancient but even Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury Richard Archbishop of Ardmagh all the Archbishops Bishops and Cleargy of England in 37. H. 8. in their Institution of a Christen man chapter of Orders subscribed with all their names Stokesly Bishop of London Tonstall Bishop of Durham Reginald Peacocke Bishop of Chichester Bishop Hooper Bishop Latimer Bishop Iewel Bishop Alley but even Arch-bishop Whitgift himselfe and Bishop Bridges to omit Wickliffe Swinderby Walter Brute S. Iohn Oldcastle Master Iohn Lambert Master Iohn Bradford and other our Martyrs Master Thomas Beacon Master Iohn Fox Master Alexander Novell Doctor Whitaker Doctor Humfry Doctor Willet Doctor Agray Doctor Taylor Doctor Ames Doctor Raynolds Doctor Fulke and others in their authorized writings printed here in England cum privilegio and publike allowance with the forecited statutes of our Realme and all the Bishops Patents in the Raigne of King Edward the 6. in expresse termes conclude your Archiepiscopall and Episcopall Iurisdiction to over other Ministers to be a meere humaine invention long after the Apostles time to prevent or rather as the event hath ever since prooved to engender foment occasion all schismes factions errors and disorders in the Church when as Christ himselfe and his Apostles since ordained a Parity an equality both among his Apostles and Ministers and ever instituted many Bishops elders over every particular Church but never any one Bishop or Minister over many as the best meanes to preserve unity and roote out sinnes occasioned onely by the pride ambitious couvetousnesse power and Tyranny of domineering Prelates Thus craving pardon for my boldnesse in pressing your Lordships like two honest plaine dealing men to make good your words that so we may once againe become fellow-brethren and walke hand in hand together like equals without that infinite Lordly distance which is now between us I take my leave and rest Your Lordships faithfull Monitor A. B. C. A briefe Exhortation to the Archbishops and Bishops of England in respect of the present Pestilence MY LORDS for so you stile your selves and will be intiteled by all men notwithstanding the Lords owne inhibition to the contrary the Prophet Isay c. 26. 9. hath informed me that when Gods Judgements are on the earth the inhabitants of the world will learne righteousnes and who knowes whither your Lordships as properly inhabitants if not servants and louers to of the world as any of what ever profession though you should not be so may not now in this time of Pestilence when Gods Iudgements are everywhere so rife among us learne righteousnesse as well as others if you thinke not your selves to wise to learne to old to be instructed if any man will but take the paines to teach you Hearken therefore I beseech you as you tender either the preservation of your lives in this time of mortality or the salvation of your soules in the great day of Iudgement or the lives and soules of his Majesties Subjects committed to your pastorall charge to a short
so no Diocaesan Bishop as our Prelates and their flatterers vainely pretend Timothy therefore being neither a Bishop nor first sole or any Bishop of Ephesus or of any other place or if a Bishop no Diocaesan Bishop but of one Church and congregation onely as these premises evidence all our Prelates inferences drawne from his example to proove their Episcopall Authority and Jurisdiction Iure Divino which for the most part hang upon his Episcopall rochet onely fall quite to ground and their Episcopall Authority together with it I now proceed to the next Question wherein I shall likewise discusse whether the power of ordination belongs onely to Bishops not to Presbyters And whether this Paradoxe of the Prelates be true that ordainers are greater in Iurisdiction and degree then those that are ordained to wit Whether Titus were ever Bishop or Archbishop of Crete What ever the common bruite and Error of these or former times conceive under correction I perswade my selfe that Titus was no Bishop nor Archbishop of Crete and that for these ensuing reasons First because the Scripture never stiles him a Bishop nor S. Paul who often stiles him his partner and fellow-helper concerning the Corinthians not Cretians the Messenger of the Churches not Bishop and the glory of Christ 2 Cor. 8 23 6 16. his Sonne Titus 1 6 his brother 2. Cor. 7. 6 13 14. never Bishop as some would make him Secondly Because his cheifest imployment was to the Church of Corinth after that hee had been left by Paul in Creet as Paules partner and fellow-helper in that Church 2. Cor. 2. 13. c. 7. 6. 13. c. 8. 6. 16. 23. c. 12 18. Thirdly Because hee was Paules companion attendant partner fellow-helper Messenger fixed to no setled place of residence as Bishops were 2. Cor. 2. 13. c. 7. 6. 13. c. 8. 6. 16. 23. c. 12. 18. Gal. 2 1. 3. 2. Tim. 4. 10. sent by him from Rome long after his being in Crete into Dalmatia 2. Tim. 4. 10. Fourthly Because Paul writes expresly to him Tit. 1. 5. not that hee ordained him Archbishop or Bishop of Crete but that hee left him in Creet for a season for this cause that hee should sett in order the things that were wanting and ordaine Elders in every Citty as hee had appointed him Therefore was hee there onely as Paules Vicar generall Commissary or substitute to order those things in such sort as hee had appointed him which Paul could not dispatch whiles hee was residing not as the Archbishop or Lord Bishop of Creet to order all things there by his owne Episcopall Jurisdiction and authority as hee listed himselfe Fifthly Hee expresly charged him to come to him diligently to Nicopolis when hee should sent Arthemas or Tychicus to him for there hee intended to winter Tit. 3. 12. By which it is evident that his stay in Creet by Paules appointement was very short not above halfe a yeare if so much after which wee never read hee returned thither though we finde hee was sent to Corinth and Dalmatia that hee went up to Hierusalem with Paul and came to him during his imprisonment at Rome Gal. 2. 1. 3. 2. Cor. 2. 13. c. 7. 13. 14. c. 8. 6 16. 23. c. 12. 8. 2. Tim. 4. 10. His short abode therefore in Creet without returning thither prooves him to be no Bishop Sixtly Paul chargeth him to bring Zenas the Lawyer and and Apollos diligently on their way that nothing might be wanting to them Tit. 3. 13. Now it is very unlikely that an Arch-bishop or Bishop of Creete wherein were 90. walled Cities would stoope so low as to waite thus upon Lawyer as Zenas or a Disciple as Apollos was unlesse hee were far more Humble then any Archbishops or Prelates in these our times who are commonly so insolently proud as to disdaine all familiar conversations with Lawyers or Ministers Seaventhly Paul left Titus Bishop of no one Citty in Creete and hee expresly enjoynes him to ordaine not one but many Elders in the plurall number in every Citty of Creete Tit. 1. 5. 7. where there were no lesse then 90. walled Citties in Homerus time which Elders were no other but Bishops and so tearmed by him v. 7. For a BISHOP must be blamelesse c. as Hierom. Chrysostome Ambrose Theodoret Sedulius Primasius Remigius Beda Raubanus Maurus Bruno Theophilact Oecumenius Anselme Lyra Hugo Cardinalis Aquinas with other moderne Commentators on this text accord If then Paul gives expresse directions to Titus to ordaine many Elders and Bishops in every Citty of Creete constituting him a Bishop in none of them that we read of an apparant argument that hee was no Bishop there because hee had there no Bishops See at all and was no sole Bishop of any one Citty it is not probable that hee constituted him sole Archbishop or Bishop of all Creet which had anciently no lesse then 4. Archbishops and 21. Bishops in it it being the Apostles practise to place many Bishops and Elders in one Church but never one Bishop or Archbishop over many Churches Phil. 1. 1. Acts. 20. 28. Hence Athanasius Chrysostome Oecumenius and Theophilact on Titus 1. 5. 7. write thus Here hee will have Bishops to be understood for Presbyters or Ministers as we have elsewhere often said neither verily would hee have the charge of the whole Iland to be permitted or granted to one man but that every one should have his owne proper cure charge allotted him for hee knew that the labour paines would be the lighter and that the people would be governed with greater diligence if that the Doctor or teacher should not be distracted with the government of many Churches but should onely give himselfe to the government of one and study to compose and adorne it with his maners So also Peter Lombard Alphonsus de Castro Doctor Barnes and others on and from this text determine Eightly All generally accord that Archbishops yea Metropolitanes BISHOPS themselves are not of divine or Apo stolicall but Papall and humane Constitution witnesse Pope Nicolas apud Gratianum Distinct 22. c. 1. Omnes sive Patriarchae cujuslibet apicem sive Metropolis primatus aut Episcopatuum Cathedras vel Ecclesiarum sive cujuscunque ordinis dignitatem INSTITVIT ROMANA ECCLESIA Which Pope Anacletus in his 3. Epist. c. 3. doth likewise averre and Pope Lucinus and Clement in Gratian Distinct 80. affirme as much informing us that Archbishops and Primates are the Successors of the Hathenish Arch-Flamens and to be placed onely in those Citties where the Arch-Flamens had their Sees with which Peter Lombard accords lib. 4. Distinct. 24. Hence our Historians record of King Lucius the first Christian Prince of this our Realme that hee instituted 3. Archbishoprickes and 25. Bishop-rickes and Bishops in stead of the 3. Arch-Flamens and 25. Flamens changing their Sees into Bishoprickes and Archbishop-rickes by which it is evident that Archbishops Patriarkes and Metropolitans
prooved by Scripture reason and Authors of all sorts that none which read these passages of his can ever hereafter call this into question more Having runne thus long abroade I now in the last place returne to our owne Church and writers The Booke of ordination of Ministers ratified by two severall Acts of Parliament namely 3. Ed. 6. c. 12. and 8. Eliz. c. 1. and subscribed to by all our Prelates and Ministers by vertue of the 36. Canon as containing nothing in it contrary to the word of God expresly orders that when Ministers are ordained ALL THE MINISTERS PRESENT AT THE ORDINATION SHALL LAY THEIR HANDS TOGETHER WITH THE BISHOP ON THOSE THAT ARE TO BE ORDAINED And the 35. Can. made in Convocation by the Bishops and Clergy An. 1603. prescribes that the Bishop before hee admit any person to holy Orders shall diligently examine him in the presence of those Ministers that shall ASSIST HIM AT THE IMPOSITION OF HANDS And if the said Bishop have any lawfull impediment hee shall cause the sayd Ministers carefully to examine every such person so to be ordered Provided that they who shall assist the Bishop in examining AND LAYING ON OF HANDS shall be of his Cathedrall Church if they may be conveniently had or other sufficient preachers of the same Diocesse to the number of three at the least And according to this Booke of Ordination and Canon when ever any Ministers are ordained all the Ministers there present joyne with and assist the Bishop in layng on of hands on every one that is ordained So that both by the established Doctrine and practise of the Church of England the power of laying on hands and right of ordination is common to every of our Ministers as well as to our Bishops who as they cannot ordaine or lay hands on any without the Bishop so the Bishop can ordaine or lay hands on no Ministers without them so that the power and right of ordination rests equally in them both With what face or shadowe then of truth our Prelates now can or dare to Monopolize this priviledge to themselves alone against this Booke of Ordination their owne Canons subscriptions yea their owne and their Predecessors common practise to the contrary which perchance their overgreat imployments in temporall businesses secular state affaires have caused them wholly to forgett at least not to consider let the indifferent judge But to passe from them to some of our learned writers Alcuvinus De Divinis Officiis c. 37. writes that Bishops Presbyters and Deacons were anciently and in his time too elected by the Clergy and people and that they were present at their Ordination and consenting to it That the Bishops consecration in his dayes used in the Church of Rome wherein two Bishops held the Gospell or New Testament over the head of the Bishop consecrated and a third uttered the blessing after which the other Bishops present layde their hands on his head was but a Novelty not found in the old or new Testament nor in the Roman tradition And then heâ— prooves out of Hieroms Epistle to Evagrius and his Commentary on the first to Titus that the ancient consecration of Bishops was nothing else but their election and inthronization by the Elders who chose out one of their company for a Bishop and placed him in a higher seat then the rest and called him a Bishop without further Ceremony just as an Army makes a Generall or as if the Deacons should choose one from among them and call him an Archdeacon having no other consecration but such as the other Deacons had being advaunced above others onely by the Election of his fellow-brethren without other solemnity By which it is plaine that in the primitive Church Presbyters did not onely ordaine Presbyters and Deacons before there were any Bishops elected and instituted but likewise that after Bishops were instituted they ordained and consecrated Bishops as well as Elders and Deacons and that the sole ordination and consecration of Bishops in the Primitive and purest times was nothing but the Presbyters bare election and inthronization of them without more solemnity So that the other Rites and Ceremonies now used are but Novelties Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury on the 1. Tim. 4. 14. expounds these words with the laying on of hands of the Presbytery in this maner Hee cals that the laying on of hands which was made in his ordination which imposition of hands was in the Presbytery because that by this imposition of hands hee received an Eldership that is a Bishopricke For a Bishop is oftentimes called a Presbyter by the Apostle and a Presbyter a Bishop which in his Commentary on the third Chapter on Phil. 1. 1. Tit. 1. 5. 7. hee prooves to be but one and the same in the Apostles time and in the Primitive Church So that by his resolution the imposition of hands and power of ordaining Elders and Bishops belongs to Presbyters as well as to Bishops Our English Apostle John Wickliffe and his Coaetanean Richard Fitzralphe otherwise called Richardus Armachanus Arch-bishop and Primate of Ardmagh in Ireland if we beleeve either their owne writings or Thomas Walden who recites their opinions arguments and takes a great deale of paines though in vaine to refute them affirmed and taught First that in the defect of Bishops any one that was but a meere Preist was sufficient to administer any Sacrament or Sacramentals whatsoever either found in Scripture or added since Secondly That one who was but a meere Preist might ordaine another and that hee who was ordained onely by a simple Preist ought not to doubt of his Presbytership or to be ordained againe so as hee rightly performed his clericall office because the ordination comes from God who supplies all defects Thirdly That meere Preists may ordaine Preists Deacons and Bishops too even as the inferior Preists among the Jewes did ordaine and consecrate the High Preist as Bishops consecrate Archbishops and the Cardinals the Pope Fourthly That the power of order is equall and the same in Bishops and Preists and that by their very ordination they have power given them by Christ to administer all Sacraments alike therefore to conferre orders and confirme children which is the lesse as well as to baptise administer the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and preach the Gospell which is the greater Fiftly That Christ sitting in heaven hath given the power of consecrating and ordaining Preists and Deacons of Confirmation and all other things which Bishops now challenge to themselves to just Presbyters and that these things were but of late times even above 300. yeares after Christ reserved and appropriated to Bishops onely by their owne Canons and Constitutions to increase their Caesarian Pompe and pride And Waldensis himselfe who undertakes to refute these propositions saith expresly That no man hitherto â—ath denied that God in an urgent case of necessity gave the power of ordination to any one that is
hee that ordaineth or consecrateth Ministers is greater in Iurisdiction power order or degree then the parties consecrated and ordained is a notorious dotage and untruth broached at first by Epiphanius to confute Aërius his orthodox opinion of the parity of Bishops and Presbyters and since that taken up at second hand by Bellarmine and other Iesuites the Councell of Trent Bishop Downham with other Patriots of the Popes and Prelates Monarchy and last of all like Coleworts twice sodde usurped by all our Prelates in their high Commission at Lambeth in their Censure of Doctor Bastwicke who laid the whole weight and burthen of their Episcopall superiority and precedency over other Ministers upon this rotten counterfeit Pillar unable any wayes to support it as these ensuing demonstrations will evidence at large bejond all contradiction For first of all we know that Cardinals and Bishops at this day as the people and Clergy yea the Emperor heretofore doe elect and consecrate the Pope yet they are not greater in order dignity power or Iurisdiction then the Pope but inferior and hee farre superior to them in all these We read that Metropolitanes Patriarkes Primates and Archbishops are created consecrated and installed by ordinary Bishops as the Arch-bishops of Canterburry and Yorke have oftentimes beene by the Bishops of London Rochester Winchester Salisbury and the like yet are they not greater in dignity power authority place or order then they but subordinate and subject to them whom they thus ordaine in every of these We know by dayly experience that one Bishop consecrates and ordaines another and hee a second and that second a third yet all of them are of equall power and Iurisdiction not different or distinct in order or degree and sometimes the last of the three in respect of his Bishopricke takes precedency of the rest that ordained him as the Bishops of London Durham and Winchester doe here with us and other Bishops the like in forraigne parts So some Ministers joyne with the Bishop in the ordination and laying of hands on others yet one of them is not superior in Iurisdiction order or degree to the other Now were this our Prelates objected Paradoxe true the Cardinals should be greater in order power and degree then the Popes the Bishops then Patriarkes Metropolitanes Primates and Archbishops one Bishop one Minister then another yea there should be so many different degrees among Bishops and Ministers as there are successive subordinate ordinations which is both false and absurd S. Hierom in his Epistle to Evagrius and on Titus 1. with Alcuvinus De Divinis Officiis c. 37. affirme that in the primitive Church Bishops were both Elected and consecrated by Presbyters and the Scripture is expresse that both Paul and Timothy were ordained by the Presbytery Acts 13. 3. 4. 1. Tim. 4. 14. If the Bishops reason then be orthodoxe it followes inevitably that in the Apostles times and the primitive Church Pres byters were superior in Iurisdiction order and Degree to Bishops yea to Paul and Timothy the one an Apostle the other an Euangelist and not Bishops Lords paramount over them as they now pretend and then farewell their Hierarchy which they so much contend for The Archbishop of Canterbury who stood much upon this argument at Doctor Bastwicks Censure both crowned our Soveraigne Lord King Charles and baptised his sonne Prince Charles will hee therefore conclude that hee is greater in power authority place and Iurisdiction then they The Archbishops of Canterbury have usually crowned and baptized the Kings of England and the Archbishops of Rheemes the Kings of France will they therefore inferre Ergo they are greater in power dignity and authority then they as the Popes argue that they are greater then the Emperors because the Bishops of Rome have usually crowned the Emperors Are the Princes Electors in Germany greater then the Emperors or of Poland Bohemia and Sweden greater then their Kings because they elect and create them Emperors and Kings Are the Lord Major of London and Yorke or the Major of other Citties inferior to the Commons or the Lord Chauncellors of our Vniversities of Oxford and Cambridge lesse honorable potent and inferior to the Doctors Procters and Masters of Arts or the heades or Masters of the Colleadges and Halls in them subordinate or lesse worshipfull or eminent then the fellowes because they are elected constituted and created by them to be such Are the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the Parliament not so good as those freeholders Cittizens and Burgesses who elect them or the Masters of Companies inferior to those that choose them If not as all must grant how is this maxime true that hee who constitutes ordaines or consecrates another is greater then the parties constituted ordained or consecrated and that in Iurisdiction place order and degree Our Popish Preists are not afraid to proclaime that in their consecration of the Sacrament they create their very Creator and make no lesse then Christ himselfe are they therefore greater and higher in order and degree then Christ the great and onely High Preist the * Cheife Shepheard and Bishop of our Soules whose Vicar and Substitute the Pope himselfe doth but claime to be Certainly if this their Popish proposition be true they must needs be one order and degree Higher in point of Preisthood then Christ himselfe who must then lose his titles of High Preist and cheife Shepheard because every Masse-Preist will be paramount him in that hee not onely consecrates but creates him too We read in Scripture that Kings Preists and Prophets were usually annointed and consecrated to be such with oyle was therefore the oyle that consecrated them greater or better then they Are the font and water better then the children baptized in or with them The Diadems better then Kings because they crowne them or the very hands of Bishops and Ministers worthier then Ministers ordained by them If not then are not Bishops greater then the Ministers which they ordaine or consecrate since both are but instruments Servants not prime originall agents Lords or Supreme absolute actors in these severall consecrations and actions If we cast our eyes either upon nature or policy we finde this proposition of our Prelates a meere â—alsehood In nature we â—ee that a man begets a man an horse an horse an asse an asse a dogge a dogge c. equall one to the other in nature quality species and degree the sonne being as much a man as the Father the colt as much an horse as the steed that begott him In Civill or Politique Constitutions wee see the like In our Vniversities Doctors and Professors of Divinity Phisicke Law Musicke create other Doctors of the same Professions equall to themselves and as much Doctors in these arts as they one Doctor in each of these being as much and no more a Doctor then another save onely in point of time or antiquity
without due examination or making Ministers without a title as many now doe for which the Canons prescribe they shall be suspended from giving Orders for two yeares space are inferior in order and degree to Bishops who may execute this power and ordaine and so one Bishop shall be superior in order and degree to another Bishop which none ever yet affirmed yea all our Bishops being prohibited and disabled by their owne Canons to ordaine Ministers or Deacons at any time but onely at the 4. solemne times appointed and that in the presence of the Deane Archdeaâ—on or two Prebends at the least or of 4. other grave Persons being Masters of Art at least and allowed for publike Preachers it will hereupon follow that Bishops onely at these 4. times of the yeare are greater in dignity and degree then Ministers because they may then ordaine but not at other seasons when they have no power or authority to conferre orders upon any being restrained by the Canon All which being layd together discovers the weakennes the absurdity of this our Prelates Theory on which they build both their owne Titus his hierarchy which now fall quite to ruine with this their sandy foundation which I have here 〈◊〉 ever dissipated subverted if I mistake not Obj. 5. If any finally object that the Fathers stile Titus the first Bishop of Crete and Timothy of Ephesus therefore they were Diocaesan Bishops and superior in Jurisdiction and degree to other Ministers and so by consequence are other Diocaesan Bishops as well as they Answ 1. I answer First that neither S. Paul nor S. Luke who lived in their times and knew them farre better then any Fathers or writers since ever so much as once terme or stile them Bishops much lesse the first or sole Diocaesan Bishops of Crete or Ephesus which no doubt they would have done had they beene in truth Diocaesan Bishops there and the name the office of a Bishop so honorable and sublime above that of Ministers even Iure Divino as our Prelates and their flatterers now pretend Their testimonies therefore who stile them onely Ministers or Euangelists never Bishops is to be preferred before all Fathers and writers who stile them Bishops being neither acquainted with their persons or functions nor living in their age Secondly No Father ever stiles them or either of them a Diocaesan or sole Bishop of Crete or Ephesus the thing which ought to be prooved but Bishops onely as they stiled other Ministers the name the office of Bishops and Presbyters being but one and the same and promiscuously used in the Apostles times all Presbyters being then called Bishops and all Bishops Presbyters as is evident by Acts. 14. 23. c. 20. 17. 28. Phil. 1. 1. 1. Pet. 5. 1. 2. 3. Tit. 1. 5. 7. 1. Tim. 3. 1. 2. 3. 2. Iohn 1. 3. Iohn 1. Philemon 9. with all ancient all moderne Commentators on these texts Whence the Translators of our last authorized English Bible affixe these Contents to Titus 1. 6. to 10. which treates of the quality of Bishops How they that are to be chosen MINISTERS ought to be qualified And the Booke of ordination of Ministers confirmed by two severall Acts of Parliament prescribes the 1. Tim. c. 3. Acts 20. and Titus 〈◊〉 to be read both at the ordination of Ministers and Consecration of Bishops and so intimates yea interpretes that Bishops and Ministers in the Scriptures language are both one in name and office and were so reputed in the Primitive Church Thirdly The Fathers use the word Elders and Bishops promiscuously calling Elders Bishops and Bishops Elders Hence Papias the Auditor of S. John and companion of Polycarpus writes thus in the Preface of his bookes It shall not seeme grievous untome if that I compile in writing and commit to memory the things which I learned of the Elders If any came in place which was a follower of the Apostles forthwith demaunded the words of the Elders what Andrew what Peter what Philip what Thomas or Iames or John or Mathew or any other of the Lords Disciples what Ariston and the Elder John Disciples of the Lord had sayd Here hee stiles not onely Bishops but even Apostles Elders Polycarpus his companion and Coaetanian writes thus in his Epistle to the Philippians Be ye subject to Presbyters and Deacons as to God let the Presbyters be simple and mercifull in all things Now those whom hee here stiles Presbyâ—ers S. Paul expresly termes Bishops Philip. 1. 1. Justine Martyr in his second Apology used neither the name Bishop nor Elder but termes the Minister onely Hee who is sett over the Brithren Hee who holds the first place in reference to the Deacon who held the second place not to any Elders of an inferior order to him And least any one should dreame that Iustine Martyr here speakes of a Bishop Tertullian who lived neere about that time or within few yeares in his Apology writes thus Praesident nobis probati quique Seniores c. Approoved Elders not Bishops are sett over us having obtained this honor not with any price but by a good testimony Whence it is evident that in his age every Christian Congregation had divers Elders not one Diocaesan Bishop over it to feede and rule it according to the practise of the Apostles times Acts. 14. 23. c. 20. 17. 28 c. 21. 18. Philip. 1. 1. 1. Tim. 5. 17. Tit. 1. 5. Iames 5. 14. 1. Pet. 5. 1. 2. Hence learned Apollinarius cals the Bishops and Elders of the Church of Ancyra in Galatia Presbyters And Clemens Alexandrinus relating the Story of the young man delivered by S. Iohn to a Bishop to traine up in the feare of God twice together cals him interchaingably both a Bishop and an Elder as Meridith Hamner a Bishop Englisheth it So Ireneus one of the ancientest of all the Fathers stiles Polycarpus Bishop of Smyrna That holy and Apostolike Elder yea hee termes the Bishops of Rome themselves Elders They saith hee that were Elders before Soter of the Church which now thou governest I meane Anacletus Pius Hyginus Thelesphorus and Xystus neither did so observe it themselves neither left they any such commaundement unto posterity And the same Father Adversus Haereses l. 3. c. 2. l. 4. c. 43. 44. oftentimes stiles Bishops Elders and Elders Bishops making Presbyters equall to Bishops in all respects and Successors to the Apostles as well as much as they So Dionysius Alexandrinus in his Epistle to Xystus Bishop of Rome about the yeare of Christ 240. writes thus There was a certaine Brother reputed to be of our Church and Faith very aged priusquam ego etiam creatus Episcopus and created a BISHOP before I was and as I thinke before blessed Heraclas was made a Bishop Where hee expresly termes this party who was but a Minister or Presbyter onely in that Church A BISHOP and saith hee was created a
his but theirs and hee if hee should chance to chalenge and resume them as his owne might not henceforth owne or claime them to be his they have litle reason now to attempt and his Majesty farre lesse to suffer and so having neither God nor the King divine nor humaine Right to support them they must as the proverbe is between two stooles the arse goes to the ground now at last in the middest of their usurped greatnes fall flat upon the ground and this their fall q proove very great because they now of late are growen so not being content with the office of a Bishop but they must be also Kings temporall Lords and cheife state officers against Christs expresse commaund and Gods owne Law to sway both Church and state at pleasure so they may ingrosse into their sacred hands the sole rule and government of the world having great possessions and being great Lords also as they are Prelates and yet doing nothing therefore at all in point of preaching fecding and instructing the people committed to their spirituall charge but onely playing the part of a Bishop as a Christmas game-player doth of a King and as a Poppet which springeth up and downe and cryeth Peepe Peepe and goeth his way as Doctor Barnes writes wittily of the Bishops of his age Which swelling greatnesse 〈◊〉 ambition of theirs as it will make their downefall the greater so the speedier being a sure prognosticke of their approaching ruine as the greatnesse of any unnaturall swelling in the body is of its present ensuing rupture u Pride ever going before destruction and a lofty spirit before a fall and they usually dogging them at the heeles because God himselfe resisteth the proud but then most of all when they are at the highest according to that of the Psalmist Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like drosse which assoone as ever it hath gotten up to the top of the pot and elevated it selfe above the 〈◊〉 mettle is then scummed off and cast away Towards which their desired speedy downfall if these my unworthy labours shall through Gods blessing on and thy prayers for them contribute any assistance for the ease releife or comfort of Gods poore people who are every where most wrongfully without yea against all Law and reason oppressed and cast out of their benefices freeholds possessions imprisoned fined excommunicated silenced suspended vilified crushed and troden under feet by their intolerable tyrannie might and unbounded extravagant power I shall neither repent me of the penning nor thou thy selfe of the reading of it wherefore here humbly prostrating it to thy impartiall Censure and commending it to the blessing of that omnipotent God who to shew the infinitenes of his wisedome and power doth oft times choose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise the weake things of the world to confound the things that are mighty and base things of the world and things that are despised yea and things that are not to bring to nought things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence I shall take my leave of thee till some further occasion Farewell and pray for me To the Right Reverend Fathers in God William Lord Archbishop of Canterbury And Richard Lord Archbishop of Yorkes Primates and Metropolitanes of all England MY Lords I have sundry times heard both of you joyntly and severally protesting even in open Court not onely in the High-Commission but in Dr. Laytons and two other cases since Starchamber too whether seriously or vauntingly onely let the event determine That if you could not proove your Episcopall Iurisdiction and function which you now claime and exercise over other Ministers and your selves as you are Bishops to be superior in power dignity and degree to other Ministers Iure Divino a doctrine which Patricke Adamson Archbishop of S. Andrewes in Scotland publikely recanted in the Synod of Fiffe Anno 1591. as directly repugnant to and having no foundation at all in the word of God you would forthwith cast away your Rochets of your backes lay downe your Bishoprickes at his Majesties feet and not continue Bishops on ehower longer What your Lordships have so oft averred and publikely promised before many witnesses I hope bonâ fide because judicially in full Court upon goodadvise not rashly on some sodaine fitt of choler I shall make bold to challenge you to make good without more delay either by giving a solid satisfactorie speedy answere to this short Treatise consisting onely of 2. Questions which you may devide between you and so speedily reply to if your great secular occasions not your praying and frequent preaching which are onely truly Epicopall though you deeme them overmeane imployment for Arch-bishops interrupt you not which manifests all that Jus Divinum which hitherto both or either your Lordships have pretended for your Episcopalities to be but a meere absurd ridiculous faction having not the least shadow of Scripture to support it or in case you either cannot or faile to give such an Answer to it in convenient time by pulling off your Rochets and resingning up your Archbishoprikes which without all question are but a meere humaine and no divine Institution as I have evidenced into his Majesties hands from whom you dare not deny you onely and wholly received them with all your Episcopall Jurisdiction and Authority thereunto annexed whereby you difference your selves from or advance your selves above your Fellow-Ministers as their supreme Lords unlesse you will split your selves against the hard rocke of a Praemunire and the Statutes of 26. H. 8. c. 1. 31. H. 8. c. 9. 10. 37. H. c. 17. 1. Ed. 6. c. 2. 1. Eliz. c. 1. 5. Eliz. c. 1. 8. Eliz. c. 1. which Acts as they will informe your Lordships notwithstanding all your former vaunts and brags of divine right That the Archbishops Bishops Arch-deacons and other Ecclesiasticall persons of this Realme HAVE NO MANER OF IVRISDICTION ECCLESIASTICALL BVT BY VNDER AND FROM THE KINGS ROYALL MAJESTY to whom by holy Scripture ALL AVTHORITY AND POWER IS WHOLY GIVEN to heare and determine all maner causes Ecclesiasticall and to correct vice and sinne whatsoever and to all such persons as his Majesty shall appoint thereunto That all authority and Iurisdiction spirituall and temporall is derived and deducted from the Kings Majesty as supreme head of the Church and Realme of England and so justly acknowledged by the Cleargy thereof That all Courts Ecclesiasticall within the Realme were then and now ought to be though they are not kept by no other power or authority either forraigne or within the Realme but by the authority of his most excellent Majesty onely and that by vertue of some speciall commission or letters Patents under his Majesties great Seale and in his name and right alone That all power of Visitation of the Ecclesiasticall State and Persons much more then of our Vniversities
exempt from Archiepiscopall Episcopall Iurisdiction is united and annexed as a royall prerogative to the Kings Imperiall Crowne and to be executed by none but by Patent under him And that all your Citations processe Excommunications Probates of Wils Commissions of Administration c. ought to be made onely in his Majesties name and sealed with his seale as they were in King Henry the 8. and King Edwards dayes witnesse the Bishops Registers Proces and Probates of wils in their two raignes and now are in your High-Commission that so both the Courts and processe migth be knowen to be his Majesties by leaving his Image stile and superscription ingraven on them and to be derived unto you not by any divine right but by his Princely grace alone who hath as absolute an Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction as any of his royall progenitors enjoyed both by the Lawes of God and of the Realme So they will inforce your Lordships to acknowledge unlesse you will renounce your Alegiance to your most gracious Soveraigne whose meere grace hath advanced you to what you now are that all your Episcopall Iurisdiction whereby you are distinguished from or elevated above any ordinary Presbyters and Ministers is not from any divine Charter or Commission from Christ but onely in by from and under his Majesty and so not Jure Divino as you have thus frequently craked and boasted to the world so as you must either now forthwith renounce your Bishoprikes according to your Protestations or else be guilty of breach of promise unlesse you can proove you enjoy them onely by a divine right and yet onely in by from and under his Majesty which is a contradiction If your Lords to maintaine your divine pretended Episcopall Iurisdiction shall flie to Doctor John Pocklington for ayd who by one of your Domesticke Chaplaines approbation hath verily published in print That you by Gods mercy to our Church are able lineally to set downe your Succession in your Episcopall dignity from S. Peters Chaire at Rome to S. Gregory and from him from our first Archbishop S. Augustine though we had many Archbishops before his comming our English Apostle so the Papists would have him stiled though Bishop lewel Fox and others renounce him downeward to his Giver that now sits in his chaire Primate and Metropolitane of all England I shall then desire your Lordships and this Doctor to proove First that S. Peter was a Bishop by divine Institution Secondly that he was Bishop of Rome of which this Doctor is so impatient that he breakes out unto these passionate words well worthy your Episcopall Censure Whereby their vanity may appeare that upon idle ghesses against all antiquity makes fooles beleeve that S. Peter w as never at Rome mking the Succession of Bishops and truth of the Latine Churches as questionable as the Centurists orders Thirdly Wheter Peter was sole Bishop of Rome or rather Paul also Bishop as well as hee at the same time and that by divine institution whence it will follow that there ought to be how Bishops of Rome and so of Canterbury at the same time not one alone as two severall persons at least to constitute one Bishop Fourthly Whether it will follow from Peters being Bishop of Rome Iure Divino that the Arch-bishops of Canterbury and Yorke most necessarily be Archbishops Iure divino Fifthly Whether if this Doctrine be true this Proposition can be denied that your Lordships being lineally descended from the Church and Popes of Rome are both the true and genuine sonnes and members of these two ghostly Parents If you deny this inference then you must renounce this divine Title to your Prelacies if you subscribe unto it as I presume you dare not then all his Majesties loyall subjects who have in their oath of allegiance and supremacy renounced all forraigne Iurisdiction with the Bishops and Church of Rome abandoned by severall Acts of Parliament must renounce both you and this your Episcopall Iurisdiction to thus claimed which since you can no wayes substantially proove to be Iure Divino I hope you will now lay downe your Bishopriches according to provise or else be thoughâ—never worthy faith or credit more in future time Neither may the seeming strangnes of the thing it selfe deterre you from it this being no new thing for Bishops to resigne and give over their Bishoprikes For not to mention that famous Gregory Nazianzen that great Patriarke of Constantinople or p Hiâ—rax Iohn of Antioch with sundry others in the primitive Church who either out of conscience or for quietnes sake voluntarily renounced or repudiated their Bishoprikes betaking themselves to a more retired private life wherein they might serve God better Nor yet to recite the History of Ammonius who when the Cleargy and people elected him for their Bishop and urged him to take a Bishopricke upon him fled away secretly and cut off his right eare that the deformity of his body might be a Canonicall impediment to his election and being yet deemed meet to be a Bishop by Timothius the Patriarke though his Nose and eares had beene both cut off by reason of his learning and vertues and the people drawning him against his will to accept that office hee replyed that hee would likewise cut off his tounge to which pleased them unlesse they would specdily let him goe Nor yet to remember Euagrius the Philosopher who when he was constrained to accept a Bishopricke by Theophilus Alexandrinus renounced his Ministery rather then hee would accept it such a dangerous and ill office did hee then repute it and many good men else who as Nicephorus records refused aunciently to accept thereof though nothing so dangerous and pernicious an office then as now Or Nicephorus Blemmides who being elected Patriarch of Constantinople absolutely refused to accept it upon any termes Or Werinbaldus unanimously elected Bishop of Spier who could by no meanes be induced to embrace it Or Theophilâ—us Archdeacon of Adaina who being chosen Bishop of that See refused to receive it and being forced both by the Ministers and people to take it against his will relinquished it shortly after though in an idle manner I find it recorded of Arsenius Germanus Paulus Cyprius Iosephus Becus Gregorius Cyprius Athanasius Iohn Ioannes Glicis Antonius Studites Cosmas and Theodosius all Patriarkes of Constantinople as likewise of Gildenutus Bishop of Malden Vlfranius Bishop of Shetne Arnulphus Bishop of Mets Addo-Bishop of Lyons Victerbus Bishop of Ratisbon Herigerus Bishop of Meniz Michael Bishop of Ephesus Adelberus Bishop of Wirtenburg Michael Opites Patriarch of Athens Desiderius Bishop of Flaunders Bruno the third Bishop of Colen Vlrious the second Bishop of Constance Walther Bishop of Augusta Gerhardus Bishof Herbipolis Vlricus Bishop of Rhesia Brincingus Bishop of Hildeshem Conrade the second Bishop of Lubecke Adam Bishop of Morini in Flaunders Christianus the second Bishop of
to Troas Acts. 20. 4 5. and from thence to Italy Philippi and Rome Heb. 13 23. Phil. 1 1 c. 2. 19. Col. 1 1. 2 Tim. 4. 9 13. hee being never resident at Ephesus for ought appeares in Scripture or authentique story after Paules returne out of Macedonia His abode therefore at Ephesus being but for so short a time and hee so great a Nonresident from it afterward cannot possibly argue him to be a Diocaesan Bishop of that Church Answ 3. Thirdly Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to abide is oft applyed in Scripture to a short abode for a day or two or some little space as well as to a perpetuall fixed residence as Math. 15 32. Marke 8. 2. So it is in the objected text where it is put only in opposition to Paules journey into Macedonia in respect whereof Timothy continuing at Ephesus till his returne might be truely said to abide there though after his returne hee remooved thence to other Churches as Gersonius Bucerus De Gubernatione Ecclesiae p 502. to 518 observes Answ 4. Fourthly Paul did not injoyne but beseech Timothy to abide at Ephesus therefore his residence there was but arbitrary at his owne pleasure not coactive not injoyned by vertue of any Episcopall office this Text therefore cannot proove Timothy to be Bishop of Ephesus no more then his stay at Corinth and other places whether Paul sent him proove him to be Bishop of those Churches Answ 5. Finally Admit Timothy to be both the first and sole Bishop of Ephesus which is false yet this makes nothing for but against our Hierarchicall and Diocaesan Bishops for Ephesus was but one City one Parish one Church one flocke and Congregation as is evident by Acts. 20. 17 28 29 c. 18 24 25 26 c. 19 1. to 18 Ephes 1 1 c. 4 4 16 c. 6 21 22 23. 1 Tim. 1 3 c. 5 17 to 23. Rev. 1 20 c. 2. 1. So that the argument from this example is but this Timothy was onely Bishop of one City Parish Church Flock and Congregation not of many Therefore all Bishops ought to be so too as well as hee Obj. If any object that the City of Ephesus was a Dioces for it had many Elders therefore many Parishes and severall Congregations Acts. 20 17 28. 1 Tim. 5. 17. Answ 1. I answer that the argument followes not For first in the Apostles times and in the primitive Church every particular Church and Congregation had many Elders Ministers and Deaâ—ons in it who did joyntly teach and instruct it and likewise governe and order it by their common Counsell and consent as is evident by Acts 1. 14. to 26. c. 2. 1. to 47. c. 3. 1. c. 4. 3. 8. 9. 20. 21. 23 31. to 37. c. 5. 18. to 33. 42. c. 6. 1. to 9. c. 11. 29. 30. c. 14. 23. c. 15. 2. to 23. 25 32. c. 20. 17. to 30. c. 21. 18. Phil. 1. 1. 1. Tim. 5. 4. to 14. c. 5. 17 Tit. 1. 5. 7. Jam. 5. 14. 1. Cor. 14. 23. to 33. Ignatius Epist 5. 6 8. 9. 10. 11. 13. 14. Policarpus Epist. ad Philippenses Irenaeus contra Haeres l. 3. c. 2. l. 4. c. 43 44. Tertull. Adversus Gentes Apolog. c. 39. Hieronymus Sedulius Chrysostomus Primasius Remigius Haymo Kabanus Maurus Oecumenius Theophylact Anselmus Petrus Lombardus and sundry others in their Commentaries and expositions upon Philip. 1. 1. 1. Tit. 5. Acts. 15. and 20. 17. 28. The fourth Councell of Carthage Can. 22. 23. 24. 25. The Councell of A 〈…〉 en under Ludovicus Pius Can. 8. 10. 11. The 12. Councell of Toledo Can. 4. and all writers generally accord Secondly wee at this day have many Prebends Canons and Ministers in every Cathedrall and Collegiate Church yea in every Colledge in our Vniversities and elsewhere yet but one Church and Congregation Thirdly We have in many other Churches in the Country where the Parishes are large and there are divers Chappels of ease many Curates and Ministers yet but one Church one Parish not a Dioces neither is the cheife Minister either a Bishop or Diocaesan though hee have diverse Curates and Ministers under him to assist him in his Ministery yea in many places where there is but one Church no such Chappels of ease and the Parish great we have severall Ministers Lecturers and Curates in some 4 or 5 in most 2 or 3 yet no Dioces no Bishopricke Neither is this a Novelty but an ancient constitution not onely instituded by the Apostles and continued ever since but likewise enjoyned by the Councell of Oxford under Stephan Langhton Archbishop of Canterbury in the yeare of our Lord 12 22. which decreed that in all Parish Churches where the Parish is great there should be 2 or 3 Presbyters at the least according to the greatnes of the Parish and the value of the Benefice least that one onely Minister being sicke or otherwise debilitated Ecclesiasticall Benefits which God forbid should be either withdrawne or denied to the Parishioners that were sicke or willing to be present at divine offices The multitude or plurality therfore of the Elders in the Church of Ephesus is no argument at all to proove that is was a Dioces or that Timothy was a Diocaesan Bishop because hee had Ministers and Curates under him for then our Deacons Archdeacons and Pluralists who have many livings Chappels and so many Curates and Ministers under them should be Diocaesan Bishops too by this reason Secondly I answer that admit there were divers Churches and Congregations in Ephesus which is very improbable the greatest part of the Citizens being Idolaters and the Citty itselfe a worshipper of the great Goddesse Diana and of the Image which fell downe from Jupiter Acts. 19 21. to 41. yet it can not be prooved that Timothy was cheife Bishop and Superintendent over all these Churches but onely of one of them as every Minister and Bishop of England is a Minister and Bishop of the Church of England but not a Minister and Bishop in and over all the Curches of England but in and over his owne Parish Church and Dioces onely For Paul himselfe who planted that Church and resided in it for three yeares space during which time it is like there was no Diocaesan Bishop of it but himselfe expresly cals the Elders of the Church of Ephesus Bishops and Overseers of that Church and that by the Holy Ghostes owne institution and thereupon exhorts them to take heed to all the flocke and to feed and rule that Church of God which hee had purchased with his owne blood Acts. 20. 28. 1. Tim. 5. 17. Since therefore every one of these Elders by the Holy Ghostes institution and Paules resolution was no other but a Bishop over his owne flocke if severall both to instruct and rule it it is certaine that Timothy if hee were a Bishop of Ephesus and there were many Churches there was onely Bishop of one of them not of all and
institute Titus Archbishop or Superintendent generall of all Crete it being so large a circuit having so many Archbishops and Bishops Sees within it and hee so little resident in so often absent from it as I have manifested in the premises From all which I presume I may safely conclude this second question against the common received Errour that Titus was never Bishop or Archbishop of Crete what ever our Prelates and their favourites have written to the contrary And so Timothy being neither a Diocaesan Bishop of Ephesus nor Titus of Creet the pretended Hierarchy of our Prelates Iure divino built onely upon the sandy foundation of these two supposed Bishops Bishoprickes must needs now fall to ruine and they being now lifted up so High aboue their fellow Brethren their fall must certainly proove very great They have long since many of them forsaken God the teaching of his word the chiefe part of their spirituall functions banded themselues against his truth Ministers people and the preaching of his Gospel which they suppresse and put downe in all places yea such is their desperate impiety that whereas in all former times of Plages and Pestilence yea in 1. Iacobi and Caroli there hath beene by publike authority a speciall day of fasting prayer preaching and humiliation appointed every weeke especially in infected places to divert Gods heavy judgements as the chiefe antidote against all Plages and judgements prescribed by God himselfe yet now they are growen such open fighters against God Religion the spirituall the temporall good and safety of the people that to prevent the plague as they pretend but in truth to increase it more and to suppresse preaching piety and religion they begin to put downe all weekeday Lectures and Lords day sermons in the afternoone as if Gods publike ordinances and service the best remedie against were a meanes to increase and spread not stay the plague yea they debarre Ministers from using any prayers at all after their sermons or any other prayer before them then what the 55. Canon prescribes in which there is not a word of prayer against the plague drought famine sword or pestilence By meanes whereof inhibiting Ministers thus to reproove the people for their sinnes which provoke Gods wrath and judgements at this present so to bring them to repentance for them by their preaching or to pray against the plague and other judgements of God which now lie hard upon the Kingdome which these sinnes have occasioned and hindring that publike weekely fasting preaching prayer which God by his judgements now calls for at our hands they have made not onely the Kingdome but themselves especially ripe for ruine And being now for these their atheisticall godles practises their enmity to God his truth his faithfull Ministers and people their Lordlines tyranny pride oppression wordlines prophanes and irreligion fallen under the very execration of God himselfe and the curses of his people who day and night crie for vengeance against them as Gods sworne and most professed open enemies and having no divine foundation prop or pillar now left where with to support their tottering thrones and Miters needs muâ—â— they shortly like that High Preist Ely fall from their high-towring seates backward and so breake their neckes to the ioy of all Gods people whom they now by their persecutions and innovations so much oppresse Even so let all thine enemies perish O Lord but let them that love thee be as the sunne when it goeth forth in his might A POST-SCRIPT OUR famous Martyr Iohn Purvey in King Henry the fourth his raigne delivered this Position touching the preaching of the Gospel That whosoever receiveth or taketh upon him the office of a Preist or of a Bishop and dischargeth not the same by the example of his godly conversation and faithfull preaching of the Gospel is a theife excommunicated of God and of holy Church And further that if the Curates preach not the word of God they shal be damned and if they know not how to preach they ought to resigne their livings as Pope Celestine the fifth Adelbartus the second Bishop of Prague Daniel the 6. and Firthstane the 23. Bishop of Winchester John the 5. and Thurstan the 28. Archbishop of Yorke Thomas Spofford the 56. Bishop of Hareford besides sundry others before-cited resigned their Bishoprickes So that those Prelates which preach not the Gospell of Christ although they could excuse themselves from the doing of any other euill are dead in themselves are Antichrists and Satans transfigured into Angels of light night theives manquellers by daylight and betrayers of Christ his people What then shall wee thinke or judge of many of our present Lordly swaying English Prelates some of which never preached since they were made Bishops others not once in a dozen yeares others but once in a yeare or two that not in their Diocesse to their people where many of them never yet preached but at Court few of them above once a quarter or once a moneth at most Where as S. Ambrose S. Augustine S. Chrysostome Cyrill of Ierusalem with other Bishops heretofore and Bishop Hooper and Bishop Ridley in King Edward the 6. dayes preached once or twice every day of the weeke without faile or intermission Yea what shall wee say of those Bishops who now everywhere put downe Lectures and preaching both on weekedayes and Lordsdayes to suspending silencing excommunicating imprisoning depriving the most powerfull painfull faithfull Godly Ministers in all their Diocesse for no offence either in life or doctrine for no violation of any Ceremonies by Law established but meerely for not subscribing to their late Popish innovations illegall injunctions and commaunds warranted by no Law of God or man the sole pretended cause yet in truth out of their desperate hatred to the sincere frequent powerfull preaching and Preachers of Gods word which seemes to condemne their idle secular Lordly vitious lives and practises to the progresse power and growth of our Religion and salvation of the peoples soules Nay what shall we iudge of that proud insolent Regulus and imperious Prelate Mathew Wren Bishop of Norwich who hath not onely put down many famous worthy preachers and all Lectures throughout his Diocesse both on the weekedayes Lordsday Evenings yea and in the morning too in many places and silenced divers Ministers of cheifest note for not conforming to his strangâ—novell Magisteriall innovations and late visitation Articles printed and published like an absolute Monarch King and Pope in his owne name by his owne authority alone in affront of his Majesties Lawes and ‡ Declarations for which hee hath incurred a Praemunire but likewise very freshly since his late coming to Ipswitch where he hath silenced 7 Preachers and hath no Sermon at all oft times on the Lordsday in his owne Parish Church commaunded the Sexton of one Mr. Scots Church in
r. who supplied the place of a Bishop in his consecration to be a Bishop Iure divine and c. p 95. l. 1. were to be l. 13 and their p. 95 l. 26. r. as Ministers not as Bishops p 96. l. 12. concurrence l. 32. Taborites p. 100. l. 23. â—etricw p. 111. l. 5 Decrees p. 112. l 23. 113. l. 3. of or l. 11. Monopolie p. 117. l. 27. in do p. 122. l. 11. they p. 123 l. 36. for ever p. 133. l. 6. interpretatur p. 134. l. 18. blot out hath p. 135. l. 11. commonly common by p. 137. l. 11. banded p. 144. l. 20. predecessors p. 145 l. 1. starved l. 5. preached l. 12. want warne p. 147. l. 14. fast fat l. 23. un on p. 148. l. 1. and in l. 8. deferre deterre l. 13. both by l. 21. what where l. 22. here twtch p. 150. l. 21. never cease p. 151. l. 23 13. 12 p. 154 l. 5. of if l. 17. much mute p. 155. l. 9. warded p. 156. l 2 the our In the Margin p. 5. l. 34 page p. 8. l. 12. Bccon p. 11. l 27 deslire p. 32. l. 7. animam annum p. 58. l. 6 when where p. 62. l. 4. Meluini p. 64 l. 17. Meldense p 70. l. 2. Aton p. 93. l. 2. Catalogo p. 103. l. 14. lib. 7. p. 113. l. 8. Seva p. 130. l. 4. Tim. 5. p. 149. l. 17. p. c. l. 25. 13. 12 p. 152. l. 5. favorers fainthearted Kind Reader ere thou peruse this Treatise be pleased to correct those Errors in the last page with these therein omitted p. 14. l. 4. forverily read freshly l. 12 Giver Grace p. 15. l. 6. how two l. 8. as or l. 12 most must l. 17. gemmie genuine l. 29. provise promise p. 16. l. 5. Hidrax Hicrax l. 30. elected p. 17. Studies l. 11. Shetne Sennes l. 20. Maucte Mentz l. 21. Augusta Reformes Rheemes l. 22. Salisbury Saltzburg l. 25. Visalis in Southland Vpsal in Suethland p. 18. l. 5. revived resigned l. 9. shows shunne l. 11. expresse expose both 〈◊〉 to the hazard l. 18. Kylwarby l. 25. Warwest p. 115. l. 9. it is p. 116. l 4. So the power of Ordination being inferiour l. 5. every Minister l. 19 are superiour to them in point p. 143. l. 13. rode thither made his chaplaine ride thither p. 162. l. 11. c. 5 l. 20. necessis p. 166. l. 29. Quia Qua. l. 33. sesus usus p. 167. l. 17. Wiclevists l. 32. 33 Newbury Naoburge p. 173. l. 6. nolo volo l. 27. acts ages l. 31. pingitur proditur p 175. l. 7. pari l. 8. fratres In the Margin p. 13. l. 18 19. by Characters any Charter l. 34 any out p. 14. l. 7. Godwins l. 25. 26. people to standing Replie to Harding p. 15. l. 2. Eccles hist l. 5. Socr. l. 12 Rome p. 163. l. 2. Vitis p. 164. l. 5. Scoticarum p. 171. l. 5. Theodoricus l. 8. Schismate p. 172. l. 9. r. Caesarue Pompeinsue Page 1. 6. l. 10. This should have been inserted Nor yet to recite the examples of Clement the 1 of Rome Pope Cornelius Ambrose Augustine Athanasius Gregory Nazianzen his father Pope Gregory the first Alexander Patriarch of Jerusalem Anatolius Bishop of Laodicea Eustathius Bishop of Antioch Antiochus Theophilus Alexandrinus Dioscorus Chrysanthus S. Martin Bishop of Towers S. Nicholas Paulinus of Nola Eusebius Pamphilus Flaiuanus of Antioch or Marchus who in ancient times were all inforced to accept of their Bishopricks full sore against their wills and judgements by the overpressing importunity of other Bishops Princes Ministers and people With others quoted to my hands by Claudius Espencaeus Or Eucherius Bishop of Lions or Otto Bishop of Bamburge enforced in the same manner to be Bishops full sore against their liking as was Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury Nor yet to mention Ephaaem Syrus Nilammon or S. Bernard who all constantly refused divers great and wealthy Bishopricks not onely offered but urged on them with much importunity or Adrian who refused the Archbishoprick of Canterbury though called to it and urged to accept it or Bassianus elected Bishop of the Vangensi whom furious Memnon whipped before the Altar for 3. houres space till he bedewed the Altar and new Testament with his blood because he refused to accept that Episcopall charge and office Or Brune Seguinas who rejected a Bishoprik offred to him saying A Bishoprick must be altogether forsaken of that man that would not be set at Christs left hand answerable whereunto is that of Pope Marcellus the 2 who smiting his hand upon the Table used these words I do not see how those that possesse this high place can besaved Or John Bugenhagius who of late times repudiated the Bishoprick of Camine in Pomerland to which he was freely chosen Pope Celestine the 5 Athanasius Bishop of the Pareni Eustathius Bishop of Pamphilia Rusticus Bishop of Narbon Remaclus Bishop of Virech Otgerus Bishop of Spire Lambert Bishop of Florence Lutulphus Bishop of Callens Hugh Bishop of Towres Burchardus Bishop of Wertzburge Michael Ephesinus Bishop of Antioch Desiderius Bishop of the Morini Geoffry Bishop of Sylvanecta Conrade Bishop of Batavia Albertus Magnus Bishop of Ratisbon of ancient times abroade Simon Langham Archbishop of Canterbu y Winifred Bishop of Coventry Robert Sherborne Bishop of Chichester Geoffry Bishop of S. Asaph with sundry others at home Lewes ab Eperstem Bartholmew Suavenius and John Fredericke Bishops of Camene in Pomerland Isaurus Archbishop of Riga Baldaser Bishop of Suerin Ericus John Duke of Saxonie and Otto Bishops of Heldesheim Hugh the 47. Bishop of Constans Fridericke a Weda and Salentine Archbishops of Colen Augustus Bishop of Mersburge Jodocus a Reke Bishop of Derbat Francis Henry and Iulius Bishops of Minda Theodosius a Rheden Bishop of Lubecke Christopher Bishop of Raceburge Christopher Bishop of Breme of later times beyond the Seas with divers others here and else where cited have all successively resigned and voluntarily relinquished their Bishopricks and Episcopall dignities out of conscience age discontent or otherpious considerations of the great danger and unlawfulnesse of this antichristian Lordly function which all or most holy men have ever declined or unwillingly accepted of though our Lord Prelats now post and hunt after Bishopricks and would rather die then part with them or the least title of that Lordly Jurisdiction which they now most antichristianly usurpe contrary to the Lawes of God and the Realme Giving over preaching their chiefest spirituall imployment contrary to their sole mne vow and covenant made unto God and the people at their Ordination to become great secular Lords and mannage temporall affaires not compatible with their calling a See Theodoricus à Niem Zabarel Ioannis Marius De Schismate Master Tyndals obedience of a Christian man and practise of Popish Prelates Doctor Iohn White his Defence of the way c. 6. the fifth part