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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	bishop_n	call_v	presbyter_n	3,415	5	10.3134	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34152	A compendious discourse, proving episcopacy to be of apostolicall, and conseqvently of divine, institution by a cleare and weighty testimony of St. Irenaeus, a glorious martyr, and renowned Bishop of Lyons in France, upon the yeere of our Lord, 184 : the said testimony being so declared, pressed, and vindicated from all exceptions : that thereby an intelligent and conscionable reader may receive abundant satisfaction in this behalfe / by Peloni Almoni, Cosmopolites.	Almoni, Peloni, Cosmopolites.	1641 (1641)	Wing C5607; ESTC R1019	8,451	16

Shall then so holy a person be rejected as a lyer writing otherwise then he saw or heard This were a desperate evasion and contemptible yet followed by the adversaries of Episcopacy charging the Fathers as partiall in their owne cause But were they not the principall writers yet not the onely for Tertullian and Hierome were Presbyters only and not Bishops whose judgement and testimony I will not decline in this cause Thus our English Divines are rejected as being Bishops or affecting Episcopacy and so their owne Judges Say what you please yet I will conclude this passage with the publique protestation of that learned and holy man D. Iohn White in his Sermon at Pauls Crosse March 24. 1615. I protest before God and man it amazeth me to see such as can read either SCRIPTVRE or Antiquity to carpe at it Episcopacy when the Christian world for 1400. yeeres after Christ never saw any other government c. A fourth exception is that Polycarp was no Lord Bishop he had no civill dignity no temporall power c. and therefore very different from the Bishops of our Church Truely said but to little or no purpose The Christian Church and temporall State were then divided and the first was persecuted by the second till glorious Constantine obtained the Imperiall diadem upon the yeere 316. Afterwards by favour of the Emperour and other Princes civill dignity and temporall power were annexed to Episcopall places the Church and State being now united together I say therefore FIRST that Bishops for three centuries had no such dignity and power they were Bishops without it then and may be Bishops without it now SECONDLY that as the State for good reasons gave it so for good reasons such as may be not such as are may take it away but Episcopacy it selfe wch God gave no man may take away Salomon might exclude Abiathar from his Priesthood but the Priesthood he could not dissolve I speake not now of absolute power but lawfull power in the State for id possumus quod jure possumus no more THIRDLY that temporall power annexed to Episcopall function may not onely adorne it but strengthen it for the benefit of Church and Common wealth FOVRTHLY that Bishops are capeable of this dignity and power as Zanchius observeth well Epist. tom 1. ad Ioh. Stuckium saying that since in the old Testament one man the High priest exercised both powers spirituall and temporall Non ergo per se pugnant these two therefore to be a Bishop and a civill Potentate doe not of themselves the one oppugne the other but may both concurre in one person and then addeth that in writing the Confession of his Faith upon occasion whereof this question did arise he was to have a regard of those Reformed Churches wherein many as Bishops in England have a temporall power conjoyned with their spirituall office FIFTLY and lastly I demand of the adversaries of Episcopacy If Bishops shall be excluded from civill dignity temporal power c. will you rest so content shall our Bishops yet retaine their spirituall office of superiority over Presbyters with such authority in the Church as Christian Bishops did obtaine and exercise therein from and in the Apostolicall times and in the succeeding ages of the primitive Church No but you would cast them wholly out of the Church or leave them an empty title without a reall office which in the perpetuall discourse of all ages they have enjoyed in the universall Church To conclude if malice in some did not envie their honour and avarice in others their estates this exception were easily answered but howsoever it be Bishops they are lawfully with both and Bishops they may be truely without either A fift exception is that Polycarp as also Ignatius and other Bishops such as they were might perhaps have a priority of place before Presbyters but not a superiority of power above them A weake pretense against the knowne testimony and certaine experience of all ages for proofe whereof I remit you unto S. Hierome the supposed adversary of Bishops who in the very place so often produced against Episcopacy viz in Tit. 1. 5. saith that the Bishop was suprapositus placed above the Presbyters of his Church This is more then he said Epist. 85. that he was praepositus which perhaps you will render in English placed before them though in truth it be no lesse And to make all cleare in this point he saith yet further Contra Luciferianos cap. 4. The safety of the Church dependeth upon the dignity of the Bishop Unlesse an eminent and peerelesse power be given to him by all men there will be as many schismes as Priests in the Church Whereupon it is that in his instructions to Nepotianus hee saith very well What Aaron and his sonnes once were that we must know Bishops and Presbyters now are viz. in distinction office and degree and whence it is that as in S. Ignatius first so in other Authours afterward through all ages of the Christian Church Bishops Presbyters and Deacons are three distinct kinds in office and degree the first above the second and the second above the third and not weekely monthly yeerely Bishops Presbyters and Deacons but perpetually during the time of their lives The SIXT and last exception is yet more important for you will say as some have said that they who in the third chapter are called Bishops by Irenaeus are in the second chapter called Presbyters and so Polycarp though called here a Bishop is but a Presbyter since Presbyters also are so called Act. 20. 28. Phil. 1. 1. c. I answer It is true these Bishops here are called Presbyters before but how with an evident distinction from common Presbyters for when Irenaeus from Peter and Paul reckoneth a succession of 12. Bishops in the Church of Rome I demand had these Bishops no certaine distinction from other Presbyters in that Church I shewed before that their personall and lineall succession is observed by Irenaeus and others why because they had a reall difference from all the Presbyters therein This point is cleared by many evidences amongst which for brevity sake I produce the * Epistle of the Presbyters and Deacons of the Romane Church written to S. Cyprian upon the yeere 252. wherein they say that FABIAN their late Bishop the 19. in that place was lately put to death and that for the difficulty of the times another Bishop was not yet constituted who might moderate the affaires of the Church and by his authority and counsell might take care of such as were fallen in the time of persecution I argue then As Fabian lately was and his successour shortly must be in a distinct place of government above the Presbyters of Rome so was Eleutharius and so were his predecessours before a BISHOP in higher place of greater power above other Presbyters in the Romane Church For conclusion therefore of this point I pray you in all candor and ingenuity

to consider with me that though Presbyters in the beginning when as yet they had no Bishop over them were called and might be truely called Bishops that is to say overseers for they did then under the Apostles oversec the Church for a little time yet when the care of the whole Church came peculiarly to the Bishop as Hierome saith in Tit. 1. 5. this name was peculiarly attributed unto him and not communicated unto them witnesse the same S. Hierom et 85. where by particular instance he maketh the election of Bishops in the Church of Alexandria and saith that from Marke the Evangelist unto Heraclas and Dionysius the Presbyters electing one of their company and placing him in a higher degree note that by the way called him their BISHOP So that here the name of a Bishop by good authority and for good reason once common to all the Presbyters is now proper unto that Presbyter who was placed in an higher degree above the rest which Calvin also hath well observed Inst. l. 4. c. 4. sect. 1. 2. saying that in the old Church the title of Bishop was specially given to one Presbyter chosen out of the number of many To conclude then you shall finde sometimes in Antiquity that a Bishop is called a Presbyter but can you finde that anywhere a Presbyter is called a Bishop I am no stranger in the Councels Fathers and Histories in which course of studies being now 62. yeeres old I have spent a moiety of my age yet I can remember no such thing and were a Presbyter so called it were rather by force of the word which importeth overseeing then by propriety of speech since in Ecclesiasticall use the name of Bishop is appropriated to him who hath a generall overfight for the Clergy and Laity in his owne Diocesse or precinct Finally then as the High priest in the law is sometimes styled simply by the name of the Priest but yet was above other Priests in the old Testament so a Bishop is sometimes stiled by the name of a Presbyter but yet is above other Presbyters in the new A Conclusion Thus at the length having cleared the testimony of Irenaeus touching the Episcopacy of Polycarp committed unto him by the holy Apostles and particularly by S. John from all exceptions as I conceive which some adversaries of Episcopacy have taken and some may take against it I thus conclude my whole discourse and bring it to the present purpose viz. A Bishop in the Church of England doth not unjustly usurpe an office therein by humane institution but doth justly possesse it by * divine right notwithstanding all malicious scoffes and unlearned cavils against so ancient so venerable so necessary an Office in the Church of God Now if any man shall except against this discourse as prejudiciall to some Reformed Churches I answer that my care hath beene to justifie ours but my desire was not to impugne theirs and that I am as tenderly affected to retaine communion with the ancient and Universall Church as with any later and particular Church though in the truth and for the truth I love and embrace all Reformed Churches for which I have a more copious defence which may ensue hereafter this discourse being onely the prodromus or forerunner of a more ample Treatise which I have composed to maintaine Episcopacy under which I live in peace and without which I cannot live with comfort FINIS Lib. 3. cap. 3. * Functius in Chronolog * Anno D. 540. * Cyprian ep. 31. e. lit. 1. Pam●lii * The exercise and execution of his office in this or that place a Bishop hath by the favour of the Prince

question for if he erred it was in a point dogmaticall we are now upon a point historicall viz. Whether this relation of Irenaeus concerning the Episcopacy of Polycarpus which he received from the Apostles be true or not Wherein he had information immediately from Polycarp himselfe and the whole Church of Smyrna wherein he lived Who wil who can who dareth say that Irenaeus hath lyed in this report He knew Polycarp very well and knew undoubtedly that his Episcopall office was derived from the Apostles why should this relation seeme incredible unto you The Scriptures themselves informe us so much For when S. John writeth to the Angell of the Church of Smyrna who is this Angell Polycarp So the concordance of Scriptures and histories so the judgement of many learned men some protestants do informe us And why is Polycarp here an Angell because he is praepositus Ecclesiae the Governour or Bishop of the Church many Presbyters being therein but he in title distinct from them and in power superiour to them as wee may clearely collect out of S. Augustine epist. 162. where first he sheweth and proveth that under the name of Angels are not understood celestiall Angels in these 7. Churches as Origen and some others following him did conceive and then particularly for the Angell of Ephesus he saith afterward that he is praepositus Ecclesiae the governour of the Church Now since we read of many Presbyters in Ephesus Act. 20. 28. and here of one Angell in it he must needs be a person in place and office as well as name distinguished from the common Presbyters of the Church as Epiphanius more ancient then Aug. doth hence collect and constantly affirme Haeres 25. This explication is confirmed by our best Divines as namely by venerable Bullinger conc. 9. in Apocal. saying An heavenly Epistle is destinated to the Angell of the Church of Smyrna Now histories doe testifie that the Angel or pastor of this Church was Polycarp ordained a Bishop by the Apostles even by John himselfe To him I conjoyne worthy Marlorat saying that in Apoc. 2. 1 Iohn doth not set upon the people but upon principem Cleri utique Episcopum the Bishop Prince or chiefe of the Clergy Presbyters and Deacons in that Church To both them I adde the famous Clerk David Pareus who dareth not say though some doe that Timothy was then the Angell but denieth not that we was sometimes the Angell or Bishop there and therefore he putteth there this question in the margine Was Timothy Bishop of the Ephesine Church at that time He saith tunc then he saith not unquam at any time which is a plaine concession that in his judgement Timothy was sometimes as indeed he was the Bishop of that Church Also in Apocal. 3. 1. he confesseth ingenuously upon evidence of the text that under the name of Angell there is to be understood ANTISTES the Chiefe the Prelate the Bishop of the Church Which resolution of ancient and moderne Divines to which I adde the judgement of the great Divine D. Rainolds Confer. with Hart. cap. 8. divis 3 is confirmed by the perspicuous evidence of undeniable reason for in the Church of Ephesus and so in the rest why is one man where many Presbyters were called an Angell specially but for his speciall eminency above the rest And why was the succession of one man to one observed in Histories and registred in the Diptycha of the Church rather then of many to many As here in the Church of Ephesus of Smyrna and the rest one man singularly is remembred and why one if this one man did not in dignity of his place and office therein excell the ' common Presbyters as their Governour and Prefect placed over these Presbyters by the holy Apostles To this effect speaketh Leontius B. of Magnesia in the Councell of Chalcedon Act. 11. amongst 630. Bishops that Memnon then B. of Ephesus was the 27. Bishop in succession from and after Timothy as being the first Bishop of that Church For as the subscription of the second Epistle of S. Paul to Timothy doth directly beare it so we have a cleare attestation to it from Eusebius l. 3. c. 4. Epiphanius har●s 75. Chrysostome praf● in 1. ad Timoth homil. 1. in Epist. id Philip Hierome de viris illustr. * Primasius paefrat in 1 ep. ad Timoth. To all which and others I may adde Oecumenius who lived in the yeere 1080. as also Tertullian who intimateth this truth sufficiently in his book of Prescriptions cap. 36 and finally S. Ambrose praefat. in 1. epist. ad Timoth but that I esteeme the authour to be a counterfet whom yet I conceive to be very ancient Finally then to end this point Irenaeus hath now related no more touching Polycarps Episcopacy then is warrantable by Scriptures Fathers Historians and our owne Divines I end therefore with Hierome ep. 85. affirming that the Apostles by their tradition did institute Bishops Presbyters and Deacons in the new Testament looking unto the answerable degrees of the High priest the inferiour Priests and Levites in the old and telling us in his exposition of Psal 45. 16. that Bishops are there foretold as Aug. also doth himselfe conceive To that ancient Hierome I adde a latter viz. the most learned Zanchius confessing fairely and truely Miscellan t. 2. d● primatu papae p. 193. impres Neostad●i in 4. Anno D. 1608. that in the Church FIRST Presbyters onely were SECONDLY saith he additi Episcopi idque Apostolorum temporibus Bishops were added as being in degree place and office distinct from Presbyters and that also was done in the Apostles times If in their times then by their meanes as any rationall man may thereupon conclude For who durst institute Bishops in their times without their direction where in Scripture or history doe they impugne this institution And if they made not this institution who made it What Councell generall or provinciall when where produce any evidence of probable truth I say not certaine in this behalfe And thus having justified the relation of Irenaeus concerning the Episcopacy of Polycarp to which the Apostles and particularly S. Iohn did advance him I proceed to some other poore exceptions against the aforesaid testimony which need not so large a discussion as the former that being the very substance and center of our whole discourse A second exception is that perhaps this place hath beene forged or corrupted But this objection is of no force or value For as this place now standeth in Irenaeus so it stood word for word in the time of Eusebius upon the yeere 330. who hath thence transcribed it into his Ecclesiasticall history lib. 9. c. 14. This is an old device of heretickes to say that the place is corrupted when they cannot ●nswer it as S. Augustine observeth Confes. lib. 5. c. 11. A third exception is that Irenaeus was himselfe a Bishop and so not a competent witnesse in such a case