seuenth yeere of their Empire and Irenaeus testifieth that he came to Rome vnder Anicetus the tenth Bishop there declared the trueth which he had receiued from the Apostles Did he through ambition retaine the place to which the Apostles called him longer then he shoulde and so altered the Apostolicall kinde of gouernement I had rather chalenge the Consistorians for mistaking Ambrose then Polycarpe for inuerting the Apostolike Discipline The Church of Smyrna called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostolicall and Propheticall Teacher of their times Irenaeus saith of him Hic docuit semper quae ab Apostolis didicerat quae ecclesiae tradidit sola sunt vera hee alwayes taught those things which he learned of the Apostles which he deliuered vnto the Church and they onely are true And if he were not a man of farre more authoritie and certainer fidelitie then any that contradict him yet haue we al the Churches of Christendome their successions of Bishops from the Apostles and all histories and monuments of antiquitie to concurre with him that Bishops liuing in the Apostles daies made by the Apostles hands continued their places til they died neither is there any man liuing that is able to shewe one example to the contrary Let the Christian Reader then say whether it be not a vaine and false surmise which some in our age so mightily maintaine that the Bishops which the Apostles ordained to rule the Presbyteries dured for some short space changed by course that superioritie going round in order to euerie Presbyter the election of Bishops to gouerne the Churches and Presbyters committed to their charge so long as they did it carefully was mans inuention and no Apostolike institution The domination of bishops wil be their last refuge otherwise in elections of Bishops to continue whiles they do their duties the best learned of them confesse there is nothing that can or should be reprehended onely they repine that a Bishop shoulde haue iurisdiction ouer his Copresbyters And heere they are plentiful with places of Scripture as if we went about to make Bishops Lords and Masters ouer the Church and all the rest to be their seruants They alleage the words of Christ Great men exercise authoritie you shall not doe so and of Peter Feede the flocke not as Lords or commanders ouer Gods inheritance but to what purpose I see not Meane they by these places to prooue that the Apostles had no superioritie nor authoritie in the Church of God or that Pastours haue no power ouer their flockes It were more then childish to impugne one trueth by another They themselues do agnise that the Apostles had superioritie and authoritie by Christs owne commission aboue and ouer all other degrees to erect and order the Churches where they preached and they yeelde Pastours authoritie ouer their flockes to commaund in the name of the Lord. Then neither these places nor any other in the Scriptures doe barre Pastoral power ouer the flocke nor distinction of degrees betwixt the Teachers Superior and inferior degrees if Christs wordes did exclude no man might admit them or defend them as lawfull If the Apostles to whom and of whom Christ there spake did not withstanding his speech retaine diuersities of degrees in the Church it is euident our Sauiour did not forbid Superiority but Imperie not Pastorall but Regall authoritie not Fatherly but Masterly preeminence and that in respect aswell of the people as of the Presbyters Peter calling the people Gods heritage and before and after naming them the Lords flocke And how should it possibly be otherwise for since the holy Ghost requireth the faithfull to obey their Leaders and to bee subiect to them no Scriptures do crosse the authoritie and inspection which the guiders of Christes Church shoulde haue ouer their flockes and God by his eternall Lawe comprising Pastours vnder the name of Fathers and assigning them the honour due vnto Parents we may not by colour of any wordes bereaue them of obedience and reuerence no more then of maintenance which are the parts and effects of Fatherly power and honour So long then as wee giue Bishops no charge but Pastorall no power but paternall wee are not in danger of violating either our Sauiours or his Apostles precept and consequently this kinde of superioritie may not bee called or supposed to be Dominion nor Imperie without wrong to the spirite of trueth that hath confirmed it as needefull and healthfull for the house of God euen from the first foundation of the worlde They will easily grant fatherly moderation and Pastorall power vnto Bishops ouer the people but not ouer the Presbyters on this they set vp their rest that no Pastour shoulde haue power ouer others of the same calling and hope assuredly to haue the victorie But they must first reconcile their owne contrarieties they will triumph else before the conquest for ech Presbyterie as themselues confesse must haue a President by Gods essentiall and perpetuall ordinance I aske now whether God giue any man a bare title without any trueth and a Regiment without all authoritie or whether in Gods Lawe deedes and wordes concurre and he be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a President that is appointed and authorized by God to execute that office The mouth of God intendeth not for mockeries as mans doth and therefore the name neuer goeth without the thing he is iust in his speach and wil not vtter the worde that shall delude the hearer If then by Gods Law there must be Presidents ouer Presbyteries ineuitably there must be Gouernours and Superiours ouer them If some must moderate the meetings of Presbyters and execute their decrees of force they must haue power and authoritie ouer Presbyters and so it is mainly consequent out of their owne positions which they most refuse Againe when Paul left Timothie at Ephesus to impose hands to receiue accusations against Presbyters and openly to rebuke such as sinned did hee not giue him power ouer Presbyters and euen the selfe same that is challenged at this day to belong to Bishops if it were lawful and needful at Ephesus for Timothy to haue that right and authority ouer the Presbyters that were ioynt-Pastors with him how commeth it now to be a tyrannical and Antichristian power in his successours Timothie they will say was an Euangelist and coulde haue no successours If none could succeede him in that power how come their Presbyteries to haue it will they be Euangelists what Lay Elders and all and shall the Presbyteries of the whole world succeede Timothie in his charge at Ephesus That were newes in deede if this authority to impose hands to receiue accusations and rebuke sinnes must remaine in the Church for euer as it is euident it must then was it no Euangelisticall authoritie but a generall and perpetuall function in the Church of Christ that might and did admit others to succeede
or Father They are the conceits of some late Writers that as touching the office and function of Bishops would faine finde a difference betwixt the Apostles times and the next ages ensuing lest they should be conuinced to haue reiected the vniuersal order of the ancient and Primitiue Church of Christ without any good and sufficient warrant The consent of all ages and Churches is so strōg against them that they are hard driuen to hunt after euerie syllable that soundeth any thing that way yet can they light on no sure ground to builde their late deuises on or to weaken the generall and perpetuall course which the Church of Christ hath in all places kept inuiolable euen from the Apostles times A few wordes of Ambrose are set downe to beare all this burden but they are so insufficient and impertinent to this purpose that they bewray the weakenesse of their newe frame for Ambrose speaketh not one word either of going by course or of changing after a time only he saith Bishops at first were placed by order and not by election that is the eldest or worthiest had the place whiles he liued and after him the next in order without any further choice for that order which he speaketh of if any such were proceeded from the first planters of the Churches and went either by senioritie of time or prioritie of place allotted euerie man according to the gifts and graces which he had receiued of the holie Ghost This wee may freely grant without any repugnance or annoyance to the vocation or function of Bishops let the Disciplinists confesse there was a superiour and distinct charge of the President or chiefe from the rest of the Presbyters as well in guiding the keyes as imposing hands and whether they were taken to the office by election or by order to vs it is all one I hope the placing of the Presbyters in order according to their gifts in the Churches where the Apostles preached could not be without the Apostles ouersight and direction and so long whether they set such in order as were fittest for the place or whether they left it to the discretion and election of the rest we greatly force not Howbeit the wordes of Ierome are so expresse that Bishops were made by election euen in the Apostles times that I see not howe they should be reconciled with their collection out of Ambrose Alexandriae à Marco Euangelista Presbyteri vnum semper ex se electum in celsiore gradu collocatum Episcopum nominabant At Alexandria euen from Marke the Euangelist the Presbyters alwayes choosing one of themselues and placing him in an higher degree called him a Bishop Marke died sixe yeeres before Peter and Paul as the Ecclesiasticall storie witnesseth consequently the first Bishop of Alexandria was elected in the Apostles times yea that Church as Ierome saieth did alwayes elect there neuer succeeded any by order For the manner of their succeeding whether by order or by choice I make not so great account as for their continuance The Patrones of the late Discipline would make vs beleeue that in the Apostles times the Episcopall dignitie or regiment of the Presbyterie went round by course to all the Presbyters and dured a weeke or some such time for ghesses must serue them when other proofes faile them which assertion of theirs I knowe not whether I should thinke it proceeded of too much ignorance or too little conscience If the men were not well learned I should suspect ignorance if the case were not more then cleere I woulde not chalenge their conscience But being as they are and the case so cleere that in my simple reading I neuer sawe cleerer nor plainer excepting alwayes the certaintie of the sacred Scriptures let the Christian Reader iudge for I dare not pronounce with what intent a manifest trueth is not onely dissembled but stoutly contradicted and an euident falshoode auouched and aduanced to the height of an Apostolike and diuine ordinance by the chiefest pillars of these newe found Consistories It is lately deliuered as an Oracle that vnder the Apostles there were no Gouernors of the Presbyteries whom they and we call Bishops but such as dured for a short time and changed round by course and this is called the Apostolike and diuine institution How palpale an vntruth this is it is no hard matter for meane scholers to discerne The first Bishop of Alexandria after Marke was Anianus made the eightyeere of Neroes raigne and he continued two and twentie yeeres before Abilius succeeded him Abilius sate thirteene yeeres and dying left the place to Cerdo These three succeeded one an other Saint Iohn yet liuing neither had Alexandria any moe then two Bishops in 35. yeeres after the death of Marke Euodius made Bishop of Antioch fiue and twentie yeeres before the death of Peter and Paul suruiued them one yeere and after him succeeded Ignatius who outliued Saint Iohn and died in the eleuenth yeere of Traiane leauing the place to Heron after he had kept it fourtie yeeres so that in 66. yeeres the Church of Antioch had but two Bishops At Ierusalem Iames called the Lordes brother sate Bishop thirtie yeeres and Simeon that succeeded him kept the place eight and thirtie yeeres the Church of Ierusalem hauing in threescore and eight yeeres but two Bishops At Rome whiles Saint Iohn liued there were but three Bishops Linus Anacletus and Clemens which three continued two and thirtie yeres If this be not sufficient let them take the example of Polycarpe made Bishop of Smyrna by the Apostles themselues and continuing a long time Bishop of that Church and departing this life a verie aged man with a most glorious and most noble kind of Martyrdome The space he sate Bishop of Smyrna if it were not fourescore and sixe yeres for so long he had serued Christ as his answere sheweth to the Proconsul of Asia yet it must needes be aboue threescore and tenne yeeres for hee liued so many yeeres after Saint Iohn whose scholler hee was and by whome he was made Bishop of Smyrna and died as the whole Church of Smyrna in their letters entitled him at the time of his death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bishop of the Catholike Church at Smyrna This one instance is able to marre the whole plot of their supposed Apostolicall changeable regencie for no part of this Storie can be doubted Was he not made bishop of Smyrna by the Apostles Ierom Eusebius Tertullian and Irenaeus that liued with him and learned so much of him affirme it Liued he not Bishop of Smyrna so long time The whole Church of Smyrna gaue him that title at his death their letters be yet extant in Eusebius The Emperours vnder whom he died were Marcus Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus as Eusebius and Ierome do witnesse who beganne their raigne 64. after the death of Saint Iohn Polycarpe suffering the
perpetuall ordinance as your selues confesse there must be one chiefe and Pastour of ech Church and Presbyterie to guide aswel the Presbyters that are Teachers as the flocke that are hearers with that power which Gods Law alloweth vnto Pastours Tell me now I pray you what difference betwixt chiefe Pastors established in euery City by Gods law as you are forced to grant and Bishops succeeding the Apostles in their Churches chaires as the Fathers affirme If you mislike the worde Bishop it is Catholike and Apostolike if you mislike the office it is Gods ordinance by your owne assertion We grant the name of a Bishop and regiment of a Pastor are confirmed by the holie Ghost but you yeeld more to your chiefe Pastours and Bishops then the word of God alloweth them as namely you suffer them to continue for life where they should gouerne but for a moneth or a weeke you alotte them Dioeceses which should be but parishes you giue them not onely a distinction from Presbyters but a iâ—risdiction ouer Presbyters who shoulde bee all one with Presbyters and subiect to the most voyces of the Presbyters all which things wee say are against the Scriptures You frame Churches to your fansies and then you straight way thinke the Scriptures doe answere your deuises If we giue Bishops any thing which the ancient and Catholike Church of Christ did not first giue them in Gods name spare vs not let the world knowe it but if we preferre the vniuersall iudgement of the Primitiue Church in expounding the Scriptures touching the power and function of bishops before your particular and late dreames you must not blame vs. They were neerer the Apostles times and likelier to vnderstand the Apostles meanings then you that come after fifteene hundred yeres with a new plot of Church gouernment neuer heard of before All the churches of Christ throughout the world could not at one time ioyne in one and the selfe same kind of gouernment had it not bene deliuered and setled by the Apostles and their Schollers that conuerted the world So many thousand Martyrs and Saints that liued with the Apostles would neuer consent to alter the Apostles discipline which was once receiued in the Church without the Apostles warrant Wherefore we conster the Apostles writings by their doings you measure the Scriptures after your owne humours Whether of vs twayne is most likelie to hitte the trueth As for your repining at the things which we giue to bishops we greatly regard it not so long as the Scriptures doe not contradict them wee smile rather at your deuises which say that a bishop should gouerne for a weeke and then change and giue place to the next Presbyter for an other weeke and so round by course to all the Presbyters What Scripture confirmeth that circular and weekely regiment of yours By what authoritie do you giue it the name of a diuine institution when it is a meere imagination of yours without proofe or trueth She we one example or authoritie for it in the newe Testament and take the cause Succession by course was ordained by God after the example of the Priests of Aaron Did the sonnes of Aaron loose their Priesthoode when their courses were ended No but they serued in the Temple by course and so were Bishops appointed by Gods ordinance to guide the Presbyterie Is this all the ground you haue vpon this slender and single similitude to make Gods ordinance what please you If such reasons may serue we can sooner conclude the perpetual function of bishops then you can the weekly for not onely the high Priest kept his honour during his life but likewise euery Priest that was chiefe of his order Indeede their courses being ended they departed home but they lost not their dignitie But what rouing is this in matters of weight Will anie wise men be mooued with such ghesses Make vs good proofe out of the Scriptures or leaue tying Gods ordinance to your appetites Ambrose is the man that affirmeth it If you come once to Fathers I hope we haue tenne to one that affirme otherwise If Ambrose did say so wee coulde not beleeue him against all the rest of the Fathers yea and against the Scriptures themselues election of Bishops being prescribed by Paul to Timothie and Tite and not succession in order but I denie that Ambrose saith anie such thing He saieth the next in order succeeded He nameth neither change nor course It is your owne deuise it is no part of Ambroses meaning Anianus the next after Marke that was Bishop of Alexandria sixe yeeres before Peter and Paul were put to death was hee made by order or by election Ierome saith expresly A Marco Euangelista Presbyteri semper vnum ex se electum c. they of Alexandria euer since Marke the Euangelist did alwayes choose their Bishop hee neuer succeeded in order Neither did Anianus gouerne for a weeke or a yeere hee sate Bishop there two and twentie yeeres as Eusebius writeth and Abilius the next that was chosen after his death sate thirtene yeeres more before hee died and then succeeded Cerdo and the rest in their times all chosen and all sitting in the Pastorall chaire so long as they liued The like you may see in the first Bishops of Rome who kept the Episcopall chaire during life and not by course Linus sate twelue yeres Anacletus twelue Clemens nine Saint Iohn the Apostle liuing and ordering the whole Church whiles the three first Bishops of Rome and of Alexandria succeeded by election and gouerned without chaunging for the terme of their liues Wherefore it is euident this vp-start fansie is far from Gods ordinance If you trust not me marke how your owne friends I wil not say your selues do crosse and confute your owne inuentions You say It is Gods disposition that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or chiefe of your Presbyterie should go by course and that order you call Diuine they say it is accidentall and no part of Gods ordinance Accidentale fuit quod Presbyteri in hac 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alij alijs per vices initio succedebant It was accidentall that the Presbyters did in this chiefdome at the first beginning succeede one an other by course You tell vs the electing one to continue chiefe of the Presbyterie was an humane order but they assure vs that election in all sacred functions is the commaundement of God and may not be altered Aliud est electionis mandatvm quam immotaÌ„ non tantùm in Diaconis sed etiam in sacris functionibus omnibus seruatam oportuiâ— aliud electionis modus The commandement of election is one thing which must be obserued not onely in Deacons but in all sacred functions the maner of election is an other thing The precept cannot be immutable vnlesse it be diuine and Apostolike others haue no such power to command Now for my learning I would faine know this ruling by
charged eche mans interest in euery diocese to be preserued without infringing any mans bounds or encroching on anie mans right The need that you pretend of hauing Dioeceses aswel for the guiding as furnishing of country parishes by the Bishops and Presbyteries of the cities we easely auoyde for in euery parish with the Pastour we appoint lay Elders by whose counsel as Ambrose witnesseth al things should be doone in the Church and when the former Incumbent is dead were serue the electing of a new to the people of the same parish to whom by Gods Law it appertaineth And here we let you vnderstād that you haue not so good warrant for the regiment of Bishops as wee haue for the election of Bishops and Pastours by the people The Scriptures are cleare with vs the fathers often and earnest the perpetuall vse of the Primitiue Church is so full with vs in this behalfe that no example can be shewed to the contrary Your Bishops therefore being not elected by the people are no true Pastours in the Church of God I know well you haue no other shift to auoid the necessitie of Episcopall regiment but by your laie Presbyteries and therefore you must cleaue to them or els admit the forme of gouerning the Church by Bishops to be Catholike and Apostolike which would gripe you to the very hearts But how farre both the word and Church of God are and euer were from mentioning or acknowledging any laie Elders to be imposers of hands and gouernours of Pastorall and Ecclesiasticall actions we haue alreadie seene and may not now regresse thither againe Faine would you fasten them on Ambrose but of all the Fathers hee is the vnfittest Proctour for your Lay Presbyteries hee brusheth them off as a man woulde thornes that hang at his heeles If you beleeue him not alleadging the Romanes Lawes against your Laie Elders beleeeue him speaking in an open Councill against them Sacerdotes de Laicis iudicare debent non Laici de Sacerdotibus Priestes ought to iudge of Lay men not Lay men of Priestes And condemning Palladius the heretike wee are ashamed saieth Ambrose that hee shoulde seeme to bee condemned of Lay men which chalengeth to be a Priest In hoc ipso damnandus est quòd Laicorum expectat sententiam cum magis de Laicis Sacerdotes iudicare debeant He Is WORTHY TO BE CONDEMNED EVEN FOR THIS VERY POINT that he expecteth the iudgement of Lay men whereas Priests ought rather to iudge of Lay men How sufficient the barre is that you lay against our Bishops and Presbyters because they are not elected by the people of eche place but named by the Prince and presented by the Patrone the Chapter nowe presently following shall fully declare CHAP. XV. To whom the election of Bishops and Presbyters doeth rightlie belong and whether by Gods lawe the people must elect their Pastours or no. The want of popular elections is one of the griefs you conceiue and exceptions you take against the Bishops of this Realme which quarell doeth not so much touch the office and function of Bishops as it doeth the Princes prerogatiue Did wee teach it were not lawfull for the people to elect their Pastour you might make some shew against vs now when we say no such thing but you rather thinke the Prince may not name her Bishops without the consent and election of the people you impugne not vs but directly call the Princes fact her lawes in question I take not aduantage of mans lawe thereby to decline the force of your reasons or authorities but to put you in minde that if there were any defect in the lawe it must not be ascribed to Bishops but imputed rather to the makers of the lawe Howbeit to tell you the trueth I thinke there will be found better reason for the making and maintaining the law then you will be able to bring for the repealing or altering the lawe for when superstition and blindnesse wholy possessed the peoples hearts as in time of Poperie how could the Prince haue restored Religion or reformed the Church if the people through the Realme had still bene suffered to choose themselues Pastours after their owne desires The first occasion of the lawe being good and godly what ground haue you to dislike the continuance thereof Cyprian saieth it is Gods ordinance that the people should ekct their Pastour and according to the diuine instruction the same is obserued in the Actes of the Apostles in the choise of Matthias and of the seuen Deacons Those examples I haue answered before It is not written that Matthias and his fellow were chosen by the multitude an Apostle might not be chosen by men his calling must be immediate from God Yea the wordes of the Text are Thou Lord which knowest the hearts of all men shew which of these twaine thou hast chosen to take the office of this administration and Apostleship So that thence can nothing be concluded As for the choise of the seuen in the Actes of the Apostles Epiphanius saieth Of the seuentie Disciples were the seuen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that were set ouer the widowes The Councill gathered vnder Iustinian alleaging Chrysostomes wordes vpon that place concludeth of them in this wise We therfore denounce that the foresayd seuen Deacons must not be taken for those that serued at the mysteries but for such as were trusted with the dispensation of the common necessities of those that were then assembled together Ierome alluding to this place calleth a Deacon mensarum viduarum Minister the seruant of tables and widowes The fourth Councill of Carthage saieth The Bishop alone shall lay his hands on the head of a Deacon when he is ordered quia non ad Sacerdotium sed administerium consecratur because he is consecrated not to any Priesthood but vnto a seruice Your selues giue the Deacons no charge in the Church but the care of the poore as perswaded that these seuen receiued none other function at the Apostles hands You therefore by your owne rules are excluded from taking any hold of this election And in deed since they were not chosen to be Presbyters and dispensers of the worde and Sacramentes what consequent can you frame from their electing by the people to force the like to be obserued in Presbyters and Bishops You giue them power to preach and baptize against you therefore the argument is good The Primitiue Church gaue them leaue so to doe in cases of necessitie where Presbyters wanted otherwise neither doe we nor did they make them Presbyters and Ministers of the word and Sacraments Tertullian saith Presbyters and Deacons may baptize with the Bishops leaue Ierome saieth that Presbyters and Deacons in lesser farre distant Townes did baptize but not without the Bishops licence Wee appoint the Deacons saieth Gelasius to keepe their owne measure and to enterprise nothing agaynst the tenor of the Canons of our forefathers