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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
word_n	bishop_n	call_v	presbyter_n	3,889	5	10.6948	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

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

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 ISAIAH 39. 8. Let there be peace and truth in my daies BY Peloni Almoni Cosmopolites LONDON Printed by E. G. for Richard Whitaker at the Kings Armes in Pauls Church-yard 1641. To the Christian and Judicious Reader IT is true in this particular case of Episcopacy which Salomon speaketh in the general How good is a word spoken in due season It is like apples of gold in pictures of silver If ever there were a season to write or speake in defence of Episcopacy it is now or never wherein men travaile in birth to bring forth their severall conceipts some doubting whether it be of divine or humane institution some affirming the one some the other some desiring to preserve it some to destroy it In such a time silence is dangerous wherein liberty is ill given to or ill taken by the adversaries of Gods ordinance to publish their raw and undigested discourses fraught with more malice then truth But cantabunt cygni cum graculi tacuerint As for my selfe I hope that I may make use of this publique liberty without offence which I seeke not or danger which I regard not to speake a word for my Reverend Mother the Church of England and my Venerable Fathers the Bishops thereof for I may say with S. Hierome in a cause Ecclesiasticall Mori possum tacere non possum I passe a while under an unknowne name as some adversaries of Episcopacy do the person is little to the matter Res cum re causa cum causa ratio cum ratione concertet as S. Augustine writeth Meane while know thus much of me unknowne that I have no dependance upon any Bishop though there be one singularly learned and truely religious in that sacred Order Cui debeo quicquid possum non possum to use S. Hieromes words from whom yet as from the rest I expect nothing being rich in my contentment and private course of life wherein though I enjoy little yet I seeke nothing more but that the truth may have victory the Church peace and God the glory Amen Lond. May 31. 1641. Thy friend in Christ Peloni Almoni A Compendious Discourse proving Episcopacy to be of Apostolicall and consequently of Divine Institution It is a vanity to speake much of a little and a difficulty to speake little of much as in this copious argument of Episcopacy which pleadeth discent from the blessed Apostles to which purpose I might produce many proofes from Scripture Antiquity Fathers and Histories from the most famous Divines of forraine Churches and our owne and finally from Reasons depending upon the sacred oracles of God But now in this latitude of matter to avoyd longitude of discourse I have confined my selfe especially to one important Testimony one in stead of many or of all in pursuit explication and defence whereof I shall have occasion fairely presented unto me to reflect a little upon those other grounds and so out of all to give as plentifull satisfaction upon this point as it doth require or so compendious a discourse can permit Understand then you that are ignorant or remember you that are learned that S. Irenaus confuteth the Marcionites and Valentinians leaden heretickes in that golden age by a double probation first out of the holy Scriptures and then by Apostolicall Tradition not in the Popish sense of an unwritten word but in an orthodoxall sense of the doctrine preached by the Apostles and by them planted in the Churches which is also in the written word the same descending from the time of the Apostles unto the time of Irenaeus himselfe To this end and purpose he first produceth the Church of Rome then most famous in the world as instructed by S. Peter and S. Paul who as he conceiveth governed it joyntly and taught it fully in all the mysteries of Christian doctrine which finally they watered with their owne blood from and after whom saith he in a lineall succession Eleutherius now the twelfth in order possesseth the Episcopacy of the same If any man doubt whether this Romane Episcopacy were of Apostolicall institution or not the substance of Irenaeus his discourse in that place will beare it well to which I now remit the ingenuous Reader because I make hast unto his subsequent discourse which taketh away all doubt for first plantation of Episcopacy in the Church For thus he writeth Polycarp was not onely taught by the Apostles and conversed with many of them who saw the Lord but was also constituted by the Apostles BISHOP in Asia and in the Church of Smyrna there whom we also saw in our first age being his Disciple as S. Hierom de viris illustr. doth record This testimony is so cleare and ponderous that it may sufficiently determine the whole cause if you consider the Person who it is that speaketh and the Matter which he speaketh But since nothing is so cleare which may not seeme obscure and nothing so ponderous which may not seeme light to a mind possessed with unreasonable prejudice I will now further declare presse this testimony of Irenaeus fencing it also against all objections which may be framed against it or against our cause which doth depend upon it First then consider with me the Authour or Relator rather himselfe Note his antiquity he lived in the time of Eleutherius the twelfth Bishop of Rome upon the yeere of our Lord * 185. We have few Authors grave and certaine now extant who lived before his time except Ignatius whose 7. Epistles as they are his owne and aproved for his by Vedelius and are some of them lately cited by the adversaries of Episcopacy under his name so they fully expresse the cleare distinction of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons in the first age of the Christian Church and after him of Justinus Martyr who under the name of {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} governour or prefect doth well discover what Episcopacy was in the second age of the Church Note then his quality He was an holy man a learned man a peaceable man as it may appeare by his Epistles addressed unto Uictor Bishop of the Church of Rome a constant defendour of the truth and finally a patient sufferer for the same What is your exception against him The late unworthy Authour of a booke intituled Of Reformation c. hath found some quarrell against him but Fevardentius in his apologeticall preface in the defence of Irenaeus hath well answered such exceptions Howbeit whatsoever errours more or fewer greater or lesser Irenaeus had or had not it is nothing to the point now in