daies did euer either so think or write The Fathers haue testified in their writinges what they receiued of their fore-fathers that Iames an Apostle was ordained of the rest Bishoppe of Ierusalem The which thing also seemeth to haue bene done vpon iust and necessarie occasion namely for the necessary good of the Church For when as that was the mother of all other churches that the Iews resorted thither out of al the parts of the world it ought not but to haue an Apostle resiant among thē so long as might be who might resolue the brethren in such doubtes as were likely to arise among them Although indeede to pilgrime through diuers regions to preach the gospel is most properly appertaining to the office of an Apostle so that they may not abide in one place but where necessitie requireth As therefore the Apostles discharged the duty of a Bishop when as they took vpon them the particuler charge of some on special church namely when the necessity of the church vniuersall did so require neither did thinke they did anye thing therin contrarie to their Apostolik calling so likewse if that which wholy pertaineth to the Apostles be cōmitted to the Bishops it need not seme a thing either vnreasonable or not profitable when the good order of church gouernement doth require the same But whereas the Canon sayth that we should keepe the old custome not the Lords institution it may seme that the power of Patriarks crept into the church of a contrarie custome rather then of any diuine institution I answere that the canon doth not gaine-say that the power Apostolique in church-gouernment was not left vnto the church of the Apostles but that besides or aboue the rest these or they shuld inioy it as namely he of Antioch Alexandria Ierusalem Rome that indeed was of the mere custome and at the sole disposition of the church For those particular Bishops did not receiue their Apostolique power immediatly from GOD as did the Apostles but from the church and by the church the which as it is not restrained to any certaine situate places or persons citties or Bishops so neither is the autority Apostolik Who doubteth but that the Nicen coūcell or any other like to that might haue translated the Patriarkie of the Romain BB. to some other place haue giuen it to the BB. of Rauenna or of Aquiline for good cause if their had bene any The like I say of the Patriarks of Antioch and Alexandria But that the councels of Bishops had this authority they declared then sufficiently when as they made him of Constantinople com-peer in all things with him of Rome By the which also it may euidently apeare that the prerogatiue of the power Apostolique was not giuen by succession but as it was best befitting the commodity of the church by those especial cities And therfore in that the Canon giueth that to custome it doth not therby take from it the diuine institution But that I may return to the next successors of the Apostles and Euangelists Titus and Timothy and the rest whom sacred writ recordeth were ioyned with the Apostles as assistants that they were Bishops had charge of many churches the most ancient and authentike tradition approoueth the same neither are those thinges so far at variance betweene themselues as some would haue them to be a Bishop to do the worke of an Apostle or an Euangelist For this is the common consent of all the fathers that the office of a Bishop and an Apostle or Euangelist are all one onely that the office of the one is more ample and augustious Cyprian in his 10. epistle writeth thus The Deacons ought to remember the Lord himself did chuse Apostles that is Bishops Prelats but the Apostles themselues ordeined them Deacons after hee was receiued vp into heauen Thus saith Cyprian out of whose words we may learne that a Bishoprick is an Apostleship as also an Apostleship is a kind of bishopricke Herevpon the Apostle Peter in the Acts calleth the Apostleship of Iudas a bishopricke And in like maner speaketh Augustine For no man is ignorant saith he that our Sauior ordeined bishops in the church For before he ascended into heuen he layd his hands vpon his Apostles made them bisheps And Ambrose vpon that in the 4. to the Ephesians some were giuen to the church Apostles writeth thus The Apostles are BB. but the Prophets are expounders of the scriptures which may now be called Priests For in a BB all the orders are contained becaus he is first a priest who is chiefe of ths priests and a Prophet an Euangelist to the furnishing of the rest of the offices of the church Theodoret also vpō the 1. to Tim. cap. 3. saith thus Of old they called the same men Priests and BB. but those that are now called BB. they then called Apostles but long since they left the name of Apostles to thē which were indeed apostles but the additiō of BB. they imposed vpon such as of old were called Apostles so was Epaphroditus the Apostle of the Philip so Titus of the Cretensians Timothy of Asia All the fathers which succeeded the Apostles were not of opinion that the forme of gouernement they had receiued of the Apostles should euer haue bene altered or exauterate the which verelye they could neuer haue perswaded themselues had they knowen that the gouernement of Titus and Timothie had bene but Temporarie and Extraordinarie But is it credible nay is it possible that Timothie Titus and others vnto whome the like prouince was demised should be ignoraunt of this themselues Augustine expounding that in the 44. Psalme Instead of thy Fathers thou shalt haue children sheweth that our Bishoppes inherited the Apostles as children their fathers And were it not a point of frontles and vngracious in solencie to deny that our fathers had their Bishops and Prelats euen from the Apostles times and a part of needles and superfluous diligence to proue a thing so manifest I might easilie and would willingly staie vpon the citing summoning of many more fathers vntil we were fully compassed with a cloud of witnesses But this is not the question but rather it is nowe doubted whether the ordinance of Bishops bee of God or of men as an order that slipt into the church rather of humaine custome then diuine cōstitution Wherfore of things confessed granted let vs decide and determin things doubted and in question That Bishops are ordained by a diuine institution and Apolique tradition Chap. XXI THere is nothing more certaine then this That the Apostles ordained nothing in the Church which they receiued not of the Lord. But they created Bishops as Titus and Timothie wheresoeuer need was in the Church And indeed had not the Apostles created Bishops as they dispersed themselues thorough out the whole worlde how could euer the calling of Bishoppes haue bene so vniuersallie approoued by so general an assent of all
which no man can iustly accuse me as if I sought any especiall commoditie for my selfe or desired any other thing then that which is commodious and necessary for the Church I thought it my duty to speake plainely what I thinke of the goods and possessions of the Church Neither is it enough for mee that I am heere well prouided for my selfe I wish the like vnto my brethren And although I may iustlie complain my self to be iniuriouslie forsaken of you whom I ought to haue found the chief Patrons of mine innocency yet notwithstāding my loue and my Zeale both towards the Church and also vnto you-wards is not therefore either altered or alienated And how then shuld I be lesse carefull for yours your Churches good then when my selfe was in the same ship with you VVherefore seeing we haue now sufficientlie wincked at this errour as well of the people as the Magistrate which if it be suffered will bring to the Church either a deadly ruine or a desperate mischiefe we may no longer dissemble the matter the Church it selfe must be taught hir duetie towards hir Ministerie It is a perilous pernitious thing to bequeath an euill president vnto our posteritie who shall take all for reformation whatsoeuer they receaued in the name of Reformation for what cause so euer it was done Men as you know for the most part vse rather to regard the deed then to respect the cause what is doone euerie man can tell but for what cause it was doone there are few which can conceiue or well consider I must needes confesse I haue proceeded some-what farther into this matter then my purpose was when I came first hither For that I see heere in England by the euill presidents of other Countries most men are carried away with the same errors Some streine their consciences so farre and open their mouthes so wide that like dronken men they stretch and yawne after the Church-liuings and doe euen gourmandize them already in their hopes mercilesse and bottomeles conceits And some againe while they grutch the Pastors their fields and enuie the Euangelique Bishops the riches of Romish Prelates as if it were not lawefull for vs to succeed them and not exceed them would seme to eat their hearts in garlike as they say while they eat and spit their owne gall in malice A strange opinion they hold that the place power and authoritie it hath pleased her Maiestie and the rest of the states the Bishops should reteine in this kingdome is a grant vtterly auerse vnto the reformation of religion VVherefore now what honour is due in a Christian Common-wealth to the Ministers of the Church and how forforth the same may extend is to be examined more at large But it is to be feared least some will be scarcely well pleased especially such as be ignorant of the auncient Church gouernment with this my treatise of the diuers degrees of the Ministers of the Gospell and the rather for that I haue noted in their newe-come reformation two things not to be liked of namely that the autentique order of Bishops is abrogated and a nouell kinde of Presbyters intruded The which I haue the rather noted for that the common sort of people are of opinion that not the least part of reformation consisteth in the dilapidation of Church-goods in the extirpation of Prouinciall Bishops and in the creation of Demi-laicall and mongrell Presbyters The which opinion of the people I doe therefore reprehend not that I dissallow that certaine graue seniours and godlie men should consort with the Pastors that is the true Presbyters of the Church but that they may know as they shall be taught not to mistake them for those Elders of the which in the Actes of the Apostles and in Paules Epistles there is often mention and is it not needful also to point at an error betimes least it beeing by time confirmed should not afterwardes be easilie corrected If any man shall thinke my selfe in the error or that I haue gone further then he liketh well of let him teach me that which is better I will presently alter my iudgement and giue ouer the bucklers vnto him that can do best The which I speake not as if I doubted or were not thorowlie resolued that those things of the which I affirme in this book were not assumed out of gods book For I do verely beleeue that I haue not swarued frō that rule which God hath giuen me to follow But yet if any man presume he can teach the contrary out of the word and make not the word contrarie I am more ready to attend and be taught then to teach and had rather bee ouercome then ouercome condition that that onely truth may preuaile which in truth ought to preuaile In the meane while as I haue alwaies borne and beare with such as dissent in opinion from me so long as they holde intire the Lorde Iesus so likewise in the same charity may they beare with me if I dissent from them I hartelie wish and intreat earnestly If it shall please God by the counsel of christian Princes that there may be a generall and a free councell celebrated that as it becommeth me I refuse not to bee iudge of my iudgement but if otherwise neither I can bee perswaded by others nor perswade others let vs expect with one accord the iudgement of Almightie God when euery one shal render according to the moitie of his talent a reason of his Ministerie For me to contend with my brethren after a bitter manner it is no part of my meaning If in any place my stile shall seeme more sharpe beleeue me I will not fable with you the greatnes of the mischiefe not any priuat griefe hath set an edge on it And to speake reason what reason haue I to be violent or virulent in this question Seeing whatsoeuer is helde amisse I impute it to the error and ignorance of art not to the malice or euill meaning of men The horrible sacrilege of men is not so manifest to the world as the execrable authors thereof are vnknown vnto me and it greueth me not that they are vnknowen Of whome then should I exclaime Against whome should I declaime But whereas certaine vngodly men are craftely crept in amongst vs who make a shewe of religion and would seem to fauor the Gospell and that not so much of any deuotion towards God as in detestation of all godlines I am constrained many times more earnestly to inueigh against the subtiltie and impietie of such let them be of what estate they may be if they be of that condition For neither are our owne colours cleare of such staines against whome can there bee anie worme-wood too bitter This I note that if at any time I name the Hollonders I note not the whole nation God forbid but onely those that degenerate from the naturall integrity of their owne nation But are not they so much the more worthy
nestled with this as if with that one word he had vtterly ouerthowen that equality which they expected in the French churches and which they thought requisite in all Ministers O griefe to me they made knowen their griefe and pittifull complaining they complained to me thereof But what should I heere do defend him I dared not and yet I liked well the cause of his opinion least I should incur the like suspicion of aspiring thoughts But from that time forwarde that conference gaue mee occasion to search and sift out more narrowlye those matters by my selfe And that which then happened to me I doubt not but is incident to many others with me who in wisedome see also and consider that the authority of Bishops is greatly wanting in ours and al Churches There are some which can indure nor equall nor superiour I giue God thanks I can see my superiour without enuy and sustaine my inferior without contempt But now seeing I am heere in England no man can chalenge my affection as guiltie of a Bishoppricke or as if I seeke dominion ouer my brethren the calling I affect but not to be called And therefore now I dare more boldly and will more freely speake what I thinke then before I thought it requisite neither was it conuenient when I conuersed among brethren neuer-a better Yea but I may seeme in this action to sooth vp the Byshops and seeke their countenance countenance nay then must I seeke further and neuer look the Bishops in the face whose condition in this thankles age is more subiect to the enuie and obliquie of men then my selfe am And indeed if that were all and all but so little it were the part of a warie child and him that would husband his credite to make the most of it rather with safetie and silence to say nothing and with patience and pollicy to expect the issue of these things The which I dare saye I also could haue doone as well as others without displeasure to my selfe or disfauour to anie But what moued me God knoweth men may construe my fact as themselues affect but it is the Lord that iudgeth my soule Notwithstanding let the curteous Reader conceiue my meaning in few words I desire to benefite the churches alreadie and to be reformed to extirpate Scisme where it is rooted and to preuent it where it is rising He that thinketh this cannot be done by these meanes shall haue his own saying for me but yet the euent of things mother of fooles will one day make it plaine howe good and profitable my meaning was and in the meane while the Church if it beware not maye receiue that detriment which it cannot repaire The ground of our saluation is to know God whom hee hath sent Iesus Christ our Lorde and Sauiour the Bishop of of our soules But as in euerie thing which men goe about whether weauing caruing or any other craft of the which either the Citie or the ciuill Magistrate hath any care that it should bee well done there must bee a decent order kept and a diligent ouer-sight had of the works the which by how much the more curious it is by so much the things themselues doe flowrish the better and continue the longer So likewise in Religion the same order and ouer-sight ought to be had if we wil haue the same to flowrish amongst vs or to continue pure and intemerate for euer But that al men doe not agree about the maner of ordering and gouerning the Church why should that trouble the quiet of anie peace-able man Doe yee not know that the more profitable and necessarie a thing is to bee vsed the more lets and delaies are made by the enemy either to infect or els to interrupt the vse thereof Was there euer at any time anie thing so cleare and manifest among men that was out of all controuersie How then knowest thou this that thou knowest nothing Or how commeth it in question among men whether a man seeth or doth that which in very deede hee both seeth and doth Without controuersie there is no part of Philosphie or precept of Diuinitie no point of Religion which hath not bene called into controuersie This sore traueile hath God giuen to the sonnes of men that they might be exercised therein But the vanitie of mans will detracteth nothing from the veritie of anie thing And therefore goe to gentle Reader be doing with the sequell and doe well by it THE PRAEAMBLE THe surprising of the Bishop of Rome his tyrannie to whose scepter a croisier all churches and kingdomes and empires were enthralled is now of late growen so hotte that now a daies all Primacie and the name of Primacie is found guiltie not guiltie and thought worthie to bee exiled the Church of Christ wisely For by that meanes all the tyrranie of Prelates may be subdued But they are farre wide in my iudgement The Tarquines once exiled Rome the very name of King becam odious amōg them as if for-sooth with the name of those tyrants tyrannie had ceased But were they not afterwardes and then iustlie thralled and threshed as men thresh corne with more more kinds of tyranny then if they had retained still the soueraine name of Kings and their princely authoritie Neither indeed is there any tyrāny at all in the name of a King but in the nature of a Tarquine And the like wee may iustlie say in this action that the pride and tyranny with the which the Church of Christ was wearied and wasted was not in the Primacie of Bishops and Archbishoppes but in the persons which did abuse their authoritie and going beyond their commission extended the bounds of their Prouince further then might lawfully stand with the modestie and moderation of christian Religion by which meanes indeede the power of Rome is become excessiue and insupportable But shall I now vppon this bare presumption indite of tyranny the more auncient forme of Church pollicie and so many godly men or rather Gods amongst men of rare learning sincere liues and sound Religion Or shall I condemne of error those sacred and religious Synodes in the which holy men of God did ratifie that auncient pollicie of the Church which with reuerence as they ought they receiued of their godlie predecessors Farre bee that sinne from my thoughts as far as is this impure age from their perfections For albeit I am not ignorant that both Fathers and Councels may erre if they enact against the will and word of God notwithstanding it followeth not that therefore they erred in this But if so be we were thus equally affected towards others and our selues that as we know a natural infirmitie to be vniuersallie infused in the natures of all men so with all we wold acknowledge the same to be particularlie imprised in our selues also we would then more diligently search and prie into the reprehension of our selues rather then of others But now it is far otherwise with vs. Is
there anye thing in the Fathers for some especiall cause moouing vs misliked of vs By and by we haue this theoreme at our fingers end We must remember they were but men and because men may easilie erre we muster whatsoeuer we mis-conceiue of them among the errors of that age In the meane while wee neuer remember our selues that we also are but men and therfore may erre with them yea we are such men neither are we exempt from the common infirmitie of men who may then er when we thinke amisse of them and in that verie thing may wee erre for the which we condemne them This is once that against the constant and consonant conclusions of the ancient church we ought not to attempt or admit anie innouation without a plaine commission from Gods holie writ and this also I dare boldly say that whosoeuer taketh away al authoritie from the Fathers he leaueth none for himselfe Indeed it must bee confessed that the Fathers were men and that they had their wrinckles yet can it not be denied that to haue our Fathers to bee our Patrons in the principal points of faith and externe pollicy of our church things controuerted betweene the Popelings and vs is a matter of no small moment and of especiall account And albeit the vniforme consent of Gods children from the Apostles times vnto this day may not be compared with the eternall word of God Notwithstanding of right it may come in and stand for the second place The custome of gods people receiued of all Churches thorow out the whole world is in maner of a lawe sacred and inuiolable Neither is there any likelihood that there could euer haue beene an vniuersall consort of all Churches and ages without either the authoritie of gods word or the tradition of the Apostles Notwithstanding for as much as no consent no custome no auncient prescription can or ought to preuaile in the Church of Christ against the word of God Therefore those reasons are to be weighed and those Scriptures to bee examined which mooued the Fathers to intertaine and continue that Church gouernment which our newe reformers will in no case agree vpon that we may certainelie know whose is the error theirs or ours The time hath bene when no good men disallowed of Bishops and Archbishops but now in despite of the Popes tyranny his complices it is come to this passe that their very names are called into question and that of diuerse men for diuerse causes Some because they are as they suppose the deuises of Antichrist or his fore-runners thinke them vnworthie thee Church and worthie to be cast ouer-boorde Others yet more modest in some reuerence of antiquitie thinke they may be borne with all for a time although in the mean time they allow not of them vntill such time as commodiouslie the names may bee antiquate with the thinges themselues In the meane while for that they know neither can they be ignorant to what singular effect the Church of God hath bin gouerned by graue and godlye Bishops they haue not the face to condemne them openly yet because they see certaine reformed Churches of this age to be gouerned without Bishops It is enugh they haue not the power any longer to tollerat the more auncient gouernment O the regiment of Pastors and Elders passing all antiquitie our soules haue longed for thee and we haue a desire vnto thee for that thou alone art grounded vppon the Lord Iesus his institution and thou if any art wholy purified of all tyranny and ambition O but by your leaue good brethren the shadowe you imbrace is no substance neither is the plot you conceaue a priueledged place Are you so far in loue with your liuelesse Pigmalion the worke of your owne hands I know who is not hee hath reason for his why not For neither is your newe draught of straunge gouernement sufficientlye prooued by the word of God neither is it yet or can at any time bee confirmed by the example of our Elders And how should it if we should iudge aright of it seeing it was partly vnknowen vnto them as a thing insolent and not heard of and partlie condemned of them as a thing Heriticall and not approoued of Wherefore to speake the plaine truth without flatterie or partialitie I thinke of this new forme of Church gouernment as some thinke of our Bishops regiment Namely that it is but a deuise of mans conceit and there to be tollerated where a better cannot bee obtained And contrariwise that which is disallowed of some as deuised by man seemeth vnto me to bee the verie ordinance of God and the onely true gouernment of the Church as that which hath his institution from God not only in the old but in the new Testament But because it is defiled with the manifolde abuses of men that which were to be layd vppon the person is imputed to the function as if forsooth no such miscariage might befall this their nouell kinde of gouernement The Romish Antichrist with his Bishops Archbishops Patriarches and Metropolitanes hath so troubled and intangled the Church of Christ that tyranny it selfe is thought to bee masked vnder those honest and honorable titles It is most true He that is once stong of a Serpent suspecteth euery stone and once bitten of a dog is affraid of euery cur Some therefore that they might apply some remedy to this maladie haue reuersed those names and yet retained the same things and for Bishops haue anoynted Superintendents and for Archbishops generall or prouinciall Superintendents as if the controuersie were not for the thing it selfe but for names sake But wise as we are seeing the signification of wordes is variable and voluntarie when we agree in truth what neede these garboyles about termes If the formes of gouernment which are signified by those termes are contained in gods worde Is there anie reason or sense that in disgrace of those names these formes should not be retained of vs If any man obiect that in the gouernment of Bishops there are many corruptions I make no question of that So wee might cauill with the gouernment of the ciuill Magistrate hath it not his corruptions Haue they not their infirmities Yet was there neuer anye that had his fiue wits who thought that a sufficient reason to remooue those from their place that are president in the state Wherefore our question is not how the Bishops haue abused their authoritye but whether the Lorde hath so forbidden this their Primacy that there may bee nor Pastor ouer Pastor nor Bishop ouer Bishop in the outward pollicie of the Church As for the rest if any will accuse the Bishops or their Consistories either of neglect dutie or corrupt dealing no man will be their hinderance why they may not prosecute that and persecute them before the chiefe Magistrate I take not vppon mee the apologie of anie Bishop I am not so worthie they are not so weake as that they need my Patrocinie
Prince partly of the Common-wealth it is not repugnant to the state of the Church or stay of religion And indeed why should not the same thing betide their fields which befall the persons thēselues who albeit they are dedicate to God mancipate to his seruice yet they commit nothing vnworthy their function or not beseeming their calling when as according vnto the dignity of their place they performe due seruice to their Prince and other duties to the common-wealth That which is added of the pension or stipend of Ministers is easily answered by the same reason for it differeth not from the other Wherfore as a man may consecrate him selfe and his labours to God and the Church yet reserue his due obsequie to his Prince and the common-wealth so likewise may the Church inioy both fields and fearms and fees in the common-wealth and yet make no claime to any extraordinary immunity from seruice nor euer think much of any ordinary fealtie due to the patrōs therof The Bishop and euery other Minister of the Church is subiect to the lawes and Magistrate of the common-wealth and seeing he oweth homage to the Prince as to the cōmon parent of the people there is no absurditie committed if by the accesse of some especial benefit he become more nearly bound vnto him then the common sort How many and how bloudie wars the Bishops of Rome haue made vpon the Emperours and other Christian Princes euen for the onely inuestiture of those fees which they chalenge vnto themselues as consecrate to God therefore as they perswaded themselues free from all ciuill seruice all histories can well witnesse Wherefore those Magistrates at this day doe shew themselues very ingrate I may say vngodly to the present Ministerie who when as by defending the authoritie of the ciuill Magistrate which the Bishop of Rome had impayred they haue now at the length brought to passe that they haue recouered the same by their means doe now notwithstanding enuie them their poore estate in the Church and their small authoritie in the common-wealth May not that of the Apostle 2. Cor. 11.19 be truly said of this people They suffered those gladly which brought them into bondage which tooke of their goodes which exalted themselues which smote them on the face I more which afflicted them with fire and sworde and made them runne through Purgatorie glad that they might get to Hell But the faithfull seruantes of Christ which set them free frō the captiuitie of the Pope and gaue them that libertie which they nowe abuse against the Church those they doe not onely not reward with that honour they well deserued but they depriue them of those dignities they once possessed They lay baites for the bane for some set snares for the liues of others contriue plots for the deposing and disparaging of all Is this the thankes they giue to their Pastors And is this the reward for so many benefits receiued by their preaching O God forgiue them this sin if it be possible But thou wilt one day iudge betweene them and vs and reuenge this infamie done vnto thy selfe Chap. XXVIII Of the honorable titles which are giuen vnto Bishops NOw we haue spoken of fees and of that ciuill iurisdiction which is annexed vnto them it remaineth that wee speake somewhat also of their titles of honour Neither will I seeke into all but will shew you vnto a few of them and comprise in one or two all the rest which either the custome of the time place or the curtesie of Kings and Princes doe giue vnto the chiefe states of the kingdome With the which here are some in England which find themselues not a little offended would hold others in hand thogh they dare not hold their hand that such titles are not to bee giuen to the greatest Bishops The first that displeaseth them is the title of Lord which yet at this day is vsed to be giuen rather for honor sake then for homage The proper signification thereof is sufficiently known to haue relation to the possession proprietie of a thing In which sense euery man is Lord of that hee hath It hath a secondary relatiō also to a Seruant in which sense the Romane Emperours would not be called Lords or Maisters Suetonius reporteth of Octauius that he abhorred the name of Lord Maister as curse and a slaunder Indeed the Barbarians acknowledge no other distinction of persons but of Maisters Seruants therfore their Kings also do domineer ouer their subiects as maisters ouer their seruants the fathers of families haue the same authoritie ouer their wiues children as ouer their seruāts This would seem might well a very vnreasonable thing to vs being not as they are a people base seruile And yet the Moschouites rule at this day after this manner neither is the Empire of the Turkes much vnlike the same And generally all the Easterne kingdoms were once of this gouernment kept this foule rule ouer the nations wher they conquered Whether the Kings kindred had any priuilege besides the rest it is to be doubted so I leaue it But these a man might truly cal Dominos Lords or Maisters in which sense our Kings themselues wil not be so called nor will they take it in good part to be so slandered for their subiects are not their slaues or seruants neither do they so vse them They hold it their chiefest glory to haue a free people subiect vnto them and thinke it more honorable to command ouer a free then a seruile nation And albeit the King may truly be called Lord and indeed the only chiefe Lord in his own kingdom referring the signification of that title either to the subiection of the whole people or the propriety of his own kingdome yet contenting himself with the royal title of King which glory he wil cōmunicate with no subiect he enuieth not his subiects the name of Lords but whō he thinketh worthy hee honoureth with that title Neither do inferior persons only cal superior personages Lords but they also which are Nobles of equall authoritie do so salute their peeres And doth not the King himselfe vouchsafe to greet the Honors of his lande by the names of Lords The name of Lord is of many significations and is as I haue said a title rather of honour and of fauor then of rule and of Empire the which argueth the no smal malice or otherwise the great ignorance of them which hold the title of Lord to bee of so great authoritie as that it is not conuenable to the calling of Bishops And yet at this day among the best Latinistes the same name ordinarily is giuen to any man of any ordinary esteeme So doth the signification of this title varie according to the diuersitie of regions and persons and proprieties They which in England do make the same a signification of greater honor then that it may any waies agree with
D. SARAVIA 1. Of the diuerse degrees of the Ministers of the Gospell 2. Of the honor vvhich is due vnto the Priestes and Prelates of the Church 3. Of Sacrilege and the punishment thereof The particular Contents of the aforesaide Treatises to be seene in the next Pages Iob. 8. 8. Inquire I pray thee of the former age and prepare thy selfe to learne of the Fathers 9. For we are but of yesterday and are ignorant 10. Shall not they teach thee LONDON Printed by Iohn VVolfe and are to be sold by Iohn Perin at the signe of the Angell in Paules Church-yard 1591. The Contents The first Booke 1 WHat the Ministery of the Gospell is and what be the parts thereof 2 Of ordinary and extraordinary calling to the Ministery 3 Of the twelue Apostles 4 Of the seuenty Disciples 5 Of Prophetes 6 That the names and titles of Apostles Euangelists Prophets were giuen also vnto other Pastors and Doctors of the Church 7 Of Deacons 8 That the Churches in their beginnings had no other Bishops and Elders besides the Apostles them selues their fellow-laborers 9 Of Priests or Pastors and Bishops 10 Of two degrees of Pastors 11 That the doctrine of the Apostles acknowledgeth no annuary Elders to rule onely and not to teach in the Church 12 The place of Ambrose expounded 13 The place of Paul expounded in his first to Timothy the fift Chapter what it is to labour in the word and doctrine 14 That that order is of God which appointeth superior Elders Bishops and that but of man where all Pastors Elders are alike 15 That our Sauiour by no statute repealed the supereminent authority of Pastors among them selues 16 That the forme of the Apostles gouernement did not end with the death of the Apostles 17 That the commaundement To preach the Gospell to all nations the Apostles being now receyued vp into Heauen doth in like manner bind the Church to the which the authority Apostolique is also requisite 18 That the Apostolique authority is as necessary for the conseruing and confirming as for the founding first planting of Churches 19 By testimony of Eusebius his Ecclesiasticall history the former Chapter is confirmed 20 That the authority of Bishops ouer Priestes or Elders is approued by the consort of all Churches throughout the whole world 21 That Bishops are ordained by a diuine institution and Apostolique tradition 22 That it was the opinion of Aerius That there is no difference betweene a Bishop and a Priest which opinion was condemned for an Heresie by the Fathers 23 Hierome his opinion confuted 24 Of one Bishop in one Diocesse 25 Of the names of Patriarches Archbishops and Metropolitanes 26 Of Doctors The second Booke 1 THat by a certaine Law of nature among all nations the Presidentes of Religion were esteemed worthy great honor 2 How great the reuerence of Priestes hath beene in all nations 3 What the honour of the Priesthood was among the people of God 4 Of that double honor which is due vnto those Elders which rule well and the argumentes of those which thinke the contrary 5 An answere to the arguments of the former Chapter 6 That the honour which is giuen to the Pastors of the Church is ioyned with a certaine Religion towardes God 7 Certayne other reasons confuted and the truth confirmed by many testimonies of Scripture 8 That the good examples of our fore-Fathers prescribe a Law to theyr successors 9 That the oblations of Christians are part of Gods worship 10 An aunswere to certaine obiections with the which it is confirmed that the Ministers of the Gospel are worthy no lesse honor then were the Priests of old among the people of God 11 The iudgement of the Fathers concerning the oblations of the faithfull 12 That the Church had no small reuenewes and certayn places in the which they did celebrate theyr assemblies before the time of Constantine 13 A distinction of Church goods 14 That the Prelates of Churches are not maintayned of almes but of the due reward of theyr labours 15 Of those landes which are held in fee and haue annexed with them any ciuill authority or iurisdiction 16 That Bishops and other Pastors are not forbidden to be Lordes of Fees and sometimes to vndertake secular and ciuill charges 17 What a Fee is and what are the lawes and conditions thereof 18 A distinction of Fees 19 An aunswere to the obiection that ciuill iurisdiction outward pompe and honors which are annexed with these Fees doe not agree with the simplicity of the Euangelique Ministery 20 That it is lawfull for Bishops to heare ciuill causes and to determine vppon them 21 An exposition of that place of Luke the two and twenty Chapter 22 That the Pastors of the Church for the necessity of the common wealth may attend some times vppon worldly affaires 23 That diuerse functions are not confounded albeit vndertaken of one man 24 That Dauid and Solomon vsed the aide of Priests and Leuites in ciuill affaires 25 Theyr error confuted that think no ciuill affaires of the common wealth ought to be committed to the Bishops and Pastors of the Church 26 That wher the Church is the common wealth the same man as Bishop may take charge of the Church for the Lord Iesus and render fealty and obeisance to the king as one that holdeth by faith and homage 27 An other argument against the endowment of Fees confuted 28 Of the honorable titles which are giuen vnto Bishops 29 Of the Bishops family and retinue 30 Whether it be better for Ministers to liue of the stipends of the Magistrate or rather of the oblations of the faithfull 31 The Stipendaries cald to account and confuted 32 Certain reasons why Stipendaries are disproued The third Booke 1 OF Sacrilege the punishment therof 2 What Sacrilege is 3 The reasons with the which they commonly excuse theyr Sacrilege 4 An aunswere to the reasons of the former Chapter 5 A distinction of those Church goods which the Church of Rome possesseth at this day 6 That the goods of Monasteries are not al of one kind 7 That it is another thing to come from Paganisme to Christianity then to come from Popery or some other Heresie 8 How greeuous and incurable the sin of Sacrilege is 9 Certaine examples of Gods vengeance against Sacrilegious persons FINIS To the Reader YOu will say what neede all this wast this labour might haue beene well spared For seing the same argument hath ben handled long since and of late learnedly and at large by men of our ownes what neede this foraine ayde In such aboundance of wits and writings to transport Sarauia out of Latine into English is to bring owles to Athens and to carry stickes to the wood as it is in the Prouerbe True it is the cause hath ben vndertaken long since but it was late first and of late but it was long first And the same hath ben maintayned learnedly enough if not with learning too much
are so far from turning stones vnto bread that they will make stones of bread and that which I haue done to relieue their weakenes they will account as deuised to vndermine their estate and so take that with the left hand which I proffer with the right And in deede what other thing shoulde I looke for at their hands who in lieu of my well deseruing towards them haue sought heretofore rather to cast me off with disgrace then to giue me vp with reward How desirous I haue alwaies beene of publique peace and howe zealous ouer them that layd snares for my life I dare appeale vnto God and men and yet for my good will what great reward haue I receiued at their handes but sharp reuenge or what better meede for my paines then bitter malice But no reason I should take this kinde of cruelty vnkindly seeing it is so common a case and commonly incident to me with many my betters And therefore far be it from me that the iniuries of a few though no fewe iniuries should so far preuaile with me that I should therefore lesse regard the better health of the whole Church Should I be for priuate wronges so far inraged beyond all sence and besides my selfe as to study to bee reuenged vppon many good men being offended but of a few bad fellowes After I was last called frō hence by the Belgike Churches I conuersed among them in diuers places ten whole yeares together in what time I found by aduised experience that there were two thinges of great moment greatly missed in those Churches the which I could not then without grief and cannot now without sin conceale namely That the ministery of the Gospell receiued of them by publike authority is not adorned by them with due honor And againe That wealth and worshippe in the order of the ministery is thought a needlesse thing to aduaunce the estimation thereof in a ciuill society Men that we are misconceauing is the cause of all this For now a daies for sooth no Church is thought reformed vnlesse First all Church dignities be either thrust out at the Church porch or thrust downe to the belfry and then all the Church goods be either put in the great bagge or giuen to the greedy baggage The which errour if it doe proceed as it will if it be not nipt in the head it will one day reuele not only vpon the church but also vppon the whole state a greater misery then can easely be driuen into euery common mans head To the which this also may be added that there are many of opinion and they are of many opinions That the abolishing of Bishops is not the least part of reformation and That their authority in the Church is crept in not of any diuine institution of Gods word but that which not any Church before this time did euer auouch of the onely errour and ambition of mans wit Our elders all auncient diuines for the preuenting of Scisme and conuenting the head-strong and giddy headed rashnes of many helde the prudent moderation of one in one Citty or prouince to be ordained from aboue And they knew very well that albeit the quirke of speaking for so they speak be found in many yet the art of gouerning and the rule of well ruling is knowen but of a few How great a stay a godly and prudent Bishop may bee to any troubled or distressed State auncient histories doe plainly teach present experience might make vs learne Doe you not knowe I know you are not ignorant howe that many times many things betide in a christian common wealth which require the aduise of Ecclesiastical Prelates As also where the Gospell is publiquely authorised that there are many thinges requisite for the Church which cannot be effected with out the ciuill Magistrate And how then are not they in a peeuish and a peruerse errour which either exclude the Magistrate from causes Ecclesiasticke or sequester the Minister from affaires politike silly men that they are as if either the Christian Magistrate were no part of the Church or the sacred Minister not Cittizen of the same common wealth And yet neither the Magistrate if he be Christian is to neglect the safety of the Church nor the Minister if he be godly not to regard the safegard of the state But these two the Magistrate and the Minister so long as they shal be distracted into partes and as it were diuorsed in state the one from the other and shall not take sweete counsell together like friends or not communicate in consent for their common benefite they cannot but conceiue diuers and doubtfull surmises fonde yea and some times false opinions of each others gouernement The Magistrate that keepeth fresh in memory the new broken yoke of the Popes tiranny feareth least by any meanes he should fall againe into the like though vnlike And therfore is iealous ouer the counsels and conuenticles of the Cleargy suspecteth alwaies some snare to be laid in them to entangle his liberty Of the other side the Pastors so many as are or will bee accoumpted faithfull in their Ministery cānot but be careful for the welfare of their flocke and therefore seeke by all meanes to benefite the Church and to shun those things which may preiudice the same who when they see diuers kindes of people to preuaile in the Common-wealth and they some of them open professed enemies to the Church some but suspicious and suspected fauorites few faithfull and vnfeined friendes no woonder though they dare hardly commit their cause and their credites them selues and their safeties to such Gouernours Besides they being ignorant of the common counsels how should they bee good interpreters of such thinges as are done in the Common-wealth neither can such counsels be well communicated to the common people and yet reason would they should seeing they are common If the States in the Low-countries brought to lowe estate had their learned and reuerend Bishoppes in that estimation they ought to be in euerie well ordered state no doubt with their vigilancye and moderation they might more easily haue remedied their present miseries I did complaine not without cause to see the Church goods pilde and pilferd and learned Pastors set to their stipēds Of the which some in deed do liue releeue their families though porely God knowes and some againe for the moity of their stipēds the multitude of their familiars are by no means able to keepe open shop windowes I speake not or neede not of them which are denied their wages or serue like our soldiers for cheese flemish if that they can get it But by this meanes when as to the griefe of al good men I did see the most sacred studie of Diuinity to languishe that young wits were affraid of it and old heads a weary of it Churches without Pastors Schooles wanting professors I lamented with my selfe and sorrowed for these mischiefes and those wee might easily coniect would
at the most that they may be good in their office And by this meanes that which I account worse then all the rest the beautie of the Church is vanished and that vnited force of the brethren which in placed in one Bishop who dare with confidence and may with authoritie controule the wicked in their enterprises is vtterlie lost and languished For whilest euerie one is dispised all are contemned and likewise whilest euerie one taketh care of his owne Curch onelie they altogeather neglect the good of the whole Church generallie I spare to exemplifie this your selues suppose what and where vpon I speake it But doe you not see or can you not conceiue how that many things may daily chance in the Church which concerne all Churches in common and for the which a present remedie must be had In this case no priuate man dare vndertake the cause and why he seeth and considereth that the matter pertaineth not to him or to anie one or to a few but vnto all the rest of that whole Prouince in common But whilest hee which could find in his heart to put himselfe vpon the action for the common good yet findeth many doubts in his hart and is stil affeard least either himselfe should not be allowed or that he should perform not confirmed by the rest of necessitie the time is deferred in this necessitie and needs must a further time be expected vntil the brethren may bee assembled That a Synode should bee called for euerie such matter it is both costly and inconuenient and many times also before either they could be called or come togeather either the mischief that was feared would be receiued or the occasion that was profered would be ouer-passed whereby the euil might ether altogether or more easily haue bene remoued Amongst you the Church-goods are rifled and ruined without anie reuerend regard of sacred or prophane as if forsooth it were religion for the Church of Christ to bee woorth one dodkin in a christian Common-wealth or as if indeed it were the onely errour of the Church of Rome that they are rich Doth anie thing remaine yet vnransackt in any of your Churches the better for those Burgreeues and Burgomaisters in whose handes it is As for your selues there is not so much as one mite left to bee at your disposing you that stand so much in your ownlight and haue put out two lights with your too much lightnes can you put out mine with an half penie alas good souls if you were euerie one pore yet might you be all rich But now it is the cōmon opinion that Pastors ought of congrutie to be poore and needie and that is so deeplie infixed in the harts of the simple peple that they can hardly be perswaded to the contrary Is it possible but by such meanes it shuld one day come to passe if they thus proceed that the whole Ministery of the Church shuld fal ether into vtter decay or wretched contēpt I was purposed if I had staied with you to haue conferred about this matter with the States themselues And verely I would haue exhorted and intreated thē that they would take some better course in this cause I would haue taught them that they had no right at all vnto the church-goods I would haue prooued and protested vnto them that whatsoeuer calamities haue befallen the Low-countries they are al but the iust vengeance of God for their sacrilege that the goods of Cathedrall and Collegiat churches and also of many Monasteries were destinate and consecrated to the vse of sacred studies And last of all I would haue informed them and confirmed to them that whatsoeuer hath varied from the first institution therof ought not to be destroyed but restored by the christian Magistrate But this my good purpose was hindered first by the vntimely death of the Prince of Orange and then also for the Earle of Leycester his sake Least I might seeme to haue attempted the same either at a bad time in the greatest tumult of the countrey or els by bad means presuming vpon the fauour and furtherance of my L. the Earle In the meane while I might greatly wonder at the error of many and they not meanely conceited towards the Gospel neither should I cease to wonder were it not that I knowe the Ministers themselues whome the matter doth more neerly concerne to bee the authours of that error But when I consider with my selfe the iniquitie of these euill daies and the bad meaning of euil men I cannot wel tell whether I might rather lament or reioyce in that their foule ouersight For albeit to haue the churches spoyled left desolat of such helps with the which it ought to be releued may bring vpon both Church and State a greater misery then many can suspect or any can auoyd notwithstanding that in the beginnings of reformation there was nor mention nor motion made for the Church-goods it greeueth me the lesse for that by this meanes the aduersarie cannot well say that we rather sought the treasure of the Church then the glorie of God For had they made anie question of the Church-goods these cauils and quarrels might haue taken some aduantage of them But now when as they esteemed of whatsoeuer the Papists possessed as of things nothing pertaining vnto them and referred all the whole matter to the moderation of the Magistrate by this meanes Suspicion it selfe could not but cleare them of suspicion So God sometimes doth vse the verie ignorance of his seruants to some good end namelie when as a truth taught out of time would doe more hurt then good Notwithstanding that which sometimes hath beene obiected can neither be denied nor defended that there were some which tooke our part in hope of the pray onely And albeit these things were not altogether vnknowen vnto the godlie at that time as their writings doe witnesse yet in wisdome they chose rather to suffer and say little to that iniurie then that in hast they should goe about to offend any And in this they did imitate Saint Paule who in the rich Cittie of Corinth had rather labour with his hands and so get his maintenaunce then otherwise to giue anie occasion of suspect to a nouice people not seene into the dignitie of his right Apostolique And shall I tell you that onely consideration was not the least cause why my selfe dared not bewray vnto euery one the silence of my thoughts And yet such was my natiue weakenes or my foole-hardie forwardnes I could not hide my selfe from my brethren and companions and some also of the Magistrats of Gaunt But I spake not then so freely as I meane to doe in this discourse For I alwaies feared as I ought to do least such as were but newly wonne to the faith of Christ might be haplie lost by my indiscreet libertie and my selfe brought into a needlesse gealosie of auarice and ambition But now seeing I am in that place and condition in the
reserued yet notwithstanding when they beholde on euery side the most partes rotted and ruinated and those good partes to hang togeather by putrified and imperfect ioyntes they are in dispaire that the house can not bee well turguised except the whole frame should be ouerturned Euen so the reformers of gods house albeit they did see to their greife manye excellent things which might well and well worthie bee reserued yet perceiuing them to be either vtterly disteined with superstition or doubtfullie entangled therewith and consequentlie dispairing that they could not roote out the grounded superstition and tyrrany of the pope vnlesse they plucked vp by the roots many singular ornaments of the church in the anguishe of their zeale they cried at once downe with it downe with it euen to the ground And so is it come to pas that togeather with impietie and Idolatrie if not before them both such and so many instruments are taken away as might haue beene verie great helpes to the Church both for the preseruing of Discipline and also for the retaining of that dignitie to the Ministerie which is decent and requisite in a ciuill societie But to the purpose although in materiall thinges that which we haue exemplified before many times must be so of necessitie yet in morall causes there is no such necessity The state therefore of this question friend reader is not of thy faith in Christ or of thy souls health but by what guides especiallye and gouernours thou maist bee best lead in the way of truth and kept in the path of eternall life And vpon this point is all this variaunce For there are some of opinion that all discipline of maners is to be referred to the Magistrate and that the Minister is to be restrained to the bare Preaching of the worde and ministring of the Sacraments The which fancie of men seeing it hath neither the word of God to confirme it nor any president of our Elders to giue countenance to it I can but wonder howe so friuelous an opinion could once either creepe in or peepe out of the heads of Diuines But there are other which yeild as they ought to doe the power of Ecclesiasticall censures to those Bishoppes and Elders which are such both in name and indeede vnto whome they deny not that authoritie which God gaue vnto his Apostles and their successours the Bishops And last of all there is a third kinde of them which reiecting the order of Bishops ioyne with the Pastor certain annuall Elders vnto whome they commit the regiment or the Church and the ordering of Ecclesiasticall Discipline Thus did the Philosophers of old when it came in question what kinde of Gouernment was best Of whome some preferred the Monarchie of one and that as it is indeed they iudged the best yet others maintained that an Oligarchy or ioynt gouernment of a few was as good as the best again there were others who for a Democratie or state popular would yeeld to none of the rest And last of all there were some who to the former three added a fourth which they indifferently not equally mixed of all three and that they would make good to be as good as they al and better then any of the rest But in the meane while they considered not this that any kind of gouernment as it is in it selfe is not so much to bee considered in gouernance as is the nature and condition of them who are to be gouerned and for whose good that kind of gouernment is ordained So that nowe that forme of pollicie is to bee accounted best not which is such in his owne nature but that which is most necessary for the people the time and the place For which cause as I conceaue GOD himselfe in the secrecie of his wisedome hath not set downe vnto any nation any perpetual forme of gouernment the which it was not lawful to alter according to the incidencie of time place and persons But in the gouernment of the which we dispute the case is far otherwise for in that it proceedeth immediatly from God men maye not alter the same according to their fancies neither is it necessary For the wisedome of God hath so tempered the same that it repugneth no form of ciuil gouernment In deede where any one whole state is become Christian the gouernment happelie may receiue some kind of alteration but not such as shal alter the nature of it Were they before in gouernment diuerse and in no one thing alike nowe they consort in one and lend each other their mutuall aide Wherefore whatsoeuer other men thinke in this matter doubtlesse the Christian Magistrate in a well ordered state ought not to bee held as a priuate person either in Church or common-wealth The which distinction beeing not sufficientlie looked into hath distracted vs into diuerse errors in Church Discipline For my part and the best wil take my part I hold that the state of Bishops is necessary in the Church that Discipline is best and from aboue in the which godly Bishoppes with the not nick-named Elders do sit at the helme And yet when I consider with my selfe the badnes of these times and the badde condition of some places in the which it hath pleased God by the hands of learned and religious men to gather togeather his dispersed flocke out of the captiuity of Babilon I doe not see indeed how the true Bishops could haue bene restored In the Churches of Flanders and Holland my selfe haue susteined the office of a Pastor but shall I tell you I cannot easily tell how many impediments I there found in this busines But shal that which was done extraordinarily and partly of necessity and that but in a certaine fewe places and that but in our age onely prescribe a law to the world besides This diuorce of minds and opinions had neuer bene were it not for the tyrrany of some misrulie Bishops a nouell opinion is crept vp opposing it selfe against all antiquitie which holdeth all Bishops generally in iealousie and yet the like and no lesse suspicion is raised of our newe consistories also wheather rightlye or wrongfully I will not say Wherefore he that will vndoubtedly attaine to the certaine knowledge of these thinges indeed must bee sure that he examine and try the cause him selfe deuoyd of all passion or preoccupation of affection Many times within these sixe and twentie yeares haue I deliuered my minde vnto my friends in familiar conference though not at all times nor to all concerning the gouernment of Bishops What they would conceiue of mee for so doing I might easily coniect by others who had in like maner reueiled themselues vnto their brethren For as it happened a certaine disputation fel out between certaine Ministers concerning the same position in the which M. Doctor Villerius whose name I cannot remember without due reuerence assumed that the authority of Bishops was not so rashly to haue bin reiected But Lord how they were netled and
they are able to say for themselues and to gaine-say their accusers onely I lament that the antique order of church gouernement of great and long esteeme with our fore-fathers should be negligentlie lost or violently taken from vs and I feare me greatly least in the infelicitie of this age it be vtterly taken from vs. For who seeeth not and greeueth not to see how men are set together vpon mischiefe euen to reduce the whole Ministerie of the church to the bare Ministerie of the word But this our present controuersie can by no meanes better bee decided then by conferring the orders of the Ministery in that order as they were ordained of God and deliuered of the Apostles according to their singular degrees and seuerall seasons as they were then in vse So shall we easily learne what order is consonant to the word of God and what dissonant the which that I may the better performe there are two thinges which affoord me fit ingresse thereunto The first is the first institution of those seuerall orders The second is that one place of S. Paule to the Ephesians the fourth chapter where he setteth downe the diuerse Ministeries of the church distributed into their seuerall degrees Wherein the first place are inuested as the chiefe Patrons and first Patriarches of the gospel Apostles in the second Prophets in the third Euangelistes in the fourth Pastors and Doctors Of all the which we are now to discourse in their due order And albeit Paul seeme to write of the functions giuen to the church after the Assention of Christ Notwithstanding wee will looke backe a little further for this matter neither will we cease our diligent persute vntil wee come to that time and place in the which Christ selected his twelue Apostles and so returne by the seuentie and two Disciples whom hee ordained also and added to the Apostles for the preaching of the gospell throughout Iewrie And albeit this discourse doe chieflie intend the distinction of Ministers yet by the way we haue somewhat to say of Deacons also For whereas the doctrine of life doth not nusle vs vppe in anie idle contemplation of good things but rather traineth vs vp in the practise of all goodnes especially of christian charitie Therefore of the Ministerie of the gospel there ariseth an other Ministery which exerciseth it selfe about bodely necessaries of this life and consequently hath imposed vppon it the dispensation of the church stocke whereby it commeth to passe that there is a twofold Ministery of the church One which only respecteth the glory of God ou souls helth An other which regardeth the procuration of earthly thinges and the preseruation of this present life After these thinges handled and set out of hand as I may in the sequel of this my trauell I wil intreat of that honor and reuerence which by the lawe of God instinct of nature and right of nations is proper and peculier to the sacred Minister And last of all against the gourmandiers of church goods I will set downe and lay before their eies the odious sin of Sacrilege with the dires and punishments accompaning the same And these three things according to the variety of their natures I haue distinguished into three bookes but because they are of some affinitie and rise togeather insequence I haue also laied them togeather in this one volume Doctor Sarauia of the diuers degrees of Ministers What the Ministery of the Gospell is and what bee the partes thereof Chap. I. ALthough this present Treatise doth chiefly aime at the inequality of Ministers yet notwithstanding I take it a good way or not much out of the way if we set on first with the definition of the Ministery that thereby it may the better appear what is common to the Ministers among them all and what is proper to euery one in his particular order Vppon diuerse groundes of the Scripture diuerse definitions may be diuersely framed but I comprise them all in one word or two of the Apostle Paul and vppon his bare word I affirme 1. Cor. 4.1 1. Tim. 3.16 That the Ministery of the Gospell is a certaine dispensation of the mysteries of God which were reuealed vnto the world by the comming of Christ Where I cal a mystery not only that doctrine of the wonderful coūsaile of God in the redemption of mankinde but also all other things which God hath annexed vnto that doctrine And those I resolue into three sortes Whereof the first is The preaching and publication of the Gospell the second is The vse and administration of the Sacraments the third is The exercise and execution of Ecclesiastical gouernment The preaching of the Gospell is a sacred Embassee in the name of Christ in the which sinners are intreated to reconcile themselues to God or thus It is the publishing of that doctrine of free pardon of sinnes which Christ himselfe sued forth from his Father and purchased with his precious death or otherwise also thus It is the doctrine of the free iustification sanctification of the holy Ghost which is obtained by faith in Christ Iesus Many other definitiōs might be added were it not that I delight to be briefe Of these if you couceiue what the Gospel is and the preaching therof it sufficeth I am satisfied To the second part of this ministery do appertaine the commands of the Lord to baptise the faithfull and to administer the Lords Supper Mat. 16.19 and 18.18 But to the third part which is of gouernmēt is reserued the power of the keies of heauē the preheminence of binding losing vpon earth And this authority hath two branches whereof the one cōpriseth the Ordaining of Ministers the other cōprehendeth the Censure of maners Act. 14.13 By this power the Apostles ordained Bishops and Elders in the church vnto whom they demised their authority that all things might be done duely and decently and that good order might be mantayned in the Church of Christ In the assurance of this power the Apostle deliuereth vnto Sathan the stiffe necked and selfe willed enemies of the truth of this power in his Epistles he many times inter serteth imperious menaces with gentle admonitions But of this matter there is some controuersie in these daies haue you not heard of it neither did our fathers For there be some of strange opinion but strongly opinionat that the whole Cēsure of maners is to be set ouer to the Magistrate and how so because it appertayneth to his duty to take care for good order and publicke honesty and to take punishment of disordered persons pernicious offēces But to the Pastor vnder a christian Magistrat no such matter Let him only teach vertue and taxe vice and administer the Sacraments hand ouer head In deed he may admonish al men to proue thēselues before they eat of that bread and drinke of that cup to the which if they do obay it is so much the better but if not yet
that must be left between God and their conscience Forbid any man the Communion God forbid Is it not to be wondered that they which confesse that the Minister hath power of binding should not consider that the same Minister hath the like power of loosing also Doe they not know that there is the like reason of them both or can they not conceyue that the effects being contrary they are performed of the Pastor with contrary actions It is without all controuersie that sinners are loosed by the Ministers when remission of sinnes in the name of Christ is pronounced to the faithfull But when as by the same power the wrath of God and vengeance eternall is denounced against the vnfaithful and that they are denied the sweete comfort of the holy Sacraments who doubteth but that they are bound in like sort Is it not abhorring from the duety of a faithfull Pastor to let in Wolues into his masters sheep-fold so is it also if he thrust not out those which are closely crept in If so be it so fall out that any man fall from the faith after baptisme or when he confesseth Christ with his lips that he deny him in his life and within himself crucify agayn the God of life What is there here no part of the Pastors office to be perfourmed He shall restrayn they will say the disobedient release the penitent Very good But seeing these things cannot be done but with contrarie facultyes as to the penitent he shall pronounce the sweete promises of Gods mercy and receiue him into the Church So to the disobedient hee shall denounce all the dires and execrations of Gods wrath that he is a recreant from the kingdome of God that he is exiled the Citty and forbidden the house of God and he shall deny the dogge returned to his vomit the bread of the children of God Wherfore as a faithfull dispenser of the mysteries of God baptiseth none that was once an infidel without some publique confession of his faith so neyther doth he receiue to the Communion a notorious sinner without apparant conuersion of life This is olde Diuinity But to spend many words in the confutation of this conceit is no part of my meaning neither would it quite for cost this only cause would require a whole quire of conclusiōs that too painful a course for so needles a discourse This onely seemeth to me a sufficient confutation thereof that it is a new and an vnexpert error crossing the aduised iudgement of all auncient Diuines that I vrge them not with the Heathen more holy then themselues with whom there was alwayes great difference betweene things sacred and prophane But if Popish Prelates haue heretofore abused and abuse at this day the lawful power of the church by their lawlesse tiranny shall their vnlawfulnesse make a lawfull thing of none effect Together with religion a lawe was made which excluded the irreligious from religion since the worlde began And is not then the condition of the Church present to be pittied being now come to this stay that when as it ought to be the schoole of vertue it wil not endure the censure of conformity And that which to the Heathen men rude and vntaught in the true worship of God seemed most beautifull in it selfe and no lesse beneficiall to the common wealth should altogether of vs Christians be neglected as needelesse or contemned as erronious But to returne to the principall issue in this controuersie albeit the ministery of the Gospell committed to the pastors of the Church be one and the same in them all yet in this third part concerning the diuerse degrees of authority which first the Lord himselfe constituted and afterwardes the Apostles continued there is great ods betweene them and no small inequality to be found among them Amongst the which there is no controuersie but that the Apostles haue the first degree of dignity Euangelists the second Prophets the third Pastors and Elders the fourth Doctors the last For as the authority of an Apostle was greater then of an Euangelist or a Prophet of a Prophet greater then of a Bishop or an Elder so was the authority of Titus and Timothie who were both Elders and Bishops greater then was the authority of those Elders whom by theyr Apostolique commission themselues had created in euery Towne And albeit the Baptisme of Christ be one and the same by whome so euer it be administred whether of an Apostle of the highest or of an Elder of the lowest order and the doctrine of the Gospell is neither better nor worse which is deliuered of these or of those Notwithstanding good order of gouernement doth not permitte that the authority of al should be all alike or that the like cōmission should be granted to these and them the constant and continued custome of the Church ministery deriued from the Apostles time and vnrepealed vnto this day doth euince the same The first creation of the twelue Apostles and the seuenty Disciples doth containe a manifest demonstration of this whole matter For that the beginnings of the old and new Church might accord First the twelue Apostles were elected to be the first Patriarches and progenitors of a newe people but afterwards when the haruest was greater then the labourers and the kingdome of Heauen already began to suffer violence as the Lord ioyned with Moyses in the old Testament seuenty Elders to assist him in the gouernance of his people so in like manner vppon the like occasion our Sauiour added vnto the twelue Apostles seuenty other Disciples And so in the first infancy of the Church we may see how the Lord ordained two diuerse degrees of Ministers whom when he distinguished in number and disseuered into distinct companies did he not declare that in honour and authority they were not equall not all of a company The which thing verily he would neuer haue done had hee once knowen and he should know that it had beene a sin for Ministers to be diuerse in degree and not equal in dignity And these were the first preachers of the Gospell vnder the Lords direction whiles himselfe was yet resident among them But after hee ascended into Heauen he raysed vp Prophets also in the Church when as at Whitsontide hee poured forth of his spirite whereby he might make his Disciples as miracles not onely for theyr manifold languages but also for theyr diuine wisedom and fore-knowledge But in processe of time when the number of Churches increased and multiplyed exceedingly so that themselues were now no more able to ground and gouerne them they took vnto them of theyr followers and made them theyr fellow labourers Who although they were of rare faith and rype giftes yet were they the schollers and followers of the Apostles and Euangelists much inferiour to theyr maisters But when as not onely the number of the Churches but the multitude of beleeuers increased still aboue number then were there ordayned for seuerall Churches
were the churches of olde planted watered and increased It is a thing better knowen and commended then that I need to repeat it or themselues to repent it Notwithstanding there be some in these daies which take vp but to shrewdly this sentence of ours as if it were some Anabaptisticall fancie when it is said that the Church hath at this day if not Apostles yet Apostolique Ministers but as for the fancie if Anabaptisticall let themselues looke to that least they take themselues by the nose For my part I would but know whether the gospel yet at this day now after a 1500. yeares be come to the eares of all Nations In the meane time let them consider howe many nations whom the Apostles neuer saw by the paines and preaching of godlie Pastors who in this labour succeeded the Apostles haue receiued the Lord Christ I will not nowe stand to tell them onely this I conclude that the commaund and commission of preaching the Gospell standeth yet in his ful strength and force in the church of God and shuld so long as there is any nation that knoweth not the Lord. That at this day there is none sent by the churches of Christ to the nations which haue not knowen Christ it is not long of the lacke of sufficient power to send but of sufficient persons to be sent or at least wise of a better zeal to aduāce the kingdom of Christ Indeed no man ought to tempt the Lord Did not himselfe forbid his Apostles to stir one foot out of Ierusalem to discharge their duty before they had receiued the holy Ghost So requisite is it that a man bee throughly furnished for so great an enterprise before he vndertake it And therefore because the iudgement of one man may be ouer-weening and deceiued especially if he may be his owne iudge it is requisite that the authoritie of the church in that case be expected But here is required an Authority Apostolique the which if the Church haue not although it haue fit men neither hath it the power to send For who can giue that to another which hee hath not himselfe Whosoeuer therefore is sent whether you please to call him an Apostle or an Euangelist or a Bishop hee hath need of the like and no lesse power then Timothy and Titus had in the like and no lesse charge This therefore is the authoritie which is assigned to the church by the Keies the which the Lord our Sauiour gaue not so much to Peter and his collegiats as to the Church it selfe so that of right it maye doe that at this daye which it could of old namely wher occasion serueth to giue in commission vnto sufficient men the publishing of the Gospell with Authoritie Apostolique That the Apostolike authoritie is as necessarie for the conseruing and confirming as for the founding and first planting of Churches Chap. XVIII BVt for as much as the power Apostolike is no lesse needfull and necessarie for the conseruing and confirming as for the planting and first placing of churches we must also haue a special regard to that For by reason as it is thought of Bishops and Arch-bishops Primats and Metropolitanes which haue succeeded the Apostles and the Euangelists there is now some controuersie moued for that And verely I haue oftentimes wondered with my selfe what it is that should make anie learned or religious man thinke that the office of Apostles and Euangelistes is ceased in the Church and that at this day there are none possessed of any authoritie Apostolike to whom the other Elders ought to supply in the gouernance of the Church and I wonder the more that there bee any that should thinke the power Apostolike a thing so extraordinarie as if it were not possible that it should be deuolued to their posteritie Indeed the Church hath not continued those names amongst vs but is that sufficient to prooue that with those titles the authority also is surceased First if a man would but well marke the latter daies of the Apostles of Paule especially he should find that the Apostolike gouernment could not possibly end with the Apostles For by those things the sacred Scripture doth testifie of Paule wee may iudge of the rest who no doubt were no lesse carefull for the good of the Church euen to their last gaspe wheresoeuer it pleased God to translate them out of this life But the second Epistle of S. Paul to Timothie indited about the last of his daies doth witnesse abundantly what an vniuersall care hee had euen then of the Churches There hee maketh mention of his fellow-labourers whereof some he had sent to goe vnto diuers Churches and some hee sent for to come vnto himselfe that beeing now readie to flit out of this life he might giue them his last charge of all things concerning the welfare of the Church and the furnishing of that building himselfe had left vnfinished This his last will and Testament hee left with them The which had beene to no purpose had the power Apostolike died with him or had the authoritie of that their legacie beene compelled within the circuit of euery particular parish For they all whom Paul there remembreth as Titus Marke Luke Crescens Tithicus and Timothie himselfe were associate with Paule in his Apostolike sea as vnto whose seuerall charge hee had demised many and sundry Churches The which if it were not free for them with that recreant Demas to cast vp and giue ouer while Paul yet liued how much lesse after he was dead Wherefore now they were made and remaine his heires as before they were his peeres of his Apostolike paines and praeheminence That the other Apostles had also their consorts and collegiats in their Apostolike charge vnto whom themselues discontinuing this life they demeaned the no lesse care of the Churches with the like authoritie there was neuer wise man that doubted of it And furthermore that their lawfull authoritie with the which they prosecuted and perseuered in the Lord his affaires could no more be extinguished with them then it was abolished with the Apostles so long as there was any church remaining But as they succeeded the Apostles so had they their successors vpon whom if themselues did not bestow the power they had receiued the Church did which is heire generall of the power Apostolike But goe to nowe let vs imagine if there can bee such a conceit that it is not so as I haue saide let vs suppose also for a while that the Apostles left all vnto Pastors and Elders of equall authoritie who had onely the charge of their seuerall Churches and their prouinces limited within the precincts of their owne onely parishes What then shall we say became of those Churches in the which the Apostles intercepted by death or they which with the Apostles did gouerne the Churches could not ordeine anie Pastors Did their death fal out so pat that euerie Church had their Pastors and Doctors and that none of them was left
out of fashion I meane without their Deacons and Doctors and Pastors and Presbyters as were somtime the Churches of Creet vnder the Apostle Paule Who then followed the work that was vnfinished Was there no need then of some Timothie or Titus to make perfect that which was yet not performed The Apostles yet liuing it was needfull that Titus and Timothie and diuers such others should haue a larger commission how much rather after their death Wherefore to conclude either the worke of God begun of the Apostles was altogether to bee left off or else to bee followed a fresh by those whom for that purpose they left behind them By the testimonie of Eusebius his Ecclesiasticall historie the former chapiter is confirmed Chap. XIX EVsebius in the third booke and fourth chapter of his Ecclesiasticall historie writeth thus But that Paule preaehed the worde of God vnto the Gentiles and that hee laide the foundation of Churches from Hierusalem and the confines thereof euen vnto Illyricum it sufficiently appeareth not onely by his owne wordes but also out of the booke of Luke intituled The Actes of the Apostles Furthermore in what Prouinces or dominions the Apostle Peter preached the Gospell vnto them which were of the Circumcision and deliuered the worde of the newe Testament it is plaine and euident enough out of his owne wordes taken out of that Epistle we haue truly proued to be his by the consent of all men and which he wrote to the Iewes dispersed throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Bithinia c. And againe in the same place But how many and who were the true natural followers of the Apostles which were accounted able and fit men to gouerne the Churches which they had founded it is not easie to say they only excepted whō some perhaps may gather by the way out of Paul his writings For the which purpose Luke also maketh not a little who reckoneth by name the Disciples of Paule whilest he laboureth to record them in the Acts. Among whom was Timothie who is said to be the first that obtained the Bishopricke of the Church which is at Ephesus Titus also was ouer the churches which are in Creet And in the same place he saith That among the rest of Paule his companions and Disciples Crescens was one whom Paule himselfe witnesseth was gone into Galatia Linus was another whō in his second to Timothy he witnesseth to haue been with him at Rome whom also we haue declared before to haue been the first Bishop of the Church of Rome after Peter And another was Clement who was the third Bishop of Rome whom Paule affirmeth to haue beene his copartner and fellow-labourer in the Lord. Vnto which we may adde that Areopagite Dionisius by name of whom Luke in the Actes reporteth that he was conuerted to the faith after that sermon of Paule which he made in Mars street at Athens and of whom an other Dionisius pastor of the Church at Corinth a verie auncient writer doth record that he was the first Bishop of the Church at Athens The same Eusebius in the same booke the one thirtie chapter hath these wordes And besides these there were manie other of that age very famous who both immediately succeeded the Apostles and also as the Disciples of so great and excellent Maisters being adorned with many singular and diuine vertues raised a most comely edifice vpon the the foundations of the Apostles which they had well laid in all places who both amplified more fully and plentifully the preaching of the Gospell and sowed the seedes of the kingdome of heauen far and neare throughout the vniuersall world For all the Disciples for the most part which liued in that age being inflamed with a more ardent Zeale and earnest loue of the heauenlie wisedome and beeing rauished in minde with a rare kinde of desire after Gods worde executed verie exquisitely the commaundement of our Sauiour which before was giuen and to them which wanted their helpe they willingly vnfoulded all their treasures Afterwards straying farre from their owne home they performed the pensions of Euangelists and to those which had not as yet so much as heard of the word of faith they laboured with all care and constancie to preach Christ and to deliuer the Scripture of the holy Gospell Who when as in diuers farre and foreine countries they had laide the foundations onely of the faith and had ordained other Pastors and committed the care to them of those which were newly brought to the faith that they might be diligently trayned vp in the doctrine of Christ themselues departed into other regions and countries with the grace and power of God For many wonderfull powers and miracles by the helpe of the holy spirite were done by them euen vnto that day so that throngs of people beeing perswaded euen at the first hearing of the Gospell preached with readie wils enterteined and imbraced that religion and worshippe which is onelie due vnto God the author of all things Thus farre Eusebius I could alledge other particulars out of the same author and others of diuers Bishops sent by diuers Churches at diuers times to conuert the Gentiles In whome it was necessarie that they should haue the like authority with that which Titus Timothie receiued of the Apostles That some heere flie vnto their old starting hole of extraordinarie calling when they are called vppon with these reasons they haue small reason For an ordinarie Ministerie beeing established in the Church it is as badly as boldly done of them and it will proue but an euill example to others to alleadge an extraordinary calling vnlesse they could make some certaine profe thereof Wherefore if we would but a litle more attentiuely conceiue and consider what the state of the Churches was thorow out the world when the Apostles departed from hence wee should soone find that in many places they left well ordered Churches in the which there was nothing a wanting that is which had there one Bishop ouer them as were the seuen Churches of Asia vnto whome the spirit of the Lorde speaketh in the Reuelation and again we should find some other Churches as yet not finished and throughly fashioned which wanted many thinges to their perfection some more some lesse according to the time the place the plentie scarcitie of the people which had giuen their names to Christ And besides all this wee shall finde innumerable places whether the Apostles could not come where were no Churches at all But whatsoeuer or of what manner soeuer they were they were all dependant vppon the Apostles gouernment whome if no man did succeede with like authoritie it must needes bee that they were all left as widdowe Churches and Orphans which is an absurd thing to say But if wee shall say that they chaunged that manner of gouernment with the which they were acquainted vnder the Apostles how could that possiblie bee permitted without the great mischiefe and miserie of all those
Churches Of these things therefore I inferre That there was left of the Apostles Authoritie Apostolike to their successors whom they had disposed ouer many Churches and that partly for the establishing of such Churches as were throughly finished and partly for the finishing of such as were left not throughly formed and partly also for the planting of newe where as yet there was none founded And this was the cause why Paule beeing shortly to take his leaue of his life sent Crescens into Galatia and Titus into Dalmatia and sent for Timothie and Marke to make their repaire vnto himselfe Euen as the Lord himselfe being now readie to giue vp this life prouided for his Disciples in like manner the Apostles tooke great care for those Churches which were gathered and were to bee gathered from among the Gentiles otherwise how should the Churches haue receiued their so great increase after the Apostles Verely it is with teares to bee lamented that their holy Apostolike zeale is at this day so cooled amongst vs that no man so much as once thinketh of publishing the Gospell vnto Nations altogether estraunged from the faith of Christ But now seeing there were manie Churches lefte of the Apostles but newe begun and more not yet begun according to that power they had receyued of the Lord the work of the Gentiles conuersion which was begun by them was to be followed to the ende Of the which it followeth that the Apostolike power giuen of the Lord for the edifiying of his Church doth yet remaine in the Church And those parts of Apostolike gouernment as they were giuen of old to certain singular Bishops so are they to be giuen at this day where they are not giuen and so are they to remaine where they are giuen If any man desire some reformation to bee had in that kind for my part I am not against it The disposing of this power the Church hath as it alwayes had yet so as where the Lord hath giuen a Christian Magistrate hee bee not left out nor loose his part For they doubtlesse are those Seniors Auncients and Elders of the which there is so often mention in the Bible whom we read to haue beene ioyned of old with the Priests and Leuites in weightie matters for they are in stead of the whole people That the authoritie of Bishops ouer Priests or Elders is approued by the consent of the Churches throughout the whole world Chap. XX. THat which we read to be done of al Churches from the Apostles times and of the Fathers throughout the compasse of the whole earth and the same continued euen vnto these our daies I do alwaies holde as a sacred Canon of the Apostles not to bee repealed Neyther is it a smal presumption to abrogate that which hath beene receyued with so greate and vniuersall consent from the which to reuolt besides that it is in it selfe an vncouth declination of a conceit giddie and head-strong it will also bring with it a greater mischiefe and misery to the Church then many at the first will conceiue or any in the end can releeue Among the old Canons which for their antiquity are called the Apostles wee read this that followeth It becommeth the Bishops of euery nation to know who is the chiefe among them which is to bee accounted as it were the head without whose opinion these ought to do nothing of any great moment but that euerie man doe those things which belong vnto his owne parish and the villages which are of the same Neither let himselfe doe any thing without the knowledge of all for so there shall be concord and God shall be glorified through our Lord in his holy spirit This Canon a worde or two translated is renued in the Councell of Antioch in these wordes The Bishops which are in seuerall prouinces ought to know that he which is Bishop in the Metropolitane Cittie hath charge also of the whole prouince for that they which haue any businesse recourse from all places to the Metropolis or mother Cittie Wherefore it seemeth expedient that hee excell the rest in honour and that the other Bishops doe nothing of anie great moment without him according to the auncient decree of our Fathers but onely those things which pertaine vnto their owne precincts the Parishes subiect to the same For let euerie Bishop haue authoritie ouer his owne prouince and let him gouerne the same according to his owne deuotion and let him haue charge of the whole prouince which is subiect to his Cittie that hee may create Priestes and Deacons and dispose all things with iudgment besides this let him doe no other thing without the Bishop of the mother Church neyther hee himselfe without the opinion of the rest In which Canon renewed and reestablished I obserue two thinges the first is the Antiquitie of the Canon the other is That the prouince was not alwaies committed to the Bishop of the Metropolitane Cittie seeing a cause is added why Ecclesiasticall controuersies are to be presented to the Bishop of the Metropolitane Cittie rather then to any other of the which seeing the Apostles Canon made no mention the first Fathers seemed not alwaies to haue had that respect of the said Metropolis The antiquitie of this custome is sufficiently declared in the seuenteenth chapter of the Nicene councel as followeth Let the auncient custome preuaile which was in Egypt Lybia and Pentapolie that the Bishops of Alexandria haue an excellency supreme dignitie ouer all these Seeing that this is also the custome with the Bishop of Rome In like manner at Antioch and in other Prouinces primacie dignitie honor authoritie is giuen vnto those Churches But this is most plaine that if any man he made a Bishop without the consent of the Metropolitane The great Councell defineth that he ought not to be a Bishop Thus goeth the Law neither were it anye great matter to confirm the same with the Canons of other Councels and Ecclesiasticall histories But by this it may appeare what was the iudgement of all those auncient fathers concerning this matter That some are of opinion that Patriarches and Archbishops were first created of the Nicene councell or as some will haue it of the first Constantinopolitane Councell their opinion is their errour for the Nicene councell which was called about the twentie yeare of Constantine the great testifieth that it enacteth no new thing when it commaunded that the olde custome should bee continued so that it was no new thing at that time for some one Bishop to haue superiour authority ouer the rest of his brethren his authoritie being limited by certaine lawes But that some argue how that to be president ouer diuers Prouinces to haue charge of them belongeth to the office of an Apostle and an Euangelist and that one and the same man cannot bee an Apostle and an Euangelist and a Bishoppe for that these are distinct offices I may answere them that neuer yet any before these our
citties But when as many Churches were infinitely distant from others is it not straunge that not any one Church retayned that diuine kinde of gouernement as it is thought which is adored at this day in some reformed Churches Doubtles Churches so diuerse and distant could not but greatly differ in things indifferent where there was no certaynty sette downe by the Apostles And therefore this could not bee without a miracle of eyther part Namely that eyther they should so vniuersally consort in this one gouernement if it were not receiued by tradition frō the Apostles or that with so generall a consent they should alter the same if it were For all the world knoweth that in all the world the gouernment was one and the same for all the world This is without question and beyond all exception that all the auncient autentike fathers so many as held the right faith were of this beliefe that in this onely plot they did follow the Apostolique tradition and diuine institution Ireneus in his thirde booke the third Chapter against Heresies writeth thus It is easie for all men to see that will see the truth the auncient tradition of the Apostles in the Church through the whole worlde and we can recken vp those which were ordayned Bishops of the Apostles themselues and theyr successors also euen vnto our selues which neyther taught nor knew any such thing as these men doate of Out of the which it appeareth That what thing was receyued in al Churches which were founded of the Apostles was an Apostolique tradition and diuine institution but the order of Bishops was receyued euery where in all Churches and therefore an Apostolique tradition and a diuine institution Ciprian in his fourth booke the ninth Epistle From whence sayth he are scismes bred and yet do breed but where the Bishop which is one and ouer the Church is condemned by the proud presumption of some and the man which is honored by the acceptance of God is dishonored by dishonest men c. The same Ciprian in his seuen and twenty Epistle according to the order of his Epistle citing that of Mathews Thou art Peter vpon this work c. he inferreth That euē frō thence according to the course of time and succession of ages the ordination of Bishops the computation of the Church doth run So that the Church may seeme to be grounded vppon Bishops and euery action of the Church to be gouerned by the same Presidents Wherefore seeing this is thus founded vpon the diuine ordinance of God I cā but wonder at som That it was the opinion of Aerius That there is no difference betweene a Bishop and a Priest which was condemned for an Heresie by the Fathers Chap. XII THus haue we heard of the acceptance of God the diuine ordinance vpon which the authority of Bishops relied as our Fathers beleeued To the which I now adde that had not the orthodoctike fathers belieued that the order of Bishops was grounded vpon the word of God they would neuer haue recounted the opinion of Aerius among other Heresies Who three hundred yeares long after the Apostles times was the first that durst affirm That there was no difference between the holy Bishop and an ordinary Priest Of whom Epiphanius recordeth that hee spake more like a fury then a man who as hee also reporteth was wont to say VVhat is a Bishop to a Priest there is no difference betweene them for there is but one order and one honor and one dignity The Bishop layeth on his hands the Bishop sitteth on his throne so likewise doth the Priest Thus sayth Aerius But of the other side Epiphanius first sheweth That a Bishop may create Priestes and that he cannot be created of Priests The order of Bishops sayth he is the begetter of Fathers for be begetteth Fathers vnto the Church but the order of Priests cannot beget Fathers by the regeneration of Baptisme it begetteth children to the Church but not Fathers or Teachers For how shoulde he create a Priest who hath not the power of laying on of hands in the election And he aunswereth Aerius for his cauels That his trifling emulation deceiued him and that he was ignoraunt of the nature of antique histories For that when the preaching of the word was but a new thing the holy Apostle writ according to the state of the thing as it then stoode And therefore where there were Bishops appoynted he wrote to Bishops and Deacons neyther could the Apostles doe all at once But they had present vse of Priests Deacons For by those two all Ecclesiasticall functions are to be performed But where there were not any found worthy a Bishopricke there the place was voyd of a Bishop but where neede was and there were that were worthy there they placed Bishops But where as ther were not many there were not many to be found among them to be made Priests and therfore they contented themselues with a Bishop onely in that place But it is not possible that a Bishop shoulde bee without a Deacon and the Apostle had an especiall care of that that he should not be without his Deacons And thus the Church receyued the fulnes of his functions according as the conditiō of time and place did require For euery thing was not furnished with all things at the first but in processe of time such things were prouided as were requisite to the performance of things necessary c. These things he confirmeth by the example of Moyses who finished hys common wealth not all at once but after a time But as of old he should haue taken a wrong course who to reform the Churche of Israell would haue taken his patterne from the imperfect and not composed state thereof So likewise at this day they maintayn but too foul an error that would bring the state of a Church well growen in yeares backe againe to the swathling clouts And therefore Epiphanius very well inferreth thus So likewise sayth he are those things which are written in the Apostle vntill the Church be enlarged vntill it come to her ripe years vntil it be most perfectly preyzed with the or-nature of wisedome by the Father Son and holy Ghost Epiphanius perceyued that there were many things wanting and that al things were not in theyr perfect temper that after a time one and the same man was not both Priest and Bishop as it well appeared by that which Saint Paul writ to Timothy who was a Bishop Against a Priest or Elder receiue no accusation without two or three witnesses He sayd not to any Elder receyue no accusation against a Bishop c. Augustine in like manner mightily confirmeth this the censure and sentence of Epiphanius who also mustereth this error of Aerius among the mid-ranke of olde confused Heresies Hierom his opinion confuted Chap. XXII THat which is obiected out of Hierome vppon the first Chapter of the Epistle to Titus namely that Bishops are greater then
that the first occasion of creating one Bishop ouer aboue the rest of the Elders was by reason of scisme notwithstanding it therfore followeth not that it was done for that cause onely or that it was not done of any diuine institution But the occasion of creation of Bishops alledged by Hierom is a coniecture but too vncertain grouÌ„ded vpon no likelihood of reasoÌ„ that for the offence of one Church the Apostles contrary to the Lord his institution should place one Bishop ouer al the Churches which had not offended that throughout the whole world This were very hard Neyther doe wee read at any time that the Elders of the Church of Corinth gaue the occasion of this scisme but that it was taken of the people by reason of that opinion they had of their Pastors and Elders by whome they were eyther baptized or brought to the faith But for men to swell in the vanity of theyr humors with an ouer-prised conceyt of theyr Teachers as also of theyr parents and place of theyr naâ—â—uity and such like singularities it is as you know an ordinary thing among men And yet they for whose sake this scisme was set abroache at Corinth were not at Corinth so that for the auoyding of this scisme the Elders which were to be set in som better order vnder one Bishop were Paul himselfe Apollos and Cephas and such disordered fellowes by whome the people were drawen to such a singularity Without doubt me thinks this was a vayne motion and an idle conceite of Hierome as is also that which he addeth of a decree made throughout the whole world Good now let me aske him this question When or of whom that decree could be made or at least wise how or by what possible means so generall a consent could be obtained agaynst the will of the Lorde in the first ordinaunce of Elders For presently in all the Churches throughout the whole worlde Bishops were aboue Elders both in honour and authority That blessed Paul would change the Lord his own institutitutioÌ„ or if he would that he could it is not likely The other Apostles dispersed throughout diuers regions were ignorant of those thinges which were done at Corinth so that they cannot be suspected to haue giuen theyr voyces to the ratifying of this decree But that we may imagin that this scisme at Corinth came to theyr knowledge at the length that after some miraculous manner they all met together from diuerse foreine and the farthest partes in the worlde I say to imagin all this yet can any man euer imagine that for the auoyding of this one scisme they all would conspire together for the ouerthrow of the Lord his owne institutioÌ„ And much lesse could this be done after the Apostles time that all Churches should assemble and consent to alter and exautorate that which was both ordayned of the Lord and deliuered of the Apostles At the least some of them would haue still receyued the first institution But of the antiquity of this custome we will call Hierome himselfe for a witnes and we shall finde him not onely in this place but also in his Epistle to Euagrius At Alexandria sayth he euen to Heraclas Dionisius Bishops the Elders chose one from among themselues and placed him in a higher degree and named him their Bishop In like manner as if an armie should name them an Emperour And yet by the way I would not the people should here be deceaued thinke by these words of Hierome that the Elders alwaies placed one of their owne companie ouer them There are innumerable examples where the Elders being discarded the people and the cleargie haue elected either Deacons or some others which were not reputed among the cleargie By the which also it may appeare that the churches were not acquainted at all with that generall decree or that they had any such regard therof in their elections of Bishops that they must alwaies choose from among their Elders their ordinarie Bishop Yet be it so and let vs yeeld thus much to Hierome that there was such a decree made then must wee needes say that either they made the same contrary vnto the Lord his institution and so wee must also say that al those fathers al their councels shamefully erred which wee cannot saye they did in anye other thing and we haue shewed they could not do in this or els we must say that they made it in a thing indifferent neither with the institution of God nor against it but in the meere power and sole disposing of them from whome it proceeded And then what are we sillie men that we should once dare to condemne that decree vnto the which all Christendome did condescend Wherefore as before I now againe inferre that this censure was but the priuate conceit of Hierome repugnaunt to the generall iudgement of all the fathers which either went before him or liued after him And therefore when as he knew full wel that it would be obiected against him that this was but his bare censure not the sentence of the holy Scripture he assaieth to make good the same with scripture and therupon he first pawneth Paul his Epistle to the Philippians in the which hee greeteth the Byshops Deacons of that church as also the 20. of the Acts and the 1. of Titus where they which were Elders are called Bishops To the which places before I make any further answer it shal not be amisse to heare what Theodoret saith of this matter he expounding this place of Paul writeth thus they call Bishops Elders for that at that time they had hoth the names as it well appeareth in the 20. of the Acts and the 1. to Titus For with Bishops he ioyneth Deacons when he had made no mention of elders neither could it otherwise be that there should he many Bishops the Pastors of one citty by which means it commeth to passe that they were the Elders of one cittie whom he calleth Bishops But in this Epistle hee calleth the blessed Epaphrodite then Apostle for hee saith your Apostle and my companion in labour So that he manifestly sheweth that he had the dispensation of a Bishop committed to him when he had the denomination of an Apostle Thus much Theodoret Now you shal vnderstand that the error of Hierom and Aerius grew of the not different and confused vse of these titles a Bishop and an Elder as they were then in vse But when as the same thing befalleth the title of an Apostle also is it not strange that they should rather erre in the one then the other For where as Barnabas Epaphroditus and manie others are called Apostles yet no man thereby euer thought that there was no difference betweene them and the twelue Apostles but because the history of the calling of the twelue Apostles and those other which were likewise called Apostles is better knowen vnto them and more familiar with them then is that of the
into bad Latine they call Superintendentes and generall Superintendentes But where also nor those good old Greeke nor these bad Latin names are in vse there notwithstanding are commonly certaine priuate especial men in whose hands in a maner is all the authoritie Wherfore now the controuersie is concerning names but seeing we doe agree in deed what doe we contend about names In the mean while as I haue not disalowed the Fathers in this matter which is nowe in question so also I cannot but loue the zeale of our brethren who therefore were out of loue with those names because they feared least with the olde names the olde ambition also and tyrannie should bee called in againe to the ruine of Churches Thus grauely diuineth that reuerend olde Zanchius with whom I could ioyne manie more testimonies if it were needfull of the best writers of our time to confirme this matter who are either wholie of our opinion or very sparingly of the contrary But for this time lonely Zanchius shal stand for the rest least I should ouercharge this smal volume with a multitude of witnesses Of one Bishop in one Diocesse Chap. XXIIII NOw that we haue proued that gouernement of the Church to be of God in the which Pastors are subiect to Pastors and Elders suppliant to their Bishops we are in the sequele of this our discourse to see and examine Whether one Church or diocesse is not capiable of two or more Bishops at the same time of the same tipe and authoritie True it is that the Church of Hierusalem had the twelue Apostles the seuentie two Disciples with the Prophets their Bishops neither are examples wanting of diuers churches which haue had ioyntly together diuers Bishops Epiphanius writing against the Arrian heresie falling into some mention of the Church of Alexandria seemeth to intimate thus much That in that age there was this custome in diuers Churches that they might haue two Bishops at once when as notwithstanding in the church of Alexandria he affirmeth there was no such custome To the which I thus answer First that the twelue Apostles the rest remained at Hierusalem for a certaine time but they were appointed Bishops Teachers not for that one Cittie onely but for the whole world Now for the custome of certaine Citties which at one time had their two bishops what manner custome that was how rare extraordinarie it was we may sufficiently learne by that one election of Augustine who was made Bishop while Valerius Bishop of Hippon yet liued The which thing was done as extraordinarie so contrary to the decree of the Nicene councel But what rule so general that suffereth no exception It is no sin I confesse for one Church to haue many Pastors of equall power but whether it be conuenient it should bee so experience will teach Indeed of old the Bishops being of great yeares sometimes would name their successor and assume a fellow-laborer in office with them and that partly to preuent the tumults which commonly infested their elections and partly also because sometimes the Bishops being disabled by age sicknes were not sufficing to discharge their duties in their owne persons for which cause it was lawfull for the new Elect to supply the aged his place sit together in the same chaire As for Valerius the Bishop of Hippon hee beeing moued thereunto by the example of foreine Churches got Augustine with much adoe to be ioyned with him but how vnwillingly hee vndertooke that place albeit hee were importuned therunto as well by the praiers as by the presidents of others he expressely testifieth in his 110. Epistle Wherein are reported what things were done at the assignement of Eradius Priest to succeede Augustine in his Bishoprike as they were taken by the notarie the people consenting and confirming the same to whom hee thus speaketh I know that you know saith he Eradius to be a fit man and worthy of a bishoprike but I would not there should bee that done by him that was done to me but what was done your selues can many of you witnes they onely cannot tel which either were not as then born or as yet had not the capacitie to know While as yet my Father and bishop Valerius of famous memory liued in the flesh I was ordeined then bishop and I sate together with him the which thing I then knew not that it was inhibited by the Councel of Nice neither did he know Wherefore that which was reprehended in me I would not should be reprehended in my sonne And thus saith Augustine Gregorie Nazianzen in an epistle to Gregorie Nyssen writeth of this custome in these wordes But if anie man contend that whilest one Bishop is liuing an other ought to bee elected let him knowe that these thinges are of no force against vs. For it is manifest and apparant vnto all the worlde that wee are president not onelie at Naziantz but also at Sosrie and that setting apart the reuerence of our auncient Fathers and graue Doctors and those that laboured the same of vs with their vrgent prayers we tooke vpon vs that presidencie as straungers Thus saith Nazianzene By the which we may vnderstand how insolent and extraordinarie a thing it was that one Church should haue two Bishops Epiphanius also made some small mention of this custome that he might shew the cause why Athanasius did not immediately succeed Alexander seeing hee was deputed thereunto by Alexander namely for that the custome of the Church of Alexandria did not permit that hee should be chosen Bishop while their Bishop yet liued Most true it is indeed that both the Bishops and the people were perswaded of this That one Church did admit but one Bishop when it was otherwise Necessitie which hath no lawe did excuse it When Constantius at the request of certaine noble Matrons had called Bishop Liberius from exile and would haue had him to gouerne the Church of Rome together with Foelix who was then surrogate and substitute in his place the people hearing the Emperours letters and scorning the contents thundred together with one voice One God one Christ and one Bishop Cyprian also writing of the lawfull election of Cornelius Seeing that after the first saith he there cannot bee a second whosoeuer is made after one who ought to be one and alone he is now no more second but none at all like manner Ignatius who was in the age before Cyprian and is accounted the second or third Bishop of Antioch after the Apostles reducing the gifts of the onely one God to an vnitie in the Church writeth thus There is one flesh of the Lord Iesus one bloud that was shed for vs also one bread which is broken to vs all and one cuppe which is giuen to vs all there is one Altar for the whole Church and there is one bishop with the companie of Elders The Fathers reason was this because God would whose will is a law to vs that there should bee
left in our power to vse them as time occasion shal require An indifferent thing is commonly that whatsoeuer is nor cōdemned nor commended in the word of God is left free to euery mans choise either to vse or not vse vnles some other thing interchaunce which altereth the vse of that which otherwise was free by reasō of the time or place or the person wher the same is in vse For my part I think things mediat indifferent might better be defined thus if we shall say those thinges are indifferent which by no law either Gods law or mās law are bidden or forbidden For by the command of him which hath the authority ouer our persons the vse of a thing which otherwise is free may many waies vppon many occasions be restrained or ouerruled But of these things in this place we are not now to discourse at large Onely thus much I chiefly note would haue iust notice taken of it that indifferent thinges may bee vsed of vs although the same things haue ben abused by the bishop of Rome or any other Antichrist Is our liberty to be preiudiced by an other mans religion specially where publique authority hath any thing to do in the matter suppose it either giueth vs in charge or putteth vs in choise to vse those things which the superstitious haue abused Wherfore whensoeuer anything shal come in question among vs that hath bene vsed among the Romanists or other enemies of the truth it is our part to examine and consider the matter as it is in selfe not as it was with them There are some in England at this day who take vpon thē more sowrely then seuerely against outward vestementes cap surples musicke and organs and such like rites of the Church the which because they were of some vse in the Romane Church now out vppon them they are sacriligious prophane In like maner and with no lesse modesty do they proceede against Bishops Archbishops their honors and reuenews Al the which vnles they could be proued contrary to the word of God what reason is this they bring and it is al they bring for the abolishing thereof when they say the author or inuentor therof was Antichrist No doubt indifferent things which he abused for his tyranny may be returned to a better vse for the good of the Church Now as for contētious natures such in whose brests this error hath taken fast footing namely That the authority of Bishops is a thing pernitious in itself and preiudicial to the church I know this my aunswere as it fitteh not their humors so it serueth not their turns Neither yet will they vouchsafe of that which I haue said of the natural signification of words compound with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherfore albeit the plainest interpretation of the names of Patriarchs and Archbishops like me best yet notwithstanding I dare say thus much further if we should grāt that which they shal neuer euince that by force of composition a kind of principallity were to be inferred yet doth it not theruppon follow that it is therefore a title abhorring from the state of our BB. For let it be lawfull for men to vrge the signification of euery sillable in this sort it shal forthwith be vnlawful for any to be called a monarch or to be inuested with the title of an Emperour for why forsooth these names in theyr proper sense are common to none but to God onely These and such like titles of lawful and necessary vse among vs must vppon this quirk be vtterly abolished neyther may it be lawfull for vs from henceforth to call our Ministers as the Scripture doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rectors or Rulers Prelates or Presidentes nay we shall not be able to auouch the name of Elders because this and these all in sacred Scripture are proper to Magistrates and Princes and the Nobles of sundry prouinces and and yet for all this we see that Ministers of the Church are called by these names Last of all if the authority of the Fathers may be of any preuail let vs hear what great dainty they make of the name of Prince in the titles of the cleargy Origen reprehending the clownishe sourenes of some Bishops writeth thus A man may see in some Churches especially in the greatest Citties how the Princes of the christian people shew no manner affability to any esteeming thereof as a thing nothing at all pertaining vnto them c. And aftewards againe We speake not these thinges as if we meant to discharge the Ecclesiasticall Principality In like manner vppon the Epistle to the Romanes the thirteenth Chapter By the which it appeareth saith he that the Iudges of the world do performe the greatest part of Gods law For all the defaults that God would haue punished he punisheth not by the Prelates and Princes of the Church but by the Iudges of the worlde And vpon the twenty seuen Chapter of Numbers the two and twenty Homily Let the Princes saith hee of Churches learne not to appoynt their successors after them such as are allied vnto them eyther in affinity of kindred or consanguinity of bloud neyther that they ought to make the Principality of Churches hereditary c. Ignatius no lesse godly then grauely My Son saith hee honour God and the King and I say further honor God as the author of al things and the owner and honor the Bishop as Prince of the Priests bearing the image of God by reasō of his principality the image of Christ by means of his Priesthood He that honoreth the Bishop shall be honored of God as also he that dishonoreth him shall be punished of God c. Besides many other things in the same place to the same sence The same man in an other place Therefore saith he let all things be performed among you according to a direct order in Christ Let Lay men be subiect to Deacons Deacons to Priests Priests to Bishops the Bishop to Christ as he is also to the Father Againe to the Church of Antioch You Elders feede the flocke which is committed vnto you vntill God manifest him which shal reign ouer you For I am now sacrificed that I may gaine Christ c. By which words the holy Martyr hath sufficiently testified the authority of a Bishop ouer the rest of the Elders Doubtlesse in auncient time the authority of Bishops was great in the Church theyr reuerence great and theyr fauour great among the people the which of al other things made most for the benefit and increase of the Church Euen as in the common wealth the fauour of the Magistrats and authority is beneficiall to the people so likewise of Bishops in the Church And therefore for good cause thought Hierome that the welfare of the Church did depend of the honour of the chiefe Priest c. Neyther in deed is this the least slight of Satan when he
high Priests But what reuerend regard the Romans themselues had of Religion Valerius Maximus hath left recorded in these words But such saith he was the care our fathers had not only for the present account but also for the future increase of religion that euen then when the Cittie was most florishing fortunate they deliuered ten sonnes princes of the Senate to the ten seueral prouinces and people of Hetruria onely to this end that they might learne the sacred discipline of their Religion But what the authority of diuines was at Rome we may best heare by a diuine Tullie in his second de legibus writeth thus The greatest and the worthiest thing in the Common-wealth is the priueledge and preheminence of Diuines ioyned with the greatest authoritie Neither doe I conceaue thus because I my selfe am a Diuine but because it becommeth vs all so to conceaue For indeed what greater thing is there if we speake according to the equitie and right of the thing then with authoritie either to dismisse the companies and the councels of chiefe Empires and the greatest Potentats when they are proposed or to restraine them when they are concluded or what thing can there be more solemne then to cease from the affaires wee haue already in hand if one Diuine alone doe but say the contrarie VVhat thing can there be more magnificent then of his intire power to appoint that the Consuls should depose themselues from their Magistracie Or what thing more religious then to giue leaue or not to giue leaue to deale with the people or not to deale And what is it to repeale lawes not lawfully made that nothing can be allowed to be done by the Magistrat in peace or in war without their authoritie Thus farre goeth Cicero whose authority I could confirme with many examples if need were But what should I speake of the Flamines and Arch-flamines and other the Priestes and Arch-priestes of the Romaines It suffiseth they thought the Imperiall maiestie it selfe to bee adorned with the honour of Hie-priest But that all the societies of Priests were in especiall honour among the Romains it might verie wel be knowen if it were but by this that all the companies of Priests had their places in publik triumphs and solemne spectacles the chiefe Priests and the chiefe Curates There set saith Arnobius fifteene men crowned with lawrel wreathes Iupiters Arch-priests with their myters there set the Diuines interpretors of the mind and will of God as doe also the chast Virgins nurses and nourishers of the neuer dying fire Of these thinges hee that desireth greater variety may seeke them in the Romaine history these things suffice me But nowe I will trauell ouer the Alpes and will set before your consideration what religion was of olde amongst the French and Britones and what honour for religion And first it is sufficiently knowen that the Druidists were Priests of the chiefe nations on this side the Alpes of whome wee read in Caesar his Commentaries that they were had in great esteeme for so hee writeth In all Fraunce there are two sortes of those which aboue the rest are of especiall honour and account The one are the Druidists the other are the men at armes They are conuersant in diuine seruice they attend vppon sacrifices priuate and publike they are the expounders of Religion Vnto them great flocks of youth recourse for their learning and these haue especiall honour among them For they doe determine of all controuersies in a manner both priuate and publique and if there bee any crime committed any murther attempted if any controuersie about inheritance or the bounds of lands they also set downe their decree and appoint the penaltie If any person either priuate or publique will not stand to their censure they lay the censure of the church vppon him they excommune him the Church this is the greatest punishment among them But who so are thus excommuned they are forth-with accounted among the number of the gracelesse and vngodly they are forsaken of all men al men flie their companie and their conference least by cōtagion they might take any infection nor are they to haue any law if they desire it nor is there any honor to be giuen them though they deserue it But ouer all these Druidists there is one as chiefe principal which hath the chiefe authority among them c. More-ouer these Druidists vse not to be present in warre neither doe they pay any tribute with other men but haue an exemption from warres and an immunity from all other incumbraunces Thus witnesseth Caesar himselfe By the which wee may see howe all nations euē of that light of nature which yet glimpseth in the brests of men and by the which they haue esteemed either GOD or Gods to be adored haue likewise iudged according vnto the same that the ancients of religion are worthy to be consacred with all condigne honor and due obseruance CHAP. III. What the honour of the Priest-hoode was among the people of God THat this the iudgement of all nations did not proceed of any error of mans mind but of a certaine feeling of the law of God writen in their heartes the most sacred histories the lawes which God himselfe hath made doe proue sufficiently for doe they not al enthronize the Priest-hood among the most principal honours Among the people of God the Hie-priest had alwaies the second place next vnto the King Among the more ancient and antique fathers when as yet there was no lawe written wheresoeuer true religion did flowrishe the first-borne had alwaies this prerogatiue of honour in their families aboue the rest of their brethren Hee was graced with the Priest-hood But if at any time the Lorde of his absolute authoritie did translate the right of the first-borne vnto the younger brother with all hee inuested him also into the same dignity of the Priest-hood so came Iacob to bee priested And this custome continued with the people of God euen vnto the age of Moses vnder whome by the expresse commaundement of God the Priest-hoode was translated from the first-borne in generall vnto the tribe of Leuie But now howe carefull God himselfe was of this That his Priest should be honoured the processe of Moses his historie can sufficiently testifie neither is it needfull for me to delate al things at large it sufficeth to haue noted the chief groūds Only this is not to be omitted besides that our God wold haue him represent our hie and thrise honored Priest Christ Iesu that the rights which of dutie belong vnto God himselfe God as an especial fauor he hath giuen to his Priests when as he demised vnto them the vse of those things which were offered and brought as presents vnto him and which it was not lawfull for any man to touch and turne vnto his own vse that was not the Lords Hie-priest Againe his pleasure was that the right of the tythes and tenthes and other honours of especiall
the same not that which is necessary but that which is voluntary Vppon which ground I hold this for a sure principle that that Priesthood or Bishop doth both against the honor and the honesty of the sacred ministery whosoeuer without commaund of supreme autority or constraint of extreme necessity shal take vppon him any seruice of war eyther as leader or as souldier But when such time and places betide as shall exact this at our handes we are vnwillingly to yeeld to vnwelcome necessity Theodoret in his second Booke the third chapter writeth of one Iames Bishop of the Citty of Nisib which of som is called Antioche Migdon that he was vppon occasion both Bishop and Captaine of the same his Citty the which by the helpe of God he manfully defended against Sapor King of Persia and deliuered the same as well with his prowes as his prayers The same Theodoret in his fourth booke the twelfth Chapter recordeth as much and much more of the warlike power and prowes of Eusebius Bishop of Samosis who mannaging himselfe with all manner warlike abilements ranged along throughout Syria Phenicia and Palestine wher he erected Priests and Deacons and performed such other Eccesiasticall pensions Neyther did I euer read of any that found himselfe offended with this action or thought his action offended against that Canon I doe not so thinke nor will I say so much of Theophilus and Cyrillus Bishops of Alexandria who tooke vppon them a secular principality ouer that Citty the Emperour not noting it but not commaunding it As for the Canon which Cyprian citeth I must needs confesse that I cannot attayne vnto the reason thereof onely this I am assured of that it was but a particular and a prouinciall decree seruing onely for that time and that place For no doubt to take charge of Widowes and Orphanes is an especiall worke of piety and commaunded of God in euery place of his Lawe and so that they incurre no small blame that deferre to take vppon them not the patrimony but the patrociny of such For good cause therefore was the old custome continued in the Chuch that Bishops should be the patrons of Widowes and the Fathers of Orphanes and that they especially before all others were to take charge of them without any shame to theyr calling without any breach of the Canons You shall heare how the Councell of Sardis doth allowe and recommend the same in plaine wordes For this is the speeche which Osiris then Bishop there made Much importunity and too much confluence with vnlawful sutes hath brought the matter to this passe that we haue not so much either fauor or credit committed vnto vs whiles there are some which cease not to repayr to the Court of the Bishop and especially they of Africa who as we know reiect and contemn the wholesome directions of our most holy brother and fellow Bishop Gratus Who do not only present diuers and sundry matters not materiall to the Church as many times it commeth to passe that widows orphans and the poore might be succoured but they doe further craue for certaine secular dignities and ciuill offices This bad order therefore stirreth vp not onely much muttering but many offences also Notwithstanding this is a commendable thing that Bishops should be a meanes for those which are oppressed with wrongfull violence as if so bee a widow be molested or an orphan defrauded and yet so that these parties haue some iust cause of complaint and some honest petition to praesent Wherefore if it so please you my beloued brethren let this be a decree that Bishops come not to the Court except happely they whom the Religious Emperour shall by his letters inuite But because oft times it commeth to passe that they which suffer wrong flye to the Church for succour and they also which doe wrong and are adiudged therefore to some I le or exile or in deede what sentence of iudgement soeuer they receiue they ought here to be relieued and without al doubt their pardon to be craued Therefore if it so please you as I haue sayd so let it bee decreed They all gaue a placet and let it be enacted This Canon containeth a certaine exposition of the sixt Canon of the Apostles and it teacheth vs what secular cares a Bishop or a Priest may vndertake and what not The Bishops in this point were imitators of their Fathers the Prophets which alwayes gaue their helping hand to widdowes orphanes and other afflicted people Doe we not read how fatherly and friendly the Prophet Elizeus greeteth the Sunamite after his entertainment 2. Reg. 4. VVhat wouldest thou that I should doe for thee is there any thing to he spoken for you to the King or to the Captaine of the host Nor neede this seem to any man any such a strange duety of religion that Bishops or other Ministers should repaire to Princes to intreate for the distressed Ambrose vndertaking an honorable Embassee for Valentinian the Emperour being yet a child to Maximus the tyrant spake thus in his case as himselfe reporteth to Valentinian in an Epistle VVhom sayth he ought Bishops rather to defend then orphanes For it is written Iudge the cause of the fatherlesse and defend the widow and deliuer him that suffereth wrong and in an other place Ye Iudges of widowes and fathers of fatherlesse As for that which is vrged from the example of the Apostles ther is no childe so simple so to conceiue therof as if when the Apostles had once chosen Deacons the care of the poore and the widow did no more pertayne to them I noted before how the necessity of the poore was commended to Paul and Barnabas after that and we reade how Paul also caried the beneuolence of the Corinthians and other Churches to Hierusalem Wherefore to conclude if it be lawfull as it is for bishops and Pastors and that according to the rules of charitye to imploye their labour in outward affaires and to detract some what from that time which otherwise were to be spent in reading of holy writ and other sacred trauels and that onely for our priuate necessities or our neyghbours what labour shall we thinke too much or what paines not to be performed in the commendable affaires of the King or common wealth for a publique necessity and a greater commodity Chap. XVII What a fee is and what are the conditions thereof NOw it remaineth that I make answere for those Church goods which are held in Fee of which terme before the irruption of the more barbarous nations into into the Romain Empire there was no wher any mention that phrase taking his original frō the Goths Vandals and Longobards What may be the etimology thereof and what is signified thereby the learned at large discourse discusse whose iudgements and opinions it were now too long to repeate But for our purpose this is enough and this is a cleare case that a Fee with the Lombards doth signify a priuiledge
simplicity of the Euangelike ministery IF any man obiect that these tenures in fee are accompanied with certaine Royalties ciuill iurisdictions secular titles honors and retinewes in which thinges the auncient Nobilitie are an ornament vnto the King and the Countrey and therefore not agreeable vnto the simplicitie of the ministerie which thing the Lord him selfe taught as well by expresse doctrine as especiall example Because indeede such thinges they doe but intangle a man in extearne vanities and solicite their heartes with the cares of this world in the which it becommeth a Bishop to be secure And furthermore for that the Lord himselfe beeing requested to sit but as arbiter betweene two brethren denied the same And againe when the Apostles made the question which of them should bee the greatest hee made aunswere and sayd The Kings of the Gentils raigne ouer them and they which beare rule ouer them are called gracious Lordes but yee shall not be so but he that is greatest amongst you let him be as the least and he which is Prince as he which ministreth By which the wordes and examples of our Sauiour wee are taught that the Ministery of the Gospell hath nothing common with the Common-wealth It may suffice for an answere vnto this obiection which wee haue before noted namely that all this they talke of hath his place in that estate in the which our Sauiour and his Apostles liued not in that common-wealth in the which the chiefe Magistrates acknowledge Christ Iesus their chiefe Lord and soueraigne King For as the Magistrate is of an other calling now in the Church then before he had so is it reason also that the seruaunts of the Lorde should bee of better estate in the Common-wealth then before they were The Magistrate which before was an enemie and a persecutour according vnto the prophesie of Esaias is become a Foster-father of the Church and a religious worshipper of the Lorde Christ vnder whome were it not an absurd thing that the seruaunts of Christ should haue no more honour then vnder a persecutor But because it is not set downe expreslie in the Scripture what of what sort and how great the same ought to bee many mens mindes are heere at a maze and some are of mind so to leaue it as at a dead losse and yet notwitstanding the thing it selfe is not so hard to find out and it is in his owne nature wel enough knowen and that both by the written lawe of God and the vniuersall censure of all nations were it not for the awkewarde interpretation of those scriptures which I haue nowe cited Out of the which notwithstanding there is nothing els directie concluded but that it is not any part of the Ecclesiasticall function to intermedle in ciuil affaires the which indeed is out of all controuersie Neither is that the question but whether the same man that is a Pastor may not togeather with the ministery of the Gospell bee lawfully imployed in politique affaires for the benefite of the Church and good of the Common-wealth For when as the Minister of the church is cittizen also of the common-wealth he ought not thinke any thing not pertaining to him that pertaineth to the Common-wealth so that beeing lawfully called hee may not vndertake some part of the ciuill estate As for that which I lately cited concerning our Sauiour who refused to be an arbiter it is nothing to this question For the spirite of Christ in the mouth of Paul doth plainly teach vs that the meanest of the church are good enough to iudge of earthlie causes for that one day they shall iudge the worlde yea the Angels themselues a iudgement farre greater then this The which seeing the Apostle affirmeth of any Christian is it to bee thought that onely Christ alone was no fit man to take vp a small matter betweene two brethren if they both had bene content to stand vnto his iudgement Wee cannot therefore imagine that our Sauiour Christ simplye refused the office of an arbiter but that hee denied himselfe to bee that iudge which might command both parties to stand vnto his arbiterment And is not this then a slight testimonie for to proue it not lawfull for a Bishop who is both a Cittizen and a subiect to exercise anye ciuill iurisdiction the Magistrate so commaunding him or to execute some other pension of the Common-wealth not abhorring altogeather from his profession beeing furnished with sufficient authority to discharge it That the foure-score and second Canon commandeth him to be disordered who vndertaketh both Prouinces the Ecclesiasticall power and the secular principality for my part I say not against it if so be that it bring no inconuenience vnto the Bishoppes of the Church and that it may bee done with the good leaue of the Prince and without anie great hurt to the Church and Common wealth And thereupon we are also bolde to say that Theophilus and Cyrill Byshops of Alexandria transgressed that Canon of whome Socrates reporteth that of themselues they tooke vnto themselues the principality of that citty In like manner doe the Bishops of Rome when as they improoue vnto themselues those things which are Caesars For when as they are the vassals and subiectes of the Emperour they haue notwithstanding extolled themselues aboue their Lords and aduanced the sheepheardes croysier aboue the royall scepter But for those Bishops which vaile their bonnet to their Soueraigne and obey their Princes in honest and godly things there is not the like reason And many things many times are done in the Common-wealth extraordinarilye so that there can no lawe bee published or made which it is not lawfull for to gain-say at some time or other for the good of the Common-wealth Neither is the other example that they vrge of anye force For had our Sauiour meant to haue inthronized himselfe in that earthly kingdome which he neuer ment yet would hee haue refused that tumultuous course For what power had that part of the people to annoint him King CHAP. XX That it is lawfull for Bishops to heare ciuil causes and to determine vpon them THat Bishops had to deale in ciuill causes when as the parties submitted themselues to their iudgement it is sufficiently known by the writings of the Fathers the works of Iustinian The which although it were a matter of no smal trouble vnto the godlie Bishops yet the iniquitie many times of secular Iudges their delayes demurs and cauils in lawe were such as that the Bishops of meere charity were moued vnto this labour Neither are they therein to be so censured as if they vsurped the place of the ciuill Magistrate for he did it by the consent of the chiefe Magistrate as it appeareth in the writings of Iustinian in his first booke de Episcopali audientia the fourth title where hee commaundeth that there should be that reuerence giuen vnto their iudgement which is due vnto the hiest powers from whome it is not lawfull to appeale
that there had beene no other kingdome to bee expected No doubt the calling and state of the Apostolike function was for iust cause great and honourable and their authoritie in the spirituall kingdome autentike and inpregnable and yet all that did not aduaunce them aboue the state of priuate men in the common-wealth and being priuate hee would not haue them president therein And verely these thinges were thus ordained of GOD in a verie prudent manner and vppon a verie especiall purpose For why should anie occasion bee giuen for the heathen to cauill at the doctrine of the Gospell as a thing seditious to the gouernement and pernitious to the common-wealth The Lord without doubt did in great wisedome foresee that the wicked would bee ready to picke many quarrels at the doctrine of the Gospell when as notwithstanding all this there is no politike Philosophie no imperiall constitution that doth more strictly binde the consciences of men vnto subiection and obedience then the doctrine of the Gospell doth The principles of Philosophie and the lawes of Nations doe permit many thinges against Tyrants which the Religion of Christ doth flatly inhibite But the prudent aduise of this precept of Christ wil more manifestly appeare if wee shall for a time but imagine the contrarie namely that the Apostles had followed that errour in the which they were found and then let vs admit that the whole worlde had beene wonne and wasted by them with warre and robberie for they must of force haue followed that forcible course which that renowmed theefe Mahomet kept a course farre differing from the means and manners of our Sauiour Christ But should not thus the Iewes haue bene confirmed in their errour And should not by these meanes iust cause haue beene giuen to the Kings of the earth to haue armed themselues against Christ and his Gospel After the subuersion of Hierusalem there was a diligent inquisition made by the especiall commandement of Vespasian if anie could bee found that were of the stocke of Dauid For the Iewes notwithstanding their ouerthrowe gaue not ouer their hope still expecting their Messias They did see that the times which Dauid had foretold were then fulfilled and thereupon they did argue that the Messias was borne and that the time was now at hande in the which the Romane Empire should impaire and themselues preuaile The which thing gaue the occasion that so great and cruell a persecution was afterwardes raysed against the same Nation The like we reade of Domitian who had the posteritie of Dauid in no small iealousie For casting the worst and fearing least some new Messias should arise and break the scepter of their Romane Empire he caused inquirie to be made after all that were of that kindred Wherupon one Iocatus by name brought before him the nephews of Iudas who was the Lord his brother according to the flesh who did not only draw their pedegree from Dauid but were thought to be very nearely allyed to the Lord himself But when they were examined what possessions they had and of what wealth they were were found to be of very mean estate the hardnes of their skinnes warranting the labour of their hands and when they further vnderstood howe they beleeued that the kingdome of Christ should not bee an earthly Monarchie but an heauenly Hierarchie neither yet that he should come before the consummation of the worlde to iudge the quicke and the dead They were foorth-with reiected base and simple men and were without suspicion set at libertie In like maner no question the priuate estate of the first Apostles was both a testimonie vnto them of their innocency and a safe conduct among the nations for their security But what would not the Romaine Caesars and other like Magistrates haue doone if the Ministers of the Gospell had bene sent and set forth with power of warre and other abiliments of like power These the precepts of our Sauiour may therefore worthely be alledged against the tyrannique Bishoppe of Rome who chalengeth the right of all Empires and holdeth the Romaine Empire as his proper fee but they cannot be alledged against those Bishops which liue subiect vnto lawes and Magistrates and keepe themselues in a proportionable order with other Cittizens Wherefore where the Gospell of Iesus Christ is honorablie receaued by publique authority how should this abatement of our Sauiour be wrested against all Bishops that they should not be in that reuerend account vnder a Christian Magistrate which the lawes of all nations and euen the very lawe of nature it selfe and the written lawe of God also doth expresly award them As for those places of scripture about the which we now contend this only may be gathered That the Pastors of churches in respect of their ministerie haue no power ouer the bodies or goods of Christians Neither that they can chalenge vnto themselues those rights which God hath placed in the power of the Magistrate onely But that the same Magistrate in no place at no time for no cause may commit no portion of the Common-wealth vnto the Bishoppes of the Church it is not as yet prooued neither can be if I bee not deceiued Chap. XXII That the Pastors of the Church for the necessitie of the Common-wealth may attend some times vpon worldlie affairs IF it bee allowable to detract some part of that time which otherwise were to be imployed in the studie of the Scriptures that the Minister of the Church may the better prouide for the priuate good of his owne familie much more may the same bee conuerted to the good of the Common-wealth the man beeing able to assist the same either by his aid or his aduice Where either the want or the vnwillingnesse of anye Church is such that either it cannot or wil not afforde the Minister his due honour it is lawfull for him to haue recourse vnto the labour of his hands Where-vpon the Elibertine councell often-times pretermitted Bishops Priestes and Deacons to trafficke for their better maintenance The which thing is also allowed by diuerse other Canons which I suppose superfluous to rehearse seeing that one instaunce of Paule may suffice for all But nowe if so bee that priuate necessitie may priuelege the detenee of the Ministerie what may publique necessitie doe And yet if at any time the Minister bee exercised for his priuate commodity in base and wretched busines thereis no man greatly offended with it But if hee bee imployed in any honest and honourable affairs of the Common-wealth now a daies there is no man that dooth not inuie it and inuey against it And whence for Gods-sake is this of deuotion from loue or from enuie I say not these things as if I thought that Bishops or other Pastors were rashly to bee incombred in their holie course But where the necessitie or greater commoditie of the Church or Common-wealth dooth require the same there is nor reason nor religion against it Are not Bishops Cittizens also and
common wealth least at any time the kingdom of Christ should want his due increase But do learned BB. vnderstand lesse what belongeth to the good of the cōmon wealth then illiterat Burgreeues rank chapmen Very vnprofitably haue they consumed thēselues in their head-paine vigils and heart breaking studies if they haue learned nothing whereby they may benefite the common wealth I but Ministers are of priuate estate Burgreeues are Magistrates It is not conuenient that the same man should vndertake both an Ecclesiastique and a politique office Truth it is neyther doe I knowe any ignoraunt except them selues what is decent in this matter and what is not But to be present at the sacred Parliaments to giue a voyce and to giue aduice is not to be a Magistrate The books of the Prophets are plentifull in the precepts of peace in the policies of war and in the best counsels for al things which concerne the common wealth and sacred histories doe record of purpose how the people of God neuer aduentured vppon any action of weight and moment before they had well consulted with the Priests and the Prophets Such was the custome also of other countreis wheresoeuer there was any religion or reuerence of God What need I now againe put you in mind of the Chaldees and theyr Wise men the Egyptians and theyr Priests the Grecians their Prophets the Romaines and their Sooth-saiers the French with theyr Druidists without whose more sage aduice it was alwaies thought a thing ominous once to attēpt any notable thing in the common wealth Neither were they deceiued in their opinion For was the neglect of God euer left without reuenge Yea the opiniō of false gods contemned hath found the true God a sharp reuēger wherfore al antiquity thought well that nothing could goe well in the common wealth without due reuerence done to Religion they began theyr wars with Religion they ended their wars with Religion But whence in Gods name if it can be in Gods name is this error sprong vp among those which glory in the true religion that they disdayn in their counsels to take counsell of religion Verily where God is banished publike assēblies religion is made but a scorn to the wicked the commō wealth a priuate gayne to euery varlet happy Bishops happy Ministers of the Church which are farthest off from such Godlesse and irreligious conuenticles Blessed is that man that hath not walked in the counsell of the vngodly and hath not stood in the way of sinners hath not sit in the chair of the scornful The time hath ben vnder our Lord Christ when Bishops thought it not agreable with their honor to sit in the counsels of Emperors whether it were of any superstitious error of thēselues or of any contagious misdemeanor of the consistorians I cannot wel tell but this I am sure of that it is no indecorum for the seruāt of Christ to be seen in the congregations of God God standeth in the congregation of Gods the iudgeth among Gods But it ther the counsels were held for priuat gain or priuy deceit for wicked treasons or bloudy murthers no wonder though the godly BB. were ashamed to stand in the vngodly assemblies For albeit God be there also as iudge reuenger yet the diuel is ther present as Presidēt of the coūcel otherwise ther was no reasō why it might not be a thing decent conueuient too for a B. to stand in the consistory Admitte him as a Doctor to giue aduice according to the word as Legat for the Prince or the estate as a Solicitor for the widow the orphan for the poore the oppressed for the traduced and condemned This was then also a religious custom among the most ancient best conceiued Bishops What Ambrose did what he thought in this case himself witnesseth of himselfe in his first Booke the 27. Epistle who euen then whē as he excused himself to the Emperor Valentinian for that he would not dispute with Auxētius the Arriā B. in his Pallace yet euen ther also he acknowledgeth his duty in that behalfe saing Wherfore take it in good worth gratious Emperour that I can not now come to the Consistory For I haue not acquainted my selfe to stād in the Consistory but on your behalfe Neyther can I willingly contend within the compasse of your Court who nor know nor seeke to knowe the the secretes of the Court. So that albeit Ambrose thought it not beseeming the dignity of a Bishop to stand as an ordinary man in the throng of the consistorians yet he thought it pertaining to his duety to be there present in the Princes causes and the affaires of the cōmō welth Wherfore whencesoeuer this perswasion sprong whosoeuer they be which thinke it either an vnlawfull or an vnseemly thing for any Minister to intermedle in ciuill causes they doe greatly wrong the honour of religion the welfare of Princes and the publique state whome they enuy the good vse graue aduice and louing fidelity of so necessary Cittizens and subiects of the common wealth If the honest examples of ancient Bishops might be of any autority at this day I would reckon vp many honorable Legacies vndertaken by most reuerend Bishops in ciuil causes but ther are two presidents which may sufficiently serue for our purpose The first is that of Ambrose who was twise Embassador for the Emperor Valentinian to the Tirant Maximus that not without great successe the other is that of Marutha Bishop of Mesapotamia whom the Romaine Emperour sent Embassador to the king of Persia as Socrates recordeth in his seuēth boke of Ecclesiasticall histories the which his one Embassee was aboundantly beneficiall both to the Church and also to the Emperour himselfe By these reasons and examples I am drawen to this conclusion that it is both lawful and requisit for Princes to demise certaine ciuil causes affairs to the ancients of the Clergy and that it is but the error of them which lust to go alone though they goe awrye that thinke that the Minister ought to bee sequestred from all ciuill affayres in a christian common wealth As for those wordes of our Sauiour and the tradition of the Apostles they teach vs no other thing then this That no publique ciuil authority is ioyned with the Eccesiasticall Ministery as any part thereof But the state of the Church being altered where the Church is the Common-wealth and the Common-wealth the Church there the state of the Euangelique Ministers may lawfully bee the same which was of olde in the Priests and Leuites among the people of God CHAP. XXVI Where the Church is the Common-wealth the same man as Bishop may take charge of the Church for the Lorde Iesus and render fealtie and obeisance to the King as one that holdeth by faith and homage SOme there bee which thinke that the Churche is in the Common-wealth as a certaine part thereof that the whole Common-wealth it selfe
day do gouern the Church of England And yet neither the zeale of my duty nor the conscience of their demerits will suffer me to passe ouer in thankles silence the sacred memory of that most reuerend Father Iohn L. Archbishop of Canterbury with that godly Diocessan VVilliam L. Bishop of Couentry mine own Ordinary As for the rest they are all known to me alike I knew some-times neither shall they euer bee vnknowen that most reuerend L. and Father Edward Grindall the memorye of which man is renowned in all the Churches of Christ and two other BB. no lesse famous for their learning and religion Iewell L. Bishop of Salisburie and Horne L. Bishop of VVinchester whose religious godlines rare knowledg I could wish that al the BB. euil-pleased emulists had among them euery man his part What other Bishoppes and Archbishops happy England hath bred within our memory their lerned works declame in our studies and their inflamed bloud doth yet speake in the booke of Martyrs That they were men both of sincere life and singular learning what man if a man that will deny it I testifie therefore that I do not defend Bishops if there be any euill but the calling of Bishops which in my conscience I iudge before God who shall iudge my conscience to bee godly christian ancient Apostolike profitable and necessary As for the crimes and abuses with the which the euil spirits charge our Bishoppes they touch their person not their function The tyranny of Rome being surprised the authority of Princes restored to their right places wherin so-euer any Bishop offendeth if indeed hee offendeth it may easily be corrected and it chiefly concerneth the chiefe Magistrate to see that godly men well noted for their virtues such as the word of God doth commend be set ouer the churches If the Princes neglect this let the peple know that scisme is a remedy worse then the malady for what sedicion is in the Common-welth the same is scisme in the Church of Christ And albeit these things doe litle concerne those churches which are committed to your charge reuerend Brethren where there are no Bishops or rather where they are all Bishops notwithstanding I haue more largely dilated of these things that the whole matter may be made manifest vnto al you and that you all may vnderstand that the honor which is giuen vnto Bishops is both an aid and an aduauncement to the Church or christian Common-wealth and that you may take aime by this how farre wide they are which inuey them this honor desire to make them or to make no more of them then of ordinary men That which I am perswaded Satan with a certain wile hath procured that so he may bring downe all the Pastors into contempt togeather that so the whole authority of religion being little or naught woorth himselfe might freely cast forth al manner contumelies and blasphemies against Christ For who are they which durst oppose or could preuaile against the enterprises of his more mightie complices I know what I speake neither can you beloued bee ignorant thereof But I haue said enough of this matter for this time and wil one day if God wil speak more plainely of that which remaineth CHAP. XXX Whether it be better for Ministers to liue of the stipends of the Magistrate or of the oblations of the faithfull AL they which thinke that the Ministers of the Gospell may liue of the Gospell are not of one iudgement For there bee some which hold that Ministers ought to liue of the tythes and oblations onely of Christians renouncing all temporall goods and surrendering them to the Prince and people Other are of opinion that they ought so to liue for so long onely as the Magistrate is an enemy to christianitie who so soone as he hath receaued the Gospel ought to prouide that Ministers may be allotted their sufficient stipends the which thing when hee hath once performed from thence foorth there ought to be no more oblations For my part I am of a contrary opinion for that I am taught by the word of God that oblations ought to continue in the Church and that because they are the exercises and testimonies of our religion towards God and his seruantes by the which wee not onely pay our vowes to the Almighty but therewith also the Pastors to the people and the people to the Pastors are mutually deuoted the one to the other For I know not how a man doth not onely binde with his bounty but is bound himselfe also after a secret manner And as the benefactor maketh him his owne of whome hee doth deserue so likewise himselfe becommeth his and they both if so be there be a free and an ingenious disposition in both reioyce in the same benefit as wel he which giueth as he which receiueth Now therefore me thinks theyr reasons are too too politicke and prophane by the which oblations are abrogat in som Churches For albeit religion ought not to be measured by allowance yet is it not to be without a reward As for that they so hotly alledge of the many and manifold abuses thereof it is to no purpose vnles we should say that the ceremonies also which were commaunded were to be abrogated euen then while they were commanded and all other sacred rites which God hath ordained were together to be abolished because Hypocrites haue and doe wickedly abuse the same For what is there so sacred which the impiety of men will not prophane Wherefore we are rather to inquire what God hath commaunded not what this or that man thinketh most commodious If any man obiect that oblations are antiquated as are also tithes and all other sacrifices and ceremonies of the old lawe I would haue him to know if he be yet to learne that they are not exacted at this day in that manner neyther were so exacted of our Fathers as it may appeare by those theyr testimonies which I haue before noted but that they are onely required as testimonies of a thankfull mind towards God and a propensiue deuotion towards his Church But this kinde of duety hath no temporall prescription it is perpetual and bindeth the faithfull to the worlds end It is also obiected that where the Pastors are abundantly prouided for by the ample reuenews of the Church or other set certaine stipends there oblations ought to cease I aunswere that the oblations may be the lesse or not so often as otherwise they ought to be where the Church hath no fermes or receyueth no annuall increase of theyr fieldes but not that there ought to be none The end of oblations is not only the necessary reliefe of the Ministers but our dutifull deuotion towards God And hence is it that the wise man sayth in the third of his Prouerbes Honor the Lord with thy riches and with the first fruits of thine increase c. He doth not say Honor the Priest who notwithstanding was to bee honored and
neede knowen to euery man and with what face can they of the familye goe doore by doore to gather things necessary verily their credite is indangered and theyr modesty But did you euer heare that the Ministers of the Church were brought to such an exigent as that of force they must gather their relief from dore to dore among their own people In deed there was such a custome in the time of Popery for mendicant Friers brought vp among them of a certayne superstition without any precedent president of the auncient Fathers But is there no other way to gather christian oblations but so and are they not eyther brought by the faithfull of theyr own voluntary or collected by some of the honest neighbours appointed for that purpose But of the other side by the certaine stipends which depend vppon the vncertaine pleasures of the Magistrates it is very badly prouided both for the necessity of the family and the modesty of the Ministers where either so small wages are allowed or their allowance so slenderly paied that the poor Pastors pittifull complayning for meere pouerty are constrained to giue ouer theyr trade and to forsake theyr Ministery Where the people are perswaded that they owe nothing to theyr Pastors and that it pertaineth to the Magistrate onely to prouide for the Ministers alâcke poore Pastors I am ashamed to report how both people and Magistrate beare themselues towards them But furthermore they dispute that in these stipends the Ministers can vse no deceite when it shal be sufficiently knowen how much they receiue when as otherwise a couetous Minister may pretend that eyther he receiueth lesse then he receiueth or not so much as sufficeth To this I aunswere that the oblations of the which we argue the case are not so secretly giuen or so closely kept but that it is commonly knowen how much they are and what the Minister receiueth But to what purpose is al this or to what end should al know how much the minister either receyueth or hath or who can prescribe a meane for that matter The Pastor layeth out as well as he taketh in must that also needs be knowen That which they adde of the coueteous Minister who may pretend that he receyueth lesse then either he receiueth or may well suffice it proceedeth of the same errour I haue knowen many Ministers in my time among whome there is not one whose wealth is not commonly knowen and what he ordinarily receyueth euery year so that there is no other means for them to lie here then there vnlesse you would lie for them But to what end are these reasons or how thinke they did the ancient Bishops of the Church liue Ignatius Ireneus Cornelius Cyprian and such like whose memorial wil continue with their glory to the worlds end A man shall neuer preuent the cauels of malitious men whether the Ministers liue of tithes and oblations or whether they stick to theyr certain allowance both here and there whatsoeuer is receiued wil be thought too much of some A Flemishe florence or gilderne is 2. shillings sterling I haue often times heard the Boores groyn and grunt to this effect that a stipend of two three or foure hundred Flemish Florences was great wages I sayd they can keepe my family for lesse Neyther do I receyue so much of all the gayne that I can make thus vnequally comparing not them selues with them selues but theyr styes with the state of they Ministers As if ther were no difference betweene a priuate man of the basest rout a publique Minister at the hie Altar And yet two or three years wages wil scarce serue to buy him books bsides of duty he ought to be boūtifull intertainable to the needy But now they say that by this means it is well prouided for the subiects who for the most part are but poore liue hardly in theyr Villages For how should they maintain the Minister who are themselues to be maintained Here in deed is the error of our age to be noted which in some places giue to the ciuill Magistrate the goods of the Church and permitteth them to gather vp tithes which are due to the Minister But to the purpose In villages the poor which haue nothing giue nothing if it be litle which a man hath he giueth litle euery man payeth his tith according to his wealth and according to the greatnes of his increase whether the commodity lie in tillage or in herbage And in deed the poore could no waies better be prouided for that they should not relieue theyr Pastors themselues being to be relieued then thus for by this means the Pastors are mainetayned by them which haue much they maintaine them which haue nothing The increase of theyr fields for the most part keepe a certain scantline euermore the number of them is greater which receiue then of the poore which want the same But these their reasons are too blame that both poore Pastors are so badly prouided for as they are for by thē the goods which are consecrate to holy vses are betraied to prophane wretches of whom themselues must now goe beg their allowance and be glad to serue and flatter in most slauish sort for their iust reward But yet again they argue that men will seek occasion to discharge their Minister when they shal see that they must giue often shal hear their vices inueighed against so wil fain causes with greater autority contentiō to thrust him out But who seeth not here how weakely this argument is grounded euen vppon an euil grounded gouernment of the Church who leaue in the peoples hands to place displace their Pastors at their pleasure yet if it so falleth out at any time as it falleth out so often as they fall out the christian Magistrat must be but an idle auditor in this iniury haue no autority at all to compell the wicked in this case to theyr duty But let Cornelius Bishop of Rome an holy Martyr aunswere this who being destitute of the ayde of the christian Magistrate and being infested by Nouatus his faction so far forth as that he was not far from giuing vp his hold and yeelding to the wicked yet did he euer want of those his ordinary oblations euen in the midst of so much euil will and so many dissentions so that he could not maintain therewith his 500. and 50. clerkes and a 1000. 500. poore people Neither were any of the Fathers which liued of oblations euer fearefull of the wicked but were euer fearfull to the wicked and were feared Of no greater force is that which they say that euil men being reprehended wil giue nothing but will rather suffer their Minister to famish for hunger As if that were not rather to be feared least it should be done as we haue experience of the doing by the Magistrat which payeth them wages when so euer a good Minister shal displease a bad