suffered to haue the chiefe place amongest them Did euer Gods or mans Lawe preferre the feete before the head the rowt before the ruler or the people before the Prince The seruant is not aboue his Master no not in elections of bishops for if the rule be generall it includeth euen that particular Wherefore though there were no Princes christned in the Apostles times nor in 300. yeeres after to claime or vse their right yet against the head that it shall not bee head to rule and guide the feeâ—e can be no prescription by reason Gods ordinance for the head to gouerne the bodie is a perpetuall eternall law and the vsurpation of the members against it is no prescription but a confusion and the subuersion of that order which the God of heauen hath immutably decreed and settled And euen in the Primitiue Church when leisure from greater affaires and occasion of popular vproares put Christian Emperors in mind to vse their right they were by Councils acknowledged to haue good interest in the elections of bishops and by the whole Church suffered not onelie to haue a seuerall and soueraigne consent but by their Lawes to moderate restraine and punish the attempts and abuses as wel of bishops and clarks that were electors ordainers as of the people that were the likers and supporters of the parties so corruptly or disorderly chosen When Valentinian the Emperor vpon the death of Auxentius willed the bishops assembled to elect for the city of Millane such a one as should be fit for the place the Synode praied him being wise religious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to appoint a Bishop To whom he answered the matter is too great for me to vndertake you that are vouchsafed of the diuine grace shall better determine who is meete When Chrysost. was chosen to be bishop of Constantinople Sozomene saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The people Clergie determining on him the king approued it sent to fet him from Antioch After Sisimius was dead though many labored to haue Philip others to haue Proclus ordained yet it seemed good to the powers or princes to haue none of that church aduanced to the Bishoprike by reason of some vaine men but it pleased theÌ„ rather to call a stranger froÌ„ Antioch Upon the death of Maximian successor to Nestorius left againe in the election of a bishop variance should arise and the Church be troubled the Emperor Theodosius strait waies the body of Maximianus not yet being buried coÌ„manded the Bishops that were present to set Proclus in the episcopal seat Pelagius being chosen bishop of Rome without the princes coÌ„mandement for that the city was then besieged and no man could passe through y e enemies camp Gregory was afterward sent to excuse the matter appease the Emperor Nilenim tuÌ„ à Clero in eligendo Pontifice actuÌ„ erat nisieius electioneÌ„ Imperator approbasset for then the act of the Clergy in chusing their bishop was void vnles the Emperor approued the election Greg. that excused Pelagius witnesseth the like of his own choice of sundry others Of himself he saith Lo my most gratious Lord the Emperor hath coÌ„manded an Ape to be made a Lion Wherefore he must impute al my faults negligeÌ„ces not to me who was vnwilling but to his owne deuotion which hath coÌ„mitted the mysterie of strength to so weak an one as I am To al the bishops of Illyâ—iest he writeth Because I vnderstand by your letters that the consent of you al THE PLEASVRE OF THE MOST GRATIOVS PRINCE CONCVRRED in the person of Iohn our brother and fellow-fellow-Bishop I greatly reioyce To the Emperor Mauritius he saieth It can bee no small thankes with God that Iohn of happy memory being taken out of this life your godlines about the appointing a Bishop stayed a great while deferred the time and sought aduise in the feare of God Wherefore I thinke my brother and fellow-fellow-Bishop Cyriacus to be very fit for the Pastorall regiment whom your holinesse preferred to that order after so long consultation Neither had the Roman Emperors this authoritie to dash elections appoint bishops onely at Rome and Constantinople other places were in like subiectioÌ„ to them though their care were not so great for the smaller cities which were innumerable as for the principal Sees where themselues liued whither they often resorted yet their right was alone in greater lesser Churches If the chiefest bishops might not be chosen without the Emperours consent the meaner places had neither by the Canons nor by the Scriptures any more freedome from the Princes power then the greater So that what superioritie was then acknowledged and yeelded by the greatest and chiefest Churches as due to Christian Emperors in the elections of bishops the same could by no means be denyed them ouer other Churches though the Princes themselues sometimes neglected and sometimes refused to be troubled with the choice of so many thousand Bishops as were vnder their territories And therefore Adrian Bishop of Rome was not the first that did grant and giue this right to the Empire as some Romish stories would faine enforce it was receiued in the Church of Christ many hundred yeeres before Adrian was borne and vsed as well by other Christian kings in their realmes as by the Emperour in his dominions The Pontificall it selfe 580. yeeres after Christ noteth it as a new and strange accident that Pelagius the second was chosen Bishop of Rome without the Emperours commaundement and giueth this reason for that the Longobardes then besieged the Citie and Gregorie the first of that name that next succeeded after Pelagius two hundreth yeres before Adrian confirmeth it to be true by report of his owne election and Gregorie of Turon liuing at the same time and whose Oeacon was present at Rome when Gregorie the first was elected witnesseth as much in the tenth booke of his historie and first Chapter Wherefore Adrian did but either continue or renue this right when the Empire was translated vnto Charles the great and â—atified it with a curse on the transgressoins hee did not then first grant it the Romane Emperours long before enioyed it Adrian and a Synode of one hundred fiftie three Bishops and Abbatâ— defined that the Archbishops and Bishops of euerie Prouince should take their inuestiture from Charles so as vnlesse hee were commended or allowed inuested by the king he should be consecrated Bishop by no man and whosoeuer did against this decree they did wrap him in the band of excommunication Leo the eight in an other Synode more then 130 yeeres after Adrian with the Cleargie and people of Rome did reknowledge and confirme vnto Otho the first of that name king of the Germans and to his successors in the kingdome of Italy for euer power to choose and appoint the Bishop of the Apostolike See of Rome and consequently Archbishops
seuenth yeere of their Empire and Irenaeus testifieth that he came to Rome vnder Anicetus the tenth Bishop there declared the trueth which he had receiued from the Apostles Did he through ambition retaine the place to which the Apostles called him longer then he shoulde and so altered the Apostolicall kinde of gouernement I had rather chalenge the Consistorians for mistaking Ambrose then Polycarpe for inuerting the Apostolike Discipline The Church of Smyrna called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostolicall and Propheticall Teacher of their times Irenaeus saith of him Hic docuit semper quae ab Apostolis didicerat quae ecclesiae tradidit sola sunt vera hee alwayes taught those things which he learned of the Apostles which he deliuered vnto the Church and they onely are true And if he were not a man of farre more authoritie and certainer fidelitie then any that contradict him yet haue we al the Churches of Christendome their successions of Bishops from the Apostles and all histories and monuments of antiquitie to concurre with him that Bishops liuing in the Apostles daies made by the Apostles hands continued their places til they died neither is there any man liuing that is able to shewe one example to the contrary Let the Christian Reader then say whether it be not a vaine and false surmise which some in our age so mightily maintaine that the Bishops which the Apostles ordained to rule the Presbyteries dured for some short space changed by course that superioritie going round in order to euerie Presbyter the election of Bishops to gouerne the Churches and Presbyters committed to their charge so long as they did it carefully was mans inuention and no Apostolike institution The domination of bishops wil be their last refuge otherwise in elections of Bishops to continue whiles they do their duties the best learned of them confesse there is nothing that can or should be reprehended onely they repine that a Bishop shoulde haue iurisdiction ouer his Copresbyters And heere they are plentiful with places of Scripture as if we went about to make Bishops Lords and Masters ouer the Church and all the rest to be their seruants They alleage the words of Christ Great men exercise authoritie you shall not doe so and of Peter Feede the flocke not as Lords or commanders ouer Gods inheritance but to what purpose I see not Meane they by these places to prooue that the Apostles had no superioritie nor authoritie in the Church of God or that Pastours haue no power ouer their flockes It were more then childish to impugne one trueth by another They themselues do agnise that the Apostles had superioritie and authoritie by Christs owne commission aboue and ouer all other degrees to erect and order the Churches where they preached and they yeelde Pastours authoritie ouer their flockes to commaund in the name of the Lord. Then neither these places nor any other in the Scriptures doe barre Pastoral power ouer the flocke nor distinction of degrees betwixt the Teachers Superior and inferior degrees if Christs wordes did exclude no man might admit them or defend them as lawfull If the Apostles to whom and of whom Christ there spake did not withstanding his speech retaine diuersities of degrees in the Church it is euident our Sauiour did not forbid Superiority but Imperie not Pastorall but Regall authoritie not Fatherly but Masterly preeminence and that in respect aswell of the people as of the Presbyters Peter calling the people Gods heritage and before and after naming them the Lords flocke And how should it possibly be otherwise for since the holy Ghost requireth the faithfull to obey their Leaders and to bee subiect to them no Scriptures do crosse the authoritie and inspection which the guiders of Christes Church shoulde haue ouer their flockes and God by his eternall Lawe comprising Pastours vnder the name of Fathers and assigning them the honour due vnto Parents we may not by colour of any wordes bereaue them of obedience and reuerence no more then of maintenance which are the parts and effects of Fatherly power and honour So long then as wee giue Bishops no charge but Pastorall no power but paternall wee are not in danger of violating either our Sauiours or his Apostles precept and consequently this kinde of superioritie may not bee called or supposed to be Dominion nor Imperie without wrong to the spirite of trueth that hath confirmed it as needefull and healthfull for the house of God euen from the first foundation of the worlde They will easily grant fatherly moderation and Pastorall power vnto Bishops ouer the people but not ouer the Presbyters on this they set vp their rest that no Pastour shoulde haue power ouer others of the same calling and hope assuredly to haue the victorie But they must first reconcile their owne contrarieties they will triumph else before the conquest for ech Presbyterie as themselues confesse must haue a President by Gods essentiall and perpetuall ordinance I aske now whether God giue any man a bare title without any trueth and a Regiment without all authoritie or whether in Gods Lawe deedes and wordes concurre and he be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a President that is appointed and authorized by God to execute that office The mouth of God intendeth not for mockeries as mans doth and therefore the name neuer goeth without the thing he is iust in his speach and wil not vtter the worde that shall delude the hearer If then by Gods Law there must be Presidents ouer Presbyteries ineuitably there must be Gouernours and Superiours ouer them If some must moderate the meetings of Presbyters and execute their decrees of force they must haue power and authoritie ouer Presbyters and so it is mainly consequent out of their owne positions which they most refuse Againe when Paul left Timothie at Ephesus to impose hands to receiue accusations against Presbyters and openly to rebuke such as sinned did hee not giue him power ouer Presbyters and euen the selfe same that is challenged at this day to belong to Bishops if it were lawful and needful at Ephesus for Timothy to haue that right and authority ouer the Presbyters that were ioynt-Pastors with him how commeth it now to be a tyrannical and Antichristian power in his successours Timothie they will say was an Euangelist and coulde haue no successours If none could succeede him in that power how come their Presbyteries to haue it will they be Euangelists what Lay Elders and all and shall the Presbyteries of the whole world succeede Timothie in his charge at Ephesus That were newes in deede if this authority to impose hands to receiue accusations and rebuke sinnes must remaine in the Church for euer as it is euident it must then was it no Euangelisticall authoritie but a generall and perpetuall function in the Church of Christ that might and did admit others to succeede
accipiat satisfactionis suae modum Let him come to the Presidents by whom the keies are ministred vnto him in the Church and receiue of them that haue the ouersight of the Sacraments the maner of his satisfaction It seemed vnpossible that by repentance sinnes should be remitted saith Ambrose but Christ graÌ„ted this to his Apostles from the Apostles it descended to the Priests function Loe saith Gregory the Apostles which feared the district iudgement of God are made iudges of soules Their places now in the Church the Bishops keepe They haue authoritie to bind loose that are called to that degree of regiment A great honour but a great burden followeth this honour Let the Pastour of the Church feare vndiscretely to binde or loose but whether the Pastour binde iustly or vniustly the Pastours sentence is to be feared of the flocke The Councils generall prouinciall reserue both excommunication and reconciliation to the iudgement conscience of the Pastout Bishop and by no means impart either of them to the people or laie-Elders The great Council of Nice Touching such as are put from the Communion whether they be Clergie men or Laie by the Bishops in euery place let this rule be kept according to the Canon that they which be reiected by some be not receiued by others but let it be carefully examined that they be not cast out of the church by the weaknes waspishnes frowardnes or rashnes of the bishop And y â— this matter may the better be enquired of we like it wel y â— twise euery yere there should be kept a Synode in euery Prouince y â— all the Bb. of the Prouince meeting together may examine those matters such as haue cleerly offended their bishop let theÌ„ be held iustly excoÌ„municat by all vntil it shall seeme good to the bishops in coÌ„mon to giue an easier iudgement of them This was the ancient and vniuersall rule of Christes Church for the Pastour or Bishop to haue the power of the keyes to admit and remooue from the Sacraments such as deserued it and for the examination and moderation of their doings neither people nor laie-Presbyters were ioyned with them but a Synode of Bishops in the same Prouince euerie halfe yeere heard the matter when any found himselfe grieued with the censure of his Bishop and they according to the right of the cause were to reuerse or ratifie the former iudgement yea the Bishop had power at the time of death or otherwise vpon the vnfained repentance of the partie to mitigate the rigour of the Canons as appeareth in the 12. and 13. of the same Councill It shall be lawfull for the Bishop to deale more gently with them And againe generally for euery excommunicate person that is readie to depart this life and desireth to bee partaker of the Eucharist let the Bishop vpon triall giue him the Communion And so the generall Councill of Chalcedon We determine the Bishop of the place shall haue power to deale more fauourablie with such as by the Canons should stand excommunicate The Councill of Antioch If any be depriued the Communion by his owne Bishop let him not be admitted to the Communion by others afore he appeare and make his defence at the next Synode and obtaine from them another iudgement except his owne Bishop or Dioecesan bee content to receiue him This rule to be kept touching laie-men Priests Deacons and all others within the compasse of the Canon The Councill of Sardica If a Bishop be ouer caried with anger which ought not to be in such a man and hastily mooued against a Priest or Deacon wil cast him out of the church we must prouide that he be not condemned wheÌ„ he is innocent nor depriued the Communion And the Bishop that hath put him from the Communion must be content that the matter bee heard that his sentence may be confirmed or corrected But before the perfect exact hearing looking into the cause hee that is excommunicated may not chalenge the Communion The third Councill of Carthage Let the times of repentance be appointed by the discretion of the Bishops vnto y â— Penâ—ents according to the difference of their sinnes And that no Presbyter reconcile a penitent without the liking of the Bishop vnlesse necessitie force in the absence of the Bishop And if the fault be publike blazed abroad and offend the whole Church let hands be imposed on him before the railes or Arch which seuereth the people from the ministers Concerning those which worthily for their offences are cast out of the assemblie of the Church Augustine then Legate for Numidia sayd May it please you to decree that if any bishop or Presbyter receiue them to the Communion which are worthily throwen out of the Church for crimes committed he himselfe shall be subiect to the same chalenge that they were declining the lawful sentence of their owne bishop Sozomene declaring after what penitentiall maner the excommunicate persons in the Primitiue Church stood in an open place whence the whole assemblie might see them addeth that in this sorte euery one of them abideth the time how long soeuer which the bishop hath appointed him A thousand other places might bee noted both in Fathers and Councils to shewe that from the Apostles to this day no late person was euer admitted in the Church of Christ to ioyne with the Pastours and Bishops in the publike vse of the keies and therefore the fathers haue exceeding wrong to be made fauourers and vpholders of the late discipline and laie Presbyterie Cyprian confesseth the people consented and concurred with him in the receiuing of Schismatikes such lewd offenders to the church and Communion vpon repentance His words to Cornelius be these O if you might be present here with vs when peruerse persons returne from their schisme you should see what labour I haue to perswade patience to our brethren that suppressing their griefe of heart they would consent to the receiuing and curing of these euil members I hardly perswade the people yea I am forced to wrest it froÌ„ them before they wil suffer such to be admitted It is an easie matter to make some shewe of contradiction in the writings of the ancient fathers diuers occasions leading them to speake diuerslie but it will neuer be prooued they thought it lawfull for Laie men to chalenge the publike vse of the keyes in the Church of Christ. The causes of excommunication and times of repentance were wholie referred to the iudgement of such as had the chiefest charge of the worde and Sacramentes as wee mayperceiue by the former authorities yet in notorious and scandalous offenses when the whole Church was grieued or when a schisme was feared the godlie fathers did both in remoouing and reconciling of such persons â—taie for the liking and approbation of the whole people to concurre with them not to warrant or confirme the sentence that
their owne lusts and turned their eares from the trueth to fables Paul sent Timothie thither to stay these prophane and vaine bablings to commande that they taught no strange doctrine to impose hands on such as were fitte to receiue accusations against sinnefull and vngodly Presbyters and to rebuke them openly according to their deserts to reiect yong and wanton widowes and to see true Labourers in the word honored and cherished and finally to ouersee the whole house of God and euerie part thereof as well Teachers and Presbyters as Deacons widowes and hearers And not onely instructed him how he shoulde behaue himselfe as a Gouernour in the Church but charged him before the liuing God and his elect Angels that hee obserued those things without respecting persons or any inclining to partes Likewise in Creete when many vaine talkers and deceiuers of minds subuerted whole houses and loaded the Church with Iewish fables and commaundements of men Paul left Tite there to redresse things amisse to stop their mouthes that taught things which they ought not for filthie lucres sake to stay foolish questions and contentions about the Law to reiect heretikes after one or two admonitions and sharply to rebuke with all authoritie not suffering any man to despise him as also to ordaine good and religious Presbyters and Bishops in euerie Citie that shoulde be able to exhort with wholsome doctrine and improoue gainesayers And here first did Paul by writing expresse that he placed substitutes where need was with Episcopall power and honour to guide and rule the Church of God These examples make nothing to your purpose for first they did none of these things but with the aduise and consent of the Presbyterie which Bishops do not Next they were Euangelists and no Bishops and in that respect might haue this speciall deputation from the Apostle It may bee your learning will serue you to say that Paul left both these to rule the Church in Creete and at Ephesus for a weeke and in their order as the rest of the Presbyters did but such tests if you dare aduenture them will cracke both your cause and your credite Paul belike prayed Timothie to stay at Ephesus to call the Presbyterie together and to aske voyces and to doe iust what pleased the rest to decree but if you elude and frustrate the wordes of the Apostle with such additions not onelie besides but against the Text you can deceiue none saue such as will not beleeue Saint Paul himselfe if hee shoulde speake against the Lay Presbyterie For our partes wee take the wordes as they stand and so did the Catholike Fathers before vs being persuaded that Paul had witte enough to discerue to whome hee shoulde write for the performaunce of these things and not to mistake Timothie for the Presbyterie If Timothie had nothing else to do but to consult what pleased the Presbyters to determine in euerie of these pointes howe childish an ouersight was it for Paul to skip the whole bench of them and to charge and adiure him to see these preceptes inuiolably kept without sparing or fearing anie man For thus you must expound or rather imprison and fetter euerie worde that Paul speaketh in those three Epistles Commaunde with all authoritie receiue not an accusation against a Presbyter but vnder two or three witnesses rebuke them that sinne reiect heretikes after two warnings refuse yoonger widowes staie vaine contentions and vnprofitable questions ordaine Elders in euerie Citie impose handes hastily on no man that is as you interprete call the Presbyterie together and aske them whether they be contented it shall be so or no. And so I adiure and charge thee before God and Christ and the elect Angels that thou obserue these precepts inuiolable and vnblameable that is obserue them if the Presbyterie will consent and agree vnto thee else not But I thinke you dare not stand to these mockeries of the Scriptures and therefore you will rather flie to the second part of your answere that they were authorized to do these things as Euangelists and not as Bishops We expressed so much that they were Euangelists and no Bishops Euangelists you should say and Bishops for when they left following the Apostles and were affixed to certaine places with this power and authoritie which I haue mentioned what els could they bee but Bishops They assisted the Apostles present and supplied their absence and did continue the Churches in that state in which the Apostles left them Nowe if the Apostles in respect of this power and care were Bishops when they staied in any place much more the Euangelists If the same â—idelitie and authoritie be still needful and therefore perpetuall in the Church of God they did these things not by their Euangelisticall calling which is long since ceased but by their Episcopall which yet doeth and must remaine for if this power and preheminence descended from them to their successours it is euident this commission and charge was Episcopal since no part of their Euangelship was deriued to their after-commers We cannot endure to haue them called or counted Bishops In deed if succession of Episcopall power came from the Apostles to them and so to their successours we shall soone conclude that Bishops came from the Apostles and therefore you doe wisely to resist it but by your patience you must endure it the best Stories and Writers of the Primitiue Church doe make them Bishops and likewise Pauls precepts to them the very paternes of Episcopall charge and duetie Timothie saieth Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by the stories reported to bee the first that tooke the bishoprike of Ephesus as Tite also did of the churches in Creete Ierome whose wordes you strongly presse to prooue there were no Bishops in the Apostles times but such as were equall with Presbyters and not superiours vnto them saieth Timothie was ordained Bishop of Ephesus by blessed Paul and Tite Bishop of Creete preached the Gospell there and in the Islands round about Ambrose Paul by his epistle instructeth Timothie now created a Bishop how he ought to order the Church And so of the other The Apostle had consecrated Tite to be a Bishop and therefore he warneth him to be carefull in ecclesiasticall ordination Chrysostome Paul saieth in his epistle to Timothie Fulfill thy ministerie when he was now a Bishop for that Timothie was a Bishop Paul declareth by his writing thus vnto him Laie hands hastilie on no man And againe which was giuen thee by the imposition of handes of the Presbyterie for by no meanes Presbyters could ordaine a Bishop And shewing how Euangelists might become Bishops he saith Why doeth Paul write onlie to Timothie and Tite where as Silas and Luke were also his Disciples and endewed with marueilous vertues Because hee had nowe deliuered to them the gouernement and charge of the Church the others as
perpetuall ordinance as your selues confesse there must be one chiefe and Pastour of ech Church and Presbyterie to guide aswel the Presbyters that are Teachers as the flocke that are hearers with that power which Gods Law alloweth vnto Pastours Tell me now I pray you what difference betwixt chiefe Pastors established in euery City by Gods law as you are forced to grant and Bishops succeeding the Apostles in their Churches chaires as the Fathers affirme If you mislike the worde Bishop it is Catholike and Apostolike if you mislike the office it is Gods ordinance by your owne assertion We grant the name of a Bishop and regiment of a Pastor are confirmed by the holie Ghost but you yeeld more to your chiefe Pastours and Bishops then the word of God alloweth them as namely you suffer them to continue for life where they should gouerne but for a moneth or a weeke you alotte them Dioeceses which should be but parishes you giue them not onely a distinction from Presbyters but a iâ—risdiction ouer Presbyters who shoulde bee all one with Presbyters and subiect to the most voyces of the Presbyters all which things wee say are against the Scriptures You frame Churches to your fansies and then you straight way thinke the Scriptures doe answere your deuises If we giue Bishops any thing which the ancient and Catholike Church of Christ did not first giue them in Gods name spare vs not let the world knowe it but if we preferre the vniuersall iudgement of the Primitiue Church in expounding the Scriptures touching the power and function of bishops before your particular and late dreames you must not blame vs. They were neerer the Apostles times and likelier to vnderstand the Apostles meanings then you that come after fifteene hundred yeres with a new plot of Church gouernment neuer heard of before All the churches of Christ throughout the world could not at one time ioyne in one and the selfe same kind of gouernment had it not bene deliuered and setled by the Apostles and their Schollers that conuerted the world So many thousand Martyrs and Saints that liued with the Apostles would neuer consent to alter the Apostles discipline which was once receiued in the Church without the Apostles warrant Wherefore we conster the Apostles writings by their doings you measure the Scriptures after your owne humours Whether of vs twayne is most likelie to hitte the trueth As for your repining at the things which we giue to bishops we greatly regard it not so long as the Scriptures doe not contradict them wee smile rather at your deuises which say that a bishop should gouerne for a weeke and then change and giue place to the next Presbyter for an other weeke and so round by course to all the Presbyters What Scripture confirmeth that circular and weekely regiment of yours By what authoritie do you giue it the name of a diuine institution when it is a meere imagination of yours without proofe or trueth She we one example or authoritie for it in the newe Testament and take the cause Succession by course was ordained by God after the example of the Priests of Aaron Did the sonnes of Aaron loose their Priesthoode when their courses were ended No but they serued in the Temple by course and so were Bishops appointed by Gods ordinance to guide the Presbyterie Is this all the ground you haue vpon this slender and single similitude to make Gods ordinance what please you If such reasons may serue we can sooner conclude the perpetual function of bishops then you can the weekly for not onely the high Priest kept his honour during his life but likewise euery Priest that was chiefe of his order Indeede their courses being ended they departed home but they lost not their dignitie But what rouing is this in matters of weight Will anie wise men be mooued with such ghesses Make vs good proofe out of the Scriptures or leaue tying Gods ordinance to your appetites Ambrose is the man that affirmeth it If you come once to Fathers I hope we haue tenne to one that affirme otherwise If Ambrose did say so wee coulde not beleeue him against all the rest of the Fathers yea and against the Scriptures themselues election of Bishops being prescribed by Paul to Timothie and Tite and not succession in order but I denie that Ambrose saith anie such thing He saieth the next in order succeeded He nameth neither change nor course It is your owne deuise it is no part of Ambroses meaning Anianus the next after Marke that was Bishop of Alexandria sixe yeeres before Peter and Paul were put to death was hee made by order or by election Ierome saith expresly A Marco Euangelista Presbyteri semper vnum ex se electum c. they of Alexandria euer since Marke the Euangelist did alwayes choose their Bishop hee neuer succeeded in order Neither did Anianus gouerne for a weeke or a yeere hee sate Bishop there two and twentie yeeres as Eusebius writeth and Abilius the next that was chosen after his death sate thirtene yeeres more before hee died and then succeeded Cerdo and the rest in their times all chosen and all sitting in the Pastorall chaire so long as they liued The like you may see in the first Bishops of Rome who kept the Episcopall chaire during life and not by course Linus sate twelue yeres Anacletus twelue Clemens nine Saint Iohn the Apostle liuing and ordering the whole Church whiles the three first Bishops of Rome and of Alexandria succeeded by election and gouerned without chaunging for the terme of their liues Wherefore it is euident this vp-start fansie is far from Gods ordinance If you trust not me marke how your owne friends I wil not say your selues do crosse and confute your owne inuentions You say It is Gods disposition that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or chiefe of your Presbyterie should go by course and that order you call Diuine they say it is accidentall and no part of Gods ordinance Accidentale fuit quod Presbyteri in hac 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alij alijs per vices initio succedebant It was accidentall that the Presbyters did in this chiefdome at the first beginning succeede one an other by course You tell vs the electing one to continue chiefe of the Presbyterie was an humane order but they assure vs that election in all sacred functions is the commaundement of God and may not be altered Aliud est electionis mandatvm quam immotaÌ„ non tantùm in Diaconis sed etiam in sacris functionibus omnibus seruatam oportuiâ— aliud electionis modus The commandement of election is one thing which must be obserued not onely in Deacons but in all sacred functions the maner of election is an other thing The precept cannot be immutable vnlesse it be diuine and Apostolike others haue no such power to command Now for my learning I would faine know this ruling by
power which you giue to your Presbyters but because you turne them all ouer the barre as tainted with humane pollitie and neglecters of Gods ordinance let vs see whether wee can say more for the power of Bishops ouer Presbyters by the Scriptures then you haue done for your Presbyteriall censures which in my iudgement are very flenderlie and weaklie prooued All that wee can say for the power of Bishops aboue Presbyters out of the Scriptures is this That the holie Ghost by the mouth of S. Paul hath giuen the Bishop of each place authoritie to ordaine such as be woorthie to examine such as be faultie and reproue and discharge such as be guiltie either of vnsound teaching or offensiue liuing Thus much he saieth to Timothie and Tite and in them to their successours and to all other Bishops of Christes Church for euer The places bee plaine and neede no long discoursing till we heare your answere Of admitting Presbyters Paul saieth to Timothie Lay hands hastily on no man neither be partaker of other mens sinnes And to Tite For this cause I left thee in Creete that thou shouldest ordaine Elders in euerie Citie such as I appointed thee Of conuenting them hee saieth Receiue no accusation agaynst a Presbyter but vnder two or three witnesses those that sinne rebuke openlie that the rest may feare Of dismissing them hee saieth I prayed thee to abide at Ephesus to commaund certaine that they teach no strange doctrine Their mouthes must bee stopped that teach things they ought not for filthie lucre The Presbyters that doe their dueties let them bee counted woorthie of double honour Staie foolish questions and contentions An heretike after one or two warnings reiect These things speake and exhort and rebuke with all authoritie See no man despise thee I charge thee before God and the Lord Iesus Christ and the elect Angels that thou obserue these things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without carying any preiudice or inclining to either part The wordes bee singular the charge is vehement the parties were Bishops to whome the Apostle wrate the case therefore is cleare that the Bishops power ouer Presbyters in these pointeâ— is ratified by the expresse commandement of the holy Ghost You be mightily deceiued This power belonged to Euangelists not to Bishops and therefore it dured but for their time and exceeded not their persons to whom the Apostles â—rate See you how easilie the very foundations of your Prelacie are shaken and ouer throwen If your replie be sound you say somewhat to the purpose but if it be false absurd repugnant to the very Text and refuted by your own positions then take you heed what answere you will make to God for disturbing his Church despising his ordinance and deriding his messengers that himselfe hath placed and authorized with his own mouth And here I must pray the Christian Reader aduisedlie to marke what is said and answered on either side This in deed is the maine erection of the Episcopal power and function if our proofes stand or subuersion if your answere be good For if this faile wel may Bishops claime their authoritie by the custome of the Church by any diuine precept expressed in the scriptures they cannot But if these rules be deltuered by the Apostle to Bishops as we say they are and not to Timothie and Tite in respect of their Euangelship as the Presbyterists affirme then can there be no question but this new discipline is a very dreame and the auncient and Primitiue Church of Christ held the right and Apostolicall fourme of gouerning the house of God according to the prescript of his word Out reioinder therefore is as foloweth No power proper to Euangelists is or ought to be perpetual in the Church of Christ their calling was both extraordinarie and temporarie but power to ordaine fit ministers to conuent and discharge vnfit is and ought to be perpetuall in the Church of Christ. This therefore was no power proper to Euangelists which S. Paul in these places prescribed vnto Tite and Timothie Againe your Presbyters may not claime Euangelisticall power since your Presbyters are no Euangelists but your Presbyteries claime this power which Paul here committeth to Timothie and Tite euen to ordaine examine censure and depriue Pastours and Teachers ergo this power was not proper to Euangelists Let all this bee nothing if Saint Paul in expresse wordes say not as much I charge thee saith he to Timothie in the sight of God and before Iesus Christ that thou keepe this commaundement without spot and vnrebukeable VNTIL THE APPEARING of our Lord Iesus Christ. For Timothie to obserue these things vntill the comming of Christ in glory was vtterly vnpossible hee was to die long before these preceptes therefore are deliuered to him and those that should succeed in his place vnto the ende of the world Ergo Timothies power and function in this behalfe must be perpetuall in the Church of God and not faile before the day of iudgement With great vigilancie and prouidence saieth Ambrose vpon this place doeth the Apostle giue percepts to the Ruler of the Church for in his person doeth the safetie of the people consist He is not so circumspect as fearing Timothies care but for his successours that after Timothies example they should obserue the ordering of the Church Now let the Christian Reader iudge whether this were a temporarâ—e function in Timothie that died with his person or a perpetuall charge to him and his successors for euer Surely Timothie was an Euangelist Timothie was no Bishop You say he was no Bishop Eusebius Ierome Ambrose Chrysostome Theodoretus Epiphanius Oecumenius Primasius affirme he was a Bishop and in that respect S. Paul by this epistle directed him and all other Bishops in him how to impose handes on Presbyters and receiue accusations against them yea the whole Church of Christ since the Apostles times without exception hath so constred and obserued the Apostles words in suffering none but Bishops either to ordaine or degrade Presbyters yet all this with you is nothing your bare fansie must ouer beare both fathers were they neuer so learned and Churches were they neuer so auncient And though you auouch this power must not exceed their two persons to whom S. Paul wrate yet you are so liberall and beneficiall to your Presbyteries that against all trueth and authoritie you make them succeede Timothie and Tite in their Euangelisticall power And so according to your maner you will haue this power to be proper and yet common to be extraordinarie and yet vsuall to cease with their persons and yet to dure for euer with your Presbyteries Fire will better agree with water then you with your selues except you leaue this rolling too and fro at your pleasures We say the Euangelists had this power for a time the Presbyteries for eâ—er What you say no wise man will regard vnlesse you make better proofes then I yet
questions which before were examined in Presbyteries caused them to bee lesse needed and lesse regarded then before and charged the Bishop with the executiō of all lawes and Canons without assembling or consulting his Presbyters superiour Courts not submitting their acts to the iudgement of inferiour officers Wherefore when you raile at Bishops as vsurpers and tyrants ouer their brethren you forget that after so many hundred yeres all things being setled and guided by lawes which your Presbyteries neither may reuerse nor can correct your Elders were as good spare their paines as loose their labours More lawes we need not better you cannot make no man that hath his right wits will choose to liue vnder the discretion of the Presbyters rather then vnder the prescript of written lawes Frustrate them when you will to make worke for your Consistories and you shall find greater difference betwixt the equitie and certaintie of the Canons and the affectionate and inconstant headinesse of your Presbyters We would change no lawes but such as are Popish and where now the Bishop alone doeth all we would ioyne the Presbyterie with him The lawes that vpheld the Popes superstition or vsurpation are alreadie abrogated thanks be to God the rest that agree with the Canons of the Primitiue Church if you seeke to dissolue I would wish you did publish the new that men might see them before you did exauthorate the olde least you make the people as lawlesse as your Presbyters It is easier to euert or disturbe then to plant or establish a Church or common wealth If you take not the same lawes againe I dare warrant your childrens children to the fourth generation shall see neither order nor peace in your Churches And as for ioyning Presbyters with the Bishop to execute lawes that is the way to multiplie Bishops and where we haue one to make vs twentie but that is not the way to haue lawes more speedilie or sincerely executed In a multitude diuersitie of opinions breedeth delaies hindereth execution in one it cannot and if each man be subiect to affections I hope the more the worse But what reason we whether one or many shall execute the lawes when it is not in our hands to limite the law-makers to our choice They that haue power from God to make lawes haue like wise authoritie libertie to choose whō they wil charge w t the executiō of their lawes and therefore in Gods name let both Councils and Princes choose what persons they thinke meetest to see their Canons and Lawes obserued so long as they transgresse not the rules of pietie and equitie Our chiefest care is for the right execution of Gods law which we would not haue committed to the Bishop without his Presbyters Giue the Bishop that right and authoritie which Gods law alloweth him and the ioine with him whom you can What right is that You heard before he must haue Pastorall and Paternall power either wholie if by Gods lawe there may be but one Pastor in one Church or chieflie if there may bee more in the same place to aduise and assist hun in gouerning the flock More authoritie by Gods law we claime not for Bishops then to be Pastours of the places which they gouerne And Pastorall authoritie since you giue to euerie Rector in his Church what reason haue you to denie it to euery Bishop in his Diocesse We giue no man Pastorall power ouer the Presbyteries and as for Diocesses wee say they are intrusions on other mens cures If by Gods lawe you assigne one Church to one man as Pastour of the same then all the members of that Church be they Presbyters or people must be subiect to him as to their Pastour and he must haue Pastorall authoritie ouer them whatsoeuer they be And therefore this shift of yours that the Presbyters shall haue a President ouer them by Gods ordinance but no Pastour is a meere collusion repugnant as well to the worde as Church of God for what doe the Scriptures call your President in respect of the Presbyters if not a Pastour Shew vs either his name or his power in the new Testament and if it be not equiualent with Pastorall wee will exempt your Presbyters from all subiection The power that Timothie receiued to restraine them from preaching false doctrine and to conuent and rebuke such Presbyters as sinned was it not Pastorall And that charge was to remaine by the Apostles words to him and his successors till the comming of Christ. Your Pastours that you would erect in countrey parishes shall they not haue Pastorall power ouer your laie Presbyters shall your laie Elders be sheepe without ashepeheard shal no man watch ouer their soules If your laie Presbyteries must haue a Pastour ouer them in each countrey parish how commeth it to passe that your Presbyteries in Cities may endure no Pastours aboue them Are they not all of one and the same institution by your owne rules Is there one order in the Scriptures for rusticall Presbyteries and an other for ciuill I thinke your selues ran hardly shewe any such distinction Wherefore when we giue bishops Pastorall authoritie as well ouer their Presbyters as ouer their people wee doe it by the warrant of Gods word that maketh them chiefe Pastours ouer their Churches which includeth both Presbyters and people and wee therein giue them no more then by your wils you would giue to the meanest Rectors of countrie parishes Pastours we are content they shalbe ouer their flockes but not ouer their coequals and copartners Then no man may take or leade their flockes from them so long as they teach and guide them right and consequently your Presbyters may vse no Pastorall power in any bishops charge without his liking For he is Pastour of the flocke and by Gods law they must heare and obey the voice of their shepeheard And as for the rest of the Presbyters if you make thē copartners with him that is not helpers but equals you distract the flocke and rent the Church into as many peeces as there be pastors One flocke cannot haue many pastors except they be subordinate one vnder another but many pastors of equal power must needs haue many flocks Wherfore one Church must haue but one pastor to whom therest be they Presbyters or others must by Gods Law be subiect and obedient whiles he rightly directeth them and woorthely rebuketh them otherwise against God and his trueth we must obey neither man nor Angell Yet to temper the Pastourall power of bishops that it might be fatherly as it hath beene alwaies in the house of God euen from the beginning and not Princely for feare of raigning ouer the Lords inheritance the Church of Christ did in certaine cases of importance not suffer the bishop to attempt any thing without the consent of his Presbyters or a Synode The fourth Councill of Carthage prohibiteth the bishop to heare and sententiate any mans cause without the presence of his Clergie as also
what corruptions are in men as wel as other Consistories Mans lawes wee leaue to such as are skilled in them we would haue our Presbyteries meddle no further then with rebuking and censuring of vice as Gods Law requireth To admonish those that erre reiect thâ—se that persist and rebuke those that sinne are Pastorall and not Presbyteriall dueties by the wordes of S. Paul And he that is Pastour hath both worde and sacraments committed vnto his care within his owne Church Wherefore without their pastour the Presbyters may not iudicially rebuke nor publikely excommunicate any man within his charge They may preach the word and so generally applie it in the pulpit they may dispence the Sacraments and so not deliuer them where they find men impeniâ—ent but personally to conuent them or openlie to seuer them from the fellowship of the church that belongeth to the Pastour and not to the Presbyters Saint Paul committed that power and care to Timothie and his successours not to the Presbyterie of Ephesus The words are plaine Against an Elder receiue thou no accusation but vnder two or three witnesses those that sinne rebuke thou openly that the rest may feare I charge thee before God and the Lorde Iesus and his elect Angels that thou obserue these thinges without proiudice or partialitie that is without oppressing or fauouring any side She withus much for your Presbyteries and bring them in with full faile Paul made Timothie no Monarch at Ephesus to doe all this without the Presbyterie but appointed him to be chiefe in these actions and the Presbyters to ioyne with him Much lesse did Paul make him a voice-asker to knowe whether it should please the Presbyters to haue these things done or no. The charge is precisely and exactlie Timothies and not the Presbyteries the power therefore must be his and not theirs All this notwithstanding you affirme against the wordes of the Apostle and against the vse of the Primitiue Church that the Presbyters might ouer-rule and censure Timothie if he would not be quiet and in spite of Timothy doe in all these things as they saw cause and this you barely suppose without anie kinde of proofe But either shew what warrant you haue to claime this prerogatiue of Presbyters aboue and ouer their bishops and pastours or giue vs leaue to beleeue the whole Church of Christ expounding and practising those wordes of S. Paul as we doe before your slender and naked supposals The priuate vse of the keyes in appointing offendors vpon the acknowledging of their sinnes for a time to for beare the Lordes Table we denie not to Presbyters but the publike vse of the keies to exclude an impenitent and obstinate person from al fellowship of the faithfull as well sacred as ciuill that the Church of Christ allowed alwaies and only to bishops Origen saith By falling from trueth faith and loue a man geth out of the tents of the church though he be not cast our by the BISHOPS VOICE Cypr. writing to a bishop that was reproched by his Deacon saith Vse against him the power of your honour either TO DEPRIVE HIM or REMOOVE HIM from the communion The affection of a good Bishop saith Ambrose wisheth to heale the sicke to remooue cankred sores to cauterize not to cut off lastly that which can not be healed TO CVT IT OF with sorrow I maruel saith Ierom against Vigilantius the BISHOP in whose charge he is said to be a Presbyter DOTH NOT CRVSH this vnprofitable vessel with the Apostolike rod and deliuer him ouer to Satan for the destructioÌ„ of the flesh that the spirit may be saued There is no greater punishmeÌ„t in the Church saith Austen then that daÌ„nation which THE EPISCOPAL IVDGEMENT pronounceth yet the Pastor must needs seuer the sick sheepe from the whole lest deadly infection reach vnto others If saith Chrysost giuing y â— people admonition of a certaine abuse crept in amongst theÌ„ we be despised we shalbe coÌ„pelled to bring these threats to effect to chastise you by the laws of the church Be angry who list I wil keepe them from the church a long space as Idolaters Beare with mee neither let any man despise the bandes of the church It is not maÌ„ that bindeth but Christ which hath giueÌ„vs this power made men masters of so great honor wee desire not to be brought to that extremity if we be we wil do our duetie If any man breake those bands I haue done my part thou shalt answer to him that COMMANDED ME to bind thee The Council of Nice willed Synodes to be kept twise euery yeere to examine whether any Lay men or Clergy men were excommunicated by the IMBECILITY PERTINACY OR INSOLENCIE OF THE BISHOP and such as were founde to haue OFFENDED THEIR BISHOP to stand excommunicate til the Synode released them The Council of Antioch likewise decreed that if any Lay man Presbyter or Deacon were excoÌ„municated BY HIS OWNE BISHOP no man should receiue him to the coÌ„munion afore he were restored by his own Bishop or by a Synode The Council of Sardica in the same maner If any Deacon Presbyter or Clergy man be excoÌ„municated flie to another Bishop of his acquaintance that knoweth he is depriued of the coÌ„munion BY HIS OVVNE BISHOP the other must not with reproch to a Bishop and his brother receiue that person to the coÌ„munion The Council of Taurine to which Ambrose wrace decreed touching Exuperantius a Presbyter that had reproched Triferius his bishop was therfore by him put from the coÌ„munion vt in eius arbitrio sit restitutio ipsius in cuius potestate eius abiectio hoc est vt quando velideÌ„ Exuper antius satisfecerit vel episcopo Triferio visum fuerit tuÌ„c gratiam communionis accipiat That his restitution should BE IN THE Bishops DISCRETION in whose power the reiecting of him was And therefore when Exuperantius the Presbyter should make satisfaction or Tâ—iferius the bishop be so content then he should be receiued to the communion The Council of Affrica taketh order for such as complaine against the iudgements of their owne bishops that they shalbe heard by the next bishops but if any man flie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE CANONICAL SENTENCE OF HIS OVVNE BISHOP no man should receiue him to the communion By which it appeareth that Gregories words are very true where he saith THE BISHOPS now in the Church holdethe places of the Apostles THEY which haue that degree of regiment HAVE AVTHORITIE to bind and loose And Theophilacts THEY HAVE POVVER to binde and loose which haue the grace of a BISHOPS OFFICE as Peterhad The publike vse therefore of the keies to excommunicate from al Christian company belonged to the bishop as pastor of the place the Presbyters sate with him at first as assessors and consenters before Synodes vndertooke such causes but after when once Councils beganne to haue the
places forced the Bishops to assemble but once in the yeere so the Councill of Toledo determined for Spaine This holy generall Council decreeth that the authoritie of the former Canons standing good which command Synodes to be kept twise in the yere in respect of y e length of the way and pouertie of the Churches of Spaine the Bishops shal assemble once in the yere at the place which the Metropolitane shal appoint The 2. Council of Turon tooke the same order for France in cases of necessity It hath pleased this holy council that the Metropolitane the bishops of his Prouince shal meet twise euery yere in Synode at the place which the Metropolitan by his discretiō shal chuse or if there be an ineuitable necessitie then without all excuse of persons and occasion of pretences once in the yeere shall euery man make his repaire And if any Bishop faile so to come to the Synode let him stand excommunicate by his brethren of the same Prouince vntill a greater Synode and in the meane time let no Bishop of an other Prouince presume to communicate with him There is no Christian Realme nor Age wherein the vse of Synodes hath not bene thought needfull as well vnder beleeuing magistrates for consultation and direction as vnder Infidels for the stopping of irreligious opinions withstanding wicked enterprises and procuring the peace and holynesse of the Church as appeareth by the Councils that haue bene kept in all kingdoms and countries since the Apostles times when any matter of moment came in question which are extant to this day and likewise by the Synodes that euery Nation and Prouince did yeerely celebrate according to the rules of the great Nicene and Chalcedon Councils which can not be numbred and were not recorded Neither is the continuance of Prouinciall Synodes prescribed onely by Councils the Imperiall lawes commaund the like That all the ecclesiasticall State and sacred rules may with more diligence be obserued we require saith the Emperor euery Archbishop Patriarch Metropolitane to call vnto him once or twise euery yeere the Bishops that are vnder him in the same Prouince and throughly to examine all the causes which Bishops Clerkes or Monkes haue amongst themselues and to determine them so as what so euer is trespassed by any person against the Canons may bee reformed The lawes of Charles alleaging the Councils of Antioch and Chalcedon that the Bishops of euery Prouince with their Metropolitane should assemble in Councill twise in the yeere for the causes of the Church commaund that course to be continued and twise euery yeere Synodes to be assembled And vnlesse you giue the Pastor and Presbyters of euery parish full and free power to professe what religiō they best like to offer what wrongs they will to vse what impietie and tyrannie they themselues list without any restraint or redresse which were an heathenish if not an hellish confusiō you must where there is no christian magistrate as oftentimes in the Church of Christ there hath bene and may be none yeeld that libertie to the Church of Christ which euerie humane societie hath by the principles of nature to wit that the whole may guide each part and the greater number ouer-rule the lesser which without assembling in Synode can not be done We neuer meant to denie the authoritie or vse of lawfull Synodes we confesse they are a sure remedy against all confusion but this we dislike that you giue the power to cal Synodes from the Magistrate to the Metropolitane thereby maintaining a needelesse difference amongst Bishops and suffer none but such as you terme Bishops to haue voyces in Councils whereas euerie Pastour and Preacher hath as good right to sit there and by consent and subscription to determine as they haue What right wee yeelde to Christian Magistrates to call Synodes within their Territories shall soone appeare in the meane time you must tell vs who called Synodes in the Primitiue Church before Princes fauoured Christian Religion was it done by Magistrates who then were Infidels or by Metropolitanes And when Princes protected the truth did they moderate prouinciall Councils by their substitutes or was that charge committed to the Bishop of the chiefe and mother Church and Citie in euerie prouince you challenge to bee men of learning and reading speake of your credites who called in ancient times prouinciall Synodes or at any time who moderated them besides Metropolitanes If your Presbyteries by Gods essential and perpetual ordinance must haue a President to rule their actions for auoyding of confusion howe can Synodes be called gouerned without one to prescribe the time and place when and where the Pastours shall meete and when they are met to guide and moderate their assemblies perceiue you not that men liuing in diuers cities and countries and assembling but seldome haue more neede of some chiefe to call them together then those that liue in one place and euery day meete And if confusion and disorder in Presbyteries be pernicious to the Church is it not far more dangerous in Synodes Wherefore you must either cleane reiect Synodes and so make the Presbyters of eache parish supreme and soueraigne Iudges of all Ecclesiasticall matters or if you receiue Synodes you must withall admit some both to conuocate and moderate their meetings The Magistrate may callthem together and themselues when they are assembled may choose a director guider of their actions But when the Magistrate doeth not regard but rather afflict the Church as in times of infidelitie and heresie who shall then assemble the Pastours of any prouince to deliverate and determine matters of doubt or danger Shall error and iniurie ouerwhelme the church of God without any publike remonstrance or refusance In questions of faith cases of doubt matters of faction offers of wrong breach of all order and equitie shall eche place and Presbyterie be free to teach and doe what they please without depending on or so much as cōferring with the rest of their brethren Cal you that the discipline of Christes Church and not rather the dissolution of all peace and subuersion of all trueth in the house of God I thinke you be not so farre besides your selues that you striue for this pestilent kinde of anarchie to be brought into the worlde our age is giddie enough without this frensie to put them forward Howbeit we seeke not what newe course you can deuise after fifteene hundred yeeres to gouerne the Church but what meanes the ancient and Primitiue Church of Christ had before Princes embraced the trueth to assemble Synodes and pacifie controuersies as well touching religion as Ecclesiasticall regiment and if in the Church stories you finde any other besides Metropolicanes that called and gouerned Prouinciall Councils name the men and note the places and we yeeld you the prize Metropolitanes were first established if not deuised by the Council of Nice before that we reade nothing of any Metropolitane
If that were their first originall they neede not be ashamed of it all Christendome these twelue hundred yeeres hath reuerenced and followed the decrees and iudgement of the Nicene Fathers the founders of your newe discipline compared with them in antiquitie and authoritie come a great way behinde them but if you looke better about you you shall finde that Metropolitanes are farre elder then the Nicene Council They are not deuised but acknowledged in the Councill of Nice by these wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let the ancient vsage continue still in Egypt Libia Pentapolis that the bishop of Alexādria haue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power and authoritie ouer all these places Likewise at Antioch and in other prouinces 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let the churches keepe their prerogatiues What those prerogatiues were which anciently belonged to the Metropolitane Churches and their Bishops though the Councill doeth not expresse them all yet these two are there mentioned In the 4. Canon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The chiefe authoritie or ratification of things done must belōg in euery prouince to the Metropolitane and in this very Canon the next words are In al places or prouinces this is euident that if any man be made a bishop without the knowledge or consent of the Metropolitane this great Council determineth he must be no Bishop So that neither could Synodes be called nor Bishops ordained without y ◠Metropolitan by the Canons of the Nicene Council their power prerogatiue within their own prouince began not first in that Council but is there witnessed to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an ancient vse as they speake in the 7. Canon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an ancient tradition The Councill of Antioch that assembled fifteene yeeres after the Council of Nice concluded as much as I do out of the Nicene Canons A Bishop must not be ordained without a Synode and the presence of the Metropolitane the Bishops of eache Prouince to make a Synode the Metropolitane by his letters must call together It is very requisite that in euery Prouince Councils be kept twise in the yeere to the which Presbyters Deacons and all others that thinke they haue wrong may repaire to receiue iustice from the Synode It is not lawfull for any to assemble Synodes of themselues without those to whom the in other Cities are committed For that is a perfect Council where the Metropolitane is present What power the Metropolitane had aboue the rest they likewise expresse The Bishops of euery prouince must agnise the Metropolitane to haue the ouerfight and care of the whole Prouince Wherefore wee thinke it meet that in honor he be afore them the rest of the bishops do nothing without him according to the canon of our fathers that hath anciently preuailed but onely such thinges as pertaine to their owne charge and Dioecese Further they shall enterprise nothing without the Metropolitane nor the Metropolitane without the consent of the rest The generall Councill of Ephesus affirmeth that Metropolitanes had their preeminence from the beginning of the Church It seemeth good to this sacred Occumenicall Council to reserue vnto euery prouince vntouched and vndiminished the rights which they haue had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frō the first beginning euery Metropolitan hauing libertie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to take the copie of our Acts for his owne security according to the vse anciently confirmed These 3. Councils confesse that Metropolitanes were no late nor newe deuise first authorized by the Council of Nice but their right and preeminence was an ancient vsage and Canon of the Church euen from the beginning Nowe that all Christendome euer after the Nicene Councill embraced this kinde of gouernement by Metropolitanes is a case so cleare that no shift can refuse it The second Councill of Arle in France that immediately followed the Councill of Nice saith Nullus episcopus sine Metropolitani per missa nec Episcopus Metropolitanus sine tribus Episcopis comprouincialibus praesumat Episcopum ordinare Let no Bishop presume to ordaine a Bishop without the permission of the Metropolitane nor the Metropolitane himselfe without three Bishops of the same Prouince For this is first euident that hee which is made a Bishop sine conscientia Metropolitani without the consent of his Metropolitane he ought to be no Bishop according to the great Councill of Nice And so for Synodes The Synode shall be assembled at the discretion of the Bishop of Arle and if any being summoned cannot come by reason of sickenes hee shall send another to supplie his place But if any shall neglect to be present or depart before the Councill be dissolued let him know he is excluded from the communion of his brethren and may not be receiued vnles he be absolued in the next Synode The Council of Laodieea in Phrygia Let Bishops be appointed to the regiment of the church by the iudgement of the Metropolitane and the Bishops adioyning being called to the Synode they must not neglect it but go thither and teach or learne what is requisite for the direction of the Church and the rest of their brethren The second Councill of Carthage in Affrica We all thinke good that the Primate of euery Prouince being not first consulted no man presume though with many Bishops in what place soeuer without his precept to ordaine a Bishop but if necessitie force three Bishops wheresoeuer with the Primates precept may ordaine a Bishop The fift Council of Carthage Wee thinke good that the Primates of euerie Prouince be written vnto that when they assemble Councils in their owne Prouinces they hinder not the day limited for the generall meeting The Mileuitane Councill Aurelius Bishop of Carthage saide This is a common cause that euery one of vs should acknowledge his order allowed him by God and the lower Bishops yeeld to those that are aboue them and not presume to doe anything without them Wherefore they which attempt to do ought without regard of their superiors must be accordingly repressed by the whole Synode Al the Bishops answered This order hath bin kept by our fathers and forefathers and by Gods grace shall be kept of vs. The Councill of Rhegium in Italie The ordination which the Canons define to be voyde we also determine to bee frustrate wherein since there were neither three present nor the Letters of the Comprouinciall Bishops nor the Metropolitanes good will obtained there was vtterly nothing that shoulde make a Bishop And againe Let no Bishop repaire to the Church which hath not her chiefe priest except he be inuited by the letters of the Metropolitane lest he be circumuented by the people The Council of Tarracon in Spaine If any Bishop warned by the Metropolitane neglect to come to the Synode except he be hindered by some corporal necessitie let him be depriued of the cōmunion of all the Bishops
of Constantinople and Chalcedon supplied the places of Bishops as their Legates and substitutes which in the Council of Chalcedon is more fully expressed But what need we rip vp these things at large which pertaine not so much to our purpose we seeke nowe for the antiquitie and authoritie of Metropolitanes and those we find not onely receiued and established in the foure first generall Councils but confessed by them to haue anciently continued in the Church euen from the beginning And surely if you graunt Prouinciall Synodes to be ancient and necessarie in the Church of Christ which you cannot denie Metropolitanes must needs be as ancient and requisite without whom the Synodes of each Prouince can neither be conuocated nor moderated If to auoid Metropolitanes you would haue the prerogatiue of calling and guiding Synodes to run round by course which order you fansied before in Bishops our answere is easie we looke not what you can inuent after 1500. yeeres to please your owne humours but what maner of ecclesiasticall gouernment the Church of Christ from the Apostles times established and continued by the generall consent of the whole world and that we prooue was not onely in euery Church and diocesse to haue a Bishop chiefe ouer the Presbyters but in euery Prouince to appoint a Mother Church and Citie and the Bishop thereof to haue this honour and dignitie aboue the rest of his brethren that hee might by letters consult or call together the Bishops of his Prouince for any question or cause that touched the faith or peace of the Church and not onely moderate their meetings but execute their decrees and see them perfourmed throughout his Prouince This was the ancient and originall vse of Christes Church long before any Princes professed the trueth and when they began to vse their swordes for the doctrine and Church of Christ then did Synodes serue for the direction of Christian Princes and Metropolitanes had the execution as well of Princes lawes as Synodall decrees committed to their power and care throughout their Prouince This course if you disdaine or dislike you condemne the whole Church of Christ from the first encreasing and spreading thereof on the face of the earth to this present age and preferre your owne wisedome if it be worthie that name and not rather to be accounted selfe loue and singularitie before all the Martyrs Confessors Fathers Princes and Bishops that haue liued gouerned and deceased in the Church of God since the Apostles deaths How well the heigth of your conceites can endure to blemish and reproch so many religious and famous lights of Christendome I knowe not for my part I wish the Church of God in our dayes may haue the grace for pietie and prudencie to follow their steppes and not to make the world beleeue that all the seruaunts of Christ before our times fauoured and furthered the pride of Antichrist till in the endes of the world when the faith and loue of most men are quenched or decaied we came to restore the Church to that perfection of discipline which the Apostles neuer mentioned the auncient Fathers and Councils neuer remembred the vniuersall Church of Christ before vs neuer conceiued nor imagined We want not the witnesse of auncient Fathers and stories that reprooue the ambicious and tyrannous dominion of Metropolitanes and Archbishops Socrates saieth The Bishoprike of Rome as likewise that of Alexandria were long before his time growen frō the bonds of Priesthood vnto worldly dominion Nazianzene not onely lamenteth the mischiefs which follow these diuersities of degrees but heartilie wisheth there were no such thing that men might be discerned onely by their vertues His words are worth the hearing For this presidencie of Bishops all our estatetottereth shaketh for this the endes of the earth are in a ielousie and tumult both sencelesse and namelesse for this we are in danger to be thought to be of men which in deed are of God and to loose that great and newe name Would God there were neither prioritie of seate neither superioritie of place nor violent preheminence that we might be discerned onely by vertue But the right hand and the left and the midst the higher and lower seate the going before and going euen with haue to no purpose done vs much hurt and cast many into the ditch and brought them to be goates and those not onely of the inferiour sort but euen of the shepeheards which being masters in Israel knew not this You may soone find of the auncient Fathers that misliked the contention ambition and pride of many Bishops in the Primitiue Church but any that misliked their calling you cannot finde The sharper they were in reproouing their vices the sounder witnesses they are in allowing their office If either Socrates or Nazianzene had opposed thēselues against the iudgement of the Nicene Council yea against the whole church of Christ before after them their credites would not haue counteruailed the weight of that antiquitie authoritie which the others caried but in deed neither of thē dispraiseth the wisedom of the Council or custome of the church only they taxe the vices of some persons ambitiō of some places which not content with the christian moderation of their predecessors daily augmented their power and their pride by all meanes possible Socrates saith the bishops of Rome and Alexandria were growen beyond the limits of their Episcopal function 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vnto power dominion The fault he findeth in that place with Celestinus bishop of Rome was for taking from the Nouatians their churches and compelling their bishop to liue at home like a priuate man But herein Socrates leaned a litle too much in fauour of the Nouatians to mislike more then he sheweth cause why Would God the bishop of Rome had neuer worse offended then in so doing He toucheth Cyrillus bishop of Alexandria with like words for the same cause how iustly let the wise iudge If otherwise either of them aspired aboue the compasse of their calling I am farre from defending any pride in them or in whomsoeuer Nazianzene lighted on very tempestuous troublesom times heresie so raging on the one side discord afflicting the Church on the other that he thought best to leaue all and betake himselfe to a quiet solitarie kind of contemplation Of the councils in his time he saieth I am minded if I must write you the trueth to shunne all assemblies of Bishops because Ineuer sawe a good euent of any Councill that did not rather encrease then diminish our euils Their contention and ambition passeth my speach not that hee condemneth all Councils for what follie had that bene in so wise a man but he noteth the diseases of his time the Church being so rent in pieces vnder Valens that it could not be restored nor reformed in many yeeres after Euen so in the wordes which you alleage he traduceth not the vocation or
the Presbyters succeeded in order when the place was voyde but that they chaunged by course hee saieth no such thing It was a plaine ouersight I will say no worse in him that first wrested Ambroses wordes to that conceite In the meane time we haue master Bezaes full confession that the going round by course to gouerne the Church doeth maintaine disorder and faction and no whit decrease ambition and the choosing of one to continue chiefe for his life began at Alexandria from Marke the Euangelist sixe yeeres before Peter and Paul were martyred and sixe and thirtie before the death of Saint Iohn in which there is NOTHING THAT can or ought to be misliked Howe truely hee speaketh if he should recall or you refuse his wordes reason and experience wil easily teach vs. for first in this circular change it is not casuall but essentiall that all in their course be they fit or vnfit must haue the ruling of the rest Now if to choose one good amongst many be a matter of difficultie howe impossible then is it that all should be good And yet by your rolling regiment all be they neuer so wicked or vnwoorthie must haue as much time and power to neglect and hurt the Church of God as the well minding and godly Pastours shall haue to assist and helpe the same Againe what good can be done by any when in euerie action one must beginne and another proceede and a third conclude If an euill man light on the beginning middle or ending he may soone marre all And be the men not euill except they be like affected and like instructed when will they agree in iudgement or tread one in anothers steppes If any faction arise I neede not put you in minde what contradicting and reuersing will be offered by your weekely or monethly Gouernours Who shall dare doe anie thing to a Presbyter or Bishop but he must looke for the like measure when their course commeth What can be one weeke made so sure but it may be the next weeke vndone by him that presently followeth This is the right way to make a mockerie of the Church of Christ and to permit it to euerie mans humour and pleasure whiles his time lasteth If you trust not me distrust not your selues It breedeth contempt and openeth the high way to factions As for Ambition which is an other of the mischiefes that you would amend by your changeable gouernement you cure that as he doeth which to coole the heate of one part of the bodie setteth all the rest in a burning feuer To quench the desire of dignitie in one man you inflame all the Pastours of euerie prouince with the same disease for you propose the like honor and power for the time vnto all which we do to one And so you heale ambition by making it common as if patients were the lesse sicke because others are touched with y ◠same infection for if one man cannot haue this Metropoliticall preeminence without some note of pride the rest cā neither expect it nor enioy it in their courses but with some taint of the same corruption fruition and expectation of one the same thing are so neere neighbors that if one be vicious the other cannot be vertuous Wherefore either grant the superioritie and dignitie of Bishops and Metropolitanes may be christianly supported by one in euerie Presbytery and prouince as we affirme or else we conclude it can not be expected and enioyed of all euerie where by course as you would haue it but very vnchristianly You giue more to your Bishops and Metropolitanes then we do and that increaseth their pride We giue them no power nor honor by Gods Law but what you must yeeld to your Pastors presidents if you wil haue any And as for Magistrates we may not limite thē on whom they shal lay the execution of their Lawes nor what honor they shal allow to such as they put in trust so no part thereof be contrarie to the doctrine of the Scriptures Agnise first their callings then measure their offices by the ancient canons of Christs Church and if they haue any other or further authoritie then standeth with good reason and the manifest examples of the Primitiue Church we striue not for it reseruing alwaies to christian princes their libertie to vse whose aduise and help they thinke good and to bestow their fauours where they see cause without crossing the voice of the holie Ghost or the wisdome of the Apostolike and Primitiue Church of Christ. for the gouernement of the Church is committed to them not that they should alter and ouerthrow the maine foundations of Ecclesiasticall Discipline at their pleasures but that they should carefully and wisely vse it to the benefite of Gods Church and good of their people for which they must giue account to the dreadfull Iudge It was long after the Apostles times before Prouinces were diuided and Mother Cities appointed and therefore Metropolitanes are not so ancient as you make them as may appeare by the 33. canon called Apostolike where the chiefe dignitie ouer eche Prouince is not attributed to any certaine place or Citie I stand not precisely for the time when Mother Cities were first appointed in euerie Prouince howbeit the general Council of Ephesus saith Euerie Prouince shal keep his rights vntouched and vnuiolated which it hath had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the beginning vpward according to the custome that hath anciently preuailed euery Metropolitan hauing libertie to take a copie of our acts for his owne securitie for so the wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may well be interpreted though some embrace another sense Yet if in this point you presse those Canons called Apostolike I will not reiect them not that I take to haue bin written by the Apostles for then they must be part of the Canonicall Scriptures but that some of them expresse the ancient discipline of the Church which obtained euen from the Apostles times by whomsoeuer they were collected though many things since be inserted and corrupted in them and therfore are iustlie refused further then they agree with the stories of the first times and the decrees of the eldest Councils The Canon which you quote is this The Bishops of euerie Nation must know or acknowledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him that is first or chiefe amongst them and esteeme him as their head and attempt no matter of waight without his opinion and iudgement neither let him doe any thing without al their aduises and consents Hereby you would prooue there was a time after the Apostles deaths when as yet the first place amongst the Bishops of the same Prouince was not affixed to anie certaine Church or Citie Grant it were so though this Canon doe not exactlie prooue so much then yet in euerie nation there was a Primate before there was a Metropolitane and consequently the authoritie of one to be chiefe in a prouince is elder the◠the priuiledge
speciall charge of imposition of hands and this their singularitie in succeeding and superioritie in ordaining haue bene obserued from the Apostles times as the peculiar and substantial markes of Episcopal power and calling I knowe some late Writers vehemently spurne at this and hardly endure any difference betwixt Bishops and Presbyters vnlesse it be by custome and consent of men but in no case by any order or institution of the Apostles whose opinions together with the authorities on which they builde I haue according to my small skill examined and find them no way able to rebate the full and sound euidence that is for the contrarie for what more pregnant probation can be required then that the same power and precepts which Paul gaue to Timothie when hee had the charge of Ephesus remained in all the Churches throughout the worlde to certaine speciall and tried persons authorized by the Apostles themselues and from them deriued to their after-commers by a generall and perpetuall succession in euery church and citie without conference to enlarge it or Councill to decree it the continuing where of for three discents the Apostles saw with their eyes confirmed with their handes and Saint Iohn amongst others witnessed with his pen as an order of ruling the Church approoued by the expresse voyce of the Sonne of God When the originall proceeded from the Apostles mouth and was obserued in all the famous places and Churches of Christendome where the Apostles taught and whiles they liued can any man doubt whether that course of gouerning the Church were Apostolike for my part I confesse I am neither so wise as to ouer-reach it with policie nor so wayward as to withstand it with obstinacie Against so maine and cleere proofes as I dare vndertake will content euen a contentious minde when hee readeth them are pretended two poore places the one of Ambrose the other of Ierome the first auouching that in the beginning the Episcopall prerogatiue went by order before it came by way of election vnto desert the other resoluing that Bishops are greater then Presbyters rather by the custome of the Church then by the trueth of the Lords disposition Both these authorities I haue throughly discussed and laide forth the right intent of those Fathers not onely by comparison of other Writers but euen by their owne confession lest any shoulde thinke I drawe them to a forraine sense besides their true meaning for when Ierome and Austen alleage the vse and custome of the Church for the distinction betwixt Bishops and Presbyters if it be vnderstoode of the names and titles of honor which at first were common to both and after diuided by the vse of the Church as Austen expresseth we can absolutely grant the places without any preiudice to the cause if it be applied to their power and function in the church it is most true that Ierome saith Presbyters were subiect in such fort as the Primitiue Church obserued rather by custome then by the trueth of the Lords ordinance For Presbyters in the Primitiue Church as appeareth by Tertullian Ierome Possidonius and others might neither baptize preach nor administer the Lords supper without the Bishops leaue especially in his presence which indeede grewe rather by custome for the preseruation of order then by any rule or commandement of the Lord. By the word of God a Bishop did nothing which a Presbyter might not do saue imposing of hands to ordaine That is the onely distinction in the Scriptures betwixt a Bishop and a Presbyter as Ierome and Chrysostome affirme other differences which the church kept many as to impose hands on the baptized and conuerted to reconcile penitents and such like were rather peculiar to the Bishop for the honour of his calling then for any necessitie of Gods Law If any man vrge further out of Ierome that there was no Bishop at all nor chiefe Ruler ouer the Church and Presbyterie of each place in the Apostles times I answere him with the resolution of one of the greatest patrones of their newe discipline Non ita desipuisse existimandus est vt somniaretneminem illi coetui praefuisse Icrome is not to bee thought to haue beene so vnwise as to dreame the Presbyterie had no chiefe Ruler or President It is a perpetuall and essentiall part of Gods ordinance that in the Presbyterie one chiefe in place and dignitie shoulde gouerne eache action or meeting And againe Tales Episcopos diuinitùs quasi ipsius Christi voce constitutos absit vt vnquam simus inficiati that such Bishops as were Pastours in euerie Citie and chiefe of their Presbyteries were appointed from heauen and as it were by the voyce of Christ himselfe God forbid wee shoulde euer denie This saieth hee on the behalfe of the newe Discipline On the other side I say God forbid I should vrge any other but such as were Pastours ouer their Churches and Gouernours of the Presbyteries vnder them If wee thus farre agree what cause then had those turbulent heades I speake not of them all which to ease their stomackes or to please their maintainers iested and railed rather like Stage-players then Diuines on those whome the wiser sorte amongst them can not denie were ordained by God and appointed by the voyce of Christ himselfe If their reasons bee not the stronger and weightier howsoeuer they flatter themselues in fluaries let them remember who saide hee that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me They will haply saue themselues for that our Bishops differ from the Apostolike Bishops in manie thinges as namelie theirs succeeded in order ours by election the dignitie was in the Apostles times common to euerie Presbyter in his course nowe it is proper to one with them it dured for a season as a weeke or a moneth with vs for life except by iust cause any deserue to bee remooued lastly they had but prioritie of place and authoritie to moderate the meetings and consultings of the rest ours haue a kinde of imperie ouer their fellow-Presbyters These bee precisely the points wherein one of the best learned of that side contendeth the ancient and Apostolike institution of Bishops was changed by processe of time into an other fourme established by custome and confirmed by consent of men these be his own words I haue not altered or inuerted the sense or sentence If any of these differences were true yet are they no causes to discredit the custome of the Primitiue Church in electing her Bishops to hold their places so long as they gouerned well for the same writer pronounceth of these very things setting the last aside neque in istis quicquam est quod reprehendi possit neither in these things is there ought that can be misliked but in deede there is not one of al these diuersities that can bee iustly prooued either by Scripture
one wife And againe Eucharistiae sacramentum non de aliorum manu quà m Praesidentium sumimus we take not the Sacrament of the Eucharist at any others then at the Pastours or Rulers hands Handling this assertion Nónne Laici Sacerdotes sumus Wee that are of the Laitie are wee not Priestes he saieth Differentiam inter ordinem plebem constituit ecclesiae authoritas honor per ordinis consessum sanctificatus à Deo A difference betwene the order of Priests and the people the authoritie of the church hath made and the honor sanctified of God by the setting together of their order And shewing how many degrees he accounted in the Cleargie he saith Quùm ipsi authores idest ipsi Diaconi Presbyteri Episcopi fugiunt quomodo Lâ—icus c. When the first men that is the Deacons Presbyters and Bishops flee how shall the Lay forbeare fleeing when the Leaders flee which of the Souldiours will stand Hee is an euill Pastour Christ confirming it that fleeth when hee seeth the woolfe and leaueth his sheepe to the spoyle Which is neuer more doone then when in persecution ecclesia destituitur à Clero the Church is forsaken of the Cleargie Porrò si eos qui Gregi praesunt fugere quum lupi irruunt nec decet imò nec licet qui enim Pastorem talem malum pronunciauit vtique damnauit ideo Praepositos ecclesiae in persecutione fugere non oportebit Then if it bee neither seemely nor lawfull for the Rulers of the flocke to flee when the woolues rush in for hee that pronounced such a one an euill sheepeheard did doubtlesse condemne him the ouerseers of the Church may not flee in persecution By this wee may plainely perceiue there were in Tertullians time no Leaders Rulers nor Ouerseers of the flocke and Church but Pastours and Cleargie men and those either Deacons Priests or Bishops Lay Elders are farre from Tertullians wordes and further from his meaning Why his hooke De Bâ—ptisâ—â— should be alleaged for Lay Elders I can not so much as gesse Some men are so infected with the fansie of Lay Elders that they no sooner reade the word Presbyter but they straight dreame of their Lay Presbyterie Otherwise if we would seeke for a place to crosse their newe discipline we could not light on a better Dandi baptismum ius habet summus Sacerdos qui est episcopus Dehinc Presbyteri Diaconi non tamen sine episcopi authoritate propter ecclesiae honorem quo saluo salua pax est alioquinetiam Laicis ius est To giue baptisme is the right of the chiefest Priest which is the Bishop After him the Presbyters and Deacons not yet without the Bishops authoritie for the honour of the Church that is the honour allowed him in the Church the which being obserued peace is preserued otherwise it were lawful for lay men to doe it Heere find we the Bishop to be the chiefest Priest without his leaue the rest not to baptize With his leaue the Presbyters and Deacons might but not Lay men saue in cases of extremitie then as hee thinketh anie Lay man might The trueth of his opinion I am not heere to discusse the tenour of his reporte I haue no cause to distrust I finde it confirmed by others that in the presence of the Bishop the rest might not baptise as also that none of these three degrees were Lay men Admit the Bishop to be the chiefest the Elders and Deacons without his authoritie to doe nothing and remooue Laie men from the number of Bishoppes Elders and Deacons the platfourme of your Lay Presbyterie must needes fall Augustine much misliked the fond and lewd excuses that some in his time made when they were rebuked for their sinnes Cùm arguuntur à senioribus When they are reprooued by thee or their Elders for drunkennes rapine and killing of men in tumults they answeare what should I doe being a Secular man or a souldier haue I professed to bee a Monke or a Cleargie man Heere is the bare name of Elders but whether they were Lay men or Clearkes heere is no mention If this admonition and reprehension were priuate the Elders may hee the one or the other as you will Euery Christian man hath libertie to reprooue and admonishe his Brother priuatelie for anie sinne committed and it best becommeth age and grey hayres to mislike the disorders and enormities of yoonger and raâ—her heades and then the words of Austen are when they be reprooued by their Elders But if the rebuke were open then Seniores were the elder sort of such Cleargie men as had the charge and ouersight of other mens liues and manners and sate in iudgement with the Bishop to exhort chastice and censure licentious persons That Lay men in Austens time intermedled with the keyes or sacraments I vtterly deny and therefore the worde Elders cannot import that which then was not The keyes whereon Excommunication dependeth and the Sacraments from which offendors are excluded were then the Pastours charge and not the peoples It is more then ignorance for those that woulde seeme learned to imagine that Austen euer heard or thought any Lay men had an interest in the open and ordinarie vse of the keyes and disposition of the Sacraments The Iudges that Austen acknowledged in the Church were no lay Elders as plainly appeareth by his words before alledged neither had lay men any iudgemeÌ„t seats prouided for them in y â— church sed sedes Praepositorum ipsi Praepositi intelligendi sunt per quos ecclesia nunc gubernatur But the seates of the Rulers and the Rulers themselues saith Austen are vnderstoode by whome the Church is nowe gouerned And lest you should doubt who gouerned the Church in his dayes Bishops or Lay Elders noting vpon the 106. psalme three tentations that euery religious and faithfull man amongst the people of God might haue tryall of hee saith Fortassis dignus eris cui populus committatur constituaris in gubernaculis nauis recturus ecclesiam Ibi quarta tentatio Tempestates maris quatientes ecclesiam turbant Gubernatorem Quarta ista nostra est Quanto plus honoramur tanto plus periâ—litamur Tentatio ergo gubernandi tentatio periculorum in regenda ecclesia nos potissimum tangit Happely thou shalt be found woorthie to whom the people may be committed to sit at the helue of the ship to gouerne the Church There is the fourth tentation The storms of the Sea that shake the Church trouble the Gouernor This fourth is ours The higher our honor the greater the danger The tentation then of gouerning the tentation of troubles in ruling the Church chiefly concerneth vs yet are ye not free For brethren though you sit not at the same sterne yet saile you in the same ship Pastours then in S. Austens time and no Lay persons did gouerne the Church and rule the flocke and by them iudgement was giuen and
his presence and very often to expound the Gospell in deed against the maner and custome of the Churches of Africa whereupon some Bishops were offended with him This is the whole narration of Possidonius touching S. Austens Presbytership which was no laie function as we see by the sequele neither giuen him by any Laie Elders but motioned and vrged by all the people and consummated by Valerius that ordered him without the helpe or assistance of any other to ioyne with him Cyprian I reserued to the last though in yeeres he were first because hee is largest as being alleaged no lesse then sixe times howbeit the number of allegations doe not helpe foorth the matter but the trueth and force of them is more to bee regarded Of these sixe there is one place of some importance the rest are soone answered Cyprian writing to the Presbyters and Deacons of Carthage where hee was Bishop saieth Ad id quod scripserunt mihi Compresbyteri nostri Donatus Nouatus Curdius solus rescribere nil potui cùm à primordio Episcopatus mei statuerim nihil sine consilio vestro sine consensu plebis mea priuatim sententia gerere To that which Donatus Nouatus and Curdius our Compresbyters wrate vnto vs I alone could answere nothing forsomuch as I haue resolued with my selfe euen from my first entrance into the Bishoprike without your counsell and the consent of the people to doe nothing vpon my priuate opinion If the Presbyters to whom Cyprian wrate had bene Laie Elders it were somewhat to the purpose but Cyprian neuer heard of any such They were Clergie men to whome hee wrate and Clergie men of whome hee spake They sate with him in the Church with them hee treated in common of the Church affaires their counsell and aduise hee vsed in all things This if you reade Cyprian cannot bee strange vnto you if you peruse but the places which your selues haue quoted you will confesse it Writing to the whole Church of Carthage of one Numidicus that in persecution was scorched with fire ouerwhelmed with stones and left for dead amongst many that were slayne and yet after found halfe aliue by his daughter and recouered Cyprian saieth Know yee brethren your selues to be admonished and instructed by this fauour of God Vt Numidicus Presbyter ascribatur Presbyterorum Carthaginensium numero nobiscum sedeat in Clero c. That Numidicus the Presbyter should bee adioyned to the number of the Presbyters of Carthage and sit with vs amongst the Clergie for this as wee see was the cause of preseruing him that the Lord might adde him to our Clergie and adorne with glorious Priests the perished honour of some of our Presbyters The Presbyters or Elders then of Carthage were the Clergie that sate with the Bishop and with him consulted of matters concerning the good of the Church To Lucius bishop of Rome he saieth The Lord by persecution shewed which was his Church who was his Bishop qui cum Episcopo Presbyteri Sacerdotali honore coniuncti who were Presbyters ioyned with the Bishop in Priestlie honour which the true people of Christ. And againe Presbyteris Diaconis non defuit Sacerdotis vigor c. To the Presbyters and Deacons there wanted not the vigor of Priesthood to compresse those that being vnmindfull of discipline and rashly running on began to communicate with such as were fallen in persecution These Presbyters Elders were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Counsellers and Coassessors to the Bishop as Ignatius remembreth they ruled the Church in common as Hierome auoucheth and without their counsell was nothing done in the Church as Ambrose asserteth and they had euen the honour and vigor of Priesthood as Cyprian witnesseth Of these speaketh Cyprian in euery epistle of laie Elders no â—illable can bee found in all his writings These Elders be as rare as the other be rife the one euery where the other no where to be prooued or pretended If the people must consent before any thing may be done why not also the late Elders Nay if the peoples assent must be sought to euerie thing what needed laie Elders Where the whole multitude should be asked why dee you take a part to exclude the rest Laie Elders are not the people but part thereof all both old and yong are comprised in that name and yet Cyprian maketh this rule of consulting the people in euery thing neither generall for others nor necessarie for himselfe He doeth not say that he and others by Gods Iawe were bound to doe nothing without the people but that hee from the beginning determined in all things to take the counsell of the Presbyters and consent of the people And why he was vehemently impugned from his first ingresse to the bishoprike all occasions were sought to drawe the people from him many aduantages by reason of his absence from the place in time of persecution were taken against him to disgrace him and crosse him in all his doings To strengthen himselfe and retaine the Ioue of his Clergie and people towards him what better way could hee take then in all his enterprises to depend on the counsel of the Clergie consent of the Laitie for by that means he stood assured that neither Schisme could arise nor faction preuaile against him You aske where I finde that I say Euen in Cyprian himselfe and that not once or twise That I could not come to you before Easter the malice and perfidiousnesse of some of the Presbyters hath brought to passe whiles mindfull of their conspiracie and retaining their former venime against my being Bishop yea rather against your suffrages and election they begin a fresh their auncient maner of impugning vs and renew againe their sacrilegious deuises with their woonted lying in waite for vs. Against our counsell they rebell and all Priestly authoritie and power is destroyed by their factious conspiracies Is it not sufficient that I haue now bene two yeeres banished from your presence and separated from your sight that teares fall night and day from me because my lucke was not as yet to salute you or embrace you whom you made Bishop with so great loue and zeale A greater griefe oppresseth my languishing minde that in so great a distresse and neede I can not my selfe come vnto you whiles I beware least at our comming through the threats and secret practises of perfidious persons a greater tumult rise among you His epistle to Cornelius largely rehearseth and lamenteth their erecting an other Bishop after him their maintaining a faction against him their reiecting his letters and despising his threates their peruerting and intising to take part with them as many as they could with sundrie other practises and conspiracies too long to recite We saieth he in the verie time of persecution wrate our letters but we were not regarded after often consulting we not onely with our consent but with our commination decreed that our brethren
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to which both himselfe and his charge are subiect The Councell of Laodicea commanded the rurall Bishops to doe nothing without the liking of the Bishop of the Citie So that they were in all things ruled and gouerned by the Bishops of their Cities vnder whom they were and not directed by any Presbyters of their owne If it seeme strange to any that the ancient Councels shoulde endure the name title of a Bishop to be giuen to whome the power and office of a bishop was not giuen he must consider for what causes they first permitted rurall Bishops to be made The one was to supplie the wants that often happen in the absence or sickenesse of the Bishop In which cases being but vicegerents in some things there was no reason they should haue the same power and prerogatiue the right Bishops had without their leaue or liking For that had beene to erect another Bishop in the same Diocese besides and against the true Bishop and not to place a substitute vnder him The next cause was to content such as were Bishops amongest Schismatikes who woulde rather persist in their factions then returne to the catholike church with the losse of that honour and calling they had before And therefore to such the Bishop of the citie might either allowe the name and title of Bishops if it so pleased him or else appoint them the places and charges of rurall Bishops And so the councell of Nice decreed If any of the Nouatians will returne to the Catholike Church either in Village or Citie where there is already a Bishop or Priest of the Catholike Church it is cleere that the Bishop of the Church shall haue the authoritie and dignitie of the Episcopall function and hee that was reputed a Bishop amongst the Nouatians shall retaine the honor of a Priest vnlesse it please the Bishop of the Church to imparte with him the honour of that title If hee like not so to doe let some place of a rurall Bishop or Priest be prouided for him that hee may seeme to continue in the Clergie and yet not be two Bishops in one Citie Touching Presbyteries then though they were needefull for greater cities where they might well be maintained yet in villages and smaller Townes there was neither vse of them nor prouision for them by reason the countrie churches were smal and could not finde many and the parties that liued in such places were subiected to the bishop of the diocese and in all things directed by him The citie of Rome at the first had vnder one Bishop 46. Priests 7. Deacons 7. Subdeacons 42. Acoluthes Exorcists Readers and Sextens 52. in the whole 155. all founde through the goodnesse and grace of God at the charges of the church there besides 1500. widowes and afflicted persons in like sort sustained by the oblations of the people The number of Priests so encreased afterward that Ierome saith of them Diaconospaucitas honorabiles Presbyteros turba contemptibiles facit The scarcitie of Deacons maketh them to bee more esteemed the multitude of Priests causeth them to be lesse regarded In Constantinople the number of the Clergie was growen so great y â— the church was not able to maintaine theÌ„ therefore the Emperor by his laws was forced to limite how many there should be of euery degree and so he appointed 60. priests 100 deacons 90. subdeacons 110. readers 25. singers 100. sextens in summe 485. Clergie men to attend the seruice of the Church vnder the bishop The number of Clergie men that were in other Cities is not so precisely described but the proofe of their Presbyteries is euerie where occurrent The Presbyteries of Alexandria from Marke the Euangelist to the killing of Proterius after the great Councell of Chalcedon and of Antioch from the preaching of Paul to the burning of the saide citie by the Persians are often remembred in the Ecclesiasticall histories and diuerse Presbyters of either Church that were famous men and writers in the Church of God named by Eusebius Ierome and Gennadius as in the Church of Alexandria amongst others Clemens Origen Heraclas Pierius in the Church of Antioch Geminus Malchion Lucianus Chrysostome and diuerse uch The Church of Carthage had Tertullian and Cyprian who being after made Bishop of the same Citie and forced to bee absent wrate many Letters to the Presbyters and Deacons of Carthage In the Church of Lions in France was Irenaeus a Presbyter vnder Pothynus whome he succeeded in the Bishopricke At Hippo Saint Austen was first a Presbyter vnder Talerius and being Bishop himselfe had vnder him a number of Presbyters that were Colleagues and Clearkes Ignatius remembreth the Presbyteries of Smyrna Philodelphia Philippi Magnesia Trallis and Ephesus in his Epistles to the same Churches Of other Cities and ages the like might be shewed but because it is a thing rather vrged then doubted by you I will spare that paines as superfluous He that readeth either the Councels or the Stories of the Church shall soone perceiue euery Bishop had Presbyters and Deacons in the same Citie with him and vnder him We be far from denying there were Presbyteries in euery Church but that they consisted onely of Cleargie men neither do we beleeue it nor can you prooue it Wee neuer learned to prooue the negatiue we affirme they were Clergie men and that we proue you thinke there were also Lay men amongst them which wee denie that must you prooue Your want of proofe in that point maketh our assertion good You haue all this while scanned the Fathers and ouer-looked the Councels bring now but one for lay Elders we giue you the rest Their generall silence is a full inference against you which aâ—ouch they had such and can not shewe where they mention any such Yet this will I doe name me but one father or Councell that speaketh of the office and duetie of Presbyters and you shall presently see he meaneth Clergie men Or if that please you not looke to the maner of ADMITTING Presbyters into the Church their SITTING SERVING and CONVERSING in the Church their MAINTAINING by the Church and their REMOVING from the Church and you shall cleerely finde there were no Presbyters ioyued with the Bishop in any Ecclesiasticall affaires but Clergie men They were ordained by imposition of hands and so were not Lay Elders they sate with the Bishop in the chancels apart from all Lay men they baptized and consecrated the Lords Supper and so might not Lay men they liued vnder stricter rules then Lay men did as not to haue strange women about them not to change Cities not to resort to spectacles or vittailing houses not to trauell without letters of licence and such like which al lay men were free from they were maintained at the charges of the Church and so were not Lay men and when they
places and offices distinguished or digested they tooke an other order then at beginning And why The first regarde the Apostles had was to gaine vnbeleeuers to Christ the second to gouerne such as were gained And these two respects might best be perfourmed by two contrarie courses To encrease the Church the more workemen the better For when the Haruest is great if the Labourers bee fewe the roumes can not be filled To guide the Church the fewer the better except it bee with counsell to aduise For diuerse men haue diuers minds and diuers meanings and in a multitude of Gouernours emulation and dissention are no rare springs Wherefore no maruell though the Apostles tooke besides themselues as many helpers as they coulde to conuert the worlde vnto Christ and yet tooke not vnto themselues as many Rulers as they coulde in euerie place to gouerne the beleeuers By order of nature men must bee gotten together afore they neede bee gouerned and so in the building of the Church the number of Preachers at the first was more requisite then the choice of Gouernours And for that cause Epiphanius second position is verie true That Presbyters and Deacons the one to labour in the worde and dispence the Sacraments the other to releeue the poore and attend to diuine Seruice were euerie where appointed by the Apostles These were sufficient to beginne the Churches and these were fittest to increase the Church And therefore in many places the Apostles left none other but these If you aske who then gouerned the Churches in those beginnings I answere the flocke was both augmented and directed by the Presbyters that laboured in the worde The chiefe gouernement to impose handes and deliuer vnto Satan rested yet in the Apostles who often visited the Churches which they planted and ordained Presbyters as they passed to supplie the wantes of euerie Church The third point in Epiphanius reporte is this that although it be not extant in the Apostles writings that in euerie place where they came at first they left Bishops yet the Scriptures do witnesse that Paul furnished some places with Bishops as Ephesus and Creete with Timothie and Tite Thus farre I see not what you can refell in Epiphanius Perchance you will deride Epiphanius simplicitie that coulde not discerne betwixt an Euangelist and a Bishop for as you maintaine Timothie and Tite were Euangelists and not Bishops and had an extraordinarie and no ordinarie calling You can not charge Epiphanius with ignoraunce in this behalfe but you must doe the like to the eldest and best learned Fathers of the Primitiue Church namely Eusebius Ambrose Chrysostome Ierome Oecumenius Primasius and others which affirme as Epiphanius doth that Timothie was a Bishop ordeined by S. Paul but thereof anon as also whether an Euangelist might bee a Bishop or no which conclusions of yours though they be most feeble and vnsure yet they be lately taken up for Oracles That which may be doubted in Epiphanius is this The cause why Bishops wanted in some places was saith he the lacke of fit men to beare the office It may be some will thinke it strange that amongest so many Prophets Pastours and Teachers as were in most of those Churches which Paul planted not a fit man could be found for the Episcopal function and yet afterward meete men were found for all the Churches in the worlde but as that which Epiphanius saith might be some cause of wanting Bishops at the first so if I be not deceiued there were other causes that mooued the Apostles not straight wayes to place Bishops in euerie Church where they preached which I will specifie when the testimonies of Ambrose and Ierome be throughly perused Ambrose at first sight seemeth somewhat to dissent from Epiphanius in that he thinketh the Churches had both Presbyters and Bishops left them by the Apostles and the Presbyters were placed in an order according to the deserts and worthines of eche man by the Apostles and others that founded the Churches and this rule deliuered that as the first and chiefest Presbyter who was Bishop in name and superiour in calling to the rest failed so the next should succeede in his roume and enioy the Episcopall chaire and power after his departure And when some Presbyters did not answere the expectation which was had of them but scandalized the Church that course of standing in order to succeede was changed and Bishops were chosen by the iudgement and liking of many Priests to cut off vnworthie and offensiue men from the place I could admit this report of Ambrose but that he expresseth not when and by whome this change beganne he saieth Prospiciente Concilio A Council fore seeing or prouiding that not order but merite should create a Bishop but what Council If he meant a Councill of the Apostles which is not expressed but may well bee intended for the wordes stand indifferent to any Councill no testimonie can be weightier for Bishops then this of Ambrose which is brought against them If he meant others after the Apostles deaths what authoritie had they to change the Apostolike gouernment or by their decree to bind the whole world But this I reserue till Ieromes witnesse bee repeated and examined Ierom in his words before cited auoucheth three special things first that til dissentions sprang in the Church Bishops and Presbyters were all one and the Churches were gouerned by the common aduise of Presbyters amongst whom the care of the Church was equally diuided Next that to roote out schismes rising verie fast through the Preachers and Presbyters factions by a decree throughout the whole worlde one of the Presbyters was chosen in euery Church and set ouer the rest and to him the whole care of the Church did euer after appertaine Thirdly that this subiection of the Presbyters vnder the Bishop and maioritie of Bishops aboue Presbyters grewe rather by the custome of the Church then by the trueth of the Lords disposition for they should rule the Church in common These wordes of Ierome may be either verie true according to the time that they be referred vnto or verie false If you so conster Ierome that all the while the Apostles liued Bishops were al one with Presbyters and had no more charge nor power in the Church then Presbyters you make Ierome contradict the Scriptures himselfe the whole aray of all the ancient Fathers and Apostolike Churches that euerwere since Christs time for all these affirme and proue the contrarie But if you so expound Ierom that the Apostles for a time suffred the Presbyters to haue equall power and care in guiding the Church themselues alwayes sitting at the sterne and holding the helue whiles they were present in those parts of the worlde till by the factions and diuisions of so manie gouernors the Churches were almost rent in peeces and thereupon the Apostles forced did set an other order in the Church then was at first and with the good liking of all the
concludeth that those were Laie men because they are called brethren and did baptize Cornelius and the rest Peter looking on and willing them to doe it How weake this collection is I doubt not but you quickly finde and the wordes which you bring are the next to these and proceed from the verie same perswasion that this did which was that all things at the first erecting of the Church were permiâ—ed and confused the paucitie of the persons and necessitie of the times so requiring and then it skilled not who were Presbyters and who were Bishops Yet if you presse Ambrose I will not reiect him for hee saieth no more but that the next Presbyter was to succeede after the place was voyde But that eyther they went round by course or did gouerne by weekes or monethes or that a Bishop should not differ from a Presbyter by power to ordaine others which are the things that you affirme to bee Gods ordinaunce in any of these if you prooue that Ambrose maketh with you wee will giue you the whole Besides this Ambrose hath foure speciall pointes in these verie places which you alleage against Bishops so contrary to your newe discipline as high noone is to midnight The FIRST is where hee shutteth your laie Presbyters out of doores in saying A Presbyter and a Bishop haue all one ordination for either is a Priest and so neither is Laie The NEXT that hee saieth Paul made Timothie the Euangelist both a Presbyter and a Bishop neither of which your discipline can abide that either Euangelistes should bee Bishops or that Paul should at any time consecrate Bishops The THIRD It is neither right nor lawfull saieth hee for a Presbyter which is an inferiour to ordaine a Bishop which is a Superiour and consequently your Presbyters may not impose hands on a Bishop as Chrysostome also telleth you The last is that where you say the people must haue the election of their Bishop or Pastour by Gods lawe Ambrose saieth it must be done by the iudgement of many Priests and not by the verdict of the people or laie Presbyters Thus see you that the auncient Fathers Ierome and Ambrose which are alleaged so constantlie not onelie for the Laie Presbyters but for the equalitie and Idemtitie of Bishops and Presbyters in the Apostles tyme come nothing neere your newe discipline The names were common but their callings different the wordes were not then seuered as nowe they bee but euen then Presbyters might not impose handes to ordaine Ministers that was reserued to some speciall and chiefe men trusted with the gouernement of others as well Teachers as hearers and appointed to succeede in the Apostles places as shall appeare in the chapter next ensuing with more euidence CHAP. XIII That some chiefe Pastours in and euer since the Apostles times haue bene distinguished from the rest of the Presbyters by the power of ordination and right of succession and placed in euerie Citie to preserue the externall vnitie and perpetuitie of the Church whom the auncient Fathers did and we after them doe call by the name of Bishops BEfore I demonstrate the vocation and function of Bishops to be Apostolike the ambiguitie of the name of Bishop and communitie of many things incident and appertinent both to Bishops and Presbyters vrge mee to lay downe and deliuer certaine peculiar markes and partes of the Bishops power and office whereby they are alwayes distinguished from Presbyters neuer confounded with them either in Scriptures Councils or Fathers Prerogatiues there were many appropriate vnto them by the authoritie of the Canons and custome of the Church as reconciling of penitents confirmation of Infants and others that were baptized by laying on their handes dedication of Churches and such like but these tended as Ierome saieth ad honorem sacerdotis potiùs quà m ad legis necessitatem to the honour of their Priesthood rather then to the necessitie of any lawe The things proper to Bishops which might not bee common to Presbyters were singularitie in succeeding and superioritie in ordaining These two the Scriptures and Fathers reserue onely to Bishops they neuer communicate theÌ„ vnto Presbyters In euery Church and Citie there might be many Presbyters there could bee but one chiefe to gouerne the rest the Presbyters for need might impose handes on Penitents and Infants but by no meanes might they ordaine Bishops or Ministers of the word and Sacraments Neither are these trifling differences or deuised by me The external vnitie and perpetuitie of the Church depend wholy on these As to auoyde schismes Bishops were first appointed so to maintaine the Churches in vnitie the singularitie of one Pastour ouer each flocke is commended in the Scriptures And as Bishops preserue the vnitie of each Church in that there may bee but one in a place so they continue the same vnto perenuitie by ordaining such as shall both helpe them liuing and succeed them dying Cyprian hath written an whole booke to prooue that the vnitie of each Church resteth on the singularitie of the Pastour whither I remit him that is desirous to read more at large as also to his first booke and third epistle intreating of the same matter and written to Cornelius The effect of all is contained in these wordes Who is so wicked and perfidious who so mad with the furie of discord that beleeueth the vnitie of God the Lords vesture the Church of Christ may bee torne in pieces or dare teare it Himselfe in his Gospell warneth and teacheth vs saying There shall bee one flocke and one shepeheard And doeth any man thinke there may bee in one place either many shepeheardes or many flockes In the foresayd Epistle speaking of himselfe not of the Bishop of Rome as fondly and falslie the Papistes conceiue hee saieth Heresies haue sprung and schismes risen from none other fountaine then this that Gods Priest is not obeyed nor ONE PRIEST in the Church acknowledged for the time to bee iudge in Christes steade to whom if all the brethren would be subiect according to the diuine directions no man would after the diuine iudgements after the suffrages of the people after the consent of other Bishops make himselfe iudge nowe not of the Bishop but of God Ierome saieth as much The dumbe beastes and wilde herdes doe follow their leaders the Bees haue their kings the Cranes flie after one like an Alphabet of letters One Emperour one Iudge of each Prouince Rome as soone as it was built could not haue two brethren to be kings Iacob Esau fought in one wombe Euery Church hath but one Bishop one chiefe Presbyter one chiefe Deacon and each ecclesiasticall order resteth on their Rulers In a shippe is but one that directeth the helue in an house but one Master in an armie neuer so great the signe of one Generall is expected Yea the very safetie of the Church dependeth on the dignitie of the chiefe Priest or
Hypotyposeon writeth thus Peter Iames and Iohn after the Assumption of our Sauiour though they were preferred by the Lord before the rest yet did they not chalenge that glorie to themselues but made Iames the Iust Bishop of Ierusalem Eusebius The feate of Iames the Apostle which was the first that receiued the Bishopricke of the Church of Ierusalem from our Sauiour himselfe and the Apostles whome also the diuine Scriptures call the Lordes brother is kept to this day and euidently shewed to all men by the brethren which haue followed him in ordinarie succession Ierome Iames the Lordes brother surnamed Iust straight after the Lordes passion ordained Bishop of Ierusalem by the Apostles wrate one onely Epistle which is one of the seuen Catholike Epistles Egesippus that liued neere to the Apostles times in the fift Booke of his Commentaries speaking of Iames saieth James the Lords brother surnamed Iust receiued the Church of Ierusalem in charge after the Apostles Chrysostome writing vpon these wordes of the fifteenth Chapter of the Actes After they held their peace Iames answered saieth Hic erat Episcopus ecclesiae Hierosolymitanae This Iames was Bishop of the Church of Ierusalem Epiphanius Iames called the Lordes brother was the first Bishop in Ierusalem Ambrose Paul sawe Iames the Lordes brother at Ierusalem because he was made Bishop of that place by the Apostles Augustine The Church of Ierusalem Iames the Apostle was the first that gouerned by his episcopal office From Iames to Macarius that sate in the Councill of Nice were forty bishops of Ierusalem succeeding eche other in a perpetuall discent and sitting eche for his time in that chaire in which Iames the Apostle sate wheÌ„ he taught gouerned the Church of Ierusalem Their order and succession froÌ„ Iames is collected by Eusebius Epiphanius out of elder former Writers which now are perished by the iniurie of time The succession of Bishops at Antioch and Alexandria began in the Apostles time as we find testified by ancient incorrupt witnesses Euodius was the first that succeeded at Antioch after Peters departure of whom Ignatius that was next to him writeth in this wise to the Church there Remember Euodius your blessed Pastor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which first receiued from the Apostles the chiefe ouersight or regimeÌ„t of vs. So saith Euseb. Of those that were bishops at Antioch Euodius was the first that was appointed Ignatius the next who not only conuersed with the Apostles but also saw Christ in the flesh after his resurrection when he appeared to Peter the rest of the disciples His own words as Ierom alleageth them are Ego verò post resurrectionem in carne â—um vidi quando venit ad Petrum ad eos qui cum Petro erant I sawe Christ in the flesh after his resurrection when he came to Peter those that were with Peter said to them handle me see A spirit hath not flesh bones as you see me haue Of him Origen saith Ignatium dico episcopum Antiochie post Petrum secunduÌ„ I meane Ignatius the 2. bishop of Antioch after Peter Ierom maketh Ignatius to be the third bishop of the church of Antioch froÌ„ Peter the Apostle reckoning Peter for the first after whom succeeded Ignatius in the second place as Eusebius writeth Ignatius so much spoken by most men to this present day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the second that enioyed the Bishopricke in the succession of Peter at Antioch Touching the Sees of Antioch Alexandria and Rome Gregorie saith Petrus sublimauit sedem in qua etiam quiescere praesâ—ntem vitam finire dignatus est ipse decorauit sedem in qua Euangelistam discipulum misit ipse firmauit sedem in qua septem annis quamuis discessurus sedit Vnius atque vna est sedes cui ex authoritate diuina tres nunc Episcopi praesident Peter aduanced the â—eate of Rome where he thought good to rest and end this present life he also adorned the seate of Alexandria to which he sent his disciple Marke the Euangelist he fastned the seate of Antioch in which he rested seuen yeares though with purpose to depart It is one seate and of one Apostle in which three Bishops now sit by diuine authority For the first bishop of Alexandria Ierom Eusebius concurre with Gregory Marcus interpreâ— Petri Apostoli Alexandrinae ecclesiae primus episcopus Marke the Interpreter of Peter the Apostle the first bishop of the church of Alexandria who dying 6 yeeres before Peter left his church place vnto Anianus as Euseb writeth Nerone 8. regni annum agente 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nero being in the 8 yeere of his raigne Anianus a very godly man euery way admirable first vndertooke the publike administration of the Church of Alexandria after Marke the Apostle Euangelist And as the succession at Antioch began in Euodius that was ordained by the Apostles so at Alexandria they continued the same course from Marke downeward by Ieroms owne confession Alexandriae à Marco Euangelista vsque ad Heraclam Dionysium Episcopos Presbyteri semper vnum ex se electum in excelsiori gradu colloâ—atum episcopum nominabant At Alexandria froÌ„ Mark the euangelist vnto Heraclas Dionysius the Presbyters did alwayes choose one of theÌ„selues whoÌ„ being placed in an higher degree they called their bishop Of the succession at Rome Irenoeus saith Fundantes igitur instruâ—ntes beati Apostoli ecclesiam Lino episcopatum administrandâ— ecclesiae tradiderunt Succedit ei Anacletus post cum tertio loco ab Apostolis Episcopatum sortitur Clemens qui vidit ipsos Apostolos contulit cum eis The blessed Apostles Peter and Paul founding and ordering the Church of Rome deliuered the ouersight or charge of gouerning the Church to Linus Anacletus succeeded him and in the third place after the Apostles Clemens which sawe the Apostles themselues and conferred with them vndertooke the Bishops office Next to this Clement succeeded Euaristus after Euaristus Alexander and then in the sixt place from the Apostles was appointed Sixtus then Telesphorus then Higinus then Pius after whoÌ„ was Anicetus Next to Anicetus succeeded Soter now wheÌ„ Irenaeus wrote in the 12. place from the Apostles Eleutherius hath the Bishoprike And likewise Optatus Negare non poteâ— scire te in vrbe Roma Petro primo Cathedram episcopaleÌ„ esse collocatam c ergo Cathedra vnica sedit prior Petrus cui successit Linus Lino successit Clemens Clementi Anacletus c. Thou canst not deny saith he to Parmenian but thou knowest that in the city of Rome the episcopall chaire was conferred first to Peter c. In that chaire which was but one sate first Peter whom Linus succeeded and after Linus Clemens after Clemens Anacletus after Anacletus Euaristus then Sixtus Thelesphorus Iginus
that was you shal heare his owne confession in the same place and thereby perceiue that many of the points which I haue before prooued are so sound and sure that no man learned can with any trueth resist them Habebant ergo singulae Ciuitates Presbyterorum Collegium qui Pastores erant ac Doctores Nam apud populum munus docendi exhortandi corrigendi quod Paulus episcopis iniungit omnes obibant Quibus docendi munus iniunctum erat eos omnes nominabant Presbyteros Illi ex suo numero in singulis ciuitatibus vnum eligebant cui specialiter dabant titulum Episcopi ne ex aequalitate vt fieri solet dissidia nascerentur vnicuique ciuitati attributa erat regio quae Presbyteros inde sumeret velu◠corpori ecclesiae illius accenseretur Euerie Citie had a College of Presbyters which were Pastours and Teachers for they all had the function of teaching exhorting and reproouing in the Congregation which Paul enioyneth vnto Bishops To whome the office of teaching was allotted they were all called Presbyters These in euerie Citie chose one of their owne number to whome they gaue the speciall title of a Bishop lest by an equalitie as is vsually found diuisions shoulde arise To euerie Citie was appointed a certaine region which tooke their Presbyters from the Citie and was counted part of the bodie of that Church First then Presbyteries consisted of Pastours and Teachers and were not had but in Cities Next lest equalitie shoulde breede confusion ouer these Presbyters in eche Citie as well as ouer the flocke was a bishop who in Dignitie and Authoritie was aboue them Thirdly euery Bishop had his region or Dioecese besides his Citie and the Presbyters that were designed for such Countrey Parishes as were within his Circuite were fette from the Citie and reputed to bee of the bodie of the Episcopall Church And all these thinges not onely were in the Primitiue Church as I haue alreadie prooued but they were also agreeable to the word of God as Caluin himselfe confesseth You should take all He telleth you that a Bishop should haue no dominion ouer his brethren but as a Consul in the Senate shoulde propose matters aske voyces goe before others in aduising warning exhorting and moderate the whole action with his authoritie and execute that which is decreed by common consent And this kinde of regiment hee saieth the Fathers acknowledge first entred humano consensu by the consent of men according to the necessitie of the times though it were verie ancient as at Alexandria euer since Marke the Euangelist I honour Caluin for his wonderfull giftes and paines in the Church of God and could easily be enduced to embrace his iudgement were it not that in this case a manifest trueth confirmed by the Scriptures Fathers and by himselfe enforceth me to the contrarie Ieromes wordes I haue examined before they do not import that bishops first beganne by humane deuise and policy Ignatius Irenaeus Egesippus Clemens Alexandrinus Dionysius of Corinth Origen Tertullian Eusebius Methodius and Ierom himself affirme the first bishops were made in the Apostles times and by the Apostles handes Saint Iohn in his Reuelation writeth to the seuen Pastours or chiefe moderatours of the seuen Churches in Asia Whiles Saint Iohn liued as Eusebius recordeth there succeeded at Antioch Ignatius after Euodius at Alexandria Abilius after Amianus at Rome Clemens after Anacletus and Linus at Ierusalem Simeon after Iames. Yea Saint Iohn with his owne handes made Polycarpe bishop of Smyrna as Irenaeus Tertullian Eusebius and Ierome affirme and that next after Eucharius as Socrates noteth he did the like in many other places as Clemens Alexandrinus writeth I can by no meanes forsake so many ancient and assured witnesses whereof some liued with Polycarpe and were his Schollers to followe the mistaking of a few wordes in Ierome by whomsoeuer Yea Caluin himselfe saith Nec humanum est inuentum sed Dei ipsius institutum quod singulis suas assignamus ecclesias Paulus ipse Archippum Colossensium episcopum commemorat It is not mans deuise but the very ordinance of God that we assigne to euery man his Church Paul himselfe mentioneth Archippus Bishop of Colossus That is Pastour of Colossus and so we grant eche Church ought by Gods law to haue a Pastour We must aske further whether by Gods lawe eche Church must haue one or many If one wee haue our desire if many there must yet be one chiefe to auoyde confusion Equalitie as Caluin noteth breedeth factions Ierome saith To suppresse the seedes of dissention one was set aboue the rest otherwise there would be as many schismes as there be Priests Beza maketh it an essential and perpetual part of Gods ordinance to haue one chiefe in eche Presbyterie His wordes are Essentiale fuit in eo de quo hic agimus quod ex Dei ordinatione perpetua necesse fuit est erit vt in Presbyterio quispiam loco dignitate primus actioni gubernandae praesit cum eo quod ipsidiuinitus attributū est Iure This was essential in the matter we haue in hand that by Gods ordināce which must alwais indure it hath bin is and shal be needeful that in the Presbyterie one chiefe in place and dignitie should moderate and rule euery action with that right which is allowed him by Gods lawe And in this he saieth right for a multitude vngouerned must needs be confused which should be farre from the Church of God and gouernement there can be none where all are equall When the shepeheardes leade into diuers pastures whom shall the sheepe follow when sundrie lords make sundrie lawes which shall the subiect obey Sure if no man can serue two masters no Church can endure two Pastours Whiles they consent they haue but one minde though many men when they dissent which in all persons is casuall and in all places vsuall then will there be as many sides as there be leaders You were as good set two heads on one bodie as two chiefe rulers ouer one companie If you confesse there must by Gods law be one chiefe Pastour in one church then the chiefe Pastour of eche Citie is the bishop which we seeke for and he by your owne positions is authorized as Pastour of the place by Gods ordinance This you shall neuer auoyde doe what you can Eche Church in the Apostles times had many Presbyters that laboured in the word The Scriptures do plainely witnes it In the Church of Ierusalem Act. 15. v. 6. and 23 of Antioch Act. 13. v. 1 of Ephesus Act. 20. v. 17. and 28 of Rome Rom. 16 of Corinth 1. Corinth 14. v. 29 of Philippi Philip. 1. v. 1 of Thessalonica 1. Thess. 5. v. 12 of other Churches the like is affirmed Hebr. 13. v. 17 Iames 5. v. 14 1. Pet. 5. v. 1. Now by Gods essentiall and
great loue in you towardes vs that wee dare not offend you for the gaine of our soule Some of the Presbyters saieth Cyprian to his Clergie neither remembring the Gospel nor their place neither thinking on the judgement of the Lorde to come nor on the BISHOP THAT IS SET OVER THEM which was neuer doone vnder any of my predecessours with contempt and reproch of their Ruler take vpon them to doe anything euen to communicate with those that fall in time of persecution Let those rash and vnwise among you know that if they persist any longer in such actions I will vse that admonition which the Lord willeth mee in suspending them from the ministerie of the Lordes Table and at my returne make them answere before vs and the whole people for their dooings Some ripe youthes will thinke all these Fathers were infected with humane deuises in attributing so much vnto bishops but the grauer sorte will remember these learned and godly men were as like to knowe what in Christian duety they were to yeelde or to aske as the plotformers of our time that affirme the bishop must be subiect and obedient to the greater part of his Presbyters and do nothing but what they determine The bishop then or President of the Presbyters for I stand not on names whiles I discusse their powers is by Christs owne mouth proneunced to bee the Angell of the Church that is the chiefe Steward ouer Gods housholde and ouerseer of his flocke and the authoritie that hee hath in the Church is Pastorall and Paternal euen the same that hath continued in the church since the beginning of the world This fatherly kinde of regiment began in the Patriarks dured in the Priests and Prophets of Moses Lawe was deriued to the Apostles and so descended to the chiefe Pastours of Christs church to this day who are to be honored and obeyed in the word and Sacraments as Fathers of all their children This power and honour I trust is so tolerable and Christian that you dare not spurne against it If you did not giue it onely to them and take it from all others wee would not gaine say it so much as we doe That which is common to euery Pastour in regard of those that are vnder them cannot be denyed the chiefe to whose ouersight and charge the whole church in euerie place is committed If you thinke the name of Pastour cannot be common to many in one and the same Church then the bishop must be Pastour alone for he is the Angel of Gods Church If the pastorall charge may be common to many then must he haue it chiefly and aboue all because he is Gods Angell and superior to all You remember your owne positions it is Gods essentiall and perpetuall ordinance that one shoulde be chiefe as well ouer Presbyters as people He cannot be chiefe in the Presbyterie but he must be chiefe in the Church and consequently if the Presbyters be Pastours he is chiefe Pastour We giue him no power but to moderate the meetings and execute the decrees of the Presbyters That we are well content the Bishop shall enioy but further we giue him none Blessed are your Presbyters that must haue their betters to execute their decrees but I pray you sirs for Gods decrees who shall execute them Must the Presbyters voyces be asked before Gods Lawes shalbe executed Take heede not of tyrannicall but of Satanicall pride if Gods will shal not take place in your Churches till the Presbyterie be assembled and agreed You haue prouided a president to execute your owne pleasures now let God haue one amongst you to execute his Execution in all things we reserue to him that is chiefe for as to consult and decree a number is fittest so to execute that which is decreed one is the surest lest if execution be committed to many their excusing themselues one on another or dissenting from eche other do hinder the whole You beginne to be wise The honour to determine you keepe to your selues the paines to execute you lay on your chiefe Ruler to make him the gladder to be rid of his office that another by course may succeede in his roume And so where by Gods ordinance you must haue one chiefe you take such order with him that he shal neuer be willing to stay long in it Wee doe it to preuent ambition in such as woulde seeke for the highest place You decrease the ambition of one that shoulde be highest and increase the pride of an hundred that should be lowest for where wee haue one bishop in a Diocese tied to the Lawes of God the Church and the Prince you woulde haue three hundred in a Diocese in some more all of equall power and set at libertie to consult and determine of al matters at their pleasures We subiect our Presbyteries to the Lawes of God the Church and the Realme as well as you doe your Bishops and giue them no leaue to resist or reuerse the decrees of any superiour powers You doe well For when the God of heauen hath declared his will or the Church by her prouinciall or generall Councils determined doubts and made rules or Christian Magistrates by their Lawes redressed and ordered things amisse besides the loâ—se of your paines it were more then pride for your Presbyters in their assemblies to consult afresh and bring the selfe same things againe to the question What is decreed by superiours must not by inferiours be debated whether it shall take place or no but be rather obeyed with readinesse So that in all cases determined by the Lawes of God the Church or the Prince consultation is both superfluous and presumptuous execution is onely needefull and that must be committed to some persons that may precisely be chalenged and punished for the contempt if that which is commanded be not performed now whom appoint you to execute the decrees of God the Church and the prince The whole Presbyterie Then vpon the not execution of Gods or mans Lawe by any one Prebyter all must be punished aswell innocent as nocent diligent as negligent The blame must lie on all where the charge is in common Were you but once or twise well followed for other mens faultes you woulde soone ware weary of this generall and confused execution And though you woulde not yet neither the equity nor prudency of Gods or mans Lawes endure that wandering kinde of execution they note and specifie the persons that shall haue the charge and ouersight to execute their decrees that vpon any neglect or defect the right offendours may be chalenged And since to auoide confusion and preuent delayes you committe the execution of your owne decrees to the care and circumspection of your President what cause can there be why the lawes of God the Church and the Prince should not like wise be executed by the bishop or chiefe Pastour of eche place There can be no doubt but the Canons of Councils and Lawes of Christian princes
see you doe You haue not a word nor a tittle in the Scriptures for the power of your Presbytefies and yet you pronounce so peremptorilie and resolutelie of theÌ„ as if there were nothing els written in the newe Testament but the power of your Presbyters Did not the Presbyterie impose hands on Timothie to make him an Euangelist did not they watch and feede the flocke in the Apostles times did not the holy Ghost make them ouer seers of the Church what would you haue more Of laie men your Presbyteries either wholie or chieflie consist then they also be Pastours and Bishops and watch feed the flocke the holy Ghost hath set them ouer the Church they also impose hands as wel as the best And to say the trueth what thing is there so peculiar to Pastors which you do not communicate to your Presbyters for wheÌ„ you be vrged y â— Presbyters in the Apostles times were by dutie to doe those things which belonged properly to Pastorall care and ouersight and therefore laie men were no part of thâ—se Presbyteries you answere roundlie that laie Elders in the Consistorie do watch and feed and ouerlooke the flocke as well as Pastours and so not onely their power but also their charge is the very same as you say that the holy Ghost gaue vnto Pastors and yet they no Pastours And touching hands laied on Timothie by the Presbyterie you answere your selves for when you alleage that the Presbyterie did impose handes on Timothie wee aske you whether all the Presbyterie had right and power to impose handes or onely some of them If all then Laie Elders must either impose handes which Caluine conclusiuely denieth hoc postremo habendum est solos Pastores manus imposuisse Ministris this wee must vnderstand that onely Pastours imposed handes on Ministers or be no part of the Presbyterie If some onely imposed handes and yet the Presbyterie is said to doe that which not all but some fewe or one of them did In like maner Paul saieth the Presbyterie laied handes on Timothie when himselfe did the deede who was one of the Presbyterie And thus much Caluine likewise auoucheth Paâ—lus ipse se non alios complures Timotheo manus imposuisse commâ—morat Paul witnesseth that himselfe and none others laied handes on Timothie And strange it is to see you build the maine foundation of your Presbytericall power on a place that hath so many sound and sufficient answeres as this hath First Ierome Ambrose Primasius and Caluine tell you the worde Presbyterie signifieth in that place the degree and function which Timothie receiued not the Colledge and number of Presbyters Next Chrysostome Theodorete Oecumenius and Theophilact tell you that Paul by the Presbyterie meant the Bishops their names at first being common for that Presbyters might not laie handes on a Bishop such as Timothie was Thirdlie the Scriptures tell you that the Apostles Euangelists Prophetes and the seuentie disciples were of the Presbyteries in the first Church and they might well impose hands on Timothie without any Presbyters Fourthlie Saint Paul telleth you as Caluine well obserueth and vrgeth that himselfe and none others laied handes on Timothie Lastlie your selues say Timothie was an Euangelist which function and vocation the Presbyterie of no particular Church could giue him but onely the Apostles What power had the Church of Iconium or Ephesus to make Euangelists I meane such as should accompanie the Apostles and assist them in their trauailes If you trust neither Scriptures nor Fathers for shame trust your selues and your owne positions Howe shall other men beleeue your assertions when your selues doe not beleeue them If Timothie were an Euangelist they must be Apostles and no Presbyters that imposed handes on him If the Presbyterie of any particular Church imposed hands on him Timothie must be a Bishop and haue a locall charge in some Church which you impugne vnder pretence of his Euangelship Choose which yyu will so you choose some what and stand to it whrn you haue chosen it Were they Presbyters or no that imposed hands on Timothie If they were yet they did it iointlie with Paul and so without the Apostle or his successor Presbyters may not impose hands and then must Timothie be a Bishop when Paul wrate vnto him for Presbyters could not make him an Euangelist Were they no Presbyters but Apostles or others of higher calling Then maketh this place nothing for the power of Presbyters either to ordaine or depriue ministers of the word and Sacramentes and setting this aside what one iote finde you in the Scriptures concerning your Presbyteries The conclusion is We shew you substantiall and full proofe that TIMOTHIE AND HIS SVCCESSOVRS are charged by Paul to obserue these precepts of the holy Ghost in the Church of Christ for euer touching the admitting of fit ministers and remouing of vnfit Thence we inferre this power must be perpetuall in Bishops for they succeed Timothie in the Church the Presbyteries doe not On the other side you claime this authoritie from Bishops to your Presbyteries but you cannot prooue either their succession from Timothie or ioint commission with Timothie by any sentence or syllable in the Scriptures That they should feede and watch the flocke you vrge and we graunt in teaching and exhorting they were ioyned with Timothie by reason the labourers must of force be many where the haruest was so great as in the Apostles times but in ordaining and gouerning the Teachers as there was no need of many so is there no precept for many least by the multitude of Rulers order should be rather confused then preserued Wherefore as Timothie was placed at Ephesus and Tite in Creete to ordaine moderate and rebuke as well Presbyters as people so was Archippus at Colossus so were the seuen Pastours in the seuen Churches of Asia to whom the sonne of God wrate by S. Iohns penne so in all the Apostolike Churches were Apostolike men throughout the Christian world left to guide and gouerne the Churches of Christ with like power and to leaue the same to their successours for euer And this our construction and exposition of of S. Pauls words to Timothie the learned and ancient fathers confirme with one consent and the Catholike Church of Christ hath continued and performed in all ages and places since the Apostles deaths Meane you that Bishops alone might doe what they would without the knowledge or consent of their Presbyters My meaning is soone understood You establish one chiefe in your Presbyteries by Gods essentiall and perpetuall ordinaunce to execute that which you decree whom you call your President How farre I ioyne with you you shall quickly perceiue To auoyd tumults and dissentions God hath authorized one in each place and Church able to haue maintaine a Presbyterie who with Pastorall and fatherly moderation should guide as well the Presbyters that assist him as the people that are subiect to him according to the lawes of God and
father so doe you nothing without the Bishop whether you be Presbyter Deacon or Laie man And againe Presbyters bee subiect to your Bishop Deacons to your Pesbyters and Laie men to both My soule for theirs that obserue this order the Lord will be alwayes with them The Canons reporting the ancient discipline that obtained in the Church from the Apostles times say Let the Presbyters and Deacons doe nothing without the consent of the Bishop for the Bishop is hee to whose charge the people are committed and who shall render an account for their soules Tertullian that liued in the next age after the Apostles prooueth that in his time neither Presbyter nor Deacon might baptize without the Bishops leaue The right to giue baptisme hath the high Priest which is the Bishop then the Presbyters and Deacons Non tamen sine Episcopi authoritate propter ecclesiae honorem quo saluo salua pax est but not without the Bishops authoritie for that honour the Church yeeldeth to Bishops which being preserued peace is maintained Emulation is the mother ofschismes The Councill of Ancyra that was elder then the Councill of Nice sheweth It was not lawfull for Rurall Bishops to ordaine Presbyters or Deacons nor for the Presbyters of the Citie to doe any thing out of their charge without the licence and letters of the Bishop The Councill of Laodicea expressing the Bishops preeminence saieth The Rural Bishops that are alreadie made must doe nothing without the consent of the Bishop of the Citie Likewise the Presbyters must do nothing without the liking of their Bishop The Councill of Arle in Constantines dayes Presbyteri sine conscientia Episcoporum nihil faciant The Presbyters may do nothing without the knowledge or consent of the Bishop Ierome giueth the same reason for it that Tertullian doeth if the chiefe Priest should not haue power eminent aboue all without partner there would be as many schismes as there be Priests Inde venit vt sine Episcopi missione neque Presbyter neque Diaconus ius habeant baptizandi Thence is it that without the Bishops leaue neither Presbyter nor Deacon may baptize If Presbyters by the discipline of the Primitiue Church were to obey their Bishop and might doe nothing no not baptize without the bishops leaue how farre were they frō ouer-ruling censuring their bishop by number of voices which you attribute to your Presbyters This was that custome of the Church which Ierome confessed was against the Diuine disposition If this were the custome of the Primitiue Church then were their Presbyteries nothing like your Consistories neither did the Bishop as a Consul in the Senate aske voices and execute what the most part decreed but as a Pastour he gouerned ouer-looked as well the Presbyters as the people and without his consent and liking the Presbyters might doe nothing no not haptize nor administer the Lordes supper neither doeth Ierome say that this custome of the Church was against the diuine disposition hee is so farre from condemning it that he saieth the safetie of the Church dependeth thereon but Ierome willeth the Bishops to remember that though the whole care and ouersight of the Church bee now giuen to them and taken from Presbyters for preuenting of schismes yet they should vse them with honour and consult with them for the good of the Church because by the trueth of the diuine disposition afore schismes began they were trusted in common with the regiment of the Church That disposition which hee calleth diuine wee seeke torestore By pretence of those wordes you proclaime your owne deuises vnder the title of Gods ordinance Otherwise the charge that Paul giueth Timothie maketh stronglie for Bishops against your Presbyteries but that we interprete his wordes by the practise of the Church and thereby conceiue that though the chiefe power and care were committed to Bishops yet their Presbyteries were not excluded for as then Bishops had no meanes to bee directed or assisted but onely their Presbyteries Afterwards when vpon the generall preuailing of the Gospell on the face of the earth Synodes began to assemble and the Pastors of diuers Churches vsed by letters and meetings to conferre about such orders and rules as they thought needfull to bee obserued in all their Churches the Presbyteries of euery particular place had more leasure and leaue to play by reason prouinciall Councils vndertooke the debating and resoluing of those doubts and difficulties that before troubled the Presbyteries And as you tie your President to the execution of such things as your Presbyters shall decree so the Primitiue Church of Christ had greater reason and better ground to binde her Bishops to see those things perfourmed which were concluded by generall assent of the Bishops and Pastours of any Prouince Where you may see vpon what occasion the power of Presbyteries first decreased not that Bishops wrongfully encroched on their liberties and violentlie ouer-mastered them but what things were before handled and debated in the Presbyteries of each place came nowe to be discussed and concluded in the Synodes and full assemblies of all the Bishops and Pastours of one kingdome or Countrey So that Synodes in consultation and determination of all ecclesiastical griefes and causes were preferred by the Primitiue Church of Christ as Courtes of greater iudgement higher power better experience and more indifferencie then Presbyteries and if malice doe not blinde you you will confesse the same Was it possible to finde in any Presbyterie so many graue wise learned and sufficient men as in a Prouince In Presbyteries affections and factions mightilie preuaile by reason men that liue together vpon liking or disliking soone linke togither In Synodes where all were strangers to themselues and to the parties no such thing could be feared In Presbyteries it was easie for the Bishop to haue his forth for that the rest were subiect vnto him and might many wayes be displeased by him if he would seek reuenge In Synodes they were all his brethren and equals no way in danger to him and therefore the more likelie to bee sincere and indifferent Iudges And as for authoritie I trust your selues doe not meane in euery Parish to erect a Pope and a Colledge of Cardinals from whom there shall be no appeale of whose wrongs there shall be no redresse whose censures must stand indissoluble that were of all tyrannies the most intollerable In all Christian societies the whole of like power and calling is greater then any part and a Prouince must bee respected before a Parish Wherefore Presbyteries must yeeld to Synodes and the Bishop of each place is more bound to regard and execute Synodal then Presbyterall decrees This whiles you marke not you imagine the whole Church of Christ conspired against Presbyters to suppresse them to change the Apostolicall forme of regiment where in deed the decrees of Councils and lawes of Christian princes moderating and determining all those doubts and
it voideth the gifts sales and exchanges of ecclesiastical goods made by the Bishop without the subscription of his Clarks The Councill of Hispalis We decree according to the rule of the ancient fathers that none of vs presume to degrade a Presbyter or Deacon without the examination of a Councill for there are many that condemne them without discussing their causes rather by tyrannicall power then by Canonicall authoritie Manie like cases there are in which the bishop might not meddle without his Presbytery or a Synode whereof some are altered by laws some rest in force at this present Against this tyrannicall power which you mention wee repine that Bishops alone should excommunicate and depriue Presbyters at their pleasures Did you acknowledge the Canonicall authoritie of bishops we should soone conclude for the tyrannicall but vnder the shew of the one you impugne the other and when you come to redresse it you establish a plainer tyrannie in steade of it True it is that the frequencie of Synodes did first rebate the credite and decaie the vse of Presbyteries For when the bishops of eche prouince as by the generall Councils of Nice and Chalcedon they were bound met twise euerie yeere to heare and moderate Ecclesiasticall griefes and causes Presbyters were lesse regarded and lesse emploied then before Synodes as superiour Iudges entring into the examination and decision of those things which were wont to be proposed in Presbyteries And when priuat quarrels questions increasing Synodes began to be tired with continuall sitting about such matters and the bishops of most Churches to be detained from their cures and attend the debating deciding of griefs displeasures betwixt man and man the burden grew so intollerable that Synodes were forced to settle an appeale froÌ„ the bishop to the Metropolitane commit it to the care of the Primate what causes were fit for Synodall cognition The Council of Sardica If any Bishop in a rage hastily mooued against a Presbyter or Deacon will cast him out of the Church we must prouide that an innocent be not condemned and depriued the Communion All answered Let the partie so eiected haue libertie to flie to the Metropolitane of the same prouince and desire his cause to be more aduisedly heard The great Councill of Affrica finding howe troublesome it was for the bishops of that whole Region to meete and staie the hearing of all matters chose out three of euerie Prouince to end causes vndetermined and by reason they could not assemble twice a yeare for the length of the way they were contented with one full Councill in the yeere and left the causes and complaints of Presbyters Deacons and other Clergie men first to the bishops that were nearest and then to the Primate or Metropolitane of the same prouince We decree that Presbyters Deacons and other inferiour Cleargie men if in any matters they finde themselues agreeued with the iudgements of their own Bishops the Bishops that are neerest shall giue them audience And if they thinke good to appeale from them they shall not appeale to the Tribunals beyond the Seas but to the Primates of their owne Prouince euen as wee haue often decreed of Bishops These Canons did not establish but represse tyrannicall power in bishops if any did assert it and required the bishop before he proceeded against Presbyter or Deacon to take vnto him assessours of the neerest bishops such as the parties conuented should demand and if they coulde not ende the cause with the liking of both sides then the Primate to haue the hearing of it and lastlie the Councill if either parte woulde appeale from the Primate Thus did the Bishops of the Primitiue Church order the hearing of causes within their prouinces neither prowdly nor Antichristianly but in my iudgement soberly and wisely referred them from the Bishop to the Primate thereby to ripen causes and search into the trueth of eche complaint with a great deale lesse trouble and no lesse indifferencie then if it had bene immediatly brought to the Councill And were you as moderate as you be resolute you woulde perceiue what a tedious labour it is and in our State superfluous for a Synode of Bishops to sit all a yeere long hearing priuate griefes complaints and contentions If you be so desirous of it I would you were for a while fast tied to it that you might learne to be wise you would bee the willinger as long as you liued to let courts alone and spend your time better then in examinations depositions and exceptions of witnesses Howbeit in our realme vnlesse you change all your Ecclesiasticall lawes I see not how Synodes or Presbyteries should intermeddle with any such matters for how shal your Presbyters iudge by discretion or by law Your discretions I know no man so foolish that wil trust What greater tyranny iniury can be vrged on a christian realme then instede of Laws to offer the determinations of your Presbyteries Shal ech mans safetie and soule depend on your pleasures But your Presbyteries you meane shall be tied to execute the same Lawes that are alreadie settled Alas good men howe many hundred yeres will you aske before your Presbyteries in cities and villages will be able to reade them and howe many thousand before they vnderstand them Are you well in your wiâ—â—es to claime the execution of those Lawes for your Presbyteries which they neither doe nor euer will conceiue first set them to schoole and when they can reade law send them to the vniuersities and vpon their growing to such perfection that they can heare decide eche mans case by the Lawes of this realme make petition for them to haue them authorized in euerie parish insteade of the Arches If otherwise you will haue them sit Iudges in all mens cases before they can reade either Latin or Law the world will muse at your madnesse Your Bishops are no such great Lawyers And therefore they haue the more neede of Chancellors and Registers that are better acquainted with the Lawes then themselues are and as for appeales vnlesse you looke to treade gouernement vnder your feet and ouer-rule all things by the meere motions of your owne wils though they sometimes aduantage offendours yet were they prouided to protect innocents and are Christian remedies to do euerie man right that thinketh he hath wrong They doe not maintaine the Antichristian pride of bishops there can bee none other nor better waie to represse it then by appeale to bring the iudgements of all their Courts and Officers to bee tried and examined by the princes power and delegates which I trust you take to bee no tyrannie If corruption sometimes creepe in through mens fingers to bolster bad causes the Lawes are farre from allowing and I as farre from defending it What hath bene so sacred that couetousnesse hath not expugned and your Presbyteries except they consist of Angels and not of men will soone shew both what affections and
charged eche mans interest in euery diocese to be preserued without infringing any mans bounds or encroching on anie mans right The need that you pretend of hauing Dioeceses aswel for the guiding as furnishing of country parishes by the Bishops and Presbyteries of the cities we easely auoyde for in euery parish with the Pastour we appoint lay Elders by whose counsel as Ambrose witnesseth al things should be doone in the Church and when the former Incumbent is dead were serue the electing of a new to the people of the same parish to whom by Gods Law it appertaineth And here we let you vnderstād that you haue not so good warrant for the regiment of Bishops as wee haue for the election of Bishops and Pastours by the people The Scriptures are cleare with vs the fathers often and earnest the perpetuall vse of the Primitiue Church is so full with vs in this behalfe that no example can be shewed to the contrary Your Bishops therefore being not elected by the people are no true Pastours in the Church of God I know well you haue no other shift to auoid the necessitie of Episcopall regiment but by your laie Presbyteries and therefore you must cleaue to them or els admit the forme of gouerning the Church by Bishops to be Catholike and Apostolike which would gripe you to the very hearts But how farre both the word and Church of God are and euer were from mentioning or acknowledging any laie Elders to be imposers of hands and gouernours of Pastorall and Ecclesiasticall actions we haue alreadie seene and may not now regresse thither againe Faine would you fasten them on Ambrose but of all the Fathers hee is the vnfittest Proctour for your Lay Presbyteries hee brusheth them off as a man woulde thornes that hang at his heeles If you beleeue him not alleadging the Romanes Lawes against your Laie Elders beleeeue him speaking in an open Councill against them Sacerdotes de Laicis iudicare debent non Laici de Sacerdotibus Priestes ought to iudge of Lay men not Lay men of Priestes And condemning Palladius the heretike wee are ashamed saieth Ambrose that hee shoulde seeme to bee condemned of Lay men which chalengeth to be a Priest In hoc ipso damnandus est quòd Laicorum expectat sententiam cum magis de Laicis Sacerdotes iudicare debeant He Is WORTHY TO BE CONDEMNED EVEN FOR THIS VERY POINT that he expecteth the iudgement of Lay men whereas Priests ought rather to iudge of Lay men How sufficient the barre is that you lay against our Bishops and Presbyters because they are not elected by the people of eche place but named by the Prince and presented by the Patrone the Chapter nowe presently following shall fully declare CHAP. XV. To whom the election of Bishops and Presbyters doeth rightlie belong and whether by Gods lawe the people must elect their Pastours or no. The want of popular elections is one of the griefs you conceiue and exceptions you take against the Bishops of this Realme which quarell doeth not so much touch the office and function of Bishops as it doeth the Princes prerogatiue Did wee teach it were not lawfull for the people to elect their Pastour you might make some shew against vs now when we say no such thing but you rather thinke the Prince may not name her Bishops without the consent and election of the people you impugne not vs but directly call the Princes fact her lawes in question I take not aduantage of mans lawe thereby to decline the force of your reasons or authorities but to put you in minde that if there were any defect in the lawe it must not be ascribed to Bishops but imputed rather to the makers of the lawe Howbeit to tell you the trueth I thinke there will be found better reason for the making and maintaining the law then you will be able to bring for the repealing or altering the lawe for when superstition and blindnesse wholy possessed the peoples hearts as in time of Poperie how could the Prince haue restored Religion or reformed the Church if the people through the Realme had still bene suffered to choose themselues Pastours after their owne desires The first occasion of the lawe being good and godly what ground haue you to dislike the continuance thereof Cyprian saieth it is Gods ordinance that the people should ekct their Pastour and according to the diuine instruction the same is obserued in the Actes of the Apostles in the choise of Matthias and of the seuen Deacons Those examples I haue answered before It is not written that Matthias and his fellow were chosen by the multitude an Apostle might not be chosen by men his calling must be immediate from God Yea the wordes of the Text are Thou Lord which knowest the hearts of all men shew which of these twaine thou hast chosen to take the office of this administration and Apostleship So that thence can nothing be concluded As for the choise of the seuen in the Actes of the Apostles Epiphanius saieth Of the seuentie Disciples were the seuen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that were set ouer the widowes The Councill gathered vnder Iustinian alleaging Chrysostomes wordes vpon that place concludeth of them in this wise We therfore denounce that the foresayd seuen Deacons must not be taken for those that serued at the mysteries but for such as were trusted with the dispensation of the common necessities of those that were then assembled together Ierome alluding to this place calleth a Deacon mensarum viduarum Minister the seruant of tables and widowes The fourth Councill of Carthage saieth The Bishop alone shall lay his hands on the head of a Deacon when he is ordered quia non ad Sacerdotium sed administerium consecratur because he is consecrated not to any Priesthood but vnto a seruice Your selues giue the Deacons no charge in the Church but the care of the poore as perswaded that these seuen receiued none other function at the Apostles hands You therefore by your owne rules are excluded from taking any hold of this election And in deed since they were not chosen to be Presbyters and dispensers of the worde and Sacramentes what consequent can you frame from their electing by the people to force the like to be obserued in Presbyters and Bishops You giue them power to preach and baptize against you therefore the argument is good The Primitiue Church gaue them leaue so to doe in cases of necessitie where Presbyters wanted otherwise neither doe we nor did they make them Presbyters and Ministers of the word and Sacraments Tertullian saith Presbyters and Deacons may baptize with the Bishops leaue Ierome saieth that Presbyters and Deacons in lesser farre distant Townes did baptize but not without the Bishops licence Wee appoint the Deacons saieth Gelasius to keepe their owne measure and to enterprise nothing agaynst the tenor of the Canons of our forefathers
are manifest Thou Lord shew whether of these twaine thou hast chosen to take the roume of this Apostleship To the choise of the Seuen I haue oftentimes spoken I shall not need to distrust your memorie You haue not forgotten the Apostles words to the people It is not meete that we should leaue the worde of God to serue the tables They meant not the Lordes table the care thereof the Apostles did not transferre from themselues to any others but because the Grecians murmured that their widowes were neglected in the dailie ministring that care the Twelue committed to such as the people would like and elect What can be vrged out of these Scriptures let those that be wise iudge my capacitie is so slender that I see vtterly nothing euinceable by these examples Neither doeth Cyprian stretch the places to giue the people by Gods lawe the election of their Bishops hee sawe the precedents would enable no such consequent hee vrgeth by Scripture the peoples presence to this ende that their testimonie should bee had touching the life and behauiour of the partie that shall bee chosen least an vnworthie and wicked person should secretlie steale to the office and function of a Bishop Hee saieth it contineth from diuine authoritie vt Sacerdos plebe praesente deligatur that a Priest should bee chosen in the presence of the people and that ordinations ought not to bee made nisi sub populi assistentis conscientia but with the knowledge of the people standing by Nowe why the people should bee present hee noteth in these wordes vt vel bonorum merita praedicentur vel malorum crimina detegantur that as well the merites of the good might bee acknowledged as the faults of the lewd discouered by the presence of the people quae singulorum vitam plenissimè nouit vniuscuiusque actum de eius conuersatione perspexit which knoweth each mans life most exactly and hath tried his behauiour by his conuersation Though Cyprianâ— proofes doe not conclude the peoples presence by Gods lawe to â—ee required in the choise of Bishops yet Cyprians meaning is verie good and agreeth both with the order of the Primitiue Church and with Saint Pauls prouiso that a Bishop must bee well reported of euen of them that are without as also that hee must bee no follower of wine no fighter no brawler no filthie gayner no desirer of money but ruling his house honestlie and hauing his children in obedience in effect one whose lyfe and conuerâ—ation the whole Church commended and the aduersarie coulde not chalenge Notwithstanding you may not hence collect that the principall and essentiall right of electing by Gods lawe consisteth in the peoples voyces you nor no man liuing can deduce any such thing out of the Scriptures The Apostle that we read vsed no such fourme of elections as in the chapter before I was occasioned more at large to shew And since wee haue neither precept nor example of the Apostles for the people to choose their bishops I thinke you will hardly make any demonstration for your popular elections by the Scriptures Wee haue places ynow in the newe Testament but that you eleuate and elude them and besides wee haue the general and ful consent and vse of the Primitiue Church to iustifie our interpretation of those places to be agreeable to the trueth of the word but sometimes you do alleadge and esteeme the vniuersall custome of the Church and exposition of the Fathers when they make for you and sometimes when they please you not you reiect them as fast Do vs no wrong we refuse nothing that the ancient and Primitiue church of Christ vniuersally obserued and practised as expressed or intended in the Scriptures It is your maner it is not ours to thinke no churches councils nor Fathers euer vnderstoode the necessary points of doctrine and discipline mentioned in the word before your selues If the whole church of Christ made any such conclusion out of the Scriptures for the popular election of bishops as you doe we will presently receiue it if not stay your vaunts till you bring their warrants and by that time your heate will be well delayed you shew one that after his maner is eloquent and vehement for that he taketh in hand but his proofes are weake if not mistaken his purpose is to haue the peoples presence and testimonie to witnesse their liues that shall be chosen his confession is that this was not generall though in fauour of his cause he saith Apud nos ferâ— per Prouincias vniuersas tenetur It is so obserued with vs and almost in al Prouinces The whole Church afterward kept that order in electing their Bishops What course they kept wee shall quickely finde all the question will be whether they required the peoples voyces as necessarie by Gods commaundement which may not be broken neither for Prelates nor Princes or whether they vsed that kinde of election as an order in Christian assemblies fittest to preserue the peace of the Church and to maintaine the good liking of the people towards their Pastors It shall therefore be best first to consider where the holie Ghost layeth the burden and charge of these elections then what freedome the wisedome of God leaueth to the multitude or Magistrates of each Citie and Countrey These things well marked will deliuer vs from wandering and erring as touching Gods ordinance The Apostle writing to Timothie and Tite first describeth what maner of men must bee admitted to the office of a Bishop and then assureth the Ordainers that if they laie handes on any other then on such they communicate with the sinnes of as many as they aduaunce vnfit for that place Laie handes hastilie on no man neither be partaker of other mens sinnes keepe thy selfe pure Let the Bishops heare saieth Ierome that haue power to appoint Presbyters in euery Citie with what condition the order of ecclesiasticall constitution is tied neither let them thinke they are the Apostles wordes but Christes Whereby it is euident that they which contemning the Apostles precept giue any man an ecclesiasticall degree for fauour not for desert do against Christ. Chrysostome Paul meaning to intreat of a Bishops office sheweth what maner of man in all things a Bishop must be not giuing it as a warning to Timothie but speaking vnto all and by him directing all And againe vpon those wordes I charge thee before God and Iesus Christ and the elect Angels that thou keepe these precepts Laie hands hastilie on no man hee saieth Paul terrifieth Timothie and hauing so done hee mentioneth that which is most needfull and chieflie holdeth the Church together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 euen ordination Lay hands hastilie on no man neither communicate with other mens sinnes What is hastilie not vpon the first triall not vpon the second not vpon the third but oftentimes examining and exactlie sifting the partie The case is dangerous thou shalt beare the
punishments of his sinnes who art the occasion of them for remitting the former offences out of time thou shalt answere for those that are after committed as being the cause of them and likewise for those that are past as not letting him alone to lament and repent them And Ambrose Paul chargeth Timothie before God the father and Christ his sonne and the elect Angels Vnder this charge he commandeth those things to be kept which pertaine to ordination in the Church least easilie any man should get an ecclesiasticall dignitie but in quisition be first had of his life and maners that a meete and approoued Minister or Priest may be appointed neither any to be ordained whose faults deserue suspicion least the ordainer be defiled with his sinnes and offences for hee sinneth which ordaineth and trieth not Occumenius Where Paul saieth to Timothie I prayed thee to staie at Ephesus addeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there had Paul ordained him a Bishop Let no man despise thy youth for a Bishop must speake with authoritie Hee giueth precepts not to Timothie alone but to euery Bishop And vpon these words Lay hands bastilie on no man Paul treateth of ordinations for he wrate to a Bishop And so writing on the epistle to Tite he saieth Paul left Tite to make Bishops in euery Citie hauing first made him a Bishop Primasius likewise Timothie was a Bishop and Pauls disciple to him by writing hee giueth authoritie to correct all ecclesiasticall discipline and to ordaine Bishops and Deacons And againe Be not partaker of an other mans sinnes Paul saieth It is a communion with another mans sinnes when one is ordained and not examined As therefore in ordaining euill men he is partaker of their sinnes which ordaineth such so in the ordaining of the holy he is partaker of their righteousnes which did make choise of so good men The perill of ordaining Bishops and Presbyters by Pauls owne confession lieth ineuitablie on such as impose hands and therefore by Gods lawe they must haue power to examine who bee fit and libertie to refuse those that be vnfit For as without them there can bee none ordained so if rashly or corruptly they lay hands on any they be partakers of their sinnes Further with elections of the Scriptures doe not meddle saue that Timothie as the Fathers affirme by occasion of Pauls words was chosen Bishop by prophesie that is by the direction and appointment of the holy Ghost and not by voyces Oecumenius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the commaundement or appointment of the spirite were Bishops at first made and not at randon So Theodorete Thou vndertookest this order by diuine reuelation Chrysostome Paul to stirre vp Timothie putteth him in minde who choose him and who ordained him as if he had sayd Thou wast chosen of God hee himselfe put thee in trust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou wast not made by mens voices And Theophilact Anciently by the oracles appointment of the Prophets that is by the holy Ghost Priests were straight way ordained So was Timothie chosen to be a Priest Ambrose saieth Timothie was predestinated when he was taken by the Apostle to this end that he should bee ordained as iudged woorthie to be a Bishop This kinde of election I take was vsuall in the Apostles times the spirite of God directing them on whom they should lay their hands other election of Pastours and Teachers I read none specified in the sacred writings Popular election of Bishops I find afterward practised in the Primitiue Church but not mentioned in the Scriptures and therefore well may the peoples interest stand vpon the grounds of reason and nature and bee deriued from the rules of Christian equitie and societie but Gods lawe doeth not meddle with anie such matter nor determine more then I haue tolde you which is that such Bishops as ordaine them shall answere for them with the perill of their owne soules if they doe not carefullie looke into the abilitie and integritie of all that they authorize with imposition of handes to guide or teach the flocke of Christ. When I say the people can not chalenge by Gods lawe the right to choose their Bishop I meane no such thing is expressed and commaunded in the Scriptures excluding thereby the false conceites of some fanaticall spirites in our dayes which affirme our Bishops and Teachers to bee no true Pastours because they are not chosen by the particular voyces and personall Suffrages of the people and by consequent our Sacraments to bee no Sacramentes and Church no Church and so this whole Realme to bee drowned in confusion without assurance of saluation whose madnesse is rather to bee chastised by the Magistrate then to be refused by doctrine the authors being voyde not onely of learning which they despise but of reason to weigh what is sayde against them Otherwise I acknowledge each Church and people that haue not by lawe custome or consent restrained themselues stand free by Gods lawe to admit maintaine and obey no man as their Pastour without their liking and so the peoples election by themselues or their rulers dependeth on the very first principles of humane fellowships assemblees for which cause though bishops by Gods law haue power to examine ordaine before any may be placed to take charge of soules yet haue they no power to impose a Pastour on any Church against their wils nor to force them to yeelde him obedience or maintenaunce without their liking How farre authoritie custome and consent may preiudice and ouer-rule this libertie which Gods lawe leaueth vndiminished shall anone be handed when once we see what order the Primitiue Church obserued in her elections of Bishops and Presbyters The Churches of Christ had aunciently two wayes to bee prouided of Bishops and Presbyters the one Election the other Postulation When the Bishop of any Citie died whose Church had store of Clergie men to succeede the Bishops of the same Prouince that were neerest to the place by conference amongst themselues appointed a day to resort thither and aduertised both people and Presbyters thereof At which time the Clergie and Laitie assembling in the Church so many Bishops as conuenientlie might but vnder three they could doe nothing came thither and there heard both whom the Clergie named and whom the Citie liked If all or the most of euery sort agreed the partie was pronounced chosen another day prefixed to ordaine him the Bishops proposing his name and the time on the Church doores and requiring euerie man that could or would obiect any thing against him to bee then and there readie with his proofes and witnesses At their next repaire the Bishops that came to giue imposition of handes heard aduisedly what each man could charge him with and if in their consciences the elect prooued to bee such as the Apostle prescribed they ordained him in the eies of all men Pastour of that
Clergy and our Nazarites to whom either wholy or chiefly such choices ought to be referred so should the Churches neuer take harme and not to to the richest and mightiest and to the throng and indiscretion of the multitude yea euen to the basest persons amongst them The Emperour at last was forced by publike laws to restraine the people and take the election of bishops from them and giue it to the Clergie and certaine chiefe men of euerie Citie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We decree saith Iustinian that as often as neede requireth to ordaine a Bishop the Clergie and principall men of the Citie for which a Bishop must be prouided shal meete together and set downe in writing three persons and taking their oth vpon the holie Euangile shal expresse in their writing that they haue chosen them neither for reward promise fauour or any other cause but knowing the persons to bee of the right and Catholike faith and of honest life c. that of those three so named the best may be ordained at the election and iudgement of the ordainer If any man be ordained a Bishop and this not obserued we command him by all meanes to be remooued from his Bishopricke and likewise the other that presumed to impose hands against this our Lawe If three sufficient persons coulde not be found in the Clergie of that Citie which wanted a bishop the Electours might name two or one so it were dâ—one within sixe moneths and the men such as the Lawes requires otherwise the Metropolitanâ— to choose for them A Lay man amongest others the Emperour saith they might name but the Canons did not permit a Lay man to be elected but onely to be desired I do not thinke the peoples presence or testimonie were debarred by this Law for that continued a long time after I take it rather the Electours might offer none without the peoples liking but by this meanes the multitude were excluded from electing whom they would and the power thereof translated to the Clergie and Gouernours of eche Citie to name certaine if the people could like of their choice otherwise within sixe moneths the right to deuolue to the chiefe Bishop of the Prouince Then beganne this rule to be more straitely vrged Docendus est populus non sequendus the people in electing of Bishops must be taught and guided not obeyed and followed For Popes themselues could say though the election belong to Priests yet the consent of Gods people must be had When saith Leo you goe about the election of the chiefe Priest or Bishop let him be aduanced before all whom the consent of the Clergie and people with one accord desireth If their voices be diuided betwixt twaine let him be preferred before the other in the iudgement of the Metropolitane which hath more voices and merites onely let none be ordained against their wils and petitions lest the people despise or hate the Bishop which they neuer affected and they lesse care for religion when their desires are not satisfied The like regard of the peoples desires and petitions was had in Gregories time long after If it be true saith Gregorie to Antonius that the Bishop of Salona be dead hasten to admonish the Clergie and people of that City to choose a Priest with one consent that may be ordained for them And to Magnus about the election of y t bishop of Millan Warde saith he the Clergy people that they dissent â—ot in chusing their Priest but with one accord elect some such as may be consecrated their bishop The order of choosing their bishops in the primitiue Church by the Clergie and people was neuer so much respected but that they might many waies forsake and loose their right as by petition when they had none of their owne by compromise when they could not agree by deuolution when they neglected their time aboue sixe moneths or transgressed the Lawes or Canons either in the fourme of their election or in the person elected specially vpon any corruption disorder or violence the election was vtterly voide and the parties depriued of all power to elect for that turne and when they could not agree they were to send some to the Metropolitane to yeelde him the reasons of their dissenting on both sides and he to strike the stroke betwixt them or else they did referre their consents to two or three that should repaire to the chiefe bishop of the Prouince and there make choice with his aduise and consent for the whole citie If you can find saith Gregorie no fit person amongst yourselues on whome you can agree then chuse three wise and in different men and send them to this city in the name of the whole to whose iudgement the people wil stand And againe ConueÌ„t the Clergy of the church of Naples to chuse 2. or 3. of themselues and not to slacke to send theÌ„ hither about the election of their Bishop And in their certificat to vs let theÌ„ signifie that those whom they send haue authority to supply al their places in this election So that the peoples right to elect their bishop neuer depeÌ„ded on Gods expresse coÌ„mandement but on the foundation reason of humane gouernement was subiect both to the Canons of Councils and lawes of Princes might be moderated and restrained by either of them by the peoples consent default or abuse be transferred relinquished or forfeited and without their wils by superior powers and publike Lawes for iust cause be abridged altered or abrogated for the power freedome of the people is not only submitted to the sword which god hath authorized but wholy closed in y t sword neither is any thing lawful for the people setting aside the coÌ„mandements of God which are subiect to no mortall mans wil or power which the laws of their country restraine or prohibite Wherfore there can be no question but the people may willingly forsake and worthily loose the right which they had in the choice of their bishops and the Prince either way bee lawfully possessed of the peoples interest you must rather if you will needes be so inquisitiue examine the causes that induced the lawe whether they were iust or no and so shall you see whether this manner of election be a wise and good preuention of such corrupt factions and fearefull tumultes as our desperate age woulde easely breede or a rigorous encrochment on the peoples right without cause or consent which you can not offer to thinke without euident wrong to the Prince and Realme It cannot be denied but the Prince of right hath and euer had as great interest in the choice of bishops as the people There can no reason be pretended for the multitude but it concludeth more strongly for the Magistrate If the people by Gods Lawe were to chuse their bishop the king as the principall part and head of the people by the same Lawe must be
haue a good testimonie of those that are without If this were the reason why the people were called to the election of their bishops then the cause ceasing why should not the effect likewise cease If they can giue no testimonie as in our case they cannot what neeveth their presence If the authoritie of the people were requisite to place their pastour as when there was no belecuing prince happily it was in that respect also the Magistrate is more sufficient then the multitude to assure the election and assist the elect If consent be expected lest any man should be intruded upon the people against their willes the peoples consent is by the publike agreement of this realme yeelded and referred to the princes liking If iudgement to discerne betweene fit men and vnfit be necessarie I hope the grauitie and prudencie of the Magistrate may woorthely be preferred before the rashnesse and rudenesse of the many that are often ledde rather with affection then with discretion and are carried with manie light respectes and lewd meanes as with faction and flatterie fauour and fansie corruption and briberie and such like baites from which Gouernours are if not altogether free yet farre freer then the intemperate and vnrulie multitude And so take what respect you will either of DISCERNING ASSISTING or MAINTAINING of fitte passours and you shall finde the choice of ishops lieth more safelie in the princes then in the peoples hands The Clergy vsed to discerne and elect the people did like and allow their Pastours and to say the truth men of the same profession if they be not blinded with affections can best iudge of â—ch mans fitnes Indeeee the Canon Law ruleth the case thus Electio clericorum est coÌ„sensus Principis petitio plebis Clergy meÌ„ must elect the Prince may coÌ„sent the people must request the late bishops of Rome neuer left cursing and fighting til they excluded both prince people reduced the election wholy to the Clergie whom they might command at their pleasures but by your leaue it was not so from the beginning The forme of election prescribed by y t Roman laws 1000. yeeres since willed the Clergie the gouernors or chiefe men of the city to come together taking their oths vpon the holie gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to decree that is to elect or name 3. persons of which y e ordainer was to chuse y e best at his discretioÌ„ The fullest wordes that the ancient Greeke Writers vse for all the partes of election 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to propose to name to choose to decree are in the stories ecclesiasticall applied to the people When Eudoxius of Constantinople was dead and the Arrianâ— had chosen Demophilus in his place the Christians there is Socrates writeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chose one Euagrius Sozomene saieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they decreed Euagrius to be their bishop Nazianz. speaking of y e election of Eusebius saith the people were diuided into many sides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some naming one and some an other which word also Socrates vseth of the people in the choice of Ambrose and repineth that in his time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first naming of the bishop was permitted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the headie and vndiscreete multitude At the choice of Paulus to the Bishopricke of Constantinople Socrates saith the people were diuided into two partes and the Omousians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 elect Paulus to the Bishopricke The Council of Nice was content that such as were ordained by Miletius shoulde be reâ—rdered and placed in the countes of other bishops that died 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if they were found worthie and the people elected them Upon the dâ—â—th of Auxentius at Millan◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the multitude saith Sozomene fell to â—edition not agreeing on the election of any one When Nectarius was dead and Chrysostome chosen in succeâ—â—e him Sozomene saieth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the people and Cleargie decreeing it the Emperour consented Socrates saieth he was chosen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the common decree of the Cleargie and people Upon the depriuing of Nestorius many â—amed Philip 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but more chose Proclus and Proclus election had preuailed had not some of the mightiest pretended a Canon against him that being named Bishop of one Citie hee coulde not bee translated to another Which being heard and beleeued 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 forced the people to hold their peace So that in the primitiue church the people did propose name elect and decree as wel as the Clergie and though the Presbyters had more skill to iudge yet the people had as much right to choose their Pastour and if the most part of them did agree they did carrie it from the Clergie so the persons chosen were such as the Canons did allow and the ordainers could not iustly mislike If it seeme hard to any man that the people in this point should be preferred as farre forth as the Clergie let him remember the Apostles in the Actes when they willed the Church at Ierusalem to choose the seuen that vndertooke the care of the widowes did not make any speciall remembrance or distinction of the seuentie Disciples from the rest who were then present and part of that company but committed as well the discerning as electing of fit men in common to the whole number of brethren reseruing approbation and imposition of hands to themselues for calling the multitude of Disciples together they said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consider of seuen men of your selues that are well reported of and full of the holie ghost and of wisedome whome wee may appoint ouer this businesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they chose Steuen and the other sixe whome they set before the Apostles Since then the Apostles left elections indifferently to the people and Clergie of Ierusalem if you make that choice a president for elections what warrant had the Bishop of Rome to exclude them if their vnrulinesse deserued afterward to haue their libertie diminished or their â—way restrained that belonged not to the Popes but to the Princes power and therefore he was but an vsurper in taking it both from Prince and people without their consents and christian Princes vse but their right when they resume elections out of the Popes hands by conference with such as shal impose hands on them within their â—wn realmes name whom they thinke fit to succeede in the episcopal seate So did the ancient Emperors and Princes that were in the primitiue church as I haue shewed They neuer tooke the whole into their hands but onely gaue their consents before the election could take place It was a most tedious and trouble some worke for one man to name and elect all the Bishops in the Romane empire and therefore the Emperours left the Magistrates of each Citie to performe that
any rashlie presumed to inuade that honor per ordinationē regiam as ordained by the king not by the Metropolitane his Comprouincials no man might accept him or acknowledge him for a Bishop Neither hath the ancient Canon any other sense which saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If any Bishop resting on worldly gouernors by their helpe get any Church let him be deposed excommunicated all that ioyne with him They do not exclude Princes frō naming electing of bishops no more then they do the people only they reiect violence forsomuch as a bishop by the rules of the holy Ghost must be throughly examined peaceablie ordained by such as shal impose hands on him and not perēptorilie intruded or imposed by any earthly force or power CHAP. XVI The meeting of Bishops in Synodes and who did call and moderate those assemblies in the Primitiue Church THe necessitie and authoritie of Synodes is not so much in question betwixt vs as the persons that should assemble and moderate those meetings The disciplinarians themselues if I be not deceiued are farre from making their Pastours or Presbyteries in euery parish supreme Iudges of doctrine and maners without all exception or reuocation and wee bee further for what if the Pastours or Presbyters of any place maintaine heresie or offer iniurie which are cases not rarelie incident but euery where occurrent euē in those that beare the names of Christians shall impietie and iniustice so raigne and preuaile in the Church that none may withstand it or redresse it That were to make the house of God worse then a den of theeues for theeues feare the detecting and flie the punishing of their offences which many Presbyters would not if there were no way to restraine and ouer rule their pestilent and wicked purposes Wherefore as in ciuill affaires there are Lawes and Powers to vphold iustice and prohibite violence without the which humane societies could not consist so in the Church of Christ when it is without the helpe and assistance of a Christian magistrate there must bee some externall and iudiciall meanes to discerne errour and redresse wrong in case any particular person or Church be infected or oppressed otherwise there is no possibilitie for trueth and equitie to harbour long amongst the sonnes of men The remedie which the Primitiue Church had and vsed against heresie and iniurie she deriued as well from the promise made by Christes owne wordes as from the example of the Apostles in the like case Christ willing such of his Disciples as were grieued by their brethren after the first and second admonition to toll it to the Church addeth for the direction and confirmation of all religious assemblies and conferences Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the middest of them and whatsoeuer you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heauen and whatsoeuer you shall loose in earth shall bee loosed in heauen Whether the name of the Church in this place hee taken for the assemblie of Elders and Rulers vnder Moses lawe or of Pastours and Teachers vnder the Gospell to me it is indifferent this is euidentlie the order which our Sauiour willeth to be obserued from priuate admonition to goe to witnesses and from witnesses to assemblies So the worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doeth most plainelie signifie and so the promise annexed doeth clearelie import where two or three are assembled together in my name I am in the midst of them Neither could any other course bee established in the Church for since an ende of controuersies must bee had amongst men least perpetuall contention bring finall confusion and plucke vp the verie rootes of all charitie and equitie from amongst men when neither priuate perswasion nor friendlie mediation can appease the parties contending what other order could bee prescribed but a Iudiciall hearing and determining of things in question Nowe Iudges must needes bee either single or assembled and single Iudges of force must either be Soueraigne and supreme Iudges or els vnder superiours appointed by the same warrant The Bishop of Rome claimeth a single and sole commission to heare and conclude all causes concerning either faith or right and were his proofe as good as his chalenge is proude it were woorth the discussing but the more he claimeth the more he sinneth by reason he taketh vnto himselfe without commission an infallible and ineuitable iudgement ouer all men and matters vpon the face of the earth that any way touch the trueth or the Church Princes are single and soueraigne Iudges of earthlie things and when they beleeue the defence and maintenance of the Church and fayth is by God himselfe committed to their power and care but Christ did not settle the sword to bee the generall and perpetuall rule to gouerne his Church for then without a Prince there could be no Church and consequentlie neither in the Apostles times nor three hundred yeeres after had Christ anie Church heere on earth since none of the Romane Princes that were lordes of the world publikelie maintained the Christian faith before Constantine Since we find no single nor supreme Iudges on whome the Church of Christ must alwayes depend for the debating and ending of ecclesiasticall strifes and contentions of necessitie there must either be none which were the vtter subuersion of all peace and order amongst the faithfull where there wanteth a Christian Magistrate or els the Pastours and Stewards of Christes Church to whome the care and charge thereof is committed must assemble together and with mutuall conference and consent performe those dueties to the Church in generall which otherwise they doe to each particular place and person for though Pastours be affixed to their places and charges yet that doeth not hinder the common care they should haue of all the members of Christes bodie and therefore when need so requireth they must as well imploy their trauell abroad as bestowe paines at home to direct or pacifie the household of faith This brotherlie kind of succouring and assisting each other in troubles and dangers is sometimes performed by letters but neuer so throughly and effectually as by meeting and assembling together when with deliberate and full aduise they may heare and determine what they thinke meetest for the safetie and quietnesse of the Church of God Their warrant so to doe is builded on the maine grounds of all diuine and humane societies strengthned by the promise of our Sauiour and assured vnto them by the example of the Apostles and perpetuall practise of the Church of Christ. By Gods lawe what obedience and reuerence the father may expect from his children the same or greater must all beleeuers yeeld to the fathers of their faith They are comprised in the same name and in the same commaundement with the fathers of our flesh and consequently must haue the same honour And if the fulnesse of each mans reward must be according to the excellencie
vntil the next Council as the Canons of our fathers haue decreed The Epaunine Councill Prima immutabili constitutione decretum est vt cùm Metropolitanus fratres vel Comprouinciales suos ad Concilium vel ad ordinationem cuiusque Consacerdotis crediderit vocandos nisi causa euidens extiterit nullus excuset By an immutable constitution we first decree that when the Metropolitane shal thinke good to call his brethren the Bishops of the same Prouince either to a Synode or to the ordination of any of his fellow Bishops none shall excuse without an euident cause The like aswel for ordaining of Bishops as calling of Synodes by the Metropolitane may be seene in the Councils of Agatha ca. 35. of Taurine ca. 1. of Aurelia the second ca. 1. 2. the fift ca. 18. of Turon the second ca. 1. 9. of Paris ca. 8. of Toledo the third ca. 18. the fourth ca. 3. and in diuers others All which testifie that as the Metropolitanes power in the gouernement of the Church was a thing receiued and confirmed by vse long before the Nicene Council so it continued throughout Christendome till the bishop of Rome wholy subuerted the freedome of the church and recalled all things to his owne disposition The power of Metropolitanes was rather lengthened then shortned by the Bishop of Rome for who suppressed Prouinciall Synodes and brought Bishops and Archbishops to this height of pride they are at but onely the Romish Decretals of Antichrist If your wisdome serue you to call that Antichrists pride whereto godly councils were forced for their owne ease wherewith religious Princes were contented for the better execution of their lawes my dutie to the church of God and the magistrate stayeth me from reueiling or disliking that course which I see both Councils and Princes by long and good experience were driuen vnto As for Antichrist he vsurped all mens places and subiected all mens rights to his will and pleasure otherwise I doe not finde what increase hee gaue to the power of Metropolitanes Let them eniâ—y that which the councils and princes of the Primitiue church by triall sawe needefull to be committed to their care and we striue for no more I trust you will not call that Antichristian pride when they are required by christian Princes to see their Lawes and Edicts touching causes Ecclesiasticall put in practise The fault we find is that Archbishops haue suppressed the libertie of Synodes and reserued all things to their owne iurisdiction A greater fault then that is you be so inflamed with disdaine that you know not what you say Who I pray you prohibiteth the vse or abridgeth the power of Synods to make rules determine causes ecclesiastical the Metropolitane or the Prince Take good heed lest by eager and often calling for the indictioÌ„ and decision of Synodes at the Metropolitans hands without the princes leaue you erect a new forme of Synodes not to aduise guide the Magistrate when they be thereto required but to straighten or forestall the Princes power True it is that with vs no Synodes may assemble without the Princes warrant as well to meete as to consult of any matters touching the state of this Realme and why They be no Court separate from the prince nor superiour to the Prince but subiected in all thinges vnto the Prince and appointed by the Lawes of God and man in trueth and godlinesse to assist and direct the Prince when and where they shall be willed to assemble Otherwise they haue no power of themselues to make decrees when there is a christian Magistrate neither may they chalenge the iudicial hearing or ending of Ecclesiastical controuersies without or against the princes liking Now iudge your selues whether you do not grosely betray your own ignorance I am loth to say malice when you declaime against the Metropolitane for want of that which is not in his power to performe but in the princes and be more silent hereafter in these cases if you be wise lest you traduce the Princes power vnder the Metropolitanes name If waspishnesse woulde suffer you soberly to consider not onely what things are changed in our times but also why and by whom you should better satisfie your selues and lesse trouble the realme then now you do Afore princes began to professe christianitie the church had no way as I noted before to discusse right and wrong in faith and other ecclesiastical causes but by Synodes and assemblies of religious wise pastors that course always continued in the church euen when the sword most sharply pursued the church from the Apostles deaths to Constantines raigne and was euer found in the church when christian Princes were not Those Synodes were assembled and gouerned by the Bishops of the chiefe and mother churches and cities in euerie prouince who by the ancient Councils are called Metropolitans When princes embraced the faith they increased the number of Synods and confirmed not onlie the canons of generall Councils but also the iudgements and decisions of prouinciall Synodes as the best meanes they coulde deuise to procure peace and aduance religion in euerie place for as by their lawes they referred Ecclesiasticall causes to Ecclesiasticall Iudges so lest matters shoulde hang long in strife they charged eache Metropolitane to assemble the Bishops of his Prouince twise euerie yeere and there to examine and order all matters of doubt and wrong within the Church The rules of the Nicene Councill touching that and al other things Constantine â—atified as Eusebius witnesseth and like wise the sentences of Bishops in their Synodes kept according to that appointment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The decrees of the Nicene council Constantine confirmed with his consent seale or authoritie And reporting the lawes made by him in fauour of Christians Eusebius saith The determinations of Bishops deliuered in their Synodes he sealed or ratified that it might not be lawfull for the Rulers of Nations to infringe their decrees since the Priests of God as he thought were more approoued or better to be trusted then any Iudge yea whatsoeuer is done in the holie assemblies of Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that saith Constantine must bee ascribed to the heauenly wil or counsell of God Concerning the foure first general Councils Iustinian saith We decree that the sacred Ecclesiastical rules which were made and agreed on in the foure first holie Councils that is in the Nicene Constantinopolitane Ephesine and Chalcedon shall haue the force of Empertall Lawes for the rules of the foure aboue named Councils we obserue as Lawes In tract of time when causes multiplied and Bishops coulde neither support the charge they were at in being abroade nor bee absent so long from their Churches as the hearing and concluding of euerie priuate matter would require they were constrained to assemble but once in the yeere and in the meane space to commit such causes as could abide no such delay or were too tedious for their
43 44 65 73 87 88 92 vse the worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the primate of euery Prouince Now if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in composition note the first and chiefe as well in order and dignitie as in time and Imperie I see no reason to refuse the name of Archbishop more then of Primate which worde the Africane Councill so often vseth If you denie that the compounds of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie an order amongst fellowes as well as a power ouer subiects to omit prophane Writers by which wee might prooue it Cicero saying Qui Archipirata dicitur nisi aequabiliter praedam dispertiat aut occidetur à socijs aut relinquetur he that is called Archpirate except he diuide the prize equally he shall be slaine or forsaken not of his men but of his fellowes What thinke you of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Archangel doth it import order and dignitie amongst the Angels or power and imperie ouer them if matters in heauen be too high for vs what say you to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Patriarch were Abraham Isaac and Iacob in that they were Patriarchs Rulers and Lords ouer the Churchor chiefe fathers in the Church The twelue Patriarchs that were begotten of Iacob wil you call them the rulers of their Fathers or chiefe fathers of the twelue tribes Dauid shall he be a Patriarch in respect of his kingdome and imperie or of his Propheticall graces and dignitie This signification no doubt the learned Fathers did follow when they suffered and vsed in the Church of God the names of Archbishop Archimandrite Archdeacon not that they made them Lords Princes ouer Bishops Monks and Deacons but rather chiefe amongst thē But did the worde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alwaies import power and authoritie which you shall neuer prooue must that power be straitwaies so princely and peremptorie that it may not stand with a bishops calling Is there no power nor gouernement annexed to a Bishops office Christ saith they be set 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ouer his familie Saint Paul calleth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gouernours in the Lord. That is you will say in respect of their flocke not of their fellow Pastours The Councill of Nice alloweth the Metropolitane 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power and authoritie ouer his Prouince The Councill of Sardica where were 300. bishops assembled long before the Africane Councill giueth him the title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ruler of the Prouince and addeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we meane thereby the Bishop of the Mother Citie or Metropolitane Socrates saith the first council of Constantinople 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appointed Patriarkes and calleth the charge which they receiued 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Patriarkdom Ignatius Nazianzen and Chrysost. who I think knew the force of their own tongue better then anie māliuing in our age be their skil neuer so great spare not to giue y ◠name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chiefe Priest vnto bishops Nazianz. speaking to the foresaid Council of Constātinople about the choice of another in his place as Theodor. reporteth his words said seeking out a mā prais-worthy wise that is able to vndertake wel guide the number of cares heere occurrent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 make him Archbish. of this place And touching Maximus Theodoret saith the same Council depriued him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Archiepiscopall dignitie Where you say that before the Councill of Chalcedon which was about the yeere of Christ 455. you neuer found any subscription in Synode of any man named Archbishop eyther mine cies be not matches or you are greatly deceiued for I find not onely that subscription in the generall Council of Ephesus before the Council of Chalcedon but the maine Council in their letters giue that title to the bishops of Rome Alexandria and Ephesus In the first session of the Councill it is saide The Synode assembling in the mother Citie of Ephesus by the decree of the most religious and Christian kings the Bishops sitting in the most sacred Church called by the name of Marie first Cyril of Alexandria supplying the place of Celestinus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mostsacred and most holie Archbishop of the Church of Rome If you take this to be the Notaries fault reade the Mandate which the whole Councill gaue their Legates when they sent them to Constantinople to the Emperours Theodosius and Valentinian for the enlarging of Cyrill and Memnon and likewise their petition to the two princes for the same matter We pern it you say they to their Legates to promise our communion to the Bishops of the East if they will labour with you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that our most sacred Archbishop Cyril and Memnon may be restored vnto vs. In their relation to the Emperours they giue the like title to Celestinus This holie and oecumenicall Councill say they with which sitteth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most sacred Archbishop of your great Citie of Rome Celestinus And though the Prouinciall Councill of Affrica willed the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be refrained in their meetings yet this generall Councill of Ephesus vsually calleth Cyrill and Memnon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the chiefe Leaders and Rulers of the holie Councill Of the Chalcedon Councill you did well to make no doubt the name of Archbishop is so often vsed in the first second third fourth fift eight tenth foureteenth and sixteenth actions not only in the subscriptiōs but euen in the deliberations decrees of that Council that with good consciēce it might not be dissembled Now if you suppose these three generall Councils of Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon and all the Greeke Diuines and Fathers there assembled were so voyde first of learning that they knew not the force of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in composition then of religion that they would robbe Christ of his proper titles to increase the pride of men against the trueth of the Scriptures I must confesse I vtterly dissent from you the speach is so hard that I cannot digest it if you yeeld them but reasonable skill in their owne tongue and moderate vnderstanding in the principles of faith I haue my desire for then not onely the function and office of Metropolitanes and Primates is as ancient and necessarie in the Church of God as the hauing and guiding of prouincial Synodes and confirmed vnto them as lawfull by the foure first generall Councils but their very names places were allowed and allotted vnto them by the full consent of the Christian world euen from the beginning and neuer since denied or doubted till this present age wherein wee liue Contention and ambition of Bishops Primates did much afflict the Primitiue Church and hinder and disturbe the best Councils the very Nicene
If I seeme to take a nice aduantage of the time let Ierome expresse his owne meaning In his epistle to Euagrius debating at large that bishops and Presbyters were all one in the Apostles time and alleaging both the same and sundry other proofes for his intent he addeth Quod autem postea vnus electus est qui caeteris praeponeretur in Schismatis remedium factum est ne vnusquisque ad se â—rahenâ— Christs ecclesiam rumperet Nam Alexandriae à Marco Euangelista vsque ad Heraclam Dionysium Episcopos Presbyteri semper vnum exse electum in excelsiori graducollocatum Episcopum nominabant That after one was elected and aduanced aboue the rest this was to remedie Schismes least euery man drawing the Church of Christ to himselfe should rent it in pieces So at Alexandria from Marke the Euangelist to Heraclas and Dionysius Bishops there the Presbyters alwayes chose one of themselues and placed him in an higher degree and called him a Bishop Laie Elders Ierome neuer knew any to bee Gouernours of the Church the Pastours and Teachers that vnder the Apostles gouerned the Church by common aduise were forced for the preuenting and repressing of schisines to transferre the whole care of the Church to one whom they called a Bishop this began at Alexandria euen from Marke the Euangelist Ieromes testimonie you haue heard Now choose whether Ambrose shall contradict him and giue him the lie or rather be reconciled and expounded by him Ambrose saieth the Church had Seniores quorum sine consilio nihil agâ—batur in ecclesia Elders without whose counsell nothing was done in the Church These say you were laie Elders If wee aske you how you prooue they were Laie you be at a non plus They were Pastours and Teachers say we If you aske how we prooue our assertion wee first shew you the iudgement of Ambrose else where that in matters of faith or any ecclesiasticall order Laie men should not iudge and gouerne Priestes which yet the Gouernours of the Church must doe I speake still of the priuate regiment of Elders not of the publike power of the Magistrate Next we shew you the verdict of Ierome confirming his resolution by many places of the Scriptures that the Churches at the first were gouerned by Presbyters which were Pastours and Teachers Made we no further proofe then this I conuent your owne consciences which of our auouries standeth on the surest ground yours that leaneth onely to your owne wils and wordes or ours that besides the confession of the same father hath a most euident attestation of another father as ancient and learned as the former You would seeme to be religious and wise craze not your credites with a non obstante that your fansies must preuaile whatsoeuer Councils or fathers say to the contrary For the rest we need no better expositor then Ierome in the very place which your selues alleage Nos habemus in ecclesia Senatum nostrum coetum Presbyterorum We haue in the Church our Senate euen the assemblie of Presbyters Els where he saieth Iudices dòmâ—s Israel non sunt alij nisi Episcopi Presbyteri Diaconi The Iudges ouer the house of Israel are none other but the Bishops Presbyters and Deacons And these three wordes when they come together import the order and degrees of ecclesiasticall offices Episcopus Presbyter Deaconus non sunt meritorum nomina sed officiorum Bishop Presbyter Deacon are not names of desertes but of offices and those Clericall not Laicall Fit Clericus per solitos gradus Presbyter saieth Ierome of Nepotianus He became a Clergie man and so a Presbyter by the accustomed degrees And againe Qui pascitis greges Episcopi Presbyteri omnis ordo ecclesiâ—sticus You Bishops and Presbyters and all the ecclesiasticall order which feed your flockes If therefore Gregorie call the Presbyters Seniores ecclesiae the Elders of the Church in respect of the rest of the Clergie or if Austen write vnto them Clero Senioribus to the Clergie and Elders or if Tertullian writing to the Ethnikes who vnderstood not the order and offices of the Church say in commendation of the Christian meetings Praesident probati quique Seniores The Rulers of our assemblies are certaine approoued Elders what inference can hence be made that they ment laie Elders since they vse neither words nor circumstances but such as will agree to the grauer wiser and Elder sort of the Clergie otherwise called Presbyters Yea Ambrose himselfe will tell you that amongst the Clergie the Presbyters were called Seniores the Elders as next in honour age and iudgement to the Bishop Speaking of ecclesiastical officers and ministers he saith Viduarum â—â— virginum domos nisi visit and gratia Iâ—nâ—â—tos adire non est â—pâ—is hoc cum Senioriâ—as hoc est cum Episcopo vel sigrauior est causa cum Presbyteris Quid necesse est vt demus obtrectandi locum Secularibus There is no cause for the yongers to resort to the houses of widowes virgins except it bee to visite them and that with the Elders I meane with the Bishop or if the matter be vrgent with the Presbyters What need wee giue occasion to secular or Laie men to backbite How thinke you were there not Elders amongst the Clergie and those the same men that were otherwise called Presbyters Yet my demonstration is vnanswered Your mistaking of Ambroses both meaning words is a very simple kinde of demonstration you do not marke the Text which you bring Ambrose doeth not say the Church had once Elders which now are vanished but nothing at the first was done in the Church without their aduise which now is out of vse whiles the Pastours wil seeme alone to be wise The men remained that were before but lesse regarded and lesse consulted then at first And so your demonstration is nothing els but a misconstruction of your Authors words Since you leaue me no better handfast in Ierome and Ambrose for laie Elders I will requite you with the like for Bishops which is this that as the Church at first was gouerned by Presbyters without laie Elders so was it likewise without Bishops If I forgoe the one you must also forgoe the other and then gaine you litle if Bishops must be remooued from the gouernement of the Church as well as late Elders And this is so cleare that no cunning can obscure it I did all this while looke when you would reuiue your spirits with this Mythrâ— date you were euen at last cast with your laie Elders But if wée cannot iustifie the state of bishops by the Scriptures and Fathers better then you doe laie Elders we will quietly disclaime them Ieromes wordes are wonderfull plaine that Bishops in the Apostles times did not differ from Presbyters and are nowe aboue them rather by the custome of the Church then by the trueth of the Lorde disposition and ought
to rule the Church in common I am so farre from reiecting or declining Ieromes authoritie in this point though he seeme very fauourable to you that if you will stand to his censure I will doe the like but before wee wade deeper let vs laie foorth the state of the question that we may thereby perceiue what the sacred Scriptures and auncient Fathers doe confesse or confute CHAP. XII To whom the Apostles departing or dying left the gouernement of the Church whether equally to all Presbyters or chieflie to some and how farre the conceites of late writers herein varie from the auncient Fathers whose wordes they pretend to follow THat order and discipline are not onely profitefull but also needfull in the Church of God and as well amongst Pastours and Teachers as learners and hearers might many wayes be confirmed if it were not on all sides concorded They that most dissent in the kind of gouernement doe first agree on the vse of gouernment they would els not striue for that which might still be wanted and neuer missed in the Church of Christ. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Order saieth Nazianzene is the mother and preseruer of all things The vtilitie and necessitie whereof as in all states and creatures so specially in the Church of God and in the Pastours and Gouernors thereof hee that liketh at large to examine let him read Nazianzens oration plentifully and purposely written of that Argument Onely I aduise with him that vnder a shew of religion and zeale No man bee wiser then hee should no man vprighter then the lawe clearer then the light straighter then the rule nor forwarder then the commandement If order and discipline be necessarie for all persons and ages in the Church of Christ the gouermnent of the Church must not cease with the Apostles but dure as long as the Church continueth that is to the worlds ende and consequently so much of the Apostolike power as is requisite for the perpetuall regiment of the Church must remaine to those that from time to time supplie the Apostles charge and succeed in the Apostles roomes Afore we enter to intreat of the first institution of Bishops we must carefully distinguish these there points The things which must be deriued from the Apostles to their helpers and successours in all Ages and Churches the persons to whom they were committed and the times when If we wander in these wee shall neuer get any certaine resolution of the matter in question What the things are which must abide for euer in the Church I shewed before it shall suffise now to rehearse them namelie power to preach the word and administer the Sacraments the right vse of the keies and imposition of hands for the placing of fit men to vndertake the cure of soules and remoouing of vnfaithfull and vnfit men from infecting and offending the Church These must not faile in the Church so long as there is a Church for the want of any one of them is the confusion if not subuersion of the Church These foure partes in this chapter for breuities sake I often reduce to two branches which are Doctrine and Discipline Comprising in doctrine the deuiding of the word and dispensing of the Sacraments and referring the rest I meane the publike vse of the keies and imposition of hands to the discipline or regiment of the Church The parties to whom these ecclesiasticall duties might possiblie be committed wee then also numbred and found foure sortes of them the people the laie Elders the Presbyters the Bishops The people must needs be excluded from intermedling with Pastorall duties for if all should be Teachers who should be hearers if there were none but shepeheards what should become of the flocke Hee that hath put a difference betwixt the Stewards and the household the labourers and the haruest the watchmen and the Citizens the builders and the stones the Sower and the ground the husbandmen and the tillage the leaders and the folowers euen the same Lord hath prohibited these degrees to bee confounded which he hath distinguished Are all Apostles are all Prophets are all teachers I thinke not If the whole bodie were the eie where were the hearing if the whole were hearing where were the smelling Intrusâ—â—n vpon men is iniurious vpon God is sacrilegious The examples of Korah whome the earth swalowed of Vzzah â—â—riâ—en to death and Vzziah plagued with the leprosie for affecting and inuading the Priests office are well knowen Chrysostome saieth of the last Hee entered the Temple to vsurpe the Priesthood and hee lost his kingdome He entred to become more â—ener able and hee became more execrable So euill a thing it is not to abide within the boundes that God hath appointed vs either of honour or knowledge What I say of the people I say likewise of laie Elders for so much as they are but a part of the people and looke what the whole is prohibited euery part is interdicted If Laie men may intermeddle with ecclesiasticall functions why not the people If the people may not why should the Elders since both are Laie If they renounce the execution and chalenge the superuision of ecclesiasticall dueties they flie from one Rocke and fall on another they cleare themselues from the worde and entangle themselues with the sword Gouernours of the Church that bee neither ministers nor Magistrates I yet conceiue none if any mans skill bee so good that hee can describe vs a gouernement betwixt both that shall wrong neither I would gladly giue him audience Howbeit wee need not trouble our heads with the maner of gouernement that laie Elders must haue distinct from the Priestes and Princes calling before we haue better proofe for the persons that shall enioy this priuiledge When you make it appeare there were such officers in the Church of Christ wee will then intreat you to bound out their office by the word of God or writings of the auncient fathers till then wee stand resolued there were neuer such Gouernours nor gouernement established by the Apostles nor acknowledged by their after-commers in Christes Church The places pretended both in Scriptures and Fathers for such Elders wee haue leasurablie perused and examined and wee finde not so much as the footesteps of any Laie Elders Presbyters we find and Rulers but no reason to leade they were laie Presbyters or Rulers Against theÌ„ we find all the Christian ancient Councils lawes and fathers y t euer mentioned any Presbyters If I shuffle any writers wordes or dazel the Readers eies shew me the place I will yeeld to mine errour In the meane time I take him to witnesse that is Iudge of all secrets I endeuoured to walke soundly and simplie without swaying or leaning to either side more then the euidence of the trueth enforced me Two sortes are left for I still professe that laie Elders were neuer admitted to meddle with any such